The administration of WDFC, the legal company who operated the Wonga brand, was completed in August 2020.
The company was finally dissolved in December 2020.
See Companies House records for details.
Background to the administration – rising complaint numbers
A payday loan is “unaffordable” if repaying meant you had to get into more debt, by borrowing again or getting behind on bills or other debts. So you may have repaid all your loans but still have a good claim for a refund of the interest you paid.
When Wonga went under there were over 200,000 people with current loans from Wonga – many of them had a good case for the interest to be removed from their balance so they only repay what they borrowed.
The Administrators proposals set out the reasons why Wonga went into administration. These were the increasing number of affordability complaints, especially from Claims Companies, and the decision by the Financial Ombudsman that FOS could look at loans over 6 years old, going back to 2007.
There were 24,000 affordability complaints awaiting a decision by Wonga and 9,500 complaints against Wonga with the Financial Ombudsman when Wonga ceased trading on 30 August 2018.
Details on the Administration
The Administrators have made various progress reports (available from Companies House) and statements during 2018-20:
- in October 2018, the Administrators published their Proposals, detailing how they planned to handle the administration. Creditors voted to approve these Proposals.
- progress report to end February 2019;
- Witness Statement in April 2019;
- progress report to end August 2019.
An online claim page was set up in April 2019 for Wonga customers to submit claims for refunds. The deadline for sending in a claim was 30 September 2019.
The Administrators assessed all claims using an automated tool. This took account of:
- all loans, including those over 6 years old
- how large a loan was compared to a customer’s income;
- how often someone borrowed without significant gaps;
- whether there were indications of hardship such as missed payments;
- if there is a balance outstanding for the right of set-off.
Where it decided one or more loans were unaffordable, it calculated how much interest should be refunded and added statutory interest at 8%.
In August 2019 the Administrators starting sending emails to people saying whether their claims have been successful or rejected.
In September, the Administrators sent an update on progress up to end August 2019. Key points include:
- at end August, 389,621 claims for unaffordable payday lending have been accepted by the administrators;
- the total value of these claims is c £460million – an average of c £1,200 a claim.
- £23m of outstanding loans have been collected. The Administrators say that outstanding loans are being taken into account and given the right of set-off where the customer has a claim for unaffordable loans.
- The remaining loan book will not be sold to a debt collector.
At this point the Administrators were saying that payments would be made by 30 January 2020.
29 January 2020 – administrators announce 4.3p in the pound
On 29 January 2020, the Wonga administrators announced that they will be paying 4.3p in the pound to unsecured creditors, including all the 400,000 people who are owed a refund for unaffordable lending.
The administrators have now given the final numbers:
- they assessed 401,202 claims as being valid;
- of these 358,129 are being paid 4.3% of their assessed compensation value;
- the remaining 43,073 also owed a balance on a loan to wonga, so their compensation has been used to clear or reduce that balance.
What happens next:
- the money should be paid within the next 4 weeks. This has come as a surprise as people had been told it would be paid by the end of January;
- the loans that are being refunded should be removed from your credit record in the next 6 weeks.
My comment – ripped off by Wonga and now let down by the regulators
The administrators told people they would get “significantly less” than that amount as there would not be enough money to pay the claims in full.
But many people will have been hoping for more than 4.3% and are very upset.
It is not the administrators’ fault there is so little money to be divided between so many people. It is the fault of the regulators – first the OFT and then the FCA – that they allowed Wonga to break the rules saying that affordability should be checked
And now the regulators have failed to ensure that these Wonga victims get the compensation they should have. When a PPI firm went under, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme stepped in and people with PPI claims got paid in full. But the FCA has not extended the FSCS to cover payday lenders.
This isn’t just a problem for the hundreds of thousands of Wonga victims. Borrowers from many payday lenders have been unable to get proper compensation after the lender has had to close. This will apply to QuickQuid, the money shop, Payday UK and Payday Express borrowers as well.
The FCA needs to rethink this and provide a safety net for people who were mis-sold unaffordable loans.
Readers comments – Shock and disappointment
This a brief overview of the hundreds of comments below this article.
Some people are happy to be getting anything:
- “I am only getting just shy of £25 but for the sake of completing a 30 second form it’s not too bad.”
- “I will be getting £79.93 of the £1854.17 I was owed. Better than nothing!”
- “£35 out of a possible £800. I wasn’t expecting much anyway. I’m more interested in having the 25 wonga loans removed from my credit file.”
The administrators had said people would get “significantly less” than the claim, but many people were hoping for at least 10%:
- “I got mine £88.67 – claim was £2057.05 – I was expecting at least a couple hundred.”
- “Claim was 3034, getting 130. By considerably less I didn’t think it would be over 95% of it. That is ridiculous.”
- “To receive £44.10 from a claim of £1023.00 is insulting to be honest.”
- “Owed £1499, getting £63…what an absolute joke!”
- “4.3% is an absolute disgrace. Although people are trying to be positive they shouldn’t have to. The people who made all the profit here would spend the biggest payout anyone has received on an evening out and not think twice about it.”
- “Gutted…. was hoping for at least the 10% speculated.”
This reader blamed not just Wonga but the regulators:
- “Over £11k accepted reduced down to £480 – my job, my marriage and 4 years of desperation followed by years of rebuilding my life – that’s what the regulators consider that to be worth! Shame on everyone involved in Wonga and the lack of regulation of lenders like them !”
Some are just are delighted that Wonga has gone under:
- “Heads up everyone…We have won in the end! They can no longer be a hindrance to any of us any more!”
- “Mines going to charity. Best thing to have happened is for them to have gone bust”
- ”Thank you Wonga you paid me to continue gambling, I lost everything. Good riddance.”
Many people are also disappointed and shocked that they aren’t being paid by the end of January. Some people getting these refunds are still in difficult financial circumstances and had planned to use the money to pay a bill or some debts.
February 2020 – some clarifications from the administrators
The remaining loans
The administrators have confirmed that no further payments are being accepted and the debts will not be sold to a debt collector. So you don’t have to worry about being taken to court or bailiffs.
But the debts are not technically being written off. They will remain on your credit record for 6 years from the default date on your credit record. If you don’t know what this date is, I suggest you check it now.
