UPDATE
In May 2022, the new Amigo Scheme was approved by the court and went live. See Amigo’s Scheme for details about this.
This page on the old Scheme is now no longer relevant. Please leave any comments and questions on that new page.
The approval process for the first Scheme (this ended in rejection)
On 30 March, the First Court Hearing gave the go-ahead for Amigo to organise the creditor voting.
An online page to vote was set up and a creditors’ meeting held.
The FCA has published a letter saying:
The FCA considers that a fair compromise could have, but in this case has not been, proposed to Scheme Creditors to vote upon. Therefore… the FCA has decided that it intends to appear at the Sanction Hearing through counsel to oppose the sanction of the Scheme, even if approved by the requisite majority of Scheme Creditors, on the basis that the Court cannot be satisfied that the Scheme in its current form is fair.
On 19 May the Second Court Hearing took place. The FCA opposed the Scheme going ahead
On 24 May the judgement in the case was published – the judge accepted the FCA’s arguments and did not approve the Scheme.
An overview of the first Scheme as it was proposed
Amigo is proposing a Scheme because it can’t afford to pay refunds to all the customers who were given unaffordable loans. It says it will go into administration if the Scheme is not approved.
Amigo says customers may get a cash refund of about 10% of their proper refund value. I think the amount may be lower.
Customers with a current loan, however, will be able to have the full amount of their refund deducted from their balance and their guarantor released in the Scheme if Amigo upholds their claim. And they can also get this if Amigo went into administration if the administrators uphold their claim.
About a million Amigo customers have been texted or emailed about the Scheme. This includes current customers – the borrowers and guarantors for the current 137,000 loans – and all previous customers whose loans have been repaid. If you haven’t received an email about this, check your spam folder!
Amigo has set up a website with information for customers about the Scheme. This contains the Practice Statement Letter (PSL) which sets out more details. And a longer Explanatory Statement.
If the Scheme starts, all open FOS cases will be sent back to the Scheme.
Under the Scheme, customers can put in a claim if they have affordability complaint or if they have any other complaint about a loan or the way Amigo treated them.
There will be a six month period for these claims to be sent in after the Scheme start date. After that time you will not be allowed to make a claim in the Scheme and will not be able to take a complaint to the Ombudsman either.
Amigo will decide whether to uphold each claim:
- The Explanatory Statement lists a lot of factors that will be taken into consideration in Schedule 4.
- Will Amigo uphold the same very high rate that the Financial Ombudsman (FOS) does? It has not said this.
- Amigo will appoint an independent person to look at any appeals – you can’t go to the Financial Ombudsman.
Amigo will then calculate the redress (the legal term for the refund you would have received if there wasn’t a Scheme) for the claims it upholds:
- for borrowers this is the interest they paid.
- it seems likely Amigo will be applying the “unpaid interest deduction” that it started making in summer 2020. This will reduce people’s refunds, see Amigo should end unpaid interest deductions and remove CCJs for details.
- guarantors the calculated refund will be a refund of everything they have paid.
- where a guarantor is being paid a refund, the guarantor payments are removed from the borrower’s account. If the borrower has also had a Claim upheld, interest will be removed from the borrower’s account. A borrower won’t be left worse off after this, but they may get little or no refund.
If you have a balance still owing to Amigo:
- your balance will be reduced by the refund;
- if you still owe a balance after this reduction, you can make an arrangement to repay it at a more affordable rate and your guarantor will be released;
- if the refund is larger than the balance this extra will be paid from the pot of cash Amigo is putting aside and you will only get a small percentage of it.
If you are owed a cash refund:
Customers whose loans have been repaid will have their cash refunds paid out of the pot of money Amigo is putting aside for this. But there won’t be nearly enough money to pay full refunds.
The pot will be divided up between all the people who are owed a cash refund who will all get the same “pence in the pound” percentage of their proper redress.
Amigo is putting in £15m, which could be increased by up to £20m if the balance reductions are lower than expected – this sounds unlikely to me. Amigo is proposing that it will add 15% of its profits in the next four years into this refund pot. As Amigo is currently loss-making this sounds like some jam in a few years, or possibly none at all.
Amigo says people may get paid 10% of their proper refund in the Scheme. On my figures, it could be even less, possibly as low as 5%.
Ceri Thomas says
Having applied to Amigo back in June 2020 and chasing them until December 2020.
Continually been messed along by Amigo but I persevered on.
Where does this leave me now.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
have you had a response from Amigo to your complaint? Have you sent the case to the ombudsman?
Ceri Thomas says
I have several responses back from Amigo.
The final response being the case was being reviewed.
I had earlier been told no case to answer by a guy who had no record of my account.
I then replied to the original Agent and this was his response to me.
Tara says
Hi, been following this for my daughter , can she still make a complaint then as she’s a guarantor on her ex’s loan? She mad e a previous one which was rejected , but this has different, she’s been paying and wants to be removed as guarantor? Should we use the template letter as we are waiting for the borrower to resume payments, but this isn’t until 31st January. He’s made no payments in 2020, but is working and Amigo would rather chase my daughter. I realise this I sent on topic, but I’ve been waiting to see what happens, personally, I think this scheme isn’t good for borrowers and especially guarantors. Disappointed by this. T.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well she can make a new complaint but it has to be different from the previous one or it will be rejected.
Your daughter can afford the payments?
Tara says
No, she can’t afford them and has other factors of issue, such as mental health, and the ex partner has been and is trying to use it to control her ,he took an undertaking in early December 2020 to avoid a NMO, we’re financially supporting her and a payment holiday has been in place for 4 months, but her ex has told Amigo he is going to start paying on the 31st, he hasn’t paid since the 30th December, 2019. Just wanted to be sure she can still complain with all this going on. Previous claim was only about his coercive behaviour to take out loan and get her to be a guarantor for it. Her ex refers to it as their joint loan, and she’s always paid half,. It didn’t refer to the top ups he made her agree too, or his refusal to pay, his abuse , her change in circumstances, or Amigo not checking fully if they could afford the top ups.T
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes she can complain – affordability sounds a different complaint to the previous one.
Whether this will be acepted by Amigo in the Scheme is a different matter, but that is not a reason to not complain now.
Guarantors are in a simpler position when it comes to stopping paying than a borrower. Does she have other problem debts?
Malcolm Hurlston says
Congratulations on a lucid exposition. Over to the FCA…
Caroline says
Thanks for the update Sara.
I have a rejected claim currently with FOS but not yet appointed an adjudicator. Does this mean my complaint will be returned to Amigo? If so, as they have already rejected my claim will it be dismissed a second time or will my complaint be reopened and looked at by an independent Amigo person?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If the Scheme goes ahead (which won’t be known for months) then all open FOS complaints will be returned to Amigo.
