UPDATES:
Do not use the templates on this page for the following lenders, instead see the specific page:
- Amigo has set up a Scheme of Arrangement. The deadline for making a claim has now passed, see Amigo’s Scheme for details.
- Buddy Loans went into administration in September 2021, see Buddy Loans goes into administration.
- George Banco & Trust Two set up Scheme of Arrangement, the deadline to make a claim to this has passed, see Everyday Loan Scheme for details
- TFS Loans went into administration in February 2022, see TFS Loans goes into administration.
Guarantor loans are very expensive. Often the lender didn’t check properly that you will be able to manage the loan repayments without having to borrow more.
If proper checks would have shown that you couldn’t afford the repayments, complain! There is a template letter in this article to help you.
You can get an existing loan reduced so you only repay the amount you borrowed, or get a refund if your loans have been repaid. If your complaint is rejected you can send the case to the Financial Ombudsman (FOS) who is upholding a lot (90%!) of guarantor loan complaints.
If you are the guarantor not the borrower, read Complaining if you are a guarantor which has a different template letter to use.
Contents
What is an affordability complaint?
A loan is not affordable if paying it left you so short of money you had to top up the loan, or borrow more from another lender or get behind with bills.
Does this sound like you? Then make an affordability complaint.
Just making the payments doesn’t prove the loan was affordable! You may have been repaying with difficulty, taking out other loans, because you didn’t want your guarantor to be affected.
You can complain if you are still paying the loan or if you have repaid it all.
If you win your complaint:
- interest is removed from a loan you still owe, so you only repay what you borrowed;
- your guarantor is released from the loan; and
- you can arrange to pay the remaining balance at a reduced rate.
When your loans have been settled, you get a refund of the interest you paid.
What should the lender have checked?
Guarantor lenders should have checked the loan was affordable for you before giving you the money.
The lender should have made sure you were likely to be able to make the repayments for the whole length of the loan.
Guarantor loans are large financial commitments. So I would expect a lender to have asked for evidence of your income, to have checked your credit record, and to have verified your expenses.
Some things a lender may have got wrong:
- It doesn’t matter if your guarantor is well off, the loan has to be affordable for you!
- You may have given said your expenditure was lower than it was, because you were guessing or desperate. The lender should have checked your figures.
- If you were self-employed or had wages that varied, the lender should have looked at how your income went up and down.
- The lender should have checked your credit record to see all your debts. If you had recently taken more loans or missed payments/defaulted, the lender should have been careful as your position was getting worse.
- When you top up a loan, the lender should check the new larger loan is affordable. If the current loan was causing you problems or your finances had got worse you shouldn’t have been given a larger loan.
If you feel there was something else unfair about your case, add that into your complaint as well!
What would a “fair solution” be?
If the lender or the Ombudsman decides the loan wasn’t affordable, this is what happens:
- The loan has been repaid, then any interest you paid should be refunded to you.
- The loan is still outstanding, then interest should be removed from the balance that is owing, so you only repay what you borrowed. Your guarantor should be released from the loan. The lender should accept an affordable monthly payment from you to repay the rest.
- Any payments made by the guarantor are refunded to the guarantor, not to you.
Will a complaint affect your guarantor?
Complaining won’t affect your guarantor if you carry on making the payments. The guarantor shouldn’t be told you have complained unless your complaint is being upheld.
If you stop paying the loan when you make a complaint, the lender may decide to get your guarantor to pay it. If you don’t want this to happen, you have to somehow carry on making the payments even though it’s hard.
If you can’t afford to carry on paying and you don’t want to hurt your guarantor talk to a debt adviser about your options in this difficult situation.
Making an affordability complaint won’t make things worse, and it may help in a few months time, but it isn’t an immediate escape from your problem.
Think about whether your guarantor also had a good reason to complain – see Complaining if you are a guarantor for details. If they win a complaint, they will be removed as a guarantor, which would take a lot of pressure off you.
How to complain to the lender
A template complaint to use
Don’t use this for Amigo of Buddy – see the update at the top of the page.
For all other guarantor lenders, including ones that have stopped lending, send your complaint by email – here is a list of lender’s email addresses.
Use SAR AND COMPLAINT BY BORROWER as the email title.
Here is a template. Change it to describe what happened to you and delete what doesn’t apply.
Only put this in if it applies to you: I took a top up of [£2,500] in [March 2018]
Add a reference number for the loan or give some other details such as your date of birth and your address when you took the loan out.
Please send me a copy of all the personal information that you have about me, including but not limited to all credit record checks, a copy of my loan application(s) and recordings of all phone calls from me. You have 30 days to reply to this Subject Access Request (SAR).
I am making an affordability complaint. This loan was/These loans were unaffordable for me and you would have realised this if you had checked properly before giving me the loan(s).
Delete or change any of the following so they are right for you:
[You would have seen from my credit record that I had recently missed payments/had defaults/was in a DMP/IVA.]
[I was on a low income/My only income was my pension/benefits.]
[You did not ask me for proof of my income or expenses and you did not ask about my expenses in detail.]
[I get ESA/PIP/DLA but you did not ask me if I had any extra expenses because of this.]
[I had a gambling problem which you could have seen from my bank statements.]
If you topped up the original loan: When I topped up the loan you should have seen from my credit record that my financial situation had got worse. [delete if not relevant: You ignored the fact that I had made several payments late to you.]
If you still owe money:[I am asking you to remove the interest from the balance so I only have to repay what I borrowed, release my guarantor and allow me to make lower monthly payments.]
If the loan has been repaid change that to [refund me the interest that I have paid plus 8% statutory interest.]
If you don’t want your guarantor to be told: [I want to carry on making the normal monthly payments because I do not want my guarantor to be affected. Please note I do not want my guarantor to be informed about my complaint unless my complaint is upheld.]
You have 8 weeks to respond to my complaint before I send it to the Financial Ombudsman.
If you would like some help with this, then go to your local Citizens Advice.
Definitely send bank statements!
It’s good if you can attach bank statements to your complaint. Send three months of statements before each loan or top-up and two months afterwards. So if you had a loan in August 2017, send statements for May-September 2017.
These statements will show how unaffordable your loans were. Don’t worry if there is gambling showing on the statements – that helps your case!
Don’t delay starting a complaint if you are trying to get your bank statements – just add them later. But now is a good time to get the statements as they can help your case.
Also get a copy of your credit record if this will show defaults, that your debts were increasing, that you had a large overdraft etc. Download this and keep it.
What to do with your personal information (SAR)
Copies of personal information (SARs) are often sent out by post, so if you have moved, make sure the lender has your new address. You should get the information within 30 days. It is often sent on a CD with a password.
This information is not the lender’s response to your complaint. Most lenders will send that separate from the SAR, usually a few weeks later.
You don’t need to do anything with the SAR, just keep it safe. You have asked for it now so that you have the details in case the lender rejects your complaint or makes a poor offer so your complaint has to go to the Ombudsman.
Taking a complaint to the Ombudsman
If the lender rejects your complaint, go to the Ombudsman
Don’t delay in sending a case to FOS – it has to go within 6 months. And while you have an “open” complaint at FOS, the lender cannot take you to court.
Lenders seem to reject many complaints and hope you give up! So don’t be surprised if a lender says No, the loan was affordable or We based our decision to lend on your application which was inaccurate.
If the lender says No, or you haven’t had a reply 8 weeks after sending your complaint, send your case to the Financial Ombudsman (FOS) the best way to do this is by using the FOS online form.
This is free to do and easy – you don’t have to quote laws or regulations. You can just send FOS the complaint you sent the lender. And if they have replied and said something that’s wrong, mention that as well.
You don’t need to go into details – a short FOS complaint is fine. If you want to add more details, read How Subject Access Request information can help an affordability complaint. But you don’t have to do this.
If only some loans are refunded, is this fair?
Sometimes a lender will say that just a few loans are unaffordable and remove the interest. Which is good, but should it be better?
If the rejected loans caused you difficulties and led to you needing a top-up, send your complaint to FOS and say you think the earlier loans too should be refunded.
Are you likely to win your Ombudsman complaint?
The Financial Ombudsman is agreeing with the customer on 90% of cases!
It is much simpler to win a case at FOS than a court case. If a lender has already started a court case against you, Citizens Advice can help you get the court case “stayed” (that’s legal jargon for put on hold) while you take an affordability complaint to the Ombudsman.
Complicated cases & help with guarantor loan complaints
If you want help with these complaints, Citizens Advice can help. Every Citizens Advice has access to the national Specialist Debt Advice Service if this isn’t something an adviser has come across before.
Leave a comment below this article to discuss what to do or talk to Citizens Advice if:
- your guarantor has made a lot of payments.
- you have been bankrupt, in an IVA or a DRO – read guarantor loans & insolvency .
