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
Gemma says
My parents finances aren’t the best and have worsened a lot since helping with the loans I know they have overdraft of around 50k which was only around 30k before we got the loans. As I am on universal credit 95% of my money goes on loans so my mum has been supporting us financially. You are right, I will make a complaint. Do I need to go into detail or just do the generic template?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you use the standard template. If you had rent arrears at the time of the first loan or the top-up you should definitely mention this.
When your partner complains, in his complaint he should put that if Amigo had properly assessed his circumstances, they would have seen how much debt you were already in with an Amigo guarantor loan already.
You could add a sentence at the end saying that you suffer from anxiety and depression and you would prefer to only communicate by email – I am guessing you don’t want to talk to Amigo on the phone…
Michael says
Hi Sara,
I have made a complaint to Amigo regarding loan that was taking out few years back. They have rejected my complaint. What are the next steps.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry to hear that. How old was the loan?
The next step is to send the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman (FOS). I like their online form: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/contact-us/complain-online as that asks you for some details they need which you may not thuink to put in an email, such as your date of birth, whether theis is a single or a joint claim, if anyone is complaining on your behalf etc .
This can be quick and simple if you just use your complaint to Amigo as the basis for what to say to FOS. Or you can delve into the CD that Amigo sent you to see what is in there that may be able to help your case, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/sar-affordability-complaint/.
If you don’t have your bank statements for the three months before the loan, also set about getting them. But don’t delay your FOS complaint, you can add the statements later.
Kelly says
So I’ve had my response
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.
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.
I had a £5000 loan in March 2018 paid £3600 back think the loan altogether was going to be £12000 with the intrest I pay £197 a month will they remove all the intrest and then I’ll just pay back what I owe which would be £1400 thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“will they remove all the interest and then I’ll just pay back what I owe which would be £1400 thanks”
yes, that is what should happen. You can also reduce your monthly payment if it is too high.
Kelly says
If I sent them a email to ask to reduce my next payment would they be able to do this or should I just wait.
Thank you for your help
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You need to ask – they don’t suggest this! What would be affordable for you?
Kelly says
Thank you will reply to the email they sent and ask to reduce it to £100 thank you so much x
Stacy says
Hi sara
Just an update, both my cases are with FOS they are being assed to see if can be seen as a priorit. Amigo are in talks with me to reduce my payments, just sent over my income and out goings, so will see what happens from here.
Thanks again x
Vanessa says
Hello,
I took my first loan out with Amigo at £750 in 2014 followed by a top up £2000 in 2015 and a third top up to £4000 in 2016. I was a student from 2014-17 on student loans and benefits. I have been working part time since late 2017 but have struggled each month to make payment to Amigo. I have lived off credit for a long time and got into debt with payday loans, doorstep loans etc. I feel very ashamed about it all to be honest but I have turned a corner in last 2 years and managed to pay off over £5k of debt with £8k left to go (of which Amigo is £3k). I contacted Amigo on a number of occasions explaining changes in circumstances such as job loss/ex stopped paying child maintenance but they would not reduce my payments at all and said they would go straight to guarantor. Should I include this in my complaint?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry I missed your comment earlier.
If you were given a loan and two top ups when you were a single parent student then you have a VERY strong case to say they should never have given you the loans and all the interest should be removed. So send them an affordability complaint using the template letter above for all the loan and top-ups.
It aslo sounds as though Amigo wasn’t sympathetic when you said you had problems, but they were legally allowed to go after your guarantor. So it’s harder to win a complaint about that.
Abbie says
Hi Sara,
I currently have a loan with Amigo, £10,000 over 5 years. At no point was I asked to provide any evidence of earnings and after changing jobs I phoned to say that my pay date fell after my loan repayment date so needed to change this and potentially adjust the amount as I was earning less but was told it was too late and if the payment and failed it would come from my guarantors card. They were awful on the phone and I ended up paying my council tax late to avoid defaulting on the amigo payment. I ended up doing this more than once and now have a CCJ against me for the council tax.
I have now paid back the loan amount AND more (x31 payments of £394) and have another 29 payments of interest to pay which is devastating!!