In practice, now the company in liquidation, if you contact a credit reference agency and say your Wonga debt is incorrect, you can ask the credit reference agency to “suppress” the record as Wonga can no longer say what the right entry should be. See How to correct credit records if the lender has gone under for details.
No deductions are being made for tax
The Administrators have said:
“the Joint Administrators have agreed with HMRC that the payment may be treated for tax purposes as set wholly against the interest and fees element first, and statutory interest second. As a result, where the distribution paid by the administrators to each customer does not exceed the interest and fees claimed by them, no withholding tax will be required to be deducted at source from payments made by the administrators in such cases.”
The simple version of this is:
- the administrators are not taking off any tax.
- there will, therefore, be no tax to have to reclaim.
- the vast majority of people will not have to pay any tax on any part of of the refund even if you are a higher rate taxpayer. The amounts don’t have to be declared if you complete an annual tax return eg if you are self-employed.
A small number of extra payments
A small number of customers were owed money by Wonga for a different reason, for example they may have overpaid on a loan. These extra amounts are also being paid out and you will get 4.3% of them too.
If you were not using a claims company, you should have received a single email at the end of January which mentions both amounts.
If you were using a claims company you should have received two emails, each about one of the amounts. If you have only received one email and it mentions a claim which is smaller than the amount you expected, you can contact the administrators, it may be this is the “extra” payment.
Bank account issues
I asked the Administrators why some people are still getting emails asking them to update their bank details. They say:
These emails will be in response to customers’ requests received by the Customer Care team prior to 29 January 2020 providing a secure method by which customers can update their bank account details. Customers should respond to these emails.
I asked the Administrators what will happen if they make a payment and it bounces back to them because the account is no longer open. They say:
Where updated information is available from customers we will attempt to reprocess bounced dividend payments via electronic transfer. Alternatively, we will issue a cheque to the address held on file.
A blogger contacted the Administrators on the 14th February to ask why she hadn’t been paid and was told:
“I can confirm that the joint administrators have commenced distribution of dividend payments to unsecured creditors, including those with redress claims. Given the volume of transactions that need to now take place, the administrators cannot guarantee an exact date when individuals will receive payment but are aiming to complete transactions within the next two weeks.”
February and March – payments started but with problems
I was told by the Administrators on Friday 28th February that 90%+ of payments have been made and they expect to make the rest of payments over the next two weeks by BACS. About 22,000 the following week, about 13,000 the week after. It looks as though the 22,000 group got their money. It’s not clear to me how many of the 13,000 group have.
Many people in the comments below this article were reporting probems. These included people whose bank accounts had never changes. Problems included:
- confusion over whether a claims company has been paid or they will be;
- Wongasaid payment was sent to a claims firm that hadn’t been used;
- Wonga said a cheque was sent to a house you no longer live it;
- Wonga said a payment has been made to your bank account but it hasn’t arrived ;
- Wonga has said a payment was sent to an old bank account despite new bank account details having been given and co0nfirmed as having been received.
On 2 March the Administrators said the payment process was taking longer than expected and payments would continue to about 40,000 people over the next 2 weeks:
The Joint Administrators have now attempted to make dividend payments to over 410,000 creditors… In addition to the payments that were not made we have had approximately 40,000 payments returned to us due to incorrect customer bank details recorded on file with Wonga. We will now begin contacting these customers whose payments were returned, by email, to obtain correct and up-to-date bank account details.
The dividend payment process is taking longer than anticipated and payments will continue to be paid during the next two weeks.
On 19 March the Admistrator’s announced:
The Joint Administrators have now attempted to make dividend payments to over 443,000 creditors representing 98% of the creditor population. This includes payments to creditors whose payments were briefly held back from the initial payment phase whilst additional validation checks were completed to new bank account and/or address details that were provided. The Joint Administrators now continue to focus on the remaining small population of unpaid dividends in order to complete the payment process.
From here on progress was very slow, impeded by lockdown.
End August 2020 – administration ends – do you still have a problem?
Have you not been paid?
The Administrators final report blames the payment problems of Wonga’s poor systems and on creditors who did not update their bank details when requested to. But as many comments below detail, people who had never changed their bank account or who had updated their bank details several times and had each confirmed also experienced prolonged delays.
At 28 Auguest when the administration ended, there were still c 49,000 payments with a total value of £632,000 that had not been made – an average about of £13 per payment. About 70% of these were for amounts owed before the administration, so not affordability complaints.
The Administrators have passed the £632,000 to the Insolvency Service. If any creditors want to claim an unpaid amount, they should email CustomerServicesEAS@Insolvency.gov.uk.
A problem with your credit record
If there is a problem with your credit record then you now need to contact the Credit Reference Agency where the problem is showing – Experian, Equifax or TransUnion. Say you can no longer get an answer from the administrators as the firm has been dissolved so you would like the CRA to “suppress” the credit records (list them) as they are inaccurate.
This problem could have been an error by the administrators, who failed to delete the record. It could be an error by Wonga before the administration: the loan date or balance or default date is wrong – you want the default date to be as early as possible so it drops off sooner – or Wonga may have failed to add a default date.
If the CRA refuses, send the CRA a formal complaint and this can be sent to the Financial Ombudsman. In practice people are getting these sorted with the CRAs without having to go to the ombudsman.
Refunds from large loans & car finance
Refunds from other payday lenders
Is your credit card limit too high?
Andy says
I have an e-mail from the claims company saying I will find out on the 29 January how much I am getting. Good luck everyone
Anthony says
Received an email to say that they have received and updated my details after re uploading the other day. Was sure they had them but have done it just in case.
Rebecca says
Hello Everyone,
Do you think we will actually get paid on the 31st Jan 2020 or do you think payment will be delayed? I’ve read that Wonga “expects” to settle all claims by 31st Jan.
I hope we all get paid on the 31st, fingers crossed for everyone! I know a lot of us need this money.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
There is no reason to expect a delay. The Administrators would have to go back to court to get an extension.
Rebecca says
Ahh ok that’s great then! Thank you!
Alex says
It might be worth mentioning that the helpline staff are a small handful of Wonga employees who have remained employed to assist with the administration of the company. These are low level employees who had no involvement or input in the way Wonga performed their business, just like us they worked to pay their bills and earn a wage.
I understand that we still expect a level of professionalism but these are real people and know that they will be out of a Job come the end of January. This I imagine will mean they will vent frustration whether intentional or not.