I understand why this doesn’t sound good to you! This is why Amigo has to explain in detail how it is going to decide on complaints in the scheme. So far there is no information on this.
Caroline says
Thanks Sara, I guess it’s another waiting game! Let’s hope they provide some clarity sooner than later, I have chased FOS several times with no response, my complaint has been with them since beginning of September. I guess they also have a hold on these Amigo complaints, but would good if they could respond and advise that rather than ignore us all.
Amy says
Be prepared for a long wait, my rejected amigo claim has been with the FOS since March 2020 and not been signed a case worker yet, Iv chased them but with no luck. So frustrating as been going on over 18 months now
Ruth says
Hi Sara,
thankyou so much for following this and explaining it! Just to get an idea…I still have an open loan with Amigo where I calculate the redress potentially owed to pay most of it off but have some remaining balance. Would then I potentially have the same amount written off under this scheme or just a percentage?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This would be a “balance reduction” – you will get that in full under the Scheme. Just as you would in administration, so you don’t gain anything from the Scheme.
How large do you think your remaining balance might be? And how much are you paying a month at the moment?
Ruth says
I had 2 previous loans but my current top up I pay £385.37 per month, the loan amount was £9,750.00 over a term of 60 months. I have paid since 20 payments of £385.37 since starting this top up….so £7707.40 paid towards the loan so far.. I’ve asked for a COVID payment break which takes me to 1st May 2021 at the moment.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
oh that’s good, takes the pressure off you at the moment.
Kyle tent guy says
How can they proceed with this if FCA haven’t approved it yet?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
good question! They have even said that they may not have the FCA’s approval before the first Court Hearing date.
What if the FCA comes back and says they want changes…
Kyle the tent dude says
This is mental, it’s mental what money/ greed does to humans :(
Sean mcconkey says
Hi sara
I’m currently waiting for the ombudsman to pick up my case which has been nearly 6 months now plus the 3 months originally with resolver, will my complaint be sent back to amigo now. Or can my case be picked up and sorted before all this comes into play do you think
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
We don’t know that the Scheme will go ahead yet, but if it does, open FOS cases will be returned to Amigo.
FOS may pick up your case and issue an adjudicator decision. But Amigo has said it won’t be accepting this… I don’t know how it can say this as it appears to be a breach of the FCA’s DISP rules.
james burry says
hi this is all confusing
so please help, Amigo agreed on a settlement figure b4 21st December 2021 for irresponsible lending with fos investigating it, I agreed on 21st December with the fos. “deal done”? now all stuff scheme of arrangement. so if amigo accepted on 21st and agreed wheres my readdress as it clearly states
IAM CONFUSED SO will I get this readdress now., or will be in the scheme as I don’t want it in the scheme as this unfair, what’s the best option amigo to go bust or the scheme
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you ring Amigo and ask if you are going to be paid in full now. If they say no, ask why not.
Sorry, you and a lot of other people don’t have clarity about your situation and Amigo has to provide this.
Jonathan says
Hi Sara.
The adjudicator assigned to my amigo complaint has told me that I should receive the outcome of his investigation this week, if it goes in my favour what would the next step be. I don’t have an ongoing loan all the loans I had taken out have been paid back in full.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
let’s wait until you have the decision first?
Janet says
Having battled with Amigo for 12 months to get a relative removed as a guarantor, I am under no illusion as to the lengths that they will go to to get out of removing and refunding customers (even people who clearly should never have been lent to in the first place). I’m really concerned that they may be given the chance to review unaffordable loans themselves because, in my experience, they will continually refute very strong evidence until it is looked at by an outside agency. It’s very worrying to think that Amigo may be able decide which loans were unaffordable. I’m guessing that as an ex-customer we will be unable to have any say in this proposal? Is there any other way of letting the FCA know how strongly I feel about this?
Ann Marie says
Yes I agree.
David says
What is your view on any open complaints with Amigo / FOS? Do you think the FCA / FOS will ring fence these ones? And any new complaints will be part of the Scheme, if the Scheme goes ahead.
My case is with FOS and I’m very confident it would be upheld, but if Amigo had assessed it correctly it would have been resolved in August last year, I would have had my full balance cleared and 1000s in redress.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you think the FCA / FOS will ring fence these ones?
I don’t see how they could. All open complaints will be part of the Scheme if it goes ahead.
What is a possibility is that the FCA could tell Amigo they have to accept FOS Ombudsman and adjudicator decisions and payout on them. I don’t know if that might happen. But FOS has about 13,000 complaints at the moment – realistically it can’t get through them all before the Scheme starts.
David says
Thanks Sara,
So only FOS complaints with any chance of being resolved prior to any Scheme, would be ones already adjudicated on? Mines was sent in September, but hasn’t been allocated to a handler yet.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I didn’t say that. But in your situation, it would be sensible to not be too optimistic.
David says
Yeah I agree with you.
I might have this wrong but to me it looks like Amigo have deliberately delayed / rejected valid claims ahead of the plan for the Scheme, knowing that any open complaints don’t have to be redressed ahead of the Scheme, they have played a blinder!
I thought the FCA would see right through this.
Ah well, thanks again for your replies.
Banijs says
Good evening. I got question about claim. How i can do it and where thru Scheme? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If the scheme is approved, Amigo will put a page online where you will be able to submit a Claim. This should be from late May for 6 months if they keep to the current timetable.
Andrew says
Hi Sara,
I recieved a final settlement offer from Amigo in June last year. I rejected it as it didn’t look quite right. I went to the FO and amigo made the same offer to them as they did to me, initially the FO said it didn’t look right but then agreed that the offer was correct so I accepted. This was only 2 weeks ago. My question is can Amigo delay paying my settlement to include it within their scheme?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Two weeks ago, so in January?
Andrew N says
Yes, I accepted the offer on the 12th January. The FO said they should pay me out within 4 weeks and if they don’t I have to get back in touch with them. I’m just concerned now that they will try purposely drag their heels to try get it included in the scheme.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I hope your offer will meet Amigo’s “a Final Response Letter has been issued to the customer, dated before 21 December 2020” requirement for a full payout now. Have you spoken to Amigo about this?
Andrew says
Well technically they issued me with a final response in June 2020(says so at the bottom of the offer) and the offer I have accepted is the same. I did email Amigo to ask for an update and got this response. “ Your case has been added to our FOS team’s workload, and they are currently in the process of checking the calculations. We will be in touch as soon as we have an update, but at the moment there is no time frame with which to advise you”
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you phone them up and persist – ask to speak to a manager.
Sean says
Surely it’s on our best interest to vote against this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
In your case I hope amigo will payout on its pre December 21st offer.
