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Is Amigo allowed to delay paying refunds? Does it have a DISP waiver?

This article relates to Amigo’s first Scheme, which was rejected in May 2021.
See Amigo’s Second Scheme for the latest news.

When Amigo announced in December 2020 that it was seeking a Scheme of Arrangement to cap the amount it has to pay to customers owed refunds for unaffordable lending, it said:

To ensure equal treatment of customers with Redress Claims, Amigo will stop the ongoing payment of all Redress Claims, except for those cases where the Redress Claims result from: (i) reviewed and upheld complaints where a Final Response Letter has been issued to the customer, dated before 21 December 2020; or (ii) where the complaint has been referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service (“FOS”) and it has upheld that complaint and issued a final decision letter to that effect, dated before 21 December 2020.

An application has been made to Amigo’s regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”), for a DISP waiver to suspend complaint handling as the proposed Scheme will address those complaints. The FCA’s response is awaited and, in the meantime, complaint handling will continue.

Since then very few refund payments have been made.

I don’t know why FOS and the FCA are allowing this happen. What has happened to the requested DISP waiver?

man staring at a calendar - whu is Amigo allowed to delay paying refunds?

“A Final Response Letter” – what exactly does this mean?

Many customers are unclear if they have had a “Final Response Letter” if Amigo has agreed their loans were unaffordable but has not yet issued an email with calculations.

Some of these complaints were upheld directly by Amigo after a complaint by a borrower or a guarantor. Others resulted from a FOS adjudicator decision  (this is not a FOS “final decision” – that comes from the second “ombudsman” stage) which Amigo has accepted.

I think there are several thousand customers in this situation. Some of them have been waiting for payment of their upheld complaints since August and September.

The largest group of these are cases where the guarantor made some payments. Amigo has a genuinely difficult problem with a small number of these complaints, where both the borrower and the guarantor were claiming the refund. But in most cases the borrower and the guarantor were agreed who should be paid and whether the borrower’s account should be adjusted. There has been no good reason for Amigo to not pay out these refunds.

A DISP waiver?

The DISP rules are the FCA’s complaint handling regulations. They apply to all authorised firms, from the largest insurance company to a tiny IFA.  So this request by Amigo for a DISP waiver is highly unusual.  It seems an odd thing to ask for when you want your regulator to agree to your proposed Scheme of Arrangement going forward – somewhere between pushy and desperate.

In the ICL (the Money Shop) Scheme, there was no DISP waiver. Despite ICL being in significant financial difficulty, it carried on accepting FOS adjudicator decisions and paying out refunds until the Scheme started. That would seem to be the responsible approach to take, especially as Schemes can take many months to set up.

What has happened to this request to the FCA for waiver? FOS must have objected strongly to it. The FCA may want to make sure a firm asking for a waiver would pass a solvency test – I don’t know if Amigo thinks it would.

If the FCA has rejected this request, or if Amigo has withdrawn it, this needs to be announced and Amigo needs to start complying with the DISP rules: issuing decisions on the new complaints that are arriving; supplying case records to FOS and co-operating in FOS investigations; accepting FOS adjudicator decisions; and paying out where loans have been determined to be unaffordable.

A standstill agreement has to be fair

Amigo is arguing that it is fair to all customers for it to stop paying out.  That seems hard to justify – many of these are cases where Amigo has deliberately delayed paying them, despite other customers being paid out at the same time. Where is the equity there?

A “standstill agreement” can be set up before a Scheme of Arrangement is agreed. This allows all parties some breathing space to consider the proposed plan.

But such a standstill agreement has to be two-way: if Amigo wants to stop paying redress, it can’t at the same time be pressuring borrowers who have open complaints to carry on making loan payments. Amigo’s request for a DISP waiver seems to only benefit it and its shareholders, not the customers.

UPDATE on 25 January 2021, Amigo said that it has withdrawn its request for a DISP waiver – but it is not going to be paying out on new FOS decisions. This sounds like a breach of DISP to me.

