UPDATE – in May 2022, the court approved the new Amigo Scheme.
See Amigo’s Scheme for details
On 13 December 2021, Amigo proposed its new Scheme of Arrangement.
The Practice Statement Letter (PSL) is a 21-page overview of the new Scheme. The numbers in the PSL have now changed
Amigo says:
We hope a successful new Scheme will also allow a changed Amigo, under a new management team, the opportunity to bring forward a new, regulated lending proposition for a segment of the market where options are diminishing and demand remains high.
The timetable for approving this Scheme is;
- A court hearing on 16 February 2022 will consider the voting arrangements. This was changed to 8 March.
- Customers will then be able to vote on the new Scheme.
- A court hearing to consider the fairness of Scheme 2.0 is expected to be held in late April 2022. This was changed to the 23 & 24 May.
This article looks at how the new proposal differs from the first Scheme, rejected by the court as unfair to customers. Also, where has the extra money come from? And is this now fair to customers?
Contents
The story so far
Affordability complaints and the first Scheme
A loan is only affordable if someone can repay it and still pay their other bills, debts and living expenses. For Amigo’s guarantor loans, this test has to be passed by both the borrower and the guarantor at the time the loan was given.
Amigo affordability checks were often inadequate so it was losing 88% of cases at the Financial Ombudsman (FOS) in 2020.
Amigo couldn’t afford to carry on paying refunds, so it proposed a Scheme of Arrangement in December 2020 to cap the money it had to pay for mis-sold loans. It estimated customers would receive 10% of their calculated refunds – that looked optimistic to me.
Schemes have to go through a three-stage process to be approved. In the case of the first Scheme:
- A court hearing approved the voting arrangements for creditors affected by the Scheme – in this case the Amigo customers who had affordability complaints.
- A large majority of creditors who voted were in favour of the Scheme.
- A second court hearing considered the fairness of the proposed Scheme and the creditor voting and it was rejected.
Why the first Scheme was rejected
Amigo’s previous Scheme was rejected in May 2021 after the FCA opposed it saying:
- the proposed Scheme was too generous to shareholders, who would lose everything in administration, and not fair to customers who would only get a very small proportion of their proper refunds;
- Amigo was not likely to go into administration in the short term, so there was time to negotiate a better Scheme.
The FCA was right – Amigo did not go into administration when the first Scheme was rejected. Since May Amigo has been constructing an alternative Scheme. It set up a committee of 8 customers who were asked which of various options they would prefer.
The new Scheme – it’s complicated…
There are several options
The second Scheme is a lot more complicated than the first one. There are two separate options to be voted on by customers:
- New Business Solution (which may collapse into what the PSL calls the Fallback solution); and
- a Wind Down Solution.
The New Business Solution is Amigo’s preferred option, the Wind Down will only be considered by the court if the New Business Solution is rejected. If neither solution is approved by the court, Amigo will go into administration.
Schemes are not usually structured like this. One criticism of the first Scheme in court was that the documents were not easy to understand for customers – that is going to be even harder with this unusual double-scheme structure.
The Practice Statement Letter (PSL) gives a summary of the options. We won’t know the full details until the Explanatory Statement is published – last time this was not available before the first court hearing.
The numbers in the PSL are now out of date.
The full Explanatory Statement has different numbers –
this makes administration look a more attractive option than it was.
See Amigo’s new Scheme – which way should you vote? [LINK] for details
Here is my summary of what Amigo has said about these options:
Name
estimated money
estimated redress
Old Scheme
15m-35m (+ profit share)
10p
New Business
112m
42p
New Business Fallback
?
unknown
Wind Down
?
29p
Administration
?
24p
Future lending
Under the New Business solution, Amigo would continue as a lender.
But the PSL does not go into much detail about what will happen under the Fallback and Wind Down options. It doesn’t say if Amigo’s parent company will still continue in business even though the subsidiary that currently gives loans is closed.
I think this should be made clear to customers.
The New Business solution may fail in practice
The New Business solution will only succeed if two conditions are met after the Scheme starts:
- Amigo recommences lending within 9 months of the Scheme starting – this can only happen if the FCA agrees. The FCA is currently assessing if Amigo’s proposed lending will meet the necessary conditions to be approved ; AND
- Amigo raises at least £70m of finance within 12 months of the Scheme starting. Only £15m of this is going into the Scheme to be paid as redress to customers, the rest is for future lending.
So this may not be known until May 2023. Until it is known, no payments can be made by the Scheme.
If the New Business option fails, it changes to the Fallback Scheme which is a version of the Wind Down option.
The PSL doesn’t estimate what customers may get from the Fallback. It depends on when and how the New Business option fails and what Amigo has spent before the failure point. Amigo has NOT said it expects the Fallback will pay out more than the Wind Down or administration options.
It is possible customers could actually end up with more money if they opt for the Wind Down now or reject both scheme options and let Amigo go into administration.
42p sounds like a lot more money but how is it calculated?
42p is an estimate. It could be more, it could be less.
But the PSL says nothing about how the 42p figure was arrived at. You can make this number anything you want by playing around with the figures going into the calculation!
I thought Amigo’s estimate of 10p in the £ in the first Scheme was very optimistic – it could only be right if either few people complained or Amigo rejected a lot of the complaints, many more than the Ombudsman would have.
This matters – a lot. People may vote on the Scheme on the assumption that 42p is right.
I think Amigo needs to be open about the important numbers in the redress calculation:
- how many customers does it expect will make a claim?
- what percentage of claims does Amigo expect it will uphold?
- will Amigo still be applying the unfair “deduction for unpaid interest” that reduces, sometimes dramatically, the refund a customer will get if only their later loans are decided to be unaffordable?
Amigo has said it expects to uphold 65% of claims – but it isn’t clear if that includes cases where it only upholds one loan even though the customer had several. When cases were going to the Ombudsman, 88% were upheld, and the very large majority were for all loans someone had.
Most of the extra money comes from current borrowers NOT shareholders
Amigo is proposing to raise £70m from shareholders, but most of that is for new lending – only £15m will be paid into the new Scheme.
It looks as though the larger amount to be distributed in cash has come mainly from the pockets of the current borrowers.
Amigo had revenue of about £100m from loan repayments by current borrowers in the first 9 months of 2021 and continues to get more every month.
Many of those current borrowers will win complaints in the new Scheme or in administration. They will have lost out badly by this if they win their affordability complaint because balance adjustments are paid “in full” but cash refunds are only paid at a small percentage.
The FCA has ignored the plight of these customers by allowing Amigo to halt complaint handling. Amigo has been telling customers they have to continue to pay. Amigo’s texts and emails have scared many customers into making unaffordable payments to a debt they may not even owe after their complaint is decided.
Amigo could correct this injustice if it wanted to
There is a simple way to put right the harm that has been done to the current borrowers.
The PSL says on page 8 that a Trust Account is being set up for payments made from the end of November 2021. So any payments from now for people who have already complained will be reimbursed in full from now on if a complaint is upheld.
I think this Trust Account should be changed so that it contains all payments made from the announcement of the first Scheme a year ago.
Of course, this would result in the headline “pence in the pound” cash redress paid in the second Scheme dropping considerably. But that would be a fair reflection of how much customers are losing from this Scheme and how little shareholders are contributing.
I hope the FCA will insist on this change to the Trust Account being made.
Is this second Scheme likely to be approved?
What will the voting arrangements be this time?
There was little discussion about the voting arrangements in the first Scheme as the details were hidden away in the long Explanatory Statement which customers only saw after the court hearing that considered the arrangements.
Each creditor’s vote was weighted. This weight was set at the amount of cash redress that would be paid if all loans for the customer were upheld.
That may sound superficially fair… but the vote of a customer who had not yet repaid more than they had borrowed was given a weight of just £1. So the customers who had least to gain from the Scheme and who may have considered they would prefer Amigo to go into administration were effectively disenfranchised.
Perhaps the voting arrangements will be fair this time and reflect the total amount of redress a customer may get, including balance reductions. I hope the FCA will be looking at the details of this as it will see the Explanatory Statement before the first court hearing and could object to the weighting.
What will the FCA say?
The PSL sets out the FCA’s current position. Here is my summary of this:
The FCA has only recently been given the PSL and does not yet have the full details. It may decide to object in court. And it’s trying to assess if Amigo meets its standards for future lending – the FCA may impose requirements which could mean Amigo thinks the Scheme is no longer viable.
So that is unknown!
Is this really a fairer deal for customers?
The judge who rejected the first Scheme concluded by saying:
The FCA expects the directors to continue to explore and promote a restructuring which fairly allocates the benefits and losses among the various stakeholders. I agree with that.
Does this new Scheme fairly allocate the benefits and losses between the customers and the shareholders?
It doesn’t seem to me that it is much of an improvement on the first Scheme, with most of the “extra money” coming from the payments made by current borrowers and only an extra £15m coming from shareholders.
So this isn’t really “extra money” – it is just redistributing money so the current customers get a lot less and the previous customers get a bit more.
The other major problem is that Amigo has given no clues about how it came up with the 42p number.
42p could turn out to be very optimistic. It is essential customers are told the assumptions this estimate was based on. Otherwise they can’t assess how fair this proposed Scheme is.
Comments on this article are now closed.
Please leave comments on the new Amigo’s Scheme – waiting for claims to be decided which will be kept updated.
Bobby Jones says
Hi Sara Any news on when the complaints can be made to the ombudsman?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Under the new Scheme complaints have to be decided by Amigo within the Scheme. If this is approved, your complaint won’t be looked at by the Ombudsman.
If both the New Business and Wind Down Schemes are rejected, Amigo will go into administration and your complaint will be considered by the administrators. You may be quite happy with that… I have seen a lot of lender administrations and they typically try uphold most of the complaints that the Ombudsman would have.
JOSEPH WICKES says
I had a complaint with the financial ombudsman service which was frozen when amigo started schemes – no decision made – will this be picked back up now – or would this now be null and void now there will be a 2nd scheme proposed ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
FOS isn’t going to pick this up. You will have to make a new Claim to the new Scheme (or to the administrators if neither Scheme is approved).
