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?
Atuet says
So no emails re my redress. Telephone calls unanswered. Emails just get a standard response. My question is if i hear nothing and my claim just gets forgotten despite it being with FSO and being registered are Grant Thornton negligent? Do they have a duty of care to creditors and is missing my claim a breach of it?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
As I can’t guess what has happened I can’t really say anything except repeat the suggestion that you should email the administrators or phone them up. I don’t feel it is a good idea to do nothing and assume that if there had been an error you can later get this corrected if you are not paid your small amount. Sorry.
Fiona says
Sarah I am genuinely not being awkward but you always seem to believe that the administrators are always right. Is it not possible that with their workload they could be cutting corners. I just don’t feel it’s fair that some people are still waiting for emails. Why should they have the extra worry ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I said “I don’t feel it is a good idea to do nothing and assume that if there had been an error you can later get this corrected”
That is obviouly not assuming the admistrators are always right!
Clearly it is not fair that people are waiting for their emails. But me saying that doesn’t really help much, does it? I am just trying to suggest what people can do at the moment.
Maz says
I’ve just called waited over a hr.
But worth doing as not received my % email, I did it because Sarah advised this & glad I did as I’ll be getting ,£245.48 my mind is at rest just be patient & wait for the money now we will all get it eventually.😀✌ % emails still being sent out thr adviser told me.
Ian Lawson says
I’ve received and email today confirming my bank details have been updated. Uploaded the documents three weeks ago, so looks to me like they have a backlog still to work through.
Steve D says
I’ve done some digging and it seems that generally, bulk bacs payments can be made in batches of 25 (Ref HSBC). If this is the case and it was allowed to send a batch every minute of an 8 hour day then it would take 33 days to send all the payments due (unless they work nights and weekends – some hope!).
I’m wondering if there is a problem with the administrators finding a practical way of making all the payments they need to?
Jane says
I work in a finance department and we can upload a file to send many more than that in one go. So there is no excuse why they can’t start sending them now.
Scooby says
Totally agree, i have worked in and around finanace for years! You upload a file to the bank and it is processed! Thousands at a time, sorry 10’s of thousands at a time without even battering an eyelid!
There is no excuse for the delay in payments, or for the emails for that matter! I could send out 400,000 emails through my provider tomorrow and them all get there the same day!!
Not sure where the 25 number came from! Maybe at a push was something for a personal account maybe!
rachael says
Hi all
I have just spoken to Wonga- spoke to an extremely rude person who wouldn’t let me speak…. I get they are frustrated with the calls but come on!!
Anyway after telling him to basically let me talk he confirmed that the administrators have started to make payments. He said there is no chronological order but confirmed 3 times that payments have started.
Doesn’t really help us but its just a bit of an update
Darren says
I will not believe payments have been made until a flurry of people on here confirm this as this site has been the most reliable source of news since this whole shambles started.
rachael says
I completely agree- I just felt like he said that to get me off the phone!!!
Laura says
Started to preferred creditors so technically it’s started. Everyone is moaning about payments etc but when they got the system developed for this and the Automatic redress tool they probably didn’t anticipate a)volume b) no of changes in details. Would everyone have wanted a more efficient system that would have cost millions more to get it 4 weeks quicker? And give us even less? Come on!
James says
Hi Sara,
What are your thoughts on 3rd party companies charging their 30% fee of the minimal amounts received by Wonga. Do I stand in any position knowing that we are receiving such a small amount back from Wonga to ask them to lower their fees accordingly?
Any info would be greatly received.
James
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think that is an outrageous amount to charge for sending an email or two. PPI claims companies were forced to cap their fees at 20%, I think this should apply to affordabilty complaints to.
But legally you agree to pay this. Some may not try to collect very tiny amounts but I suspect most won’t waive or lower them all.
James says
Hi Sara,
Thanks for your quick reply, it is rather an outrageous amount I agree – and it’s plus VAT too so actually 34% of my £104 – quite laughable.
I have emailed them to see if they would consider adjusting the amount but aware that I am in a position where I have to pay it.
Never mind,
Thanks again!
Darren says
Don’t understand why everyone is becoming obsessed over BAC transfers etc and that being a possible reason payments have not been made yet, just accept that we are at the bottom of the food chain as we were when we took the stupid loans in the first place. We have all been ripped off from day one so don’t expect that to change now. I understand that the administrators have a hard job sorting this out but a little bit of compassion for those struggling most would not have gone a miss. Il be donating my £92 to a local charity that provides food on the streets for those going without as I would not be surprised if that’s what some comenters on hear have had to rely on recently due to this whole bloody shambles.
sam says
this is a forum so people are talking about the actions needing to happen by creditors, not just going on and “stupid” conversations.
good on you for donating, savior.
Darren says
Said stupid loans, never once said stupid conversations. Also not looking to be any form of “savior” would just rather give my pitence of a return to those more in need.
Charlie H says
Good job I rang them about mine. I hadn’t had a Dividend Declaration email yet so rang only to be told it was flagged as rejected. I reminded them that mine was already agreed with both Ombudsman and Wonga and also that I had had an email confirming that as well. Poor lady got quite flustered and ended up saying that she would escalate it to get the flag removed. She did however acknowledge that it was incorrect and I was due a dividend payment but I guess that accounts for why I’ve never had an email from the administrators at any point throughout the whole process if they either don’t see my claim, or disregard it because it was before their time or that it was flagged incorrectly. Don’t get me wrong, the amount Im going to receive is less that £25 now but that’s not the point. There is a principle involved and its almost like they have ignored any cases that were agreed prior to them going into administration.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well done. That is EXACTLY why it is good for people to follow up not just cross their fingers.
Ann says
I rang wonga at 5.24pm and they picked up at 5.42pm so not to bad anyway I still haven’t received my email and the lady confirmed that emails are still going out till the end of the week. She confirmed what I was getting and said payment will be made within 4 weeks from today. Hope this helpful.
Bob says
So on our % email we got told within 4 weeks from the date of the email. So I’m assuming it will be from within 4 weeks of your email. Hope we all receive payment sooner rather than later!
Lynne says
So tomorrow is a week since most of us got the email telling us how much we’ll be getting. And still no one has been paid. It’s an absolute disgrace!!
Gary says
I emailed customer service today still waiting on reply probably thousands of enquiries
Lynne says
You won’t get a reply – I sent one days ago and nothing
Anders says
People have gotten through on the phone in 20 minutes, so why wait on email?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Until yesterday the reported wait times were an hour plus…
Anna says
I feel there will suddenly be an ability to process all the payments in one go, on one day, the 28th day 😉 Reflecting on so many loans distributed the same day with ease. Rewind to ‘boot on the other foot’, hassling individuals daily, hounding them every few hours interrupting their daily lives and mental health, until their loans are repaid. I’ll never forget the day they took money from my mum’s account from an occasion where she helped me before, they kept her details and helped themselves, we were both in tears that day. So cruel, different scenario (now the little people win, well, one leg over the line! In a very slo mo!), same attitude, but that’s how they roll.