FURTHER READING:
Other articles about Amigo’s proposed Scheme of Arrangement.

Comments on this article are now closed.

 

Comments

  1. Charlie haldane says

    They are crooks they should not be able to hide behind an agreement to limit liability. They have made millions of the sub prime lending market. They should have made sure that they had the proper affordability checks in place.

  2. Sean says

    If Amigo haven’t been awarded a waiver. Surely there must be something we can do, in terms of putting pressure on them to payout on existing claims..and processing current complaints until the scheme is approved. Isn’t it unlawful for them to not follow DISP rules?

  3. C says

    The FCA need to announce something soon. Amigo has made a complete mockery of the FCA, they almost point blank ignore the FOS. Theyve been picking and choosing what to pay out. What was the online questionaire about alot of us did…I feel this is part of their plan. Appointing ex fca to the board. The above post is right though…what can we do???? Their trust pilot review is left 1 stars daily (yet somehow has a 4.2 rating). I’ve personally emailed the fca several times for all the good it will do.

  4. Johnny says

    I spoke to Amigo Complaints department today as my complaint I submitted on the 1/12/20 should be replied to and investigated by 26/1/21 if they followed the FCA guidelines. However they told me today that I would not be receiving a response by 26/1/21 and I probably won’t hear anything until at least March until a scheme of arrangement has been put in place but he said that it may be longer than March. I asked if I was still expected to pay my loan payments while they await this scheme to be approved or not approved as the case my be. He said that I had signed a legal agreement and that I still need to make payments on time as per my agreement. How can Amigo get away with this? Is the FCA not there to protect customers against these sort of things happening? How do they expect customers to vote for their scheme when they are treating them this way. We the customers have to keep to our agreement and fund Amigo when it is sinking slowly under. I will pay back the money I borrowed from Amigo but not a penny more in interest.

    • Sara (Debt Camel) says

      How can Amigo get away with this? Is the FCA not there to protect customers against these sort of things happening?
      I completely agree.

      I think your plan to repay what you borrowed but no more sounds sensible. If you do stop paying, do explain to your guarantor why and suggest they also cancel their direct debit to Amigo – this will not affect their credit record and despite Amigo’s threats they will not take your guarantor to court while you have an open complaint.

      • Thomas says

        I submitted a complaint autumn last year, the 8bweek process expired start of December, when they informed me they would continue investigating the complaint. Two weeks later I spoke to the complaints team and they told me I had to continue paying the loan, even though they had nothing agreed with FCA. I argued that in that case if nothing agreed they should at least continue to work in those claims that their 8 week period had expired up to the date of their submission and they couldnt possibly argue that it was moral to ask for payments on same way that they are not paying out redress. To which they said would not discuss any further and woudl send me an email with the information, which they never sent, I had to chase and they sent me link via text to their website and statement which had nothing different on.
        Cannot be legal to stop redress claims when 8 weeks had already expired prior to them submitting their request. I don’t think they should be be able to until any request from them had been agreed. But to continue to ask for payments when they know have complaints ongoing is surely the same thing?

  5. Nt says

    Hi Sara

    I’m so stressed over this, how can Amigo be allowed to retract the redress they offered themselves. Where do these complaints stand in the grand scheme. As many of the people on here, they promised any offers accepted before 21st will be honoured now I’ve been told its not happening and its been paused. I’m in the right mind to complain to the FOS because it was there incompetence that caused a delay with my case as the adjudicator did nothing to get there offer email or trace it as it was sent to the wrong person. I was the one who got it to her from Amigo. FOS definately need to address this.

    • Sara (Debt Camel) says

      I think you should complain to the FCA not to FOS. They are Amigo’s regulator and they can do something about the way Amigo is behaving.

