WONGA ordered to pay £2.6m Compensation for misleading Debt Collection Practices

[oleg]

Some posts in this thread so bizarre as to make the dreaded Wonga even feel like a haven of comfort - yikes!

[indebtnow]

This is not unique to Wonga. Hope the FCA will start looking at other DCA's !

 

Using this example, perhaps CAG should encourage people to bombard the FCA with complaints about unfair practice by DCA's.

 

Very much so!

 

IIRC I have a few letters from DCA's that appear to be from solicitors with names as such, but with the format, style and font of the letter exactly the same as letters from DCA's themselves, also with the same service address. Pretty sure had some letters from some of the major high street banks that are the same too.

 

I just can't understand why Wonga are getting all the bad publicity. I'm not saying they don't deserve it, but they are a small slice of the pie compared to the Banks and DCA's if they have been using the same practices, and in my view if you're going to expose one, expose them all.

[ITK]

Surely if the student loan company used the same tactics the government should treat them in the same way? It seems it's one rule for government based organisations?

[LadyLa]

Here's a shocker. Wonga is a big funder of the tories. Methinks a few secret handshakes went on with this one. One rule for you, one for them.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/top-tory-funder-runs-highcost-loans-company-8656356.html

[caro]

I'm off to meet the FCA about their enforcement activity around misleading adverts of Pay Day Lenders next week.

 

How did it go?

[renegadeimp]

Here's a shocker. Wonga is a big funder of the tories. Methinks a few secret handshakes went on with this one. One rule for you, one for them.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/top-tory-funder-runs-highcost-loans-company-8656356.html

 

Go look up who camerons business advisor is.

[filrobbo]

Need I say anymore about funny hand shakes.

[nightwalker]

Hi

 

so has anyone recieved a refund yet????

They said compensation will start at then end of july and we are now in august .

[kirstyo]

Hi

 

so has anyone recieved a refund yet????

They said compensation will start at then end of july and we are now in august .

 

I spoke to them the other day because they needed to confirm my new details and I asked them what the time frame was. He told me 8 weeks but that was only to contact everyone affected, no idea when they will actually start paying out.

[sonictheory]

Not anytime soon I expectWRONGA = STRAIGHT TAKING MONEY (and the biscuit)

[Nao]

So Wonga sent me another letter,

 

Apparently they don't even know what is going on themselves, because the initial letter had claimed I was affected by the issue, now the letter from today suddenly claims they have to get the information about my loans from back then from the company they sold the debts to first...

 

So essentially Wonga is now chasing MMF for details about a Wonga debt from years ago to figure out if I have been affected by the fake law firm letters despite having told me in writing several weeks ago that I have been affected.

 

Of course I will tell the FCA about Wongas lack of record keeping:mad2:

[fkofilee]

You whatttttttttttttt..........?

You're serious... ? The original creditor has had to go to MMF to find their records?!?

 

Some companies take the p***

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

So Wonga sent me another letter,

 

Apparently they don't even know what is going on themselves, because the initial letter had claimed I was affected by the issue, now the letter from today suddenly claims they have to get the information about my loans from back then from the company they sold the debts to first...

 

So essentially Wonga is now chasing MMF for details about a Wonga debt from years ago to figure out if I have been affected by the fake law firm letters despite having told me in writing several weeks ago that I have been affected.

 

Of course I will tell the FCA about Wongas lack of record keeping:mad2:

 

 

Hi Nao,

 

 

I suspect the FCA is aware, this is I believe an extension to the original inquiry into the allegedly fake firms.

[Nao]

I suspect the FCA is aware, this is I believe an extension to the original inquiry into the allegedly fake firms.

 

It's possible that the FCA already knows, but better safe than sorry.

 

Old letter clearly saying I have been affected:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]52851[/ATTACH]

 

New letter where they suddenly need to get info from the company they sold the debt to first:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]52852[/ATTACH]

[andrew1]

This is where the DCA's who bought debt before went so horribly wrong. When they bought the debt all the records ought to have gone to the purchaser, but they didn't, there was a deal (as happened in debt sold to Cabot) that just the basic data was supplied on a disc..Name, Address, phone number, Creditor, and amount.

 

Then you got the Chasing letters from the DCA hoping you would be scared witless into paying. Many did pay, many though, like those empowered not to do so, asked Cabot to provide the original agreement and the supporting documents to the debt. DCA went into a frenzie. They also had to pay the Original creditor for additional records under the sales agreement between them so their debt recovery teams were turned into admin staff overnight. debt recovery crashed, as did their profits (£42million in 2 yrs straight off their bottom line ) all because of debtors turning the tables.

 

Wonga now have to go searching for all this lost data they've hived off to buyers - serves them right!

 

A1

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

This is where the DCA's who bought debt before went so horribly wrong. When they bought the debt all the records ought to have gone to the purchaser, but they didn't, there was a deal (as happened in debt sold to Cabot) that just the basic data was supplied on a disc..Name, Address, phone number, Creditor, and amount.

