Many people with a gambling problem have been given unaffordable credit. This fueled their gambling and they got deeper into debt.
Credit is affordable if you can repay it and still pay your other debts, bills and expenses. If it is unaffordable, then you can ask for a refund of interest and charges and take a complaint the lender declines to the Financial Ombudsman (FOS).
But gambling complicates this – perhaps that loan or credit card would have been affordable if only you could stop gambling? Many people who have made an affordability complaint are worried that their complaint will be rejected because of their gambling.
This article looks at some FOS decisions that have involved gambling and affordability complaints.
FOS takes the view that a lender should not have given the credit if they knew – or should have known – that the borrower had a gambling habit.
It doesn’t matter who the lender is. As you can see from the cases below, it’s not just payday lenders, it can be major high street banks.
It is the general approach to gambling that matters here, and FOS’s approach is broadly the same across all lenders and different types of credit.
Contents
What does FOS look at when making a decision?
A lender can’t argue that the borrower should have said they had a gambling problem
Case 1: The fact the customer had not told the lender he had a gambling problem isn’t relevant:
if it had looked at Mr H’s bank statements, it would’ve quickly realised Mr H was gambling and that Mr H couldn’t afford to repay. I don’t think Mr H’s failure to tell Mr Lender about the gambling means he shouldn’t receive compensation as Mr Lender didn’t carry out proportionate checks.
Gambling isn’t discretionary expenditure
Case 2: Payday UK argued that the adjudicator shouldn’t have considered gambling transactions as part of Mr C’s expenditure when looking at affordability as they weren’t essential expenditure.
The Ombudsman didn’t agree:
Mr C’s bank statements show he was regularly spending quite a lot of his income on gambling by this point. So if Payday UK (having a full understanding of his circumstances) was thinking about what Mr C would have available the following month, based on his previous spending patterns I think it’s likely he would’ve continued to spend similar amounts on gambling.
I don’t think it’s fair to say Mr C’s spending on gambling was discretionary at this point.
Gambling showing on bank or credit card statements
Case 3: SafetyNet Credit had access to the borrower’s bank accounts. In this case, the borrower was on a good income:
Mr M was working and typically received an income in the region of £3,000 each month. Some months he also received a bonus in addition to his regular salary. This income is not however significant when comparing it to Mr M’s expenditure.
[SafetyNet Credit] had more than enough information to accurately consider Mr M’s financial position… it should have been obvious that Mr M was living beyond his means, which was likely to have been caused by his compulsion to gamble.
I think that the lending from SafetyNetCredit, and other parties, was used to fund his gambling or other existing commitments, which he couldn’t afford because he’d already spent money on gambling. It seems as though he was caught in a significant cycle of lending and gambling.
Case 4: Vanquis increase a borrower’s credit card limit despite significant amounts of gambling transactions on the credit card. The Ombudsman decided:
I’m not convinced that it can be fairly or reasonably said that any of the subsequent credit limit increases can be considered as being affordable or suitable for Mrs B at the times that they were implemented. And I say this because of the usage of Mrs B’s Vanquis credit account, which demonstrated a high number of gambling transactions which I feel should have given Vanquis cause for concern, as well as the deteriorating wider financial position of Mrs B, as demonstrated by her credit file…
Vanquis explained to this service that they wouldn’t discriminate against an account holder on the basis of how they use their account. But I’m not convinced that this argument can be considered reasonable when an account holders’ transactions highlight a potential gambling addiction.
Lenders should check all accounts a customer has
Case 5: RBS increased a borrower’s overdraft limit significantly and gave him a large loan despite gambling showing on his bank statements. The decision:
A cursory look at Mr B’s statements showed that he’d been gambling significant sums in the lead up to the overdraft increase… Mr B had gambled in excess of his declared monthly income and this had taken him close to and marginally over his existing credit limit in the month proceeding the increase.
In these circumstances, I thought that it ought to have been apparent that there was a significant risk Mr B might have struggled to sustainably repay what he already owed. And he was therefore unlikely to have been able to repay any additional credit without undue difficulty or borrowing further.
Bearing this in mind, I was minded to find that RBS shouldn’t have increased Mr B’s overdraft limit April 2019 and also suspended the use of his facility. And considering the monthly loan payments of just under £800 also took up just under half his monthly income, I found that RBS shouldn’t have provided Mr B with a loan in April 2019 either.
Case 6: Nationwide gave a customer a credit card with a large limit, £6,500, despite gambling showing on bank statements:
When conducting my own review of the performance of Ms B’s Nationwide current account – as Nationwide described that they would themselves have done – it’s of immediate and obvious concern that Ms B was consistently overdrawn throughout this period, often by significant amounts and close to the overdraft limit.
Nationwide explained to this service that they wouldn’t decline a customer’s credit application solely on the basis that the customer maintained a consistently overdrawn balance with them. I can understand Nationwide’s point here, to a degree, but it would be expected that the consistently overdrawn performance of Ms B’s current account would have been of concern here and should have prompted a more detailed check.
And, had Nationwide checked the statement transactions for Ms B’s current account for the months immediately prior to the credit account application, it would have been seen that these included a large number of gambling transactions. Because of this, I find it difficult not to conclude that Nationwide would, or should, have arrived at a different decision with regard their approval of Ms B’s application for credit, had they undertaken a more thorough check.
When lending continues, lenders should look for warning signs
Case 7: Lending Stream had given a series of loans to the customer over several years. It argued that:
it was for Mr P to provide accurate information about his income and outgoings. It said it wasn’t required to make further checks if the loans looked affordable.
The Ombudsman agreed that Lending Stream did enough checks on the first loan and was entitled to rely, at that point, on the customer’s information about his outgoings. But:
… Lending Stream’s check showed that Mr P was heavily and increasingly in debt to a range of lenders. The amount of his debt had increased greatly by the time of his second loan…
… He had credit card and short term loan debts. He was reliant on increasing short term loans to fund his gambling habit and his living expenses. I think if Lending Stream had made further checks it would have seen, as I have, that Mr P was dependent on short term loans. And so it would have decided that giving him further loans would be irresponsible.
Check what the customer tells you
Case 8: Everyday Loans spotted a lot of gambling on the one bank statement it asked the customer for – he explained that he didn’t have a gambling problem and had closed his account. But the Ombudsman decided:
Mr C’s gambling expenditure was significant. In the month before he applied for the loan he had spent an amount in excess of his normal income.
Mr C’s earlier bank statements show clear evidence that he was in fact regularly spending large amounts on online gambling transactions. It is clear from those statements that the spending wasn’t, as Mr C had suggested, simply related to the summer football tournament. His statements appear to show that he was in fact suffering from an addiction to gambling, and he was funding that expenditure by borrowing from a range of other lenders. I don’t think, had it seen that additional evidence, that [Everyday Loans]would have agreed to give this loan to Mr C.
Case 9: George Banco gave a guarantor loan to consolidate payday loan credit without considering the borrower’s full circumstances:
George Banco hasn’t provided any evidence to show how it understood which [payday loans] would be repaid and at what cost. I can’t see that it could make a fair lending decision without knowing this. In addition, Mr S was spending a significant proportion of his income on what seem to be gambling transactions in the months prior to this loan. So from this, combined with his reliance on payday loans, I think the lender ought to have realised Mr S was having problems managing his money and there was a high risk he would be unable to sustainably repay this loan.
Hard to win complaints
Not every complaint involving gambling is upheld.
Cases where the loans are small and someone only borrowed a few times are always difficult to win regardless of the gambling element. The lender often just didn’t know enough to see that the borrower could be in trouble and the amount of credit was so small detailed checks did not need to be made.
Case 10: A Myjar case involving five loans. Here the lender had offered to remove the interest from the last loan and accept a repayment plan but the customer felt that was insufficient. The Ombudsman agreed that only refunding the last loan was reasonable as the loans were small so the checks made were proportionate.
It is also hard to win cases where gambling has only recently become a problem. If you have a good credit record and are well paid, there may be no warning flags that suggest a lender should look in detail at your application.
The “standard” compensation
FOS awards in the vast majority of cases
The standard compensation if an affordability complaint is upheld is for interest to be refunded. If a balance is still owing, the interest refund first reduces the balance and any remaining amount is refunded in cash.
The effect is that people have to repay the amount they borrowed but not any additional interest or charges added.
FOS says about credit records:
We’d typically expect a lender to remove any adverse information on a loan, from the borrower’s credit file, where a complaint is upheld for irresponsible lending.
The refunds and credit records also include taking account of payments made to a debt collector if the debt had been sold, and removing (the legal term is set aside) any CCJ.
It is very unusual not to have to repay what was borrowed
This only tends to happen when the lender was specifically aware that the borrower had a major gambling problem – not by working it out from bank statements but because of previous interactions with the customer where gambling had been discussed.
Case 10: Lloyds gave a customer who had asked for a gambling block on her account two large loans within 6 months, both were said to be for the pur[pose of buying a car. The first loan had been repaid soon after it was given. The Ombudsman found that Lloyds had made reasonable checks for the first loan, but not for the second much larger loan:
The entire amount of the funds advanced for loan 1 were transferred to a betting company, which transactions to were supposed to be blocked, the day after the funds were provided. Lloyds said the use of a third-party service to make the transfers meant that any gambling block would have been negated. Although I wasn’t entirely persuaded by this argument given the payments were made using a well-known third-party payment service to a highly recognisable high-street betting company, which Miss D had been told transactions to had been blocked, clearly appeared within the transactions…
Lloyds chose to lend [the second loan] in these circumstances despite the reasonably foreseeable prospect of
the funds dissipating as a result of being gambled away and being no longer available to repay any debt as a result…
I don’t think removing the interest fees and charges goes far enough. The circumstances of this case and in particular the financial hardship which is likely to be caused by requiring Miss D to pay funds she doesn’t have and is unlikely to get, lead me to think that the fair and reasonable thing for Lloyds to do here, given all the circumstances, is write off the outstanding balance on loan 2…
it seems to me removing adverse information from Miss D’s credit file, increasing the chances of her being able to borrow further would be counterproductive and arguably not in her best interests, or those of any potential lender. So I think it’s fair and reasonable for Lloyds to reflect what I’m asking it to do in relation to the outstanding balance on the loan and record it wrote off a balance on this loan on Miss D’s credit file.
How to complain – tell your story
There isn’t a special template for gambling related complaints. Instead, use the template letters for affordability complaints that is right for the sort of credit you are complaining about, see links to the refund templates.
If a lender rejects your complaint, you can send it to the Ombudsman. You can’t go direct to FOS.
If one of these cases above sounds a lot like your situation, this doesn’t mean you will get the same result. But as you can see from these cases, FOS doesn’t start from the position that it is your fault you were gambling.
When you are sending a case to FOS, be completely open about your gambling problem and the way it interacted with your borrowing from this particular lender. Just tell your story.
And do send your bank statements and a copy of your current credit report – they are the evidence that supports your complaint!
But if you are still gambling…
You can make an affordability complaint if you still have a balance owing to the lender (or debt collector if it has been sold).
But making these complaints if you still have a gambling problem is pretty pointless. If you get any money back you will probably soon be donating it to the bookies and their shareholders…
I know it’s hard, but you need to stop gambling first. Then when you have been “clean” for a while, these complaints can help rebuild your finances.
So read How to escape from the bad credit trap on how a debt management plan can help and How gambling wrecks your finances which looks at the different ways to get help.
Refunds from large loans & car finance
Refunds from cards and catalogues
Can you get an overdraft refund?
Darren A says
Hello – thanks for this page, it is so useful.
I have a gambling addiction funded by borrowing, and have had multiple significant loans from one lender. They rejected my complaint based on their lending decisions being made via Open Banking, so they can see my main bank account transactions. All my gambling transactions were done from another external account with a different bank which wasn’t connected via Open Banking – so money coming to and from that account could just look like savings etc. Do I have a case or are they right to argue they couldn’t have known what I was using that other account for? Thank you!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Who is the lender? How many loans, over how many months/years and what sort of interest rate? Would your credit record have shown other debts increasing as well over this period?
Darren A says
thanks Sara – nine loans in about 12 months, all in the thousands, repaid early via more borrowing or family help or winnings, at 17.9% interest. My credit record showed borrowing from elsewhere, steadily rising, but they say there were no signs of financial distress visible to them through credit agencies or Open Banking (no missed payments etc). They also say that the big payments going to and from that other account were just labelled as ‘payments’ or ‘savings’, so didn’t trigger any concerns with them over gambling.
