Wonga claims settled for less
Yesterday will now be known as #WongaWednesday for many of us who have been waiting months for news of the final payout. It was with much dismay, that it was confirmed that we are going to receive 43p for every £ owed. Not only that. Despite being made to think that final payments would be made at the end of January. We were all told that final payments would be made within another 4-week period.
The administrators confirmed that these payments are a first and final dividend totalling £23,090,071.32, representing 4.3p in £ on agreed creditor claims of £535,636,017.75.
A sum of £1,923,225.62 has been retained to wind down the company, pay for the insolvency process and their fees.
Highlights from the report in 2021 state that:
A first and final dividend totalling £23,090,071, representing 4.3p in £ on total agreed creditor claims
of £535,636,018 was declared on 29 January 2020
The Administrators wound down the collection process on 20 December 2019 having collected
£23.8 million
o The Administrators received and acknowledged 576,085 Redress Claims to
30 September 2019 (the close of the claims submission period) of which 401,206 were eligible
for redress
o A first and final dividend was declared on 29 January 2020
o The dividend payment process was instigated in February 2020 and as of the date of this
report 99.4% of payments have been attempted
Following the initial rounds of dividend payments to Redress Creditors, it is apparent that 42,000 of
payments have failed or bounced. Where payment has been attempted but failed or bounced, the
Administrators will contact the creditor in order to obtain the correct bank account details and the
payment will be reprocessed.
Following the dividend declaration, a sum of £1,923,226 was retained for the specific purpose of
discharging unpaid operational costs
Important update about your Wonga Claim
I have included the email which was sent out to everyone yesterday. As you can see my claim was valued at £2,190.44. Yet I am only going to receive £94.42 from the original claim.
Dear Marie Ellis
Case Number: xxxxxx
Third Party Reference:
WDFC UK Limited – In Administration (the Company)
The Joint Administrators are now in a position to declare a first and final dividend of 4.3p in the £.
You will receive a payment of £94.42. Your payment represents 4.3p in the £ on your agreed claim value of £2,190.44.
Please note, if you are represented by a CMC/Third Party and have provided us with instructions that your CMC/Third Party representative should be paid on your behalf, the above amount will be paid to your CMC/Third Party representative directly.
As you will be aware from previous correspondence to you, the payment you will receive is significantly smaller than your Accepted Claim Value. This is because the total value of all accepted claims for customers/creditors significantly exceeds the money available to be shared out.
As per our previous assessment email, we have also taken steps to update your credit file in accordance with the outcome of your assessment. All credit file updates in association with this claim should be completed within approximately 45 days of this correspondence.
If you are being represented by a CMC/Third Party, a copy of this email has been sent to your CMC/Third Party representative.
When will I receive my final dividend payment?
As a result of the volume of dividend payments due to customers/creditors, you will receive your payment within four weeks of this email. Please note that if you have recently provided your bank detail updates to the Customer Care team, your payment may take longer to receive while your updates are processed.
The Wonga Customer Care team are no longer able to accept any bank detail updates. If you do not receive your payment within four weeks, please contact the Wonga Customer Care team using the details provided below.
For more information in relation to the dividend payment, please visit our FAQs.
If you have any urgent queries that are not answered by our FAQs, please contact the Wonga Customer Care Centre at customercare@wonga.com or on 020 7138 8330.
It is important to note that the Customer Care team will be experiencing higher than usual volumes of calls and emails. Therefore it may take them longer to respond.
A copy of the Joint Administrators’ receipts and payments account to date and dividend disclosure can be found by accessing the link below:
Link: Joint Administrators’ receipts and payments account and dividend disclosure
Yours sincerely
for and on behalf of WDFC UK Limited
The Joint Administrators
wonga.com
customercare@wonga.com
Have Wonga customers been let down?
It was back in 1994 that the FCA (Financial Authority) first started the crackdown on loans, deemed to be unaffordable. Yet, I was able to take out loans in 2011. So many people just like me got ourselves into the payday loan trap. Taking out more and more loans, at a higher rate within a short period of time. How could they be allowed to get away with it for so long?
The Financial Ombudsman is unable to uphold or intervene in any complaints due to the nature of the administration process. Similarly, due to the fact that this is a consumer credit agreement, the FSCS does not cover claims either.
Payout within 4 weeks
It was with mixed feelings that many people received the information sent out from the administrators 29th January 2020. We were all led to believe that payments would hit our accounts at the end of this month. To be told it would be another 4 weeks or so of waiting was another kick in the teeth. What’s more, whilst we were all pessimistic about the amount we would receive back. Noting the demand from other claimants and that there is only a finite amount of money to be distributed. It didn’t seem very much.
Grant Thornton administrators
Last year we were notified that Wonga had gone into administration and that we had a limited amount of time to make a claim against the company. Grant Thornton communicated this process as administrators for the company. Many people, including myself, felt that they could have communicated more frequently towards the end of the month and clarified next steps.
‘The Joint Administrators have declared a first and final dividend. This is being communicated to all successful creditors on 29 January and payment of the dividend will be completed within a four-week period thereafter. Please note that the dividend you will receive will be significantly smaller than your claim amount.’
Breakdown of costs
Unfortunately, the final payments also didn’t sit well with us recipients when we saw this account. A significant amount of money is swallowed up by the administrator’s fees and expenses. The message they leave on the website leaves a rather bad taste in the mouth.
‘…you will only receive a percentage of the accepted claim value. However, the Joint Administrators have worked to maximise monies available to pay to unsecured creditors.’
Additional information from Administrators in relation to The insolvency of Wonga
There will be no prescribed part of floating charge assets to be set aside for the benefit of unsecured creditors under Section 176A of the Insolvency Act 1986, as there is no floating charge creditor.
No provisions have been made for unsettled claims.
A sum of £1,923,225.62 has been retained for the specific purpose of discharging:
- operational and employee expenses in completing the wind-down of the Company’s operations
- operational and employee expenses in maintaining the Wonga Customer Care team to assist with customer related
queries following the first and final dividend to creditors of the Company - other wind down and closure costs, including the Joint Administrators’ fees
This is a first and final dividend of £23,090,071.32, representing 4.3p in £ on agreed creditor claims of £535,636,017.75.
No further dividends are expected to be paid to the Company’s creditors
Read how you also might be able to claim your tax back.