I’m angry at Wonga but I’m also very sympathetic to these people who are expected to try their best even though they have unemployment facing them soon.
Danny says
Whilst true, i’d expect all of them to have lined up another job considering they’ve known for half a year that they’ll be out of a job come January.
Not quite the same as people turning up to find out they’ve been made redundant immediately.
Stephanie says
Absolutely agree with you. More people should keep this in mind.
sacha says
Yes, totally agree with that.
Elaine Forbes says
I have had a redress amount and have heard nothing since, what do we do just wait and hope something goes into bank
Helen says
I’m so confused? I’ve received the email checking bank details and that’s all fine but I don’t understand how they figure out the amount they will refund? Is it a % of how many loans each person had or the amount the person borrowed or paid back???
Rebecca says
As there is not enough money to pay all claimants, the amount has to be divided by all of us.
Therefore everyone will get the same percentage back.
So if ‘bob’ is owed £100 and Wonga are set to pay ‘5p for every pound owed’ (just using this as an example) then he will receive £5
So if ‘Jane’ is owed £10,000, she will receive the same percentage however hers will be £500
Hope this clarifies the situation
*All estimates are used as examples only we don’t not yet know of a percentage
Carly Newstead says
Hello
Just found this page and read through some of the comments. I submitted my complaint back in November 2018 and have never heard anything back. I called to chase this up around July last year and she said that the complaint was in review and they still had until November (2019) to respond. Come the end of November I’d still not had anything so I called again – this time she said I would hear something back before Jan. It’s now the 13th and still I’ve not had a single comms from them. Everyone I have spoken to submitted their claim well after mine and have all had 1/2 communications from them including the recent email a lot of you have mentioned. The first being your claim has been assessed and the second being the one at the top of this page. Anyone got any advice on mine in particular? I am trying to contact them but I’ve been on hold for 35 minutes already.
Steven says
Anything is better than nothing , but if the refund is lower than 5 % what’s the point may as well , give the money in the pot to a deserving charity
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Anyone who thinks their refund is so small it is an insult, please feel free to donate it to your local Citizens Advice which has long campaigned against payday lenders
Carina says
That is a great idea Sara and I agree. Wonder how many others will agree?
GimmeMyMoney says
This completely depends on your claim. If your claim is £100 then yes I agree. However some have claims in tens of thousands. 5% would still be more than £500
Jay B says
I must say I’m not happy with the low percentage talk. Its not so bad for people who’s claims were only a couple of hundred pounds, they only stand to lose £150. My claim is just short of £5000 so I’m going to lose £4500 :(
Its sad. Like most I got stuck in the Wonga loop which came to an end with a nice IVA on my credit report. So basically I could be looking at £500 and still have a IVA on my credit report.
JB
Annonymous says
Because 5% to some of us is £500 upwards
Ralf ronaldson says
I think if your owned money and being paid 1% of what your are owed then the laws of the land should be changed, IV got a feeling next week is gonna be sickening I’m owed £3800 ,IV been at logger heads way wonga 2 years before they shut up shop absolutely disgusted way them and myself
JAy B says
I totally agree, I can’t see how the government can let this happen. I’ve been trying to get money out of Wonga for years and when it finally looks like they are paying out it gets taken straight back off you. I only hope there is some for of appeal procedure in place when they offer these “drastically” reduced settlements.
Jay B
Sara (Debt Camel) says
There won’t be any appeal procedure. There is no more money to pay out!
Matthew foster says
Couldn’t agree with you more mate it’s a disgrace, can’t understand how they can get away with it, it’s like negotiating a fine! My claim is for best part of 5 grand all this messing about and waiting and from what I’ve read it’s not going to be pretty :-/ and just to top it off looks like wel be waiting right till the end of the month!
Nats says
My claim is roughly the same as yours. When ineead a smaller amount I thought cool I dont mind losing a few hundred but from what I’m reading be lucky to get £300 back ..so ripped off once again ….
Alex Hammond says
I read a while back about the difference between how Wagedayadvance was winding down and Wonga – how come WDA have been able to quote a rough figure right away? I remember seeing that it was likely Wonga’s % would around the same as the WDA (speculation, sorry) but maybe slightly better.
Laura says
Wonga had assets abroad that they had to try and sell or wind down if they couldn’t. It’s a bit like selling your house you don’t really know what your going to get until it’s on the market at the deal goes through!
Chelsea Worley says
I updated my bank details on the Wonga website before it closed last year, and then I have sent my new details and ID through the link sent in an email last week but have had no confirmation they’ve updated the details. I don’t know what else to do?!
Jake says
I received an email in August saying i had a successful claim and payment would not be issued until January.. as I hadn’t heard anything yet I’ve done a quick google and seen that emails were sent to successful claimants on 10th January, but I still haven’t received anything. Anyone else receive the earlier email and nothing since then? Does anyone know if there’s a number we can call?
Laura says
No that’s no what’s happened if you read the thread and Sara article it will tell you more
Simon says
I am in same situation as you Jake.
Nicola says
I received a email last month saying my claim was successfull and I have not received a email this month but by the looks of thing it’s only people who have updated there bank detail that has got a email. Well fingers crossed anyway. My account number and sort code has not changed so I hope I still get payed at end of month. Last email said I would be payed at end of month
Dave says
Whats worse is if people did it through claims companies before they went into administration they will still try and claw back 30 odd pc for doing nothing! Although the one i used 2 years ago, payday refunds seems to have vanished. Where do we stand sara, if they have passed it on to another company etc, are they still entitoed to there full fee or the percentage we receive?
Julia says
Be aware here… payday refunds (PDR), were apparently taken over by last minute refunds. I was never officially informed. I just got directed there one day from the website when everything at PDR seemed to have gone quiet.
LAST Minute Refund subsequently presented me with paperwork I had “allegedly” signed on line with LMR and demanded I pay the fees. This was entirely fraudulent paperwork in my case as the date they claimed I signed it was actually my daughters birthday and I was at an adventure park all day. I asked them for an email confirmation/ phone call recording to support this alleged signature and it never appeared.. just relentless call chasing the fees for a very small Sunny refund. I have taken the matter to the Financial Ombudsman and haven’t heard a thing again ( from anyone)
I’d be interested to know where we stand here!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Anyone who doesnt think they authorised a claims company should dispute any bill and put in a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman.
