Complaints about payday lenders soar by 80% with Wonga revealed as the worst – how to get your money back

COMPLAINTS about consumer credit, including payday loans, have risen by a whopping 80 per cent in the first six months of the year compared to the previous six months.

According to new data from complaints body the Financial Ombudsman Service, it received almost 29,500 gripes about consumer credit products between January and June 2018.

WDFC - which traded as the now defunct payday lender Wonga - was the provider with the worst record.

In the first six month of this year, the Ombudsman upheld nearly three in four complaints (72 per cent) about Wonga in favour of consumers.

The number of complaints about the lender also nearly doubled over the same time frame from 2,339 to 4,513.

Wonga has been processing thousands of compensation claims from borrowers accusing it of irresponsibly lending, targeting vulnerable customers and charging sky-high interest back in 2014.

It was these compensation claims that ultimately lead to Wonga falling into administration last month.

The Sun has contacted Wonga's administrator, Grant Thornton, for a response. It would only tell us: "The Joint Administrators of, WDFC UK Limited, confirm that they are working very closely with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to support all customers where possible during the period of the administration.

"As part of their statutory obligations, the Administrators will assess all complaints during the course of the administration so it is important that customers who believe that they have been treated unfairly and are owed some money, submit their complaint.

"Customers can submit complaints in the first instance by email to customercare@wonga.com. Normal service continues to be available through the contact centre on 0207 138 8330. Customers whose complaints are upheld will then become unsecured creditors of WDFC UK Limited (in administration).

"Given that the assets of WDFC UK Limited have yet to be sold and all claims reviewed, the Administrators cannot quantify the amounts which might be available to unsecured creditors or the timescale for such payments.

"However, the Administrators do encourage customers who feel that they are owed some money to contact Wonga using the above email address to register their complaint so that the monies that are available to unsecured creditors can be fairly allocated to agreed claimants."

When it comes to wrongly dealing with complaints, Casheuronet, which trades as Quick Quid and Pounds to Pocket, was the payday lender which gets the next most amount of complaints wrong.

The Ombudsman upheld seven in 10 (70 per cent) customer complaints about the lender, which unlike Wonga is still trading.

The provider also saw a dramatic 215 per increase in complaints, rising from 1,447 in the last six months of 2017 to 4,561 in the first half this year.

Sunny, which is the trading name of Elevate Credit International, Lending Stream, which is the trading name of Gain Credit, and The Money Shop, which is a trading name of Express Finance (Bromley Ltd) are all still in operation.

But Payday Express, which is also a trading name of Express Finance (Bromley Ltd), is no longer offering loans to new customers - existing customers need to continue repaying their loans as normal though.

For more information on Wonga, check out our guide on has the loan firm collapsed, who owns it and how do you claim compensation?

Payday lenders have been slammed for dragging their heels over mis-selling payouts.

Research has found that .

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