Keep your spirits up, I’m sorry for all of us, but at the end of the day, make sure you find your happiness, when you find a way to do that, no one can steal it from you. 💛 sending you love and hope for the future whatever your situation. I’m desperate for this cash, but I have to choose to not let it rule my life anymore, that’s hard when you’re desperate, you have to find a way to focus on something different that will bring you some peace and joy, much love 💕
Ian says
Yes its more of the closure now for me just want this sad state of affairs over get my money and get on with my life
Lee james says
Please sign the petition https://www.change.org/p/boris-johnson-for-the-government-to-fully-compensate-victims-of-wonga-ltd?cs_tk=AqdX4of5Qpb6PUIXN14AAXicyyvNyQEABF8BvGAr8LdqNHkEXfLlEQDTabM%3D&utm_campaign=358bd637e3024ffa9af5427bb673e77c&utm_content=initial_v0_0_1&utm_medium=email&utm_source=petition_signer_receipt_welcome&utm_term=cs
Louise says
If payments take four weeks the redress money will be sitting in the Administrator’s holding bank account, I assume earning interest, for that additional time. Does anyone know what happens to the interest earned?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The interest will be peanuts. And if goes into paying the remaining costs of the administration.
Christopher Cook says
A lot of people are on about the interest earned on the money GT are getting for delaying payments, personally I don’t know what happens to this money but someone is earning well out of this.. If you had 1 million pounds put it into a bank that pays 4% you would earn around £3,333 for that 4 week period not sure how many millions GT have in the pot but surely they have earnt some interest from the wonga pot over the past few months?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No bank pays 4%!
Any interest earned is tiny and it is all income for the Wonga, paying for the administration costs and being distributed to creditors.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am deleting any further comments about all the money that is being made in interest – this isn’t happening, it’s a myth.
Ross says
The one thing that I’m sure the bulk of us can agree on, the people that were behind these companies, should be in jail serving lengthy sentences. It’s about one removed from a money lender down the local pub. Only difference is instead of physical violence these companies use mental and psychological terror to get their exhorbitant fees back. I’m still hopeful that quite a few people will eventually find themselves paying their real debt back to society.
Isla says
I have been thinking about Wonga’s appalling business model and how they got away with it for so long without any regulation. When I was in the depths of the Wonga cycle they were taking my whole salary out of my bank account each month and I was having to borrow back as much as I could just to live. When applying for these loans, just before clicking ‘confirm’ they would often ask if I wanted to top up the loan amount I was applying for by another £95, they would also send emails mid month asking if I wanted to add extra to my loan. They were actually trying to loan me more than I earned each month. I would have ended up losing my home, car, everything I owned. Their behaviour was criminal and they should have faced criminal charges.
Dave S says
I will receive £902 from a redress amount of over £21k.
That alone is a sickener but what really galls is that i appealled for an affordiabilty claim before Wonga went bust but was told i didnt qualify.
Subsequently after Wonga going bust, i was contacted by them to say that i did. Gutted.
Jules says
Exactly the same happened to me. I made a complaint over 18 months before they went bust, was told I had no claim. Turns out my claim was 26k+. I’m getting 1100 back 😔
Stuart R says
I could do with a little bit of help and guidance if possible! I received 2 emails from Wonga to state my accepted claim value is £2.63 and I will be getting £0.11. However a solicitors I originally went through have emailed and advised my ‘full and final settlement’ from Wonga is £35.15 but there is no mention of an accepted claim value and what I will receive? I’m unsure why there’s completely different amounts
Sara (Debt Camel) says
see point (C) in the Daily Update which is at the top of the article above.
Lynne says
Another day another non payment. Honestly I am so angry.
Big C says
I want my money! Don’t understand how it’s so hard to start issuing refunds
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Some people are desperate for the money. Others are just outraged at the delay.
But discussing whether it is genuinely hard or not is pretty pointless and there is nothing you can do to speed this up.
If you are desperate for some money, please go to your local Citizens Advice for help with benefits, debts and food bank vouchers.
If you are outraged, write to your MP and say what you think About this appalling regulatory system that allowed Wonga and other payday lender to ignore rules about affordability checks for 10 years and then fails to ensure you get proper compensation. Pop your postcode in here https://www.writetothem.com/ and it makes it easy to email your MP.
Anders says
I would also say that it’s best to stop getting worked up for the money each day. Set it in your mind that it won’t come until the end of the 4 weeks, and if it doesn’t, deal with it then.
The risk Lynne and others like her have, is causing themselves to fall into depression by setting up for failure daily.
So, as well as going CAB/StepChange/Etc to help with financial hardships, look at getting some help with mental health. I got myself into depression last year over my financial issues and ended up talking to Samaritans and StepChange and both helped me immensely.
Steve D says
I, along with everyone on this forum is annoyed by the level of compensation but there is little or anything we can do about that. The real frustration is the delay in making any payments and this was caused by Grant Thornton making an estimate of a payment date in the first place. I can understand that it takes time to update whatever system they use to transfer funds after they knew the payout percentage and, to be fair, 390,000 updates is a pretty hefty number. Grant Thornton made an error by estimating a payment date in the first place and it may be good idea for them to post an honest explanation/update on this forum so that people can stop feeling the need to waste time phoning them or sending unanswered emails. I do, however wonder how concerned they are by any backlash, simply on the basis that it is highly unlikely that any previous customer of Wonga is going to be paying Grant Thornton for any of their services in the foreseeable future.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is the last comment today I publishing about the delays. Yes they are annoying. No nothing can be done about them.
Harry says
so much for being impartial. Like someone said before, you say a lot in favour of GT, but find it hard to criticise. No open debate here at all
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think I have allowed all points of view to be put, but this is a forum for practical advice so where the same things are being repeated too many times with nothing new being added I am curtailing how many are published – even where I agree with them. As I have said, I think the delays to payments are unreasonable.
Harry says
Sara
yet, but when it comes to GT announcments you take it as the way it should be, because they are a big player. 4 more weeks ok, 8 weeks oh well, 3 months what can we do. Truth is they dont give a monkey about you people in hardship
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Oh I agree :(
But there is nothing practical that anyone can do to speed up getting their payment. If there was, I would be shouting about it!
My last comment on this.
Shaun Overy says
I have signed the petition, not sure if it will any good, not goi g to go on about the delay in our payment as its been flogged to death already, do we think that after the petition anything will happen with the government moving forward
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I doubt the petition will make any difference but telling your MP might if enough people do it.