Alec says
The Gaurdain published an artical saying that it has been reported they only have 41million left to settle accounts. This means the pay out will be between 1 and 10%and the average expected payout will be £118..
To be honest I am pleased they have been held accountable and anything coming back is better than nothing! Wonga exploited a lot of financially vulnerable people, and I hope this is a warning for other pay day lenders and lenders in general not to replecate horrid practices… I wish everyone here the best and hope the payout contributes to support you in some way…
Rob says
I think I remember wonga saying it would be 10% of the total value of what you’re owed.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No they didn’t. That was a guess by a newspaper.
Rob says
Oh right ok. So basically nobody has a clue until they individually email us within the next 2 weeks then.
Matthew foster says
Well I’m no expert mate but from what I’ve read don’t they need 460 million to pay everyone but only have 45 so basic maths is roughly 8/9 percent? Correct me if I read it wrong but that’s how it looks to me?
mark says
If the percentage is very low there will be ALOT of disgruntled people and will be all over the papers. Will end in a government enquiry and will hopefully put an end to all payday lenders in the UK.
Dave says
I think this may be the case since they’ve stated they’re announcing percentages and making payments on the same day, then no doubt shutting down shortly afterwards to prevent any comebacks.
I’m owed just over £9,000 and am not expecting much, if anything I’m tryna prepare myself for major disappointment so if it is anything different then I can be happy
Helen says
Why are you owed that much? I’m still confused as to what they are meant to be paying us back. Is the the total amount of loans we had?? Is that the % they have worked it out on?
Sian says
It’s based on the interest and fees that you were charged when you took out the loan/s. For most people who had multiple loans over many years, this is a large amount, plus interest each year. They are paying us back a percentage of what they say we’re owed because there isn’t enough money left over to cover that total amount.
Miss Jay says
How do you get through to Wonga to update Bank Details? They don’t answer the phone!,,,,
No login option either….?…
Lynne says
They do answer the phone – it just takes a while. I was on hold yesterday for 55 mins but I did get to speak to someone in the end.
Mr Shaun says
you need to email your details (excluding bank details) to wonga customers service, claim # dob and address. they will email you a link to change your bank details. ive only just got the automated reply saying “we will read your email soon then reply” this was over a week ago. so you wont get a reply or the option to change your bank details straight away….
Evie says
My husband and i now live abroad and he no longer has a UK Bank Account. There was no option to upload IBAN numbers etc. so i have no idea what account details we are supposed to register. Getting worried that we won’t get anything because when we ring up they can’t help with account details.
Andy says
Perhaps in your specific case if they will not transfer funds abroad the only simple option might be to see if you can have it paid into a relative or friends account in the UK then they can pass it on .
I cannot think of another immediate answer sorry , aside from opening a UK bank account again just for this but from overseas that (although not impossible) can be s but unwieldy to do as I understand it.
The relative or friend option is far easier if you have someone and the Wonga admin team agree to it.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The administrators say “Customers with an account overseas will need to provide their account number, their Swift or ABA code and the usual forms of ID as requested in their email.”
Andy says
Thanks Sara for this and other sane posters comments too. This is my likely only post here but I keep up to date on comments posted.
A couple of people in previous comments have asked why the contact form says x remaining. This is just for each upload so from a default (max of ten iirc) if you upload a doc then say three image scans that’s four used so you have six left. If that makes no sense think of it as a container and you are only allowed x items in it. I hope that is helpful. Having done a lot of IT work in the past this is usually what the remaining counter is for in these cases.
In regard to payout there are still a lot of people for whom a £20 payout would make a -big- difference, I have to include myself in that too if you want honesty.
Same as most partial acceptance although they did deduct the small sum still due from the totals. Thankfully what was due was about 80 less than what was due out ( all full rate which we all know cannot happen )
Although a bit of a silly thing to say it may of been nice if they only took half of anything still due back off the total instead of it all and write the rest down elsewhere without effecting a the payout pot size. As usual those at the bottom suffer more :(
On a serious note I do wonder if the % figure is known but nothing is being said fearing backlash. Time will tell.
Here is hoping that the percent is in double figures ( ! ) those most in need get a swift payout.
Good luck all myself included :)
Laura says
Andy,
I hope you get what you need. Your story is quite touching I can feel the situation you are in just from the words you say. I hope you can use the rest of Sara advice on the website to sort your finances and turn your life about. It wasn’t easy but I did and my like is completely different. I hope all goes well
Steven says
I am just going to accept the worst, anything I get is better than nothing at all.
Andy says
True. Far from ideal I know but let’s be honest a £20 or so payout is loads better than a £0 payout. I would be surprised if I got that much actually!
There are some who are always struggling sometimes through no fault of their own just victims of circumstances etc and given a choice of say 15 right now or 30 in a week would take the 15 as they are in such immediate need. Realise this paragraph is off topic sorry. Myself I would probably have to grab the “right now” option if you wanted honesty.
On topic just under two weeks then now, good luck all!
Graham T says
I agree with the above, any payout, no matter how small may be of help to some people. I was in a bad place when I took these loans, any amount coming in back then was a help,.so, I know exactly.how people feel. Thankful my situation has improved somewhat it took a long time, budgeting, planning the weeks shopping in advance, cutting back on no essentials and missing out on loads of family time as I worked every hour available 7 days a week. The day the penny dropped was when I got refused a loan from about 15 different companies in one hour, then I knew things had to change. It can be done and I wish I never took one or however many 100’s of these loans.
Ralf ronaldson says
Wonder how much the administration are taken I bet it’s millions
William says
If you go to this link you can find the latest administration report about Wonga.
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/07452661/filing-history
Russell says
Thanks – show how we will get very little, but administrators get £100,000 plus per month and £500 per hour – nice work.
Plus why it takes so long,
stuart says
Is that actually true though?? £100k a month is an outrageous amount of money, i’m in the wrong business obviously
mind you how many administrators is that being divided by.. surely not per person
Colin says
I was due £866.68, I’ve made peace with the fact that I’m likely to get even less than £100.00. Not a lot we can do now sadly.
I was owed even more by QQ.
Devon1986 says
Yea. I’m owed about 10x that I think I’m only going to get about 100, I think you’ll be lucky to get a tenner – but we’ll see.