      If you want to do this, email consumer.queries@fca.org.uk and copy this to nick.beal@amigoloans.net and complaints@amigoloans.co.uk
      Subject: why will Amigo (708284) not pay my refund?
      Give your Amigo reference number, your name and address.
      Explain how your complaint was upheld.
      Say that Amigo agree on 4 January to pay your refund within 15 working days but they have now retracted that offer.
      Explain the stress this is causing you.
      End by saying you know the FCA won’t look at your complaint but you wanted to tell them how unfairly Amigo is treating customers.

        • Nt says

          Hi Sara,

          I cancelled my DD last week as payment was due on 20th and I didnt want it going out but they took a card payment of £221 today!!. DD is 395.25 which I am refusing to pay on principle that they owe me money. How can they do this!!!

          I emailed this morning and will wait till end of the day and call them if they don’t respond. I am so annoyed with this action.

          Nt

  6. Nt says

    Hi Sara

    I wrote the email to the FCA and CC’d nick beale and amigo complaints. I will let you know of any response i get back.

    It won’t let me add the body of the email here.

    Nt

  7. Erin says

    Did you know another thing that Amigo are up to. Not upholding the complaints and selling the debt as soon as they have issued a response! How is that allowed, when it’s quite clear that the complaint should have been upheld.

  8. Colin says

    Elevate credit have this morning added and then removed 11 loans from my crexit file causing my score to drop by nearly 300 points. Any idea why these loans were bot added roughly 5 years ago when i took loans out. They have all been settled for many years

  9. Chris says

    Hi Guys,

    Theres a couple of petitions on Amigo that have
    Started on change. Sign sign sign….we may be single families that have no voice but together lets try to stop Amigo getting away with this.

    The actions of this company writes like a film almost… how the hell is this happening in this day and age.

    PS- Sara has given great advice on them 3 email address. Fill up their inboxes with your stories of how Amigo have affected your life.

    • Sofja says

      I agree with that I not happy with them Iam have to pay for some one loan who been framed me, and declined to pay and I pay out nearly. I done my complain on 27/11/2020 and been pass 8 weeks, they not contact to me not say me what decision is and ignore my emails. How professional its is ignore you clients email. Not happy with them at all.

  10. Nat says

    Should I still be paying my loan repayments to amigo, if I stop what will happen to me and my guarantor, I m also waiting on word about my complaint

    • Sara (Debt Camel) says

      Can you afford the repayments?

      Have your housefhold finances been affected by covid-19?

      How much did you borrow from Amigo and how much have you paid so far to this loan? Did you have other loans before this one?

  12. Sofja says

    Iam done my complain on 27 November and still have not received decision 😒, they even ignore my email igo. I keep email them and asked them what a decision been pass 8 week for now.

  13. Valerie says

    I understand Amigo loans have applied to enter into an arrangement whereby compensation payments are capped at much lower amount than would normally be paid but bit more than if the company went into liquidation. I have read they intend to carry on trading and lending money. The Money Shop entered into this type of agreement but had to cease trading. Their scheme is still in progress some 18 months since approved. Payments expected April but not confirmed. Surely Amigo can’t carry on trading if scheme is approved. Think part of the business is based in America but they will have different financial laws. Would be interested to know more. I am paying reduced payments by arrangement at moment and submitted my irresponsible lending claim in December.

    • Sara (Debt Camel) says

      Surely Amigo can’t carry on trading if scheme is approved
      The FCA will have to consider the huge anti-competitive problems that would result from Amigo being allowed to carry on lending when paying the customers it mis-sold loans to a very small amount of their redress.

      I am paying reduced payments by arrangement at moment and submitted my irresponsible lending claim in December.
      Can you say some more about your complaint? Was this the first loan from Amigo? How large was the last loan and how much have you paid so far towards it?

  14. Jon says

    Fortunately got my loan wiped 6k left and all interest refunded resulting in me getting 4k out of them as paid 10k total interest.

