Key facts
Wonga ceased trading in August 2018. The figures below describe the business as it operated and the outcome of the administration that followed.
Administrators: Grant Thornton UK LLP. Around 358,000 claimants shared a final dividend totalling approximately 23 million pounds, equivalent to 4.3 pence in the pound on agreed creditor claims of approximately 535 million pounds. Source: Grant Thornton Wonga Administration; FCA press release, August 2018.
Timeline
The firm's twelve-year UK trading history compressed into the events that defined it. Each milestone is sourced to the FCA, the administrators or to contemporaneous regulatory action.
Founded
Errol Damelin and Jonty Hurwitz incorporate Wonga.com after Balderton Capital backs the venture. Banks initially decline to support the firm.
First loans issued
The beta platform launches and Wonga processes its first loan application within five minutes of going live. The first default arrives within a week.
FCA enforcement: 220 million pound write-down
The Financial Conduct Authority requires Wonga to write off 220 million pounds of unaffordable loans to approximately 330,000 customers. Separately, the firm pays 2.6 million pounds in compensation to 45,000 customers for misleading debt collection practices, including the use of fictitious law-firm letterheads.
FCA price cap takes effect
The high-cost short-term credit price cap comes into force in January 2015. Daily interest is capped at 0.8 percent. Default fees are capped at 15 pounds. Total cost of credit is capped at 100 percent of the principal advanced. Wonga reports a pre-tax loss of approximately 80 million pounds for the year.
Data breach affects 245,000 customers
A security incident exposes the personal and partial financial data of approximately 245,000 UK customers. The breach further accelerates compensation claim volumes and reputational damage.
Emergency capital injection of 10 million pounds
Shareholders inject 10 million pounds as a bridge against rising compensation liabilities. Within weeks the firm informs the FCA it is considering administration.
Administration
Wonga Group Limited and WDFC UK Limited enter administration. Grant Thornton appointed as joint administrators. The UK business stops accepting new loan applications.
Claim deadline closes
The deadline for claimants to submit a complaint against the administration is 30 September 2019. Approximately 390,000 claims are submitted with a total nominal value of around 460 million pounds.
First and final dividend declared
The administrators declare a first and final dividend of 4.3 pence in the pound. Around 358,000 claimants share approximately 23 million pounds. A typical 1,200 pound claim results in a payout of approximately 51 pounds 60 pence.
Administration completed
The administration of WDFC UK Limited formally ends. Approximately 49,000 unpaid dividend amounts totalling approximately 632,000 pounds are passed to the Insolvency Service.
Wonga dissolved
The Wonga Group entities are formally dissolved on 19 December 2020 and removed from the Companies House active register.
What went wrong
Wonga's collapse was structural rather than situational. The pre-cap business model depended on loan economics that the regulatory framework progressively eliminated. Three forces converged.
Pre-cap lending generated complaint liability the post-cap business could not service
The 220 million pound 2014 write-down established that significant volumes of pre-2014 lending had been issued without adequate affordability assessment. Once the FCA price cap took effect in January 2015, Wonga faced the structural problem of carrying compensation liability from a business model it could no longer operate at the same margin. Each successful complaint reduced reserves. Claims volume escalated faster than the post-cap business could generate replacement profit.
The 51% rule and the FOS lookback
A 2018 Financial Ombudsman Service decision permitted complaints about loans more than six years old, extending the eligible window back to 2007. This expanded the addressable claim base materially and accelerated the timeline of the firm's eventual collapse.
Reputational and operational damage from the 2017 data breach
The April 2017 data breach, affecting approximately 245,000 UK customers, created additional regulatory scrutiny and a parallel stream of customer-facing remediation. The combined operational load contributed to the firm's inability to manage its complaint backlog within available reserves.
The capital structure could not absorb the run on liabilities
The August 2018 emergency injection of 10 million pounds was insufficient against the rate of complaint liability accrual. With shareholders unwilling to commit further capital and external financing unavailable, administration became the only available outcome.