Andy says
One thing that I have not seen mentioned ( and potentially it can be complex ) us if the Administration have deducted tax from the compensatory interest as in some cases if your tax liability is very low you can claim that tax back up to at least for three or four years.
To work out if this is option is slightly complex depending on employment or self employment as well as no work and it is also off topic here.
If the tax on the interest was ddducted that is, things like bank PPI tend to do this automatically unless told otherwise. I do not know if company admin have to do this the actual payout detail when it arrives ( not the summary box we already had ) will make it clear.
Given it is as I say potentially complex as for instance self employed cannot use a form for this has to be letter it is best to seek advice at slater date as if you are wrong the tax man may want more.
Danny says
I’m owed £13,990, 69 loans since 2012, only didn’t offer me Loan 1, if I get 500 quid i’ll be happy but even having them off my credit report will be great.
Only wish is i’d complained a year before they went bust, already had back over £7,000 from the others!
WangerNoWonger says
Perhaps you are being optimistic. Perhaps not. We just don’t know but the figures discussed show how predatory Wonga and others were and how foolish or desperate we all were too.
Ian says
Surely someone must know something by now some leaked info or something imo they will drop the bomb in… 2 or 3% then just disappear out of sight just as quick as the owners of wonga did when they knew what was comin, and we just have to lump it.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The administrators will “disappear” once the administration ends. It is not their fault that Wonga mis-sold loans on an epic scale, nor that the regulators allowed Wonga to do this and did not insist on the firm being well enough capitalised to pay out compensation.
Ian says
Im hoping the job they are doing is a proper one and they are being watched to make sure what they are doing is correct i dont want to find out down the line they wrongfully distributed money at the end of the day the fca were supposed to be watching wonga look whats happened i just dont trust these firms when moneys involved
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Who do you think should watch them? The watchers would be required to be paid for this as a priority creditor. And then who would watch the watchers, to make sure they did a proper job?
The Administrators are professionals who operate to legal rules. They don’t care who gets the money, their only job is to distribute it properly. there is no basis for not trusting them.
Ian says
I just dont trust them these big companies they wont be trying to get us our best % thats for sure look what happened 12 year ago with the banks nearly goin under causing a recession why some people had to borrow from these sharks in the first place
Barry says
Ian, the administrators, are not to blame. They are hired to clean up the mess, wind it all down. Dish out any money left to people like you and me. Yes it will be a pittance, but it has nothing to do with them. Once that is done, they move onto winding other businesses.
Caroline says
I checked my email about claim
Total interest and fees on loans £5,202.35
Total compensatory interest £2,691.02
Less previous write off(s) £102.79
Accepted claim value £7,790.58
Do I get £7,790 to my bank???
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, you will get a percentage of that, depending on how much money there is to distribute. This will be announced in a couple of weeks. The administrators have warned it will be significantly less. Don’t get your hopes up.
Elaine Forbes says
My redress is more or less the same as yours and it sticks in my throat that we will get no where near that.
They over charged us then and now we’re getting undercut
Julia says
Yep, same here. I’m a single mum, my redress was just under 7k. I borrowed when my husband left me and my daughter and I lost everything, including the home id worked 20 years for. The difference that amount would have made to us now 4 years on… (now I’m back working and my daughter is older), would be phenomenal.
But as everyone knows, it’s highly likely we won’t see a 10th of what we were owed.
Will says
I have friends in work in legal department and my total claim is for £7193 I know they are not sure yet but have told me to expect between £20 & £25 per £1000 so I will be looking at around £140 I think .
mark says
Really annoys me that all the creditors will probably get 100% of their owed monies, Grant Thornton will be paid millions for the administration process while we get pennies in compensation for what was probably an awful time in our lives.
Nik Will says
Not true all creditors get the same % no matter who they are. Yes the administrators get a large sum but who do you think have been undertaking this huge task to sort all the accounts out and get creditors paid?? Would you work for free?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The administrators aren’t “creditors” in that sense. They were not owed any money when the firm went bust.
mark says
They already paid a secured creditor (kreos) in full of 5.9M. This was paid out of the money they sold Wonga Poland for.
Read the Administration report from October..
Lynne says
It says on their website that secured creditors and employees will be paid first. Whatever’s left we get presumably….
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes. All unsecured creditors get paid the same % at the same time.
Chris says
That’s the difference. There’s a legal order companies have to be paid back in when businesses go bust. Secured creditors have to be paid first and in full (if the money is available)
This is nothing to do with Wonga or the administrators. It’s a fixed, legal process.
Ian says
So kreos a multi million pound lending firm get the full amount even though they were lending to a firm bringing misery to familys i wonder if the top cats at wonga are invested in any secure creditors so they get a full payout
Natalie says
I’ve had the claim accepted and due refund on january email a few days ago but they wont send me a link to update my details. Is it a private link or person or has any one on here had it?? Thanks
Suzanne says
I’ve had an email last year stating they accepted my claim and I’ve rung Wonga who have said the administrators are now dealing with it but I haven’t had the email from 10th January at all
Phil says
I’m currently living in different country and I changed the bank details for my friend’s details. Do you think they will pay into that account? My claim is something around 600 and i don’t want to lose it
Lesley says
You’re aware that you’re not going to get £600?
Andy says
As Lesley has said you will only get a percentage of that and no one currently knows what that is or they are not saying if they do know, anything else is guesswork. We all just need to hold tight and wait.
In regard to your “pay friend” question I would speak to them to be sure outlining why you cannot accept it yourself directly as you are outside the UK. You will not be the only one in this situation so the administration team will know what they can do in these cases.
From purely a personal view I think if you gave them a UK bank to pay into they would not be too bothered who’s it was if you authorised any sum due to go to that account, however as I say that is only my personal view (act name may not matter if acc is a valid UK one) and to avoid any issues I -strongly- suggest you contact them so they are fully aware of why you need to do this.
Lynne says
Is anyone else checking their emails and bank accounts each day? Lol
Paul Hardman says
I am, dont know why though £1600 owed but I am hoping to get £150 reading all these comments. January is always a bad month for most people and we could all do with what we are owed. Let’s be realistic………..we are all gonna get screwed over again
Vanessa says
Hi guys, my redress value is £5500 which was a big surprise to me.
