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%.
Marie says
If my claim is upheld will I get any payments I make from when the scheme was announced back. I spoke in the cteditors meeting and they said we would but unsure from when is it December or when the scheme is approved
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think this will only start from the date the Scheme starts.
Matt says
Hi I wonder if you can help i have had 3 or else 4 loans with amigo one bigger than the other always a top up loan I complained last year as they could never of checked my finance situation or there would of been now chance of getting a loan as I was self employed and I admit I made up the amount I was earning as at the time i had a gambling problem but they took my word for it even though it was obvious I could never afford the first loan never mind the latest one which is now in arrears and I still owe.over £9000 I got a response from.amigo saying it did check my status and I could afford it apparently I was earning over £2500 a month which is a total lie, I then sent it to the financial Ombudsman via resolver but got a email saying they can’t take it any further at this point because of the court case what do I do many thanks Matt
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can submit a claim to the Scheme if that goes ahead. Or to the administrators if Amigo go into administration.
Can you afford the repayments?
matt says
Hi Sara
I am struggling i have had to arrange them.to take a payment that I’m in arrears with but this.is.going to leave me short but they offer no help at all, they just say if I don’t pay they will make my guarantor and I can’t do that they are in my opinion a set of theves who pray on the vulnerable who.they know struggle.
Thanks Matt
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can you not explain the situation to your guarantor?
matt says
The guarantor is my mum and since my dad passed away she is really struggling herself so I know she can’t afford it, i will just struggle on through hopefully there is some light at the end of the tunnel.
Matt
Sara (Debt Camel) says
could she really have afforded to make all the payments from the start of the loan? And still paid her own bills, debts and living expenses? If not, she too can make a claim…
matt says
She owns her house so I think amigo looked at that and thought yes.she could in my opinion i don’t see how she could but amigo don’t listen now and thats what I’m worried about if they win this cas then its going to be down to them if a loan was mis sold and I can’t see them.doing that after already telling me I could afford the loan.
Matt
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then she should definitely make a claim. We don’t know how Amigo will decide these but if her income wasn’t large enough to pay the repayments then the loan is unaffordable, regardless of the house.
Marie says
Hi sara whats your thought in the news today the scheme didn’t go through. Do you think the fca will get us a bet deal or insolvency
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is Amigo’s choice now about administration or try to negotiate a different deal – Scheme 2.0 possibly. Only Amigo really know the full details of their financial position. I am not sure there is any point in me guessing.
Emily says
Hi Sara, l borrowed £2000 x 2 which I have finished paying. In 2019, l borrowed £4000, I have paid £4,250 but still owe £2,500. They say the loan will finish in December. Each £2000 was borrowed over one year, and £4000 borrowed over two years. I have just learnt about this claim. Can still make a claim for all the three loans,., given that Amigo are in court, and how much would my refund be?. @EA
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If Amigo come up with a revised Scheme that is approved, you will be able to make a claim to that. If Amigo goes into administration you will be able to make a claim to that. A claim will be for all your loans.
Unless you know how much you paid to the previous two loans I can’t guess at the refund from them. Also I am assuming you repaid them in full and the current loan is not a top up?
You have paid more than you borrowed on the current loan – if the claim was decided now and that one is upheld the balance would be cleared and you would get some percentage of the £250 extra you have paid back. That may be a low percentage though… So every payment you make from now you will only get back a small bit if your claim is upheld.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
NEWS – the Amigo Scheme has been rejected by the court – the judgment is here https://www.amigoscheme.co.uk/docs/AllSchemeltdJudgement.pdf
Amigo says it is now considering its options.
Ruth says
That is the best news in a long time. Finally someone with the power is stopping terrible companies like Amigo from ruining people’s lives! Thankyou Sara for your massive part in helping support the vunerable.
Mark says
Really happy about this news – although it’s funny amigo are now considering their options after all along saying it was this scheme or insolvency… I guess they were telling more lies..
I really hope this don’t drag on too long – people have gone through enough it’s awful how they are able to simply ignore customers for months on end to try setup a scheme which will ultimately only benefit Amigos shareholders.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
One option is an Appeal.
EDIT – Amigo ruled an Appeal out on 1st June,
Atif says
Fantastic news so glad the court has rejected this scheme I will be stopping any further payments and I have instructed guarantor to stop any payments until a final response is received interested amigo may go back with a appeal or better terms when all along they have stated they will go in to administration they are just trying to limit the monetary pay back
Holmey says
I’ve done the same, I’d rather deal with the Administrators that the crooks, charlatans and bullies I find Amigo to be…
Stacey1377 says
Hi Sara
I have received an Email on the 24/5/21 from FOS to say that Amigo have accepted the loaned unaffordable loans and they agreed it was all 3 loans. Amigo gave my case handler the amount owed to me, the current balance and what ever is left after balance paid was about 2000.00. I do know that I am very unlikely to see this money which is fair enough but I can stop paying them now can’t I as they have accepted fault and taking more of my money would be wrong. I am so happy right now that I have finally got rid of Amigo it was the biggest mistake of my life. Thank you Sarah for all the help you dont know how valuable you are
Marie says
Did they give u final response before December 21st for you to have this
Stacey1377 says
No I had an email from FOS early this year to say that they won’t be dealing with Complaint anymore due to court and scheme. So when I got the email on Monday I was so shocked, I called amigo as directed in the email to accept the redress offered which clears my balance of 11,000 and then a refund to me of 3400.00. I was so sceptical that I would not see a penny but I randomly Checked my bank today for another reason. And amigo has paid out
I checked my Amigo account and it is now closed and settled I am not sure what has happened but I am so happy right now xx
Beverley Lewis says
Hi I had 2 loans with amigo and my guarantee ended up paying them.
How would I make a claim against amigo.
Simon says
Sara, interested in your views about if we feel we have a claim to stop paying the loan now?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
can you say something about your situation? Borrower or guarantor, how many loans, how large is the current loan and how much have you paid, are the repayments affordable?
L says
Yeah, this is an absolute joke. I had a feeling their “scheme or insolvency” wasn’t going to accurate. I took an offer 12k less than what the FOS decision would have awarded because I was too sick to wait and see. But I do wonder if they had a lot more in the bank than they said and I would have been better hanging on. The fact that they new I was priority and used my lack of fight to palm me off with such a low figure – because they were constantly harassing me for money and with threats, even though the FOS had upheld all my loans – is disgusting. I’m glad I’m not with them anymore, but the 12k they didn’t pay could have changed my life, made me debt-free and help towards medical costs.
I hope they plummet into administration.
Laura Stephens says
Hi
I’ve had 4 loans with Amigo. The original loan was £4k in 2018, then a 3 top up loans –
£6k March 2019
£8k April 2019
£12k June 2019.
My monthly repayments are now £474/month and I’m struggling to continue paying. My husband is my guarantor and he is currently in a debt management plan.
Can we still raise a complaint with Amigo or do we have to wait now for the scheme/administration to happen?
If I stop paying my monthly amount, will they go straight to my husband for the payments? Or are they likely to accept a lower monthly offer from me?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Apart from this Amigo loan, do you have other debts as well?
Laura says
Yes, numerous other loans, most with affordability complaints raised, credit card, overdraft
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Amigo will ignore any complaints at the moment.
You can both make claims if Amigo come up with a different Scheme. Or claims in administration if they go bust.
But you don’t have to wait for that – you can put this and all your other debts into a DMP? And if/when they ask your husband to pay, it can go into his DMP?
Millie says
Hi Sara and everyone on here
So what does this decision by the court mean. Amigo said they would go into administration if rejected but the court says that’s not the case as share holders should not benefit at the expense of customers. Sounds like amigo does have money to keep it going.
I have my affordability claim through amigo and resolver made in January 2021. Should I take it to FOS or pester amigo and what are my chances on getting my claim approved?
Has anyone claimed after the 21 Dec 2020 and actually got their claim approved or rejected as their response was always ‘waiting for Redress Scheme approval’
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sounds like amigo does have money to keep it going.
Amigo told customers, the court and the FCA it would be going into administration if the Scheme was not approved.
But the FCA pointed out in court that they do not have an immediate cash crisis so there is time for them to try to put together a Scheme that will be fairer for customers.
We don’t know yet if that is what Amigo intends to do…
I don’t think pestering FOS or Amigo will help you here.
Kate says
Hi Sara
So we complained about 3/4 months ago. When the 8 weeks was up we got an email saying that they wouldn’t respond at present but our complaint would go into the scheme. They advised that we could complain to the ombudsman, however at that point the ombudsman wasn’t accepting new complaints about amigo.
Given that the scheme has now been rejected, should we wait to see what they do next or will the ombudsman now accept complaints again?