- you have a CCJ from the guarantor lender – read guarantor loans & CCJs.
- if your debt has been sold to a debt collector.
Do not use a Claims Firm or a solicitor that is acting as a claims firm. There are two good reasons why you should avoid them:
- they will probably do a very poor job. They are not experts. They won’t put time into looking at your personal case.
- if you win a case but still owe a balance, this is usually just reduced. But the claims firm may expect you to pay their high percentage fee immediately even though you have not received any cash refund and still have the rest of the loan to pay.
Can you get an overdraft refund?
Card limit too high? Ask for a refund
Complaints about bank & other large loans
Robert Oliver says
Hi, thanks for your help regarding claiming back on unaffordable loans. I have just won my case against amigo and got 14k back. I had to persevere with it as amigo said I didn’t have a case, however the FOS decided in my favour. Best advice is stick at it and be patient.
Ruth says
Hi, how long was your case with the FOS? Great result! X
Robert Oliver says
It has been with them for quiet a while, I first reported it to them in February.
Stacy says
Hi all, my 8 weeks are up on Monday,but my mental health and stress levels have gone through the roof,I had 2 strokes due to stress in 2014, it’s a very worrying time, I’m being monitored very closely.
X
Andy says
Amigo normally reply a day before or on the 8 week deadline.
Ian Bland says
Is the 8% simple interest a one off addition to a refund or is it 8% per year?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is 8% per year since the repayment being refunded was made.
matthew peacock says
Just had a response from Amigo, 4 days before deadline, they have accepted my 3 complaints, i will have a figure back within 5 working days.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That’s great – do you still owe any money on the last loan?
Matthew Peacock says
No all loans have been paid off last year 😀
shan says
Hi ,
I have actually taken out a guarantor Loan , my mum being a guarantor ( the lender Amigo Loans ) , I am currently in a really bad finacial sistuation and thinking of going through hdithe DRO process. I am reluctant to go with the process as I dont want my mum to be affected or hounded by amigo because of my poor financial situation. As I dont she fully understood the implications of her being a guarantor and to be fair niether did I . as i orginally took out the loan to clear debt i already had. i was not properly assessed for the loana nd already had a very bad Credit rating to start with. not additonal information was asked of my guarantor to support my claim and my mum is unaware of what was orginally put in the application . I know now that she is not in anyway in a financial state to help me as her relationship has broken down and she is now looking for somewhere to live. i would really like some advise on what my options could be to get her off from being my guarantor.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You are right that if you go for a DRO now, Amigo will just go after your mum.
So the options here are
1) you making a complaint that the loan was unaffordable when you took it out and Amigo did not properly check that you could afford it
2) your mum making a complaint that she should not have been accepted as a guarantor because she couldn’t afford it when the loan was taken out. Not because her relationship has broken down after that, but because she couldn’t have afforded to make the repayments to Amigo every month and still paid all her other bills and normal living expenses before her relationship broke down
3) both of you making a complaint.
If you make a complaint and you win it, the interest will be removed from your balance AND your mum will then be released as the guarantor. You will then be able to go for a DRO without it hurting her.
If you don’t want your mum to know anything about this, you could just complain yourself and carry on making the monthly payments.
But if she makes a complaint and wins it, she will be released as the guarantor and you can go for a DRO straightaway even if you haven’t complained or Amigo rejected your complaint.
So if you both make complaints, it gives two chances that you will get what you want – your mum free from this burden and be able to have a DRO. Also it means that there is more chance that one of you will have you complaint upheld by Amigo so it will all be sorted in 8 weeks.
Could you help her put a complaint in? And also complain yourself? Would she be happy to know there was a possible way out of her situation or worried by everything?
What are the rest of your debts like? Are you making payments to them?
Lou7 says
Hi all,
I rang the ombudsman today and they said that an adjudicator as recently been assigned to the case but amigo are going on about the 6 year rule and the 3 year rule and she has got to check with someone above her if she can consider these complaints. Could somebody tell me what that means in plain speak as I thought it was up to the FOS what complaints they considered.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
FOS has various rules about the cases it can and can’t look at. The “3 and 6 year rules” are:
“The Ombudsman cannot consider a complaint if the complainant refers it to the Financial Ombudsman Service: … more than:
(a) six years after the event complained of; or (if later)
(b) three years from the date on which the complainant became aware (or ought reasonably to have become aware) that he had cause for complaint.”
FOS is standard procedure starts with the 6 year rule. I think several of your loans were over 6 years old? But two were more recent? If FOS just applied the 6 year rule, the early loans would be too old and it would only look at the recent loans.
But for other affordability complaints eg payday loans, doorstep lending, FOS decided over a year ago that it could look at older loans where the borrower only found out in the last three years that they could complain about affordability.
So your case handler at FOS may ask you how and when you found you can complain. There are no right or wrong answers to this – just say how you found out about payday loan affordability complaints (saw an advert for a claims company, saw an article in a newspaper, a friend told you they had had a refund, whatever) and how long ago that was, then say you saw a reference to this also applying to guarantor loans.
John says
I have put in an affordability claim to Amigo and George Banco as you know. Also explained due to redundancy I and my guarantor was unable to make this months payment. I messaged on here and you advised for my guarantor to also put in a complaint which I did on Saturday.
Today I received an email saying the following….
After reviewing your recent application and an investigation into your guarantor, we have today made the decision to remove him from liability from your current loan. This means he will not be asked to make any payments.
We would also like to refund all interest that you had repaid on your loan and that you only pay what you borrowed £7500
We hope you agree that this resolves your complaint.
What does this mean? Do I still pursue my initial complaint myself
Thanks
John
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is your Amigo complaint?
It means you have won your complaint! Do you know how much you have paid to the loan so far? You said you were about half way through.
John says
Hi
Yes it would work out just over £6.5k off £7.5k although this is for current loan my complaint was for all. My guarantor complained regarding current loan
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, then I suggest you reply that you are happy they have upheld your complaint about the current loan but if they have rejected your complaints that the previous loans were unaffordable, you will be sending the case to the ombudsman.
At least you don’t have to worry about making the current repayments on time – now they have removed interest, missing payments can’t affect your credit rating and obviously your guarantor is now safe.
So if it take FOS a few months to look at your complaint about the older loans, you can just sit tight and wait for the answer.
John says
Thanks Sara
You are an absolute star and cannot thank you enough the stress and worry over the past few weeks has been difficult.
Thank you
John
Josh says
Hi Sara
Great news I’ve won my complaint, guarantor removed alson, they have said I have to wait 5 days while they remove the interest I’ve incurred on all loan,how do they do this?
I was adamant I wouldn’t win my case because I have no luck so I’d advise anyone to complain ASAP
Josh says
Is there a way you can work out interest please? Won my complaint so wanna try and figure out, good luck to everyone that’s complained be positive
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you had a loan and 5 top ups?
Here is an example I gave for someone previously on how to work out the numbers: https://debtcamel.co.uk/how-to-complain-guarantor-loan/comment-page-9/#comment-317827
John says
My guarantor got a call within five days of complaint asking what they could have done better and now within that five days I e received an email stating he will be removed from the loan and all interest paid refunded. Anyone reading this get your guarantors to complain as my initial complaint isn’t due to be sorted til mid November and guarantor complaint was done in five days.
Sarah H says
Hi Sarah i have received an email back from ameigo after offering them a reduced amount. After your previous advice. My gurantor is my partner and we are no longer working. Im suffering from depression and anxiety and have a brain condition. My partner is a carer for our adopted daughter. Amegio have now agreed to all communication via resolver. They asked for an income and expenditure form to be filled in and for proof of income. So i sent the past year universal credit statements.
Sarah H says
This is their reply Thank you for sending your figures over. I am afraid I am not quite clear though so can you confirm the following?
1. I have your total income as £1545.00 monthly. Is that correct?
2. The total amount you pay to your other creditors is £247?
3. If the above are correct, you are left with £158.00
Can you tell me why your income has reduced so much?
We can of course consider reduced payments but we would expect to be treated fairly amongst your other creditors.
Can you advise if the £241 is a reduced payment or contractual?
We do not expect you to pay more than you can afford but I also want to help you in repaying this debt as quickly as you can. Reduced payments would mean there would be a negative impact on your credit file, a default notice would be issued and Richard would have the option to pay the shortfall.
The £241 is for a car we have and need to attend hospital appointments with our daughter. What do you think thanks Sarah H
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you reply that the £241 is for car finance, so the loan is secured and you can’t reduce the payments. Add that you need the car for hospital appointments and your adopted daughter has autism so public transport is impractical.
Sarah H says
Thank you Sarah the thing is my gurantor is my partner so we are both getting the same income which is im confused as to how they can say that he will have the option to pay the short fall. Surely they can see that. Thanks Sarah H
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you also tell them that. They aren’t thinking very clearly about your situation.
has your partner put in a complaint and asked to be removed as the guarantor?