Until a couple of days ago I kept stressing about Wonga immensely as my finances are still very, very bad and any extra money would help towards food, bills, normality etc. But I have decided not to worry too much because there is nothing we can do. I might receive £550, I might receive £100, I might receive £10 – as Sara says it is all only speculation and nobody knows. I am going to focus my energies on earning more money and looking at additional sources of income which is something I can control rather than relying on Wonga. I hope that regulations will change and that there will be more affordable credit available for everyone on the near future, but in the meantime I have to make more money. I have been very strict with my spending and now it’s time to make more. We all got screwed over big time which is really sad and hopefully politicians will sort this out.
Kelsey says
On October 21 2019 I received an email stating:
Thank you for providing us with your banking details. These have now been updated on our systems.
For more information, including what happens next and what to expect, please visit our FAQs
Kind regards,
The Joint Administrators
Now January 11 2020 I received an email saying:
We previously emailed you in relation to your successful claim in the Wonga administration. At the end of January, we will communicate by email the amount you will be due to receive as a dividend.
Please be aware, the payment you receive will be considerably smaller than your accepted claim value.
Our preference is to make an electronic payment (bank transfer) to your bank account. However, we do not have any details for your bank account on our system.
How can they have them one minute and not the next?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I have asked the administrators why some people have had this email asking for bank details when they have already had a confirmation email from you that they have provided them.
I have been told:
“If a customer has already updated their details, they do not need to do this again. Due to the timings of the detail chaser campaign, it may be that the Customer Care team are working through the update.”
I am just passing this on.
Andy says
I’ve corrected my bank information on the previous email asking me to do so through my wonga account.
They then sent me the current email with my bank details being wrong. I’ve emailed and telephoned but I cannot get into contact with the wonga support to sort this out.
Any ideas? Don’t want the money being sent to an account that is wrong.
Teddybear says
I had to update my bank details too. I sent an email to them everyday for the last 4 days. I received an acknowledgement email from them this morning, they have updated my bank details. Send them an email every morning until they get back to you.
Dan says
I just keep on getting an email saying we will reply back soon it starts of like this
We will do our best to reply promptly. In the meantime, please read below to see if the below answers your query
They never answer there phones too
Adelle says
Same problem, November email had correct bank details then got email January with wrong details, dont understand why wrong when originally they were right so no need to phone them in November
Dave S says
I was told via the Wonga claims site that i was eligible for a refund and also received a message last week that the funds would be in my account by the end of Jan but would only be a small percentage of my original claim. However, i have no idea how much my original claim was for ?
Matt says
I had an email asking for my updated bank details which I provided. They emailed back confirming the update.
I am yet to receive am email stating date of payment which some received on the 10th of January. Are they still issuing these emails, or is it worth calling them?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The emails were to confirm bank details, not give the date of payment.
I have asked the administrators whether everyone should have received this email. I was told:
“If a customer has not received an email, this is likely because they have previously confirmed their bank details. If a customer is concerned that they have not received an email and know that their details have changed, they should contact the Wonga Customer Care team by email as soon as possible.”
Bert says
Hi Sara,
I just spoke to Wonga as I’d been asked to confirm my bank details, despite having already done so. They confirmed my details were already confirmed and on file and that the email had been sent to everybody as a reminder! She sounded very fed up with answering that question and I’m guessing they didn’t mean to send it to everybody.
I’d suggest that if you’ve already had an email to confirm your bank account details have been updated, then you don’t need to do it again – probably.
Will says
Yes that is correct I have just had the same happen.
A says
Hi Sarah
In regards to Credit Report Entries, how would we go about challenging entries now that the company has gone? Wonga have upheld 1 of my complaints, but I am not interested in the money, it is the mark of having payday loans on my account. I understand the argument for a complete and accurate credit file but I did read on the moneysavingsexpert forums that some of their members did have some success with challenging payday loan entries on their reports on the ground that they were sold to improve credit ratings but were in fact doing the complete opposite as they were being filed into their own little sections now.
Annoyingly because they are down as settled they are likely to be on there for up to 10 years – is that right?
Credit reference agencies require evidence to enable them to remove entries, would the fact that one complaint was upheld be enough? We cant be sure that the ombudsman would have reached a differing conclusion to the administrators?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The loans showing on your credit record are showing as settled? When did you repay the loans?
the loan that has been upheld by the administrators should be removed from the record.
A says
Thanks for the reply Sarah. I repaid the loans at the end of 2014 and then went straight into my DMP in March 2015. I was treating Wonga as a priority debt due to the APR so it actually looks like I was managing on the face of it and I assume this is what the administrators look at. As the administrators are not privvy to these detailed pieces of information i.e. bank statements and the like that an ombudsman would look at, this does leave me feeling pretty aggrieved that my redress was just to sort out money… the reality is I would have complained to the ombudsman about the dent in my credit file rather than about the money.
Because the company has wound down, any legitimate rationale for having the entries removed seem to have dissapeared?
Lee jackson says
hi
ive send Wonga 2 x e-mails trying to change my bank details as I cant login to my account but no one has got back to me
starting to get concerned as it getting close to pay out time..??
Amy Taylor says
You need to call them, like immediately. I had a tricky time getting my bank details changed. They send you a link you upload new details.
A says
Hi there. I had many payday loans from different companies. When I went to the FOS for one company the loans that were upheld were removed from my credit file. For loans that werent upheld and loans cleared they were marked as settled. The companies said they wouldn’t remove them from my credit file . They will stay on there for 6 years. You can contact the credit references and supply them with evidence to try and get them removed but it’s unlikely they will be removed.
Laura says
I got an email asking me to send a photo of my bank card or bank statement and a photo of either my passport or drivers licence. I’m more concerned about that than anything else. Why would they need them, all they would need are my account number and sort code?!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s some form of id verification check. I am unclear why they need to do it, but this isn’t a scam, it really is the administrators asking.
Ben J says
They sent me an email saying they pretty much ripped me off for £2,000 (like the 400-500,000 others they’ve ripped off)
Anything is better than nothing as noone expected it. Although I have not received an emails in months since declaring they owe.
I’ll keep my eyes on, but hopefully other “loan” companies feel the sting like Wonga and Quickquid have. Falling like flies soon.
Elliott says
Do they also scrub it from your credit report?? I recall seeing somewhere this was the case??