    This was back in June 2020 however I started the complaints process in March of 2019 and damn Amigo really like to drag their feet, if you have a complaint against them don’t give up hope just keep chasing them and if they haven’t responded by a deadline chase again, they will make you work for that refund but it is worth it.

    • Emma Cummings says

      Thanks for this comment
      I’ve been waiting 31 weeks for a response to my complaint. Every now and again I get an email saying they are still looking into it. I’ve put it to the ombudsman now in the hope of a response but had lost all hope. Feel more hopeful now. Awful company.

  15. Becky says

    I have also just emailed FCA telling them it’s appaling they are still letting Amigo loans trade!

    • Sara (Debt Camel) says

      They aren’t lending at the moment but they are still an FCA authorised firm and therefore they are currently in breach of the DISP rules by not responding to customers complaints within 8 weeks, not accepting FOS adjudicator decisions and not paying out on those decisions.

  16. Sean says

    The company working on my behave, or should I say doing nothing for 30% and now wished I’d just sorted this myself. (But that’s another story)

    They have told me when I pressed the DISP issue, they have told me amigo are working through complaints and offering claim calculations (albeit very slowly), but they aren’t paying any redress. However I challenged this, surely they should be settling claims as well during this time.

    I have been told that because they accepted my claim before the 21st, there is hope…I think I’ll sit on the fence on that one.

    • Sara (Debt Camel) says

      I hope so too. But so far very very few people have been paid. Have you been given a refund amount?

        • Sara (Debt Camel) says

          Since 21st December? Only one or two that I have heard about. Some people are expecting to be paid in the next few days. But all of them had had an amount already agreed.

  17. Mary Y says

    Hi I thought I was the only one on this Amigo issue until I start seeing all this.have been paying £375 every month by direct since 3years now and instead of it reducing is like the payment is never going to end.am sick and tired of this .I want to stop the direct debit but I dont want it to ruin my relationship with my guarantor. I feel and believe have paid far above what I borrowed.

    • Sara (Debt Camel) says

      How much did you borrow?

      I suggest you read https://debtcamel.co.uk/how-to-complain-guarantor-loan/ which looks at whether a loan was “affordable” – you may have made all the payments on time because you were desperate to protect your guarantor – that doesn’t mean the lon was affoprdable if you have got into debt elsewhere or got behind with bills..

      If you feel your loan was unaffordable, send Amigo a complaint now.

      • Anne-Marie says

        Ive been paying a loan since 2017. I should never have been given. To protect my bro I have managed every payment . But I got into other debts and had to move home so I could afford Rent.
        I put in an affordability complaint last year amigo responded that they carried out” due diligence” which I dont believe they did so my complaint is with the FOS.
        Im currently on a payment holiday owing to the financial implications of cv-19.
        Im still paying what I can afford its a third of my loan re-payments . Amigo can assist customers if they chose ! They just dont !

  18. Chris says

    Intresting to see the FCA announce cap on claims management companies whilst at the same time not addressing the real problem. Claims management companies for unaffordable lending wouldn’t exist if loan companies abided by the rules.

    Why isnt the FCA addressing this and making an example out of amigo to say no more, and if you persist in breaking the rules they will impose proper finicial punishment instead of letting them get away…which ultimately means it’s the people already in finicial difficulty who continue to suffer

    • Sara (Debt Camel) says

      I do think some of the CMC fees are outrageous though. CMC Affordability complaint fees should be capped in the same was as PPI were.

      • Chris says

        Hi Sara,

        I agree the fees are outrageous.
        However the fact theres a whole established business sector that profit from firms irresponsible lending, that has been in place for years now show the root problem is companies like Amigo making the rules up as they go along and taking advantage of people.

        Hopefully the FCA announce something in regards to this also in coming days.

  19. james burry says

    Have pushed f.o.s to pull there fingers out as amigo are fobbing everyone off, emailed have emailed c.e,o of amigo and all there board of directors as well f.c.a saying why state paying all fos complaints
    however still cant believe that amigo offered a figure before 21st then retract pay-out.
    but why state on bbc website that all redress up to 21st will be paid.