Sarah H says
Hi Sarah yes he put one in on the 15th of September and they replied saying that they have eight weeks to come back to me with a decision. Thanks Sarah
Sarah H says
Hi Sarah if we claim disability benefit for our daughter are they allowed to include this as part of our income. Because this is for our daughter? Thanks Sarah H
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes it is part of you income BUT you are also allowed to include the extra expenses because of your daughter’s disability… With autism, this can be a wide range of costs. I have seen people paying for a child to go swimming every day or who have very large bills each month for repairing doors and furniture that ha been broken.
I think you may find it useful to go to your local Citizens Advice and ask them to help you draw up an Income & Expenditure
afaq tariq says
Hi amigo has not replied to my email, but I just opened my amigo statements and I can see I have got a refund of nearly 5k. So from £10,214 balance my remaining balance is now £5300. They have completely ignored my request for all previous loans and they have only refunded for the recent one. Also they haven’t opted out my gurantor the loan and has not given me an option for a smaller affordable payment plan as I told them i dont have any job when i complained. What shall be my next move from here shall i sent the complain to the financial obsduman as they have not refunded me for all the loans they should have.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
phone Amigo up and ask why you have not been sent a response to your complaint. If they confirm that they have refunded the current loan, ask them to confirm that your guarantor will be released and that you can set up an affordable payment arrangement while you send your complaint about the earlier loans to FOS.
afaq tariq says
Is it withing my rights to get the guarantor released and set up affordable payment plan?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
if they have decided the last loan is unaffordable, that is what should happen.
Elaine says
I wanted to let you know, I had an email from Amigo last week upholding my complaint and they have cleared my outstanding balance of just over £2500 and have also agreed to pay me £2000 in interest. Thank you so much for your help and guidance, hope you all get the right results.
P says
Hi Elaine
Well done! Please can you give a brief overview of your case to help me and others – for example number of loans, years of loans,time frame for replying, did you sent bank statements etc..
P
Emma says
After nearly a year in the FOS queue my George Banco complaint was upheld by the adjudicator. But two weeks later George Banco have rejected the decision and it will now go to the Ombudsman! I think it may be another wait!
Danny says
Hi. My loan has only 2 payments left. (Amigo loans) we have always struggled to pay it. Can I still claim or would it be to late as all the interest has been paid. I have had 2 top ups. We have probably paid about £40k in the last 9 years. Thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is a very good time to complain. You can get refunds for loans which have been completely paid. The fact you have managed to make all the payments so far does not show that the loan was affordable for you – you may have got into other debt problems because you felt you had to make the amigo repayments to protect your guarantor.
I suggest you use the template letter above to put in complaints about all your loans and top-ups.
Joanne Dennis says
Hi
Has anyone had any luck with Buddy Loans and Avant Credit.
Thanks
Jo
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Buddy is a small guarantor lender. So far I don’t think anyone has had Buddy uphold a complaint. There are several from readers at the ombudsman at the moment and here is an ombudsman decision on a Buddy case: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/files/252096/DRN0405312.pdf. That says:
As there’s no evidence that Buddy Loans did properly scrutinise the information provided, or that it asked Mr U to provide documentary evidence to support the expenditure declarations made, I find that it didn’t complete fair, reasonable and proportionate affordability checks before providing Mr U with this loan.
Avant Credit – yes quite a few successes but expect the complaint to have to go to the Ombudsman Use the “large loans” template on this other page: https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/
Lou7 says
Hi all,
Is an adjudicator and an investigator the same thing? I rang amigo and they said it’s just been assigned to an adjudicator. How long does it take for them to make a decision? Info would be appreciated
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes they are two different names for the same role.
MnM says
Hi Sara
Can you please help as I believe Amigo have got my refund incorrect. I have worked it out and if my calculations are correct the they have short changed me.
My loans are as follows
Loan 1 borrowed £2500 paid back £1285
Loan 2 borrowed £2750 top up paid out £950 paid back £2547
Loan 3 borrowed 2500 top up paid out £1450 paid back £3084
Loan 4 (new loan) £3000 paid back £1110
Loan 5 £4500 top up paid out £2000 paid back £834
Loan 6 £9000 top up paid out £4300 paid back £355
Loan 7 £10000 top up paid out £849 paid back £8295
Outstanding loan was settled which had a balance of £9120 (approx) Was 8.8k after last payment but interest accrued due to late payment.
They’ve said I will get £175 and my guarantor will get £1110.
I asked for a breakdown and all I have received are the following:
Interest removed:
Loan 1 374.72
Loan 2 562.56
Loan 3 585.70
Loan 4 595.46
Loan 5 452.40
Loan 6 506. 00
Loan 7 7057.98
No mention of calculations or 8% interest.
Your help will be gratefully received
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can I check the terminology you are using …
“paid out £2000” is that the amount of this top up you received?
“paid back £834” is that the payments you made to this top up?
The payments your guarantor made – are they included in the “paid back” figures? Were they just to one loan, if so, which?
MnM says
Hi Sara
So for instance loan 2 I topped up my loan to £2750 out of that I got £950 paid into my bank. Total monthly payments made on loan 2 was £2547. Hope that makes more sense.
I don’t know how much my guarantor paid as I always paid her back so she has agreed to pay me it when she gets it and yes they are included in all figures.
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, let’s ignore the last loan for the minute, as the last balance you had would have included interest until the end of the loan but it is being settled early, so we can’t estimate the settlement amount from that.
So from your figures I make the interest paid on the first 6 loans:
1 585
2 847
3 584
4 610
5 1034
6 506
So loans 3 & 6 are exactly what Amigo calculated and loan 4 is only out by £15 which could be rounding errors.
Loans 1,2 and 5 look a long way out though. In total out by c. £1,078. That seems very close to the £1100 being refunded to your guarantor….
Amigo will have been deducting the amounts that your guarantor paid… is it likely that those were the loans were your guarantor had made payments? That would make sense but only if your guarantor hasn’t made any payments to the current loan – is that correct?
But none of these figures has any 8% interest added. How long ago were these loans?
MnM says
Hi Sara
The guarantor payments will most likely be on loans 1,2 or 3.
Loan one was taken late 2013
Loan 2 2014
Loan3 2014 and finished paying in 2015
Loans 4,5,6 & 7 was all taken out in 2017.
Many thanks
MnM says
Hi Sara
emails sent from both myself and my guarantor – very quick response from Amigo and this what they have said:
Thank you for your email. Your online statements will display the loan amounts, how much you and your guarantor paid for each of the loans, as well as how much interest accrued each month.
In order to calculate your refund, we calculate how much you paid on each of the loans, compared with the principle loan amount. Any amount that you paid over the principle loan amount was refunded to you, ensuring you did not pay any more than the principle loan sum.
Your guarantor’s payments were refunded to the account and you were liable to repay the principle amount of these payments. Your interest refund was used to cover this, and also settle the remaining balance on your current loan.
After calculating the refund, our Transactions Department have confirmed that you are not entitled to 8% simple interest on your refund. Your refund from the previous agreements were used towards the outstanding balance on your most recent loan. The refund that was paid out to you was from the interest that accrued on your most recent loan. This did not have any 8% simple interest applicable as you did not overpay on your most recent loan.
Can you please advise any further?
I can also confirm the following for my guarantor
Loan 1 refund 357.04 inc 8%
Loan 2 refund 753.87 inc 8%
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Right, three things:
1) “After calculating the refund, our Transactions Department have confirmed that you are not entitled to 8% simple interest on your refund.”
They are wrong. You are entitled to 8% interest on the previous loans, and the total including the 8% interest is then used to offset the balance… I suggest you go back to them and point this out.
2) The guarantor figures. Can you ask the guarantor how large the 8% was for each of those loans? Because while they can deduct the amounts the guarantor paid from your balance, they can’t deduct the 8% interest they have paid to the guarantor. And that will be several hundred pounds on those old loans.
3) loan 5 looks odd. The wrong number on loans 1 & 2 may well be explained by the payments by your guarantor. But not loan 5… CAn you look at the online statements for loan 5, and also loan 6, as the amount from loan 6 used to settle loan 5 is key.
MnM says
Thanks Sara,
I’ve just had this response as I emailed saying that I’m not happy and will take to FOS
As explained in my previous email, your refund was not entitled to 8% simple interest as you did not make an overpayment. We removed all of the interest that accrued on your loans, leaving you only liable for the principle loan sum. As you had use of these funds, we still expected this amount to be repaid.
They are not sending me statements saying they are online. I can only access loan 7 which was my most recent.
Would I be as well just sending this to FOS as I think I’m just going to go round in circles with them.
