Please help Wonga & Overdraft Huge Problem

[chammy1]

More than 3 months ago I took out a small £400 loan because I was having some trouble, but very small trouble compared to now. For first loan went OK, and I paid it off with my paycheck. I was expecting check but it did not come in time so I really needed to take out other loan from wonga because I didnt have money one week after paycheck because I spent lots of it paying off the first loan. I heard of this problem before though, so I thought I would try to get out of taking out more loans by making a 1 week loan to minimize expenses. My paycheck came in 1 week. It was a BAD idea

 

Because wonga charge me same day as I get paycheck, but it must do it earlier or something, because bank says I did overdraft. This is where disaster happened. My bank charges me more than £30 on overdraft, and Wonga is £30! Make matters worse I remember gas was really expensive and I needed some so I bought, before I knew I was overdraft. I have to ask wonga for more money to cover the late fee and overdraft. I take out loan for £1000 to cover everything and pay rent. Next payday, I realize if I pay Wonga then I will have no money remaining. I need to extend loan and I apply but it is too slow another overdraft. Each day in overdraft bank is charging more £10 and I cant spend on anything and I need gas again. Wonga balance is at more than £100. I tried to get loan from family, nobody would take. Wonga finally extended loan but overdraft already happened. I had to take out loan from Payday UK for £1000.

 

Next payday I come and deposit check but right away sucked up into overdraft. Bank says unless I pay them back they will close account. Only other option is payday financial for £750 and only for normal expenses. I have no money for anything.

 

A week ago I get last paycheck. It was all gone the moment I got it. I got loan £750 from Payday express but only to avoid overdraft on Payday UK. Got payday financial to extend, but only another 15 days, and had to pay all fees. Wonga charge comes in later and puts me back in overdraft again, losing £10 I don't even have to pay each day. So I have to go back to payday UK and get another.

 

I get a call from Wonga saying that I need to pay back at least all interest I owe from this day forward and that they give me 2 weeks like I requested and they still couldn't even withdraw all interest. I told them that I was doing my best. I spent nothing but absolute necessity for 2 weeks. I skipped meals even. Rent is due and also mobile phone bill. This week I get check and right away I'm into overdraft. Here is what I owe.

 

Payday express: £997

Payday financial: £1002.50

Payday UK: £1299.50

Wonga: £1480 (this is current balance)

 

I don't have any money and I just got paid, account is in overdraft. Late on rent. Just 2 weeks ago I paid Wonga more than £200. I called Wonga to say to freeze interest they said that I needed to pay them at least the £200 interest each week and then my balance won't go up any more. Just from the interest from the loans I will have no money left from my paycheck and my balances will still go up. I finally broke when I drive to get gas today and it rejected my card so I must be really bad overdraft too. And wonga still wont freeze interest. What can I do?

[renegadeimp]

I dont have time to fully help you atm ( hopefully others will)but please make sure you pay your rent. Open a new bank account elsewhere and get your money into there. Deal with the overdraft later.

 

Your main priority is to get your wages secured and keep the roof above your head.

 

Get in touch with another banking group that does basic accounts such as the coop. Meanwhile get a stern letter into your bank and tell them to cancel all transactions including any CPA's relating to those companies.

 

 

My main priority, if i were you, would be to get another bank account open with a different banking group and get your wages paid in there asap. Then do NOT give that bank info out to anyone.

[chammy1]

how will other bank account help with rent? I was getting calls from Payday UK a couple of days ago that said that I haven't completed single payment to them. They said that they thought that I was trying switch banks and doing so before paying back anything shows that I opened loan with no intention to pay it back. I am afraid of them because they wouldnt accept my last request until I finally gave them many more things than normally needed for Payday loan. They kept on denying me so I called them up and said I really needed money and I'd give it back next paycheck. I said that I would pay them back first but they wouldn't believe me, so I even made them post dated check which they dont even want normally. I would have paid them off first too except the other companies took my money out before I could even do anything. It is like they knew when I deposited and took everything out the moment it was available. Now payday UK is saying that I intentionally defrauded them so I dont think I can switch banks.

[biggeorge]

Good advice in post above, You really need to get a new account or at least get wages paid into an account none of the payday lenders know about.

 

Rent, Gas/Electricity and food are your priorities and fuel for your car if its the only transport to and from work.

 

I would personally do this plan of action:

 

1: Get wages into new account or someones account for now.

2: CPA Letter to your bank to cancel all transactions including any and all CPA's relating to those companies. (Do a search I think there is a template in the library)

3: Write to each company explaining financial difficulties, Ask for interest to be stopped and a payment arrangement,

Work out what you can afford after you have taken care of your immediate priorities, Even if its only £5 to each

4: Overdraft, write to the bank explaining your financial difficulties and ask for the overdraft fees to be stopped and ask for a

repayment arrangement.

 

The most important step is to stop these companies helping themselves to your funds as soon as they come in, Get a new account now

or ask a family member if you can use there account while you sort your own out or waiting for new account details.