My case is that, had they asked for access to / statements from my other bank account, they would clearly never have issued the loans. I’d rather not name the lender here but it’s a mainstream one. I think I should approach the FoS, but I wondered what you thought? thanks again
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think 9 large loans in 12 months should have suggested to the lender that something is going on that they don’t know about. No-one borrows money at such a high rate of interest if they are saving money each month.
I would send this to the Ombudsman.
Darren A says
I will – thanks for giving this some thought, really appreciate it.
elliot says
Good Morning Sara
I took out a loan with Bamboo loans and provided all the relevant information.
I gave consent to open banking which was conducted by consents online.
I am a gambler and in the months prior to the loan my debt increased considerably. My marbles card went from 0 to 2600 in 2 months aswell as my fluid card.1.6k. Tesco 600 and credit spring. I also had a 5k loan and 5 k loan with monzo and admiral respectably. These were however settled 3 months prior to taking the loan out. This was my first loan with Bamboo and there was no gambling transactions showing so they did not know about the gambling so that is my fault only.
I am now gambling free for a period of time.
My question is about open banking as full account access was provided to Bamboo for the previous 3 months. . In this information they would have shown a very large amount of transactions to a different account in my name which I did gambling from.
Within the 3 months i transferred 25717 from my main account to the other account.
Within a month and a half I transferred 12034 which equated to 7 months of my salary.
This is my fault only but do you think the sheer amount of transactions 112 within a 3 month window and large amounts should of been checked further. If they looked at these transactions they would have never given me a loan.
Should have the open banking been looked at of the underwriter or is it an automatic process?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you made a complaint to Bamboo or are you just anticipating what they may reply? How large was the loan?
elliot says
Thank you for such a prompt response.
I have sent in a complaint on the basis of my credit report suddently showing a big uptake in credit usage and dropping over 100 points but my main argument is the open banking. I saw other comments about open banking and would of thought it would of been sent for manual review as the loan wasn’t approved for two days after I applied. I did get pre approval using a website but said they needed to do further checks.
I feel they may say it may be for savings etc but if it was savings I wouldnt of needed such a high interest loan.
It was for 2k. I have taken loans with them prevously but it was always cancelled within the 14 day cooling off period.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you wait and see what they reply. As you say they can hardly argue that all those payments were savings if you have such high cost borrowing.
Bamboo will often make a poor offer and may be persuaded to increase it. So com back here f you aren’t sure what to do.
Phil says
Hi,
I am also not clear on what to do.I probably had loans & credit cards amounting to 9.About 8500 debt.I was advised & talked into an IVA,which I did.I continued gambling & contemplated suicide.The thought of gambling again makes me sick.Obviously I am behind with rent & bills.Do you know if I could be compensated by lenders & bookmakers? Are any accountable for pretty much encouraging me ti be in this mess.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What has happened to your IVA? How much do you now owe outside the IVA?
Phil says
IVA is still in place.I was fortunate to get an advance from work which will make landlord content
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So how long has your IVA got to run?
How large are the other debts that you still have outside the IVA?
You can’t make affordability complaints about the debts that went into your IVA, any redress would just reduce the debts or be paid into the IVA.
Jax says
Hi, I’m after some advice please Sara. I complained to Livelend that they shouldn’t have loaned to me in April 2019 (it was for £2000). They rejected my complaint so I sent to FOS. I had a response from FOS this week saying they didn’t uphold my complaint so I went back with lots of detail about what my bank statements showed (which was ridiculous amounts of gambling transactions), rarely being in a credit balance, etc. I also said that my credit commitments had been increasing, credit cards were at their limit and there were numerous cash withdrawals on credit cards. The adjudicator has come back with the following:
I’m sorry you don’t agree with my findings but as explained in my view based on your income, the loan amount, term of the loan and monthly repayments, Livelend had completed proportionate checks that didnt require you to provide any further income verification. Under the consumer credit sourcebook (CONC) set by the FCA Financial business aren’t required to obtain bank statements so it would more than likely of been your payslips they would have relied on. However based on the income that I can see on your bank statement, I believe the loan to have been affordable for you at the time.
However, I’m sorry to hear that you’ve had trouble with gambling, this isn’t something that you initially mentioned in your complaint. If this is something you want to look into and feel LiveLend should have been aware of this, then I will need to consider these points first and respond with a formal view on things as the outcome could change. Then if you remain unhappy I can refer it to an ombudsman for a final decision.
You’ve said that LiveLend should have seen that you used your credit cards for cash advances, I have reviewed your credit report but the dates that each creditor last updated it, I can’t see anything before you took the loan with LiveLend other than one creditor. If you have further information about this then please send this over and I will consider it and I will speak to Livelend again.
So I can review your concerns of gambling transactions please can you tell me when LiveLend ought to have been reasonably been aware of the gambling. Was there any point before you took the loan that you had any communication about this or was this not until you raised your complaint with them?
Jax says
Obviously I didn’t tell Livelend about the gambling! Also, I obtained the information about the cash withdrawals from clicking on every entry on my credit file so I don’t have it in a format that is easy to send. My credit commitments had increased prior to taking out the loan and I think the adjudicator is missing the point. I sent an Ombudsman decision along with my additional representations to the adjudicator for a loan that had been deemed unaffordable by the Ombudsman prior to the Livelend loan being approved. I am lost as to how to respond so would really welcome some advice please.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“I can’t see anything before you took the loan with LiveLend other than one creditor.”
Is that correct?
is this because some previous records have been deleted?
How much had your other debts increased in the run up to the Livelend application?
what interest rate was the Livelend loan?
Jax says
I had 3 credit cards, 3 loans, a catalogue and an overdraft. All of them are showing on the credit report I sent to the adjudicator. I was around 20k in debt when I took the livelend loan. The APR was 22.9%.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then I suggest you reply saying that – that your credit record, which you have sent to the adjudicator, shows 3 credit cards, 3 loans, a catalogue and an overdraft, about 20k of debt when you applied to livelend. Also Livelend were charging 22.9% interest – they knew this was not a low risk loan so relying on your payslips was not reasonable as they would have realised that they could not assume average expenses were correct and they should have taken steps to verify them as this was a large loan.
Jax says
Thank you Sara, I will respond now.
Marc says
Hi Sara, thank you for the work you’ve put into this website it’s very informative. I wonder if you could help with some advice please? I have had a problem with gambling for the last 7 years, in this time I have managed to accumulate just over 50k in debt, through credit cards and loans. I am now getting help with gambling, signed up to gamestop and haven’t gambled for 8 weeks. I am now in the process of trying to fix my finances anyway I can. I have entered into a DMP with stepchange for the last 3 months.
I have a loan with Hitachi (now Novuna) for 17k,
Tesco Loan 9k,
Tesco Credit card for 11.5k for which I used to bet when it was allowed, the credit limit was increased when I took out another loan and cleared all balances. Then mainly used to transfer money from.
Paypal 6k,
Barclaycard 1k,
MycommunityBank 8k,
The most recent loan is the one I believe to irresponsible lending. In Oct 22 when all my credit limits were maxed I was trying everywhere to get a loan, and rejected by current lenders and trying new avenues. MyCommunitybank lent me £8000 at 17.60%. I feel if they had looked into my credit file they would of seen a big increase over the last year and multiple searches for a new loan. Do you think there is anything I can do about it? Anything advice would be greatly received.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you mind saying what your income is?
Are you buying or renting?
I would have thought all the those debts are probably unaffordable with the exception of the small Barclaycard balance.
Marc says
Thank you for the reply Sara. I take home around £2300 a month. Currently have a joint mortgage in which I think the equity is around £100k. But not had it valued to be 100% sure. Will be looking to re-mortgage later in the year. What course of action if any do you think I should take? Thank you,
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That doesn’t sound like an adequate income for all the credit you have been lent… I suggest you consider making affordability complaints against all the lenders except Barclaycard. And against any previous lenders where you cleared a balance with one of the current debts.
Who is your mortgage lender?
Marc says
Ok, I’ll start looking into affordability complaints. Currently with Kensington as our mortgage provider.
Steve says
Can this only go back 6 years?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Most lenders will reject complaints about things that happened more than 6 years ag, saying they are too old.
But the Ombudsman’s rules are:
– FOS can look at anything that has happened in the last 6 years;
– if FOS decides you have only had a cause to complain in the last 3 years, it can decide to go back further than 6 years. As far as it wants in theory, back to April 2007
So just because a lender says your complaint is about something that happened more than 6 years ago, you may still win if you send the case to the Ombudsman.
The point to make to the Ombudsman is that although you knew you were in financial difficulty in 2015 (or whenever), you thought it was your own fault because of your gambling problems. And that you did not realise the lender was partly to blame as they failed to check affordability as you had no idea at that point that a lender should have checked affordability. You only found this out in 2023, when heard about affordability complaints.
However, the further back you want to go, the less evidence there may be.
Frankie says
Hi. I have not raised a complaint yet but think about doing it soon. I had a gambling problem for the last 4 years. I have took out 4 loans to pay for this habit. I have 2 loans with Zopa. First was £17000 with a high interest which is paying back over £21000and the second more recently £5000. I have an admiral loan with £7500 and a rate setter loan of £5000. A lot of the gambling was payed through PayPal. Would I be eligible for a complaint. I get payed £2500 per month. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
There is no simple “eligibility” test. If you think the repayments on the loans were unaffordable, make a complaint! And if you think the lenders should have been aware that you would use the loans for gambling, or that there was no explanation about they your debts were suddenly increasing, then make a complaint.
Aaron says
Sir/Madam
Writing to you to let you know that on the 12/06/2023 I went into betfred shop and placed a bet on the football. The football team I chosen had won. The next day I went into betfred and scanned my bet slip on the machine and it said on the machine, that the money has all ready been paid out. I know for a fact that I did not get my money back. I have a learning disability. I want my money back today ASAP? Hear from you soon as possible. Aaron
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Aaron,
Sorry to hear that. I suggest you ask your local Citizens Advice for help with this as quickly as possible.
Katie Woolhouse says
Hi Sara.
Can you advise on where I stand with this please ? I was playing a slot machine on Luckypantsbingo site and on one particular spin, the screen came up with lots of diamonds and bombs which means a HUGE win but then the screen glitched. I loaded the game back up and the game had moved on and the screen was a new spin. I contacted the site over a period of months and got nowhere so I did some digging and found that they are owned by Rank who I then contacted. Rank have since come back to say that below :
nfortunately, the gaming provider does not hold personal information relating to individuals. As such, they are not required under GDPR to keep data for any longer than is necessary. The gaming provider keeps data relating to slot rounds for 12 months. Therefore, I am unable to escalate your technical issue for investigation as the information is no longer available.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am sorry but I can’t help with this.
Mickey says
I have taken out many loans over the last few years for around £20,000 most of it paid off, still struggling with gambling all this time.
I left the UK and am not currently a resident of this country, I intend to return in about a year. Can I claim a refund from loan companies in this situation?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes you can make complaints.
Dan says
Hello Sara, thanks for all the advice and help you’re giving people here. I’m just hoping to ask about a specific scenario which might be having an impact on quite a few people in my position – thanks in advance.
Basically, I have a long-standing serious gambling addiction which I’m trying to resolve. I was making good progress on it, but unfortunately I recently found a way around the ban on gambling on credit cards – using Revolut to pull cash from my Halifax credit card (which counts as a cash withdrawal) and then using the Revolut virtual debit card to deposit at online casinos. In the last 3/4 months I’ve ended up spending thousands like this, with the credit card provider charging a £25/£30 cash withdrawal fee every time. It’s a total mess, and I take responsibility for it. But should Halifax and Revolut have allowed this? It’s such an easy way around the legislation.
I have the Halifax gambling block turned on for my Halifax card – but they of course would say they had no idea what I was using all these multiple cash withdrawals for. Revolut, meanwhile, could see I was withdrawing cash from my credit card and then gambling it – but they don’t charge fees, so I’m not sure there’s any point complaining to them, other than trying to get them to stop this happening to other people in future. What do you think? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Had you previously gambled on the card before the block came in?
I assume Halifax haven’t increased your credit card limit during this time. And that you have managed to make the minimum payments.
Can you say what the rest of your finances are like at the moment?
Dan says
No, I’ve never gambled directly from that card, and my credit limit has stayed unchanged in the years I’ve had it. I’ve never missed a payment on it. My finances more generally are a mess, and I’m considering a DMP.
I’ve recently won unaffordable lending complaints against two high-street banks and in the last couple of years against multiple other loan providers – but Halifax wouldn’t have been aware of any of that. I’m sure they would say they had no visibility of my gambling problem, and no reason to block all these instant online cash advances. But shouldn’t their systems flag up a sudden burst of withdrawals totalling thousands? They’re obviously making a big profit here in fees and interest by enabling my gambling addiction…. Just not sure if I have a case. Thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think the chance of you winning a case against Halifax at the moment is pretty low. This has been too recent – if it had been going on for much longer you case would be stronger.