But in general? I don’t think we know enough yet about how Amigo will decide which complaints to uphold and how it will calculate the redress to be able to say much about what people need to think about. If Amigo will be upholding well over 80% of complaints and won’t be imposing its unfair “unpaid interest” deduction that may sway some people to vote in favour of it. Certainly customers are getting a very poor deal and some may be prepared to vote against on that basis. I have seen how many payday loan customers are horrified to only get £100 in place of £2000 – I wouldn’t underestimate that factor. And people may also be upset at the what looks to them like a very long-drawn out process.
Sean says
I haven’t been made an offer, my claim is in limbo!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You said previously “because they accepted my claim before the 21st, there is hope”…
Did you mean that Amigo had upheld your claim before the 21st? In which case you should be paid.
Or did you mean your claim was sent in before the 21st and just acknowledged?
Sean says
Well the company working on my behave made a mistake, and it hasn’t been up held yet. (Yes I’m not happy with their handling of this either, but that’s another issue entirely).
How can Amigo be starting a process on a scheme, that hasn’t been agreed yet. In my mind this scheme or Amigo going in to administration has the same out come. Balance wiped pence in the pound insult payout. I’d rather see them go under!! I know my claim which I have worked out to be in the tens of thousands is now worth nothing, and I’m fuming. FOS, FCA do not protect people and these companies, just get away with acting as they please!
Chris says
What on Earth are they on to think this will wash with customers / courts / financial institutions. They cannot really expect this to succeed. Also no lending until the scheme is agreed?
The board seem intent on sinking the company…why?
Since the announcement was made in Dec it’s just been a countdown until administration and I’ve accepted I will not see any redress owed..I’m sorry to see jobs go but this country has enough problems without vultures like amigo messing around and destroying peoples lifes.
Keep up the good work Sara.
Mr F says
I feel thoroughly ticked off by this today,
I had the adjudicator uphold my complaint in Nov 2020 with amigo being given to the 4th Dec to respond, no response from them so given to 21st Dec then 5th Jan then 20th Jan and still no acceptance off amigo, It certainly looks like amigo have deliberately delayed this and too discover they withdrew there disp waiver application adds insult to injury.i understand there has to be a cut off at some point but surely they should have to pay all complaints that have been upheld already by an adjudicator or those who are in a queue for an ombudsman (because they haven’t responded)
At a complete loss now on what to do
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I agree. Amigo likes to say it has reformed under new management but the way it has failed to accept adjudicator decisions and protracted cases unnecessarily suggests it’s main interest is still paying out as little as possible to its customers who should get refunds.
Sean says
It reads on their own website..
Any claims upheld before the cut off point (21st) will be upheld….so some hope. Mine wasn’t upheld in time, they stalled beyond all the timeframes.
Mr F says
Some but slim I spoke to amigo today and the agent claimed they do t know yet what’s happening with those complaints that were waiting to be accepted /declined by amigo from fos adjudicator and ombudsman.
I feel that if complaints were upheld at any level.of FOS prior to Dec 21st and amigo have dragged their heels these should be paid. Amigo should not be allowed to get away with such blatant delaying tactics
MissyJu says
I have a current loan with amigo, paying back 400 a month, it’s crippling me and I don’t have enough money monthly to buy food for my family – would I qualify to make one of these complaints?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
To make a complaint now, use the template on this page: https://debtcamel.co.uk/how-to-complain-guarantor-loan/.
But this will take months to be considered so it isn’t a quick fix by itself. So what can help your situation while the complaint is going through… some questions:
Have your household finances been affected by Covid-19?
Do you have other problem debts?
Could your guarantor really afford to make all the £400 a month payments and still pay their own bills, debts and everyday living expenses?
David says
It’s time for Amigo to be wiped away. This scheme is for Amigo advantage. Administration will give more chance of customers getting at least above 10 pence in the pound. If they are going to be judge jury then God help any existing claims
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The judge and jury is what will worry many people. The decision making may be fairer in administration, until Amigo give real details it’s hard to say. But you won’t get 10% in administration, not going to happen.
Sarah heydon says
Hi Sara,
I have had a complaint in with FOS since November, I have had an email to say it is waiting to be assigned to someone but nothing else.
If my claim was upheld I would only owe Amigo £1000 how would this new scheme affect me and would I need to re-apply if they get the scheme go ahead or would I already have a case in?
A bit confused with all this
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The starting point is that people in your situation will be OK in the Scheme or in administration. You should get exactly the same reduction in your balance that you would from winning the FOS case.
BUT two points.
1) this depends on your claim being upheld in the Scheme. Who knows whether it will be? Until Amigo actually gives serious details people will be suspicious that again they will get rejected.
2) are you making payments at the moment? How much a month?
Sarah heydon says
No not at the moment, my covid break has ended this month so have or set up an arrangement. My husband is still furloughed and will be for some time as far as we can see as he works in the fitness industry. So unsure what to offer my payments were £590 a month!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
do you have other problem debts too?
what is your guarantor’s current financial position? have they been affected by Covid-19?
could they have afforded too make all the £590 a month payments from the start of the last loan? And still been able to pay all their bills, debts and living expenses?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
On your point about whether you would need to reapply, I would hope not! But this depends on how difficult Amigo wants to make the Scheme process and we won’t know that for a while, maybe not until it is actually underway.
Sarah heydon says
My sister is my gaurentor and there is no way she could pay all that for me.
Yes I have other debts some I have managed to get cleared with affordability complaints and the others I pay monthly £5 or £10 dependant on the debt size.
I also have rent arrears which I am paying along with my monthly rent
Sarah Heydon says
Amigo have emailed me today saying that they are putting a default against me and that my sister has to make my payment.
I have made an offer of £200 a month but they have not accepted this.
Is there anything I can do
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You said that there is no way your sister could afford the payments.
Could she have afforded them from start of this loan? And still been able to pay all her own debts, bills and living costs?
Have her household finances been affected by covid-19?
Jamie says
Hello Sara,
I have two questions if you don’t mind.
1) Given Amigos history of bad practices it would be fair to assume a lack of merit on their part, why would it be fair to allow them to undertake a vote without external moderation or monitoring? Surely they could manipulate this vote in their own favour and considering millions of pounds are at stake there is no reason why they wouldn’t attempt this.
2) Would it be possible to take other legal action against Amigo in regards to an unaffordable loan? Is there anything preventing me from doing this whilst they are seeking a Scheme of Arrangement?
Chris says
I have thought about the the first point you make. This company have done nothing but lie and use underhand tatics for years.
How could we trust that any vote would be fair?