    • Sara (Debt Camel) says

      this is all as clear as mud. I am not sure if they offered a payment before 21st and you accepted they can retract – but anxious times.

      • james burry says

        ok what i am saying is,

        i’ve contacted my case handler from fos, to ask why offer a settlement figure which I keep repeating myself and was accepted by fos, and me and amigo accepted it. then say they are not going to pay out, I have also contacted the management board at amigo loans and have asked them why to offer something then retract and clearly saying on media there are going to pay out all cases with fos?. if they didn’t want to offer anything then appeal for a decision then it takes to the ombudsman knowing that a scheme of the agreement was in their minds.

  20. Lorraine says

    Hi
    I’ve complained three times on different occasions and my complaints get shunned every time.
    They are clearly trying to evade the customers complaints.
    I’m sure if they have hundreds of unethically treated customers to pay out, it will be soon they will have to resolve the issue.
    Especially since they have been in the news recently.
    Lorraine

  21. Mark says

    Hi.
    Back in March 2020 I used a claim company against amigo loans. This was passed over to the foc and all was quite up to I received a settlement offer from amigo via the claim company on 3rd December 2020.
    I agree and accepted this settlement on 8th December 2020.
    All I was waiting for was a final regress figure. I’ve now been told I’ve got to wait till March at the earliest for any news.
    Surely if I agreed and excepted amigo offer before the 21st December 2020 they should still honour this. My partner been made redundant due to Covid so £200 a month is now hard to find.
    Mark.

    • Sara (Debt Camel) says

      So they agreed the loan was unaffordable but haven’t given you any numbers?

      How much did you borrow and how much have you paid so far?
      Have you had a 6 month covid-19 payment break?

      • Mark says

        Morning. Yeah they’ve given me a breakdown on how much I’d receive which is just shy of £11000 plus square my loan up. I’ve had 2 £7000 loans with them which 1 is currently got a balance left of about £4000 and had to accept by 10th December, which I did on the 8th.

    • Sara (Debt Camel) says

      ok so if you have the numbers I can’t think of any good reason why they would delay paying you. The bad reason is of course that they want the money in their bank account, not yours…

      I suggest you

      1) stop paying them! If they pay you before the Scheme or administration, this won’t matter. But if your complaint ends up in the Scheme despite what they said in December or they just go into administration then you have effectively thrown away all the payments you are currently making. You will get the balance write off in the Scheme or Administration but little or nothing of any cash refund so you want to maximise the balance write off and minimise the cash element of the refund.
      They may huff and puff and threaten court – this isn’t going to happen. They aren’t going to court for open complaints at the moment and if they were so mad as to start a court case against you, you send the court a counterclaim saying they owe you more money than you owe them and enclose the email from Amigo as evidence.
      Also explain this to your guarantor and tell them to cancel their direct debit to Amigo too.

      2) write to the FCA and complain that Amigo are allowed to delay paying your your refund. The FCA won’t look at your individual case but if they get enough of these emails they may tell Amigo they have to pay out now.
      To do this, email consumer.queries@fca.org.uk and copy this to nick.beal@amigoloans.net and complaints@amigoloans.co.uk
      Subject: Amigo (708284) is refusing to pay my £11,000 refund – I need this money now because of Covid-19
      Give your Amigo reference number, your name and address.
      Explain how your complaint was upheld, give the dates and amounts, and attach the email from Amigo (or your claims company) with these in.
      Say you thought their December announcment about the Schememeant they would be paying out on these agreed claims, but now customer services are saying it will not be until March “at the earliest”.
      Explain about your partner losing their job because of Covid-19 and how you need this money now.
      Ask if Amigo has been given a DISP waiver, because if it hasn’t say it’s disgusting they are allowed to get away with not paying people the amounts they have already offered.