 

Then you got the Chasing letters from the DCA hoping you would be scared witless into paying. Many did pay, many though, like those empowered not to do so, asked Cabot to provide the original agreement and the supporting documents to the debt. DCA went into a frenzie. They also had to pay the Original creditor for additional records under the sales agreement between them so their debt recovery teams were turned into admin staff overnight. debt recovery crashed, as did their profits (£42million in 2 yrs straight off their bottom line ) all because of debtors turning the tables.

 

Wonga now have to go searching for all this lost data they've hived off to buyers - serves them right!

 

A1

Data such as agreements/Ts &Cs etc have never been part of the sale package as such.

[andrew1]

Data such as agreements/Ts &Cs etc have never been part of the sale package as such.

 

Not according to some of the sales agreements I've seen, but you're probably right.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Not according to some of the sales agreements I've seen, but you're probably right.

The "Deed" of sale i.e. the "Deed of Assignment" does not even have the debtors names on it.

[citizenB]

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/payday-loan-broker-complaints-soar-draining-accounts-1461678

 

Payday Lending Complaints Rocket 168% in Two Years

 

Around 10,000 customers claim that they were misled into thinking that they were signing up for a loan, when entering their bank details, as they were unaware that they were using a broker, rather than a loan company itself.

 

The result was hundreds of pounds leaving their bank accounts before they'd even obtained a loan.

 

One of the worst examples that Fos revealed was of one woman who was charged £70 by ten different credit broking websites, which resulted in her losing £700 in the process.

 

 

[andrew1]

The "Deed" of sale i.e. the "Deed of Assignment" does not even have the debtors names on it.

 

The CD's do.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

The CD's do.

That's what is sold the "portfolio" which is what is noted in the "Deed".

[renegotiation]

This is where the DCA's who bought debt before went so horribly wrong. When they bought the debt all the records ought to have gone to the purchaser, but they didn't, there was a deal (as happened in debt sold to Cabot) that just the basic data was supplied on a disc..Name, Address, phone number, Creditor, and amount.

 

My father had a £5,000 alleged debt bought outright by Equidebt some years back, who didn't seem too bad as debt collectors go, though others may of course have had different experiences. Before Equidebt bought it it was last with Intrum Justitia, acting as Cahoot agents 'from memory', and with a couple of other Cahoot agents before that I think. He sent one of the early mobs a CCA request with the £1 fee asking for proof of the alleged debt, copy retained and sent recorded delivery, and they sneakily recorded the £1 fee as a payment towards the alleged debt. He then wrote them a letter, copy retained and sent recorded delivery, explaining that they shouldn't have done this and it certainly wasn't a payment towards the alleged debt.

 

The alleged debt eventually became statute barred, but Equidebt obviously didn't realise this. A few months before Equidebt assumed it was going to be statute barred they got a solicitor involved, a genuine legal threat I think and no 'in house' bluff, who was swiftly dispatched after receiving copies of all the relevant letters and proof of deliveries. Equidebt were not amused and I almost felt a bit sorry for them, but it wasn't my father's fault and he couldn't afford to pay.

 

As long as consumers keep good records. then it will invariably be the case that only creditors who don't are the ones who will suffer in my opinion. And yes, serves them right.

[oleg]

It's a common misconception that if you send a creditor or DCA some sort of counter-threat and they don't respond, you have sent them off. In many such cases, they would not have written again anyway. The blood curdling solicitor's letter is most often a one-off . . . including those from [the late] Equidebt's solicitors. I'm not assuming: I've seen it happen on several occasions.

 

eg Weightmans: Unless we hear from you by 4 p.m. Friday . . bla bla blaa . . .

 

And since Equid not only used real solicitors but the letters came in the solicitors' own envelopes, rather than those of the debt purchaser, I do not see this as pertinent to the question of misleading practices of the wonga type - the real subject of this thread.

 

renegot, I very much doubt that Equi would not have been supplied the agreement start date. That's a fundamental of the pro forma of debt sale portfolios.

[renegotiation]

renegot, I very much doubt that Equi would not have been supplied the agreement start date. That's a fundamental of the pro forma of debt sale portfolios.

 

Hi there, I 'think' you have misread what I wrote; unless you see the last registered payment towards an alleged debt as the agreement start date. In any event, I can assure you that Equidebt did proceed on what Intrum Justitia gave them. Real solicitor or not, they certainly would have got nowhere. Not entirely irrelevant to the topic, as it further illustrates how creditors keeping poor records can have it come back to haunt them in the future.

 

Anyhow, like you said, let us proceed with mercilessly investigating Wonga. If you wish to discuss this further, then please just pm me and I will be very happy to start a new thread.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

I have never been able to understand people not keep important documents such as credit agreements and statements.

Keeping records od ones accounts of all types is essential.