I am also interested in your views of cancelling Direct debits/CPAs abs asking our guarantor to do the same. We have had 2 loans both topped up to £10,000 the first was paid off early then the second was borrowed pretty soon after. In terms of the second loan we have now paid over £13,000 and are due to continue paying £395 a month well into 2023.
Simon says
HI Kate,
im pretty much in the same boat.
cancel the direct debit and see what happens, if the loans were found to be unaffordable wouldnt that mean they would have to be removed from the credit file anyways?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you stop paying it will hurt your credit record but if the loans are found to be unaffordable, all negative marks would have to be removed.
You also need to make sure your guarantor cancels their direct debit and phones their bank and cancels any continuous payment authority over their credit or debit card. This will not hurt their credit score as the amigo loan does not show there.
Amigo may threaten court action but if you have a complaint in with them or at FOS they won’t actually go to court at the moment.
Tom says
Hi Sara, what does all this mean for claims that are currently sat with the FOS ?? Will things start moving again or is that just wishful thinking?? Thank you in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
things arent clear but that is probably being too optimistic.
Kieron says
Hi, We are going through the same process. Reading these comments are all negative, Amigo stated 95% of their customers agreed with the scheme is this absoloutly true or is this another false claim to to the public. To me I feel there trying you make themselves look good in front of courts, who’s to day they rigged that too van easily be done with the right methods.
All these directors and shareholders are thinking about is there shares and bonuses as there greedy. There not worried about the customers emotions and effectingvthem mentally their ruthless and this must stop. Everyone should have refunds for the full amount of their loans as these were clearly unaffordable. You would never get out of debt with these people due to the interest rate it’s a scandal just like Wonga loans. Court or FCA needs to make sure they go insolvent and close them down for the sake of all those in the UK and there guarantors who is suffered enough already. Don’t let them have the second chance hope the court or FCA sees this before they can appeal for the second scheme if they come up with one. There liars and cheats disgusting…..😡
Sara (Debt Camel) says
is this absolutely true or is this another false claim to the public
I have no reason to think the voting figures are wrong.
Customers got an email from Amigo and links to pages with little videos saying “Vote for your money”. Most people will have thought this is some sort of automatic refund program from a company so they said yes.
Only a few curious people will have looked to find out more about it and ended up here. Most of the people posting here had already sent in complaints and knew this page.
Even if people had looked past the “vote of your money” marketing stuff and read the Practice Statement Letter and Explanatory Statement, they would have no idea that the choice Amigo was posing – vote for the proposal or its administration and you get nothing – was not the full picture. How could someone who is not familiar with corporate restructuring and insolvency procedures have been expected to guess that a fairer proposal was possible? That is what the FCA was saying in court and the judge agreed with them.
Monika says
Hi Sarah
Due to my complaint to Amigo regarding remove my name from the loan. Amigo replied to me. They said that I complained before over the phone. Yes, I did. It was over a year ago. However, I have not received a response to that. They told me I am free to pass my complaint on to the FOS. I had asked them to give me all records of when the loan was issued.
Amigo staff member said Domestic abuse is a civil matter that should not impact you when the loan was taken. I want to speak with FOS. About what kind of information I need to prepare for them.
Thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Amigo staff member said Domestic abuse is a civil matter that should not impact you when the loan was taken.
oh dear. That is an entirely inappropriate response.
Sometimes I think the entire Amigo customer service & complaints teams need to go on a good vulnerability training course as so many seem unable to recognise it.
It isn’t clear at the moment what you can do.
FOS is not looking at any Amigo complaints.
John says
I think if the case has been paid out you may find it difficult to obtain any money but mark my words abuse is not a civil matter. Hope all works out. Are you or was a guarantor.
Monika says
I am the guarantor; he is my son’s father who left me in debts; I have already paid about £5000 the other £5000 is gone. Sometimes I need to use my credit card to pay monthly expenditures. He is working, and he could bear it. He abused me financially. My English was very poor when the loan was taken out. I had no idea in what situation I put myself.
Also, we broke up almost two years ago. If FOS doesn’t work, more than likely, I am taking him to court one or another. I shall find Justice and those other guarantors who are victims lets do not stop fighting and getting what we should have. I believe in Justice , there is , but drains the time, Money, and health.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Your very poor English will probably be apparent when someone listens to the phone cal you had with Amigo where you “agreed” to be the guarantor.
Have you talked to a debt adviser about your whole situation? Sometimes i am afraid the best answer if you have been left with a lot od debt because of financial abuse is insolvency. Carry on fighting and as you say, it will affect your health for years. Also with the Amigo loan there is the poetic justice that if you go insolvent Amigo will switch to harassing your ex…
I suggest you talk to National Debtline on 0808 808 4000.
Jeffrey says
Hi Sarah, I’ve had an amigo loan for just over four years, and I can say that my account balance of loan has not moved one bit and has more or less remained the same, when I called to question they told me is because I had a few hiccups with payment, it was paid but paid late this was in later 2018/19. However when I couldn’t pay, my guarantor was made to pay, I was also given only a three month grace period at the start of the pandemic with this two situation of paying later they said that is why my loan balance isn’t budging at all. This has affected my mental health and for this long I have felt trapped with these people, I believe this loan with how consistent I’ve been should have decreased over the years but from the first day I was given this loan till today it still reads the same figures. I’ve slaved for almost five years paying a loan that isn’t decreasing at all. I just want out of this nightmare.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
if they go forward with a different Scheme you will be able to make to claim to that. Or if they go bust you can make a claim to the administrators.
Kadi says
Hello Sarah
I currently have a loan with Amigo but have no idea on how I’ll be able to make a claim could you offer any advice please. Thank you !
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Everyone has to wait and see what the Amigo board decides to do – appeal the court decision, go for a new Scheme or go into administration.
K says
Hi. I currently have a loan with Amigo, I pay 395 per month, I do struggle to pay but have to make sure its paid as my brother is my guarantor and he can’t afford to pay for me, he is currently still on furlough from work. When I took out my original loan and then had a top up I had a much better paying job but then was made redundant so had to take a lower paying job. What will this ruling mean for us? I don’t know how to do a complaint or anything against them.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
We don’t yet know what Amigo is going to do so it’s hard to say.
If a new Scheme goes forward you will be able to make a claim in the Scheme. If they go under, you will be able to make a claim to the administrators. Both of these claims will be a simple online form to complete.
Back when you took out the loan – could your guarantor really have afforded to make all the payments and still paid his own debts, bills and living expenses?
What is his current finacial situation like – does he now have debt problems himself?
K says
He did own his own home when I originally took out the loan and he was married but since then has been divorced and now rents accommodation, I think Amigo took all this in to consideration at the beginning.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK but even home owners can have problems paying £395 a month for a years – it is possible that the loan was unaffordable for him when you took it. He had to be able to make all the payments and still pay his own debts, bills and living expenses. Could you talk to him about this?
K says
To be honest I don’t really think he could afford to pay it if I didn’t, that’s why I struggled through paying every month, and still am. I did try and cut my payments down recently but they said I could fill in a expenditure form and then said that it still might not go through so my guarantor wi gave to make the shortfall. I couldn’t do the form as I know that he could never cover the rest if they cut my payment down.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So my point is that he too will be able to make a claim to Amigo to be removed as guarantor because of affordablity. This gives him two chances of being removed – if you win your complaint or if he wins his complaint.
Can you talk to your brother and explain this and why you need to stop paying which means he should as well?
If you stop paying, you need to send them a very short complaint – they won’t consider it so there is no point in going into details -an email to hello@amigoloans.co uk with COMPLAINT as the subject and a couple of lines saying your two loans were unaffordable so you are making an affordability complaint and you are unable to make the payments so you are stopping until your complaint is resolved will do. Getting this in means they have been told WHY you are stopping payments.
To stop, you need to cancel your direct debt to Amigo and your brother needs to stop his direct debt and also phone his bank to cancel the continuous payment authority over his debit card.
This will affect your credit rarint – but the negative mark will be removed if you win the complaint.
It will not affect your brother’s credit rating as the Amigo loan does not appear on his credit record.
Amigo may threaten to take both of you to court but this seems to be just bluffing:
a) they should not do this according to the regulator’s rules when you have a complaint in. In practice they haven’t been doing this. I have sen hendreds of people threatened and not one court case in this situation.
b) going to court is a long slow process. And Amigo have said they will not go to court if there is a Scheme so there is no time for them to do this.
c) if they did go to court (which they won’t) you can counterclaim and say they owe you money for a refund and ask the court to stay (legal jargon for put on hold) the case until the complaints have been decided.