Ditto Revolut.
So what can you do?
Well the best thing is to stop gambling. Sign up to gamstop and install on every device you use. Tell Halifax in writing (message in the app is fine, but make sure you take a screen shot of it and of any reply) that you have a gambling problem and you would like their help to stop by blocking payments to Revolut or blocking any cash withdrawals. Tell Revolut in writing that you would like them to block gambling transactions.
If Halifax refuse, or say they can’t, and in a few months you have been able to carry on doing this, then you may well have a case against them – they were on notice of your gambling problem and from the end of July they will also have to consider the new “Consumer Duty” that is coming it.
Are you buying or renting?
Dan says
Thanks Sara, really appreciate you giving this some thought. That’s what I suspected. And I am on the case with Gamstop and blocking transactions, thank you.
It’s obviously a miserable situation – seeing Halifax collecting all these cash advance fees for enabling this loophole is hard to take, but I know they would be able to claim ignorance.
And I’m a renter. Thanks again
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What are your total debts?
Dan says
(Total debts are over £30k – but I have a workable DMP budget in place to clear it within four years.)
Danielle says
Hi Sara,
After some advice please. I was a problem gambler back end of last year, been gamble free since Jan. As a result I had over 50k worth of debt various loans credit cards. As a single parent and home owner I had no choice but to enter into an IVA in March. Prior to the IVA I started an irresponsible lending compliant with FOS after the final response from creditors. I am now being asked if the FOS have my permission to discuss outcome with the IVA company as the debts are in the IVA. I have no problem in doing this but are their implications could the IVA company be annoyed about not knowing about the claim to FOS in first place? I got asked today to provide a response to FOS as the IVA company have a keen interest in the outcome. Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The IVA company won’t be annoyed, they will be very happy – as any cash refunds will be paid into your IVA not to you.
Ann says
Hi Sara, new to your site, the advice and help you give everybody is wonderful.
I have overdrafts at their max on my 2 current accounts and have had them for a few years. I am on medication called ropinirole (requip) for restless leg syndrome. I’ve been on it for years with what I thought were no significant problems although looking back I realise I have been buying items I don’t need for a long time, (compulsive spending is a side effect) running up credit cards and shuffling debt around.
To make matters worse suddenly out of the blue a couple of months ago I started online gambling. I have never done this in my life prior to this. The medication does have a reputation for this also. I have contacted my consultant about this but as he is on holiday I am still awaiting a response.
I am medically retired from the civil service due to fibro, cfs and a spinal lesion and in receipt of pip and contribution based ESA. My debts are now keeping me awake at night and I am having to borrow money off credit cards as money transfers etc to make payments.
I have been into 1 bank (Lloyds) and told them the situation so they have blocked my account from gambling transactions but prior to this thousands had gone out. My other account is with Nationwide who I am yet to speak to but I have been expecting them to call me about the transactions but as yet they haven’t.
I just don’t know where to turn or what to do! Any advice would be so appreciated x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am sorry to hear about this – I hope your consultant can come up with a suitable alternative.
Also talk to your consultant about having a DMHEF form completed. You need to give the consultant this form https://moneyadvicetrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/DMHEF_Version_4.pdf and complete this one yourself to all the consultant to fill out the form https://moneyadvicetrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Consent_Form_Creditor.pdf.
It may help with complaints to your creditors if if you can ask the consultant to say that compulsive spending and gambling are known side effects of that drug which you have been receiving for X years.
I think you should tell Nationwide immediately about the gambling and get them blocked too. You should also look at installing Gamstop on your phone, tablet, laptop etc
Can you list your debts – creditor, type (card, overdraft, loan, whatever), balance.
And say if credit card lenders have increased your limit while you were only making minimum payments.
Ann says
Hi Sara thank you for your very helpful advice. I will certainly ask my consultant if he is willing to fill in the form for me.
As far as debts they are as follows
Tesco credit card x 2 – £2588 & £3991
Virgin credit card – £5552
Lloyds credit card – £2485
Lloyds current account – £985 overdrawn
Nationwide current account -£998 overdrawn
Next account – £2230 balance owing, they reduced my credit limit a year or so back but have just emailed this week to say they are pleased to offer me a credit limit increase to £5000
Gosh it’s awful when I see it all written down like that 😢
Regarding my current accounts I am genuinely surprised neither contacted me or stopped all the payments going out to online gambling companies as this is very unusual activity for me, having never done it before.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Why do you have 2 Tescos cards? Did you reach a limit on one so got another?
Marie says
I am on ropinerole for RLS too, I compulsively spend money I don’t have by using credit, applying for credit cards and loans, my latest loan I had good intentions to use to pay off some debts to lower my outgoings, but ended up spending on the card I’d paid off and only paid small amounts on other debts so I could go shopping!
I also have a gambling control problem which I have addressed by signing up to gamban on all my devices. I have been on ropinerole since 2008 and on 3 mg per night and never knew about this side affect. I will do some research, thank you
Ann says
Hi Marie, yes it’s a well known side affect and your consultant, or whoever issued the ropinirole should regularly check that you aren’t having compulsive behaviours. Mine did for the first couple of months but nothing after that. I reached out for help back in the summer via his secretary, who also knew of the side affects but to this date I’ve never heard from him. That’s another story! I was on 8mg daily but had to stop taking it due to my life spiralling out of control!
Yes have a look into it, there’s lots of info about it on the net, best wishes x
Ann says
Morning Sara, I’m not sure to be honest as they were taken out a few years ago but I am wondering if one of them is in my husbands name and I’m just an additional cardholder. The debt built up on it is definitely mine though 🥲
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If one is not in your name it is not your debt.
Have a look at your credit report and see if both are on there.
Ann says
Hi Sara I have double checked, yes it’s in my husbands name though I am an additional card holder.
The form that you kindly provided links to for myself and consultant to complete, is that something that I would send with any affordability claims etc
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you will not be able to make an affordability complaint about the card no5 in your name. Your husband would. What are his finances like?
Yes I would enclose the DMHEF form with the affordability complaints
Ann says
Thanks for your response Sara. Husband is good with his finances, well I was too before the medication!
Any credit cards he has with monies owing on them is down to me sadly 🥲
Would I be able to claim to my banks that they should of seen all the gambling transactions on my account and reached out or is that not a reasonable argument?
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I understand that, but you cannot make an affordability complaint or ask for a write off off a debt in someone else’s name. So I wanted to be clear that was not an option.
I think if the gambling only started a couple of months ago you may find this hard to win. I wouldn’t try it without a DMHEF form.
Have you blocked gambling on Nationwide now?
Chris says
Hi,
I have just found this page, I have amassed around £30,000 debt through gambling on credit cards and a £5000 overdraft which all happened around 7/8 years ago. I have been clean of gambling now for 6 years but defaulted on all the credit cards as I simply could not afford the debt I got myself into.
Do I still have grounds to complain to the businesses, halifax, barclay card x 2, and capital one or is it too late to complain?
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes but the lenders are likely to reject the complaints as being too old, so you will have to send them to the financial ombudsman (FOS). FOS can look at older complaints if you explain you have only recently found out about them, but the decisions on this can be a bit erratic. Also do you have any records eg bank statements going back that far? If there is no evidence, these complaints can be hard to win.
The exception here is your overdraft if you have not defaulted on it and still have the account?
Chris says
I can do an information request to obtain the statements for the overdraft and for the credit cards
Barclaycard as an example allowed me to max a card then give me another with £7000 limit
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes if your bank account is still open. I am just warning that this cn be difficult p, not saying it is impossible.
Lisa Price says
Hi Sara,
I tried to leave a comment before but not sure where it went.
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
it’s on this other page https://debtcamel.co.uk/affordability-complaint-credit-record-faqs/comment-page-1/#comment-513731
Rich says
I am trying to take a bookmaker to court for their lack of duty of care towards me during my spree of branch-based betting. Whilst I have had my brief accepted by Solicitors, none of them will take the case on as my losses are only £25k which is not a large enough size case for them.
Do you have any Solicitors who would be willing to fight a cause for this sized case?
If not, do you know if the Small Claims Court is actually any good at understanding the intricacies of such a claim?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am sorry but I don’t know a firm that deals with this sort of case. I would not suggest you try this without professional representation – I have no idea if there is any duty of care.
Rich says
Thanks Sara. When I say DOC, I mean the shops that have seen me previously registered with MOSES for years, have ignored my spending habits that spiraled out of control and have banned me online from using their brand. I was not approached about my gambling affordability once. I wish to take them to task over this as there is an element of social care breach. For example, in one day I placed £1000 in the shop’s FOB terminals without any check-up. This cannot be right in any way. Yes, I admit to being partly responsible, but it’s proven that when an addict is in the midst of a heavy run of betting, they lose focus and this is where operators need to help out. I am claiming that I should have been stopped way before, and stopped, again and again, regardless of whether I had left the MOSES scheme a while back.
Do you think that the small claims court where a judge decides is the best route to take? No Solicitor will touch me as £25k loss is too small to them. The Gamblnig Commsions, IBAS and Citizens Advice all say this is a legal matter but also cannot offer up contact details.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am sorry but I have never seen such a case and there is really nothing I can say about it.
Charlotte says
Hi Sara,
Is it still possible to claim against credit card companies that are included in a bankruptcy that’s been discharged
Kind regards
Charlotte
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Legally you can make and win a claim. But there is no point as any cash refund will go to the Official Receiver not to you.
H says
Hello,
I had communication with Monzo in Nov 2021 regarding disputes I was making in relation to gambling payments to overseas (non UK) casinos. In the communication I told them I was problem gambler and GamStop registered etc. At this point I did not have any credit with them at all. In 2022 and 2023 I was able to get a £3000 loan from them and £1500 overdraft and a £500 flex allowance. Do I have any basis for an affordability complaint based on the fact I told them and they had addressed my gambling problem via live chat communication in Nov 2021 before I had any credit with them. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you have any record of the chats?
Did they resolve your problem in 2021?
Did transfers to overseas casinos carry on after your conversation?
H says
Yes I can view the live chat history back that far and see the communication with the customer support agent still. The disputes was found against me (which was fair enough I’m not disputing that). It’s more at that point they were clearly aware of my addiction. Yes I made payments from that account quite a few times after that too (not recently). The problem I suppose is the overseas / foreign gambling companies often use coverup or 3rd party companies so it’s not always clear it’s gambling transactions. My argument at the time was it was transaction laundering and payments were taken in different currencies etc but they deemed it wasn’t. It’s not the disputes that I’m particularly looking at sorry – it is the credit being given after that and them knowing / being aware, and if that could therefore be an unaffordable lending complaint. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes, I understand you aren’t trying to reopen the old disputes. But having a record of what was said then could be very useful if Monzo deny you told them you have a gambling problem.
Suppose you were Monzo looking at your account when you applied for the loan / overdraft / flex. Would your account have looked unusual, wiht a surprising samount going overseas? What was your income at this time?
H says
Yes I understand. Yes I can definitely still see the chat history so I have a record of the chat. In the chat they acknowledged I had GamStop registration and my gambling was a problem and that they “just wanted to make sure you’re alright and not gambling more than you’d like to be? If you’re struggling with this in any way, or find yourself in financial difficulties, please do let me know. I can point you in the direction of free advice and support, should you need it.” Then they spoke a bit about Gamblock etc and it might not stop overseas payments if they couldn’t identify them as gambling transactions automatically.
I had other disputes after this time with more overseas payments but no other support agents ever mentioned gambling problem directly again.
I had no solid income from work going directly into this account. I used to transfer from my other bank account, randomly. My gambling was kind of sporadic, more so in small bursts then a break for a while then maybe 2/3 days of transactions then nothing for a few months.. so probably would not have looked particularly unusual, unless they dug into it a bit. The gambling transactions always used like strange companies as a front but all were overseas / other currency payments.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I had no solid income from work going directly into this account. I used to transfer from my other bank account, randomly.
So this, when combined with their knowledge that you had a gambling problem, sounds like a good basis for a complaint that they have given you more credit than was responsible. It’s probably fair to say that they shouldnt decide to NEVER give you credit – gamblers do reform – but as they were on notice that you had a gambling problem in the last couple of years they should have been extra careful that you could afford the repayments.
I normally suggest people put in separate complaints about overdrafts and loans, but in your case as the heart of the complaint is your gambling I would combjne them, and the flex credit, into a single complaint.
jamie says
Hi
i had this in he final response , .is this the end of the road? i did go back and mention that i had a pay day loan leading up to it which i struggled to pay back and i was on furlough at the time and they have still not upheld my complaint.the ombudsman never asked to see my statuary credit report but they have requested on another case? A CCJ shows on the statuary report.Your advice would be greatly appreciated.