I have just received a text to say that they have sent a CD out to me so just wondering if it’s worth me sticking to my guns on this?
N says
I think the problem is if you were in an ok situation prior to taking out the loan that is all they take into account. If you have since fallen on harder times I am not sure you will have too much luck as they were only required to run the checks at the start of the process. However it is 100% worth sticking to your guns you have absolutely nothing to lose by trying.
Personally I hate the company and everything that they do. They give large loans to people with bad credit make them pay back way more than double and insist they are being helpful when actually you have a loan you can’t afford to pay back but if you don’t someone you love will have to pay back the money instead and who knows if they can afford it. Am hoping they go the same way as some of the other payday companies there is no room in the market place for an unscrupulous company like Amigo in my opinion.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The CD they have sent you is not their answer to your complaint, it is just the copy of your personal information that the template letter started off by asking for. You don’t have to do anything with this now – just put it aside in case you need it later.
You will be sent a response to your complaint later, sometime in the 8th week, sometimes right on the last day.
Amigo gave you a HUGE loan over a long period, If you had a bad credit record, they should have realised repaying it may not be easy and have verified your income and expenses eg by checking your bank statements. They didn’t do this…
So there is a good chance you may win your case! Wait until you get the response, then come back here if you are rejected.
Dave says
Hi I have just sent 2 SAR’s to amigo and they have emailed back stating that I must give them the full agreement number (which I dont have)
Any advice?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is odd. Give them your name, date of birth, the email address you would have used for these loans and your home address as it was then. And repeat that you want a copy of all your personal information.
Are these loans old?
Sophie says
Would someone be able to check these calculations for me? Maths wasn’t my strong point! Not sure if I’m doing completely wrong
First Oct 14 : 4500.00
I make 8x 219.55 payments = 1756.40
Top up then to £5000
Previously loan settled payment of £3956.35
Leaving further payout of £1043.65
18 x197.62 then paid
Followed by a settlement paying amount of £4887.94 paying loan off.
So in total I paid £10,201.50
And borrowed £5543.65
So am due a refund of 4657 + 8% interest
Am I on right track here ? Thanks in advance x
Sophie says
Also How on earth would I get an approx figure for n interest initial loan Oct 14 settled jan 17
Sara (Debt Camel) says
There are lots of ways to skin this cat.
I follow a different one because it copes better with the final loan not being repaid (which doesn’t matter for your case) and also gives an interest amount per loan, which you need to guess at the 8% amounts.
Loan 1: borrowed £4500, then paid 1756 in monthly payments then settled it with 3956 – so the interest paid is £1212
Loan 2: borrowed £5000 (the loan total, not the cash you got), then paid 3557 in monthly payments and settled it with £4887 – so the interest paid is £3445.
Overall the interest paid is £4657 – exactly what you calculated! But now you know the refund on loan 1 is £1212, so you can estimate the 8% if you know the date of the top up – do you?
Sophie says
So impressed with myself somehow managed to get correct figure ha! Top up was 27th May 15? Still a bit perplexed re interest.
Thanks this much appreciated I want to be knowledgeable to check they are repaying my correctly!
Sophie says
Hi Sara plot thickens so I’ve just received a payment in my bank account from amigo for £998.73 saying goodwill??? I’m so confused I’ve received no correspondence from them with breakdown yet? And they’ve agreed they were wrong with both loans I presume as my complaint was for both and they upheld both. Panicking now that’ this is the amount they want to give me when I was expecting more like 5k ? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Don’t panic!
Go back to them and request an explanation of how they calculated the refund. Ask for a breakdown showing the interest paid by each loan.
Sophie skeldon says
Thanks! Going to be worried now I just don’t understand. Keep thinking it’s me being bad at math but that’s what I’ve paid as per statements.
Ps sorry posted again by mistake as didn’t think comment had gone through!
Sophie says
So they’ve said it was an error and I was refunded the guarantors money by mistake (my mum) my mum rang up with me there and said she was happy for all the money to go to me, I actually eventually paid that money back to my mum so it’s only fair really. I still haven’t received my refund yet they’ve said it would be 24-48 hours. They said on the phone that the 998.73 has been taken out and of my refund. To save them doing it all again. On reflection I don’t see why. Surely this should come to me anyway?