JOSEPH WICKES says
I presume that wouldn’t be able to be done until April 2022 at the earliest Then ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The Scheme can’t start before late April according to the timetable given today.
Kayla says
I’m a current lender, paying reduced payments, when I emailed amigo in the summer saying I wanted my payments to stop. I was emailed this….
Please be assured that every payment you are currently making to your amigo account will be taking into consideration when your claim is reviewed.
I no I shouldn’t assume but I did not take that as only payments iv made since November this year. That is shocking! Iv made 14 months worth of payments since my complaint was logged. £427 a month and then as of summer reduced payments to 30 pound a week. If complaints are upheld any payments made should be fully refunded from the time the complaint was made. I only kept making payments for that reason.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I agree.
Andi Anderson says
Are you aware if Amigo have written to previous customers/ex-customers/voters relating to this?
I had a nightmare trying to get them to allow me to vote as they previously claimed they could not find my details despite myself providing all details, barring the full loan agreement number (only had last 4 digits)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They will be writing to everyone – by email or letter. Did you manage to vote on the previous Scheme in the end? if you did, then I would hope you are now written to and find this easier the second time around.
Andi Anderson says
I did,
They had to set me up a temporary Account & password to vote with.
Fingers crossed
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It may be that you are one of the people where Amigo has deleted all the loan details. In this case you will still be able to make a claim under the new Scheme (I think! we don’t know the full details yet) but unless you have a lot of details about the loan (eg you bank statements showing what was repaid?) it may be very hard to have your case upheld.
Amigo hasn’t said how many people are in this situation – it is one of the many areas where i think Amigo should be more open and honest with its customers.
Andi Anderson says
They’ve responded and said that if details have been deleted claim can still be made.
Luckily I have all the bank statements relating to the account. (FLM and Amigo)
Ruby says
I have just received an email from amigo regarding the voting. I was successful with a small redress previously, so I was just questioning wether this benefits me in anyway? I’m not very sure what this is all about. Thanks in advance.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How many loans did you have from Amigo? And how many were upheld?
Ruby says
Just the one loan for 10,000.
And apologies but what does it mean by upheld?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“Upheld” is whether it was agreed the loan was affordable or was your complaint rejected.
What happened in your case? Were you still making payments?
dean says
I had one of 3 loans upheld by amigo before the cut off in 2020 with an offer made. Still not had payment though! Should I hold off from chasing them yet again until details are known as the two loans they rejected were larger and even less affordable?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
did you accept the Amigo offer or send the case to the Ombudsman?
Ruby Jolly says
No it was agreed it was unaffordable and I was given a small redress. The loan was paid back in full by the guarantor a year or so into the repayments due to lots of missed payments. (Guarantor got out another loan with another company, which I pay back monthly, as their credit was better, meaning smaller monthly payments and less interest.)
I thought it was all done with until I recieved this email.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So I don’t know how “small” your redress was, but it should have been all the interest paid on the loan – that is the difference between the sum of all the payments you and your guarantor made (including the settlement of the loan) and the 10,000 you borrowed.
If you were repaid that, it is the full redress you should get and you won’t get any more under the second Scheme if it is approved.
Samuel says
I have had 5 loans in total. Paid 4 back. Paid around 7/8k back on the last loan of 10k and still owe £9800 on it. I was told last September 2021 I was getting ‘full redress’. But then they said it was a mistake. Anyway they released my garuntoor 16montjs ago and knocked my payments down from £400 per mth to £50 a month. But I haven’t paid a penny for over a year now. I never eat anything from anyone. I was wondering if maybe I’m one of the people who they have deleted from their system ? And would that be a good thing for me. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No I think they have only deleted details for people with very old loans.
It’s hard to say what is happening if they aren’t asking you to pay. What does your credit record show?
Samuel says
It shows I owe them nearly 10k. Even tho I already paid about that much back. Every now and then maybe once every 3 month or so I get a automated text saying. ‘We have not received the agreed amount of £50…… etc “. But that’s it. Nobody ever rings , nobody ever threatens. It’s very strange.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
what is the rest of your finacial situation like at the moment? do you have other problem debts?
Samuel says
Yes. I’m in the s… with debts through losing my job of 17 years with Covid. Then bouncing from 1 job to another . Currently unemployed. Worked my entire life now for first time in 27 years I’m claiming benefits. Ive had a nightmare but many people worse off.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, well you obviously can’t afford to pay anything to amigo then. Can I suggest that you talk to a debt adviser about your options? because this Amigo loan is for you just a normal loan wihtout a guarantor. It may be that an option like debt relief order would suit you, in which case that would get rid of the Amigo loan along with your other debts. Phone National Debtline on 0808 808 4000
Lee says
I am now more confused than ever!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
they haven’t made it easy, have they!
Do you have a current loan?
Lee says
Yes I have a complaint in – had two loans with them
Loan 1 : £5000
made 25 payments @ £197.62 – totaling £4940.50
cleared balance in full early (in 2015) – £4371 (struggling to pay and parents cleared balance for me)
total paid – £9311.50
Loan 2: £3500 in Dec 2019
made 23 payments @ £138.34 – totaling £3182
Sara (Debt Camel) says
what is happening with the current loan – are you making payments? can you afford them? do you have other debt problems?
Lee says
I have been continuing to pay the current loan i am one payment away being able to do the equitable set off or whatever its called so may do that, if i am honest my financial situation is getting better as I am slowly chipping away at the debt i have £10k +
I have a complaint in also now with 118. then the rest has been payday loans such as drafty , tappily (both won and settled) and credit cards
Sara (Debt Camel) says
One good thing in yesterdays announcement is the “Trust Account”. See page 8 of the PSL https://www.amigoscheme.co.uk/practice-statement-letter. This means that from now on you won’t lose money by continuing to pay Amigo because you have already made a complaint.
Of course that doesn’t help people who can’t afford the payments, but if your situation has improved, this is good for you.
Do look at complaints against credit cards if they have increased your credit limit too high when you were only paying off the minimums and your credit record would have shown payday loans etc. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-catalogue-credit-card/. Same for your overdraft/
Bev says
Hi Sari made a claim that was rejected before they went into receivership but I never appealed to the Ombudsman due to depression. I do get the letters from Amigo but assumed that I would not be included in any compensation because of my rejected claim. Am I right or can I still claim?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t know. I have read the relevant section of the PSL (pages 11-12 in https://www.amigoscheme.co.uk/practice-statement-letter) a couple of times and it looks to me as though you may be able to claim. But I am hesitant to say this is correct as the full Scheme document may have some detailed clauses which means you can’t.
Bev says
Is there a deadline for claiming. They continue to write to me, so I assumed I was eligible. Apart form voting is there anything I need to do to ensure my claim is considered?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Not at the moment – you can’t even vote for a couple of months. I suggest you bookmark this page and pop back every few weeks to see what is happening.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
good news – I have been told that you WILL be able to claim.
Bev says
That’s great news
Thank you Sara
I’ll do it now
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Let me know if you hear anything unexpected.
Mike T says
My partner’s just had an email from Amigo about the new scheme.
I started reading it and it’s more confusing than the last one.
I don’t mean to sound rude but Amigo preyed on the vulnerable and people with poor borrowing and credit histories. I can’t help wondering how they managed to find a panel of borrowers from this pool who really are able to understand this new scheme and make competent judgements.
She hasn’t paid them anything for a while now and they are just now beginning to grumble to her and her guarantor, both of whom have stalled complaints.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, the judge said the customers would find it hard to understand the first scheme – and this one is MUCH more complicated.
No one has ever heard of a Scheme like this with 2 different options to vote on. I suspect the lawyers thinks it’s clever – it’s certainly more fees for them – but out in the real world it looks like a huge headache.
Can she or her guarantor afford to pay?
Mike T says
She’s had a complaint with Amigo & then FOS since autumn 2020. Her guarantor lodged a complaint in spring 2021.
Neither can afford to pay and had no chance once the loan amount started to grow, encouraged by Amigo. I think the first loan was just about do-able but the top-ups came thick & fast, right up to the £10k limit.
She hasn’t been paying Amigo for a few months now. (thank you for your articles) and they haven’t chased her or her guarantor too much, especially when she started asking the last caller about when they were going to stop stalling and look at the complaints.
I still have no idea why FOS have been sitting on their hands over this. Out of all of this, the behaviour of FOS in ignoring their responsibilities is so beyond acceptable it makes you wonder if there is an ulterior motive for the inaction.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok so she & guarantor have both made complainst and neither can afford to pay – there isn’t anything urgent they need to do in this case.
They will have to decide how to vote on the Schemes but that isn’t for a couple of months.
It isn’t FOS that is at fault here – it is the FCA that has allowed Amigo to stop complaint handling for such a prolonged period.
nigel says
I have had 3 loans of amigo, first one £5000, I was able to pay that one off before it got to bad..Then I took another loan for £5000 and I started to struggle abit, but after a little period I was offered every time I log in to my amigo account the first thing I would see was top up your loan today..I took no notice of it to start with..but after continuously seeing this in my amigo account I fell for it.so I took another£5000 of them them.. There were no real checks I just got the money…every since it has been the worst dicision of my life..had been to resolve and my account with then keep getting cancelled..I have had too letters from amigo that didn’t mean anything to me..I would just like to know am I doing the right thing with resolver, I did vote.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The previous vote is now irrelevant – Amigo has proposed a completely separate Scheme.
I am not sure from what you have said if Resolver have actually passed your complaint to Amigo? If they haven’t or you are aren’t sure, I suggest you send Amigo a complaint by email immediately. Send Amigo a very short email to hello@amigoloans.co.uk with COMPLAINT as the subject. Just say you want to make an affordability complaint about your Amigo loans.
Can you afford the current payments? Do you know how much you have paid to this last loan?
What is your guarantor’s financial position – at the time you took the top up loan could they have managed to make all the repayments to it and still been able to pay their own debts, bills and living expenses?