).I say this taking into account the credit check that Mitsubishi undertook of which I’ve seen a copy. The only potentially concerning entry on this was a default against Mr A. However, that default was recorded four years and eight months prior to Mr A’s application. So, that was more likely representative of the situation Mr A was in at that particular time rather than from the time he applied for credit with Mitsubishi.
Mr A has said that he had an active County Court Judgement at the time. I’ve not seen that this was shown on Mitsubishi’s credit check. So, I’m not satisfied that they would have known this, assuming that this was the case of course. And while Mr A has said he wasn’t on the voters roll at the time, I don’t think that had any bearing on Mitsubishi’s affordability assessment.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
is this a final decision from an Ombudsman?
how large was this loan?
when was it given?
the CCJ – when did you get it?
did you supply your statutory credit report to the Ombudsman?
jamie says
yes it was final response.
its was for 1600.
its given when i was on furlough in 2021 and they used nation statistics.
ccj from 2018.
i also opened up 3-4 accounts about 1-2 months prior . the ombudsman never asked for my credit report .
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is a shame you did not send the credit report without being asked. I tell people to do this and to send bank statements and often people don’t bother.
A CCJ 3 years before however may not have made much difference.
As this is a final decision there is nothing you can do now, unless you want to take Mitsubishi to court. Which I do not advise unless you get help from a solicitor.
jamie says
Hi Sara,
i don’t think it would of made a difference, the CCJ doesn’t appear on my statuary credit report with Experian report but it does on my Eqifax,Credit Karma credit reports?I think i will have a similar issue with another case with money barn as they have come back on final response saying there was no CCJ?
your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
As I said, old CCJs aren’t usually relevant anyway. But there may be plenty of other reasons why you can win a claim against moneybarn, they are losing a lot at the Ombudsman so send this to FOS now.
Stuart says
Hi Sara, I have a gambling addiction and after a few years without gambling had a major relapse earlier this year. I took out the credit card when I wasn’t gambling and it was affordable at the time but managed to max it out several times over with my gambling – not direct with an online gambling site but by purchasing online vouchers that I could use with online bookmakers. Looking back at my statements I made hundreds of transactions all for the same amount over a few months – this was totally unlike any of my previous spending on the card. I was able to approve these online my entering my card details – a few I had to approve in the credit ard companies app and then after a while the credit card company stopped asking for approval and the transactions all went through. No one from the credit card company has ever spoken to me about this irregular spending and I’ve continued to pay my monthly bill by using balance transfers but now the balance is unaffordable Should the credit card company have done more to flag these as they would have seen warning signs with all transactions? Some within minutes of each other. Is it worth me complaining about their failure to intervene? I know since Apr20 that gambling on credit cards has been banned but not sure whether this falls under that… any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
can I ask if you are still gambling?
Stuart says
No I’m not, I stopped a few months ago and put the barriers in place to make sure I’m unable to do it again.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
what were these online vouchers – who were they issued by?
Stuart says
Called paysafecard vouchers and you can use them to fund online gambling accounts – purchased from a site called Mobile top up UK. All vouchers purchased were for £100 a time but you can choose various amounts.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I haven’t seen a complaint about this being made. I think you may find it hard to win as the credit card lenders don”t have monitor accounts to spot changing patterms of spending. If you had made a payment late or gone over the card limit, you would have a stronger case.
I am not saying that it is impossible to win, but you cannot rely on this getting you out of your current predicament. I think you need to ask the card lender for a payment arrangement for the balance, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/arrangement-to-pay/. Or if you have other problem debts, talk to StepChange about a debt mangement plan for all of your debts., see https://www.stepchange.org/how-we-help/debt-management-plan.aspx
Stuart says
Hi Sara, thanks for your reply.. Can I just ask, if i do put in a complaint to my current credit card company and then look to escalate to the FOS (presuming they reject it) – are the credit card company allowed to close my account and demand immediate payment for the outstanding balance? Or will they continue to keep the account open and accept the normal monthly repayments? thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
are the credit card company allowed to close my account and demand immediate payment for the outstanding balance?
No – they could close the account so you cannot borrow more (this happens but isn’t common) but they have to allow you to repay the money in monthly installments
David Hunter says
Hi sarah.
I received a refund from credit cards last year due to gambling.
My efund was taxed. Can I claim this tax back and if so how do I do it.
Cheers
David
Sara (Debt Camel) says
See https://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-payday-refund-get-back-tax/
Stuart says
Hi David – that’s great to hear as it’s what I’m starting to look to reclaim. Can I please ask what the basis of your claim was? Was it the credit cards being unaffordable or was it around the social responsibility and volume of transactions etc? Thanks
DD says
Hi Sara,
Encouraging to read all the success stories so far. Like many, I’ve had issues with gambling and as a result had to take our various loans, even payday ones etc. my overdraft was at 3400 and often would be maxed out on that. There are prolonged periods where I’ve been using all of the overdraft and the odd month where I’ve just about been in the black. My issues started around June 2017 when out of control gambling meant I used all of the overdraft and stayed there. I’ve been able to pay my bills but never enough to get out of the overdraft, or if I did, not for very long. My bank statements from 2017 are riddled with payday loans and lots of gambling, so should my lender have done something to help? In June 2021 I did finally get told by Halifax, that they were going to reduce my overdraft limit to 1000 but this is 4 years after prolonged overdraft limits being hit. I do on the odd occasion max out out on the overdraft but it’s under much better control now in the sense of no gambling and slowly getting back in the black. Would you say I have a valid claim? I am keen to remain with the Halifax as my lender however so would any claim result in them perhaps closing my current account?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Would you say I have a valid claim?
yes, that sounds like a good claim.
I am keen to remain with the Halifax as my lender however so would any claim result in them perhaps closing my current account?
It is very unlikely, but why would you care? Plenty of other banks out there.
DD says
Thanks, Sara.
Although Halifax didn’t increase my overdraft, it must have been at 3,400 when I first opened the account or some point after, I presume that wouldn’t matter as they should have noticed what was going on when taking out loans and gambling, but then not looking at reducing the overdraft limit. As Halifax reduced the limit in June 2021, would I still have a claim after that if regularly still going in to the overdraft?
I think it’s just easier to stay with Halifax etc and my credit score etc isn’t great so more difficult to move to a new lender. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It doesn’t matter that they didn’t increase the overdraft. It is in the Halifax terms & conditions that they will review your overdraft annually. So these reviews should have detected that you were in difficulty, gambling, and unable to repay the overdraft.
You won’t be refused a bank account without an overdraft. If you are worried about this, why not open an account with one of the challenger banks such as Starling? So you have it then just in case. But I do NOT expect this will be needed,
DD says
Hi,
I presume when Halifax review the overdraft, they do so over the course of that previous year? They wouldn’t for example just look at that particular moment in time to make the judgement? Also, is there any particular date or month they’ll review? I’m obviously keen to maximise any potential refund so would even a few months of statements be enough that they should have noticed and taken action? My struggles started around the June 2017 so just outside 6 years. Would October 2017 be a reasonable timeframe for them to have noticed something was wrong. I wouldn’t want a years worth of potential interest/charges be not included if Halifax only reviewed in Oct2018 for example. Final question….are some lenders more accepting of claims and some more not and refuse, hoping you’ll go away?
Thanks, always
Sara (Debt Camel) says
At an annual review a bank should look back over the year. I say “should” as in practice these reviews either never seemed to happen or they were done by a computer that always said Yes that’s fine…
I have always assumed that reviews are done annually from the date the overdraft was given. But whether that date changes if a limit is increased, I have no idea.
If you had only had problems for a few months, that doesn’t mean there is a big problem – overdrafts are meant as a short term solution to financial difficulty, not a long term means of borrowing.
But you are overthinking things at the moment. You do not need to specify the date you want a refund from, just say that from mid 2017 you had problems and you would like the interest refunded from there. You don’t need to know what the annual review date is. See what Halifax come back with.
I think all the banks offer as little as they think they may be able to get away with and refuse some clearly good complaints.
John says
Hi Sara, I took out a loan with ‘Better Borrow’ for £2,500 with a repayment of £123pm for 2 years whilst having a few other loans and credit cards totalling just over £1,000pm (my pay was just under £2,000pm). Pretty much the rest of my outgoings went on gambling, which it had been doing for past 10 years. I made affordability complaint, rejected so went to FOS who are not upholding it. This is fine, but what interested me was this take on the gambling aspect as I thought FOS looked at gambling? Is this worth going back to them?
‘In terms of what you said about your gambling addiction – I don’t dispute what you said. But there is no regulatory requirement for BetterBorrow to ask for your bank statements as it’s up to a lender to decide what checks it carries out to determine affordability. And I don’t’ have a basis to say BetterBorrow ought to have been reasonably aware of your gambling addiction/spending as this information isn’t provided on your credit file’
Sara (Debt Camel) says
There are no rules about exactly what a lender should check. The larger a loan is and the worse your credit record is, the more checks a lender should make.
Did your credit record show a lot of other recent borrowing? or were the other debts pretty old?
What was the interest on this loan?
If your other debts came to over 1000 a month and your income was just under 2000 a month, do you think this loan was affordable if you had not been gambling?
John says
Oh I see. Sorry, from the case studies on this page I thought that gambling was taken into account by the FOS.
Yes, I think would’ve been probably just about affordable as I would have about £300 or £400 per month disposable after food and necessities. Problem is I would be spending way more than £400 on gambling each month, more like £1,500. I was probably about £600 down each month from gambling
loan interest was 19 or 20%. The other debts were credit cards or loans which I had held for at least 2 years – long term ones and maxed out all credit cards
Sara (Debt Camel) says
is the decision an adjudicator decision or a second-level Ombudsman decision?
John says
The first adjudicator decision.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok I suggest you go back to the adjudicator and argue that this was a significantlt large loan for somneone on your income with such a lot of debt – BB were clearly aware that this was a risky loan because of the interest rate they charged, so they should have tried to verify your income and expenditure, not use national averages. And that would have shown up your major gambling problem.
Ask for this to go to an ombudsman if the adjudicator doesn’t change their mind. This is worth a try.
John says
Thank you Sara, I will do.
John says
Hi Sara,
Just to let you know that I went back to the adjudicator with what you suggested and they changed their stance and have now upheld my complaint, so thank you very much. Just waiting go hear back from Better Borrow now.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Good! Fingers crossed
Query says
Hi Sara,
Some advice please. Long term gambling issue and took out a loan stupidly to fund it about a month ago from HSBC. All via the app. No questions asked, straight into my account. Re-applied, some basic questions to answer and increased loan amount with higher APR paying off the initial one taken. Did this one final time a few days ago and this time received a call, some basic questions but approved with a lower APR onto one consolidated loan over 7 years.
A bit of background, I have a history of putting gambling blocks on my card. I have a history of gambling transactions throughout the years resulting in significant losses of thousands going back 10 years ago. I transferred loan money immediately to a global money card that I have and have been using that to make the heavy gambling transactions in the past month. My query is whether they could have or should have put a stop to the second/third approved loan replacing the original one each time given that it was clear what I was using the money for (on a linked account) or given my background.
Given what I earn each month, the other issue is that I could probably afford the regular repayments of around £350 a month for the next 7 years to pay off this new accrued debt of 32k including interest (especially if they use the amount i have in my joint mortgage) Do I have any sort of case for complaint here at all with hsbc first or do I just suck it up, take responsibility, stop gambling and pay each month for the next 7 years? I do not want to it to go any further or start eating into my mortgage or cause any other issues but if I have a chance of getting the second and third approval wiped, it would save me a full £15k before interest and so could be worth pursuing? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So the last recent loan consolidate just the previous HSBC loan or some other debt as well?
Query says
Hi Sara,
The last loan just consolidated the first 2 loans both given by HSBC. So essentially it’s just one loan.
A H says
Hi Sara
Firstly I’d like to thank you for all the help you are providing for people like me who have gambling problems. I have been gambling a lot for the past say 5-6 years. I have recently had a loan for £25000 at 13.9% interest. No one was willing to offer me a loan of that amount but Zopa gave me the loan as I had previously had a loan with them that I paid off so had an account where they accepted the loan and transferred the money to me. I ended up gambling the whole £25000 within a month. They also at the same time issued me with a credit card with £4000 limit all that I used on gambling aswel. I sent a letter to Zopa for irresponsible lending and they said even though we believe we did the appropriate checks we will uphold your complaint and remove all interest and use all my previous payments towards the £25000. And frozen Interest on credit card and will be removing off my credit file. The loan and credit card were totally unaffordable to me. Is what they have done sufficient or should I take it to ombudsman and ask for the loan and credit card to be written off?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
can I ask what your income was? and how large your other debts were at the time Zopa gave you this loan?