Many thanks
shan says
HI Sarah , Thank you for getting back to me,
i have spoken to my mum about this and she is happy to come off being the guarantor. she is just worried that she will be left paying off the loan which is unfair. I have other Priority debt such as renat arrears and council tax that i ma struggling to pay as my amigo loan monthly repayments at £395 a month which is just under half of my salary every month. i have a 6 yr old daughter and is is becoming near enough impossible to take care of her needs with all this money coming out. i understand and appreciate i took out the loan but i was in a differnt job at the time that allowed me to have over time so it was not so bad but now i am in a different job i no longer had the same opportunity. i do keep up with my payments with amigo because i dont want to put my mum in any trouble but is a massive stress for me that i can no longer take .
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok so it sems best if you put an affordability complaint and your mum does as well.
There is a slightly different template letter for a guarantor , it’s on this page https://debtcamel.co.uk/amigo-complaints-by-guarantor/ – she could go to her local Citizens Advice for help., but many people feel they can manage the first complaint themselves and only go to CAB if Amigo reject their complaint and they want assitence to send the complaint to the ombudsman.
If she wins her complaint OR if you win yours, she will be removed as a guarantor. And when that has been done you can reduce your paymenst to Amogo so you can clear your priority debts.
If you win your complaint, the interest is also removed from what you owe.
This may sound complicated, but thats just because there are a lot of “ifs” at the moment. Just get both complaints kicked off and see how they go, then it is usually pretty clear what happens and not confusing.
shan says
Thank you Sarah, we put our complaints in yesterday. so praying we hear soemthing back soon I will keep you updated with how we get on . x
Aiden says
Thanks for this message, I have struggled with depression over the period of the loan. I am happy to pay back what I borrowed, but I struggle to keep up with the 50% interest with amigo. I hope it all goes well! wish me luck!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Good luck!
PS I removed your surname. most people prefer to just use their first name here.
Sarah Reid says
Hi so today I spoke with the FOS adjudicator assigned to my complaint who advised that they would need to see my bank statements of at least a month before the loan was taken out. Without this information they would not be to assess affordability as they need to see evidence of income and expenditure. They stated that it would be very difficult for them to uphold without these statements.
At the time of the loans I had a different bank account and have today to requested these statements manually to help support my complaint.
I hope the above helps some of you who are waiting and who have not already sent in their bank statements to do so.
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is what normally happens. You can usually get bank statements from closed accounts but it gets harder if they are over 6 years ago.
Stacy says
Hi my 8 weeks are up in 21st with amigo, I message last week to say my mental health is bad with stress, they just message to say they have spoke to person looking after my case and I will hear either today or tomorrow, I’m a nervous wreck, do the give you figures on the 1st decision or do you wait for them, wish me luck
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Just wait for the decision! I hope you get it soon.
afaq tariq says
Hi thats the response i got from amigo.
With regards to the statements you have provided relating to your first two loan agreements, we will not review these statements as at the time you completed our payout process there was no reason for us to request any additional information. we had no concerns with the information you’d provided and you were managing all of your creditors very well.
As explained above, a member of our team will be in contact in due course to review your statements and the information you have provided.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So Amigo have upheld your complaint about the last loan but not the previous two, is that correct?
Have they agreed to release your guarantor from the current loan?
Yes you can send the complaint about the previous two loans to the ombudsman, but you also want to get the guarantor released from the current loan and an affordable payment arrangement agreed for the balance – that way you can sit back and relax as the complaint goes through the Ombudsman however long it takes.
To send a complaint to the ombudsman, see If the lender rejects your complaint, go to the Ombudsman in the article above where there is a link to the page on the ombudsman’s website.
afaq tariq says
I can just see they have refunded me for the latest loan while I was checking my amigo statement on their online portal. They said they ll give me decision on friday 18th. So seeing that the around £4800 was refunded they have accepted my complaint for my latest loan and hopefully would release guarantor tomorrow and agree to a affordable plan.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, so wait until you have their response. You can’t send anything to FOS until you know what they have said as you are just making guesses at the moment. You may be quite right! But it’s better to wait and be sure.
James says
Sara, question. Amigo gave me my redress figure last week, today they’ve paid the refund to me on my amigo account but it is £3.6k lower, I can see they have added a debit of £4k and a credit of £400 on my account before processing the refund so it looks like they’ve given me the wrong figure in the first instance.
They even contacted me today to say my refund had processed and didn’t mention anything about the fact that the refund was £3.6k lower than the redress figure provided to me last week.
I have budgeted and commited to other creditors that I will pay off debt equal to the total redress figure so if they do say they made a mistake, where do I stand?
This was an adjudicator decisions that amigo accepted.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“I can see they have added a debit of £4k and a credit of £400 on my account before processing the refund so it looks like they’ve given me the wrong figure in the first instance.”
But why should they have added such a large debit?
Did your guarantor make large payments?
James says
Hi, no all loans fully repaid. Guarantor made no payments to any of the loans.
Last week they gave me my redress figure of £13.6k, they made all the adjustments on my amigo statement and I could see the £13.6k sitting there as a credit, when I called them they said it was in a queue for payment to me.
Today, they have added a debit of £4620 (which is equal to one of the credits they added last week) and added a credit of £462 so it looks like they added too much last week and corrected it today.
They then processed the refund of £9.8k and emailed to confirm that my refund had gone through, they didn’t mention it was lower than I was expecting, i only spotted because I just logged in.
Obviously I’ve emailed them to ask what’s going on but is there written redress offer last week binding, this shouldn’t be allowed.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you go back to your adjudicator and say what a mess this has left you in.
EDIT Amigo have paid an extra £250 because of this error.
Josh says
How long did it take you to be refunded, we were told we were being refunded phoned yesterday to find they haven’t even actioned the refund yet.
Dan says
After upholding my complaint on friday, amigo have deducted £4100 from my balance and it now only stands at £2500 with no more added interest.
Looks like a lot of people are winning against them its so important to send bank statements with the complaint
Amy says
Hi Sara, just wanted to provide a quick update on my Amigo complaint. Submitted my complaint 23rd Aug, had a response 11th Oct to say they are upholding my complaint.
I borrowed £4000 for 24 months then a year later topped up to £5000 over a term of 36 months which finished last year. Amigo said they would confirm the redress figure within 5 days, so I’m expecting a response today exactly 4 weeks since I submitted the complaint. They did not ask me for bank statements or any further info and upheld straight away on the basis that they could of asked more about my financial situation.
So happy as I was expecting this to be rejected on the basis I only took 1 loan and 1 top-up. Just wondering what kind of timeframe I should be looking at for payout if I receive the redress figure today?
Thank you so much Sara, you have been such a lifesaver for me.
Josh says
Can anyone tell me how long it takes amigo to actually pay the refund once they have agreed it?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
normally a few days. Ask for a breakdown of how they calculated it by loan if you had more than one loan.
Stacy says
Hi had my response from Amigo turned me down on all loans, so off to Ombudsman man, my mental health is at crisis point, with all this, do I have to send the cd to Ombudsman man if o do how do I do this, what do I need to send to Ombudsman
Thank you
Just to add Amigo want me to fill I’m.a mental health questioner? What should I do please
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I’m very sorry that this has to go to FOS.
The easiest way is to complete FOS’s online form: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/contact-us/complain-online. This asks for small things they need to know which you might not think to put in an email – how you want them to contact you, if this is a joint claim with anyone else, etc. You can attach files to that – the important one is Amigos rejection to you.
FOS can get all your case records from Amigo so you don’t need to send them the CD.
Then when you have done that, wait until Monday then phone them on 0800 023 4567 and explain all the problems with your depression and anxiety, how you are on PIP and how you had two strokes in 2014 caused by stress and you are feeling pretty desperate at the moment.
Stacy says
Thank you so much
What do I need to put as my complaint do i need to go into details everything or will they contact me also how do i send bank statements what other evidence do i need to send
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You don’t have to go into a lot of details, but just say what happened eg the loans are unaffordable, how when one loan was causing a lot of problems you could see they were offering a top up and you took it even though you now realise that it has made your situation worse. And that you have also taken payday loans in order to be able to pay Amigo. Then put in a bit about your health, PIP and depressions and anxiety.
Do you have your bank statements?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
hi Stacy, is this the same form Satsuma wanted you to fill in?
Can I ask who you guarantor is and could they afford to make the payments? I’m not suggesting you stop paying, but your guarantor could also make a complaint…
Stacy says
Hi sara
No its just alot of question I tried to add it here but cant, no my dad cant hes mental health issues my mum is very ill had a stroke last year and we have just found out its left her brain damage,my dad is useless at doing anything online, I’m at my wits end I’ve been using my pip to pay amigo and my health has suffered so bad I dont see a way out
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is such a difficult situation for you. These guarantor loans are such a horrible product.