The House of Commons Treasury Select Committee looked at “the wonga victims” a year ago, when they thought there may 20,000. At that point the FCA brushed off suggestions the FSCS compensation scheme should be changed to cover payday lenders. Now it is known there are 400,000 Wonga Victims it needs to be looked at again!
There is NO chance if people don’t do anything. It will take all of 5 minutes, use https://www.writetothem.com/ which makes it simple to email your MP.
chris c says
Indeed Nicky Morgan quizzed GT on their approach and wanted them to understand they were dealing with vulnerable people as I recall, I guess they didnt get the memo?
Andy says
Yes, please everyone take 5 minutes to write a short letter to your local MP.
It is very worthwhile doing this completely regardless of what you think of their own party/viewpoints/anything else. You are their constituent so are quite within your rights to contact them with your concerns.
I would suggest not to “ramble on” too much just keep your letter sensible, relatively short and to the point.
There is enough information at the top of the page for the basic facts and you could also explain your own “situation” if you wanted to as well perhaps (keep that to a very brief basic outline if you are though) if they wanted more detail they will ask.
Lastly the letter itself please keep it polite and in all cases avoid harsh and bad language. As annoyed as you might be it is not their direct fault but they have at least some power to do something about it or make noises in Parliament on the right direction.
Good luck! :)
stephen f says
i emailed my mp on the day it got released about the 4.3 percent , just got a reply saying it has been passed on to jeff smith
Jodie says
I now got off the phone to wonga line was really bad , but only had to wait 20 mins to talk to some one he didn’t tell me what I would be getting but did say if you haven’t received your email everyone should of done so by Friday because they can only send out so many emails per day , hope this helps anyone
Steven says
It is certainly frustrating having all these delays however if anyone on here is desperate for the Wonga payment because they are reliant on it, or they are struggling financially – I would recommend looking for alternative help.
A small Wonga dividend may help you in the short term, but if your finances are in turmoil, this will not help you long term.
Someone gave me similar advise a while back – its the best thing I have done. No longer going paycheck to paycheck and so reliant on things like this to survive.
Laura says
Absolutely true! I’m glad the delay comments are being stopped. Everyone is annoyed, many of us waiting years for this. Myself since 2017 but if people really need that cash to get by this month what happens next? And the one after? Been there myself but if that situation applies and from a lot of commenters it does, take the delay as breathing space to take the advice on this page and address your financial issues and go forward. This Page literally turned my life around and it can do for you if you take the advice. Thanks again Sara for all your hard work and dedicating your own time to help us.
Melissa says
I would just like to echo what some have said already, use this waiting time for the dividend to confront financial problems. A few quid from wonga isn’t going to change your life.
This time 18 months ago I was in a bad place – I was suffocated by debts. I hid letters and I lied to my family to avoid dealing with the situation. I hit rock bottom when a debt collector came to my door and my 7 year old son offered me his piggy bank after hearing the conversation.
The best thing I ever did was
1. Open the Letters and make a list of my debt
2. Tell someone about it (I told my husband)
After this, I felt in control again. I emailed everyone I owed money to and explained to them my situation and set up payment plans that I could afford. Surprisingly, every company was really understanding, some even removed default charges and interest.
You can use step change or another charity to do the same (I chose not to, as I wanted to slay some personal demons).
I’m now nearly debt free and I feel like a different person. I didn’t realise how much my mood and behaviour was being dictated from the stress of debt until I wasn’t running from it.
Tim says
That’s amazing to hear – well done, I can’t imagine it was easy. So glad you are happy and in a better place now :)
Tom says
I’d not received any emails at all since my claim acceptance email in October 2019. I called up yesterday, only on hold for 15 minutes and the lady I spoke to confirmed I was getting a payout and also confirmed the amount I’d be getting.
For those who haven’t received emails it’s worth ringing up (as advised by Sara) to put your mind at rest.
Thanks
Tom
Andy says
Two sets of thanks:
1. Thanks Sara not just for the site in general but for having the daily update to this at the top of the page so people can quickly read the summaries without having to dig for them. It is very handy.
2. Another thanks to posters with their progress / responses they have told us about too along in some cases with specifics about their case. Does help the community spirit i think to read these. No one here is alone! I actually thought mine was one of the lowest but upon reading it seems a fair few have less so I paused for reflection on that.
Mark says
Is it still possible to get Wonga entries on my credit file removed?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The administrators will be removing the entries for the loans that are being refunded.
Mark says
Unfortunately, I have only just discovered it was possible to make a claim today. I appreciate it would not be possible to start a claim for refund of money but I was hoping I may still be able to contact the administrators with a view to having my credit file entries deleted. Do you know if it’s too late for me to do this or would it still be possible?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am pretty sure the administrators will refuse to look at this – they are only changing credit record when someone had a claim accepted.
Andy says
Hi Mark,
Sorry to read you were only recently aware of this.
I would probably sadly agree with Sara that they won’t be able to help.
However there does not appear to be much for you to lose by a telephone call to ask them! I’m just basing this on the ” if you don’t ask you don’t get ” school of thought. I think it is a free number too although the wait times can be very long sometimes, see others comments on that. Allow an hour or so.
If by some rare chance they do say “yes” then good news. If as likely they say “no” then you are really no worse off than you were before.
Good luck :)
Laura says
Also just to add the administrators actually contacted people who, they themselves identified as would have a valid claim. So if you were not contacted it maybe is that your claim wouldn’t have been valid anyway .I know that’s probably not what you wanted to hear, sorry!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
no, they contacted everyone on the borrower database. Many didn’t receive the emails as they went to an old address or into spam.
Colin says
I see Grant Thornton are involved in the Quick Quid administration as well. Smashing.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I’m hoping they have learned a lot from this one!
Andrew C says
I had the same thought when I saw that Grant Thornton were appointed to the QuickQuid job. If they reuse the automated tool they have developed to calculate Wonga redress compensation, it could mean that the QQ adminstration is quicker and cheaper (i.e. without the costs of developing the automated tool from scratch). Let’s hope so. :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They can use the same principles, but it will probably have to be a new program as it has to read QQ’s databases. And cope with QQ/PTP/Onstride. may be more complex than Wonga.
Matt says
I think it’d be a good idea if everybody on here wrote to their local MP regarding the payout. Is there a template email that anybody has sent already that people could use? You’d get more people to send emails if it was just a case of copy and paste to an email and send it off to the relevant MP using https://www.writetothem.com/
Dani says
I’ve written an email, just stating how I feel about the regulatory system, mentioning abut ppi being covered but not payday loans, how payday loan companies have ignored rules for 10 years etc
Matt says
Would you kindly post a few bullet points for people to use. I feel more people would send an email if it was so easy to do. That petition has over a thousand signatures on it, surely if we can get emails sent by even 10% of those people we might actually be heard!