How much other debt do you have at the moment – are you buying or renting?
A H says
At the moment I have loans total at £27500
Credit cards totalling £15000.
My income was £36500 gross. But they did not check my income or anything for that matter. I had at the time 2 more loans totalling £10000 and a credit card totalling £6000. And bank statements full of gambling transactions.
I also put in a complaint for the credit card and can ask for your advice on the outcome of that aswel.
I sent an irresponsible lending for credit card letter to another provider where I use to have a limit of £6000 and then was increased to £8000. They called me today and said they was sorry about my gambling problems and that the £6000 limit increase was asked for by me and they believe they did appropriate checks at that Time and will not uphold the complaint. But agree that there was negligence in the increase from £6000 to £8000 so will give a refund of £157 interest for the interest paid on £2000. Should I take this to ombudsman aswel? Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are you renting or do you have a mortgage?
A H says
I am renting.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You have a mountain of debt. It is VERY VERY rare for FOS to say a lender should clear a balance rather then just remove interest – it really only tends to happen when you can prove the lender was aware (not should have realised, but actually knew) that you had a serious gambling problem eg if you had told them.
I think you should talk to a debt adviser about your options. It may be a debt management plan will help enough or it may be best to get a fresh start with bankruptcy,
A H says
Ok thank you Sara. And what should I do in regards to the credit card?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
oh complain about the card as well. Unless bankruptcy is your best option, in which case there is no point in the hassle of making complaints.
A H says
I won’t be going in to bankruptcy. I have already made a complaint for the credit card and there final response was that when my credit limit was £4500 I asked for it to be increased to £6000 and they did all their checks to approve the increase. But then around 10months later they offered to increase to £8000 but they agree their was negligence on their side on this increase so will only uphold my complaint for the £2000 increase and pay back any interest paid towards that £2000 which was £123. Do I agree with this or take this to ombudsman?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you think the original 4500 was affordable? When did you open the account?
The fact you asked For the increase to 6k isn’t relevant.
A H says
Sorry for late reply Sara. When I first took out the credit card I had zero percent money transfer so transferred the full £4500 and used for gambling. As for affordability I could afford it had I not been gambling. And when is run out of money I borrowed money from friends and family to pay my debts but never missed a payment. I got the credit card in July 2019. But when my credit was £6000 I had used all that on one web page called recharge to purchase paysafe cards to gamble with as you’re not allowed to gamble with credit cards. But it was like a loop hole. But I did pay off the balance with winnings. The transactions for the paysafe cards were £100 every time and there was several transactions a day. But Barclays didn’t not stop any payments for checking why so many transactions. When they increased to £8000 my balance was around £2000 I believe, and then used rest of 6000 for same transaction’s. After I maxed out to £8000 that’s when they called me to ask questions and then blocked my card with immediate affect.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
where did you transfer the money to?
A H says
Transferred to my bank account at HSBC. Don’t have any other accounts with barclays
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So Barclays have accepted that they should not have increased it to 8000.
It doesn’t sound as though they could have known the 4500 would be used for gambling. So there may be no reason why they shouldnt have increased your limit to 6000.
This is symptomatic of the problems you may encounter – it may often only be towrds the end of a series of credit offers that the lender should have realised you had a major problem if they could not see gambling.
This is why I suggest you reconsider bankruptcy. It looks to me to be unlikely that affordability complaints will reduce your debt to a level which youy can easily pay off. Is there a particular reason you don’t want want to go bankrupt?
A H says
Hi Sara
Sorry for the late reply. Yes they accepted as you said above. I really don’t know why I don’t want to go bankrupt. Possibly because I do not want my family to know my situation. In regards to my credit card I feel like Barclays could have stepped in sooner as all my payments were to one place in series of £105 every time and several transactions in a day. When ever I used my debit card to pay this site after 3 transactions they would block the payment and call me the following morning. But Barclays decided to question me after I had maxed out my £8000 limit. Not sooner. Almost feels like they failed to pick up the red flags.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
well they have refunded back the 6k limit. I can’t guess how likely it is that the Ombudsman would decide they shouldn’t have offered you the initial limit or the increase to 6k. A credit card is not obliged to monitor your spending.
My feeling is that you could spend 6-9 months arguing at the Ombudsman about a lot of complaints. I hope you will win some, but is this really likely to reduce your very large debts to a manageable level?
If you will then decide you need to go bankruptc it would have been better to take that decision now. Can I suggest you talk to National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 about your options.
A H says
All they have refunded me is the interest charged on the 6000-8000 spend which they calculated to be around £125. My current balance is £7560ish. I have been speaking to stepchange and they have advised to go on a DMP.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how much will you pay the the DMP a month> and the total of debts in it?
A H says
Total £42376
Monthly £368
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So that in theory would take just under 10 years.
Are you sure the 368 is affordable? It leaves you with enough to live on for a long while, not short so there is always the temptation to try to get a ga,bling win?
A H says
I think I can manage that. This was a figure left after my budget. So this is spare change. And I really need sort myself out so hopefully no temptation’s.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ok! So looking at affordability complaints is the best way to speed up a DMP at the start. Later on, you may be able to make partial settlement offers. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/7-ways-to-speed-up-a-dmp-so-it-finishes-sooner/
Chris K says
Hi Sara,
I can’t express what a revelation this has been for me, thank you for this information. I’ve decided to complain about almost all the creditors I’ve had over the years and I’ve got the ball rolling already with some of the more straight-forward ones. I have two perhaps unusual questions for you.
Zopa are telling me that they will not be “investigating the merits of my complaint” saying its time barred. I’ve explained that I discovered only this year that one can make complaints about irresponsible lending. I have prepared my rebuttal for the FOS, but it’s well over 2000 words. So best approach with FOS? Full detail, raw emotion and just say everything i want to say, or dry facts, brevity and leave it for them to read into it?
Second question. Barclays. Many loans, cards and overdrafts over the years, plus 2 mortgages. I want to make a single complaint, but is that best? Or each credit product gets its own complaint? How far back can I go? It’s all connected really, like a chain reaction. Can I start way back in 2003?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I would say a short description of the facts. Followed by a few hundred words – not 2000 – on the impact on you.
FOS will ask you questions about why you have only just complained and and when you blamed Zopa for your issues. Most people thought it was their own fault they had borrowed too much. So they didn’t think lender X was responsible for your problems so there was no reason to complain. This often works better than just saying they hadn’t heard of affordability complaints. But make sure your answer is right for you – so in your case you thought your financial problems were caused by your gambling?
Barclays – these complaints don’t apply to mortgages. They would only be relevant if you ever had arrears?
I suggest making separate complaints for loans / cards / overdrafts as that is how FOS will handle them – and you have to expect your complaints to go to FOS as you want to go back further than 6 years. Also if you make a single complaint, half the time the lender only responds to the first product mentioned and after 8 weeks. You then have to prod them to respond to the other ones too which just delays things.
I would make them all a week apart. In the second one, say, I have already complained about my loans from you on dd/mm/yy – this is a complaint about my overdraft. And similar for the third one.
Also mention the other product in the details of your complaint. So in your complaint about the loans, mention that Barclays shouldn’t have given you the loan in march 2019 because at that time they could see your heavy overdraft usage and that you were only making minimum payments on the credit cards and that they could see gambling on your bank statements and/or credit card statements. And similar for cards and overdraft.
You can complain about anything, but realistically there is almost no chance of Barclays having any records for the checks it made on a loan or credit card application or limit rise that is very old. These cases tend to be unwinnable.
Chris K says
Thank you so much for the excellent advice, you have absolutely saved me from making a series of errors there!
I have one more question, please. In late 2019, the last credit I took out was a balance transfer credit card with Halifax, £10.5k credit limit. I have already complained about a Halifax overdraft and it looks like they will uphold that complaint. So Halifax were well aware of my history when offering me the card. Once the all the balances were transferred, I went on a binge and ran everything up again in a few months. I’m only and this took my total debt to 150% vs. annual income. Cue pandemic, furlough, default, debt management…. 4 years later, this is still my single largest debt, the balance is around £7.2k, held with a DCA. However, I’ve not actually paid any fees on it. I was in 0% when defaulted and DCA hasn’t added anything. So the question is, though the lending was certainly unaffordable/irresponsible, with no fees or interest to recover, is there anything to be gained from complaining about this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No.
Chris says
Hi Sara,
Thanks again for all the work you put in getting this information out there. You really gave me the courage and the confidence to do this. My first two complaints are with the investigaters and the lenders are strogmly challenging the via year rule. Currenly both investigfators are leaning towards being able to look at my cases. So, I really do want to say thank you for that piece of advice. Not only the correct approach, but you pointed me toward something I hadn’t realised. Just how hard I had latched on to feelings of guilt and self-blame, fuelling self laothing. So, something to work on withing myself, but I was able to convey these thoughts to FOS.
One more question please. I’ve held off on Barclays for the time being. Just from some of the questions posed by FOS, I will word my complaints to Barclays more clearly. I thought to first see an outcome from the other two, to see what more I can glean. Is there anything to be gained from mentioning (helpfully successful) complaints against other banks. My intent is to perhaps give Barclays pause before simply dismissing my older complaints. Possibly increassing my chance of a settlement in the more egregious cases. That I have successfuly referred previous complaints and FOS accepts am within 3 years.. Good, bad or terrible idea?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
There is no reason to wait. These complaints get harder as time goes by. Barclays probably wont even read what you say, they are very likely to simply dismiss if it is over 6 years. So do it now.
Chris K says
Hi Sara,
The deadline has passed for Zopa to present any further evidence to FOS, showing why my complaint is time-barred. Out of the blue I just get what looks like the automated email response from Zopa, acknowledging my complaint, and then giving the full spiel about 8 weeks, and if no resolution I can complain to FOS. So they seem to be starting from scratch.
After having taken 4 of the 8 available weeks to dismiss my original complaint without even looking at it, can they really start over with a full 8 weeeks again? FOS remarked upon it but did not suggest a reduced timeframe. Is there anything I can say to get them moving a bit, or do I just have remain patient, to not antagonise them while they play the game?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The “8 weeks” is no longer relevant.
Zopa will have sent their case file to FOS or the case would not be being looked at at. It’s up to FOS to push them now, not you.
jamie says
Hi Sara ,
my complaint was upheld against Moneybarn and they agreed with the investigator, they also asked if my bank details were still the same.
How long does it take for them to pay out? Do I need to contact them or wait for them to contact me?
thank you for your advice and thank you for your advice in regards to me stopping gambling in January, it really helped and it was what i needed.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They should settle in 28 days.
Very glad my suggestions were able to help you.
Paula says
Hi Sara
I have had a complaint from RBS rejected regards numerous loans overdrafts and credit cards that I have had with them. I have had quite a serious gambling problem resulting in tens of thousands of betting transactions. Despite this I was able to get an overdraft of £2200, credit card limit which started at £1200 rising to £7k then up to £8300. This again was with the card been used pretty much only for gambling. I have had numerous loans and consolidation loans over years and went in person in 2019 for a financial health check with the RBS as my finances had spiralled. I was again given a consolidation which paid off 20k loan, 8300 credit card, 2200 overdraft and multiple payday loans. Despite all the gambling transactions I was allowed to keep the 8300 limit and 2200 overdraft both of which were maxed out again within 3 months. Obviously I take responsibility for that but do you think I have a case for escalating complaint to FOS?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes!
Lisa says
I am really struggling and am at my limit on all of my credit cards paying to live so that I haven’t missed any repayments and they were close to their limit when I applied for the loans.
I got an £8000 loan over 4 years in April from Zopa, then a £2000 loan in June from Lendable and then another £1000 loan this month from Lendable (so have two current loans with Lendable)
Looking at the comments I am worried that because I have managed my payments up to this date there is no negative on my credit file (with the exception of a very old default 4 years ago) if I complain and go to ombudsman they wont uphold it. Should I start not paying my loans? I am terrified to have negative results on my credit file for work or my profession.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can you say what your work is?
Do you have a gambling problem at the moment?
Lisa says
My profession is an accountant (rubbish with my own money but good with others!) so I cannot go bankrupt or I would lose my status. I have just blocked myself this week with Gamstop as it just got out of hand very quickly for the second time in my life
Sara (Debt Camel) says
There is a big difference between going bankrupt and entering a debt management plan… can you talk to someone in your professional body about how informal (not insolvency) arrangements with your creditors are viewed?