Having read more into this scheme today…it is so weighted in Amigos favour. Why do they think this will get approved by any court that would like at this with s impartial view….or is it another delaying tatic whilst they siphon of as much of the companies assets before administration comes.
Jamie says
Hello Chris,
I agree completely, it is another delaying tactic to take in further revenue (I am still paying £139 per month towards my loan). I just hope when it comes to court that they refuse to approve this scheme.
I would much prefer they enter administration (which I believe they are lying about doing) as approval of this scheme will provide opportunities for other lenders to wiggle their way out of their responsibilities in the future.
I also believe administration is a positive and well deserved end for a deceitful and evil company like Amigo who has ruined peoples lives.
Dean says
Hi Sara,
I had 3 loans (2 were top ups) over a period of time between 2013 and 2016. I made a complaint last year and Amigo admitted bad practice for only the middle loan only and made a final offer for this but subsequently reduced the offer by some clever manipulation of figures relating to interest on the first loan. As my position for the loans either side was such that these loans were no more affordable, i referred the complaint to the FOS accordingly. With all these shanannigans going on now can i ask
1. As i have a final offer in place before December, would you think that it would be wise for me to cut my losses and now accept the offer given (£2300) and if i did how would that affect my complaint with the FOS? The complaint with the FOS would amount to in excess of £10k
2. Would i still be able to continue to complain about loans 1 and 3 and would that have to be a new claim?
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
1) if you accept the earlier offer your FOS case will be closed.
2) if you accept the offer it is VERY unlikely (95%+) that you would be able to make an affordability complaint to the Scheme about loans 1 & 3. If you did in any case you would be likely to get only very small percentage of the refund back.
3) there is I suppose some chance that you may be able to make a claim for the “unpaid interest deduction” to the Scheme.
4) if you accept the offer now, I do not know if this becomes one of the class of cases where Amigo are paying out. The only way to find out is to phone Amigo up and ask. If they say Yes, you know what choice you have to make. If they say No or dither, come back here.
Sarah Smith says
AMIGO ARE DISGUSTING SAVAGES. NOBODY SIGN UP TO THAT STUPID SCHEME. LET’S WATCH THEM GO DOWN THE DRAIN. GTFOH!!!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You won’t be the only one thinking this, but it would be good to get some more details – at the moment it is all very vague.
Zeni says
I have taken a £5000 from Amigo
My current balance is£5442.97
Guarantor is my partner
I am on furlough can’t afford to pay now the full amount monthly of £217
Sara (Debt Camel) says
have you asked Amigo for a covid-19 payment break?
Sean says
So basically unless your complaint was upheld or offer made before the 21st December, you’re going to lose out massively.
I like how they word things, making it sound you’ll be better off accepting the scheme. This is clearly only because they want to continue trading, however 10% seems unlikely and it still a huge kick in the teeth!
I won’t be voting for the scheme, in its current state.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So basically unless your complaint was upheld or offer made before the 21st December, you’re going to lose out massively.
yes, unless you have a current loan?
Sean says
Even if you have a current loan you’ll still lose out, the amount left on my loan is a fraction of what I’m entitled to. The scheme doesn’t help at all, or administration..out cone will be the same.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
are you still making payments to it? Because if you win your complaint, then any payments you have made from now on before the Scheme starts you are not going to get back…
But your guarantor would need to be OK with you stopping…
Sean says
I’m not paying currently, what they’ll wipe is only a tiny fraction of what’s owed. I think this whole process is disgusting, I won’t vote in a way that allows them to continue.
Linda says
Hi i was a guarantor on a loan And had an offer of redress and guarantor removal on the 31/08/2020 I accepted their offer and they said the money would be in my account within 20 days then a couple of months later they sent another E mail of a higher redress amount as they miss calculated again I accepted the amount but still no payment, I then went to fos with my complaint in October 2020 but still waiting for a case handler so will I still get my redress as this offer was in August and they keep given excuses or will this go into their scheme and also what happens to the removal of my guarantor responsibilities which they said in writing is now removed .
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you phone Amigo up and ask them why they have not made the agreed payment to you.
Linda says
Can they put this agreed payment from August 2020 into their so called scheme or can I issue court proceedings now while their scam case is awaiting court approval
Sara (Debt Camel) says
In practice it is incredibly unlikely that a court case would be heard before there is a decision on the Scheme. there are massive court backlogs at the moment, even longer than there used to be because of Covid-19.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you cannot get clarity from Amigo about this, then I suggest you email the FCA and say Amigo are behaving unreasonably.
Email consumer.queries@fca.org.uk and copy this to nick.beal@amigoloans.net and complaints@amigoloans.co.uk
Subject: Why will Amigo (708284) not tell me if they are going to pay my refund?
Give your Amigo reference number, your name and address.
Give the details of your loan(s) and Amigo’s offer. And their higher offer. And that they will not now say if or when they are going to pay this despite the offer being in August. Say how stressful this is. If you are in immediate need of the money, say something about this.
Also leave them a bad review on Trustpilot https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/amigoloans.co.uk if you haven’t already done this.
Chris says
I’m voting for them to be liquidated and just writing the money off. Amigo are a total scab on society.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I have deleted the offensive remark at the end.
Daniel says
Hi Sara
I put my complaint against amigo in July last year I’ve not heard a thing. So put in a email for the complaints department with amigo I’ve received an email stating that they are looking into it but can’t give me an exact date or time scale of when this will be resolved do you have any well needed advice on where to go from here?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
it seems unlikely Amigo will reply to this now.
You can send it to the Ombudsman now if you want – that won’t help if the Scheme goes ahead or they go into administration but this isn’t definite yet. I
Is this a current loan?
If it is, are you making payments to it? Are they affordable?
Daniel says
I’ve a open loan with amigo and and the payments are a real struggle to pay and I’m still making payments yes
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have your finances been affected by Covid-19? If they have, have you had a 6 month payment break?
Your guarantor, when you took the loan out, could they have afforded to make all the payments and still paid their own bills, debts and everyday expenses?
Have your guarantor’s finances been affected by Covid-19?
Daniel Green says
I’ve exhausted all my breaks apparently so can’t get any more my gaurentor is also struggling with covid 19 and wouldn’t be able to help in any payments
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Here you can say you cannot pay and when Amigo ask your guarantor to pay, they can ask for a covid-19 payment break and cancel their direct debit to Amigo. They have a separate legal agreement to yours and so are entitled to a separate payment break. That would be for 3 months then it can be renewed for another 3 months if your guarantor still has problems.
I asked what your guarantor’s finances were like when you took the loan out, as they too may be able to make a complaint and say the loan was unaffordable for them if they couldn’t have made all the payments and still paid their other bills, debts and normal living costs.