Simon says
Took great pleasure voting down the scheme, directors wanting to stay rich while us people who should be paid out get peanuts
Bobby Jones says
Hi Sara I helped a friend in work with his guarantor loan taken out with Amigo .He shouldn’t of been accepted for the loans as he couldn’t afford the repayments .I emailed them on his behalf and contacted the citizens advice who finally got his repayments down to £100 a month from £230 .My main concern was he told them were the person who the loan was for was working and living and they were not interested What should be his next move ?
.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
your friend was the guarantor?
If the repayments were unaffordable for him, he can make a claim to amigo if a new Scheme goes ahead. or to the administrators if Amigo goes bust.
what is the rest of his financial situation like?
Bobby says
My friend was the guarantor ,he is left with vertically nothing to live on .I did complain to Amigo and it was thrown out .Will I have to complain again? Would you stop payments know ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
when did he complain to Amigo and was the case sent to the Ombudsman?
Bobby Jones says
About six months ago ,it never went to the ombudsman.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
then he should be able to maker a claim to any new Scheme they come up with or to the administrators if Amigo goes under.
if he can’t afford the repayments then I suggest he stops. Worst case he loses his claim and then has to get affordable monthly payments set up.
Yt says
I’ve stopped all payments to these people although last month my bank paid it out under cpa even though I’d contacted them and cancelled cpa waiting for ombudsman to sort that out (had to cancel card) what a relief to get paid and be able to afford food
John says
Hello,
Can i still send complaint to Amigos?
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No – well you can but. Amigo isn’t looking at new complaints at the moment.
Do you have a current loan?
Aliya says
Hi Sara,
I made a complaint based on unaffordablility issues and I am waiting for a final response. I currently pay £159 a month, for a £4K loan I took out in Dec 2018.
Can I stop my direct debit until we know more about this situation? And will my guarantor be affected by this?
Furthermore, will I need to make a separate claim down the line? I just want my balance cleared as I’m currently just paying the interest off
Sara (Debt Camel) says
when did you make the complaint?
If you stop paying it will hurt your credit record for a while – but the negative marks will be removed if you win your claim.
You will need to ask your guarantor to cancel their direct debit to Amigo and also phone their bank and stop any CPA(continous payment authority) over their debit or credit card. Can you do this? This will not hurt your guarantor’s credit record as the Amigo loan does not show on there.
Amigo may threaten going to court but they won’t do this if you have complained or made a claim.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think that’s Unlikely until either a new scheme is approved or they go into administration.
Harley c says
I put my complaint in June last year and put through to the fos in sep. since this scheme was announced and they stopped processing complaints i immediately stopped paying. This week I spoke to them to find out if they will start looking into my complaint again they replied one worded answer “speak to the fos” I then rang back after speaking to both fca and fos regarding the complaint and was told by the same agent that amigo are in the wrong for not looking into my complaint and to ring back at the end of the week. I tried today and have been put into a specialist team and no one is allowed to have discuss my account/complaint with them
I think admin is close ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Amigo are trying to decide what to do now the court has rejected their proposed Scheme, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/court-rejects-amigo-scheme/.
Until they make an announcement, no one really knows what will happen next. Administration is possible, so is Amigo looking at a new Scheme that will give customers a fairer deal. Or they could appeal the court verdrict.
aden says
Hi
does FCA or the court have an imposed timescale for letting companies in amigos position decide it next move. Can amigo drag it heels on making a decision hoping it will get enough payments in through the door to give the shareholders something before they go bust. Can it work like this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think things should be clear in the next few working days.
Kate says
Received this email today in response to me asking how long it would take to give me an outcome regarding my complaint.
In response to your email, your complaint was raised on the 28/01/2021. Do to the nature of your complaint we do not have a time frame to offer unfortunately.
We are currently working hard on proposing a new scheme that the courts approves, allowing us to look into these complaints and compensate those customers with valid claims.
Kate says
Not sure what annoyed me more, the fact that they are just ignoring complaints until they get a scheme through or go bust, or the poor spelling/grammar.
Tom says
The FOS really need to do something about this. Court decision had been made and it’s in our favour, start processing claims again and sting amigo for what they owe to the thousands of people who’s lives they’ve ruined. If FOS continue to pause with claims then they are just as criminal as amigo. Any claims currently with FOS should have started moving again the minute the courts made their decision.
Sam says
Does anybody have experience with Amigo claims over 6 years old? I originally complained to FOS as I asked Amigo for my account information including account number and they said they don’t keep any details over 6 years. After some digging I found that at the date of my request, my account was a few months short of 6 years so they should have still had records.
Long story short, they are still telling me my account no longer exists and I have been unable to take part in the vote or receive any emails about the scheme as I need to log in and change contact details. I still have a claim pending with FOS but am worried about missing out if Amigo eventually set up some sort of redress scheme.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you asked your guarantor if they have any records?
Sam says
Unfortunately they no longer have any emails etc. I have proof of my loans, income, etc which I sent to Ombudsman, but I need Amigo to grant me access to my account or at least let me update contact information incase a scheme does eventually go ahead. I’ll try calling instead, as the only reply I keep getting via email is ‘we do not keep data over 6 years for your data protection.’ 🙄
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Your data protection – more like their convenience :(
DM says
I got info going back to 2011 when it was FLM as part of my SAR response last year and also checked my old e-mails for application responses which should narrow down the figures / timeframe if you want to request old statements from the bank to clarify.
Sam says
My loan is from 2011 too, and was paid off in 2014. I emailed them multiple times last year requesting access to my information, I just kept getting the same reply that it was over 6 years. I eventually found dates of my loans using bank statements but they still refused to acknowledge my account existence, SAR or affordability complaint so I just went to the Ombudsman to complain with the evidence I did have. I received an email from Ombudsman telling me about the scheme, but nothing from Amigo as I can’t remember what email account I used with them.
I will try calling them this week, see if they will grant me access that way and let me change contact details so I can be informed of any changes.
Dean Crawford says
Hi Sara,
I’m a guarantor for my brother’s loan. A year after taking the loan, he broke his back in a work accident and has been unable to work since. Amigo were informed of this, but they offered just 10 days breathing space ( while he was unconscious in an ICU ) and have aggressively pursued any late payment ever since. My brother has been late a couple of times since 2018, but has always made the payments. I have made two or three payments to help him through when he most needed it.
Amigo have ignored phone calls from us, and instead threats made when those payments are not made on time. My brother has a good claim, but it’s on hold with the FOS, and they’ve just sent another series of e-mails threatening CCJ on my brother, despite informing them of a delay in payment by just a few days and Amigo agreeing to it (!) My brother’s health is poor now due to his injury and the stress of this is taking its toll.
Bottom line, I want out as a guarantor and to cancel all payments and Direct Debits to Amigo Loans until the complaint is processed. I thought that I would run this past you beforehand though just to see what you thought of the situation – probably it’s much like that of many out there who have fallen victim to this predatory loan shark of a company.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This loan – how much did he borrow? How much has been repaid so far, by you or by him?
Do you think the loan was always unaffordable for him, from the point it was taken out?
What about you, obviously you don’t want to pay, but at the point it was taken could you have afforded to make all the payments to it and still paid your own debts, bills and living expenses?
MR DEAN CRAWFORD says
The loan was for £6,000
He could afford the loan initially, but after his accident his income dropped to zero and has remained there. Amigo ignored any reference to this inconvenient fact, and continue to do so.
The FOS consider his case near-enough iron-clad. From my own perspective, I can afford to support his payments but have little intention to do so. He has already paid back the value of the loan and quite a bit of interest on top.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am just going on what you have said here:
The FOS consider his case near-enough iron-clad.
It would be unusual for FOS to say that. But if they have, then it means that the loan was unaffordable at the point it was taken out. You don’t win an affordability complaint because you get very ill later on.
MR DEAN CRAWFORD says
That’s right, his claim was not just based on the later illness but on the affordability of a small top-up that followed prior to the accident. The FOS comment was not literal, but he was advised that he had a “strong” case under the circumstances, strengthened further by Amigo’s failure to consider his altered circumstances and lack of offering reduced payments while recovering, lack of communication and failure to respond to e-mails / calls etc, general shoddy handling of what was obviously a genuine case.
Given what’s happened lately, I’m thinking of simply halting all payments and riding it out until the FOC finally get around to making a judgement on the case. The payments can be put aside so that if the worst happens, it’s still there and available, whereas if continued payments are made to a company like Amigo, I get the sense that it’s going into a bottomless pit, never to be seen again…
Sara (Debt Camel) says
oh good, then he may well have an affordability complaint on the top-up loan.