When you tell FOS about your own mental health problems, you can also say that your parents health problems are making life even harder for you as you have to keep paying.
FOS really will be helpful – they can look at cases very quickly when they know how desperate someone is that it is affecting their health.
Stacy says
I did send amigo pictures of my prescription
But it seems that wasn’t good enough,unsure what to do about filling that in as the questions are a bit miss leading, I’ve failed to pay this months £335 this is the 1st I haven’t been able to pay
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, look take this a step at a time. First thing is to send the case to FOS.
Then on Monday call them up and explain about your mental health and pressure.
Amigo can wait for a few days.
Sophie says
Hi Sarah, just after a bit advice. 10 weeks ago I used your template and sent it off to amigo reference my loans. They got back to me on the last day of the 8 weeks asking for bank statements which I sent, then 3 days ago asking about transactions on the bank which I replied with what some were for. I still haven’t heard anything back from them should I send them another email asking why its taking so long or has others been on this same situation? Tia
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They don’t seem very fast at this point. I should phone them up mid next week and say they have until the end of the week to reply or you will be sending your complaint to the Ombudsman.
Stacy says
Hi, I’ve sent complaint into Ombudsman, I’ve sent bank statements also, will they tell me if they need more info
Thanks again for all your help x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
well done. Yes they will ask for more information sometimes, but this doesn’t happen a lot unless your bank statements suggest that you have other bank accounts as well, or they are really complicated because it’s a joint bank account… Try to switch off for the weekend!
Stacy says
Just need to pay this months £335, them see what happens
Have a great weekend x
MnM says
Hi Sara
Complaint now escalated to FOS.
Amigo will not uphold the 8% simple interest on loans 1-6 (of 7 loans). Their response again after retrying was
Thank you for your email. The 8% simple interest is calculated on the
overpayment from the date of overpayment to the date of settlement. As the
majority of the interest refund from your previous loans was used to cover
the outstanding balance of your existing loan, 8% simple interest was not
applicable to this amount. After settling your existing loan, an
overpayment of £157.37 remained outstanding to be paid to you. Therefore,
the 8% simple interest was calculated on this amount, as this was the
amount you overpaid by. I can confirm that your 8% simple interest refund
was sent as a faster payment transaction today.
I would like to assure you that our interest calculations are in line with
decisions made by the Financial Ombudsman Service and that this is likely
how they would request for a refund to be calculated if they received a
complaint such as this.
Let’s see what the FOS say about it.
I would highly suggest others to check their refunds too as this appears to be the way they are conducting their calculations.
Thank you for all your help x
Matthew says
Hi everyone, so amigo have upheld my complaints, do they normally take the 5 days to send an offer?
Thanks
Lara says
Mine was only three days but I only had 1 loan so it was simple.
Jake S says
When you’ve paid a loan off with a top up do they take that into consideration with a refund or is it just on payments you’ve made?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
With a top-up, you have settled the previous loan – they have to take that settlement amount into their calculations.
A simple one top-up example – these are made up numbers, not necessarily realistic:
Loan 1 – you borrow £2000. You make 10 payments of £98 adding up to £980.
Loan 2, the top-up loan- you get a new loan of £4000. This is split so £1,720 is used to settle the previous loan and you get £2280 in cash. You then make 15 payments of £160 adding up to £2,400
If your complaint is upheld so both the loan and the top-up is unaffordable and should be refunded, the rough refund calculations look like this:
Loan 1 – borrowed £2000, repaid £980 plus settlement amount £1720 = £2,700. So overall you have paid £700 in interest. (To this refund 8% statutory interest will be added, depending on how long ago the payments were but let’s ignore that here.) This is used to repay part of the current loan.
Loan 2 – borrowed £4000, repaid £2,400 plus the £700 refund from the first loan = £3,100. So you now only owe £900 (that’s £4000 minus £3,100 – actually it will be a bit less because of the extra statutory interest added to the refund for loan 1.)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
In the above example if Amigo had only agreed to refund the current loan, not the original one, the refund figures would be:
Loan 2 – borrowed £4000, repaid £2,400. So you now only owe £1,600.
If this happens to you, it may well be worth taking your complaint about loan 1 to the Ombudsman. the fact you needed such a large top-up before the first loan wasn’t even half paid suggests the first loan was making your finances very difficult!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Also see my reply to Dan in the next comment where I list all the other things that Amigo has to do if they uphold a loan but you still owe a balance on it. eg your guarantor is released and you can make a lower payment arrangement.
Dan says
Hi sara,
Amigo have made the adjustment to my loan after removing interest. They say they have now frozen interest but it has continued to go up.
Also they upheld the complaint on 11th and interest has been added each day even whilst they were doing their calculations.
Surely they are breaching their agreement by doing this. What should i do?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Amigo seem to be making a mess of implementing their decisions after upholding some complaints.
If you are left with a balance on your current loan, this is what should happen:
1) they should have removed your guarantor from the loan.
2) they should remove all the interest from the current loan, so that in total you only repay the amount you borrowed.
3) if any previous loans are being refunded, the interest from those loans, plus the 8% statutory interest, should be used to reduce your balance further.
4) they can’t add any more interest or any more charges to the current loan.
5) if you are struggling to make the current repayments, they should allow you to set a lower payments amount, or to include the loan in a debt management plan.
6) they should have removed any negative marks on your credit record for the loan and can’t add any more in future if you have a payment arrangement or a DMP.
From what you have said, they are getting (4) wrong. Go back to them and tell them to correct it!
But at the same time also check they have done all the other points…
– If you aren’t sure about (3) ask for a breakdown of how they did the refund calculation. You want to know for each loan – what you borrowed, what you paid them, what the settlement amount was (if any), what interest and charges they are refunding, how much 8% statutory interest they have added.
– If you want to reduce your monthly payments, tell them this.
Dan says
OK thanks sara
Ill ring them tomorrow and tell them to rectify point 4 and check point 3.
I didnt realise u get the 8% stat if the loan balance isnt cleared?
Are amigo difficult when people challenge their mistakes?
Dan
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“ I didnt realise u get the 8% stat if the loan balance isnt cleared?” you should get it on loans that have been repaid.
Are they difficult? Well they aren’t exactly helpful… you may have to say you want the Ombudsman to look at their calculations.
Dan says
Hi sara.
Just to update i spoke to amigo on the phone and they have apologised for their errror. I got them to email in writing that interest would be frozen now and that id get a refund of accured intrest that theyve added after upholding.
However still they seem to be a bit all over the place as theyve taken off roughly £11 as opposed to £60.
Ive also asked for their breakdown of refund and they said it will be 5 working days. However the guy said the 8% does not count unless u get an actual refund for overpayments so im not due 8% on first loan even though it was technically cleared by top up.
Is this correct? They are so difficult
Dan
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am double checking the 8% question.
Jenny says
Hi I made a complaint a few weeks ago and have received my cd of information right back to 2013. Right from the start any phone calls I made were all about affordability and how I was toiling paying back. How long should it be before I hear anything else from them?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Jenny, you probably won’t hear anything more until the last of the 8 weeks, and for many people it is the final day.
Is this Amigo? Did you have top ups from them?
afaq tariq says
Hi if I win the case can I request back payment i cheque if there is an existing loan or I cant
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No you can’t, a refund on a previous loan will be used to reduce the balance on the current loan.
(There is a possible exception if you are just about to lose your home because you have rent or mortgage arrears.)
Jenn says
I had a £9.250 loan in December 17, I agreed to pay 21k back over 5 years loan was due to be finished in feb 2022. I pay £365 a month. I’ve worked out I’ve payed £8.500 and £10.500 interest. Will I only need to pay the £9.250 back
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This was your first loan from the lender?
Yes, if you win your affordability complaint, all the interest is removed, so you only have to repay what you borrowed.
Ignore what Amigo’s statements say, just add up how much you have paid them in total, doesn’t matter if Amigo say it’s interest or not. So is you have made 21 payments of 365 then that is £7665. Getting quite close to the £9250 you borrowed.
I’ve assumed it’s Amigo, but the same applies to all guarantor loans.
This is a very large loan with large monthly payments for a long time. If Yiu had a poor credit record, the lender should have checked very carefully that you could manage the repayments. If the lender didn’t verify your income and expenses, eg by checking your bank statements, you probably have a very good complaint.
Jen says
Hello Sara, yes I won my case- no this was a top up. My main loan was £1000 and 7 top ups since August 2016.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So did Amigo only uphold the last loan? Because refunds from the earlier loans will probably more than clear the outstanding balance.
Jenn says
Hello. No they upheld all ov them :). Just waiting 7-10 days to see if it’s cleared my loan and see if I get anthing back…
My next payment of 365 is due next week, do you think I should pay it.?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you are pretty safe to cancel that payment! If there is a small amount left, you can arrange to pay it at a more affordable rate.