Brad says
Yes I agree, if someone can post a template I will pass this onto our MP as well.
S W says
Ok, so here’s the salient points from my email to my MP. Feel free to copy/paste.
[Edited – I hope you don’t mind SW but I have added a few bits in! Thanks for doing this, Sara]
Wonga knowingly mis-sold people loans that they could not afford, without carrying out the checks the OFT and later the FCA said they should.
They charged exorbitant fees and interest on loans that were clearly and specifically targeted at people who were, and still are vulnerable and desperate, including myself.
They then ceased trading and went into administration because they couldn’t afford to pay refunds to people who complained.
The accountants Grant Thornton have now evaluated whether people have valid claims and have decided that accepted more than 400,000 Wonga customers should be paid compensation.
Finally, to add further insult to injury there is not enough money to pay this redress so we are only getting 4.3% in the £. And they are even making us wait another 4 weeks for payment.
If a PPI firm went bust (like Welcome Finance did) the people owed a refund would get it paid in full by the FSCS. But the FCA has not changed the FSCS to cover lenders, so the regulator has let us down badly.
You may also want to add (which I forgot!):
Wonga put pressure on people to repay these mis-sold loans even when they couldn’t afford to pay.
They also created false law firms and debt collection agents to scare people into paying when they couldn’t afford to.
Hope this helps.
Brad says
Legend! Thank you, I’ll get this across to my MP now :-D
S W says
Hi Sara,
No problem. That looks great.
Denise says
Hi,
I have been contacting Wonga everyday by email since 29/01/2020, when I received stating that i would getting a payment of £97.92.
I sent them another email chasing may payment 2 minutes later an email message came through stating that Wonga has now blocked my email address!! This doesn’t bode well for them, for just making a simple enquiry, I will be using my other email address.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
what have you been asking them about? Do you think the £97 isn’t correct?
Denise says
I was asking them as to what date and when I would be receiving my payment. I like alot of people was expecting around 10% of a £2,985.30 claim, instead of 4.3%.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
realistically they aren’t going to tell you a specific date. I know this is annoying but they aren’t. There is no point in emailing them every day to ask.
steph says
They stated in the e mail that we would receive payment within four weeks, why would you bother chasing it they will only keep telling you the same thing.
Matthew says
I had my claim accepted (nearly £10k). I have still not received the 4.3% email telling me how much I will get. I have emailed Wonga (no reply). Finally got through on the phone today. The customer service advisor told me that they are not in contact with the administrators so she could not tell me when if ever I will get the email which makes me wonder whether I will ever get paid. May go to a solicitor to try to resolve this.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
As you will get about 3400 back, paying a solicitor isn’t worthwhile. All i can do is sugget you call again tomorrow and hopefully get someone more helpful :(
Jags says
Their offices are in London would people be open to organizing something and going down there? Wanna see what they have to say in person.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
See who? I have no idea where the administrators are based, they have offices all over the place.
Francesca says
Hi all,
I’m super confused received all the emails except the final one confirming the amount to be paid. I called today to chase and the lady said she will resend the email. 2 minutes later…
The Joint Administrators have assessed your claim and none of your loan(s) have been accepted as eligible for redress. Your claim has therefore been rejected in full.
Yet last week they sent the email asking for my bank details. I really don’t understand. Has anyone else had the same thing?
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you had an email telling your claim was accepted, saying which loans are in it and saying what they calculated the redress at?
Francesca says
Hi Sara,
I could have sworn I did and it was around £600ish but I can’t for the life of me find it now.
Why would they email asking for my bank details last week if I had been rejected? So confusing
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I agree that seems odd, but you will be in a much stronger position to complain if you can find that email where they upheld your complaint.
Heather says
Hi not Wonga related seen a few comments about Morses club on here rang today to put a compliant in but have been told by Morses that because the dept has been passed to Lowell they have to deal with the compliant anyone else had this and any idea what to do as Lowell don’t seem to have a clue what I’m on about and are being quite rude
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ask Morses to put that in writing as you will be sending your complaint to FOS.
Heather says
Should it be Morses that deal with it because they issued the loan and Lowell are just collecting Lowell have now logged a complaint but seems a bit strange to me that it’s with them not morse
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is Morses. You are complaining to Morses that they missold you the loans. Lowells won’t know anything about it. It’s good to tell Lowell that you are complaining to Morses, but it is Morses hpwho has to reply and if they refuse you take a case against Morses to the Financial Ombudsman.
Heather says
Ok thank you
Matthew says
It’s not really about the money any more. I should get around £400. I’m really annoyed that they haven’t sent the email to tell me how much I will get and even more annoyed that they fob people onto customer services who don’t have the info to help which is wasted time waiting for someone e to answer the phone. It really is insult to injury.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I agree, but it would still not be sensible to waste money paying a solicitor.
Pete says
Hi I am a little confused as to where the stutory 8% was included it seems as though it has been included within the accepted claim amount. But after being offered a smaller amount of 4.3p in the pound, it seems as though the statutory amount of 8% and been diluted to 4.3p also. Isn’t this against my statutory rights?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No. The 8% refund all has to come from the pot so you get 4.3% of that too.
Pete says
Weel that seem to be very unfair as even our statutory rights have been diluted by this. Its terrible that the government has allowed this to happen. Thanks Sara.
rdk says
Uploaded amended bank details on 15/1/2020 and have just received an email this afternoon to say they have been updated.
Sarah says
Same here done last week, now had same email but no link 🤷♀️
john h says
Hi Sara
Just want to thank you on your advise and hard work. Recieved an email from piggybank due another 1300 accepted claim after my 3600 / 153 amount from wonga. I have a few others to get back to me and some i havent approached because this site has helped me realise when i havent been protected although i didnt protect myself as well
Im sure everyone has their reasons why we have used these companies and these were a last resort for myself and so many. Ive seen comments in many platforms were people say well you shouldnt have used them and im glad these people have never had tough times by the sound of it but these companies have overlooked the information available to them and the information they held personally and in any financial situation they too have a duty of care to protect people using their services
I have read every comment on here and so many comments sum up how im sure most of us felt and still may feel and just wanted to say i wish everyone the best in the future. Although we havent got the results we all deserve lets hope that the next generation of people dont have to go through the same pain and as a father this is all i can take from it because the rest of it has been hard.
Chris says
Hi mate. Piggybank are in administration now too. You’ll only get a few % of any agreed amount now, and even then it’ll prob take months to get the cash. Sorry.
john h says
yes pal i only got the claim amount i know fine well with the wonga situation what that amount above likely turn into but in the plus side that is minus a 320 outstanding balance that has been wiped out. Although id love the amounts we deserve they are coming off the files and 1 by 1 these companies are dissolving just hoping some good news come back from the companies still operating
Dee says
Evening All…
Still no response from my MP, John McDonnell.