Brett says
I have a complaint sitting with the FCA since September as I rejected amigos initial offer. It has been allocated an adjudicator but it hasn’t went any further. Does that screw me out of their initial offer if this goes through?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes. Well the offer may stand but if this would be a cash refund, rather than reduce your current balance, then you would only be paid a very small percentage of it sometime next year…
What was Amigo’s original offer? It isn’t clear if you can change your mind, accept the offer and have it paid now in full – or would Amigo not pay this.
Brett says
Was £2000. I followed your advice and rejected it and sent it up to the FCA as they didn’t add any interest or uphold the biggest loan.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
oh yes, that was a very odd offer from them. Did they pay you the 2k? Did you go back and ask about the missing interest as I suggested? And did you ask if you could take the complaint about the unpaid interest to FOS?
Kyle the tent dude says
Hey, question on the scheme. Amigo agreed on the second top up loan was unaffordable about a month or two back, but offered so little. FO are couple days away from their final response. Does this mean that they have accepted the second top up loan and I fall into the time frame before the scheme. Or is the fact that FO hasn’t made a final decision mean I’m still over the scheme cut off?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
FO are couple days away from their final response
Is this from an Ombudsman? Or an adjudicator?
Kyle the tent dude says
A senior Financial ombudsman investigator. :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So this will be the first decision you have had from FOS? Come back when you have it.
DAW says
Well, looking into the finer detail of it I would say that this is a delaying tactic nothing more before they go into insolvency. In another document they state repeatedly that the FCA must approve it first. IF the FCA gave approval for this it would set a precedent and why the request for the DISP waiver to be withdrawn when this would have helped them in dealing with complaints?
At a guess, there are liquidity benchmarks that must be met if a DISP is granted any they know they’re not going to be successful in meeting those so withdrew it.
I’ve spoken to my local M.P. who is going to write to the FCA on my behalf and express her concerns at the speed or rather lack of speed of response by them on regulating this and making decisions as this has been looming for quite a while now.
Jeff says
Gutted to hear this.
After a year I’ve just had my complaint upheld by the FOS this week.
So does this look unlikely amigo will honour his decision?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can you say if is this an Ombudsman decision or an adjudicator decision?
Mrs Denise says
Hi there
I had a loan which I paid in full 3 months in advance can I claim aswell as I believe if I paid in full before the end of my term the interest would be less
Ive not tried as I suffir with mental health and I find talking on phone sometimes hard so any advice wil he great
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can claim about any treatment by Amigo you feel was unfair.
In practice you will save little interest by paying a loan like this 3 months early as the last few payments are mostly “capital” with little “interest”. So I don’t know how much you could possibly get back.
Aaron says
should be carry on paying my monthly installments even tho is makes no change to my outstanding balance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is an Amigo loan? Have you made a complaint asking for a refund? Are these payment affordable?
Kelly says
Hi I took out a loan with them in may 2019. £4000. I’ve been paying back £172 a month since then every month on time never missed a payment. My balance is still £3600 because every month they are adding between £120 and £140 interest so my balance is never going down sometimes the interest has been £175 so obviously my payment hasnt even covered the added interest per month. Is there anything I can do about this or should I wait to see what the outcome is with the court date?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are the loan repayments affordable? Or is paying this leaving you short of money so you have to get deeper into debt elsewhere or get behind with bills?
Samuel says
Hi I took a loan out in January 2020. My partner is the guarantor. My payments are £126 a month I simply can’t afford them anymore. My partner is not working and I’m self employed and my income has changed due to work demand because of COVID. I’m on my second breathing space. I’m due to phone up in two weeks when it ends. I warned them when it finishes I simply can’t afford to pay the agreed amount and cause maybe pay half but they said if they would have to put it on a late payment so it will incur more interest and they weren’t giving me an option to do a repayment plan. What do you advise I do?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I assume your partner is also not able to pay this? Were they working when the loan was taken out?
Margaret says
Hi I’m guarantor for a loan that my son took with amigo he has claim ,but I wrote to Amigo to tell them that I could not afford to pay this ,now as I’m only on my pension and have a heart condition and was recently had surgery .and also have chronic kidney disease, so have to pay carers, but they say I have to still pay ,my son is paying reduced payments but the want me to make up the rest,I just can’t do it at my wits end
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So difficult for you. Sorry a lot of questions:
Has Amigo gone through your income and expenditure with you? Do they say you can afford this or are they just saying that you have to pay?
Do you have any other debts?
When the loan was taken out, at that point could you have afforded to make all the payments? And still paid your own bills, debts and living expenses?
What about your son, do you think he could really afford the payments? Has his income been affected by Covid-19? If it has, has he asked for a payment break?
Margaret Downey says
Hi Sara know Amigo have just said I need to pay no ,when I needed to pay because my son couldn’t they took it from my credit card, my son is on beifits because of the Covid 19 but they issued a default notice to both of us .so my son agreed to pay something from his universal credit ,thinking it would stop them pursuing me but it hasnt
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Has your son had 6 months of a covid-19 payment break from Amigo? During this time they cannot ask you to pay.
If he only pays a little – and on universal credit he obviously can’t pay much – then they will still come after you. If he can’t afford those reduced payments he should cancel his direct debit to Amigo. If he phones National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 they will help him draw up an Income and expenditure sheet to send to Amigo to show what he can really afford.
As you can’t afford this, you should cancel your direct debit to Amigo with your bank (or the Continuous Payment Authority if they are taking it from your credit card) and explain you cannot afford to pay it. If you phone National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 they will help you draw up an Income and expenditure sheet to send to Amigo to show you cannot afford this.
ALSO you and your son both need to look at making complaints to Amigo that the loan was unaffordable when it was given. These complaints are slow but they may very well help in the end, so think about sending them in now. Tell your son to read https://debtcamel.co.uk/how-to-complain-guarantor-loan/ which says how and why a borrower can complain. And you read https://debtcamel.co.uk/amigo-complaints-by-guarantor/ which says how and why a guarantor can complain. National Debtline can also talk to you about this.
Margaret says
Thank you so much Sara
James Burry says
Update on my issue. Amigo offered figures to fos. I agree with the fos. On 21st Dec confirmed with amigo. Was told by amigo awaiting final figures was told 15 to 30 days. Fos had confirmation that amigo would hounr figures b4 the fos contacted me. Now amigo not honoring anything. So why are persons saying that they have been paid.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have Amigo said they won’t pay you or are they just being vague about when?