C says
Hi, Amigo have upheld my complaint. They have said ‘we believe that the fairest option is to remove the interest that accrued on your loans and remove any negative trace of these loans from your credit file. We’ll also be removing your guarantor’s liability from the loan moving forward. To calculate your refund, we’ll remove the interest that has so far accrued on your loan. If the repayments you have made exceed the capital loan amounts, the overpayment will be refunded to you along with 8% simple interest.’
What does this actually mean? Is it in simple terms, they will calculate how much interest I have paid to date (I think this is around £10,500), there is currently £3,225 outstanding on the loan so they will deduct this amount from the ~£10,500 and refund me the remainder plus 8% interest or I have calculated this completely wrong?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Great news. If you look at https://debtcamel.co.uk/how-to-complain-guarantor-loan/comment-page-12/#comment-323094 I suggest how to calculate this on a 1 loan, 1 top up example. If you had several top ups, you just keep repeating the loan calculation- taking the amount you actually paid plus the amount from the next top up used to settle the previous loan.
C says
This looks very complicated for my little brain. I have a copy of the Amigo statement for my top-up. Do I simply look at how much I paid each month and deduct the amount for interest accrued and then this is amount I actually paid in interest e.g.
monthly repayment £256.91
interest accrued £216.57 (this fluctuates hugely each month for no apparent reason)
so for this month I actually paid £40.34 in interest.
Josh says
Hi,
Can anybody tell me whether amigo has a time limit in which to refund the amount they have awarded you?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
28 days is what FOS usually says. But amigo are faster than that!
Josh says
2 weeks so far, they reckon there is a backlog supposedly the manager isnt happy and is pushing our refund through as priority but knowing amigo I doubt that’s true.
C says
Just had refund letter from Amigo – I am receiving £10,466 refund. Said I should receive it in-between 5-7 working days. Very happy girl.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Not surprised you are happy!
But it’s worth asking Amigo for a breakdown of how they have calculated this – for each loan how much interest you borrowed, how much you paid, what the settlement amount wam how much interest you paid and how much 8% statutory interest they have added.
C says
This is the detail they’ve sent me:
Borrowed £6,500
Total paid £11,047
Overpayment to be refunded £4547
8% interest £217
less 20% basic rate tax £54
Net compensatory interest payable £4,764
Borrowed £5,500
Total paid £10,128.06
Overpayment to be refunded £4628
8% interest £1073.71
less 20% basic rate tax £268.43
Net compensatory interest payable £5701
Any idea why I would be receiving considerably more simple interest on the £5,500 loan against the other one?
Thanks
Brad says
Sent my complaint letter across using your template yesterday including bank statements.
When I first took out the loan they did ask for bank statements but didn’t question anything on them or even my income, at the time I was self employed and didn’t know what I was getting each week to the other, they also asked for a utility bill and even that was a letter from my utility company saying my payment was late.
I have sent the 3 months prior to the loan of bank statements which show myself going overdrawn up to 6 times in a month, Heavy gambling, failed direct debits, Payment plans with other company’s and having only around £20 left after each months ins and outs.
My loan was for £3,000 with monthly repayments of £185 which were 7/10 late payments including me having to call them to buy a bit more time for a lot of the payments for ex “I really can’t afford this months payment, please can I pay it in 10 days from now” It even got to the point on 2 months where because my payments were late the money came out of my guarantors account.
I got an email back from them stating that my complaint has been made to the relevant team and that they will be sorting my subject to access but have 30 days for that.
Thank you so much for this site honestly although I have now managed to sort my finances out and am not in any debt anymore the refund would be a huge bonus. Do you think I have a strong case?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
they also asked for a utility bill and even that was a letter from my utility company saying my payment was late.
oops!
No way should they have given you a loan if they had seen bank statements with heavy gambling.
If you win (and it sounds like a very strong case!) then any payments your guarantor made will be returned to them.
Brad says
As in the full £185 monthly payments or just the interest on that?
Thanks for a speedy reply too :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Your guarantor would get the full payments they made. Plus 8% statutory interest.
Has the loan been repaid?
Brad says
Yes it was fully repaid and has been since may this year.
I did pay my friend within a day or two on both occasions when the money came out of his account.
If they do uphold my complaint will they deduct these payments from my interest refund? Sorry for so many questions.
So from what I gather I would be entitled to the full interest +8% of the loan -2 Payments worth of money as that would be getting refunded to my friend.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The full interest +8% of the loan -2 Payments worth of money as that would be getting refunded to my friend.
That’s right.
Your guarantor will be contacted by Amigo if you win the complaint – I think they can say they are happy for the money to be repaid to you. Might they be prepared to do that?
KF says
HI Sara,
I thought id just update…. I’ve had a response from Amigo (Earlier than expected) and I am pleased to say that they have upheld my complaint…. Here is what they have said!
Our decision
I’m sorry that you felt the need to complain to us. Having considered the information available to me, I’ve upheld your complaint. This is our final response.
Our reasons
As part of my investigation, I’ve reviewed the payout process that you completed when you applied for the loan. This included the income and expenditure assessment that you completed, and the results of our search on your credit file.
Having done so, we feel that we could have asked you more about your financial situation before the loan was paid out. Therefore, we believe that the fairest option is to remove the interest that accrued on your loan and remove any negative trace of this loan from your credit file. We’ll also be removing your guarantor’s liability from the loan moving forward.
Happy Happy!
KF says
Moving Forward
To calculate your refund, we’ll remove the interest that has so far accrued on your loan. If the repayments you have made exceed the capital loan amount, the overpayment will be refunded to you along with 8% simple interest.
If your loan is not settled as a result, we’ll stop any interest accruing in future. This means that all future payments will go towards the capital loan amount.
We’re currently in the process of calculating your refund, and will contact you within 5 working days to confirm what this will mean for you and your current loan.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Excellent. So your balance must now be a lot lower… you can arrange to repay it at a lower monthly rate if you want.
KF says
I’m waiting to see what the final balance will be, so far with this months payment I would have paid back £4,742.88 since the loan was taken out.
If I’m working it out correctly and they have removed all past interest and future interest I would only have £257.17 left to make from a £5k loan.
Would that be Correct?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sounds right – you must be so relieved!
kf says
I’m delighted to have this off my back, I am going to pay it all off in one go and be done with it.
Thank you for this and all your help, its a huge weight off of my shoulders.
Good luck to everyone else!!
afaq tariq says
Hi first of all great news Amigo have agreed that they should have done further checks on me for my last loan and have agreed to refund £5200. Extremely thankful to Sara and the whole team. In the email they wrote they haven’t mentioned anything about the guarantor being removed or affordable payment plan being agreed.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is good news! You need to ask Amigo to confirm that they are releasing your guarantor. And that you can now make a lower monthly payments to them.
BUT three things:
1) can you say something about your previous loans with Amigo? I think you said there were 4 ? how long ago? How large? It may be worth taking your complaint about these to the Ombudsman.
2) have you also complained to UK Credit and TFS? Have you heard from these?
3) your first comment said you were didn’t have enough money for food and were about the be made homeless. Is you situation still as bad?
afaq tariq says
Hi amigo have not considered my previous loans saying that they did checked properly and also I have complained tfs and ukcredit waiting to hear from them. I just called and confirmed with amigo they have stopped charging me interest and they would agree an affordable payment plan with me.
At the moment i am living with my aunt and eating food from there.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, so you need to cut right back on what you are paying Amigo until your other guarantor loan complaints are decided – they are now more important than Amigo as the Amigo one now can’t hurt your guarantor. And start paying your Aunt for your board and lodging – at least some!
You should send the complaint about the rest of the Amigo loans to FOS as it would make a big difference to your debts if you got back the interest on those. You can start a FOS complaint here: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/contact-us/complain-online. It can be much the same as the complaint to Amigo. For example, you could say every time you took an Amigo loan they should have seen that your financial position was worse.
Jack P says
Amigo agreed to refund 2 of my loans 12 days ago now. It took them 3 days to calculate the payout and now it’s sitting with the “transactions” team.
Is this normal? Is there anyway to push them into action?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t think it’s normal, but I have just heard that Amigo have switched to deducting tax from the 8% statutory interest. As they should do. It may be this is causing a delay. have you rung up and asked?
Jack P says
Hi Sara, yes a few times and it’s the same line every time, with the transactions team. It’s a large refund circa 10k so just seems like they are dragging their heels.
Jenna says
Hello Sara.
My post from Facebook.
Loan 1- £1000
Top up- £3000- payout £1,969.77
Top up £5000- payout £1,963.72
Top up £5750 payout £779.20
Top up £6250 payout £547.53
Top up £7000 payout £650
Top up £8500 payout £1,511.09
Top up £9250 payout £581.63
Refund back is 329.09
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Jenna,
The “payout” figures – are they the amount you received? eg for the first top up the new loan was £3000 and you got £1969 in cash? That would mean they used £1031 from the first top up to settle loan 1.