Colin Marritt says
Hi Sara, I’m trying to get my head around why you seem to think shareholders aren’t paying anything???? I put £92000 of my hard earned money into this company and my holding is valued at just over £14k. These shares where once valued at 3 pounds a share. They are worth less than 6p now. So can you please explain yoyr comment why shareholders have not paid nearly enough? Your statement might have been valid after the first scheme when price went from 6p upto 30p. No shareholder is making money from this share just now. And lots of us are stuck in at the high 20s. You need to stop being so one sided and look at it from everyone point of view.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t normally publish comments from shareholders as this board is meant for people with debt problems. But I’ll answer this one.
why you seem to think shareholders aren’t paying anything?
I didn’t say shareholders are paying nothing – I said the large part of the extra money Amigo has come up with has come from payments made by current borrowers and only £15m extra is being raised from shareholders to put into the redress pot.
What you bought the shares for is, I am afraid, irrelevant – that money is not going into the pot to pay redress claims. If Amigo goes into administration, the shareholders get nothing.
AC says
Hi Sara, I do believe that 48+ hours later with no response, you have returned Colin back to its box. Well played :-)
Mike T says
I can’t help thinking that, if I was putting £92k of my money into a company’s shares, I’d make really really sure I knew what that company was doing and got a feel for their behaviour and Corporate Social Responsibility before I invested.
The returns offered would have been good but any digging about Amigo would have thrown up stories about their behaviour, so investors would have known what sort of company they were buying into.
Payday loan companies are seen as higher risk investments. If they don’t offer higher returns, they wouldn’t attract the investor. Any research would have been enough to give a savvy investor a feel for how the company top brass treats people – and small share holders would be placed in the same bracket as borrowers when it comes to consideration.
If you’re going to invest in a company like Amigo, you have to do so either ignoring the rising concern and bad press or accept such irresponsible behaviour and ruined lives as a good way to make money on your behalf
£92k is not a small sum to lose but it appears everyone associated with Amigo has been burned to some extent.
However, I can’t help thinking that the investor who backed a company that has caused so much heartache and then grumbles when he has lost his money will get little sympathy when some people on here are struggling to put food on the table and have been impacted for years.
Julie says
Hi Sara
I’m so glad to find this site and a knowledgeable human to speak to! I’ve just opened an affordability complaint for loan and top up with Amigo and am so confused about what process is now. I’m still paying my loan although now on DMP and previously had 6 months COVID break. They’ve said they will consider it under scheme and get back to me within 8 weeks and can’t make an exception out of fairness (didn’t ask for exception not sure what they are getting at). They haven’t asked for evidence. I am prepared to supply DMP statement, medical evidence etc but didn’t attach anything to original complaint as wasn’t sure what was relevant. What should I expect? Do I need to volunteer docs or will they ask if needed? Will it be years before my guarantor is removed or any redress is made against outstanding balance, if they uphold it?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How large is the top up loan? Not what you got in cash, but the total amount borrowed?
What is the total of payments you have made to this last loan?
There is no chance of them considering your complaint in 8 weeks. It will have to be considered in the Scheme (if one is approved) and that won’t start until May. You will be very lucky if you get an answer before October. It may well be a year or more from now.
In the Scheme you will (probably! I am guessing!) be able to supply evidence – certainly if Amigo rejects your complaint in the Scheme you can appeal that and then you should be able to supply evidence.
is the loan in your DMP at the moment or are you paying it in full?
What was your guarantor’s financial situation at the point of the top up loan? Could then have been able to make all the payments and still been able to pay their own debts, bills and living expenses?
Julie says
Hi Sara thanks so much for replying.
Top up brought amount owed to around £6000. I’ve paid around 4500 back and owe around 6500.
I’m paying in full as a priority debt on my DMP. I was advised that if amount was not high enough they would take a portion of payment from my guarantor and I couldn’t risk it. My guarantor is on UC and barely managing as single parent.
My guarantor definitely couldn’t afford top up repayments. They were on long term sick for part time job at time of top up and let go from it slightly after. Even at full pay it wouldn’t have been manageable.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So your guarantor can also make a complaint that the loan was not affordable for them. This gives them two ways to be realeased as guarantor – if you win your complaint or they win theirs.
Sam says
I have received an email from Amigo with the New Schemes set out in it, but I have received 2 differing versions of the proposals!!!! I read the first one, on my phone, and was pleased to see guarantors specifically mentioned. Went to read it to my partner a few hours later, from my iPad, and there was no mention of guarantors anywhere!! The layout and format of the proposals were different also. Which one is accurate? Which one do I trust or vote for??
Am I being stupid or are Amigo trying to confuse us all again into voting for something that’s not as good as it seems.
I am a paying guarantor who was left with all but 6 months payments on an £18,000 debt when it turned out the original borrower lied to everyone and got herself declared bankrupt!!! We have now paid just over £10,000, the borrowed amount was £7,000(ish can’t 100% remember as she had a top up). The difference between the emails for me is being paid less then half what I paid and being paid it all back plus 8%.
What’s the actual email say please, and why do I have two differing ones?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I have no idea why you have two different versions, it sounds very odd.
I suggest you ask the Customer Advocate, Jon Yorke. Email him at jy@amigoca.co.uk
Craig says
So stringing this out again ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It does seem to be taking forever.
DC says
Would rather take a few pence less in the pound with the administrator on the basis the apply FCA rules on the unfair deduction for unpaid interest than let them appoint their own process on wind down. If anybody actually believes they are going to get 42p in the pound in 2023 they are going to be very disappointed. Where do they think all this new business will come from after the way they have handled complaints over the last couple of years and still collecting from people who are owed redress without any details on criteria of how claims will be upheld. Rejecting any proposed schemes and hope for fair administration deal. If they have already calculated the redress they think they need to pay then release the guarantors and pay the £0.24p on a quick and cost effective scheme.
Randy says
I have a current loan which i have been paying back for 2 years with 1 to go. If successful will i only get a fraction of what im paying now. If so am i better off without holding repayments until this is resolved? Also will i get redress for each loan i have had as i took a 2nd loan whech cleared the 1st one!?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The current top up loan – have you repaid more than you borrowed? Check the actual loan amount, this isn’t the amount of cash you received as some of the loan settled your previous loan.
Do you think both loans were unaffordable for you? A loan is only affordable if at the time the loan was givane it seemed likely that you could make all the payments and still be able to pay your other debts, bills and living expenses – if you had to keep borrowing more , the loan was not affordable.
Samuel says
I think all the scam merchants at the top
Of the tree at amigo loans should be jailed for fraud . The End Happy 🎄 Christmas everybody except for the scammers at amigo loans. Stay safe. And thank you Sara for helping the vunreble with your fantastic knowledge. Glad there’s still good people are still out there 👍
Debbie says
Hi Sara,
You previously helped me late last year. 2 of my loans were upheld and 1 was rejected even though that was the one most unaffordable with evidence. At the time Amigo said I could accept the 2 for redress and and take the non upheld one to the ombudsman, which I did. I had the payout from the 2 last Dec. The Ombudsman said they can’t do anything now due to the scheme and court hearings ongoing- I never sent my last complaint to amigo as they had already rejected the loan, I just sent straight to the ombudsman, would the ombudsman send the current complaint details back to Amigo or would I need to re complain and dispute the non upheld loan? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
We won’t know the practicalities of the Scheme for a while – you may need to submit a complaint or it may be automatically done for anyone with a FOS complaint in. I suggest you bookmark this new page and check back every few weeks.
Do you still owe a balance? Are you making any payments at the moment?
Debbie says
No – I don’t owe anything at all.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok then there is nothing to do now. There will be voting on the schemes in late February.
chris says
Good morning
I have had several loans with amigo over the last 7years or so but now starting to see all this news online ect but not sure what I need to do if anything ? I belive these loans was mis sold to me every time due to credit rating and they was only lenders available
Sara (Debt Camel) says
do you have a current loan? This affects what you need to do now.
Zubair says
Hi Sara
I made a complaint back in June 2020 to Amigo Loans who rejected it.
I took it to the FOS who put it on hold because of the scheme etc.
What should I do? Should I make another complaint to amigo?
The loan was £10000 which I settled last year by taking another loan from another company with a better interest rate.
I think I must have paid at least £12000 back over the 3 years I had the loan.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I would be surprised if you didnt repay more than 12000 over 3 years on a 10k loan…
I have been told people who had claims rejected will be able to make a claim to the Scheme.
It is URGENT that anyone with a balance still owing makes a complaint asap and doesn’t wait for the Scheme, but this doesn’t apply to you as the loan was repaid. At the moment there seems no great need to make a complaint to Amigo as they will not consider it before the Scheme starts. I suggest you bookmark this page and pop back every few weeks for news.
Alex says
Hi Sara, Im a bit confused about the latest info from amigo. They say about a trust account being set up for payments being made from 30th November in existing loans. Does this mean I would get 100% of my monthly payments back from this date?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes if you have already made a complaint (have you?) AND your complaint about the last loan is upheld AND you would be due a cash refund.
(If you aren’t due a cash refund, you will always get a 100% deduction from your current balance, even without this trust Account.)
This means that if the payments are affordable, you can continue to make them without a worry that you are throwing away a lot of the money. Of course it doesn’t help if you can’t afford the current payments – it may still be a very long while until your claim is considered in the Scheme.
Alex says
Thank you. I made a complaint in January. The payments are affordable at the minute due to change in circumstances, however I have had quite a few debts, defaults and ccjs in the past which is why I have made the complaint.
Richard Swain says
Hi Sara – thanks for the continued flow of information.
Let’s assume my complaint is valid. I don’t really care about a monetary return, I want the loan and all negative marks on my Credit File removed – which option presented would you say is the quickest to achieve this aim? Or all they all much of a muchness, time wise.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
There is no difference timewise. There is no way to get a quicker resolution by saying you only want the negative marks removed from your credit record. the negative marks will only be removed if you win a claim, in which case you are entitled to some monetary redress.