Yeb says
I put a block on my card to be used for gambling. I am also registered with gamstop but unfortunately the I found a not on gamstop online casino which has triggered my addiction again. Can I ask the bank for a refund as they didn’t stop me using my card. The gambling site does use a lot of different companies to let you deposit but I think that the bank should have noticed that there were a lot of different amounts of money. going out to overseas companies suddenly.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is a credit card or debit card?
If it’s a debit card, how large is your overdraft and how many days of the month are you in it?
Yeb says
Its a debit card and I don’t have an overdraft.
Thanks for the advice
Sara (Debt Camel) says
A bank is NOT under any obligation to monitor how you spend your money. I don’t think you would win a complaint about this.
Yeb says
I understand, thank you for the advice ,🙂
Kay says
Hi Sara,
I’m hoping you can help me. I’ve recently taken out 5 loans to fund my gambling addiction. In each of the loan applications I put im using the funds for home improvement. I believe a few of the loans didn’t require any bank statements. Only a couple asked for open banking but I’m unsure which.
It’s left a huge impact on my life. What can you advise I do please? Thanks so much.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you got help with your gambling problem? How large were the loans and which lenders. Over what space of time were they taken out?
kay says
Hi Sara, thanks for your reply. I took out 4 loans in the space of under 3 months. 1 loan from a few years back. I’ve tried to go through IVA last year because I had other loans but my family had to help me out as I couldn’t do IVA (joint mortgage and my partner wouldn’t sign the papers).
Thank you!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are you getiing Help with yiur gambling?
Which lenders and how large? How long ago?
When does your mortgage fix end and who is your mortgage lender?
G says
Hi Sara. Bit of a weird one my gambling was so bad at one point. After being refused loans or credit cards. (Which I have paid majority off now) the only way I could get money to gamble was to take phone contracts out (about 5) sell the mobiles. Pocket the cash/gamble/lose it all. Then never pay the repayments back. Have them all default and sell on to debt companies. Eg. Link financial. Also have safety net credit balance of over £500 left to pay. It sounds ridiculous when I read this back. About what I did just to get money to gamble. But I was completely out of control. It made me miss rent payments and other bills when I have two children with special needs to look after. Appalling really but I’m in a better place now. However. I still owe £5000 plus to debt companies from the above situation I explained. My question is there anything I can do about the remaining balance. Can I complain or is it pointless as I gave technically committed fraud. Any info would be great Thanks. I can confirm I’m already on a DMP
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How large are the debts in your DMP? And how much are you paying a month?
G says
15k. Currently on token payment plan until my situation improves
Sara (Debt Camel) says
did any phone company give you another contract when you had already recently defaulted on one?
G says
It was all the same company EE. Because it was done in such a short space of time. Matter of a few months i took out all the contracts. I hadn’t yet “defaulted” as such
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ok, well you can try a complaint against EE but I haven’t seen anyone win a case in this sort of situation.
Have you looked at affordability complaints about the other debts?
What is likely to improve in your situation? Because with token payments if nothing is likely then it would be good to look at an insolvency option to get a clean start.
G says
I have just realised I did default
On two phone loans with Barclays. 4 months
Before EE allowed
Me to take out a further 4 more contracts…. (Which is ridiculous I know) however on my credit report it does say EE balance £5000+. But delinquency balance £1900 which is what Arvato financial solutions is saying I owe from EE. Could you explain why this is. Has part of the balance been sold to arvato.. and with the above
Info would it be possible to do an affordability claim as I already defaulted on previous phone contracts however they allowed me
To
Add on too mine ..
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I can’t say it’s impossible to win an affordability complaint about this I am just saying that I have never seen anyone manage it.
Neil says
Hi
Hoping I can find some help in this recent time of realisation, regret and disgust in myself.
My situation is that I’ve have accrued a huge sum of £27k in credit card balances and a further £6.5k in a bank loan which I’ve spent on ‘gambling’ this year (2023). I can only now admit this was gambling as what I was doing was buying ‘prop firm challenges’ in hope to try and extract money from the stock and forex market. [deleted] As with most gamblers there have been both wins and losses, but also the inevitable ’the casino always wins’! My self employed work situation has been up and down too, definitely fuelling my desire to ‘win some money’. I’m now at the point where I’m in way over my head. No funds to gamble, no money to pay even the minimum payment on my credit cards and more importantly not enough income to provide for myself and family. My question is; is there something I can do in relation to ‘freezing’ my credit card payments, or paying a very small token payment to them whilst I come to terms with my situation and try to rebuild an income and my life back? I hope this makes sense as if I’m honest I’m in shock at the moment, don’t know where to turn and am in a haze of darkness. Thank you in advance for your time!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
With this sort of situation the first thing to do is to get into a safer financial space. As you are self employed, I suggest you contact Business Debtline https://businessdebtline.org/ on 0800 197 6026. Or use their very good web chat.
It would also be good to some support to stop gambling. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/impact-gambling-on-finances-gamcare/. And if you have a partner, please talk to them.
You can also look at affordability complaints, but these are not a quick or simple answer to your situation. So I suggest leaving them for a few months.
Neil says
Many thanks for you swift reply Sara!
What a relief to have even put down in words what I have done and to have someone else acknowledge this, so thank you!!
To further explain, I’m literally at rock bottom financially, money to survive for two or three weeks maybe, and no other means of borrowing as I’m literally maxed out on the 5 credit cards that I have. I have no one to lean on for help so am on my own with this! I have credit card payments upcoming but won’t be able to pay them. I’m here to ask if I should just default on the payments or should I call each of them and explain that I can’t pay. Am I right in thinking that there may be an option to set up a token payment schedule for the near future? I’ve never missed a single payment on anything in my entire life, so this whole situation is very new to me. Again, thank you for your time!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well if you have no money, you can’t pay. Cancel any direct debits and tell the lenders that you are going to be taking debt advice from Business Debtline, you have no money for the month and ask them to freeze interest. You will get less hassle if you tell them this rather than just stopping paying.
Token payments may be possible but there isn’t much point in me guessing.
L says
It now says that it will be by the end of march for everyone to get their response does that mean they won’t start paying out until then
Sara (Debt Camel) says
hey haven’t said that. but you cant relay on getting paid at any time until it lands in your bank account.
Ron says
Hi Sara….
I’ve lodged a complaint to Aqua for irresponsible lending in respect of a credit card they gave me with an initial limit of £900. They upped my limit multiple times as follows, despite multiple gambling transactions using the credit card:
After 4 months: £900 – £1500
After another 4 months: £1500 – £2500
After another 5 months: £2500 – £3650
After another 11 months: £3650 – £4650
They finally responded after about 12 weeks and have decided to uphold my complaint from the first credit limit increase. They have offered to refund all late payment fees, over limit fees and cash advance fees, as well as “proportionate” interest, all totalling £2483. They’ve also said they will remove any adverse information reported from my credit file from when the first limit increase took place.
Do you think this is a reasonable offer or should I take to FOS? They haven’t offered the 8% statutory interest as they say it doesn’t apply in this scenario. I had a CCJ recorded against me for this debt, does this mean it will be set aside?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“From the first limit increase” do you mean they think the original was ok but not of the increases?
Or that the first increase to £1500 was ok but not the second and later increases?
How long ago were these increase? How long go wa the CCJ?
What is the current balance owing?
Ron says
I think they mean from the first £400 increase and that the original £900 limit was granted fairly.
The credit card was granted in June 2018, first increase in October 18, second in March 19, third in August 19 and final one in July 20.
CCJ was filed in Sep 22 for £5.2k and there is £4.2k remaining
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well lets be sure about whether this is saying the first increase to 1500 wasnt ok – that as it makes a big difference to the refund. Can you copy in the bit from the decision ?
What was your situation like when you took the card in June 18 – had your other debts recently been increasing a lot? Were you in an overdraft all month? did you have any payday loans?
the CCJ – which debt collector was this?
Ron says
Extract from letter “Having reviewed that data that was available at the time of the credit limit increases, we are confident that these took place in line with our policy and that we completed proportionate checks. However, given the information you have provided to us in relation to your circumstances, we have taken the decision to uphold your complaint from the credit limit increase given on 25 October 2018”.
I’d had two loans from Lending Stream in the 3 months leading up to when the card was granted, plus another one just a week before the credit card was provided. A £200 loan granted in April 18. Two defaults 60 months prior to application totalling £700. Two public records which occurred 13 months prior for a total of £900.
CCJ was applied for by Cabot Financial
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok – that isn’t clear to me.
Can you go back and ask Aqua to confirm is they are refunding you all the interest paid on balance over £900 (the original limit) or over £1500 (after the first increase)?
Also ask if they will be having the CCJ removed and the associated costs with that.
Ron says
So I’ve just spoken to someone in the complaints team and they said it is after 25 Oct 2018 which is when the first increase was applied. Even after that date, I’ve added up all interest from statements I’ve got and it totals almost £900 more than what they’ve refunded. I’ve also just seen they declined the statutory 8% interest saying it doesn’t apply to this scenario.
As for the CCJ, they didn’t know and have taken it away to find out and will let me know within a week.
The amount they’ve refunded has already been removed from my account with Cabot.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They are offering a “partial refund” – saying the original limit was OK so they will only refund the interest on the part of your balance that was over £900.
You can argue first that you should never have been given such a large limit when the card was opened because of your recent payday loans. And second that instead of increasing your limit after 4 months, they should have seen the gambling, realised you were in difficulty and offered to help by freezeing interest at that point.
No 8% is applied unless the refund clears the balance.
But wait until they come back to you with an answer about the CCJ.
Anita says
Hi Sara,
Since the death of my mum in Dec 2022 I have spent over £50,000 in online gambling.
I guess we all deal with grief in different ways and this was mine.
I read on your blog somewhere a while ago about a) how these transactions are sometimes covered under a bank’s fraudulent or unauthorised payments policy (I think) but I can’t find the thread again to be able to do some research and b) what you said about checking the gambling organisations policy on safer gambling.
Could you point me in the right direction please?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Was this money your savings, or were you borrowing it?
Anita says
Hi
It was funded by a mixture of loans in both mine and other people’s names and credit cards in mine and other people’s names and my own money. I have just spent the afternoon trying to gather as much information as I can and since Dec 2022 there are at least 1000 transactions to online gambling organisations and the nearest I can get to the amount spent is £68,000.
I am thinking perhaps I can ask my bank for their perspective because (and I am not denying my own responsibilities with this) I would have thought someone at their end would have picked this up?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“I read on your blog somewhere a while ago about a) how these transactions are sometimes covered under a bank’s fraudulent or unauthorised payments policy (I think) but I can’t find the thread again to be able to do some research and b) what you said about checking the gambling organisations policy on safer gambling.”
I don’t recall making either of those points.
I can’t help with any complaints against the gambling firms – I am not saying it’s impossible to win these just that it is not an area I have any knowledge of.
If you took loans out in your name and they were unaffordable, you may be able to win an affordability complaint about them.
Chris says
Hi Sara,
Thank you so much for your help and advice. I have been offered a settlement of “removing all charges and interest”, but they’ve not been specific about how that looks. I was hoping you could help me understand how it should look, before I go back to the bank.
Loan was for £15k in 2017, the interest was front loaded and the balance started a clocking down from £21.8k . I defaulted in 2020 having paid about £13.5k back. Loan was sold to a DCA with a balance of about £8.3k. I’ve made £3.3k in payments since. So total payments of about £16.8k but still a balance of £5 with the DCA. I’m hoping the bank would just settle with the DCA and I just get back my £1.8k in excess payments, but I can see some more complicated interpretations, where I might need to deal with the DCA.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I’m hoping the bank would just settle with the DCA and I just get back my £1.8k in excess payments
That is what should happen based on those numbers.
I suggest you ask the lender (who is it?) to confirm they will sort out the balance with the debt collector.
Chris says
Hi Sara,
Zopa eventually clarified that they would purchase the debt back from the DCA, and would calculate the settlement/refund once transfer was complete. Zopa said if I sent them a statement, detailing my payments to the DCA, they would “calculate any refunds as soon as possible”. The investigator ruled we had reached agreement on 22/04, and I sent Zopa the statement on 23/04. Zopa spent 4 weeks ignoring me, I even called a few times to no avail. Finally I received an email with their offer yesterday (17th), effectively deadline day.
I had assumed that they had 28 days to actually pay me. Asking for the statement gave the impression they were keen to calculate and agree an offer fairly quickly. Mildly infuriating that they then ignored it. So first question, was my assumption wrong? They have also advised me that payment may take up to 10 working days. If it’s all fair practice, I’ll accept it. But, if they should have paid by now, can I press them to make a fast payment?