The practicalities for you cancelling your payment if you decide to do this:
– you have to cancel not just the direct debit but also phone up your bank and cancel any Continous Payment Authority over your debit or credit card that Amigo has. You may not remember agreeing to this but talk to your bank – it may be in place.
– the loan does not appear on your credit record so it can’t be harmed unless Amigo got a CCJ
– Amigo will make threats about going to court but (a) they should not according to regulator rules when there is an otstanding complaint (b) this is a slow process and there is no time for them to do this before a new Scheme or administration and (c) if they did go to court you can just ask for the case to be put on hold pending the decision on the claim.
I suggest you explain what you are doing to your brother and that he too may want to stop making unaffordable payments.
MR DEAN CRAWFORD says
Thanks Sara, I will let him know what to do, thanks for taking the time to reply to so many queries regarding Amigo Loans, it’s hugely helpful :)
Tracey M says
I took out a loan in early 2018 I’m paying over £280 a month for a £4000 loan. Ive basically paid all my loan and now just paying the interest . The loan will be paid up right next year although I only took it out over 3 years 😳
Last year I asked them to reduce payments as I had difficulty. They ignored me . My guarantor has paid on few occasions , I obviously then had to pay him back as can’t leave him struggling .
One month I only received £400 . With 3 children to feed . £280 went to amigo .
I’m hoping that my loan could be wiped out as I’ve paid back what I have borrowed. Just interest owed , which is way too high.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds as though you have a good complaint that the loan was unaffordable for you. Every payment you now make is effectively throwing away most of the money as if you win the complaint you will only get a small percentage back if Amigo gets another Scheme approved.
Could you explain this to your guarantor and say you want to stop paying now because of this? He would need to cancel his Direct debit to Amigo and phone his bank and cancel any continuous payment authority over his credit or debit card.
This will harm your credit record (but the negative marks will all be removed if you win your complaint) but it won’t harm your guarantor’s credit record as the Amigo loan does not show there.
Amigo may make threatening noises but there is no chance they will take you to court when you have a complaint in.
What is your gaurantor’s financial situation? When you took this loan in 2018, could he really have afforded to make all the payments to it and still been able to pay his own debts, bills and living expenses?
He may be better off than you, but that doesn’t mean the loan was affordable for him – so he too may be able to make an affordability complaint.
Kate says
Hi Sarah
Just a quick question. Are you able to tell me where the information comes from around Amigo not taking customers to court for some time?. I was looking for some confirmation on this as we are currently in discussion with our guarantor about us both cancelling direct debits and CPAs. I found this when doing a google search. I realise it’s from another loan company ‘cash float’ so I wasn’t sure of the accuracy of the statement. We have an affordability complaint with amigo made on 28/1/21. Through a series of emails, they have confirmed today that they aren’t looking into any complaints currently and they are on hold. Obviously I don’t want to do anything that will effect our guarantor. The quote is below
Amigo claims they will only go to court in the case of debt, as a last resort – if all else fails. However, the Times dispute this. It is not unknown for Amigo to enter court after just three months, after a barrage of emails, calls, text messages and letters to the defaulting customers. They take both the customer and the guarantors to court – totalling around 500 new cases a month.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Amigo used to be VERY fast to go to court, faster than any other lender, and brought very large numbers of cases in 2017-2018. I think, but don’t have the figures to prove this, that the number of cases dropped a lot in 2019 as affordablity complaints started to be made.
But what matters here is not Amigo’s general tendency to go to court but whether they do this when there has been an affordability complaint made… so 4 points:
1) the regulatory situation
The FCA rules (CONC 7.14.1) say ” A firm must suspend any steps it takes or its agent takes in the recovery of a debt from a customer where the customer disputes the debt on valid grounds or what may be valid grounds.”. You have a complaint with Amigo – that is “disputing the debt”.
Amigo really doesn’t want to annoy the FCA at the moment – it isn’t going to start breaking this rule.
2) what has happened in practice to readers
I have been watching readers comments carefully on the borrower and guarantor pages. I have not seen Amigo start a court case in this situation for two years. Many people like you have been worried and they have received alarming sounding emails and letters, but Amigo has not followed through by starting a court case.
3) it takes a long while to get a CCJ if you defend it
But suppose Amigo decides to go to court. Which I do NOT think will happen, I am just trying to say what the worst case would look like.
Let’s look at all the stages and how long it would take, because it will be incredibly slow.
First they have to send you a Default Notice – if you have been paying so far and now stop it will take a few weeks before they do this. That gives you 14 days to pay the arrears.
Then they have to send you a debt pre action protocol letter (sometimes called a Letter Before Claim or a Letter Before Action). That is a letter with several attachments including one headed Reply Form.
If you get one, come back here and I will point you to information on how to complete that form. If you wait and reply to it after three weeks, they then have to supply you with more information and can’t go to court until 30 days after they have sent that.
Only then can you get a Court Claim Form. At that point, you can lodge a defence to the case saying you are disputing the amount, you have made an affordability complaint and Amigo has not replied to it. I will point you to somewhere you can get help with this.
From that point on, your aim is to delay the court proceedings as long as possible. The average time for a defended court claim to go through in 2019 was over 9 months. And court delays are likely to have got much longer with the pandemic as a backlog will have built up.
And in your case the simplest approach is to ask the court to “stay” the case – that is legalese for put it on hold – until Amigo responds to your complaint. This is of course another reason why Amigo is very unlikely to go to court in the first place.
So there is simply no chance that this is going to happen before a Scheme or Administration.
4) Amigo told the court it would not start a court case in the Scheme
Amigo told the court that where a customer has made a claim to the Scheme it will not go to court until that claim is decided.
And if Amigo goes into administration, the administrators would not go to court probably ever, certainly not if you have made a claim.
—————————–
Can you or your guarantor actually afford the payments?
Kate says
Thank you Sarah, that’s really useful and reassuring
Kate says
Hi Sarah
Sorry I missed the last part of your question. We can’t really afford to pay it and are borrowing from family at the end of every month. Our guarantor can afford to pay it but obviously doesn’t want to and we don’t want to put that on them either. Will that make a difference?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
In that case you should consider stopping paying it. How much did you borrow and how much have you paid so far?
Kate says
Hi Sarah
We had a top up to £10,000 on 7/8/18. I can’t remember when the original loan was taken out, probably a year before, it wasn’t long. Since then we have made 33 payments of £395.25 totalling £13043.25. We have never been late or missed a payment. The current balance sits at £7608.31 and is due to be settled August 2023.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you have repaid more than you borrowed. In that case it is a good idea to stop paying as you are effectively throwing away a lot of the payments you are making each month if you win the case.
Michelle says
Hi Sara ,
Ok so I won the my case against amigo in Nov of last year , they upheld loan 1 and 3 but defended loan 2 , they have said I owe over £3000 in unpaid interest ? I don’t understand what this is for as loan 2 was paid back by loans 3 , I had a payment plan set up for £70 but am reluctant to pay it as I think it’s unfair and don’t even understand why on earth I have to pay it , is there anything I can do about it ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It isn’t clear at the moment what will happen now Amigo’s proposed Scheme has been rejected. So far as I could tell, that Scheme was planning to carry on with this very unfair “unpaid interest deduction”.
Now they may come forward with a different Scheme. or they may go into administration. In either case you *may* be able to put in a new claim.
Michelle says
I just don’t understand the figures as my amount of borrowing was £8750 the redress was £8360 then the took off £1554 for unpaid interest so redress off £6796 but they minus this off total re payable of £10455 so left me £3650 to still pay back , I only borrowed £8750 that’s why I’m so confused
Sara (Debt Camel) says
their “unpaid interest calculations” were very hard to understand.
Michelle says
Is it worth calling them and trying to get them to explain it to me or will they just talk a load of rubbish and I’ll waste my time ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I doubt you will get a clear explanation, but you can try.
Jonny says
Hi Sara
Advice needed please. I took out a loan for 3.5k in sept 18. At the time I had about 30k of unpaid recent defaults on my credit file (within 18 months of date of this loan application). I had not made a payment to them for some time. I made all payments on my loan but had missed 2 and had to play catch up. In March 19 I topped up the loan to 6k. At this point the defaults remained the same and there had been no payments made by me to this. I simply told amigo I was going to deal With them going forward.
I had a severe gambling addiction which was the basis for all My debts and the loan from amigo which bank statements or any in depth underwrite would have shown.
I have filed a complaint for unaffordability and it is stuck in the system now but they acknowledged it in March 21. I have missed a few payments since I took the loan out and haven’t caught up. They also harassed my guarantor who himself has financial difficulties and has his overdraft removed credit cards reduced etc.
Does it sound like my claim will hold up?