The total of the loans is £45,750. Which is what the email from Amigo said. That’s good – when there are so many numbers swimming around it helps to get the basics sorted!
Do you know how much you paid to each of the loans and top ups so far? This is the total of your cash payments, ignore whether amigo says some of it was interest, just follow the cash!
If you can see the loan histories in your online Amigo account the amounts should be there. If not, add up the number of payments you made, so 12 payments of £125 = £1500.
Jenna says
Yea payout is the monies I received.
I can check my SAR for all payments made.
I have a statement on amigo saying what interest they have took off. Do u want me to put that on here?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I prefer to work from the cash movements – they are the most important things.
But if you post those figures too, they may give some clue as to what Amigo has done.
Jenna says
Ok I hope this is more understandable ( I confused myself there lol
Loan 1 £1000 1 payment £48.79
Loan 2 £3000 1 payment £119.00
Loan 3 £5000 1 payment £197.62
Loan 4 5,750 1 payment £227.27
Loan 5 6,250 3 payments £247.03
Loan 6 7000 1 payment £277.00
Loan 7 8,500 1 payment £335.96
Loan 8 9250 first payment of £365.61 6 th November 17 last payment 1st October 19
Hope this is more helpful
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok that makes more sense.
I make the total interest paid £1,704 (but that is dependent on you getting the numbers all right and me typing them in right, it’s pretty easy to make mistakes). Basically as you only made 1 payment to most of the loans, you haven’t paid a huge amount of interest overall, but it’s more than Amigo have calculated.
The £56,629 total payments made on the amigo email is wildly out. So their estimate of a Refund Due at 10k is also very wrong…
And the next line makes no sense at all as it shows the huge balance less the big refund leaving a 10k to be paid then it says you get a refund. You can ignore the 8% calculation as until the other figures are right that is meaningless.
I’ll email you a spreadsheet. I can’t paste it in here as all the column formatting goes.
I suggest you double-check all the figures and then go back to Amigo and say you want a breakdown showing the numbers for each loan:
amount borrowed, total of monthly payments, settlement amount, total interest paid, 8 % interest added.
Joe says
I have had 4 loans with amigo and during them I was on a debt management plan during two and borrowing heavily from pay day loan lenders. I have put a complaint in using some templates from your site. I was also in 1000 overdraft every month. Do I have a good chance of getting something back
I have sent my complaint away last week along with bank statements round about the time of the loans to see if that helps the process
Andy says
They normally reply on the last day of the 8 weeks or in my case a day before , just a heads up , good.luck
Dan says
Hi Sara
Please update us all when you hear anything on whether amigo should add stat 8% on a loan thats been settled but when u still have a balance (not made overpayments)
Also 118 have said they will remove the loan from credit file completely. Amigo have not stated this but is it something they should be doing? Basically is it worth me asking them?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
FOS says a lender should remove any negative marks. A loan with no negative marks doesn’t harm your credit record, this isn’t worth worrying about.
Jim says
Hi Sara,
I hope that you are well!
I am a returning poster.
I have received my DSAR’S from TFS Loans and Amigo Loans.
I have the following question:
If in the event the lender upholds an affordability complaint and agrees to remove the interest and refund any over-payments made, do they do this on the current outstanding balance or do they include the payments made with interest as part of any potential refund….. sorry, I appreciated I might not have worded this correctly, but have an example of what I am trying to get at.
TFS Loans (CCJ issued against me and guarantor)
– Original loan amount £5,000 (May 2016)
– Total interest paid £1,946.38
– Total monthly installments made in the loan period £786.83
– Full and final figure advised to pay to remove £8,873.18 (paid January 2018)
Amount overpaid £6,606.39
So would I be correct in saying, that if they decide to uphold my complaint, would I get the £6,606.39 back + stat interest?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“If in the event the lender upholds an affordability complaint and agrees to remove the interest and refund any over-payments made, do they do this on the current outstanding balance or do they include the payments made with interest as part of any potential refund”
I think I see what you are asking. When you make a monthly payment the lender allocates part of it to “paying interest” and part to “repaying capital”. This can be confusing when looking at what a refund would be. the simple way to look at it is to ignore how the lender divided up the payments and just look at the cash movements. Add up what you paid them, take away the amount you borrowed and the difference in interest plus any charges (and with a CCJ there will have been charges).
So for your TFS example… sorry, a few questions!
Where did you get the “Total interest paid £1,946.38” figure from?
Is “Total monthly installments made in the loan period £786.83” the total of the cash payments you made? did your guarantor make any of these?
Does “advised to pay to remove £8,873.18” include the court costs?
Was the CCJ settled within 30 does so it isn’t on your credit record?
Was is settled by you or the guarantor?
Jim says
Hi Sara,
The total interest figure paid, is in relation to the corresponding total monthly repayments.
The £786.83 all related to monthly cash payment/instalments paid by me.
My guarantor did not make a payment on any of this loan.
The full and final figure included court costs etc and was paid by my employer.
Unfortunately the CCJ was not settled within 30 days
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“The total interest figure paid, is in relation to the corresponding total monthly repayments.
The £786.83 all related to monthly cash payment/instalments paid by me.”
So I am guessing that the £786 was the part of your monthly cash payments that TFS labelled as clearing the loan? And you actual cash payments each month were 786 + 1946 = £2732.
If that is right, then in all 2732 + 8873 – 5000 = £6,605 was paid in interest plus charges as you say. A refund on this loan would that amount plus statutory interest.
But you should also ask for the CCJ to be “set aside” – that’s the legal jargon for deleted. Someone has to apply to the court to do this. It could be you but it is easier if the lender does it. If TFS say you need to do it, then they should pay your costs which will be £255. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/amigo-ccj-can-still-complain/.
If you didn’t mention the CCJ being removed in your complaint, email TFS now and say you also want the CCJ set aside.
And the guarantor’s CCJ should also be set aside. I wouldn’t mention this in your complaint as you are complaining about what happened to you not someone else, let TFS work it out themselves. But at the end if you have won your case and they haven’t considered your guarantor, you can tell the guarantor and they can promptly complain and say that as the loan was unaffordable for you, their CCJ should be set aside.
Jim says
Also has these loans/top-ups with Amigo … which I will send by another post as my message is too long lol
Loan 1 – amount borrowed £3,000 (June 2014)
Monthly repayments made £146.37 x 18 = £2,634.66
Total interest paid on these installments = £1,733.32
Loan 2 – amount borrowed £6,250 (March 2016) – less balance of loan 1 = payout £3,615.34
Monthly repayments made £267.35 x 20 = £5,347
Total interest paid on these installments = £4,247.86
Payment by third party to close account = £5,144.71 (Jan 18)
Loan 3 – amount borrowed £8,000 (April 2018)
Monthly repayments made by guarantor £316.20 x 7 = £2,213.40
Monthly repayments by me 1 x 316.20
Total interest paid on these installments = £2,078.42
Loan 4 – amount borrowed £9,250 (Dec 18 ) – less balance of loan 3 = payout £1,701.18
Monthly repayments made by guarantor £365.61. x 3 = £1,096.83
Monthly repayments by me £365.61 x 5 = £1,828.05
Total interest paid on these installments (to date) = £3,050.04
Outstanding balance as per Amigo to date = £9,385.73*
Are you able to clarify how much I actually borrowed from Amigo?
I am sorry for this long post and appreciate your advice throughout this nightmare!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You borrowed the sum total of all the amounts you borrowed, so 3000+6250+8000+9250=£26,500. This is legally what your loans add up to, of course you got a lot less cash than that, about £16,000. as the rest was used to settle loan 1 and 3.
Can I check, when you wrote ” – less balance of loan x” that the figure you then gave for the payout was exactly what you received in cash?
The payment by a third party to settle loan 2 – was this the guarantor for that loan?
Did you then repay the third party – was that what a lot of loan 3 was used for?
The “Total interest paid on these installments” line – is this from your Amigo online account showing how much of the monthly payments has been cash? That isn’t the amount of interest paid on the loan…
Let’s take the simple Loan 1 as an example.
Loan 1 – amount borrowed £3,000 (June 2014)
Monthly repayments made £146.37 x 18 = £2,634.66
Total interest paid on these installments = £1,733.32
This was settled with a payment of 6250-3615=2635 from loan 2. So overall you paid 2634+2635= 5269, take away the 3000 borrowed and you have paid 2269 in interest.
Jim says
Hi Sara,
Thank you responding to this as well.
If I am totally honest, I am not entirely sure what is going on… sorry.
