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Wonga borrowers have ONE day left to submit payday loan mis-selling claims – here’s how to do it


WONGA borrowers have just ONE day left to claim compensation for extortionate loans, so we’ve rounded-up everything you need to know about submitting a complaint.

The payday lender went into administration in August 2018 after being dogged by mis-selling complaints.

 Wonga borrowers only have until the end of today to submit payday loan mis-selling claims

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Wonga borrowers only have until the end of today to submit payday loan mis-selling claimsCredit: Alamy

At the time, 24,000 people had requested redress for unfairly high borrowing, which typically sees lenders have to repay interest and charges on loans that shouldn’t have been dished out.

But anyone who believes they have been mis-sold a Wonga loan and hasn’t applied for a refund needs to do so by 11.59 today (September 30).

The now defunct lender’s administrator, Grant Thornton, set a deadline back in May so it could fairly divide up any cash that was left to pay people owed money.

If you miss the deadline, you won’t be able to apply anymore and you won’t get any compensation for mis-selling.

Compensation isn’t guaranteed for everyone that asks for it, of course, but you will be added to the list of creditors that are owed money if you have a valid claim.

If you’ve already submitted a claim for compensation, don’t worry because the deadline won’t impact your application.

How do I claim compensation?

Grant Thornton has set up an online portal to make claiming for Wonga loans super easy.

All you need to do is provide your name and address, which will be checked against Wonga’s database.

The application will only take a few minutes.

How to check if you were mis-sold a payday loan

YOU can claim compensation from a payday lender if the loan was unaffordable, even if you’ve finished paying it off.

Before a lender gives you a loan, it has to check whether you are able to pay it back.

For a payday loan to be affordable, you had to be able to pay it back the following month as well as pay your other bills and debts.

The loan was unaffordable if:

  • you often rolled loans or borrowed again soon after repaying a loan;
  • your loans from a lender were increasing in size;
  • some repayments were late; or
  • the loan was a significant part of your income.

Ask the lender for a copy of your loan details, such as when you took it out and how much interest you paid.

Compare it to your bank statements from the time you took it out and work out if you would have been able to pay back the loan after you paid your bills.

If you couldn’t, you may be able to submit a compensation claim.

All valid claims will be assessed automatically by the tool, which Grant Thornton says will give more people redress than if the firm had to sort through applications manually.

If you don’t have a computer, you can contact Wonga to request a hard copy of the complaints form – although bear in mind that this may now miss the deadline.

How much will I get in compensation?

Grant Thornton will assess claims based on the size of the loan in relation to your reported income, how long a loan was held for, and how many loans an individual had.

It will also consider other indicators of affordability, such as whether you got behind on loan repayments.

One dad we spoke to was refunded more than £3,750, including interest and late payment fees, after he was given a £600 loan he couldn’t afford to repay.

But the administrator warns that people may receive less than they hoped for.

This is because lots of people have applied for refunds and there isn’t enough money to pay all the claims in full that have been submitted.

It’s too early to know exactly how much you might get, and Grant Thornton says cash will go to all successful claimants at the same time.

Payments are expected to be made within four months of submitting a claim, with a final possible payout date of January 30 2020.

 

Fellow payday lender Wageday Advance left former borrowers disgusted when it was revealed they’d only get back up to 5p per £1 owed.

WageDayAdvance and Juo have also set payday loan claims deadlines – here’s what you need to know.

But beware of payday loan reclaim firms that “rip-off” customers by taking almost HALF of refunds.

The Sun’s Stop the Credit Rip-off campaign wants to put an end to extortionate credit deals


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