It isn’t clear if the loan itself will be deleted if you win a claim – some lenders do this because it is easier for them, others just remove the negative marks.
L says
Hi Sara,
I’ve not received an email. I settled for a ridiculously small amount, but because I settled, does this mean I won’t get to vote?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes it does :(
See page 12 clause 7 of the PSL https://www.amigoscheme.co.uk/practice-statement-letter which says if you accepted an offer you cannot have a claim in the Scheme.
I think this is very unfair because Amigo made many poor offers to people. In other Schemes and in administrations, customers are allowed to make a new claim and then if that is upheld, the value of any previous refund is deducted, so you don’t get paid twice for the same problem. That is simple and fair. but Amigo is trying to keep the redress bill for the scheme to a minimum.
If you think this is unfair, I suggest you email Jon York at jy@amigoca.co.uk . He is the appointed customer advocate for the Scheme. It is his job to make sure the Court is told about customer concerns about the scheme.
Tell him what happened to you, why at the time you were misled by Amigo’s low offer and why you think it is unfair that you cannot make another claim in this Scheme. point out that customers in the ICL and Provident Schemes in a similar situation have been allowed to make a claim to those Schemes.
LEE says
My complaint was partially upheld in July 2020 although Amigo slapped on £2k’s worth of unpaid interest. I’ve had a complete gutful of it all and am only £1k away from being shot of this terrible company. I’ve been watching these developments with interest though and can’t believe how long this is taking, they’re just extending the time customers are having to wait to get their complaints resolved and I can’t believe they can get away with it. These new proposals are not easy to follow, I suspect Amigo is fast heading towards administration. Good luck to everyone who has outstanding complaints, I feel your frustration
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Did you accept their decision along with the unfair deduction for unpaid interest? Or send it to FOS?
At the moment we do not know if Amigo will applying this deduction in calculations in the new Scheme.
LEE says
Hi Sara, my complaint was in queue with FOS but never got picked up. I outlined to Amigo that, although I accepted the upheld offer against top ups, I didn’t agree the first loan was affordable. I do have it in an email, by the time this goes anywhere my remaining balance will be cleared so am guessing I’d see pence back if I were to pursue via a scheme.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
was there also a deduction for un[aid interest?
do you know what the date of the offer from Amigo was?
LEE says
Hi Sara the unpaid interest amount was just over £2k and offer was made mid July time. I accepted the upheld elements but complained again about unpaid interest and non upheld elements and sent to ombudsman but was never picked up by them (partly because Amigo mistakingly refused to share my business file which delayed things by 5 months!) complained about that too and they acknowledged they should have done that
LEE says
PS kicked off and contacted the MD who did get things moving in terms of distinct lack of response regarding my vocalisation about poor customer service. Quite honestly I just want shot now :(
Anonymous Poster says
Hello.
I’ve been referred to this site to raise a query if possible?
My partner has a loan with Amigo, she’s been paying for the past 3 years. Over a year ago, she complained to Amigo stating that they lent to her unfairly (£10k loan, with a £2k add on no questions asked). They wrote back stating that the loan wasn’t lent unfairly and that she must continue to pay.
Shorty after, she was deemed “high risk” from the covid disease, and has been in and out of various hospitals. After everything was relaxed, she wrote another letter of complaint after seeing the news articles about Amigo going bust. They wrote back saying that she left it too long to respond to the original letter, so they won’t acknowledge the complaint.
Is there anything else she can do?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The good news is that I have been told Bev (see complaints above) who is in a similar situation to you will be able to make a complaint to the new Scheme.
If you would like this confirmed, I suggest she emails Jon York at jy@amigoca.co.uk and he should be able to confirm it.
It sounds as though she doesn’t have a “live” complaint with Amigo at the moment. It is URGENT that she sends them a new complaint immediately so she may be able to benefit from the Trust Account (page 8 of the PSL https://www.amigoscheme.co.uk/practice-statement-letter) and may be able to get any future payments from now she makes refunded in full. She should send a very short email to hello@amigoloans.co.uk with COMPLAINT as the subject – just say she wants to make an affordability complaint about both her Amigo loans.
Nina says
Hi Sara, I had a Loan from Amigo kept taking top
Ups, balance was £9500 last year, then I got Covid last March and now have long Covid. I took a 6 month payment break which amigo offered then from earlier this year I told them I can only afford to pay £250 instead of the £395 because I had to reduce my working hours plus cut down on my nightshift as I work In A&E. My question is should I still continue to pay the £250 a month as I have put in a complaint last year about unfair lending.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The more top ups you had, the stronger your case probably is. (Even one loan cases cab be very strong, but my point is that it is very unusual for someone to have had several top ups and not win a complaint about the last one at least.)
Can you afford to pay £250 a month?
How large was the last top-up loan – not the amount of cash you got but the total loan which included settling the previous loan?
And can you add up how much you have paid to this last loan?
Kat says
Hi Sara,
Interesting read. I met an amigo employee on a night out who explained they had full intentions of continuing to lend. They also did not speak highly of Debt camel which was comical.
Regardless, as someone who has received a redress, am I able to get any further redress amounts? Would they investigate them further to ensure we had a fair redress?
I can confirm as a previous borrower who received redress last year, that we are being contacted to vote
Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t think so.
Do you think the redress you were given was not enough? Was it not for all of your loans?
I think this is unfair, see my reply to L above https://debtcamel.co.uk/amigo-new-scheme-2/#comment-460122.
Yt says
Sara if myself and guarantor have already made a complaint do we have to make a new one?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
when did you complain and did you ever get a response from Amigo about it?
do you still owe a balance?
if you do, are the payments affordable?
Yt says
Complained in feb this year 3.5 years into £10000 loan and they have let me have equitable set off
Sam says
Hi Sara,
So I have an outstanding loan totalling 5k (4K plus 1k top up I think) just checked my payments etc and I have now actually paid amigo 6k so the rest is just interest. I have requested that now the money is paid back my payments stop and the loan is finished. Complained to both FCA and amigo but they said because of this scheme they cannot do anything. Can I just stop paying now? I don’t want any redress or anything like that as I’ve learnt from my mistake. It’s unfair and crippling
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Was this loan unaffordable from the beginning?
when did you ask Amigo if you could stop paying?
sam says
Yes it was i was way over my head but they still let me do it.
I haven’t asked them yet I’m just asking if that is an option?
Many thanks!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok so you think you will have a good affordability claim to the Scheme (or in administration if the Scheme doesnt get underway).
Amigo are not going to consider just writing the balance off with no cash redress – they will have a set program that looks at all claims and decides them, no human involved trying to settle some cheap – either you win the claim and get a bit of cash back or you don’t the the loan continues.
3 points.
1) you MUST send in a complaint right away. They won’t look at it now but it means any payments from now on with go into the Trust Account and you will get them back IN FULL if your claim is upheld. If you don’t do this you will lose a lot of the money you pay from here on. You just need to send a very short email to hello@amigoloans.co.uk with COMPLAINT as the subject. Just say you want to make an affordability complaint about your Amigo loans.
2) can you affoprd to carry on paying? If you can’t you can ask Amigo for Equitable Set Off. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/stop-paying-amigo-set-off/. If they agree you can pause payments and they will not ask your guarantor to pay. See that artcile for more details. If Amigo refuse (it seems a bit random!) then you have to talk to your guarantor about stopping anyway, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/stop-paying-amigo-pros-and-cons/. It may be a years until your claim is decided – that is a long while to keep paying something unaffordable.
3) when the top up loans was given could yopur guarantor have afforded to make all the payments and still been able to pay their own debts, bills and living expenses? They may have been better off then you, but it is still a lot of money – they have to be able to pay this from their spare income, the fact they may own a house is irrelevant. In the Scheme your guarantor needs to make an affordability complaint too if possible – this gives them twice the chance of being released as guarantor – if your win your claim or they win theirs.
Lou says
Just commenting so I get email updates . Sorry
Vicky says
Hi Sara,
I’m wondering if you could offer advice. I took out a loan with amigo in 2018. The original loan amount was £3000.00. I’ve just worked out that between then and my last payment in November I have paid £4028.97. In the next few weeks my circumstances are about to change which will result in me loosing close to £600 per month. My question is, where do I stand with amigo in terms of not being able to pay any more? Will they accept a reduced plan? I don’t want to just stop paying because it will fall back on my guarantor which is my dad, who is not in a position to pay it due to his hours reducing at work since I took out the loan.
Just to add, I also have a bamboo loan from 2019 starting at £4165.05 and I’ve paid £4565.76 between then and now. Would I be able to do anything with this given that I stand to loose such a large drop in income?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Two separate questions which may not sound relevant but bear with me.
When you took the loan in 2018, at that point was it affordable? A loan is only affordable if you are likely to be able to make all the payments and still be able to pay your other debts, bills and living expenses. If fairl;y soon you dfound you were having to borrow more (or a credit card =, overdraft or a loan) then the loan was not affordable.
Then the same question about your dad. He may have been better off than you in 2018 but could he have afforded to make all the payments and still been able to pay his own debts, bills and expenses? Out of his income, he may own a house, that is not relevant.
Vicky says
Both the bamboo and amigo and guarantor loans and my dad is guarantor for both.
At the time of taking them out I didn’t have to prove any incomings or outgoings, they took my word for it. So I actually told them my outgoings were lower than what they were so that I could get the loan. I have since took out another loan with another company, stupid I know.
He probably could have afforded to be able to pay it at the time, but to be honest they only asked him his share of the bills which was mortgage, gas electric council tax etc because he’s married. Obviously now he couldn’t afford to pay it
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you had to take the Bamboo loan out then the Amigo loan was probably unaffordable when it was given. If your credit record was poor, Amigo should have verified your expenses, not taken your word for them. In this situation you would be VERY likely to win a complaint at the Ombudsman – I do not know whether you will win a complaint in the Amigo Scheme but this is well worth a try.