Also god knows how x2 payments of around 200 each comes to over 900 pound refund surely there can’t be that much interest added. I’m going to wait now for my refund and see what’s what.
Just wondering what your thoughts are? Shall I pursue that this 998.73 should me mine?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am not sure what calculation Amigo are now doing for you.
Where a guarantor has paid some money, you can think of the total refund being composed of two bits A to the borrower and B to the guarantor.
If they are now working out B, then they should not then take A away from this that is quite wrong.
But if they have decided to change your account so all the payments were made by you, then they should work out a different and larger refund amount, C. And then it’s ok to take off what you ave already received, A, because they are just paying you C in two parts
Because the guarantors refund is worked out on a different basis, A + B does not equal C !
When they have come up with a figure, unless it’s obviously fine, I suggest you ask them to explain for each loan:
What you borrowed, what you paid, what your guarantor paid, the settlement amount from the top up, the interest they have calculated and the refund they have calculated for the guarantor and the refund they calculated for you.
Sophie says
They’ve said because I’ve already received the 998 (which was meant to be me guarantors) they are knocking this off what was going to be owed to me. So in effect I think they are saying they are not paying me anything of what the guarantor paid? But had I been aware they were not gonna pay that to me I would have told my mum my guarantor to get it!
All seems so much of a mess! Il await their interesting breakdown!!
Sophie says
So got a payment of 5.1k today woop! Already received 998! Bringing total to 6.1k when I had paid interest of around 4600 … so looks about right to me!!
So happy got there in the end! Thank you so much for all tour help! X
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Phew. What a hassle at the end, but a great result.
Kelly says
Has anyone had any success with UK Credit? I originally complained to them over 12 months ago, they rejected it so sent it to FOS who upheld my complaint, UK Credit have ignored the FOS and it’s now it a queue to be looked at by an ombudsman. Unsure on how long what will take. It’s now over 18 months since I originally complained. The loan was taken out in August 2013 and paid back Feb 2026.
Are UK Credit refunding customers and upholding the FOS decision?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
A decision from an Ombudsman is legally binding, UK Credit will pay out on that. Here is a recent decision against them: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/files/248907/DRN0102618.pdf
I think the number of complaints isn’t that big at the moment so the wait for an Ombudsman shouldn’t be that long.
Andy says
Good morning..
I have had 5 loans with amigo loans.
Loan 1.. 1750 made 13 payments around £90= 1260ish
Loan 2..4000 made 8 payments around £160= 1280ish
Loan3.. 5000 made 7 payments around £200=1400
Loan 4.6250 made 2 payments around £230= 460
Loan 5. 7500 made 37 payments of £297 = 11,000ish
Can any one work out how much of a refund I would be due should all loans be considered, thanks guys, this site is the biggest help ever.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You are missing some vital figures for a calculation.
Your later loans were all top-ups. So some of the loan was paid to you and some was used to settle the previous loan.
If you can list the settlement amounts (or the amounts you received in cash) I could have a go at the numbers.
Andy says
Thank you so much sara
Loan 1 was 1750 topped up to 4000 ,paid off around 1600 and pay out was 3400..
Loans 2 4000 topped up to 5000, paid off 3800 and paid out 1200..
Loan 3 5000 topped up too 6250. Paid off 4800 paid out 1450..
Loan 4 6250 topped up to 7500 paid off 6400 paid out 1080
Loan 5 7500 made 37 payments of 297 per month so far. Just under 11000
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK for loan 1, then you borrowed 1750, paid 1170 and settled with 1600, so the interest was 1170+1600-1750=1020
do the same calculation for loans 2,3 and 4:
Loan 2 – interest paid 1080
Loan 3 – interest paid 1200
Loan 4 – interest paid 610
Last loan you have paid 10989, less what you borrowed gives interest paid so far of £3489.
That lot adds up to £7399
C says
Hi Sara,
I just wanna let you know I’ve now managed to get my monthly payments down from £276 to £144 a month! Leaving me with an extra £132.
I know I’ve already thanked you before but I just wanna thank you again for all the hard work you put in!
Darren says
Hi.
