Picture Caption: 2013 Green Party Protest at Wonga HQ regarding concern over high charges.
Allegiant Finance Services Limited, the original dedicated payday loan claims company, has today reacted to Sky News’ report that major UK short term loan provider Wonga has been forced to the brink by payday loan claims and tighter regulation:
“It is never pleasant to hear that a UK based company is facing difficulty. However, borrowers should not make any apology for claiming back fees on loans which should never have been granted in the first place. Broadly, the issue is not that Wonga wasn’t undertaking appropriate affordability checks to begin with, but rather it had an obligation to join the dots when a borrower continued to ask for loans month after month. This repeat pattern of borrowing should have put Wonga on notice that, for many of its customers, the payday loans were being used to survive, rather than to meet a one off expense. It goes without saying these customers were very lucrative to Wonga.
We believe that the present influx of claims being experienced by Wonga and other payday lenders could well be the tip of the iceberg. Whilst it is not clear whether the news of a short term cash bail out means Wonga faces longer term issues, we would encourage any payday loan borrower who repeatedly borrowed with any payday loan lender to claim where those loans could not be be repaid without due difficulty. You can do this yourself, or use a claims company.
Importantly, it’s not immediately apparent whether Wonga or other payday lenders are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. This means that if a payday loan lender collapses, the opportunity to claim could potentially be lost forever.
We recommend that Wonga borrowers who feel that they were trapped by a need for repeat borrowing should claim as soon as possible, to be as close to the front of the queue as they can. Our claims data indicates that eligible customers see an average Wonga payout of £1,595 and we have seen customers awarded over £8,000. The suffering that these borrowers must have experienced, when already in financial hardship and as Wonga emptied their bank accounts on payday, is simply unimaginable.”
Press Note: Allegiant Finance Services Limited (www.allegiant.co.uk) is the UK’s original dedicated payday loan claims company and has been claiming payday refunds since 2013. Proud to be a new era, ethical Claims Management Company, it does not cold call, text or direct mail.