 

It is a good idea if you can take the CPA letter to your bank and get a receipt and then follow that up with a copy sent via recorded delivery,

Any payments then made by the bank must be repaid back as it will be an unauthorized transaction.

 

George

 

P.S

 

Ignore what payday UK is saying about you intentionally defrauding them, They want their pound of flesh, Letter to them with repayment offer of what you can afford

and not what they say you must pay will show you have full intention to prepay what you borrowed.

[renegadeimp]

Other bank account helps because your money will be secure and enable you to pay your high priority bills. Remember, anything that isnt a court debt, rent/mortgage or secured loan on your home is LOW priority and can be dealt with later.

[chammy1]

How long do you think it would take to create a new bank account then? I am afraid but will try it because I am all out of the other options. What am I going to do in the mean time, I have no money to pay my rent or to do anything. My entire paycheck was gone in a minute thanks to these crooks I didnt even get a chance to buy gas.

[chammy1]

I was just called by Wonga first thing in the morning, when the hell do these people sleep its like they just suck up money 24 hours a day 7 days a week. First I got this really rude bastard who told me that if I switched banks I would be [problem]ming them, the debt is attached to the person not the bank account. He said if I didn't pay he'd make sure that my credit score got so low that nobody would ever give me a different bank account. I sort of hung up when I got really mad. But I realized I probably needed to talk to them so I called them back. Luckily I got this guy the next time who was actually pretty reasonable. I told him my situation and how the other guy treated me he said that it was not acceptable behavior for somebody at Wonga. I told him that I was in debt to several other payday loans. He told me that my current Wonga balance was almost $1500. He said that by my next payday, I'd owe about $1650 to Wonga. He said that Wonga isn't a payday loan site. He said that Wonga charges 1% interest daily while the other payday loan sites worked differently by charging a fee for the advance. He said that as long as I eventually paid back those lenders then as long as I talked them I would be OK. He said that due to Wonga's daily interest it would be a bad idea to delay Wonga's payments because then future payments would be even more.

 

I asked how much he wanted to prevent that. At first he told me that it would normally be £250 because they charge 1% interest each day. I told him there was no way I could afford that but that's better than him charging $1650 as that would just bounce. Finally he said that he would waive to the late payment and extension fees Wonga had charged previously as I continued to pay. That meant about £200 which is still massively unreasonable. It got even worse when he said that all the charges and all associated interest on those charges and the interest on that interest would come back if I missed just one payment. I don't know what I am going to do. I told him that his company's terms were hugely unfair. You charge me £200 for what was just a £400 loan in the first place? He said if I had just paid him back on time the first time I would have had just to pay £46. He said if there was any other company that offered loans for cheaper than Wonga because Wonga's terms were so unfair, I should just go to that lender and borrow from them, and use that to pay of the Wonga debt.

 

Now I'm trapped. I have no money for 2 weeks and even if I get through that I would have to pay £200. If I scrimped and saved maybe I could meet it. Also hopefully I'll finally get a check that's now about 4 months late to help out a bit. Another option would be an auto title loan, I can't find one here that will accept my car but my cousin in the USA is willing to help. She offered to help me out with a $1000 auto tile loan on her car as long as I did my best to help her meet the interest payments. Auto title loans cost a fraction of what Wonga is trying to charge. Maybe doing it through my cousin would be the best way out of this hole, or at least to pay off some of the other payday loans I need to pay off.

[biggeorge]

Look in the library for the CPA cancellation letter for your bank and get it into you bank a.s.a.p.

 

You really need to get a new bank account a.s.a.p to make sure your funds/wages are safe, Check online for a basic bank account most banks now offer one.

Get any future wages/payments moved from your account that the payday loans companies have, this then puts you in the position of strength

and they can't dictate to you how much you need to pay.

 

You have to stop telling them about changing bank accounts when on the phone as they will just raid your account that they have as soon as they think funds are available

which is why you need to send in the letter to the bank to stop all CPA on your account, if they at least then do get any funds you can claim it back from the bank

 

Once you have your funds safe you need to write recorded delivery to each one explaining your in financial difficulties and can only afford

£x (what ever you have left from wages after paying priority bills) and need the interest stopped and any charges removed.

 

Obtaining another loan to pay off a loan is a no no, If anything use the funds to pay your rent up to date, get some gas/food etc..

 

George

 

P.S

 

Once you have secured your funds (new or different bank account) you need to stop talking to any of them on the phone and keep

everything in writing, If they phone up just refuse to go through any security checks and ask for everything to be put in writing.

If you have an Android mobile phone a very good application on the market is " call recorder" it will record all your calls so you have a record

of what is said on the phone.

[renegadeimp]

Never call them. Ever. If they call yoy, just hang up. They know the call isn't being recorded so they will say anything to get you to give them money. Theyre called legal loan sharks for a reason.