Good news is, I received a response before the 8 week deadline and have been informed that Amigo are upholding my complaint, and seems in full.
They have been in touch with both guarantors and informed them that they will be refunding all payments made, with 8% statutory interest…. which is a massive relief for me… it will really help my mental wellbeing.
Jim says
On a separate note from someone who has himself dealt with both physical and mental health issues, either because of the issues concerning guarantor loans or any other matters…. I just want to say to you all, stay strong… dark times happen and you never think that they will get better. I will be entirely honest with you (and I hope that Sara you allow this post), I have considered and attempted suicide, partly from the debt amassed from these loans. Die to ill health, I had no other option to take a guarantor loan out, which consequently escalated my mental health issues.
I just want everyone reading this, particularly those of you suffering with mental health issues…. please stay strong, there is s light at the end of the tunnel…. I was in the same situation as you … feeling negative, hopeless and in your own mindset, knowing nothing would go youyway.
With great thanks to Sara, she had reinvigorated my mindset, through her great support, advice and encouragement.
Sara, there are a lot of people on this site that owe a great deal of gratitude to you. You have honestly transformed lives and you are an saint.
I am still awaiting from two other lenders, however, I have more hope than I have had in a while.
Josh S says
Hi Sara
I’ve won my complaint and after checking my account nearly £9,000 has cleared from my account! Very happy but I’m yet to hear from amigos telling me this, I’m currently in arrears with them but I want to set up a more affordable payment, I’ve emailed them asking them this because they wanted me to clear my arrears Friday and still clear my next payment on 3rd November, just wondered what you think they will say to all this because I want to just stop stressing about it all now
Josh S says
By looks of it they’ve rewarded me on all my loans and they’ve all cleared off my balance, I do have a few debts what now will total to about £5.000 so been thinking of doing a debt management, I’m willing to offer them £187 a month what will clear my balance in 12 months, I just don’t want to pay £385 anymore just don’t want to stress over it anymore
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Good, make sure you ask for a breakdown of how your refund has been calculated, showing what interest you paid on each of your loans. Sometimes there are errors…
If you want to go into debt management, this is the time to do it as your Amigo balance can now simply be included, so you don’t need to negotiate a payment arrangement with them. It’s just a normal loan now, not a guarantor loan.
Tell Amigo you are going to be talking to StepChange about a DMP, see https://www.stepchange.org/debt-info/debt-management-plan.aspx
Josh s says
Also I’ve been looking through my statement and some of the interest when it’s been removed took it to lower than my balance that’s outstanding but it currently stands at £100 more, why will this be? Could they still be working it out?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The amendments Amigo make to your account can be very odd. Jenna’s yesterday (if you look back through the comments) looked like a lot of random numbers.
This is why you need to ask for a detailed breakdown of the refund. You can’t work it out by scratching your head over the numbers they have given you so far.
Sophie says
Good news for me amigo replied a week before response was due. They didn’t ask for bank statements which I’m shocked about and have upheld my full complaint. They’ve now just requested confirmation of my guarantor my mum wants a refund I If the payments she made and this would be offset against my refund I think? My mum is not bothered about this money. The loan is repaid (even though I’m still gradually paying a family member back ).
I’m so chuffed and cannot thank you enough. Is there a way I could see my figures from of likely amount due x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That’s great – and also that it was early than the end of the 8 weeks.
If your mum says she doesn’t want a refund, it should be treated as though you made all those payments.
Did you just have the one loan from them?
Sophie says
This why I’m happily surprised they’ve agreed as I only had one loan and 1 top up.
September 2014 4K
Top up to 5k on May 2015
Paid off on December 16 ( with borrowed £)
I hated this loan and it caused me so much distress! I feel so happy something is being done about their practices. And this sites input has been amazing!
It says il get a letter within 5 days from 6th November with a breakdown wish I didn’t have to wait argh x
Daniel Hulme says
hi yes me and my partner have just had are complaint upheld on the 22nd of oct then waited 5 days for the letter but login into are acc last night to see 10000 pound as cleared the loans plus we get 3644 refund which will clear are other debts and will be totally debt free now thank u Sara for this amazing site a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders no more overtime for me and can spend time with the family
Matthew says
Hi, just had my refund offer, £600 more than i worked out, in about roughly 10 days i will have just over 11k which will leave me with only 4k worth of debt, thank you so much sara, you are a god send! This site needs to be shared more with people as i only found you by chance.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Please do share this on Facebook, Twitter or any online groups you are a member of. With no income from it, I can’t afford to pay for advertising so social sharing is the best way to reach people.
Joe says
How long did offer take to come through
matthew says
Roughly about 6 working days from the date when i received that it had been upheld.
Joe says
Thanks. I have sent complaint away for 4 loans with amigo plus 10 bank statements aswell
How long after complaint was first made did u hear from them?
Matthew says
They will take the full 8 weeks to get back to you, good luck!
Anonymous says
Hi Sara.
I received my reply from Amigo a week before the 8 weeks were up and they have upheld my claim and I didn’t even send bank statements.
“To calculate your refund, we’ll deduct the repayments you have made from the capital loan amounts. Any over payments will be refunded to you along with 8% simple interest. We’ll be in touch in the next 7 working days to confirm the payment due to you”
Just wondered if you could help me work out what the refund should be.
1st Loan – May 2010 £3300.00 – Payments made against this loan £2721.42
Top Up – Dec 2011 £3850 – but only got paid out £1344.57 – payments made against this loan £9130.20 – Loan settled Jan 2017
Many Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Loan 1: from loan 2, 3850 -1344= £2506 was used to settle loan 1. so overall in loan 1 you paid 2506+2721-3300=£1927 in interest and charges. To this you need to add 8% statutory interest whuch ius hard to work out exactly but it should be at least 65%, so overall £3,180+
Loan 2: you paid 9130-3850=£5280. It’s harder to work out the statutory interest on that as it depends when you made most of the payments but it may be about 35%, so overall £7,130.
Dean says
Hi
I complained to amigo and they rejected my case many months ago.
My complaint has been with the FOS now for 3 months.. I have sent bank statements and all other relevant docs to the FOS..
How long will it take for an adjudicator to look at this roughly?
Dean says
Whilst writing this email I have received an email from FOS saying that they have sent amigo an email requesting some info.. they have two week’s to do this
Does anyone have a rough idea on how long this process will take before the get me a decision
Lou7 says
Are amigo choosing to uphold old loans but not others? I have seen a few comments saying older loans have been refunded but my adjudicator said they were kicking up a fuss about my old loans.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It seems odd – I don’t know if there is a reason behind why they seem to be taking different decisions.
Lou7 says
Sara do you know the furthest back people have received refunds for?
Jenny says
I had 2 refunded, July 2011 and top up 2013. Full refund at 8 week deadline.
Daniel Hulme says
anybody know how long it takes them to refund money owed to u after giving my bank details
Gemma says
Hi Sara
Just found your website and wondering if I have a case and if it’s worth making a complaint.
I currently have a loan with Amigo Loans for £8000 but before that it was just £3000 and I topped up a couple months later. My mum is the guarantor.
My partner then got a guarantor loan with George Banco for £3000 my mum also being guarantor.
Not long after that my partner got a loan for £6000 from Amigo Loans with my Dad as guarantor. The repayments for my Amigo loan is £316.20 per month and my partners Amigo loan is £237 per month and his George Banco loan is £124 per month.
We weren’t asked for bank statement or any proof of income when we applied to Amigo and surely with me and my partner both being borrowers at one address and then also my Mum and Dad both being guarantors at one address should have been a red flag?
I suffer with anxiety and depression and these loans have crippled me in every way, I have lost my home through rent arrears and currently in a 1 bedroom emergency accommodation with my partner and 3 children and I owe my mum thousands as she has helped support me and got herself into debt because of it.
I’m unsure if to make a complaint as I don’t think I can cope with anymore stress and disappointment.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I’m unsure if to make a complaint as I don’t think I can cope with anymore stress and disappointment.
Look at it this way. Winning these complaints will mean your mum and dad are removed as guarantors.
That will be a huge relief for your parents.
And for you, knowing that nothing you do on the loans can then harm them. You can make payment arrangements or look at other debt solutions such as a debt relief order or even bankruptcy.
You are in a nightmare trap at the moment, making these complaints is a possible way out.
I can’t say you will definitely win. But many people are winning these complaints and your stories – the top-up loans, the rent arrears, both you and your partner getting guarantor loans etc – all make it sound as though you both have a strong case.
I know it can be hard when you have mental health problems to let yourself hope that something you do can really make a difference. But these complaints could do just that.
I suggest you complain to Amigo and your partner complains to Amigo and to George Banco.
The template email in the article above is pretty easy. But if you don’t feel up to it, you could go to your local Citizens Advice and ask for their help.
What are your mum and dad’s finances like?