      3) leave them a bad review on Trustpilot https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/amigoloans.co.uk if you haven’t already done this.

  22. Phil says

    Hi Sara,

    I have checked my credit file with Equifax, and one loan company has kept my account in six months arrears for the last two and a half years. Is this legal? Because they are delaying putting my account in default and therefore how long is comes off my account.

    Defaults are suppose to be removed after six years, but if I have been in arrears for two and a half years, when it should have bee defaulted two and a half years ago, then it delays when it comes off my file. For example, if they had defaulted the account two and a half years ago, it would come off in four years. However, if it isn’t in default, then they can keep it as is and ruin my file for years.

  23. C says

    Amigo telling people who had redress figures before 21st dec….no payments now until march…how can they get away with this?

    Canthe FCA agree the scheme in private to avoid a public backlash

    • Sara (Debt Camel) says

      see my reply to Mark above – if you think this is very wrong (and I do) then semd an email to the FCA and tell them about your situation.

      • James Burry says

        I can’t understand why they amigo have the nevre to go on media and say yes to readdress with all cases related with f. O. S then say no.

  24. james burry says

    response from FCA
    We’re tasked with regulating the UK’s financial markets as a whole and this means we’re unable to investigate or intervene on individual cases and we don’t have dispute resolution powers for individual complaints. We’re therefore unable to intervene on this matter on your behalf or assist you in resolving your dispute with Amigo Loans.

    We do however have supervisory teams that are responsible for monitoring regulated firms to ensure they follow the correct rules and procedures and when concerns are shared with us regarding the conduct of a firm, the information is recorded against them.

    The supervisory teams can then use this information to understand how the firm is treating their customers and how they’re behaving in the marketplace which can then be used to help form guidance that can be issued to the firm or, if necessary, disciplinary action being taken against them.

    The concerns you’ve shared about Amigo Loans have been lodged against them and made available to their FCA supervisory team.

    Your next steps

    you keep your caseworker at the Ombudsman Service updated with any contact you’ve received from Amigo Loans regarding your redress payment. Your caseworker can advise you of any further options you or they have available to assist in resolving the matter.

    • J says

      We have emailed them also last week as well as our FOS case handler. Yet to receive a reply from the FCA however case handler at the FOS did reply stating they are putting a case together as they have had other consumer complaints regarding this also! Nothing more I see we can do but at least we are trying. More people emailing them the better tho I’d say

      • James Burry says

        Well am not sure about that telling me something different they haven’t a clue don’t trust amigo keeping you quiet

  25. Richard says

    Hi does this mean I wont get my redress even tho I accepted b4 the 21st december? It’s all abit confusing. Thank you

    • Sara (Debt Camel) says

      I think you need to ask Amigo this. It sounds as though you should… can you come back here if they say No?

        • Richard says

          Hi Sara. Just spoken to amigo the lady on the phone insists I will get paid my redress because I accepted the offer on the 21st December and she insisted my claim wont be affected by the new scheme she said it’s just a matter of waiting for the payment on due

          • Sara (Debt Camel) says

            Excellent – fingers crossed it get paid and you never need to think about Amigo again!

  26. J says

    Within the last 10 minutes I’ve received my redress into my bank that was agreed in December ! After chasing them today and then saying they don’t know when we will get paid I thought I’d just check my bank ! I checked at 4.30pm and god knows what made me check again but I did and it’s looking healthy ! A lot of stress but finally I can say it’s over ! Phew 😰

    • Richard says

      Hi. Could you tell me when u accepted in december please. I accepted 21st december I’ve spoken to them today the lady insisted I’m getting my payment she just couldnt tell me when. Well done on getting yours. Did you do anything other than ring amigo cuz that seems to be failing me at the min. Feel like im getting told different things everytime I ring them. Thank you

      • J says

        I accepted the offer officially and formally with amigo on the 3rd December 2020, I was waiting only on the actual figure which was given to me at 8.30am on the 21st December 2020 to which I rang and confirmed my bank details for payment at 9am the same day. I have since made phone calls twice a week, contacted my FOS case handler via email to which I also emailed the FCA and cc’d Amigo loans in to that email also as to where my redress was. Today I called amigo again and she told me she doesn’t know when I will get paid but didn’t mention it going to the scheme, checked my bank at 4.30pm and as above checked again only 10 minutes later and hey presto my redress was in! I followed Sara’s advice on this page re contacting FCA etc – good luck with your redress I hope it comes through for you!