What you need to do know because you cannot afford to pay and neither can your dad is as follows:
1) send Amigo a very quick complaint. They will not look at this now, you just need to tell them you are complaining. Send a very short email to hello@amigoloans.co.uk with COMPLAINT as the subject. Just say you want to make an affordability complaint about your Amigo loan.
2) read https://debtcamel.co.uk/stop-paying-amigo-set-off/ which explains what Equitable set off is. As you have only had 1 loan and you have paid more than you borrowed, Amigo should agree to let you have this. This means they will let you pause the payments and not ask your dad to pay. Don’t get into a long discussion with Amigo on what you can afford at the moment – your hours are being cut and you are losing £600 in income and you need to stop paying as anyway the loan was unaffordable from the start.
3) to be on the safe side though you should tell your dad what is happening and tell him to cancel his direct debit to Amigoa and also phone up his bank and tell his bank to cancel the continuous payment authority Amigo has over his debit card. better safe than sorry!
4) also send Bamboo a complaint immediately! They are still going, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/how-to-complain-guarantor-loan/ for a template letter to use.
5) who is the other lender you borrowed from? That loan too is probably unaffordable – was it another guarantor loan?
Vicky says
Thank you so much that’s really helpful! The other loan is with everyday loans which was taken out in may this year, it was a total of £2000 and I pay £59 per week, I’ve paid off something like £1700 between then and now
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ok so send them an affordability complaint too – a lot of complaints are being one against them. They should have seen your very high current debts levels. Use the template letter on here: https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/.
This one isn’t a guarantor loan so you can just tell them your income is being cut massively and you can only pay then £5 a month or whatever you really can afford.
What about other debt – credit cards, catalogues, overdrafts, BNPL?
Vicky says
So can I use that template letter for both amigo and bamboo?
Yes I have a credit card debt, studio Catalogue which is now in debt and I’m also paying off old Council tax debt, water debt and gas and electric debt
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You could but it would be pointless for Amigo – Amigo is going to be putting tens of thousands of claims through an automated process, not have staff reading long letters of complaint. It hope most claims will be decided this way and only a few will need to go to an appeal stage and be looked at individually. So if you write a lot now it would even be read. just a one sentence email will do for Amigo.
But send a proper complaint to Bamboo using the template and changing it for your situation. eg you could point out they should have seen that you had taken the Amigo loan out the year before.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Right the credit card and catalogues … did they increase your credit limits too high? when you were only making minimum payments to them? because you can make an affordability complaint about those too… see different page with different template letter here https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-catalogue-credit-card/
council tax, gas and electric are priority debts. You need to carry on paying those even if that means you can pay nothing to your everyday loan, credit card and catalogue debt.
Affordability complaints can take a long while to go through – as you have a quite a few of these and also priority debts, I suggest you talk to a debt adviser now about your situation. Phone National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 – they know about affordability complaints but explain your drop in income and your guarantor loans and ask for advice on your options to get through this.
Vicky says
Great thank you I’ll do that. I’ve edited the template to suit my needs and sent it to bamboo. Do you think that given I have paid the full amount of the loan back, and more, that they will write it off? I’m seriously not in a position to be paying out £300 per month in loans and I’m starting to worry
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You may need to send the complaint to the Ombudsman. Lots are won there but it isn’t speedy. do tell your dad what is happening.
Vicky says
How do I send it to the obundsman? And do I just send the same email that I sent to bamboo? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
it can’t go to the Ombudsman until EITHER the lender has replied and you don’t agree with the decision OR it has been 8 weeks since you complained.
And Amigo will never be able to go to the ombudsman.
That’s why I suggested talking to a debt adviser about ways to get through the months ahead.
Vicky says
How do I send it to the obundsman? And do I just send the same email that I sent to bamboo? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
See the other pages, for guarantor loans and for large loans. They say how to send the case to the Ombudsman. The comments below those other pages are the best place for questions ass they are more likely to be seen by some who has an everyday loan complaint etc.
Vicky says
Thank you :-)
Ian says
Hi, I had a loan with Amigo years ago (2014 I think), eventually it got cleared via a DMP with the incredibly helpful Stepchange but I’m wondering would I be able to put in an affordability complaint against Amigo? My guarantor could, and did, afford repayments but I was on a low income and ended up on the DMP making reduced payments. The balance was cleared in 2017.
Thanks for this website, really useful!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If the loan was unaffordable for you at the time it was given then you will be able to make a claim to the Scheme (or to the administrators if Amigo goes under).
A loan is affordable for you if it looked likely that you would be able to make all the payments and still be able to pay your other debts, bills and lining expenses. If you pretty soon ended up in a DMP then the Amigo loan may well have been unaffordable – Amigo made very few checks of borrower’s finances.
The fact your guarantor could have afforded to pay is not releavnt at all – it reduced the risk to Amigo but the regulator rules say they still have to make sure you, the borrower, could afford it.
Gareth says
Hi Sara, so with this new scheme how to I start my complaint? I have had a loan which I couldn’t afford to pay back so the guarantor was left to hold the burden in which I am paying the guarantor back slowly. Thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
See the article above – I have just added a section at the bottom on how to complain. As you don’t have a current loan, you don’t have to do this now, you can wait until the new Scheme starts or they go into administration.
Robert says
Hi – please can you advise me on the best way to make a complaint RE: Amigo? I took a loan out with them in November 2018 of £5,000. I’ve not missed any payments and I have paid back over £7,000 already. However, this loan was not affordable at the time and I had to take out a loan with Sunny and short term ones with QuickQuid to help pay Amigo. I prioritised that one to avoid my guarantor making payments.
Is the first step to simply send a short complaint to Amigo now? Then do I need to wait for them not to reply and in 8 weeks’ time, contact the Ombudsman? Should I continue to make monthly payments from this point? Thanks in advance for any help you can give.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I have now added a section to the bottom of the article above which says how to send in a complaint. It is URGENT that you do this right away because of the Trust Account provision they have announced this week in the PSL. that section also looks at whether you should stop paying – in your case if you have repaid more than you borrowed Amigo should allow you to pause paying and not go after your guarantor.
Amigo will not reply to your complaint but the Ombudsman is no longer taking Amigo cases. you just have to wait for a decision in the Scheme which may be 10 months or more.
Robert says
Thanks for the fast response. If I email my complaint, do I then have to contact them again separately in order to request Equitable Set Off? If they’re not actually reading complaints now, how will I potentially be offered Amigo’s Equitable Set Off?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes you ask for equitable set off separately.
They will not offer that unless you have made a complaint, so do that first. Then you can tell Amigo you sent a complaint on dd/nn/yy and they will be able to look at the emails and see it.
Robert says
Great! How long do you think I should leave between complaint I request for the set off? I’ve emailed them with my complaint today. Thanks again.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
10 mins is plenty!
you just need to be able to say when asking for Equitable Set Off that you have made a complaint.
Bev says
Hi Sara,
I sent the complaint email to them as you suggested and they just responded to say they are not going to look into my complaint because they considered the loan’s affordable.
I didn’t forward to the ombudsman at the time but I’m still paying of the loan I took to pay them so it wasn’t affordable at all.
I’m guessing that they will not be allowing me to make a claim from the eventual payout which is so unfair
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I have been told they will allow you to make a claim in the Scheme – I will follow this up.
Vicky says
Sorry to jump on the thread, but how do you ask for the equitable set off? I’ve had a reply (not from amigo but bamboo) who are saying they are investigating my claim. I’m not bothered about getting money back I just want to stop paying, given that I have paid the balance and more back!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Equitable set off is something that Amigo is offering and then not to everyone who should benefit from it.
No other lender is doing this.
It is a good defence if a lender takes you to court for a CCJ!
Vicky says
Ah that’s a shame! Not to worry, I’ve got a complaint in with amigo too hopefully that comes off!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Amigo are not investigating your claim… have you asked for equitable Set Off? They should be able to say quickly if you can pause paying.
You have complained to Bamboo? If they offer to cut what you have to pay, but it isnt removing all interest, leave a comment on https://debtcamel.co.uk/how-to-complain-guarantor-loan/ as they are often trying it on and can be persuaded to increase the offer.
Vicky says
No, should I ask for it? What do I say to them?
I’ve had an email back from bamboo to say they are investigating my complaint but I’ve not heard anything at all back from amigo
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Read https://debtcamel.co.uk/stop-paying-amigo-set-off/ so you know a bit more about Equitable set off. You say you have paid more than you borrowed so if you ask for it they should agree,
Robert says
Hello, I’ve followed your advice and Amigo have offered Equitable Set Off; I just have to send an email to agree to this offer. The only concern I have is if my affordability complaint is not upheld. The information states:
“If your claim is found not to be valid, you will still owe us the full amount outstanding
on your loan (including any applicable interest that has continued to accrue). If the
account is in arrears at that time as a result of you having stopped making
repayments, we will require you (or your guarantor) to immediately bring the account
up to date.”
So if I stop making payments now and my complaint is dismissed in say, 10 months time, I’ll be IMMEDIATELY expected to pay 10 months’ worth of payments to bring it up to date. Is this correct? Who will actually make a decision on my affordability complaint and what would prevent Amigo from just dismissing all of them? Thanks again for any advice.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
can you afford the make the payments at the moment?
Robert says
Just about, although my credit is trashed from other things.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“I’ll be IMMEDIATELY expected to pay 10 months’ worth of payments to bring it up to date. Is this correct?”
Legally they would be arrears – Amigo would expect you to make arrangements to pay. It would not be sensible for them to reject a reasonable arrangment and insist on them being repaid in full.
If you couldn’t pay, this just some level of risk you have to accept, because you have no alternative.
But if you can pay them, then you have two options.
First is to go for equitable set off and put the money you aren’t paying them into a savings account. Then it is there if it is needed because your claim is rejected. And if your claim is upheld you then have a sum saved up you can clear other debts with. And if you have some emergency between now and when you claim is decided, you can always raid this savings pot, choosing to take a risk on your claim being upheld.
Second is not to go for equitable set off and instead rely on the “trust account” that is described on p8 of the PSL https://www.amigoscheme.co.uk/practice-statement-letter.