My intention is to stop paying now as I’ve paid over the amount I borrowed in total and am Now paying back interest. What are your thoughts please?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is a LOT of recent defaults – I think Amigo should have verified your situation from your bank statements because of that and would then have rejected you because of the gambling.
Of course I cannot know that is what Amigo would decide if they come up with a second “fairer” scheme, but it sounds a good claim to me.
Your guarantor – could he have made all the loan repayments to amigo and still been able to afford to repay his own debts, bills and living expenses?
Jonny says
Thanks Sara
Yes it was a lot. 20k was an overdraft and several other smaller debts.
I have had 4 payday loans which I defaulted on classed as unaffordable by the administrators. One of these Loans was for only £80! Ernst and young were the admins
No he couldn’t afford it. The months they took payments from him When they rang to ask him to pay he said he couldn’t. This meant he couldn’t then afford to live himself. He cancelled his dd but when I missed they just took it from His bank without even asking in the end via debit card. He’s cancelled the card now.
I’m loathe to keep paying money to them as it will never be recoverable by me. My credit file is terrible anyway as you can imagine already
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is very hard to win an affordabilty complaint for a payday loan of £80 unless there hasd been a lot of borrowing from the same lender.
An overdraft limit of 20k? If that was increased during a time the bank should have realised you were in difficulty because of the gambling transactions then you should also be making anffordability complaint about that. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-catalogue-credit-card/ for how to do this.
Yes your guarantor needs to have cancelled the direct debit AND any continuous payment authority over his debit card. He needs to make sure the CPA will not be set up again for his new card.
Hannah says
Hi Sara.
I had an 3 amigo loans in total which was sent to amigo as unaffordable claims at the end of 2019. They rejected these so I forwarded them on to the FOS who agreed that all 3 loans were unaffordable in February of this year.
I no longer owe amigo any money so would be due money back.
Do you have any understanding as to what would happen here please?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
was FOS treating your case as a priority?
Hannah says
Not that I’m aware of
Natasha says
Hi Sara,
I had a loan in 2014 for £2000 over 36 months paid in full (£3588.84)
A loan in august 2017 for £3000 over 36 months topped up in December 2019 to £10,000 over 60 months so far I have paid 40 months ( to date 15,810) and still have a further 20 months to pay which would total 23,715 by the time I’m finished – well over double the amount borrowed!
I put in an affordability claim with amigo and then escalated it with the Ombudsman in December last year. I have been notified by both Amigo and the ombudsman that my claim is on hold until the scheme of arrangement is sorted. However I’m expected to keep paying the loan in the mean time.
If I cancel both mine and my guarantor’s continuous payment authority and my direct debit whilst waiting for the scheme to be approved – what is likely to happen? thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds as though you have paid Amigo more than you have borrowed – if your claim is upheld then it is likely your balance would be cleared.
If you and your guarantor cancel the direct debts and CPAs to Amigo, what will happen is:
– your credit rating will be harmed. This will later be cleaned up if you win your claim in a Scheme or administration.
– your guarantor’s credit rating will not be harmed as the Amigo loan does not appear on there
– Amigo will pressure you and your guarantor to pay. Some people call this “too pushy”, others describe it as “aggressive”. Knowing the facts can help here. whatever Amigo’s texts, emails and letters say, they are not going to take either of you to court at the moment – this is a long process and there is no time to complete it before the Scheme starts and anyway it is gainst the FCA rules to go to court when a debt is in dispute.
Sean Bain says
Hi Sara
I have been trying to follow this whole business but have found the coverage a bit limited until now since i stumbled upon Debt camel. I have voted on the amigoscheme as required but i have not sent a redress claim/complaint letter as i thought this had to be done when i would be notified by Amigo when to write such claims or complaints. I have not been able to find anything on their websites with regards to my previous loans with them or even where to find out what I do next and now i read its too late to make a complaint?? Then I’ve read some of the above comments on people recieving payouts or loan repayments being stopped! I am really confused as to where I stand with regards to the whole thing.
Can i make a claim/complaint? Where is my information on all previous loans? And do i still continue paying my current loan?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can send a complaint – email hello@amigoloans.co.uk with COMPLAINT as the title. There is a template you could use over on this page https://debtcamel.co.uk/how-to-complain-guarantor-loan/.
But Amigo aren’t looking at them and you can’t send them to FOS at the moment so you may decide there isn’t much point.
The comments you see about payouts are all from complaints made before December 20th so far as I know.
If a replacement Scheme is approved you will be able to make a claim to that on a page Amigo will set up. If Amigo goes into administration you will be able to make a claim on a page the administrators set up.
How large was the current loan and how much have you paid to it so far?
Sean bain says
Hi Sara
My current loan was topped up ( a cycle that has been ongoing since starting my connection with Amigo since 2017 ) in February 2020 to £6000. My other gripe is that I have only recently been notified of this whole affair and yet reading comments on your site I see people have been aware of redress claims and complaints since at least last June! I feel as though I have been living in a cupboard in the Antarctic! Thanks for your help
I have only paid £760 in this last year
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Multiple top ups in a short period normally indicates a very strong claim.
The only problem is that Amigo makes a deduction “for unpaid interest” when it upholds a top up loan and not the previous loan. This can really reduce the redress calculated, sometimes by several thousand pounds. It is very unfair as the previous loan was settled in full – the Ombudsman never makes this deduction. because of this, you may be one of the people that could be better off if Amigo goes into administration as I do not expect the administrators would make this deduction.
But all you can do is make a claim to Amigo or to the administrators.
Dino says
Hello Sara
I have read the various articles in the press today regarding Amigo and specifically your input.
How likely is it that the FCA and what is their authority to allow for us still owing money to stop making payments pending the eventual outcome.
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How likely?
I don’t know.
what is their authority to allow for us still owing money to stop making payments
The FCA is giving Amigo some kind of temporary permission to stop looking at complaints and paying refunds. I can’t see why the FCA can’t say that Amigo can only have this temporary waiver if it allows people with complaints in to stop paying until the claims are resolved.
Dino says
Sara
I totally agree, that would be nice and fair.
sean bain says
Thank you so much for your help and I only have one more question which is what would happen to me and others if Amigo went into Administration? Is it a case of the administrators redressing the complainants or the entire loan being wiped clean? Or none of those options and something completely different? Once again thank you, your website is now firmly logged into my favourites.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
In administration you can make a claim just like you can under the scheme. You have the same right of “set off” to reduce or clear what you owe Amigo as you do in the Scheme.
But there won’t be any cash refunds. For people with current loans normally the important thing is to get it cleared or reduced as much as possible.
Anna says
Hi Sara,
I have gathered all info I had regarding my Amigo loans.
I realised I had 2 top ups since I started in 09.2017 with 4k for 36 months. I was not working when they accepted me for the loan and they accepted my husband as a guarantor even though he was declined twice by them as a borrower at the beginning of 2017.First top up was in may2018 and second in april 2019( less than a year in between for each one) plus I had a few postponed payments during time.
So from April 2019 I started a 5k loan for
60 months for which I payed £4150 (3946 interest only) until March this year. I am in area for 2 months as I couldn’t afford to make more payments. I did agree I will start paying from this month being pressured by them, but they broke the agreement and took money from my account last month. Was lucky the bank could reimburse the money the next day. I am not working at the moment, I am only on UC and looking after my baby who is almost 1y, did fill a complaint today through Resolver, but not sure what is going to happen, don’t think they will answer. Don’t know what to do if to pay them or not this month.
My husband took a loan with much lower interest from his bank to clear the Amigo loan, but at the moment I want to see what is going to happen. Not sure if I do the right thing.
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
who is your guarantor?
Anna says
My husband. They refused him a loan but accepted him as a guarantor for my loan which was odd.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So when you say
“My husband took a loan with much lower interest from his bank to clear the Amigo loan”
that was him paying off your loan?
Or him clearing a previous loan from Amigo?
Are you two buying or renting?
If you are on UC, I can’t see how you can afford to pay this? Not and pay all the bills?
How much do you owe in total including this Amigo loan? How much does your husband owe in total excluding this Amigo loan?
Anna says
Sorry for being so confusing.
He recently took a loan from NatWest to clear my Amigo loan and one credit card I made in 2018.But I didn’t clear the Amigo yet as we don’t know what to do. I did cover the whole amount on one of the credit cards (£2750)
We are renting at the moment.
I owe 5k to Amigo and 2k on another credit card.
And my husband 8k ( the loan he made to clear my Amigo and one of my debit cards), plus 2.5k overdraft.