James Burry says
The fealing can’t answer any questions saying it’s on hold. Then it’s going into the scheme just fobbing off
Louise says
I was guarantor for a loan neither borrower or myself could pay it back we both got ccj this has now been paid , I had at time loans credit cards numerous payday loans but have a different address now would I be able to try claim still unaffordable borrowing or should I wait but if send letters out I’m now st differed address
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes you can put in a complaint. You won’t get much money back if the SCheme goes ahead but if you win it Amigo should remove the CCJ which would help your credit record. Send them a complaint using the template letter here https://debtcamel.co.uk/amigo-complaints-by-guarantor/ and add a sentence saying that you want Amigo to set aside the CCJ.
Give the details of where you lived then and where you now live. Send this by email not a letter.
Louise says
Thankyou for your help
Mathew says
Hi.
If amigo goes into insolvency/bankruptcy (sorry not sure correct terminology) what would happen to my loan with them. I am just putting in a affordability complaint and after reading this I am unsure how to proceed, should I continue with my complaint?
Cheers
Mathew
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Insolvency is the right terminology for a company. There are different types, but here “administration” is the much the most likely.
Amigo are currently looking at a Scheme. That is a bit like administration but the company carries on afterwards.
In either a Scheme or administration, your loan carries on – it doesn’t disappear because of the Scheme/administration.
You can put a Claim into a Scheme or administration. But here you may as well send in the complaint now. It isn’t definite what will happen next. If you have a complaint already in Amigo may treat it automatically as a Claim in the Scheme, or you may still have to put in a Claim, we won’t know for months.
How much do you still owe? Was this your first loan from them? Is it hard to make the payments? Have your finances been affected by coronavirus?
Robert says
I put in a complaint with amigo at the start of December. I have an open loan of 7k left.
This was before this was announced.
I was a student on £640 per month and had to borrow to cover amigo and bills.
My concern here is that they will pause the complaint and ill have to still pay the £400 per month knowing full well I’ll only get pence on the pound back.
Does anyone know if they make the decision and then just pause the cash reimbursement side of it.
Genuinely I would be happy enough with that! Get it done and dusted (paid over 15k to them already!)
Basically, will they make a decision against the existing loan and decide on the compensation (cash side) at a later date?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What is your current financial position? Have you been affected by covid-19?
What was your guarantor’s financial position when the last loan was taken out – could they really have afforded to pay £400 a month for all the repayments and still paid their own bills, debts and living expenses?
Have they been affected by covid-19?
John says
Hi if I was given a reply and 3 loans was up held and I declined and said I would go to the fos. I have an email upholding 3 loans an said last week I would accept but they said the time scale has gone is this correct. I have told them I will go to court over this as they have admitted the wrong sale of my loan by offering me a agreement in July. How can I get round this even though it sits with fos but they have made an offer
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Which lender is this?
John says
Amigo loans
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so they are saying you can’t change your mind and accept the previous offer?
John says
Yeah and I have asked twice
Chris says
For those that are interested BBC Radio 4 are doing a piece on Amigo and interviewing the CEO today.
You and yours programme.
Be warned the blatant lies that will come out of his mouth may rile you however use the BBC’s platform to make the winser country aware of Amigo.
David Walker says
Put your views forward to them at
Youandyours@bbc.co.uk
Johnny says
Hi Sara, I was due to make a payment to Amigo today but I have refused to pay with my ongoing complaint with the FOS. I spoke to my guarantor and explained from what you said that it doesn’t affect his credit report and they are unlikely to look at court action due to an ongoing complaint which they are failing to respond to! Will my guarantor have to cancel his card and direct debit? Just looking to see what’s best to do!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If your guarantor wants to not pay, they have to cancel the direct debit to be safe.
Does your guarantor also have a case for making a complaint that he could not afford the loan?
Johnny says
No he hasn’t made a claim. It’s only me that has made the claim last year. But as a result of how they are treating us and filling their own cash pots with our money then we both took the decision not to pay. As long as it doesn’t affect the guarantor while the claim is on going!
Chris says
Sara,
Could you help me understand the below.
To pass the scheme amigo need 51% votes from current / previous customers.
Amigo had 25000 complaints last year.
They are getting in contact with 500000+ people to vote on the scheme.
No doubt the propersal will be worded that vote yes you MAY be due money back vote no you get nothing. People who have had no reason to complain will in all probability vote yes in hope to get afew pennies back.
Amigo cannot deal with the sheer volume of complaints at the moment but are potentially opening up to 500000 complaints.
Why would any court in the land even consider this?
My biggest worry is that if this went to a vote more than likely it would pass to sheer numbers.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
To pass the scheme amigo need 51% votes from current / previous customers.
yes, and 75% when the customers are weighted by size of claim. How is Amigo proposing to do this? I have no idea. It needs to come clean.
People who have had no reason to complain will in all probability vote yes in hope to get afew pennies back.
I think to be fair Amigo needs to give an estimate of how few pennies. If people were really going to get 75% or even 50% of their claim back and they vote for that, fine. (The FCA may have other competition concerns, but lets park those and just think about the customers’ views.)
My concern here is people may think they might get that back and end up with 5% or less. How is that fair if they haven’t been given the information to vote on this?
I have seen a LOT of payday loan borrowers told they will get “significantly less” who thought that meant 50% or a third at worst. Who then feel they have been robbed when it turns out to be 5%
Amigo cannot deal with the sheer volume of complaints at the moment but are potentially opening up to 500000 complaints.
yes, this is an important point. They aren’t at all likely to get that many complaints but 100-200k is perfectly plausible.
Amigo has done a DREADFUL job handling 25k of complaints this year. Good complaints rejected, some totally random decisions when one or two small loans are accepted and the bigs ones aren’t.
Also it has a history this year of making things up to suit itself – the “unpaid interest deduction” people were stung for.
So how can Amigo show it has a consistent, reliable process that will be in line with FOS decisions? I have no idea.
Ian says
I took amigo to fso and won my case , amigo made me a offer on 3rd December which I excepted on the same day, but since then they just refuse to tell me anything, can they put mine in this scheme
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you should be paid in full now.
Ask them once more if they intend to pay you in the next few weeks, if they say No, ask why not.
If you cannot get any clarity then email the FCA about this:
Email consumer.queries@fca.org.uk and copy this to nick.beal@amigoloans.net and complaints@amigoloans.co.uk
Subject: Why will Amigo (708284) not pay me for an agreed settlement offer
Give your Amigo reference number, your name and address.
Give the details of your loan(s), when Amigo rejected your complaint and when they made the offer to FOS to accept it which you accepted.
Say they refuse to confirm if you will be paid which is very stressful.
If you are in immediate need of the money, say something about this.
Also leave them a bad review on Trustpilot https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/amigoloans.co.uk if you haven’t already done this.
Sophie says
I am totally shocked by the company’s underhand tactics, I submitted a complaint after reading the thread on here , got my reply today I like most people regarding the proposed scheme.