Zopa’s offer was £2k overpayments returned plus 8% interest, which was applied to all payments made after aggregate payments exceeded £15k. But the FOS guidance does allow other possible interpretations.
I defaulted in July 20, only £1140 short of paying the full £15k. In August 20, Zopa closed the account and marked it “settled”. It was more than a year before Intrum contacted me. Despite marking it “settled”, Zopa sold the account with a balance of £8480, in effect calculating their fees and interest as £7340, allowing for 2 alternative methods of applying interest. – option (a) £7340 plus 8% (x years) then deduct cost of settling DCA (£5200), or option (b) settle the DCA out of £7340 then add 8% (x years) to the remaining balance. These are bother better outcomes for me, so I’m probably reaching. Buti I think they have merit, so I’d feel better definitively ruling these out before simply accepting Zopa’s offer.
Thank you for all the work you do here. You have genuinely inspired me to think about how I might be able to help others, and I am already thinking about something.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
did you make any payments to Zope after July 2020?
When was the first payment you made to Intrum and how large were the intrum monthly payments?
Chris says
Hi Sara,
So, my last normal payment of £383.45 was made in March 2020. I believe I then took advantage of the three month loan holiday, offered at the start of lockdown.
I started working with Step change in June, and Zopa was on my debt list. On 1st July, SC confirmed my DMP. The debt repayment proposals were sent to my creditors on 3rd July. My first DMP payment was sent to SC on 1st Aug.
Zopa last updated the credit file on 2nd Aug. The account was marked as settled, although somehow the with a settlement date of 5th Aug. Zopa did not inform me, or SC, that they had taken this action.
SC processed my first payment and sent Zopa £54.50 on 6th Aug, and same again on 4th September. A third payment was sent to Zopa on 6th October, but was returned on 29th Oct. Zopa have included the £109 as part of their settlement calculation.
SC removed this debt from my DMP. Intrum contacted SC directly in Sept 2021 and received their first payment in Oct 21, ultimately receiving 11 payments of £129.02 and 10 payments of £172.11
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you have a complete list of payments.
How large was the 8% payment Zopa calculated?
Neither (a) not (b) will work as at the point the debt was sold you had not repaid the principal. You are not going to win any arguments about this
Chris says
Hi Sara,
Thanks for confirming that. I was definitely arguing semantics. But, I’m pleased my complaint was upheld a d now I can accept the offer, with some peace of mind, that it’s fair. On that basis, I’m comfortable they’ve done their arithmetic correctly. They calculated £221 interest for £2000 overpaid, starting with the 11th payment of £129 in August 2022. And £5k+ off my debt balance to boot!
Really, I feel the need to thank you again. The information and guidance you provide is incredible. Thank you so much for the time aand effort you put in to this. You are empowering people and making a real difference.
Emily says
Hi,
I was just wondering could I complain for Zopa giving me a loan which was unaffordable when I was in financial difficulty and had lots of gambling transactions on my bank statements which they didn’t check? I haven’t actually made any repayments on the loan as of yet.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how large is the loan? how large are your other debts?
and you have already spent/gambled the loan money?
Emily says
£1500, the interest is £238.96. I’ve also got a £1000 on my credit card, and midway through another loan, thanks
Yes already spent the money
Sara (Debt Camel) says
and the repayments are unaffordable?
Emily says
Yes they are unaffordable
Lewis says
Hello,
I currently have five loans taken as a result of my compulsive gambling, totalling £54,500. They were all taken from March 2023 to March 2024. They were through 4 different banks (Monzo, Sainsbury’s, Shawbrook and Santander – 2 from them) I have lost all the money to gambling. The interest rates vary from 7.5% to 24.7%. They are all being repaid over 5 years so I will be killed by the interest paying them all back as I am. I probably could just about afford to repay the monthly payments alongside my mortgage but it doesn’t seem fair that none of the lenders did more checks given my credit file would have shown multiple loans over a short period. If any of them had asked to see my bank statements they would have seen large cash withdrawals and gambling payments, but only one ever did that (Admiral who subsequently rejected my application) Do I have a chance in winning a complaint?
Thanks in advance.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well worth a try.
None of those banks was your bank?
Did you also have an overdraft?
Increasing credit card debt?
Lewis says
I have current accounts with Monzo and HSBC. Monzo was my ‘gambling’ account which is where all the loan payments were made to. My HSBC account was kept clean and that’s where my salary goes. I had an overdraft but never really went in it as I kept topping up with loans. Same reason I never had a credit card. If I submit a complaint, should I do so with the individual banks first? If I do, will my credit score be damaged? Thanks very much for your help. This is a horrible addiction.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you managed to stop gambling? That is the most important thing… Otherwise if you just get the payments down you will just spend more on gambling… It is a horrible addiction, you have to try to stop and get the help that is available https://debtcamel.co.uk/gambling/.
Has your mortgage gone up? If not yet, when does the fix end?
I suggest you make all the complaints now. making a complaint about a loan doesn’t harm your credit score provided you can carry on making the monthly payments while the complaint goes through, including at the ombudsman. you should expect all of these complaints will have to go to the ombudsman and will take many months to get to a final decision.
If you cant afford the monthly payments, let’s look at your options.
Lewis says
Yes I am on the right track to stopping my gambling. I have sought help. My mortgage is due to be renewed in November 2027, so not for a while thankfully.
When I make the complaints should I send them my bank statements at the outset showing them the level of gambling? Or should I just make a general complaint to start with?
Should I make the complaint to the earliest loans or just the later ones? Bearing in mind that the earlier loans would have been affordable for me. It is the combined nature of all five which is going to cause problems.
If I complaint to Monzo can they close my current account?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
what were the dates and sizes of the loans?
Lewis says
Feb 2023 – Sainsbury’s – £16,000
March 2023 – Monzo – £7,500
June 2023 – Santander – £9,000
October 2023 – Shawbrook – £10,000
February 2024 – Santander – £12,000
All over 5 years – none asked to see bank statements.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
if you think the first loan was affordable – you could manage to repay it and also pay all your bills, essenatial living expenses and other debts, then I wouldnt complaint about that.
but I suggest you complain for all the others. The lenders should have seen your rapidly rising rebts on your credit record and realised that there may be some reason so they should have investigated more closely
Marc Smith says
Hi Sara can you help? I have a Zable credit card where gambling transactions are blocked as per my app as I have told them about my gambling problem. However they have still allowed recent transactions to go through! Nearly £4000 in two weeks, so do I have a case to complain? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What sort of transactions were these?
Marc Smith says
These are all gambling, they are processed from mainly Eastern European merchants, they have blocked many of these but let £4000 go through which is odd
Sara (Debt Camel) says
do you want to stop gambling?
Marc Smith says
Yes of course, I absolutely despise it, O just want my money back from Zable then they can cut the card up and I intend not to
Gamble again. I just think they have facilitated this, would you agree?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well you will be best off cutting up the Zable card now, whatever happens. Horribly expensive debt. Also look at installing Gamblock as well as blocking cards – research shows this combined approach is much more effective.
You can complain to Zable. But they probably block based on the transaction code – and if the East European processors get round the rules by using the wrong code…
PS please don’t leave repeat messages. All comments are individually approved and this may take time, especially at the weekend!
Marc Smith says
Ok sorry I didn’t realise, what I don’t understand is why they’ve blocked Khalid of them and let the other half go through? As in the same merchant names are sometimes blocked and sometimes allowed? Surely that’s a fault on their side?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Or a fault in the merchant who added the coding.
BL says
Hello, thank you for this post, it’s very helpful.
I am 22 years old and have struggled with gambling since I was 16. In the last 3 years, I’ve managed to obtain 3 different loans, one with Sainsbury’s and 2 with First Direct through open banking/the app. These in total amounted to around £28,000 including interest and I genuinely don’t even know where to start.
I’ve been making all the minimum payments as the deductions fall on pay day so I never really miss a payment.
I am still gambling to this day but trying to get on top of this.
Do I have a case as I gambled all of these loans away within a few days of receiving them, and even after my first loan with First Direct (£8,753.51), I was then able to apply for another that was £15,060.99.
Is there anything I can do?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
There is no point in making affordability complaints while you are still gambling. If you win, the money will just end up with the bookies after a few months.
I suggest you talk to Payplan about a debt management plan and to Gamcare to get help to stop. A DMP is crucial – you have to be able to live on your budget, not see all your pay vanish to lenders. With too much money pressure you will return to gambling…
Then after 6 months clean, come back.
BL says
Thanks Sara,
I will be in touch in about 6 months in that case!
Going to try my best to not gamble, just want to move on from this.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Get a DMP… it will make everything a LOT easier.
BL says
Thank you I will definitely definitely look into this.
Do you think I would have any chance of getting interest removed etc?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes.
Rob says
Hi Sara,
Great article…hopefully you may be able to offer me some advice
I’ve got myself into a bit of a mess. Sadly as lots of the posts above I have a problem with gambling. Unfortunately it reared its head again at the start of this year, at which point I managed to eat through most of my savings. I took out a substantial loan with a high street lender, given my credit rating was good I’m not surprised I got the loan, but had they seen the rate at which I’d burned through my savings I doubt they’d have given it. Should they have checked? Fairly quickly burned through that, and quickly applied for and recieved another loan from another high street lender for 1/3 of the value. Again should questions have been asked as to why I needed another loan so soon? That didn’t last long either. Then started money transfers from credit cards, some of which I hadn’t used for a long period. Should checks have been done before these going through? I have since recieved another 2 loans from High Street lenders for the same value as the second loan. Now I must admit to perhaps not being the most honest when it came to purpose of loan and income/expenditure, but I don’t think any gambler would be. Is the onus on the lenders to check?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Should they have checked?
To see how your savings had dropped? No. It isn’t clear how they could have done that even if they had wanted to.
Again should questions have been asked as to why I needed another loan so soon?
How large was the first loan? the second loan?
Is the onus on the lenders to check?
the onus is on lenders to make adequate checks. Receiving other loans recently makes it more likely that checks should have been made.
Rob says
Hi Sara,
Thanks for taking the time to respond.
The first loan was £15k, the second, third and 4th all £5k.
Thanks
Do you think it us worth complaining to the loan providers?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes I do. I don’t know whether you will win, but you should not have been offered all this money and the case for rejecting each later loan gets stronger.
Rob says
Part 2!
As I had signed up for Gamblock the money was spent in offshore casinos operating outwith the UK. All of the payments were made from my Revolut account not my TSB current account as they’re through 3rd party crypto companies. So I had tens of thousands of pounds leaving my current account to my Revolut account, then out to these crypto companies. Should my bank or Revolut have flagged these payments as suspicious, blocked the account or contacted me? I had a couple of occasions where I recieved texts to confirm payments or a temporary block placed on my revolut account, but that was easily reversed. I contacted my bank after the first loan (cry for help!) detailing I had a gambling problem and explaining what I’d been doing, but they replied to say they wouldn’t question payments made to another account in my name. Should/could they have done anything?
All of this over a period of a few months.
Any suggestions on where to begin?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Should my bank or Revolut have flagged these payments as suspicious, blocked the account or contacted me?
Revolut – they aren’t a proper bank. You were using them deliberately as you know you can get transactions through them that other banks would reject. Revolut contacted you about some payments and you said they were fine. I don’t think you will get anywhere with complaints against them.
I suggest you need to close this account immediately. Also tell Revolut you have a gambling problem and you do not want them to approve any subsequent application to open an account.
your own bank – normally they don’t have any reason to stop you transferring money. However, you can argue that you had informed them that you had a gambling problem and they hadn’t offered any assistance. You can complain about this – I don’t know how likely this is to succeed.
Can I ask what your total debts are at the moment? And have you stopped gambling?
Rob says
Hi Sara,
Thanks once again!
Totally debt at the moment is just over £40k.
I have already closed the Revolut account and I am currently gambling free a day at a time.
If a complaint to my bank were to be successful, what would the potential outcome be?
Similarly with the loan companies, what are the potential outcomes of a successful complaint?
Best wishes,
Rob
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t know – this is not a standard affordability complaint against your bank.
With the loans that is simpler – if you win, interest will be removed from the loans so you only have to repay in total what you borrowed.
Linden says
Hi Sara,
Firstly thanks for this blog post. It was incredibly helpful.
I have raised a complaint against my bank recently due to giving me 2 loans (through their app, no one ever spoke with me regarding this and I was always paying out more than what I was paying into my account, i.e., it was clearly unaffordable), and despite thousands of pounds worth of gambling transactions (overseas, as I purposely sought out sites that where not covered by GamStop unfortunately).
I have been gamble free for around 2-3 months and intend to never get into this situation again, but want to get these cleared so I can move on with my life.