The credit card lenders increased my credit limit a lot since 2020, more than double, and I was home in maternity leave.I didn’t decline them as my husband was furlough and I was on low income. So we used them mainly for food shopping and we paid our debts and rent with what we were earning.
Very draining and stressful, wrong decisions too, but we wanted to pay amigo and everything else in time always.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ah all is now clear!
So you have the money to settle the Amigo loan but you aren’t sure if you should. That is a very good question.
IIt sounds as though you have a good affordability complaint – those were large loans to have been given if you were not in work.
It also makes no sense for Amigo to have accepted your husbabnd as guarantor when they knew that recently he had applied to them for a loan himself. So your husband also has a good reason to make an affordability complaint.
You now have four options.
1) If you pay off the loan
—————————
When your claim is considered in the Scheme if it is upheld, amigo will calculate the refund you should have had based on the interest you paid. But you will only get a small amount of this. Amigo said 10% for the proposed scheme, I thought it may be less. If there is a new Scheme it will hopefully turn out to be more but you shouldn’t expect it will be a large percentage… If Amigo go into administration there may be NO cash refunds at all or very tiny ones.
So you are a lot worse off as your husband has the large loan and you will only get a small amount of that back.
2) if your husband pays off the loan
——————————————
This is nearly the same as (1). the difference is that your husband would get a refund claulated of everything he paid, and you would only get a refund claulated of the interst paid. This option would mean you get a bit more from Amigo in the Scheme, it is slightly better for you than (1) but he would still be left with the huge loan and not much back from Amigo.
3) If you don’t pay off the loan and stop paying it now
————————————————————
You and your husband need to cancel the direct debits to Amigo and he also needs to phone his bank and cancel the continuous paymment authority Amigo probably has over his debt card.
This will affect your credit record (but that will be cleared if you win your afforcability complaint) but not his as the Amigo loan does not show on his record.
Amigo will send cross emails, texts and letters. These may threaten to take you both to court for a CCJ – that is not going to happen at the moment for several reasons – 1) the regulator says they shouldn’t when a debt is disputed 2) it is quite along process and there isnt time to get a CCJ before the Scheme starst 3) Amigo has said it will not go to court in the Scheme before a case has been decided.
If you win your complaint, your husband will be released as guarantor, interest will be removed from the current loan and if the previous loans are also decided to be unaffordable, the interest you paid there will be deducted from the balance. It sounds to me as though either Amigo will owe you some money or your balance would be reduced to a pretty low amount, which you could then repay at an affordable rate with no extra interest accruing.
Your husband can then try to settle the bank loan early or pay a chunk off it or (worst case) use the borrowed money to repay most of it. Between you two you should be left with very little debt.
If you don’t pay off the loan but carry on making the payments
————————————————————————–
This is close to option 3) but as some point you will have repaid enough so Amigo will owe you a refund. from that point on you are effctively throwing away most of the monthly payments as you will get only a small amount of them back in a refund in a scheme. It could be many months before there is a decision on your case in the Scheme.
Apart from this decision
—————————-
An 8k loan sounds like a lot for your husband to repay if you two are on universal credit? It may be less than the4 Amigo repayments, but is it affordable?
Will you be back to work soon or will that not be possible with childcare?
Are you renting privately?
Anna says
My husband is working, I am not working and I can’t go back to work at the moment because I can’t afford to pay private nursery or childcare for my little one, plus we have a 9 y old son as well who doesn’t go to any after school. We are renting privately, yes.
So one of my worries is that if I don’t pay them every month, lots of interest will add to the existing debt and If I don’t win the claim I will have to pay them a lot more than I already have? But at the same time I don’t want to pay them, as you were saying I will throw away my money.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“one of my worries is that if I don’t pay them every month, lots of interest will add to the existing debt and If I don’t win the claim I will have to pay them a lot more than I already have? “
As I said it sounds as though you have a good complaint – but that can’t be guaranteed.
Amigo now caps the interest it can charge at what you were originally quoted, so more and more won’t keep being added.
Anna says
I understand. Thank you for all your advices and for everything you are doing for all of us!
Mike T says
Does anyone know how long the moratorium on looking at any complaints is going to go on for?
Currently, neither Amigo or the FOS are looking at anything, so anyone with an active complaint (my friend included) is stuck in limbo.
We complained to Amigo in November 2020 & then to FOS in Feb 2021 but it’s all been bullsh*t & stall from Amigo ever since. We haven’t even got a response from them. FOS are nice to talk to but powerless until Amigo work out what they are doing.
This is costing her £395 per month and I’m paying for food for her & her sons at the moment. She has a £11.5k loan that she reached through top-ups and then a COVID payment holiday that she has paid over £15k back on and she is terrified of goign to Amigo as she doesn’t want them harassing her guarantor, who couldn’t pay anything anyway.
The only ones winning in this are Amigo as they will keep raking in interest payments while they lead the FCA along on a merry dance.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t know, it could be a few months. But even when the Scheme is started, they will expect her to carry on paying.
Can your friend not talk to her guarantor about this? As she has repaid more than she borrowed, most of the money being paid each month is effectively being thrown away… The guarantor can also make a claim to say the loan was unaffordable for them. And can cancel their direct debit and any continuous payment authority over their debit card. This won’t hurt the guarantor’s credit record as the Amigo loan doesn’t appear on there… and Amigo is not going to go to court as there isn’t time to do that before a Scheme starts and they have said they won’t go to court in the Scheme.
Mike T says
Sara,
Many thanks for your response.
May I ask what do you mean by “When the Scheme is started”? I thought it had been refused by the Court?
If Amigo come up with another “scheme” to try an avoid paying out to the people they have ripped off, does that mean this whole merry dance starts again?
If so, then this moratorium could go on for months and months, meaning that Amigo have effectively sidestepped any regulation whatsoever and carry on collecting interest payments while the FCA sits on its hands.
Also, having been chasing Amigo since November and listening to what they say on the phone and have published over this scheme, I wouldn’t hold them to not instigating Court action, even if they say they wouldn’t.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes the Scheme has been refused. Amigo will need to come up with another Scheme. I can’t imagine that can all go through in less than 3 months… so you do need to talk to the borrower and explain this. It isn’t just going to get sorted soon. I know it’s scary having to stop paying and explain to the guarantor, but can you really keeping paying this for her?
Mike T says
I’d stop paying tomorrow if it was me but she’s stressed out over the affect this will have on her guarantor who has spent most of the last year on furlough and, realistically, wouldn’t have been able to cover the loan before that either.
I’ve been hunting around for information and the problem is that people like Step Change are stating that stopping paying will result in debt collectors, court action and bad credit ratings for both the borrower and guarantor.
That really worries her so she will keep struggling to pay.
I will keep helping her as long as she needs it but it’s bloody annoying that Amigo are being allowed to do this. The impact on not only her finances but also her mental health is immense.
Amigo only sees its customers as targets. At one point she was texted/emailed 5 times in 3 days offering top-ups, when the amount & rapidity of her topping up previously should have red-flagged her if Amigo were following FCA guidelines.
What is even more annoying is the attitude of the FCA in standing back while vulnerable people are actively targeted and made to suffer and go on suffering. They must know that all Amigo are now doing is stalling and smoke screening to delay any redress being made.
I appreciate your help and advice on this.
Many thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What you have seen from StepChange is general guidance about guarantor loans if someone doesn’t pay.
Some of it is not accurate for Amigo – Amigo loans do NOT appear on a guarantor’s credit record.
The rest is not relevant in this situation where she has made an affordability complaint and not had it decided yet. See my long reply to Kate here yesterday: https://debtcamel.co.uk/amigo-scheme-timetable-approval-how-work/comment-page-8/#comment-425260. Amigo are not going to go to court new because its against the regulator’s rules when there is an open complaint, there is no time to do this anyway as it is a long slow process, and they have said they will not go to court in a scheme. It aint going to happen!
And there is no way Amigo could sell the loan to a debt collector at the moment with this legal battle going on.
Micky Winterfield says
When will we all learn?
Offerered a return by Amigo which people then rejected. Instead of getting something I get nothing. I’m surrounded by idiots. My £200 would have been very nice. Hope you are all happy with your £0.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
We will have to see what happens. The Scheme was rejected because the judge agreed with the FCA that customers should be given MORE and shareholders LESS. So Amigo is looking at how it can do that.
Also if your £200 was based on Amigo saying customers could get 10% that looked very doubtful to me, it could only be right if few people claimed (not likely!) or Amigo is planning on rejecting a lot of good claims. You may have got a lot less or nothing.