“Who will actually make a decision on my affordability complaint and what would prevent Amigo from just dismissing all of them?”
Amigo will decide. If they reject it, there will be an external appeal process you should go through but this isnt to the Ombudsman.
Rachel says
Hi Sara!
Merry Xmas!
I made a complaint to amigo as a customer about 2 years ago and they took quite a lot of my loan, the amount was reduced from 4K to around 1.5k.
This went through the ombudsman as amigo initially declined my complaint,
Under the new scheme can I make a complaint or would my guarantor need to do so? Not sure if it would get anywhere as I already had some money taken off?
Thanks in advance!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You only had 1 long and the Ombudsman upheld this?
Your guarantor has presumably been released from the loan?
What are the rest of your finances like at the moment?
Rachel says
Yes one loan with several top ups along the way,
Guarantor has not been released from the loan she is still liable though they have not been chasing her.
Currently in a DRO – august this year
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Was the last top up upheld as unaffordable by the Ombudsman?
Stephen Davies says
Hi Sara I made a complaint back in October 2020, this was acknowledged by amigo but was set aside due to the first scheme. My first loan was for £4500 with £1500 top up 12 months later. I’m currently using the equitable set off due to already repaying over £9000. Will I have to make a new complaint in the new scheme, or does my first complaint still stand. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
this was acknowledged by amigo but was set aside due to the first scheme.
I assume you mean your complaint was ignored?
Will I have to make a new complaint in the new scheme, or does my first complaint still stand
I think you will have to wait until more details of the second scheme are given to be sure of this. If you aren’t sure, then try to submit a claim to the second scheme.
Stephen says
Yes Sara that’s correct it was acknowledged but totally ignored. I’ve already made my decision on the new scheme anyway. I will not be voting for either, its not about the money for me it’s just about getting the loan wiped so myself and my guarantor can get on with our lives as all this has totally messed with our mental health.
Darrell says
Can anyone help with this, I’m currently repaying £70 a month & around £10 through a debt management plan I missed one payment but paid 3 days later, my account is in arrears & I’ve got a Claim in the process.
I definitely can’t afford to repay neither can my guarantor, but today I’ve just had an email from them which read:
Darrell, As there is no resolution in place, soon you may be issued with an LBA (Letter Before Action), this is a legal notice which will allow you to come to a resolution prior to a court claim being considered. In Court, an order for the full balance will be sought. A CCJ may be issued against you and Mark, where it will stay on both of your Credit Files for up to 6 years. If you’re in a position to do so, please arrange payment of the arrears. Call me on 01202 629103 or make a payment now Easypay: https://amigo.me/J6L8XHQ6 Thomas, Amigo Account Manager
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How large was this loan when you took it? How much have you paid to it so far?
Was it affordable for you at the start? A loan is only affordable if you can repay it and still pay all your other debts, bills and everyday living expenses without getting deeper into debt.
Was it affordable for your guarantor at the start?
Darrell says
Hi Sara,
The loan was for £3500, it wasn’t affordable for my myself or my guarantor at the time, I know I re did my expenses many times just to get my repayment to something I could afford or so I thought, now I’m in arrears of over £1080 due to payment holiday during covid & still owe over £2888.00 I definitely can’t afford to clear the arrears & I’m struggling to pay the £70 I arranged with them & now their sending me & my guarantor which is my brother these threatening txts & emails talking about ccj’s & all sorts 😩it’s all getting a bit stressful & still nothing concrete about the scheme there putting together.
Thanks in advance for your continued help & guidance much appreciated as always.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you and your guarantor both have good reasons to complain to the scheme (or in administration if Amigo folds).
Have you added up how much you have paid so far? Ignore what the balance and the arrears are, just the total you have paid.
Amigo is using its usual weasel words, hoping you will be scared…
“soon you MAY be issued with an LBA (Letter Before Action) …. prior to a court claim being CONSIDERED.” (I have put a couple of words into capitals)
I may win the lottery tomorrow, but I probably won’t. I may consider going to Australia in January, but I’m not going to.
In 2020 when someone defended a court case (and with a claim in which Amigo are ignoring you have a VERY good reason to defend any case!) it took an average of 51 weeks to get to trial. There is about zero chance that Amigo are actually going to sue you.
And anyway, if you don’t have the money what option do you have? It would be mad to stop paying the rent or the council tax to pay this debt to amigo which you may not even owe after your claim has been considered.
Darrell says
Hi Sara,
Thanks for your advice much appreciated
Nicola says
Hi Sara,
If I and my guarantor already made a complaint to amigo before do we need to resubmit this again ?
Thanks
Nicola
Sara (Debt Camel) says
When did you complain and what happened to it? Do you still owe a balance?
Nicola says
Hi,
We complained back in April to Amigo and have stopped making payments as they were unaffordable to me.
I still have a balance outstanding but I have had no contact from them for at least 4 months now.
Thanks
Nicola
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So they definitely know you have complained? In that case there is no need to do anything more now.
We don’t know yet if you will have to make a complaint to the Scheme (if this one is approved) or if Amigo will automatically enter one for you.
Nicola says
Thanks Sara.
Your help is much appreciated.
Jo says
Hi. I have taken out 3 separate loans with Amigo – 2 in 2016 and 1 in 2017….£10,000 in total. No proper affordability checks were completed and I have struggled to pay £400 a month for the last 5 and half years. I have never missed a payment. I made an affordability complaint last year which was not upheld by Amigo. I then sent my complaint to FOC but this was not pursued because of Amigo going into administration. Can you please give advise:
* Will this affordability complaint be picked by up by Ombudsman or do I need to make another complaint? Who do I make further complaint to?
* Am I able to stop paying monthly? Will my guarantor be approached to make any missed payments?
Many thanks, any advice will be gratefully received
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you know how large the last loan was (not the cash your received, but the total loan ze, not including added interest?)
Do you know much you have paid to this last loan?
Jo says
Not completely sure, think it was £3000. The first was £5000, second £2000 & last £3000. Collectively, I have paid over £20,000 and a further £3,200 to go
Sara (Debt Camel) says
you should be able to see the amount for the last loan by logging in?
£400 a month is not a likely payment on a £3000 loan.
Jo says
So, the last loan was 10,000 in Aug 2017 (this wasn’t the cash I received but the sum borrowed with 2 top ups
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok that sounds right. I assume your payments were £395 a month?
How many of these payments have you made eg 50? (I can’t work this out as I don’t know which month you first made a payments nor if you too a payment holiday because of Covid)
Sorry for wanting these details, but there is probably some good news for you… but I don’t want to guess about this…
Jo says
I have made 52 payments at 395.25 and I also paid a lower amount for a year prior to this on ini Al and 2nd top up loan. No late payments and no payment reductions
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok so the good news is you have paid more than 10k to the last loan (a lot more!) so if you make a complaint, Amigo will allow you to pause paying because of Equitable Set Off and they will not ask your guarantor to pay.
Read https://debtcamel.co.uk/stop-paying-amigo-set-off/.
For you the important points to think about are:
1) I don’t know if Amigo thinks you have a complaint in. they should… but if they say they haven’t send them a one line email saying you are making an affordability complaint about all your loans. they will not let you have equitiable set off unless you have made a complaint.
2) a small number of people (less than a dozen?) have said their guarantors were asked to pay. They shouldn’t have been… but it’s probably good to tell your guarantor what is happening and get them to cancel their direct debit to Amigo and also phoen their bank and tell their bank to cancel the Continuous Payment Authority Amigo has over their debit card. better safe than sorry!
3) With three loans and the last one large, you may well have a strong complaint! Stopping paying will harm your credit record but the negative marks will be removed if you win your claim in the new scheme (or in administration if Amigo goes under.) If you can’t afford the repayments, this is a better route than getting behind on other debts and bills where you credit record will not be repaired if you win the Amigo complaint.
if you can afford the payments then there are other options – but it’s likely to be at least 8 months, possibly a year or more until your complaint is considered in the Scheme, so that is a long while to keep paying money you can’t really manage.
Whatever you do, make sure your guarantor also submits a claim to the scheme if they sould not have been able to make all those £395 payments from their spare income, and still been able to pay their own bills, debts and living expenses. This gives two ways for them to be released as guarantor – if you win your complaint or they win theirs.
Jo says
Thank you for your advice, I will email Amigo to advise I am making an affordability complaint
Jo says
Hi Sara,
I emailed Amigo regarding raising my affordability complaint again, this is the reply I received:
Joanne,
Thank you for your message. My colleague has already investigated your claim and issued you with our final response on 20/08/2020.
A new complaint should not have been raised as we have previously investigated this claim. Please consider this confirmation that your complaint is no longer active. Rest assured, this does not affect your right to complain in future.
I understand that you have already gone to the Financial Ombudsman. We will liaise with them in order to reach an appropriate outcome for both parties should the High Courts approve our proposed Scheme of Arrangement.
To discuss any details about your account please call our collections department on 01202 629161
I’ve emailed back explaining I would like equitable set off but no response as yet. Do you think I will be denied my request as they have already declined my affordability claim previously and the ombudsman not currently looking at claims??
Many thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They should treat you as having a complaint for the purpose of Equitable set off. Come back here if they don’t!
H says
Hi,
My ex boyfriend took out a £7500 loan in March 2017. I’m the guarantor, at the time I was a university student and shouldn’t even been accepted as a guarantor (was also under the age of 23 which they state as being their minimum age). Anyway I’ve struggled and paid £297 a month since then apart from the first two months ended up with a large overdraft and credit cards because I was scared what would happen if I didn’t pay. I complained to amigo on 07 august 2020 , case went to the ombudsman and then wasn’t dealt with due to the scheme. I’ve now changed jobs and cannot afford to pay as guarantor without having to not pay some of my other more important debts which I don’t want to do. Is there anything I can do😫
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you should talk to a debt adviser about your whole situation. National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 are very good – and they are familiar with affordability complaints.