The petition has just reached 1300 with no publicity. It’s literally been people reposting in forums or me messaging people on twitter who have ranted about Wonga or sympathised with what we have experienced. Savvy dad has posted in the updates in his forum which has helped too.
If anyone is from Newcastle area, the local newspaper there would be willing to discuss your Wonga complaint and publish the petition to gain some more support.
Appreciate some may feel a petition doesn’t do anything, however, I just want a proper response from government for us all at least.
https://www.change.org/p/boris-johnson-for-the-government-to-fully-compensate-victims-of-wonga-ltd
Jwnni says
I emailed No 10 :)
Mark says
Hi
Just want to say thanks Sarah for your work on here. I was also in a bad situation but through help from people such as you this has now turned around. I have also started my complaints against these pay company’s and got my second redress today from safety net credit.
Thanks Mark
Glenn says
I’m a little confused can someone help. I have the email saying I will be receiving my 4.3% (my claim was around £9,200 so I’m getting back about £420) should I be receiving more? Should I be contacting them about it ?
Lynne says
No Glenn it’s a ‘first and final dividend’. They’ve gone bust. You’ll have to accept it. I know it’s hard trust me. I was owed £13K.
Matt says
Don’t sit there and accept it Lynne. Scroll a few comments up and email your MP
Lynne says
I don’t have the energy Matt, this whole process has sucked the life out of me and made me quite ill, emotionally.
Matt says
Fair enough Lynne, I hope you get better soon.
Anders says
The best that can happen is that they put more checks and balances in to prevent this happening again.
It will not get us any more payout. Just in case you, or anyone reading your post might think that and get false hope.
ik says
No bloody email from them.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
have you phoned them?
Ik says
I did I was on phone for an hour..but no answer so I hung up the phone
Sara (Debt Camel) says
try again tomorrow- times seem to have improved.
LynJ says
Christians against Poverty provide not only financial management (aka debt) support, but also emotional support. You don’t need to be Christian or of any other religion/faith to access their support.
Bec says
Sara, will the Wonga loans that are being removed from our credit files improve our credit scores ? Even if they are over 5 years old ? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That depends what the rest of your credit record looks like. Any loans that had late payments of a default, obviously removing those will help. Loans over 6 years old may no longer be on there at all
Bec says
Thank you. Can you also help me with another query, I put a complaint in about QuickQuid via resolver before they went into admin. And as it took so long to reply, I never got a final response from them, I escalated it to the financial obudsman, who said as they are now in admin they couldn’t do anything basically. I can’t find a portal to make a claim directly to QQ & I rang up & the woman couldn’t say if I had a claim / complaint as I’d made it via resolver. Just wondering where to go from here ? How do I make sure I’ve got a claim / are there any online portals? Have also emailed but had no reply & the other email address wouldn’t allow me to send my email.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The claim portal page is expected to go live in a couple of months. Come back and check then, at the moment there are few details known.
Susan B says
I emailed my MP, will let you know the reply but at least I feel I have done something positive
Lisa Round says
After sending an e mail on Saturday I’ve today received this reply from Ellesmere Port MP, Justin Madders,
Hi Lisa
Thank you for your email and for sharing your experience, I understand that following Wonga’s collapse, their administrators contacted those who had been mis-sold loans to advise that compensation was due. It was my understanding that the letters did include a comment stating that it was unlikely that the actual compensation figure would be received, did yours say this?
I am aware that the administrators have now calculated what money can be paid which has resulted in customers only receiving 4.3% of the compensation due. I can appreciate your position, the situation really isn’t fair and we still need greater regulations for short term loans. The APR payable is criminal and is praying on those who are already financially vulnerable. Unfortunately, the FCA do not cover payday loans which is why you are not covered by the compensation scheme although, I would support this being changed, it is unlikely that any changes would be retrospective. I will look for opportunities to raise your experience in Parliament as it really is abhorrent how you were treated by Wonga and now with the loss of 95.7% of the compensation you were owed, the situation is clearly incredibly unfair.
Kind regards
Justin
Laura says
Good he took the time to respond
I actually despise the use of the term compensation in this context because it misleads others who don’t know the situation. It’s not compensation it’s our own money we paid back in mis_sold loans and interest and fees!!,Compensation just sounds like we have all been down some naff law firm feeling hard done too, in my opinion.
James says
Where has the template letter to send to mp gone? Thanks
Anders says
It’s on a previous page of comments, click on ‘Older Comments’ down the bottom and then scroll through the comments to find it. :)
EDIT – here is the link https://debtcamel.co.uk/wonga-has-stopped-issuing-loans/comment-page-33/#comment-344706
Mark Quinn says
I was quoted £1800 but obviously il only get £74 roughly.
Whats really really angered me isnt the amount its how its been done why didnt they ask for all forms to be filled in and only reply with what we actually getting with the details of what happened..
To get people’s hope up is just the worse way to do it. I know it said wel have less but any human wouldn’t have guessdd it be so bad and would naturally have that hope of that first quote in they minds
This is disgusting way to treat people it does feel like the last dig they could have…
Shame on them
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Legally they had to tell you the assessed value of your claim because you had the right to appeal it.
Gary says
wrote to my mp he said nothing could be done and pointed me in the way off step change they dont seem bothered not to worry i have a feeling we will be waiting months
Andy says
That’s a bit disappointing to hear, sorry you got that kind of response. It will by human nature be a bit of a “mixed bag” of receptivity to it I guess.
Some will unfortunately have that erm “attitude” to it but despite (a lot I could say about them but I’ll hold my tongue) I do honestly think a majority of them will be more sympathetic generally and respond in a positive manner due to being slightly more “in touch” with real life.
That is how I read it, without wanting to generalise I am sure if the issue had effected them or close friends or family then it would not be beyond fsntasy to say they would be a bit more interested.
I do -not- think you wasted your time at all though, look at it this way despite that MP bit even saying they would raise the issues etc, I suspect if/when other constituents write with the same concern they just might just take a bit more notice.
Ben says
From my MP Peter Kyle in Brighton:
Thank you for getting in touch with me. I’m sorry to hear about how you’ve been treated by Wonga and I’m utterly appalled by the totally inadequate sum you’ve been offered in redress – this must be extremely disappointing. The exploitation of vulnerable people in our society by immoral companies like Wonga makes me incredibly angry and I want you to know that my labour colleagues and I are fighting for justice.
My labour colleague Chris Bryant spoke in parliament last week to raise this issue of the deeply unjust compensation payments. He said: “Wonga mid-sold millions worth of debt to lots of very poor people up & down the country. It was forced to pay compensation to those people, but now, because the company has gone bust, the average amount of money that people are going to get is just 4.2% of that compensation. In other words, if they were meant to get £1,800 they are going to get £72. Surely that is unfair. Should not the government set up a compensation scheme to meet the full figures now?”
