Wonga has been ordered to pay compensation of over £2.6 million after it sent threatening letters to customers from non-existent law firms.
45,000 Wonga debtors were contacted by two fake firms, Barker and Lowe Legal Recoveries and Chainey, D'Amato & Shannon (who sound more like a gang of strippers). The letters gave the impression that the firms or another third party had taken ownership of the customer's debt from Wonga. They also threatened legal action if the recipients failed to pay up. In some instances Wonga even added extra charges to the sums owed to cover its costs preparing the bogus letters.
Wonga could have just instructed actual lawyers, but it doesn't seem to like them very much. When it was mocked for threatening the creator of a parody advert which showed a Wonga puppet in debtor's prison, it blamed its own in-house legal team and branded them "soulless".
The Financial Conduct Authority said the fake letters, which were sent between 2008 and 2010, constituted "unfair and misleading debt collection practices" and that Wonga was guilty of exarcerbating "an already difficult situation", presumably referring to the carousel of despair created by 5853% APR. Wonga must repay its customers around £400,000 for the fees it charged to send them the letters and £50 to each victim for "distress and inconvenience".
Wonga's interim chairman Tim Weller said, "What did you expect, even our ads show us jerking our customers around on strings We apologise unreservedly...The practice was unacceptable and we voluntarily ceased it four years ago".
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45,000 Wonga debtors were contacted by two fake firms, Barker and Lowe Legal Recoveries and Chainey, D'Amato & Shannon (who sound more like a gang of strippers). The letters gave the impression that the firms or another third party had taken ownership of the customer's debt from Wonga. They also threatened legal action if the recipients failed to pay up. In some instances Wonga even added extra charges to the sums owed to cover its costs preparing the bogus letters.
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Wonga could have just instructed actual lawyers, but it doesn't seem to like them very much. When it was mocked for threatening the creator of a parody advert which showed a Wonga puppet in debtor's prison, it blamed its own in-house legal team and branded them "soulless".
The Financial Conduct Authority said the fake letters, which were sent between 2008 and 2010, constituted "unfair and misleading debt collection practices" and that Wonga was guilty of exarcerbating "an already difficult situation", presumably referring to the carousel of despair created by 5853% APR. Wonga must repay its customers around £400,000 for the fees it charged to send them the letters and £50 to each victim for "distress and inconvenience".
Wonga's interim chairman Tim Weller said, "
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