Rob says
Hi Elliott,
From my experiance in working within the Finance/Loan area, they would only remove the loans from your credit file that they have agreed to uphold.
E.g. If you had 10 loans from Wonga and they have upheld loan, 2,3,4,7,8&10 then would have to remove these from your credit file or at the very least alter them to ensure that your credit file is accurate. So All other “rejected” Loans would stay.
I could be wrong, as it been 4 years since I left the loan area and it a constanally changing enviroment.
Rob
Carina says
Please, can someone explain how to use the upload?
Do I just attach the documents and press upload?
Lynne says
Yes correct
Lis says
So my accepted claim value is £262.. I’m guess i won’t get anything back according to these comments.. in which peoples claim values are higher and they are expecting £100 back or less…I’m confused.. guess we will have to sit and wait and wait, wait..
Ian says
Hi sara i have never received any emails about updating my bank details cant log into my wonga acc to check they have the right sort code acc number should i be concerned? thinkin about phonin wonga.
Luke says
I don’t understand all the negativity on here, people saying unlikely to get £20 back blah blah blah.
The last release they had was approx 10% but still with more to recover etc so who knows we may get more than 10%! Be positive.
Danny says
At the end of August they had £460 million in redresses with around £41 million available.
The deadline was 31st September, if thousands have claimed throughout September (which is likely as that’s when newspapers and the TV programmes started reminding people the deadline was close) then what was already 10% is likely to have fallen further.
10% would be fantastic but expecting more is just blind optimism.
Alan says
This comment exactly!!
My redress is reasonably low compared to some, at £770 and shrapnel. They’ve wiped off the outstanding balance I owed (not a lot) and any money I get back will be a nice little bonus, and quite frankly I don’t really care what I get back, it’s the default from them and wonga loans on my credit file that’s disappearing for good!
That’s worth more to me than anything as my credit file will be finally clear.
I’m looking forward to spending my 0.83p in a couple of weeks!
Nats says
Hey all
My assessment was for £3,733..alot of loans at a difficult time. You telling me I’ll only get at least 500.00 after all these col over fees… Well that’s great and I won’t be denoting I’ll be trying to pull myself out of debt
claire says
Nobody knows how much we will get but guessing it will be lower than £500 if your original claim was £3,733.
Gary Robertson says
We will all find out very shortly, nobody has a clue what the figures will be, nobody has inside knowledge. Personally I’m expecting anything lower than 10%, my redress was £1753. I just hope that something is done with these payday lenders. I’m currently in dispute with Onstride over my last remaining payday loan, I have an affordability complaint in with QQ and as they are the same company I changed my bank details and I am refusing to pay Onstride, I can afford to make the payments but it’s the principal. I will probably end up with a default on my credit file but that is a gamble I’m prepared to take
Gary Robertson says
Just to add to above all my Wonga loans were 2011-2013 so they won’t affect my credit file now as I assume they would have all dropped off now anyway
Carrie says
It’s funny so many people are annoyed at Wonga that they aren’t going to get much of a refund!
We all took out these loans at the time having no idea in the future that we’d get anything at all back.
We only have ourselves to blame.
I’m owed over £15.5k back for loans from 2011-2016, I had no idea I’d borrowed over £40k from Wonga over that time. I can’t believe I was that stupid!
I’ll be pleased to get even £100 back!
I wasn’t ever expecting anything back so whatever is a bonus!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t think it’s funny that people are upset that they were exploited by a lender who was allowed to carry on breaking the regulators rules for so long by handing out these unaffordable loans. Often to desperate, vulnerable people. You may blame yourself, fine. But Wonga and the regulators have a huge share of the blame here.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been used as cash cows by payday lenders and had years of their lives ruined.
Andy says
Although a law issue not specific here there does seem to my mind an unfairness in sum distribution. By this I mean those high up the tree i.e. Directors and such should be way down the list if paid anything to be frank, they would unlikely suffer having no doubt had huge salaries previously.
The employees should be paid first in full based on their salary lowest paid first as say mid management earned more and are usually able to deal with a drop more than someone earning min wage. By this I mean those at the bottom should get the best treatment as they will feel the financial pain more.
Same with companies owed too although not reality the smallest firms should be paid first as they are more dependent on cash flow than a large multi million firm.
colin says
i tried to change my bank details, and i need email for i secure link, on, but nothing.
Oliver says
Has anyone had there claim amount back?, as in the actual amount that will be refunded. I’ve also sent an email demanding that my bank details are correct.
Chris says
I had an email in Aug 19 saying my total interest and fees was £659.12 and the 8% was £254.40 giving me a total due of £913.52. If the 10% payout is right then it’s still £90, which seeing as I had not dealt with wonga for more then 4/5 years I’m taking as a win.
Perspective – yes, technically I am “owed” that money as I was leant money irresponsibly. However, I actively took out a large number of loans (20/30 or so) and knew what I was doing. Whether wonga should have loaned me in the first place is a different question – I accepted the t+c’s and paid back what was asked of me.
I’ll take the £90 (or whatever the payment may be) in good heart and move on with my life!
Andy says
Yes it is best to try to look at the positive side of it in that “something is coming back” rather than thinking “it’s wrong I only getting a fraction of what I am due” , ultimately something is much better than nothing and all things being equal it should be hopefully done in what’s now less than two weeks.
Just a shame it’s the way the law works regarding creditors is slightly to blame here I think. I did post further up about a fairer redress for all inc employees etc too. I’d never expect s law change on this as unfortunately it would be a case of “turkeys voting for xmas” but there is scope to base it differently, as I say I posted about this further up earlier today.
It is what it is and a £20 or £30 payout or so although could be viewed as insulting is hugely better than them turning around and saying “sorry the pot is empty!” For some that small extra sum being sent their way could make a big difference, myself included.
Wayne says
Hi all, I’ve not had the confirmation email yet, had plenty of emails to say update bank details which I have done but nothing since, anyone else in the same situation?
Carlos says
Has anyone received an email this year? Last time I spoke to them was in November.
Lynne says
Nope. Not heard from them since October.
Andy says
In most cases I think you should of had an email as seen at the top of this page . Would advise calling them ( takes ages but you will eventually get through expect 40 min wait afaik ) just to check your account situation.
I could be wrong but even if nothing was due to you, you should of still had email of some description. This is assuming you cannot login o the site , I have not checked that.
