New Website To Claim For Missold Wonga Loans

Wonga was the country’s largest firm for payday loans, and went into administration following an influx of compensation claims. It is said that although no Wonga claims have yet been settled, already there are some 49,000 submissions from customers for mis-sold loans.

What Is Mis-selling?

Mis-sold loans are defined as loans that were given to those who were deemed as unable to properly afford them, or were not given all the necessary information on how much they would have to pay back.

Many of these complaints have been due to the 2014 regulation introduced by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which changed the affordability criteria for these types of loans.

Administrator Grant Thornton has stated that nothing will be done in terms of repayment until both the value of Wonga and the number of valid claims made by its staggering two million customer base has been determined.

How To Claim Online

Although a date has not been set for Thornton’s new site, it has been claimed to go live sometime this month. This new website will completely change the way Wonga customers will be able to claim for their mis-sold loans; being unable to claim by either current methods of email or phone as soon as the site goes live.

It has also been assured that all past and present customers of Wonga will be contacted as soon as the site is officially launched via both email and a national advertising campaign.

Giving You Time

Thornton claims that the website will be active until "all customers are given sufficient time to submit their claim", and all claims will be assessed through the sites tool on factors such as the following: the size of said loan in comparison to the customer’s income, length of time the loan has been held for, the amount of loans held and affordability.

The site is claimed to follow the same practices as the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) regarding mis-sold claims of payday loan. If customers disagree on the results from their claim, the case can then be put up for assessment manually on the basis that new evidence has been found.

Whilst this website should make claiming back on mis-sold loans easier, it will not speed up the process of compensation payments.  

What's Happening To Payday Loans?

The payday loan sector is shrinking quite significantly since the exit of major firms such as Wonga, The Money Shop and Wage Day Advance. The industry is shifting towards a more instalment loan model, where loans are repaid over 3,6 or 12 months giving customers more breathing space and flexibility to repay and less likelihood to get caught in a payday trap.

Elsewhere, the guarantor loan sector has grown exponentially, allowing those customers with bad credit to add a guarantor to co-sign their loan agreement, with the industry essentially picking up the slack of declined customers from the payday loan industry.