I am wondering if it is legal to put complaints on hold whilst they wait for a court date ? And also isn’t it unethical to more ur less say either you go with the scheme or we go bust and you get bugger all !
Am wishing I’d submitted a complaint before the deadline and I’m kind of hoping the scheme is either rejected or a higher percentage in the pound agreed.
Disgraceful behaviour from what turns out to be an even more disgraceful and shameless company.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t think it is reasonable to put complaints on hold. In the only recent Scheme in this sort of are, the Money Shop carried on settling complaints right up until the Scheme was agreed.
Sophie says
Thank you
I had complaints with the money shop and also quick quid, obviously we are waiting on payouts from these and they will be joke to what people were expecting , I have also submitted a complaint against Tfs loans , luckily I am out of the spiral of doom now and just wishing that I had never heard of any of these companies.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“they will be joke to what people were expecting”
yes, many people never imagined they could end up with such a pathetically small amount.
Michael says
Hi my loan is due to be paid off dec 2021 at the minit im making the payment every month but at the same time.e been struggling with my money with job change I get a lower salary now my garantour have there own bills so they can’t help at all so I’m struggling each month what will happen with rest of my loan what I have to pay will I get funds back after paid off
Sara (Debt Camel) says
An Amigo loan is “unaffordable” if when you took it out you could not reasonably have been expected to repay it all and still be able to pay all your other debts, bills and living expenses. Someone may have made all the payments but if their other debts were going up at the same time, the loan may well have been unaffordable.
The Financial Ombudsman is upholding a very large number of complaints against Amigo as they did not verify peoples income and expenditure and check the loan was properly affordable. And when the ombudsman looked, the loan was not affordable.
So if you make a complaint and it is upheld, you only have to repay what you borrowed, no interest.
As your loan doesn’t have long to go, the result would be the balance is wiped and the rest of the interest you have paid would be refunded in cash.
In the Scheme Amigo will limit the cash refunds paid. My estimates (see https://debtcamel.co.uk/amigo-scheme-estimated-numbers-not-good/) are that you may get very little back, perhaps 2-6%.
There is no reason to wait, you can send in a complaint now if you think your loan was unaffordable. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/how-to-complain-guarantor-loan/
If you are struggling at the moment, is your lower income due to Covid-19?
Sarah says
Hey this is all a little confusing to me and I have only just looked into this because I read the information about it when they notified be via text.
I have approx £3400 left to pay, I pay £243 a month, I hve fallen behind a couple of times on payments and I struggle to pay on time it’s always a little later as they won’t change my payment date again ( I got made redundant and my pay days changed)
Do I have a claim because they didn’t look at my bank details, they will see I have a record of falling behind and I can’t remember the last time I paid on my pay date as they will not change it from the 21st to the 1st because I had to change it when I went back to work after having my son.
I also had a top up load, where my payments increased but they didn’t ask for anymore information, I don’t have the best credit but they still gave me top up, and they have never seen bank accounts, wages slips either.
Is it worth putting in a claim or wait to see what happening.. and if I do will my guarantor be notified?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
There is no reason not to put in a claim now if you think the loans were unaffordable. Having to take a top-up is often a sign the first loan caused you difficulty.
You can use the template here https://debtcamel.co.uk/how-to-complain-guarantor-loan/ and also add a sentence or two about how unreasonable Amigo has been not allowing you to change the payment date to your new payday.
There is no reason why your guarantor should be informed.
Dee says
Complaint made to amigo in Sep 2019. Taken to FOS in February 2020.
Adjudicator decisions in my favour issued in October 2020 – Amigo ignored and have stated they have never received from ombudsman.
Received this from FOS today :
Thank you for your email. I can confirm that as it stands we’re continuing to progress your complaint as normal – and this is the same for any complaints brought against Amigo. We’ve not been made aware of handing any cases back to Amigo, as it stands we’re continuing with our normal process with any sort of complaint. We’re not aware of the reason why Amigo have not responded.
It is hard for me to say if anything will change in the future as the regulator will advise us in due course if this would be the case, but at the moment nothing has changed.
Jim says
Hi Sara.
I received amigo settlement offer to uphold my loan on 23,2020 thru FOS ( investigator) I accepted the offer on same day thru. FOS. I didn’t heard anything from them as advised by FOS that amigo will directly settle to me. I informed the FOS ( investigator) and I was advised to wait for a week as FOS Will escalate the matters to Amigo. I accepted the offer with specific amount but the offer never mention anything such as subject to ARRANGEMENT SCHEME. I didn’t received any message from amigo regarding the scheme. Your points on the matter. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
was this 23 December?
Jim says
The FOS sent the offer to me on December 23, 2020.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ask your adjudicator to confirm when they got the offer from Amigo. If this is on or before the 21st, then I hope Amigo will pay out in full on this. Ask Amigo if they are going to.
Valerie says
Sarah
Why would Amigo be entitled to carry on lending if they enter into the Scheme. The money shop stopped trading except to run Scheme which has been running about 18 months and still no pay out yet. I am currently on payment arrangement for 3 months or breathing space as they call it but am proposing to just offer payment not including interest after that until I get decision letter. My complaint went to them November so 8 weeks nearly up. Could you advise how I can best put this to them. They are obviously playing dirty tricks and using scheme as delay tactic so think we should play them at their own game. Advice appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is an aspect that will be worrying the FCA about Amigo’s proposal.
Are your finances still affected by covid-19?
What is your guarantor’s position – are their finances affected by covid-19? Was the loan originally affordable for them – could they have made all the loan payments and still managed to pay their own debts, bills and living expenses?
Alexandra says
Hi sara, I really don’t understand any of this! I took out a loan in 2014, topped up im 2016 and 2018. I still have 7800 left to pay, paying £396 every month. I’ve wrote a letter of complaint about affordability, which I am planning on sending off. If the scheme goes ahead, what is likely to happen to my balance? Will it reduce drastically, or will I still have loads left to pay? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send your complaint in now, by email not a physical letter.
I can look at the numbers for you but I need to know for each of the three loans:
– what did you borrow? if it was a top-up, how much did you receive in cash?
– how many monthly payments and how large have you made eg 22 payments of £396?
– has your guarantor made any payments?
Alexandra says
Thanks for a quick reply. So I took the loan out for 5000 in sept 2014, paid 197.35 x 35. Second was a top up to 7500, with around 2500 pay out, cant remember the exact amount. This was taken out nov 2016, with £296.44 x 20 paid. Third was another top up in sept 2018 to 10,000 with 3153 paid out. I have made 28 payments of 395.25 on this to present. Do I just send the letter via email or supporting evidence like bank statements too? I dont suppose you know where I email this to? Thank you!