 

In regards to a bank account, some banks set them up on the phone and give you the sortcode and account number there and then

[chammy1]

Thank you for your help. I was at first very hesitant to try to get new bank account. But now I understand that even if what Wonga told me is true the other payday loan companies are going to suck me dry if I don't switch banks. Plus, I'm not going to ever be able to pay off this overdraft unless the bank stops it. They are charging me over 10 pounds a day in overdraft charges. I sent message to bank telling them to please wait and stop charging me, but they are still charging me and no response back. . I cant afford to deposit my paycheck into the bank anyway because lots of it would be missing because my account balance is so far negative. So I'm trying to open Barclays checking account I heard they are most reasonable.

 

Good news I talked to landlord and it looks OK. I told him I am getting title loan money from cousin soon. I also pawned some things and am trying to sell some old stuff to help me out also.

[renegadeimp]

Try the coop for a bank. Too many horror stories with barclays.

[Bombaymix]

As always. Some brilliant advice on this thread from some of the regulars.

 

It's been explained step by step what you should do.

 

The "reasonable" guy you spoke to at wonga was no better than the first guy you spoke to.... He should never have encouraged you to take out another loan to pay off a loan.

 

Your situation isn't as bad as you think. It seems like a major problem because of some of the conversations you've had with these muppets on the phone.

 

Despite what they say you haven't committed any acts of fraud. It's an unfortunate situation that you were forced into. You're not alone. A lot of us showed up here with upto 10 different payday loan debts and come out of it all unscathed on the other side.

 

I am not sure that your cousin getting a loan for you is a great idea.

 

Maybe you could ask your employer for a small salary advance? £100 or so to see you through until payday?

 

If you follow all the advice you've been given so far, on your next payday your funds will be yours again and not eaten by payday loan charges and overdraft fees.

 

Plenty of banks offer basic accounts. If you feel that you won't be able to set up an account in time for your next payday. Get in touch with payroll at work and ask them to pay your salary into a different account? Maybe a family member or a friends account. You don't have to go into full detail with anybody. Just tell them that your having a few problems with your bank and are in the process of getting a new account.

 

That's the plan of action then.

 

If your phone rings and its one of the company's you've listed. Be as nice or as horrible as you feel at the time. "I'm sorry, I'm not able to deal with this matter on the phone, please put anything you want to say in writing" and then hang up. Do NOT answer any of their security questions and simply hang up. If they call back, repeat the process. They can't force you to speak to them on the phone.

 

Payday loan debts and ridiculous overdraft fees are low priority. Your main priority is rent, council tax, utilities, car and grocerys. The payday loan vultures are right down there at the very bottom of the list.

 

Remember. Your debts are just numbers on a screen to these companies. Nobody is personally upset that you haven't paid them back as much as these people would like you to believe.

 

It was reported on the news last night that Wonga are making a million pounds profit a week... The amount you owe them is a drop in the ocean.

 

Once you've secured your finances you can come back here for help. We will guide you step by step in what to say to these companies in order to achieve reasonable affordable repayment plans.

 

Despite what they've told you... They CAN freeze interest and refrain from adding any more charges. They've told you otherwise purely to try and distort a little more money from you.

 

Hope this helps to reassure you a little.

 

Kind regards

 

BM

[chammy1]

Since I last posted the bloody payday loan companies have called me about a thousand times each every day, and they call from different numbers each time, not the same number each time. It is extremely annoying, and I must at least say that Wonga has only called me once more, and it did not seem to be for collection purposes but instead to ask me for some odd confirmation. I told them nicely to contact me via email in the future and they haven't called me any more (they didn't send me any email, either).

 

I asked my employer for a salary advance but he wouldn't do it. He did consent to writing the check in such a way that my cousin may cash it for me, though, as an added bonus that way my cousin will have access to it in case an urgent payment is needed to be made. I really needed the loan as I had no money until my next payday none at all and I was out of gas and behind on all of my bills. There was no other way and these aren't like payday loans they charge more reasoning interest.

 

What I really need help with right now is what to say to these other companies to stop calling and texting me as it is becoming absurd. Will I eventually have to pay off all debt and all interest to all of these companies no matter what? When you say you come out unscathed from 10 payday debts, what does this mean?

[chammy1]

The auto title loan was much much larger than I had hoped for. My cousin didnt tell me but I got almost £1500 and is even offering to pay the interest for a while. I also am using a friends bank since I couldnt get another one myself he even gave me some money i needed to live before the money came. I got paycheck yesterday which I gave to him, worried though because the name on the account is wrong. That isnt going to cause a problem is it? I told my job that it needed to go to different account but they didnt do anything.

 

If that works that leaves me with an actual good amount of money for next week, about £500 of my auto title loan money is still left over and also my paycheck is coming. The problem is that a couple weeks ago I was apparently stupid enough to tell Payday UK I took out loan to pay off Wonga loan. Somehow Payday UK told Wonga and now they are both on my case accusing me of fraud. Wonga says that the intent to pay back contract means that I need to pay them back as well since they were a old debt when I took one from Payday UK. Payday UK says I should transfer my debt with them back to Wonga if I cant make payment of 299.50. Should I transfer and how should I do it? I looked at Payday UK and Wonga and Wonga 1% interest rate is half as much as Payday UK 299.50 fee. How can I transfer?