Jacob Rees-Morg, the leader of the House of Commons, unfortunately gave a very disappointing answer: “with all these matters relating to government expenditure, there is limited taxpayers money – the government cannot pay for everything, and it will be a question of priorities as to whether this compensation is paid or whether money goes to other deserving and important causes. There is not unlimited money available”.
Andy says
Thanks for posting that.
I do agree there is not quite infinite money but had the regulators not sat on their hands and the government oversees them , the buck must likely rest with them.
Without wanting to generalise rest assured had the victims been different along with the situation (not going these two changes here) pennies would quite likely be found and/or a scheme would be set up.
It is still not impossible for something to happen though but if it does it will be slow.
Please those reading if you have not written a quick letter to your MP give it a bit of thought, it only takes a couple of minutes and there is information to use on this and previousl pages as well as info in the summaries at the top of the page.
Vanessa says
I wish my MP had replied something like that, so far I am a bit disappointed with her reply which said that she cannot do anything for me if I would like to remain anonymous, the only thing she can do is ask Wonga when my refund will be issued but I explained that it is the administrators paying not Wonga. Anyway she did try to call me so will call back on my day off next week and report the outcome! Let’s see but at least we are raising awareness
SK says
My MP has not replied yet. He must be very busy dealing with other more important matters, Mr Jeremy Hunt…
Lynne says
Guys it’s driving my crazy jeep checking my bank account. I’ll just keep looking on here to see when someone posts that the funds are there. Good luck.
Anders says
Stop looking at it daily. Set a reminder to check on 28th February, it should be there. Only then, if it’s not, call them, and maybe come back to these comments.
Trust me, you’ll feel better, than driving yourself crazy frantically refreshing this site and your account.
If you’re that desperate for the cash, then speak to CAB, Payplan to help you sort your finances out.
Or speak to CAP who can help with that and provide emotional support, as the posts you’ve made, I think they’ll help you, as they helped me and others that have posted on here.
Jay says
Hello,
I received an email to say my claim was accepted. When reading into this I was advised that my default on my account would be amended. However by the look of the accepted loan this was still outstanding and wonga advised a “remaining loan balance potentially due to Wonga is £352.14’ however following this when trying to settle the balance they told me that they were no longer accepting payments.
I wasn’t made aware of this by any means necessary. I have tried contacting wonga via phone and I have been advised that my loan will remain on my credit file from 6 years the default was recorded.
I just don’t understand that this could be the case as I was told my credit file would be amended etc.
I have tried contacting them via email multiple times a day for the past week and I have had no luck…
Has anyone had any joy? Or could advise me further. Thank you in advance.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I will try to find out.
Kyle says
Really need some clarification on this
I was due 600 or 800 I can’t remember the exact amount now .
I was approved for a claim before they went bust(never accepted it) and went to ombudsman due to the 6 year issue
Now I’m getting a payout of 69.23 of a claim of £1606.07
My question is this. Is my loan “settled” as the paying covered the balance due?
I know you say it won’t be written off but as the compensation claim was more than the balance due(even though payout was less) does this settle it.
Iv worked hard to fix my credit file and want this gone
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Kyle,
You are being quoted 4.3% of £1606.
But what is the balance owed on the outstanding loan? Have you looked at your credit record, what does it say? And what is the default date on that debt?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Jay,
When you had an email to say your claim was accepted it should have listed the loans that were being refunded. Was the loan with a balance outstanding one of those?
Roy says
A claims firm emailed me my invoice for them 30% and thy think I will expect my payment in one to two weeks ???
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They may be guessing, don’t bank on having the money until it arrives!
Charlotte says
Sarah, Are you really on our side? It’s just that the fact that you are not allowing any more negative comments about the administrators make me feel that this is not really an open forum.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes I am, 100%.
And I gave allowed a wide variety of views to be expressed.
But I am deleting most posts that refer to the administrators making a lot if interest from the payment delay because it simply isn’t happening.
And I am deleting most posts complaining about the delay, saying when your were told it would be in January, asking if people have been paid yet, saying it is now the 6th day you haven’t been paid, talking about how if is hard/easy to make hundreds of thousands of payments etc etc. Because they have all been said many times and there is nothing you can do to speed this up. If you are outraged, email your MP.
I also delete posts criticising other people.
I hope your refund arrives soon!
Usha says
Hello Debt Camel,
Referring to point C you made for your update on the 5th of February, I personally received the first e-mail about receive 4.3% and the amount I will receive. But I did not receive the second email. Should have I? What should I do if I did not receive it?
Thanks,
Usha D.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you got the email about getting 4.3% of the amount you were expecting then there was probably no second email. Only a small number of people should have had 2.
If your email was about 4.3% of a different amount – often much smaller – then that was not about your redress for unaffordable loans and you should also have had another email about that.
N Blythe says
Hi
Just confirming above, I had an email. Saying total claim £4.73, amount due 20p!
Just called them and the have confirmed a second email was due, and that this figure is in addition to my claim
Margaret Moore says
We received our e mail from Wonga on the 31st January
We are still waiting for our huge payment of £32 (original payment should have been £750)
We were told from previous e mails that payment would be made by the end of January (not in February) just out of curiosity if the money available to pay all these people is left in a bank account somewhere (45 million is it)
How much interest every day / week would this be earning for these Wonga customers????
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is earning very little interest, this is a myth. Any further comments today about this will not be published.
Jonathan says
Hi, I am still yet to receive my 4.3% email and don’t have the time to call due to work through the week. Is anyone else still waiting for theirs? And has there been any news if they are still going out in batches
Jayce says
Just recieved the email confirming bank details this morning, just some info for anyone that’s waiting for the same email, they’re still going out
Ian says
15 mins to get through now
Anders says
Try and make the effort to call, if you’ve not had the email, as others on these comments that haven’t had the 4.3% email and we’re told their 4.3% and some were told their claim was rejected (in error) after already having one that said it was accepted and got that error rectified.
As some have said, that the wait times are down to 15-20 minutes.
Don’t just sit and hope it’ll all be ok.
Also, batches Is third hand information, so I’d only care about sorting the email out and then seeing when people start posting that they’ve received the payout Don’t plan on it being there before the end of the 4 weeks, so as not to drive yourself crazy refreshing your bank balance daily.
