Don’t get caught out by financial pitfalls
26 January 2026
As students return to university after Christmas, we are urging them to be aware of financial pitfalls and make informed choices.
In September we said that we were aware that Wonga had gone into administration and that due to the nature of the business, there was no protection offered to consumers under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
We’ve since been working with the administrators, Grant Thornton, to clarify the impact on the cases we have with us and whether we’d be able to work any new cases brought to us.
Grant Thornton has confirmed that whether claims will be accepted – that is, whether complaints will be upheld and whether someone becomes a creditor – and the amount of redress they will then receive, is now a decision for the administrators. Grant Thornton is writing to potential creditors to explain this and the next steps they’ll need to take.
This means we won’t be able to progress any complaints about Wonga any further, or work any new cases brought to us. As a result, we’ll be transferring complaints about Wonga to Grant Thornton as the administrators. We’ll be writing to individual consumers to explain this and to let them know that they don’t need to do anything further at this stage and that Grant Thornton will get in touch directly.
Update: October 2020
For further information, please see the FCA website.
Latest news
Financial Ombudsman Service sets out ambitious targets for resolving cases in 2026/27
13 January 2026
We have proposed ambitious targets for the next financial year, and would like to remind stakeholders that our consultation closes on 21 January 2026.
New interest rate now applies to compensation awards
2 January 2026
A new interest rate applies to the compensation we direct financial businesses to make for cases referred to our service on and after 1 January 2026.