For a guarantor, this debt is just like any other debt. If you have a large overdraft and credit card, it may be that putting them all into a debt management plan, including this Amigo loan – is your best option. Or it may be that your situation is so bad that an insolvency option is best – that would wipe out your Amigo debt along with all of the others.
If you are SURE you can pay all the other debts (even if your energy bills go up in April? And your National Insurance and council tax?) then your other option is simply to stop paying Amigo. Tell them you won’t pay any more until your complaint is considered in the second Scheme.
Yhey may threaten court action but so far as i know they never took anyone to court in 2021 who had a complaint in… they just seem to be making threats which are just bluffing . Court cases take a very long while to go through and in the Scheme they won’t be taking anyone to court before their complaint is decided.
H says
Thanks Sara, I would be able to pay the rest of my bills and debts if I could stop having to pay Amigo for something that shouldn’t have been accepted in the first place.
Is there any template email I can help use to send to amigo with the relevant wording on? The threats do make me nervous however reading your replies to other comments on this article and others has made me feel better, and I believe even if Amigo did take me to court I feel I could argue my case.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Amigo will not read anything you write at the moment so a simple one line email saying you still have an affordability complaint and you will not be making any more payments until it is considered in the new scheme will do.
Come back here if you do get sent a Letter Before Action – that is the stage before a court claim. It’s been a long while since anyone has reported having one.
H says
Thank you very much for the advice, fingers crossed
wjb says
Does anyone know how this scheme could affect a complaint about the deducted tax that they remove from the redress amount?
My complaint was upheld, redress received however i wrote to the FOS in regards to the deduction, then amigo enter the scheme proposal.
Thanks
W
Sara (Debt Camel) says
do you mean tax deducted? or Amigo’s infamous “deduction for unpaid interest”?
wes says
Ye sorry, the infamous deduction of unpaid interest.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
We haven’t seen the full scheme details yet. My guess is that are still planning on keeping this deduction :(
Camille says
Hi Sara,
A bit of advice please.
My complaint with amigos has been over a year now.
I recently received a letter letting me know that the financial ombudsman has returned the complaint for unaffordable leading.
What do I do now? I am using a claims company to work on my behalf.
Today I got a letter from Amigos to make a payment arrangement!
You couldn’t make this up seriously these crooks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well really you should ask your claims firm…
Are the repayments unaffordable? how large was your last loan? How much have you paid towards it?
Did you have other loans before this one?
Camille says
Hi Sara,
debts are not affordable, as my job has changed and earning less money.
My loan was 10k and i have used them before and cleared what i owed.
I was on a covid payment break last year.
Apparently before my case with the FOS was at the end but then amigos put a hold on everything.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So if you can’t afford the repayments, you don’t have much option but to refuse to make a payment arrangement, do you? And explain to your guarantor so they know what is happening and they too cancel their direct debit to Amigo and also phone their bank to camcel the continuous paymnet authority over their debit card. .
If you had paid more than 10k to this last loan, then there would be an option known as Equitable Set Off, but it sounds as though you probably haven’t?
You have a complaint in, if you win the complaint (and if you had other smaller loans from them before, it suggests you may well win a complaint that at least the last loan is unaffordable, in a second scheme or in administration if they go under) then interest will be removed from the balance and your guarantor will be released. In the Scheme or in administration you want to make sure that your guarantor alos complains that the last loan was unaffordable for them, as this gives 2 ways they can be released as guarantor, if you win or if they win.
Camille says
Thank you Sara,
I did advise my guarantor to cancel the card payments from last year so she is aware.
My last loan i can’t recall the amount but i do know that i did do top ups.
This matter has been dragging on for ages now just want to get this negative mark off my credit file which i know i will have to wait for sometime until we find out what is happening.
Last year i would of had an outcome to end this but then it all changed.
Thank you for your advise.
Will keep you posted.
w says
hopefully a clearer picture of these deduction once the scheme details is announced. Still baffles me why this deduction was ever used. Another way to rip people who won complaints off.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
exactly.
Confused79 says
Hi Sara would you mind helping me. I took a loan out £7750, for 60 months from aug 2017. I absolutely could not afford it but because I had a guarantor I kept paying as I just couldn’t have left them to pay it, the only way I could do that was letting a number of other loans with pay day lenders default 6+ in total which as you can imagine has just destroyed my credit file also. I managed to pay the loan off in November 2021 as I was giving other creditors nominal amounts. What I don’t understand by with we of the schemes the 42p or 29p is that worked against the amount borrowed or interest amount on the loan only? Just trying to work it out in my head I know from your article it’s all pretty fictional figures currently so nothing is guaranteed with way. I did have previous loans with them but I notice because I’ve paid them off amigo have literally wiped out what information I can get to from logging in to their website
Sara (Debt Camel) says
the 42p or 29p is that worked against the amount borrowed or interest amount on the loan only?
the interest amount
Ian says
Hi Sara,
Fantastic page related to Amigo 👏.
I’ve tried to search but can’t seem to find any comment similar to my situation (apologies, I’m sure there will be several somewhere).
I’ve had several loans over the years, my latest was 10K top up. I paid £395 for nearly 2 years, with my balance hardly going down. I made a claim and it was accepted. My guarantor was wiped from my account and refunded £6.2K, which was immediately taken from my balance. I have a balance of approx £3K. It was agreed all interest would stop and I was happy to pay £250 per month. On the first month they added more interest and tried to take £395 payment from my card again. I contacted them and the apologised. This happened for the next 3 months, in the end I got a new bank card and said until you are trusted not to attempt taking more money I refuse to pay. They have amended the interest back down to my agreed £3K balance and have since not attempted to take anymore money. I have recieved no further communication for 2 years (except the odd email regarding the new Schemes)…. My question is, do I attempt to start clearing my £3K balance? the end date of my loan would be December 2022, I don’t think my spare monthly money would be enough to clear it by then. What do you think will happen? debt sold? CCJ?, Debt deleted? Debt extended?
Thanks Sara
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The end date of the loan has no particular relevance any more. Your loan was found to be unaffordable so you can start repaying it at a rate you can afford.
What are the rest of your finances like?
I don’t know if they will sell your debt, it doesn’t much matter.
They would find it hard to get a CCJ if you are offering a reasonable monthly amount – reasonable being what is reasonable given your finances, not what sounds cool to Amigo. I haven’t actually seen any lender of debt collector try to enforce an unaffordable loan in court, but taking a practical view, the sooner you don’t have anything more to do with Amigo the better…
Ian says
Thank you. Will start to make an offer, just concerned that on my credit report I hadn’t missed a payment (granted all other debts were not so lucky 🤦♂️) but it shows no data for last 2 years. (since they refunded interest and I stopped paying) Do you think it Will become visible and negative on my credit report now?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It may become visible but you can complain if a negative marker is added.
Donna says
Hi Sara
I was told I could have equitable set off of in paid another 810 as that was the difference from what was actually borrowed and paif back.. I raised affordable complaint, so did my guarantor, even to the ombudsman. I stopped paying 8 months ago, lost my job am a single parent now on benefits. I wanted to also make u aware…
Amigo set up a Facebook page which is private and invite only, they sent me a message on fb messenger so I opened it joined the group an it was load of bull about the scheme I told them to jog on, im Condering a debt relief order or pay the difference an see the thing closed.. Been absolutely hell dealing with them, they have continued adding interest even tho I raised numerous complaints. I screen shot the stuff on fb in case u want to see it lol… Also they have the page well set up, so that no 1 can actually read any one else’s comment it’s absolutely outrageous clearly clutching at straws I also reported it to the ombudsman as I never gave amigo permission to contact me on my social media platforms.. Ide be happy to do a screen video of the group In case you hadn’t heard or seen it yet, it’s pretty pathetic an unnerving to be honest but can I ask…. If someone raises an affordable complaint, are they till allowed add interest? Considering the interest is higher than the loan repayments its absolutely sickening… thankyou 😁
D x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
oh that’s interesting about the private FB page. If they don’t let people see other people’s comments it’s obviously just them doing a sales job :(
If someone raises an affordable complaint, are they still allowed add interest?
yes they are. BUT if you win your complaint it is all removed anyway. So just shrug about that.
what is your guarantor’s financial position?
Donna says
Hi Sara
Thanks for your time, it’s very appreciated.
My guarantor is on benefits.
He’s def not in position to pay.
So it’s hard to know what to do.??
I’m totally confused about the scheme. And as there still adding interest,
scares me so much I am contemplating the equitable set off.??? What u think? 🤔 Thanks Donna
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Was your guarantor in a position to pay when you took the last top up out?
Donna says
Hi again,
No he wasnt really he worked but could never off afforded the repayments. I think I had 2 x too ups. He did email and complain, asked to be removed as guarantor ect ect.. Was told no. I’m trying to protect him but not be bullied by amigo to, as is the case the past few months its been herendous, it was all frozen then on Saturday past, I received a letter amount being In arrears ect an I ahd a peek At the interest lol, and it’s gave me anxiety lol.. Its a disaster cant wait to get it resolved so I know were i stand it’s so stressful..
Thanks Donna 😁
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you have already made a complaint – good. And so has your guarantor – good.
You are on benefits so you can’t possibly afford £810. Nor the monthly payments. Nor can your guarantor.
There isn’t really much you can do except wait for your complaints to be decided in the new Scheme or in administration.
The interest being added doesn’t change the fact you can’t afford to pay – as a single parent, you priority has to be your important bills and food and clothes for you and your child. With energy bills going up, it’s really unlikely you have any spare money at all, let alone enough to pay Amigo.
And as I said, the interest will all be wiped out if you win the complaint. Interest is also capped – it won’t carry on being added forever.
Their threatening emails and texts are just trying to bluff you into paying. They may talk about court action but I don’t remember a single case where they too someone with a complaint in to court in 2021. And with the new Scheme coming up, they aren’t going to start now. It takes a VERY long while for court cases to come to trial – the everage is about a year! Amigo know that, they are just hoping that you don’t.
If you lose your complaint in the end, you and your guarantor can take debt advice and consider things like a DRO at that point. Or you can talk to National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 now if you want to, but they may think its best to wait until your complaint has been decided.