Francis says
Hi Sara,
I took a loan out 2018 topped up within a year. I have paid more than the principle back. And complaint of a year ago on hold. Do I legally have the right to withhold payments, because of their lack of action. and since this scheme has been stopped.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Legally you owe the money. But legally also you have the right to have your complaint decided, which Amigo are refusing to do…
As you have paid more than you borrowed, winning the complaint in a scheme OR in administration means the balance will be cleared. So every payment you make is effectively wasting most of that money as you will only get a small amount back.
So what will happen if you stop paying?
If you stop paying, your credit record will be affected, but if you win your complaint in a new revised Scheme OR if you win the complaint in administration then any negative marks will be removed from your credit record.
Your guarantor will also need to cancel their direct debit to Amigo and also phone their bank to cancel the continuous payment authority Amigo has over their debit card. This will NOT affect their credit record as the Amigo loan does not show on it.
Amigo may send threatening letters, texts emails mentioning taking you and your guarantor to court. This is NOT going to happen in your case. Going to court when there is a complaint is against the regulator’s rules and anyway you could defend the case saying Amigo owed you money in the complaint. And going to court is a slow process – there is no chance this can be done before a new Scheme is agreed or Amigo goes into administration. Amigo has said it will not go to court in a scheme. So Amigo’s threats at the moment is just bluffing.
Francis says
Hi Sara
Thanks for that response. I and my guarantor have decided to stop paying. we will put money aside. In her bank account. Until such time as things have been decided one way or the other. At least that way I know I am not waisting money.
Thanks again
Andrew Fenwick says
I had a claim with them which was nearly about to be paid out when the put all claims on hold. Will it pick up from where it left off if not what happens?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is still in hold 😠
Do you have a current loan?
Shannon says
I took out a 10,000 loan in 2018 and have been paying £395 every month since (other than a 4 month break during last year’s lockdown due to financial difficulties however interest was also put on hold) and my balance on my account is constantly 10,000, it goes down everytime I pay then by the end of the month goes back up to over 10,000, my loan was only supposed to be till 2022, I have tried to speak to amigo many times in the past over this and been ignored & put on hold, finally put a claim in before the scheme and now this has happened, still paying, paid well over what I borrowed, I don’t even want a redress I just want them to cancel all the interest because I feel like it’s just never going to disappear
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is hard to say what is happening here.
When you took the loan out in 2018, could you really afford the £395 repayments each month and still be able to pay your other debts, bills and living expenses? Was this your first loan from Amigo?
Ricky says
Hi Sara
I took out a loan with Amigo loans originally back in Jan 2018 for £1,250 with a further top-up to £6,000 of July 2018 and also a top-up to £10,000 the 7th January 2019. I have been paying £395 every month and I had multiple missed payments and a default before I took out the loan. Do i have a case to submit an affordability claim and if so, should i do it now or wait until we they go potentially into insolvency?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Two large top ups are often a sign that the loan is unaffordable.
How has it been making the repayments to the current loan – have they caused you to have to borrow more elsewhere (overdraft? credit card?) or get behing with other debts and bills?
You have now paid more than 10k to the last loan it sounds like?
Ricky says
Hi Sara
I been constantly going into overdraft on my bank account and I paid almost £8,000 to the loan repayments and its still around £11,000. Should i write an affordability complaint now to them or wait for the final verdict from this case?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
you can send a complaint now but Amigo will ignore it. Then you will have to make a claim in a new Scheme if that goes ahead or in administration if that is proposed.
The important question for you now is whether you can afford to carry on making the payments?
Ricky says
Hi Sara
I can still afford to make the monthly payments for now but for the foreseeable future, my circumstances may change
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok – it sounds as though you haven’t repaid as much as you borrowed, so every payment you make now will reduce the balance you are left owing if your claim has been upheld. As long as you can afford them, this is a good thing to do.
Mike T says
Amigo calculate the loan interest in a really weird way in order to keep their monthly repayments artificially low. Their website graphic showing how a monthly payment chews into the interest is really misleading as well.
On a £10k loan @ 49.9%, simple annual interest would be £4,990 per annum. The first monthly interest charge alone is around £415. So, £395 per month won’t even cover simple interest on the loan.
To counter this, Amigo do what they call an “Interest Cap.” They set a maximum total interest charge (on my friend’s £10k over 5yr loan it was £13,715). It appears this is paid off first, before the capital is touched. This also keeps the monthly repayments below £400.
It looks like the outstanding capital is only reduced once all the interest has been paid.
This is effectively front loading the loan and also lets Amigo keep the repayments down. Also, paying the interest off up front like this plays to Amigo’s business model of keeping borrowers topping up and never clearing the loan. That way, borrowers are always paying interest off and never reduce the capital borrowed.
By rights, if you top up before you break the “Interest Cap,” your settlement figure should be higher than the original loan. I have no idea how Amigo calculate the capital owed when going for a top up as I haven’t been able to get the information out of them, despite a number of requests.
Simon says
Hi All.
firstly many thanks to everyone giving different stories, its good to know I am not alone in this scenario.
I put an affordability complaint in before the scheme was originally discussed and I still haven’t received a final response, My loan was for £6750 (Topped up twice from the original 3k loan) and as of this morning I have repaid £8537.28 and still have a settlement balance of £5456, quite frankly their lending practises are a joke and picked on the vulnerable and those who had no where else to turn.
I have refused to make my monthly payment this morning, i have no intention of giving their shareholders and directors another Aston Martin or Spanish villa resort, i discussed it with partner who is my guarantor, she has cancelled her card and direct debits and CPAs and she is aware it doesn’t go on her credit file so is fully supporting me, I intend to ring them again and ask for a copy of my final response complaint, if they refuse ill tell them where to stick anymore payments until this is resolved – my credit file is already knackered so don’t care about another default etc but i know i will win anyways as they bombarded me with top up communication by text, email and post etc so I’m pretty much nailed on to win my complaint and thus have them removed, its about time the little people rised up and ruined these companies
Catherine says
Had a email today.
Dear Catherine,
My name is Chloe and I’m your account manager here at Amigo. Your account is now 24 days late with an arrears balance of £395.25. I want to work with you so I can get a resolution in place however so far this has been unsuccessful. Shortly those arrears could increase when a further payment falls due. This is why we have requested that Catherine steps-in to resolve the arrears. Unfortunately we are getting closer to the next payment becoming due.If the arrears remain then further down the line I may have to issue you 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. Court action would be for the full outstanding balance of the loan not just the arrears. I am really keen to avoid this becoming a possibility as it is at this stage that Catherine’s credit could become directly impacted if a County Court Judgment were issued. They would have had a strong credit file in order to be your guarantor, so I want to protect this from becoming negatively impacted.I want to work with you both in order to get the account back up to date and avoid it falling back into a similar position in the future but this is only possible if you show you are willing to do all you can to resolve this. It is important you get in contact with me so we can work towards the right resolution.
Kind Regards
Chloe
Amigo Account Manager
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So another threatening email.
But carefully worded to sound worrying but to actually say very little…
“If the arrears remain then further down the line I MAY have to issue you with an LBA (Letter Before Action)”
That is my BOLD there – it isn’t say Amigo WILL do this.
And even if they send you an LBA, you can reply asking for more information, this all takes time, and you can say you dispute the debt.
Getting an LBA doesn’t mean they will go to court.
Catherine says
I’m just fed up with them now. They’ve had their court decision over a week now and still nothing about what they are going to do. I’ve refused to pay any more. I have £6000 left after already paying over £14000 on a £10000 loan.
Dino says
Catherine
They are just trying to claw in as much money as possible and when we do get to hear what they will do next, ie another scheme I can assure you it will not be a vast improvement as the last.
I also have a current loan with them at the moment but alas I am not in a postion to stop paying the,
Well done you.
Lou says
I too have missed my first payment today so me and my guarantor are waiting for the harassment to commence. The ombudsman recommended in January that all 3 of my loans should be upheld. They responded in February and offered to uphold the first 2 of my 3 loans but I declined on the basis I was earning less when I took out loan 3 than I was when I took out the first 2. Since then there has been no response at all from them or the ombudsman. If they can ignore my complaint then I’m more than happy to return the favour by ignoring their requests for payment.
Hannah says
My loans were also upheld by the ombudsman at the beginning of this year, they were awaiting confirmation from amigo with the refund amount. I’ve heard nothing and am still waiting. It’s so frustrating!
Ruth says
Hi Sara,
Once again, thank you for everything you have done so far.
I’m sure this has been asked already, but how much longer can they possibly string this along?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well the first Scheme took 5 months to rejection. They must be able to do this faster the second time around but I think they still need the convening hearing – voting – sanction hearing process. So three months possibly?
Michelle says
Do we know if they are definitely going for another scheme now ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
they have said they aren’t going for an appeal. So the alternatives are another Scheme, some other corporate restructuring or administration. I am guessing their preferred option is another Scheme.