  27. james burry says

    FYI Who is not affected by the Scheme?
    27If you are (or have been) a customer who has already complained about: (i) a loan made to you by Amigo; or (ii) a guarantee you gave to Amigo, and before the Stop Date:
    you had your complaint accepted by Amigo or you had accepted a settlement offer from Amigo;
    you had received a settlement offer from Amigo dated on or after 21 June 2020, which you did not accept or reject;
    you have been told that Amigo had accepted an opinion issued by an adjudicator at the FOS in respect of your complaint; or
    d
    you had obtained a final decision in your favor from the FOS and Amigo had not notified you that it intends to ask a court to review that decision,

    you will not be affected by the Scheme and will be paid the amount specified in the settlement offer, FOS adjudicator’s opinion, or FOS final decision in full. Unless you also have a different claim, you do not need to take any action.

    28In addition, any other creditors of the Amigo group (including SchemeCo), for example, the secured creditors, will not be affected by the Scheme.

    • Sara (Debt Camel) says

      This is one of the odd parts of the PSL.
      What on earth does “you had received a settlement offer from Amigo dated on or after 21 June 2020, which you did not accept or reject” mean?

    • james burry says

      exactly they haven’t a foggy.

      clearly on their PSL

      so my understanding
      1. they amigo offered F.o.s a figure without an appeal
      2. got an email on 18th December from f.o.s saying amigo offering a settlement figure
      3. I accepted this told amigo and f.o.s on 18th December and 21st Dec 2020
      4. got confirmation from amigo that they had confirmation that I accepted it.
      5. chasing them since 21st to date.
      6. email saying everything on hold.
      7. PSL comes out
      8.SO WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO PAYOUT FOS COMPLAINTS 15 TO 30 DAYS
      THERE’S A RADIO 4 PROGRAMME ON 12.20 WITH THE CEO AMIGO LOANS

  28. james burry says

    Following your recent complaint with the Financial Ombudsman Service, we wanted to get back in contact with you today. Please accept our apologies for the delay.

    The Financial Ombudsman Service has confirmed that you have accepted Amigo’s offer of redress.

    Your guarantor has made a payment towards the account. We have now removed your guarantor’s liability for the loan and have contacted them to ask whether they would like a refund of the payment they made towards the loan agreement. If your guarantor accepts the refund the loan balance will be updated accordingly, and you will be liable for this amount. If your guarantor does not respond within 14 days, we will assume that they do not wish to accept our refund offer and their payments will remain credited to the account.

    We will send you a separate letter detailing the breakdown of the redress amount and confirm any outstanding balance or refund amount no later than five working days after 10/02/2021. If the grantor can respond to us sooner, I will be able to process your redress as soon as possible.

      • A says

        I am now even more confused with the PSL.
        Does this mean that Amigo are accepting ombudsman and adjudicator decisions before the 21st December?

        • Sara (Debt Camel) says

          Amigo are accepting final decisions from an ombudsman before 21 December. (So far as I know Amigo has not notified anyone they would be taking a decision to court for a judicial review ever!)

          For adjudicator decisions, what the PSL says is claims will not fall into the scheme if “you have been told that Amigo had accepted an opinion issued by an adjudicator at the FOS in respect of your complaint” – this means they will be settling these in full.

          As I understand it Amigo are not now accepting adjudicator decisions. So that refers to the ones accepted previously.