If you had a Wonga loan
The Wonga administration is closed. The window for claiming compensation has passed. Most former customers in 2026 have already received their final dividend payment. Others were notified that no further payment was possible. The historical record set out below is for context.
Compensation
The administrators paid a first and final dividend of 4.3 pence in the pound in early 2020. There will be no additional dividend payments. Wonga is no longer covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service because the firm no longer exists. High-cost short-term credit firms are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. There is no further redress route available specifically against Wonga.
Outstanding loan balances
Loan balances outstanding at the date of administration were sold to a third-party debt purchaser as part of the wind-down. Borrowers receiving collection contact in the Wonga name in 2026 should request the original credit agreement and verify the current owner of the debt before making any payment. Free advice on disputed historical debt is available from StepChange and Citizens Advice.
The Wonga.com domain in 2026
The Wonga.com domain is not currently used as an active credit platform in the United Kingdom. Any approach soliciting credit applications, personal data or payment in the Wonga name should be treated with extreme caution. The Wonga FCA authorisation is no longer current. Verify any UK lender directly against the FCA register before disclosing any personal or financial information.
If you are in current financial difficulty
None of the services below charge for help with debt or credit. These bodies are not owned or funded by any lender, broker or claims management business. Each can advise on prioritising debts, dealing with collection agencies and the formal options available where debts cannot be repaid in full.
The regulatory legacy
Wonga's collapse marked a turning point in UK consumer credit regulation. The FCA price cap, introduced in January 2015 and tightened by subsequent enforcement, materially reduced the cost of short-term credit available to UK borrowers. The market that emerged is smaller, more concentrated and operates within tighter affordability constraints.
The price cap
Daily interest and fees are capped at 0.8 percent of the outstanding principal. Default fees are capped at 15 pounds per occurrence. Total cost of credit, including interest and fees, may not exceed 100 percent of the principal advanced. These constraints apply to all FCA-authorised UK short-term lenders operating today.
Affordability assessment
FCA Consumer Credit sourcebook rules at CONC 5 require lenders to make a reasonable assessment of the borrower's ability to repay before issuing credit. The assessment must consider current circumstances, not solely credit history. The pre-cap practices that generated Wonga's compensation liability would not be permitted today.
The remaining market
The post-cap UK short-term lending sector is materially different in scale. Multiple historical operators, including QuickQuid, Pounds to Pocket, MyJar, Peachy, 247Moneybox, Sunny and Uncle Buck, followed Wonga into administration between 2019 and 2024. The active market is now dominated by a smaller number of firms operating within the price-cap framework. For a comprehensive record of the firms that have closed, see the Swift Money lender directory.
Where former Wonga customers borrow now.
Three FCA-authorised firms operating in the UK short-term credit market today. None are connected to the original Wonga business. All operate within the FCA price cap.
The largest UK short-term lender by verified review volume. Loans from 50 to 1,500 pounds with funding under 90 seconds. Operating since 2008 under FCA authorisation.
Lower-APR longer-term alternative for borrowers who can repay over 12 to 60 months. 1,000 to 8,000 pounds at 49.9 percent representative.
Membership-based lender offering interest-free advances funded by a monthly membership fee. Structurally different from interest-bearing short-term credit.
Sources and verification
Administration record and dividend figures verified against the Grant Thornton Wonga administration website and the FCA press release of August 2018.
Compensation outcome figures sourced from Debt Camel's record of the Wonga administration and the administrators' final report filed at Companies House.
Regulatory history including the 2014 220 million pound write-down and 2.6 million pound compensation order verified against contemporaneous FCA enforcement notices.
Corporate dissolution date verified against Companies House records for Wonga Group Limited (company number 06374235) and WDFC UK Limited (company number 06374233), both dissolved 19 December 2020.
Swift Money Limited is a credit broker, not a lender. This page is an editorial record published for the benefit of borrowers researching the UK short-term credit market. It is not advice. We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, FRN 738569.