Lewis says
How are Amigo still not announcing anything while chasing people with existing complaints in?
DM says
Now Amigo know that 95% of people will vote for a rubbish scheme customer would be lucky to get 5-10p in the pound on, I think we can expect them to delay for as long as possible and only offer probably another £10m cash and increase the % on profit share. However this will be non existent once they have thrown in the costs for the additional consultants, legal fees, I.T development, Administration and the FOS’s claim for all the cases they haven’t even looked at. It puzzles me how Mr Jennison thinks this business will survive and make future profits when their reputation is non existent through poor financial practice and almost criminal negligence in its customer service, they will have to do proper affordability checks in the future and they can’t keep tapping up past / existing customers. I think the FCA should give them a deadline NOW of 4 weeks to propose a new ‘cash’ scheme which also outlines guidance on how claims will be assessed and insist there will be no new lending activity until all the claims in the scheme are settled and paid. Otherwise we are looking at another few months for a proposed scheme, another couple of months of court dates, 6 months for claims to be submitted (again), probably another 6 months for assessment and disputes, then another few months to be paid which will be in 2023! :-)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
this will be non existent once they have thrown in the costs for the additional consultants, legal fees, I.T development, Administration
The costs of the Scheme are being covered by Amigo outside the Scheme.
and the FOS’s claim for all the cases they haven’t even looked at.
FOS’s claims are part of the Scheme.
their reputation is non existent
I do wonder if Amigo realise how much the customers that have been through the Money Shop Scheme and administrations come to loathe the companies involved. It seems that Amigo expects people to be grateful for being paid anything, whereas people are in practice horrified when they are told their claim is worth say £4,821 and are then informed many months later of the tiny amount they will actually get.
Marie says
Do you know if there’s a deadline to which they have paused looking into complaints
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So far as I know they aren’t planning to start again – either they go into a new scheme and claims will be decided within that or into administration, ditto.
In practice a new Scheme should be faster to get decided than the first one.
Rich says
Received this today,
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. However, if we can’t find a way to get your repayments back on track, we’ll assess your account for Court. In Court, an order for the full balance will be sought. A CCJ may be issued against you and ******, 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 629161 or make a payment now Easypay: https://amigo.me/FNF79DSG.
I submitted a claim last year which never got answered in the required time frame and then got left until the scheme was applied for what should I do from here any advice if I pay this I’ll have no money left etc for petrol bills but obviously stressing my. Partner who is guarrantour out too and her paying wouldn’t make any difference in financial situation as we live at the same address and share bills etc
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is Amigo’s clever wording, designed to sound very threatening…
But actually if you look closely you will see that are saying they “MAY” issue an LBA. They are not saying they WILL issue an LBA.
And they are not saying if they do send you an LBA they WILL go to court, just that they will CONSIDER it.
Amigo aren’t going to go to court. Issuing an LBA takes time, you are given time to respond. Then they have to send more info. And you can point out you are disputing the debt… this is not a quick process.
I have seen a lot of customers with complaints in threatened with this sort of messaging. Very few get LBAs. And no-one has reported Amigo actually going to court. The regulator says they should not go to court when a debt is disputed, but of course Amigo don’t tell you that.
In your situation neither you nor your guarantor can pay. These messages are stressful, but it would be worse surely to pay Amigo and not having the money for essential bills and living costs?
Rich says
Yeah it’s just stressful recording these off them when we are still waiting on response over the complaint which was raised Oct last year and still have nothing from them is there anything that could be done about the complaint not being answered within the specified timeframe then being out into the scheme which it felt like was done on purpose in order to not respond?,
Faye says
Hiya,
I’m a guarantor for someone via Amigo who has taken advantage of payment breaks for a few months now and I’m not sure if she is going to restart payments.
As her guarantor I cannot afford the repayments if she doesn’t pay. Since she took out the loan my income has decreased also.
When I agreed to be her guarantor we out he details through online and I didn’t once think it would agree to me being her guarantor because I’m on a relative low income and I don’t own any property. The only reason I can think it went through was because I have a good credit score. When it accepted me I felt a bit gutted, I didn’t really want to be a guarantor but had an issue with saying no. I went through with it because she was with me when we applied.
Is there any advice you can give me please? Many thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
if you were on a relatively low income when the loan was taken out, at that point could you really have afforded to make all the repayments to this loan and also paid your own debts, bills and living expenses? Or would paying Amigo mean you were short so you had to borrow more to manage?
Christine says
Hiya.
I had a loan from amigo, they verbally threatened me even when I tried changing collection date.. my brother signed as guarantor. It made his life hell, when they started phoning him. Nearly broke up their marriage.
Loan repaid in full, about year and half ago. Hope I get something back to buy my brother and his wife something special, to say sorry.
Don’t know where I stand, all this writing is double Dutch to me, why can’t things be said in plain English. Ļ. Can someone explain it to me please.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The story so far:
– Amigo can’t afford to repay all the customers who it gave unaffordable loans. A loan is only affordable if you can repay it and still pay all your other debts. bills and living expenses without being left so short you have to borrow more. Borrowers should get a refund of the interest they paid. Amigo’s checks were so poor it has been losing 88% of cases at the Ombudsman
– Amigo proposed a Scheme which would mean that customers complaining only got 10% (it said) of the proper compensation. I think that was optimistic and it may have been a lot less.
– Amigo told customers to vote for the Scheme or they would get nothing in administration. Unsurprisingly 95% of the customers who voted said Yes.
– a Scheme has to be approved by the court. Amigo’s regulator, the FCA, turned up and said the scheme was unfair to customers as they took all the paid and shareholders kept their full equity, but if Amigo had gone into administration the shareholders would be wiped out. The FCA also said Amigo was not going to immediately go into administration, it had plenty of money in the bank (more than a £100million) to be able to take the time to put together a fairer Scheme that will give customers more.
– the judge agreed with the FCA and rejected the Scheme.
What is happening now:
– it looks like the FCA was right – Amigo has not gone into administration and is looking at what it can do now.
– it seems likely it is trying to put together a Scheme that will give customers more – if this happens customers will again be asked to vote on it. And it will have to be approved in court.
Your situation:
– if the loan was unaffordable when you took it out you will be able to make a claim in a future scheme Amigo may set up or, if they go bust, in administration.
– in a Scheme you will get back some percentage of the interest you have paid. No-one knows if this will be 20%, 50% or what – it may all be “jam tomorrow” – you may get back some money in the future if Amigo is profitable.
– if they go into administration you will be able to make a claim but it is likely there would be little or no cash to be distributed. But if your claim is upheld you would get the negative maks removed from your credit record.
– there is nothing you can do now except wait and see what is proposed.
Yt says
Hi this could be our last update before we need your guarantor to step in. If we don’t hear from you within 4 days and can’t set a plan to catch up on your late payment, we’ll ask Frances to pay the arrears of £395.25. We may also need to issue a Default Notice, a copy of which would go to Remember, we’re always here to help. If you contact us now, we can try to work with you without needing to ask your guarantor to step in. If you can make a payment today, reply ‘Y’ and we’ll take £395.25 from your card. Amigo Loans
I’ve replied
I’ve already explained that as you WONT deal with my complaint I will not be making any payments I’m not happy to keep waiting for your new scheme or hopefully administration that is not an excuse to ignore complaints
———-
My guarantor is onside and had cancelled her card thankfully
Dino says
Sara
As a current Amigo customer with a second loan, even if a new scheme is suggested and approved, we will still have to get through the hurdle of submitting an affordability claim and I am not sure how fair they will be in assessing these considering their track record.
What is your view on this.
Many thanks
Dino
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think it is very important and something I hope won’t get lost in “looking to improve the offer to customers” – it’s not just how much money is going into the pot but how fairly it is being distributed.
We know that they were proposing to carry on with the very unfair “deduction of unpaid interest” if a top up loan is upheld but not the first loan. They started doing this last summer. A lot of cases when to FOS about this as some people were getting deductions of thousands…
But every time FOS looked at a case, it promptly decided that the first loan should be upheld as well.
We really know nothing about how Amigo is going to make these decisions. I think their “10%” figure looks much too high. The only way it could be right is if Amigo are planning on rejected a lot of complaints that would be upheld by the Ombudsman.
This is why I suspected that many current customers would be better off if Amigo going into administration where their complaints may be more fairly assessed. And I can’t believe the administrators would apply the deduction for unpaid interest as FOS never does.
Dino says
Sara
Thank you for your honest reply. It looks very grim to say the least.
Kind Regards
Dino
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think we have to wait and see what emerges, not prejudge it.