Wonga: Claims System Modernisation to Achieve FCA Compliance
Wonga was a payday loans provider operating in the UK and internationally, including South Africa, Spain, Canada and India, specialising in short-term, high-interest loans for subprime markets.
Plain Concepts had a long-standing relationship with Wonga, having collaborated on multiple projects over the years. Their deep understanding of Wonga’s technology, regulatory environment, and operational constraints positioned them as the natural partner when the company began facing significant compliance challenges.
Across several initiatives, Plain Concepts played a transformative role in modernising Wonga’s payments, collections, and loan management systems. When new regulatory requirements imposed intense pressure—particularly around fees, affordability assessments, and remediation—Wonga needed a compliant, transparent, and highly robust solution to manage customer claims at scale.
The introduction of more stringent Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulations triggered a large-scale remediation programme requiring Wonga to compensate customers transparently for historical issues, including:
- miscalculated interest rates
- unaffordable lending decisions
- incorrect cost structures
Wonga faced critical challenges:
- A massive surge in claims driven by third-party claims management companies, often submitting bulk requests that overwhelmed existing systems.
- Strict FCA timelines requiring claims to be assessed within three weeks and payments issued within six.
- Unsustainable operational costs, as manual processing was too slow and too expensive to meet regulatory requirements.
Plain Concepts needed to deliver a solution that ensured full FCA compliance while maintaining accuracy, speed, and fairness for every customer claim.
Wonga’s Path to Automated, FCA-Compliant Claims Processing
Wonga was a payday loans provider operating in the UK and internationally, with branches in South Africa, Spain, Canada and India, focused on short-term, high-interest loans for subprime markets. When stricter Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulations were introduced, Wonga was required to run a large-scale remediation programme to compensate customers affected by historical loan miscalculations and unaffordable lending decisions.
Plain Concepts had a long-standing relationship with Wonga, having worked on multiple payments, collections and loan management initiatives over the years. This deep familiarity with Wonga’s systems and regulatory environment made Plain Concepts the natural partner when remediation demands escalated and the existing, largely manual claims process could no longer cope with the volume, timelines or cost constraints imposed by the FCA.
Wonga was facing a surge of claims, many submitted in bulk by third-party claims management companies, which overwhelmed internal teams and legacy tooling. At the same time, FCA rules required claims to be assessed within three weeks and compensation to be paid within six, leaving no room for inefficiency or error. Manual handling was too slow, too costly and too risky from a compliance perspective.
To address this, Plain Concepts designed and delivered a fully automated, end-to-end claims portal that digitised the process, introduced automated eligibility checks against Wonga’s historical loan data, embedded fraud detection to identify abusive or duplicate claims, and enforced a structured, transparent remediation flow. The new system integrated with existing infrastructure, enabling rapid deployment while dramatically improving speed, accuracy and fairness in customer compensation.
“Plain Concepts built a fully automated, FCA-compliant claims portal that saved Wonga millions in operational costs while ensuring fast, fair compensation for its customers.”
Results
- Millions saved in operational costs by replacing manual, paper and phone-based claims handling with a fully automated online process.
- FCA regulatory deadlines consistently met, with claims assessed and paid within mandated timeframes, avoiding penalties and additional legal risk.
- Advanced fraud detection minimised abusive and duplicate claims from third-party claims management companies, protecting remediation funds.
- Transparent, structured remediation flows ensured fair, accurate and traceable compensation outcomes for affected customers.
- Support for a responsible business closure, helping Wonga manage its loan book and customer settlements during a highly regulated wind-down period.
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