The total sum comes to around £20,000.
The reason for my comment is that they have refused to handle my complaint in writing and asked that I call. Naturally due to the reason for my complaint, I want it to be in writing as it is a really sensitive topic for me and I want to come to a resolution via email so I can evidence anything should I need to.
How do I respond to this? Can they refuse to put it in writing? They have initiated an investigation at their end already.
Thank you,
Linden
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you reply saying that you would prefer communications to be be in writing as you find it difficult to discuss this on the phone.
Linden says
Thanks for your prompt response Sara.
I have responded to their customer care team explaining that this is an incredibly sensitive topic for me and I wish for it to be in writing/via email.
If they refuse, am I forced to speak with them over the phone?
Thank you,
Linden.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
no, just say you would like a written response to your complaint and you will be taking it to the Ombudsman if theont make a suitable offer.
Linden says
Thank you for the guidance Sara.
Linden says
Hi Sara,
My bank said on the 3rd may that they would respond within 2-weeks, but have not responded.
I went back to them and explained my situation and that I would like it to be via email but had no response since.
What’s the next steps?
Thanks,
Linden
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how long is it since you complained?
Linden says
Sara, they have now responded but did not uphold complaint.
What steps do I take from here?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send it to the ombudsman. The page with the loan template (https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/) has details on how to do this.
MG says
Hi Sara,
Thanks for all the great work you’re doing here.
I have been able to accrue significant debts across loans and credit cards over the last 3 years through financial spread betting – which for all intents and purposes seems to be considered as gambling, but I seem to be hitting a wall in terms of whether it’s treated the same was as any other gambling addiction vs traditional casino/sports betting.
The key part that I’m unsure of is that I have been able to deposit around £75k since July 2022 using credit cards onto a single trading/spread betting website. This is in addition to having previously taken out a £50k loan on top of £20k existing credit card debt. I managed to pay some off with the help of family but since maxed them out again. For the most part (all but around £10k which I used a paypal cash transaction workaround), the transactions clearly specify the trading website to where the cash was going, around 180 transactions between July 2022 and February 2024.
Do I have a case that the credit cards should have been more observant of the spending?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What is your income?
Have you stopped spread betting now?
How large are your total debts? Are your buying or renting?
Who was the 50k loan from and was it secured on a house?
MG says
Until 2 months ago my income was £92k, I am now unemployed but looking for a job that will pay in a similar (higher) bracket. I have about £15k left in redundancy pay that can afford me a few months of minimum payments + rent, by September I really need to be working again to continue paying, but the overall debt isn’t really going down (interest plus monthly expenditure means that even with loan payments the amount stays fixed).
I have made 2 single deposits since February spread betting (£600 then £5000, with my redundancy payout), but earlier this week realised I need to stop and withdrew the remaining c.£4k in my account. I am in the process of setting up relevant blocks to stop me gambling going forward as have finally accepted I can’t solve the debt problem with spread betting.
In total I have around £100k of debt (£44k loans, £56k credit)
The 50k loan was from TSB unsecured, however I refinanced in March 2022 from around 40k back up to 50 (reducing from 6.9% APR to 5.9%). I took out a subsequent 15k @11.9% loan in December when it reached £35k again. All with TSB. I also have c.£8k in credit card debt with TSB. Around half of this was balance transfer from another card, the remainder primarily more direct deposits to the spread betting website.
Unfortunately bankruptcy isn’t an option due to my profession.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Could you consider changing your profession?
You can make affordability complaints but it isn’t clear whether you are like to win them. Credit cards aren’t obliged to monitor what you spend money on
Dom says
Hi Sara, we have spoken on another thread about some debt and DMP questions.
Apologies for posting on the wrong thread.
I have considerable debt due to a number of factors, but one of those is gambling.
It’s something that I’ve struggled with most of my life but it goes in peaks and troughs.
I’m settled on setting up a DMP in the next few months and have already started my budget with StepChange.
I was considering putting in affordability complaints and also for irresponsible lending.
I have 5 credit cards (3 big and 3 small balances) and have gambled online, and withdrew money to gamble on 4 of them in the last 6-8 years.
One on particular (Halifax) allowed me to withdraw up to my limit of 10k with significant amounts of cash advances. At no time did they question this, despite having a history of online gambling on my statements.
There is a similar story with Barclaycard and virgin money.
Could I possibly have a case to get something back and lessen my debt for the DMP?
Dom
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes possibly.
Some questions that may make this stronger…
did any of these 3 cards increase your limit during this period?
were any of these cards issued by your bank?
did you have any other debts to them at the time?
Dom says
1) None of them are with my bank
2) There may have been small increases over the years while I was gambling but I would have to go through it all, to know for sure. Can I request all of my info from them for the duration of the account?
I tried looking at my history last night but on the Halifax app, it only shows the o/s balance, payments and interest etc….
No transactions were listed despite the balance increasing.
Transactions showed on Barclaycard and VM.
I remain dropping the limit on the Barclaycard from 9k to where it is now at 2k.
The annual statement for one year showed that I had over 3k in cash advances for that year.
Dom
3) I only had those sent with them.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK then send in complaints about the credit cards. My template ( https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-catalogue-credit-card/ ) asks for details of any credit limit increases so you do NOT want to delay and find out about these first. Get the complaints in now.
Laura says
Hi,
I’m looking for advice.
I have a gambling problem. I am with GamStop and therefore cannot gamble online, however I have two credit cards and they have allowed me to gamble multiple times online. They are with None U.K. gambling sites and I do not think they are licensed. My credit cards have gambling blocks on my account but this doesn’t seemed to have made any difference.
I am currently paying my credit cards off but wondered if my chances are slim if I made a complaint.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Very slim. Credit card companies rely on the site adding the correct code so they can detect it is gambling.
Install Gamban – much more effective than Gamstop
Can you manage without using the credit cards? Can you afford all the repayments to your debts?
What were the limits you were originally given? were these increased ?
Laura says
Thanks Sara,
Yes I can manage without using the credit cards. They are currently up to date and I have never went over or missed any payments. I am just considering whether to reduce the limit on them gradually and then eventually close them. They never even did checks regarding my income and I’m unemployed and on benefits. I was very suprised I was even approved.
Zable was originally £450 and they offered me an increase to £500 after about three months which I accepted.
Aqua was originally £450 – only been with them two months and no increase as yet.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
do you have any other debts?
Laura says
I am currently on a repayment plan with Stepchange which is for just over £2000 from loans a couple of years ago. I was paying £40 a month but have done a review and from next week I will pay £12 per month. I am also in arrears with my service charge from my temporary accommodation and my support worker just tells me to pay what I can each month. My rent is paid via the council but i just pay a service charge for bills, water etc. It is £19.31 per week.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Tell Aqua and Zable that you have service charge arrears and can’t manage the minimum payments. Ask them to accept £1 a month and freeze interest and charges until your service arrears are cleared. This will also prevent you using the cards any more.
Laura says
Thank you Sara x
JK says
Hi,
Thanks for all the good work you’re doing helping everyone with their situations. I am in dire need of help, I took out a loan from Drafty for £1500 lost it gambling paid it back but it was immiedately available to withdraw again. (High Interest 90% APR). Everytime I would pay it back over a time span of the past two months the temptation to rely on it again grew more and more. There were days I would want to just close the account down online but everytime I would try to on the website there was no direct solution to closing the account down, so this in turn also led to using that same loan again and again for gambling. The Zopa loan was a consolidation loan to bring all my finances together in one payment but I ended up messing that up too (£9000 @ 29.9%). I applied for the Zopa and another salary finance loan around the same week last week with salary finance taking longer to eventually accept for £5000 at the same rate as Zopa. When i wanted to return the money as my account had just been set up it was too early to return the funds. Eventually I ended up gambling that too and losing it. Currently the drafty loan is paid off but I’m stuck with the Zopa loan and the salary finance loan. And idk how I’m going to go about my life over the next 12/24 months as I am being made redundant in December. Is there anything I can do to get this solved? Many Thanks, also I have enrolled in Gamstop now to prevent re gambling intentionally
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Gamban is more effective than Gamstop if your gambling is online.
how long have you been using Drafty for?
are you buying or renting?
will you get any redundancy money in December?
do you have a car on finance?
What are your total debts at the moment?
JK says
I’m currently living with my mum, I am getting a payout in December but concerned it might not be enough to make me debt free. I’ve been using drafty for 2/3 months now. There’s a lease in my brothers name that I use and pay for costing £493 a month. That is due to finish in June 2026. My total debts right now including interest charges is £18000 excluding vehicle costs.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
what are you earning? can you get a another job easily?
why do you have such an expensive car?
and your redundancy payment is likely to be?
JK says
I earn £2930 a month net currently, I was living at home after my parents were divorced to support my mum as best as I could. I couldn’t move out so I decided to get a car in 2023 that at the time was something I felt I could afford before gambling addiction took over. Interest rates were quite high and cost of living was at its peak the car I have today would cost £100-150 less per month in the same plan. The job market right now is very tough I have tried to speak with recruiters but so far no luck, I work in IT risk management for my career. My redundancy payment is likely to be around £10000.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well you shouldnt be using that to settle these non priority debts until you have a new job. You may need that money for living
I am not sure what happens to the Salary Finance loan and your redundancy payment… what is the interest rate on it? and what range of interest rates did your emplyer’s page show?
Could you talk to your brother and find out what the cost of getting out of this lease would be?
You can start an affordability complaint now against Drafty. Also tell them you want the account closed and do not want to be able to borrow again.
if you used the recent loans to consolidate, look at affordability complaints against each of the debts you cleared.
Jason smith says
Hi Sara
So I am a problem gambler , I have been since the age of 17 and I am now 45 , I earn good money as a pipe fitter and since march , opened my own business . Now for whatever reason I can not Explain how I have never Fallen into Arrears. I think this was down to be able to work all the Hours under the sun to be able to pay off and direct debits thrown at me and to maintain a healthy credit score.
I was constantly self excluding myself from websites and in 2021 finally entered gamban.
This has never stopped me from being able to access online gambling sites , as I know a chap who sells ready made online accounts that are not physically in your own name, The purpose Is to gain access to the free bonus on offer, bet small to get the free bonus, win with that and withdraw ASAP. With me being a problem gambler , betting small would never be not an option , so id start depositing hundreds to try and win , still knowing that upon Requesting a big Withdrawal , you would be asked for ID to which I could never provide , because the account was in some random persons name ! This sadly added to the edge and on many occasions have had to leave , from 1k up to 4k in accounts because bookmakers would refuse to release until sending ID. It shows how corrupt the betting sites are because gambling commission say they cant ask for ID on a withdraw request , if they never asked at earlier stage of depositing.so anyway since doing this in 2021 , I’ve managed to rack up 58k in loans and credit cards , its just a vicious circle , take from one to pay another etc! All my bank accounts plastered with tones of gambling transactions , so they definitely failed me on the affordability test .
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So how are you going to stop?
Jason smith says
I said I would not gamble again after the last episode and a week has passed without gambling, so I am feeling upbeat at the moment ! I feel that its down to me to make the change and without trying to sound rude , I do not think sitting in a circle with a load of bible bashers would make me want to stop , maybe you would disagree ? what are your thoughts on my whole situation ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Plenty of gambling help is available that is not faith-based. Try https://www.gamcare.org.uk/get-support/talk-to-us-now/
Without trying to sound rude, your track record isn’t very good so far…
Can you afford the minimum payments at the moment?
Jason smith says
just about !
Sara (Debt Camel) says
does that mean you can reliably get through the month without using a credit card or BNPL? Or only in a “good month” and many months are not good?
Yeb De Jong says
Hi Sarah, I have been gambling on a site where afterwards when I read the T&C’s that citizens from the UK are not allowed to deposit or withdraw funds to gamble on their sites. As my funds were coming from an English debit card and my address is in. The UK, do I have the right to request a refund as they were well aware that I was from the UK.
Many thanks,
Y
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No idea. is the website a UK website?
Yeb De Jong says
No, the casino is based on Curacao
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think the chance of you getting any refund from the casino is about sero. I suppose you can try.
if you want to stop gambling, I suggest you install Gamban on your phone and any other devices you use.
Lewis says
Hello Sara,
I asked some questions on your thread back in March and just wanted to share a good news story for anyone who comes across your article. I have successfully got three banks who provided me with loans to remove all interest and charges, saving me around £14,000. Two of them went to the ombudsman who ruled in my favour. To anyone reading this who thinks it isn’t worth it, just submit a complaint anyway. It takes minutes to submit, months to get a decision but it worked.
Thank you Sara – if I hadn’t found your website, I would never have gone through this.