Hope you can get through and if needed update details and get some monies back in a couple of weeks when it’s apparently due.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The Administrators say about the recent emails:
“If a customer has not received an email, this is likely because they have previously confirmed their bank details. If a customer is concerned that they have not received an email and knows that their details have changed, they should contact the Wonga Customer Care team by email as soon as possible.”
Trin says
Yes I had another email but just told me that I would get payment at the end of jan and that it would be considerably less. More or less the same as the last one in October
Andy says
Yes quite a few have had that too.
Ultimately if your bank details are correct ( last four digits etc) then at the moment there is nothing immediately to do other than wait now for what should be a tad under two weeks to see what eventually erm “lands” in your email inbox and ( hopefully soon after ) your bank account. :)
Nicola says
It just goes by your account number and sort code thays what they use to pay it in to your bank not need the long number or that
Anon91 says
I personally think it’s disgusting how Wonga have treated our complaints with the hold up for years they had a clear objective in mind and had no intention of paying the refunds owed.
I’m owed £3000 (actually more but the administrators rejected some of the loans.
All i expect is a refund enough for a family cinema trip and a uber home. (£75 ish)
Andy says
I do hear you but none of us will get what we are owed. Just the reality of the situation.
It is no real help I know but a few £ back is better than a “Sorry we ran out of money , there is nothing left” response and it could of gone that way I suppose. The administration team have to abide by the law and rules etc and from a “untrained” cursory read of their reports they have been fair.
I’m not saying we should be happpy that only erm “some crumbs are left” but we should at least try to look at it in the only positive way in that £xx is always better than £0
Lynne says
I hear you Andy. But I think it’s annoyed people that they’ve told us what we ARE entitled to, followed by ‘but you’ll be getting nowhere near that’. It’d have been better if the email had just said something along the lines of we’ve looked at your claim which is valid and we’ll let you know in a few months what you’ll be getting.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The administrators HAD to tell you how your claim was assessed. Because you had the right to appeal it, including going to court to dispute it. How could you do that if they never told you the amount?
And if they hadn’t told people, people here would be yelling that they had been left in the dark for months and months and why couldn’t the administrators at least say what the Claim had been assessed at…
Andy says
Yes this is how I read it too in that they -have- to provide a breakdown of how it is calculated out .
I realise in some respects this is teasing perhaps but you have to know how it was calculated ( unfortunately )
I would suspect even if all payouts were locked at £1 only they would still -have- to provide the breakdown information.
It is best to try to not to view this (as hard as it might be) as a “look what you could of had” but please try to view it as “at least I am going to get something back” . Difficult I know but look st it another way, if the assets had fetched substantially less the pot would of been either much smaller or even empty! It so could of gone that way I suppose and with other firms and industries etc it no doubt has.
I know there is little erm compensation (for want of a better word) in my post but at least we know we will hear by or before end of month on this and with a spot of luck things will be not as bad as they could be.
“Hope for the best and prepare for the worst” seems appropriate.
Ade says
Lots of comments on here so not sure if this has been posted before, but i would encourage everyone to complain to their local MP. I have written to my local MP stating that any tax paid on the profit of these mis sold loans should be refunded back to Wonga customers, if you think corporation tax is set at c19% and the total redress claim is currently c460m (I know this amount includes interest, but the theory is right) then the government would have been paid c87m in tax from these mis sold loans.
Now i am not the best with tax and all things money, hence why i got myself into the mess i did and needed to use pay day lenders. However it feels wrong that a company is being shut down, people are losing their jobs and we are getting refunds all because of exploitation of indviduals in desperate situtations, yet the government has made a boat load of cash out of it and say they wont get involved.
If we all stand together may be we can be heard, adding 87m to the redress pot i am sure would change all of our lives.
Nicola says
This is quite interesting actually, is there a template that we can send?
Chris says
Once the Wonga situation has cleared in a couple of weeks, I’ll be playing this game again with my claim from PayDayUK. I had an offer early June last year of £1000 approx which my claims company said was too low and I should refuse and wait for a better offer. This had a 4-week window for them to better their offer – 3 weeks into the 4 they went into administration – and as my offer was not confirmed, I did not get the payout and have to go through this whole situation again.
Partly “greed” on our account by refusing the initial payout but my claim company made it clear that the offer was a lowball so we understandably held our ground – just a bit of a twist of fate that the administrators were called in only a few days before they had to make their counter offer. Good news is that I have a third, and final claim, with Sunny which is with the ombudsman to make their decision as to how much I get. We refused their initial claim, they did not respond within the window and now I’m in the queue for an ombudsman to make the final call. I am cautiously optimistic (and crossing fingers that I don’t get the hattrick!).
As Andy says above – this needs to be viewed as “at least I’m getting something” rather than “this is what I could have had”.
Sara – thanks for your sterling work on this thread btw.
Dan says
Rang the number Wonga gives at 9:15, was on phone for 35minutes before they answered, so if you need to contact them they will answer but it will be a long wait
rennes99 says
One thing that doesn’t sit particularly well with me is the amount that the FOS will be due, charging £550 per complaint to Wonga, for essentially sending a few emails and not particularly managing the complaints process as efficiently as they could have done (in my opinion.)
Whilst they’ll be due the same percentage as us as an unsecured creditor, the many thousands of £550 charges owed will significantly reduce the overall pot I’d have thought!?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They don’t get paid for the cases that didn’t complete :)
And they don’t “just send a few emails”. They have to look at an individual case, get the paperwork, make a decision and write it up.
Cal says
I have a claim with wonga but have used lots of other companies over the years. What’s a good company to try and get a claim for the rest?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
do it yourself! The claims companies send exactly the same email you can, they are no faster or better at winning cases. Template over here: https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/
David says
I recently used the template to email relevant companies. All are investigating the claims. Some have asked for further supporting evidence such as dates loans were taken out however this is not mandatory. After less than a week safety net credit have accepted my valid complaint agreeing to pay out over £800 by end of month. All I sent was the template. It appears to be effective just sending the template alone.
Lynne says
That’s useful to know David. Over the years I’ve probably used every payday lender going but Wonga is the only one I’ve actually acted on in terms of trying to claw something back. Thanks Sara – I am now putting the template email together to send to all the others I’ve used!