Donna says
His,
I feel beeter kind of reading that in context, so thankyou so much Sara.
I think the points u make are right, just get blind sided when ur in the middle of it so takes u to see things in context like that to help see the reality if we’re u are. I think will wait on the scheme. If I did pay the 810,i was having to sell things to raise it, but was willing to do so being utter overwhelmed by the whole thingand the constant barrage of harassment that entails, I can’t wait to it finally gets to court, so myself and others affected, can have some mental clarity an direction, lifes hard enough.
I’m going to be honest i hate them there vermin I hope they face administrators!! #notbitter 😂😂, thanks again, your a gem 💎, kind regards Donna
Donna says
Hi again
I received an email from Amigo regards equitable set off.. Wanted to just update what I had told you so far.. I received this :
(there bank details) followed by……….
Remember to use your agreement number as the payment reference so we can find your loan. Your agreement number is;
Although most transfers happen in a couple of hours, please be aware that, depending on your bank account, this could take up to 5 working days and interest will be applied to the outstanding balance within this time.
Thanks,
Amigo Loans
Amigologo.png
What does this mean about interest? Sorry if it seems dumb question, just wanted to know way I’m understanding it Is correct. Lol.
Thanks so much Sara totally appreciate your time 😁
Donna x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so you are going to pay them £810 – is this the transfer they are talking about? Can you manage that? Why would you do this and not rather pay the next few months normal payments and then ask for the equitable set off?
Lloyd says
Hi Sara, first off I just want to say thanks for this site, it’s really helped me get a better understanding but I’m still not clear on where I stand, I’ve send the following email based of your template to hello@amigoloans.com which obviously include my loan details: (I’ve just included below the bits I had to do myself within the template)
“You gave me a loan of £2500 in December 2018. I took a top up of £1500 in April 2019. Bringing the total amount I’ve borrowed to date of £4000.
I’ve made 31 payments of £195.16 to date meaning I have more than covered the amount I’ve borrowed. I want you to refund me the interest that I have paid plus 8% statutory interest.
I had also made a recent request to pay a less amount in December 2021 and spread the remaining arrears over January and February 2022 however was practically forced on the phone in to having to make the full arrears payment of £340.32 despite me stating that it wouldn’t be particularly affordable for me to do it this way. Which just enforces the irresponsibleness of your company.”
Where do you think I would stand with this? According to my workings out I’ve already paid around £2000 in interest with around another £1000 to go, I’ve cleared the amount I borrowed months ago.
Really appreciate the time you’re giving towards this. Thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Looking at the last loan only, how large was it? And how much have you paid to it?
Lloyd says
So the last loan was a top up if that’s what you mean, £1500 was the amount I topped up off an existing loan of £2500. On the latest pre-contract agreement they sent me it says total amount payable is 36x £195.15. I’ve made 31 of them.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So I think the loan amount would have been c £4000 – rather than the cash you received.
As you have repaid more than the £4000 and you have complained, you can ask for “equitable set off” and stop paying. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/stop-paying-amigo-set-off/. If you do this Amigo will not ask your guarantor to pay. It will harm your credit record, but the negative marks will be removed if your complaint is upheld in the second Scheme (if that goes ahead) or in administration (if it doesn’t).
As you have had a top up loan, this may mean you have a string complaint – people often took the top up as they were struggling with the previous lower payment.
With a top up loan, you may be one of the people that Amigo hits with a “deduction for unpaid interest” if it uphlds the top up loan but not the first one. This is very unfair and the ombudsman never does this. I have never seen an administrator do this, so you may be one of the people who could be better off if Amigo’s second scheme is not approved and they go under and into administration. But we will know more about this when the full details of the Scheme are published.
Lloyd says
Thankyou so much for the info, I’ve decided to go for the equitable set off until I hear back from the complaint results, I am fairly certain I should be due some form of a refund as since I’ve borrowed from Amigo my credit file has shown missing payments for other things (not Amigo, I’ve always kept up to date with their payments, as they seem so much more threatening than any other company if payments are missed or late). Do you think that will help my case out of interest? Understandable if you have no idea but thought I would ask!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
it suggests the Amigo loan may have been unaffordable.
Jamie says
I have made a complaint and my guarantor has also made a complaint.
Id borrowed £3000 and have paid back about 3450.
They have said I’d qualify for equitable set off but I’m not sure if I should do it in case the complaint isn’t upheld.
It’s tempting to do it especially if this is going to drag on for months.
Really unsure what to do.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can you afford the monthly repayments? Do you have a lot of other debt, are you behind with any bills?
Jamie says
I can afford them at the moment but only just.
I have unpaid council tax debt which I am currently paying back too and a credit card with a low balance
The amigo loan was to consolidate debts I had but, at the time, I don’t think I could’ve afforded it hence unpaid council tax.
That’s the only thing I’m behind with though
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you have two options now you & your guarantor have made complaints.
1) you can go for equitable set off. Then your guarantor will not be asked to pay. (Well they shouldn’t be – some people have said they have been asked to pay, but those sem like errors).
PRO – you save the money now so you can clear your CT arrears and the credit card bill. And it will leave you in a better position to cope if your energy bills, council tax and national insurance go up in April
CON – this will harm your credit record, but any negative marks are removed if you win your complaint.
2) you carry on paying. As you have complained, the monthly money from here on is set aside and will be refunded to you in full if you win your complaint.
PRO – no harm to your credit record.
CON – this is going to drag on for a long while while you are making high payments. The Scheme can’t start until May, then there are 6 months for peopel to make complaints. I don’t know what order Amigo will deal with complaints, but over 4 months into the provident Scheme no one has heard from them about thier claims… It could be the end of the year or even later before your complaint is decided.
(there is a third option, you can just stop paying, but this has no advanatge over equitable set off.)
So you have a difficult choice – the harder it is to pay them at the moment, the more equitable set off seems a good idea. And the stronger you think your complaint is, but that can be hard to judge.
Jamie says
Thank you so much for the advice.
I think I will continue to pay for now.
As I can afford the payments and I have an agreement re my CT arrears.
The equitable set off option is still there if I need it but hopefully I don’t and then I’ll hopefully receive all the money back if my complaint is upheld.
Thank you again
Donna says
Hiya
Yes this is the £810 there talking about transferring, I emailed about equitable set off a few weeks ago. and they won’t accept what I offered in reduced payment back in october. And say they will chase the guarantor. Which I don’t want as mine is not in a good place at the minute with a marriage break up and family loss, and losing there career to covid. So I emailed weeks ago using advice from here (thankyou) and they said was the 810 difference. I’m just so exhausted and mentally wore out with them i will do absolutely anything to get shit of them i Font even care if I don’t get redress, it’s sickened me that much I wud sleep better knowing it was a chapter closed even tho I def can not afford it but I wud raise it to get mental peace if that makes sense. Thanks a mill Donna 😁
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, so I am not trying to talk you out of this, I just want to make sure you understand what they are saying.
When they say “you can have equitable set off” they are allowing you to pause paying until your claim is decided. Interest will still be added during this period. And it will harm your credit record.
This is not settling your complaint and closing this chapter. They are not writing off the balance as a solution to your complaint. You will still have a claim in the Scheme (or in administration if Amigo fails).
Donna says
Hi
Ah OK makes sense, literally get so flustered dealing with these vermin, I struggle to comprehend the situation or what there saying.
So I get it. I hope people understand ,they are in a better position for redress etc if amigo go into administration. Nothing less than they deserve.
So if I have a claim, if they decode I have a claim , or is the fact they are accepting equitable set off a sign they think I have a claim ? What would happen, if I did pay the 810. But if I waited ,would they use the redress to bring it to equitable set off ? Sorry ,I’m just trying to make sure I’ve my bases covered.
I absolutely do not want to give them this money what so ever and am trying to hold off, but anxiety is nearly getting the better of me. Hence I’m trying to figure out best foot forward to protect guarantor and myself, also would paying the set off difference, affect both credit reports? I kinf of never thought of that lol .. thanks a mill x
Donna
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They are offering equitable set off to ANYONE who has repaid more than they borrowed on the last loan. They are NOT saying anything about your complaint. They haven’t even looked at it… They are doing this under pressure from the FCA is my guess.
If you pay the £810 they will let you pause payments now. And then later look at your claim. But interest is still added and your credit record will be harmed.
Unless you have £810 sitting in the bank, I don’t know why you would do this. Your good choices are to stop paying completely (but your guarantor will be hassled) or carry on paying for a few more months until you have paid £810 more and then ask for equitable set off.
Don’t try to borrow the money now – this is not some settlement offer from Amigo.
Donna says
OK I got ya lol
Thanks so much ..
Will be following , totally appreciate the help your a star
Thank you
Donna
Kate says
Hi Sara sor, I have a loan with amigo, my cousin is my guarantor. I am still making repayments and have about £2600 left of my loan. Could you explain a bit more? I do believe I was sold the loan without relevant checks as when I went to top up my loan I couldn’t due to the checks. However I do no want any impact on my guarantors credit.
Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how large was your loan?
Kate says
My loan originally was for £3500
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so it sounds as though you have paid more than £3500 to this loan.
If that is the case, read https://debtcamel.co.uk/stop-paying-amigo-set-off/ as you may be able to claim Equitable Set off and pause paying Amigo until Amigo decides your complaint in their proposed Scheme (if this goes ahead) or in administration (if it fails).
This will NOT harm your guarantor’s credit record and your guarantor will NOT be asked to pay.
It will harm yours, but if you later win your complaint any negative marks will be removed.
Chris says
Does anyone have experience of the equitable set up arrangement and how amigo behave regarding letters, demands and guarantor? They agreed to equitable set off on my loan on Dec and stated contact would be minimal and they would not seek payment from my guarantor. However they have today written to my guarantor stating loan is in default and they are seeking payment from the guarantor which has caused some stress. Just wondered if any similar experience and what to do? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Phone them up and complain.
They should NOT be doing this.