Also, no guarantor payments have been made.
Alexandra says
Sorry, 25 payments of 197 were made, not 35, Typo!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So assuming those numbers are correct (and the amount you received in cash for the fist top up is pretty imporatnt) you have paid the following interest on each of the three loans:
loan 1 £4,925
loan 2 £5,267
loan 3 £1,060
So if all three loans were uphaleld you would get the last loan wiped and a cash refund of 11,252
If the Scheme goes ahead, the last loan would be wiped and you would get perhaps £5-700 in acsh instead.
But for you the real problem with the Scheme is that they mau not uphold all three loans. We have no idea how Amigo is going to assess loans. In the past it has made some very poor decisions – nothing like what the Ombudsman would do.
If they just uphold the last one, then you have paid more than you borrowed so the balance should be wiped which would be good…
Except that form last summer Amigo have been applying someething called an “unpaid interest deduction” when they only uphold the later loans… this says well if didn’t give you loan 3, then you would have had to carry on paying the interest on loan 2. Which is just nuts as you were never given the cash that settled loan 2, over £6000 of loan three was kept back to settle loan 2.
If this happens you could still end up owing quite a bit of money. Sorry but until Amigo come clean about how they will decide which loans to uphold and if they are going to carry on with the unpaid interest deduction it’s hard to tell what would happen in a Scheme.
Kate says
Hi
I have a current loan we have calculated that we have paid the loan in full and are now purely paying interest, with the amount added each month the balance goes down very little.
The loan was issued less than a year after we paid off another loan with them through money borrowed from family (yes I know, not a great thing to do).
1 with the latest developments can we still make a complaint
2 The PSL suggests that if they went into administration we would have to continue paying the loan, is this the case
3 can I complain about the first loan as we paid a lot of interest on that to.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
1. yes. Use the template here https://debtcamel.co.uk/how-to-complain-guarantor-loan/. There is no reason to wait and see if the Scheme is approved – if the loan is unaffordable complain now.
2. The loan still exists. Are the repayments affordable for you?
How much did you borrow, how many payments have you made and how large are the monthly payments?
3. You can complain about both loans if you think they were unaffordable – a loan is unaffordable if it leaves you too short each month to pay your other debts bills and living costs.
Kate says
Thanks, this is helpful. I used the template yesterday so we will wait and see. I have one current loan and one historical both of which had top ups. The current loan is for £10000 in total. We have made 28 payments at £395.25 and have therefore paid £11067 so far. Yes the payments are unaffordable and we often have to borrow from else where at the end of the month to get through and keep on top of the bills. We are supposed to continue these payments till 2023 by which point we will be in a worse financial position than we were to begin with.
We will see what comes of the complaint
I will certainly not be voting for the scheme and hope that the FCA find that they don’t meet their minimum standards of conduct and make them cease trading.
Thanks again, this is a very useful site
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have your household finances been affected by coronavirus? Because in this situation you could ask for a payment break if you haven’t already has one?
Kate says
No as NHS employees we are lucky in that respect
Kate says
Hi, we have had an acknowledgment of our unaffordabability claim. They have advised not to worry if it takes longer than the 8 weeks as they are busy with a complaint. Likely a delaying tactic whilst hoping the scheme is approved. Can I still go to the ombudsman if they don’t respond in 8weeks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I doubt you will get a reply. You can go to FOS at 8 weeks.
We don’t know if the Scheme will go ahead, if Amigo will go into administration or (less likely) something else.
If you send the complaint to FOS, probably nothing much will happen and it will later be returned to Amigo for the Scheme or to the administrators if they have gone bust. But… it’s quick and easy to send the complaint to FOS see https://help.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/help, so it’s up to you.
Chris says
Hi Sara . Thanks for providing info on this site its been very helpful. I’ve just read the info sheet about the scheme , amigo say they are pressing ahead without the support of the FCA im very surprised they can do that?! And they say if we don’t vote in favour they will likely enter insolvency , we’ll im not sure i will vote yes tbh or to vote yes to prop them up. If it means i lose out of a few hundred pounds it may be worthwhile voting no to the scheme. I thought their books of last year showed millions in the company , whats happened to all that money i wonder? Anyway , thanks again for this site and regular updates
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am surprised too! If the FCA say No or they want changes, what a waste of money doing all this!
I am hoping at the least to get some better numbers so people can be more clear on what they have to vote one.
Ramy says
Hi,
sorry i don’t know if this was asked previously or not but i don’t understand this scheme regardless of how many times i read the statement.
I currently can afford the repayment plan so i don’t know if doing the scheme will benefit me in anyway or if i have grounds to raise the complaint. Would apricate any clarification if this is beneficial at all for me or its more beneficial for Amigo.
Thanks,
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The definition of “affordable” is that you have to be able to make the loan repayments and also be able to pay all your other debts, bills and normal living expenses.
So if you can currently afford them, that means your debts aren’t going up? You aren’t using more of credit card or overdraft limits? Or getting behind with utility or other essential bills?
If the loan is affordable then it is unlikely that you would have a claim to the Scheme upheld. So the Scheme isn’t going to benefit you.
It definitely benefits Amigo! But do you care about that?
Amanda says
Hi Sara,
I took my loan out with Amigo in 2011, I have been paying the loan back since then, around 8 months after receiving the loan I was unable to keep up with the payments, I have an arrangement to pay £30 back each month, my claim was rejected last year as it had been took long since the loan had been taken out. I’m just wondering could I apply under the new scheme? Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
what date was your claim rejected? this was by Amigo I guess? If you had gone to the Ombudsman they are accepting older loan cases.
I hope you would be able to make a claim in the Scheme. As you are still making payments, Amigo should still have all your records. The PSL doesn’t seem to say you can’t put in a Claim… At the moment I don’t think you can feel confident.
(It will have “anonymised” a lot of old loan data which may make it very hard for people who had old loans to win a claim, but this is all pretty unclear.)wiped the data
David Walker says
They have provided data going back to 2008, it was the newer agreements they didn’t have much for b
Buzijs says
Good evening. I got question about Amigo. How you can make claim about Amigo to Scheme or FOS?? Where is online form to fill up or i have to ring them?? I been trying to find it but nothing.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I assume you have received a text about the Amigo Scheme?
This is just a proposal at the moment. You can’t send in a claim to the Scheme unless it is approved which will take months.
You can however send them a complaint now about an unaffordable loan – there is a template here for guarantor loan borrowers you can use: https://debtcamel.co.uk/how-to-complain-guarantor-loan/.
If the Scheme is set up, or if Amigo goes buts, then a complaint you have already sent in will probably be accepted as Claim.
Do you have a current loan?