[arista]

The payday lender is to pay compensation to borrowers it tried to cheat by threatening them with fictional lawyers.

Wonga say sorry


http://news.sky.com/story/1288984/wo...-legal-threats

[Toy Soldier]

They might want to look at every company ever in history, including every major bank, credit card company, credit-purchase store, utility supplier... oh plus local government (council tax) too. Because they ALL do this.

[arista]

[Kizzy]

Loans companies really have a strangle hold on this country atm, I'm so glad their bad practice is damaging the 'cuddly' image ruthless wonga have.

[Shaun]

agreed, Kizzy. They shouldn't be allowed to operate. It's literally extortion.

[billy123]

If i remember rightly David Cameron's lead advisor left government to lobby for Wonga because Wonga weren't happy with new regulations that were due to be enforced that would restrict the amount of interest they were allowed to charge and wanted someone to work for them to try and find a compromise.

Cameron's ex-advisor managed to set up meetings with government officials to discuss the matter. The limitations that were due to come into effect limiting the amount of interest Wonga would be able to charge were scrapped at these meetings and amazingly this all happened at the same time the government decided to scrap crisis loans which were a means tested interest free loan that could be given to people on benefits and in desperate need and repaid out of their benefit payments at a reasonable rate.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/poli...for-Wonga.html

The scrapping of crisis loans forced the most poor and vunerable into the hands of companys like Wonga who with their new found freedom to charge whatever interest they wanted and lack of duty of care to who they would loan it to ****ing lapped it up, I dont doubt Camerons ex lead advisor Jonathan Luff was paid a very handsome fee for his work.

Infact it just so happens on of the biggest shareholders in Wonga Adrian Beecroft has donated a lovely figure of £593,000 to the Conservative party in party funds. The Beecroft rabbithole goes a lot deeper he was invited to compile a report for the torys with recommendation's for employment rights which were so outlandish they had to reject them although they did implement the one week wait before anyone unemployed was allowed to apply for benefits something Beecroft called Wonga week
http://www.mirror.co.uk/night-copy/w...million-830110

Its enough to make you physically sick it really is criminal.

[Nedusa]

Disgusting Company set up to exploit poor people in times of austerity and recession.

Fronted by amusing and cuddly adverts with a catchy tune, this Company is anything but that.

They have tried to create an atmosphere of professionalism and respect but they are just Moneylenders plain and simple. With extortionate interest rates running into 4 figures ie 1,500% p.a they are leeches bloodsuckers like vultures feeding on the weak and decrepid they feed of the poorest and most vulnerable people in society.

Now we see how they treat their victims (sorry customers) by scamming or conning them into thinking the Baliffs are coming round and legal actions have been started.

Disgusting company.......Hope people will wake up and boycott these types of payday loan companies.




.

[Kizzy]

They then suggested Adrian Beecroft, a venture capitalist – whose investments include the controversial high-interest pay-day lender Wonga – and a Conservative donor

Nuff said.


http://www.theguardian.com/politics/...port-criticism

[Vicky.]

We are sorry

Dear Lily

As you may have already read or heard in the press, following an announcement by the Financial Conduct Authority we have issued a public apology. We are identifying the customers affected by a historical debt collection issue and certain system errors.

Following our internal investigations, we can confirm you have not been affected by the debt collection issue. You do not need to do anything but please read this email carefully.

Historical debt collection issues

Between 2008 and 2010, we sent out letters to 44,556 customers claiming to be from companies “Barker & Lowe” and “Chainey, D’Amato & Shannon”. These letters were in fact from Wonga. They gave the misleading impression that customers’ outstanding debts had been passed on to a law firm (or other third party) with the threat of adverse consequences if the debts were not repaid quickly. Charges were added to some customer accounts as a result of this practice.

This practice was unacceptable and should never have happened. It ran contrary to the principle of transparency on which our business has been built.

System errors

Following an internal investigation we have also identified certain system errors, which resulted in the miscalculation of some customers’ balances. Some customers overpaid Wonga whilst a greater number underpaid, with the majority of those customers who overpaid Wonga, overpaying by less than £5.

All known balance calculation issues have been addressed. For existing customers, where they have overpaid Wonga this will be repaid with interest and those who underpaid Wonga will not be asked to pay the shortfall.

We are in the process of identifying the customers who have been affected by these system errors. We will be in touch directly with all customers who have experienced financial loss as a result of these errors.

Our apology

We apologise unreservedly to all of our customers. Although you may not be directly affected by these issues, we are working hard to do the right thing and earn back your trust.

Our priority now is to work with the Financial Conduct Authority, our regulator, to agree a redress programme which will ensure affected customers are appropriately compensated.

For further information on these issues visit wonga.com/apology or call us directly on our freephone number, 0800 840 0836 or national call rate number, 0333 005 0836 to speak to our customer service team.

Yours,

Tim Weller
Interim CEO, Wonga Group

The email they are sending their customers...

So along with the fake debt collection..'errors' in collecting payments. I don't believe for a second that the majority of customers underpaid...or that those who overpaid did so by £5 or less

[Shaun]

the church of england invested in this!???????????

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by Shaun

the church of england invested in this!???????????

That was credit union wasn't it?

[Shaun]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28257351

The Church of England has ended its investment in the payday lender Wonga.

The move ends an embarrassing situation for the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who last year pledged to try to put Wonga out of business by helping credit unions compete with it.

It later emerged that the Church had indirectly invested about £75,000 in Wonga through an investment fund.

The archbishop reacted by saying he was "embarrassed" and "irritated" by the link.

The Church Commissioners for England, which deals with the Church's investments, announced on Thursday that it had made a number of ethical investment changes, including tightening their investment restrictions for direct investments, and would announce new controls on indirect investments later in the year.

A spokesman added: "We no longer have any financial or any other interest in Wonga."

[Kizzy]

They can't be held responsible for indirect funding, how do you know that money in your bank acc isn't funding some questionable practice?

[Northern Monkey]

Good,Evil bastards.They pray on the vulnerable and ruin lives.How they're aloud to add those interest rates is dispicable.