Lucy says
I’ve got an email from wonga saying I’m due £264 original claim £6181 so yes disappointed wish I had done it before they went bust. but I haven’t owed wonga money for years I never put in a claim they came to me I never would have thought to do it so anything is better than nothing. I have had lots of successful claims using this site. About 10 loans paid off and over 2000 pounds in refunds. The relief is priceless as debts keep me awake at nights and the refunds have been a big bonus. And my credit rating is slowly on the rise due to removal on these bad debts. Just wanted to say thank you a massive thank you
Gilly says
Hi Sara
Could you help with a query please? I accepted a settlement offer of £1703.42 from Wonga just a few days before they went into administration, so obviously it wasn’t paid and I’ve joined the list of unsecured creditors. I was then told to submit my claim through the portal, which I did, and my claim was rejected. I appealed, saying Wonga had already accepted the unafforability and on 26.11.19 I received an email to say the rejection was an error and the offer of £1702.42 was correct. Since then I’ve heard nothing – no declaration of dividend or email asking for bank details. I’ve sent several emails to them asking what’s happening but have not received a response. I rang Wonga this morning and was told my claim is showing as rejected! I explained all this to them and the call handler said if it had been accepted then I just need to wait to hear from the administrators. I know creditors are only receiving a tiny % of the accepted claim, but I want to make sure I receive my 4.3% and am now worried it won’t be paid. Do you have any suggestions please? Many thanks.
Charlie H says
I had the same problem and exact same issue. I told them I wanted it escalated to get the rejected flag removed. I would suggest you do the same. I also recommend that you keep chasing it and get them to email confirmation of the change once they have done it. If you don’t, I can pretty much guarantee, you wont get any dividend payment. I’ve been there with other PDL people and they will drag their feet with it. Having chased mine this morning from the escalation point on Tuesday, it still hasn’t been done and I suspect it will take a week. But as I said, don’t take their word for it you’ll still get paid because until that rejected flag is removed, you wont. Good luck :)
Gilly says
Thanks Charlie, I really appreciate that info.
Gilly says
Just a quick update: I spoke with Wonga today (50 minute wait) and asked for this to be escalated. Now I have to wait for an email from the administrators apparently.
Gilly says
Another update: I telephoned Grant Thornton yesterday and received a call from them today. I have emailed the info to them which they will forward to Wonga. For anyone else in the same position as me, ie claim accepted but not received dividend declaration notice, I endorse Sara’s advice at the top of this page to contact the administrators URGENTLY
Nadine Smith says
Hi,
How do I go about contacting the administrators is it just through their website.
I’m in same position claim accepted but no dividend email yet
Thanks
Nadine
Gilly says
Yes Nadine, I rang the GT office near me and was put through to the relevant person. Left a voicemail and had a call back the following day from a really helpful woman. I emailed her the acceptance letter and received the 4.3% letter and link for bank details from Wonga within half an hour. Hope that helps :)
Andy says
Hi Sara. I have been defaulted by wonga some time ago and was owing £450, in November 2019 they offered me to pay £150 as final payment and they will close my file. I agreed to pay and cleared this amount in first days of December 2019. I am not claiming anything from them, just wanted my file status change from default to settled, but now is February 2020 and it is still showing £300 to be paid and status defaulted, this is annoys me so much, why it takes so long just to update my file. Could you advise me please what is a best way of action now?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The administrtors are planning to delete all the refunded loans from peoples credit records in the next 5 weeks. They may correct your credit record as a part of this process.
Chris M says
Hi Sara,
in my original email about my compensation, and that I was entitled to 2,300 , an outstanding amount was set off against that of 500.00, so my final cash compensation should have been about 1800.00 – I presume this 500 is being written off?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Your £500 loan has been repaid with the first part of your 2,300 redress, this is a “set off”. It may feel like it is being “written off” to you but actually it is being paid from your redress.
If your balance was much larger, say £3000 then this would have been reduced by your 2,300 redress to 700.
If you have a balance left at the end of this, the £700 in that second example, that remaining balance is not being written off.
Tmc says
Hi all
Can anyone help with my query, I took a load of PDL out with Wonga when I had a really badly paying job, I would lend one month pay it back and lend again. Wonga declined my claim, so I appealed and said I was missold as I wasn’t in a position to pay back, they’ve contacted me for up to date bank details, does this mean they will be paying me (a very very low amount I know) ? I’m honestly more bothered about getting the 15 loans taken off my credit file ?
Andy says
I would have to say it may be an idea to call them (I would in this situation) to at least get clarity and remove any uncertainty on if they have got your new correct bank details etc and/or if nothing is due then what they are doing with your credit record.
The call is afaik free but it may take a long time, does apparently seem better now but sensibility allow an hour.
The deletion of the mark(s) related to Wonga on the credit file are (depends on viewpoint I guess) potentially “worth more” than a tiny payout.
All the best.
Ian says
I was on 15 mins then they answered this mornin so not too bad helpfull as well
Gilly says
I was waiting 11 minutes this morning, so not so bad
Rachel says
Hi Sara did I read earlier that we can claim a tax refund or did I just dream that?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I now have the answer from the administrators.
“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.”
So translating this:
1) the administrators are not taking off any tax
2) there will therefore be no tax for anyone to have to reclaim
3) no one will have to pay any tax on this even if you are a higher rate tax payer and the amounts don’t have to be declared if you complete an annual tax return eg if you are self employed.
There is only one exception here and it is VERY SMALL:
“Where the distribution paid by the administrators exceeds the interest and fees claimed by a customer, the remainder is a payment of statutory interest, therefore tax at 20% should be withheld from that element of the payment. This scenario impacts only a very small percentage of the creditor population… the administrators will separately communicate with these creditors following payment of the dividend.”
No-one should worry that they may come into this exception or what happens if you do. You will be told about this.
Diane says
Just adds insult to injury when you see the final divident statement and that the admistrators ‘costs’ were 2.2million…. along with over 29k in expenses which was more than half of the payment allocated to customer refunds (45k) and the 1.9 million they are retaining for future costs. Wonder what they could be now the company has gone under… it doesnt even mention the staff pay… and they are still working there but probable wont get paid. What a joke. The guy who owns this company should be ashamed of himself. All that money he had out of people and then just walks away from it scott free. And yes the figures i have mentioned are already in the public domain so can be freely published.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
All the staff are being paid in full. Including notice period, holiday pay etc.
The remaining cost of the administration including correcting all your credit records, filing necessary reports and various legal essentials in closing down a company.
Russell says
Hi, im not too sure exactly what this means but am i due to be paid an extra £403.01 on top of the redress claim or are they just saying we tried to pay you back but couldnt and now you wont get it?
You will receive a payment of £122.56. This payment represents 4.3p in the £ on the agreed claim value of £2843.10 (Accepted Claim Value) which is made up as follows:
1) £2440.09 (Accepted redress claim value)
2) £403.01 (Credit balance owing as at 31 August 2018)
Note: Company records indicate that you were owed £403.01 by the Company as at 31 August 2018, making you an unsecured creditor in the administration. The amount owing to you is due to either an overpayment of a loan prior to the appointment of the Joint Administrators, or a remediation/compensation payment which the Company attempted to pay you prior to the appointment of the Joint Administrators that failed to reach you. The amount owing to you as at 31 August 2018 is unrelated to your redress claim.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You will be paid £122.56.