          • A says

            Thanks Sara.

            I had my complaint upheld by the adjudicator on the 18th December but Amigo have not responded to them.

            So I wasn’t sure where this left me.

          • Sara (Debt Camel) says

            That is bad news then.

            If you are fed up about this, I suggest you email the FCA and say that you do now see why Amigo is allowed to breach the DISP rules in this way.

            To do this, email consumer.queries@fca.org.uk and copy this to nick.beal@amigoloans.net and complaints@amigoloans.co.uk
            Subject: Why will Amigo (708284) not resolve mu complaint promptly after a FOS adjudicator decision?
            Give your Amigo reference number, your name and address.
            Give the details of the one loan you had from Amigo. Say you complained to Amigo in December 2019 and they rejected your complaint saying it was time-barred, even though they would have been aware that FOS normally looks at cases where people have only recently become aware that the lender should have checked affordability and so they had a reason to complain. Say your FOS case was delayed by Amigo saying they did not agree to FOS looking at it. Say the FOS adjudicator upheld your complaint on 12/12/20 but Amigo have not accepted or rejected it which is in breach of DISP 1.4.3 which says a firm should resolve complains at the earliest possible opportunity and DISP 1.4.4. which says a firm should co-operate with FOS.
            Say it is unreasonable for Amigo to be able to delay your complaint handling like this as it has already been more than a year since you made your complaint.
            Also leave them a bad review on Trustpilot https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/amigoloans.co.uk if you haven’t already done this.

      • Rosie says

        Hi, me and my daughter (borrower) received the same email but on 21/12/2020. Now they saying I not going to get the refund.

          • Rosie says

            Hi Sara,

            The person I spoke to couldn’t really give me an answer. All she says is there’s nothing she can do and I have to wait for further update from amigo.

        • Sara (Debt Camel) says

          ok then I suggest you email the FCA and say it unreasonable that Amigo aren’t going to pay you.

          To do this, email consumer.queries@fca.org.uk and copy this to nick.beal@amigoloans.net and complaints@amigoloans.co.uk
          Subject: Why will Amigo (708284) not explain why they aren’t paying my refund?
          Give your Amigo reference number, your name and address.
          Give the details of the loan(s) and the offer from Amigo – wwhen it was made and when you accepted.
          And describe how Amigo are failing to exlain if they are going to pay you and when. OR why they aren’t. Say how stressful this is.

          Also leave them a bad review on Trustpilot https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/amigoloans.co.uk if you haven’t already done this.

    • Chris says

      Very wrong.

      The FCA need to pull their finger out and do something before this spirals even more out of control.

  30. RF says

    HI Sara
    Didn’t Amigo have to make offers to a series of customers in similar situations to help address the backlog alongside the FCA.
    I know I received an offer like this in July (see body of the offer email below):
    “I’m writing to let you know about some news on your complaint.
    We’ve been speaking to Amigo about the cases we’ve been seeing with issues similar to those you told us about in your complaint. In particular, how Amigo looked into your financial position and whether you could afford the repayments before it agreed to lend.
    Amigo has now told us it would like to make an offer in full and final settlement of your complaint. And we wanted to let you know about this offer so that you can decide whether or not you want to accept it.
    Amigo’s offer
    Amigo have made a partial to uphold the fourth loan that you had with them.
    If you decide to accept the offer, Amigo will write to confirm the full detail of its offer including any amounts due If you decide not to accept the offer, then an ombudsman here can look at everything to make a decision on the jurisdiction of your case. If the ombudsman agrees with my opinion that we can look at your case, we can continue to assess all the loans that you had with Amigo. If you need more time, then please let me know.
    If you have any questions, please get in touch.”

      • RF says

        Maybe these are what they are referring to in the statement:

        “you had received a settlement offer from Amigo dated on or after 21 June 2020, which you did not accept or reject”

        I personally had one of these offers and rejected it but others may not have done.

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