This is made up of 4.3% of the extra £403 which you probably knew nothing about. PLUS the 4.3% of your redress claim £2440 which you were probably told about before.
Russell says
Haha ok fair enough. Thank you, they didnt try too hard to pay back the £403 but nevermind. Ill just wait for the £122, not much but better than a kick in the teeth.
Steven says
Here is what I don’t understand, and it’s hopefully slightly different from the “I’ve not been paid” email.
At the moment it appears no one has been paid. The reason given for the payment being within 4 weeks due to the “volume of dividend payments”
If this is the case, wouldn’t you expect to see a portion of this volume being paid over time. For example, all names A-E being paid this week…
Surely if it transpires everyone gets paid in the last few days of the 4 week period, doesn’t that suggest that the stated reason of volume is incorrect?
Paul says
I get frustrated reading Sara’s reply about the delay in payments, almost defending them. Saying people are desperate for money. The point is, they emailed and quite cleatly stated payments would be made at the end of January. This hasn’t happened, they’ve moved the goal posts and they should at least gave acknowledged this and may be apologised for the delay. It’s not desperation, it’s principle.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Paul, Steven,
I am just being practical in saying that all this speculation about why payments were delayed and when they will arrive is pointless.
They said “As a result of the volume of dividend payments due to customers/creditors, you will receive your payment within four weeks of this email. ”
They did not say they were unable to make all the payments in a few days so they would be spreading them over several weeks. That is what people have been guessing.
Yes, there could have been better communication but it isn’t the job of the administrators to run a friendly information service.
There is now a clear date. Don’t plan on getting paid before the end of the 28 days and as they said it may be longer if you have changed your bank account.
Anyone who is desperate for the money now, please talk to a debt adviser: https://debtcamel.co.uk/more-information/where-to-get-help/. If you go to your local Citizens Advice or GP you may be able to get a food bank voucher.
Anders says
It’s not a matter of them just paying people, the processing of the payments in administration is heavily monitored/regulated, to ensure the payments are the right amount, to the right people. They’re pretty much triple checked. (Source – me as I work in the industry)
Also, as evidenced, they’re still processing all the people that updated bank details.
I’d not expect anyone to start seeing payments until the end of next week, at the earliest.
jane says
Well I e-mailed the joint administrators again this morning asking for some communication on when payment might be. Gobsmacked I even got a reply as I sent it to the 3 partners listed as joint administrators. Doesn’t really tell me anything I didn’t know so going to forget about it now. It will come when it comes.
Reply below.
Dear Jane,
Your email has been forward to me as I am one of team working on the administration of WDFC UK Limited (in administration).
I apologise that you feel as though you have not been communicated to adequately and really do understand your frustration with your dividend payment.
Unfortunately, the four-week timing for payments is due to the volume of payments that is being made, as well as the processes that we are required to follow. We therefore cannot give you an exact timing as to when you will receive your payment within these four weeks.
If you have not received your payment by 28 February, please do come back to us as it may be that your payment has bounced.
Ian says
Just emailed grant thornton askin when payments will be made said upto 4 weeks from when you receive refund email if you dont receive your refund get in contact after the 28th your payment may have “bounced”
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So this is a consistent response. There is no point in other people asking the same question..
Simon Dack says
I havent heard a thing since my partially accepted claim in September.
I have emailed them 5 times and they dont reply.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It may be fine, but if you want to be sure you could phone them and ask.
Simon Dack says
1 hr 3 seconds still no answer
Laura says
Just had the email that my account details have been successfully updated so they must still be working on this. Was random because I’ve never changed any details but claimed to hold no details anyway the uploading was successful as I know a lot of people were worried they didn’t get any confirmation. Neither did I until now
Matthew says
I was told that my claim had been accepted at nearly £10k but didn’t receive the 4.3% email. Emails and phone calls to Wonga were hopeless for me. I filled in a general contact form on the Grant Thornton website and got a reply a few days later apologising about the email and confirming that I will be receiving the 4.3% by end of Feb. I was quite impressed by their response. The Wonga customer services are hopeless. Hope this helps anyone that might be in the same situation.
Steven says
I really question their competence. Having previously told us payments by end of Jan, they subsequently emailed to say within four weeks of the date of this email (sent just before 6pm on 31st Jan). Now they’re saying 28th Feb yet the date at four weeks from 31st Jan is 27th Feb and “within” would rather suggest before 6pm on that date which for practical reasons would arguably mean the latest date they could make the payment would mean the last persons cleared balance ought to be in their account at the start of the banking business day on this date. Unless they intend to make the payment via CHAPS which really would suggest they were squandering their administrative slice.
Given the profile of this whole fiasco, will / should an audit of the administrators be undertaken and made public?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
In my view – and I write as someone who spends a lot of time telling people they have been unfairly treated and should complain about it – there has been nothing really wrong with the administration and in many respects it has been conducted well from the point of view of people owed refunds for irresponsible lending.
Yes the administration fees are high and they are paid in full. I understand why people find this annoying but it is what always happens.
The communications could have been better. But administrators have a job to do and running a consumer-friendly communications service about progress is not part of it.
Some people are really desperate for the payouts. If you are one if them, I suggest you talk to a debt adviser who can help with your whole financial situation. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/more-information/where-to-get-help/ for good places to get help.
If not, then I think you should step back, get some perspective and stop worrying about whether you are getting paid on 28 of February or by 6pm on the 27th.
I am not going to be publishing any more arguments about this today. There are people here who need answers to practical questions.
Garry F says
Well said sara its over now we made the wrong decision usiing these companies we all knew in our hearts ftom day one we would be crapped on again accept it now and more on
Anders says
The did originally say end of January, back in August but then they updated in early January, and in that email they changed to say they’d let us know our first and final dividend figure by end of January, which they then did with an eta of payment. Like anyone in a job, they had a target something obviously didn’t go as smoothly as planned and revised the target date. We’re not the only people due money from Wonga, some people seem not to realise that.
The contradictory information from calling up is likely due to the Wonga call centre saying that without facts (probably going off script to try and appease callers), but GT are the ones controlling the payments out of Wonga’s accounts, and are reliant on using Wonga’s call centre staff. So we just have to wait, and has been said many times, do not plan for it to be there before 28th February.
Now, if it’s not there by the end of February, then we can start looking to make a formal complaint about the administrators, and I will be one of the first to do so.
If the regulations were different, this would be covered by the FCSC and we would more than likely get the full amount, but as this isn’t the case, we’re treated the same as other unsecured creditors that are due money from Wonga, pretty much, and nothing more can be done about that. All we can hope and campaign for is that PDL and similar type of companies, get stricter regulation and that FSCS is expanded to cover all types of lending.