Absolutely gutted, Amigo wont even look at my complaint. They say that because I raised a complaint 2 years ago they will not look at again. Financial Ombudsman also looked at it back then and didn’t uphold.
I complained following my rehab and the complaint was mainly around their treatment of me whilst I was getting rehab. They were contacting me at my rehab unit.
I put in my original complaint amongst other things that I could never afford the loan and I believe it should be cleared. I had no evidence back then of my SAR, bank statements or rent statement.
In my latest complaint I sent my rent statement which shows that at each top up and original loan I was at least 3 months in arrears.
My credit report had also worsened each time.
My bank statements show nothing but gambling transactions, no bills being paid, and constant charges.
My income was also paid into a family members account to try and stop me from gambling. I would get money transferred to me from them to pay essentials but would gamble it.
I am now at a loss as to what to do.
I should never have been given a loan, and at the time I was lying my way round everything just to get the loan to gamble. A look at my statements would have shown how bad my finances were.
I’m a single dad of a 11 year old girl, I am on meds for depression, I am still getting gambling support, I am at high risk of eviction, life is so so hard.
Any advice please ???
I only owe £550 now.
75% of payments since day one were made by either a family member or my guarantor. All on their debit cards.
Have not spoke to FOS yet. Is it worth contacting them ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
First some questions that may sound irrelevant but bare with me as I am thinking about alternatives…
– did your guarantor make payments when asked to by Amigo because you hadn’t paid, or did they pay instead of you when you couldn’t?
– was your guarantor the same for all the loans?
– are you on good terms with your guarantor?
– if you got a refund, would your main aim be to repay your guarantor and other family member or clear your rent arrears or clear other debts?
– Are you in private rented or social housing?
Darren says
Hi.
My guarantor paid more than the monthly payment whilst I was in rehab as she was threatened with an order against her property.
They have also paid when I couldn’t.
Yes the same guarantor, my mother, and we are on exceptional good terms. I owe family over 10k from various debts incurred gambling.
My priorities ( as agreed ) with family is rent arrears followed by two doorstep lenders, then family. Other debts are all on token payments until my situation improves, all of my other creditors have been understanding.
I am in social housing on a short hold tenancy. It’s not a typical ‘council house’, it’s where I should be able to buy at some point ( intermediary rent )
Any advice would be great
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, let’s start off a separate discussion about doorstep lending. Owing two current doorstep lenders is unusual! Who are they? Have you borrowed from either of them repeatedly?
Darren says
Hi. They are old debts taken out before my gambling days were over.
Its Provident and Morses.
Again, I would lie in the past to get hold of any money. A really desperate situation which I regret every day but all I can do is work on my recovery everyday.
To be fair to them both they are being flexible and I’m happy paying them when I have the funds, it’s only several hundred pounds. No charges or interest and mainly there has been no impact on my family ( unlike Amigo)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Right, I suggest you send them both affordability complaints. It’s good they aren’t adding on any more interest but they should never have given you these loans in the first place! See https://debtcamel.co.uk/refund-doorstep-loans/ for a template letter for these lenders.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So the Amigo loans. You could go to FOS and ask them to reconsider your case. That is easy to do but I simply don’t know what they would say. So I am have been asking questions look for an alternative.
This alternative is not clear cut, I think overall it is very positive for you but I am not going to pretend that there are no possible downsides, so I am going into detail so you get the full picture.
Your guarantor could complain and ask to be removed as the guarantor from the current loan and all previous loans, and to have a refund of all the money she has paid Amigo plus 8% statutory interest.
Her grounds for complaining are that YOU should never have been accepted as a guarantor because YOU could not afford the loan repayments. There is a template letter she can use here: https://debtcamel.co.uk/amigo-complaints-by-guarantor/.
(Of course she may also be able to argue that she could not afford the repayments, you haven’t said what her finances are like, but she should be able to get removed as the guarantor simply because you should never have been given the loan. And it will help your situation if that is the reason why Amigo is forced to remove her as the guarantor.)
It is often difficult for the guarantor to PROVE the borrower can’t afford the loan. But in this case it sounds as though it may be quite simple for two reasons:
1. you can supply your mum with copies of your bank statements and other financial details eg your credit record. If the bank statements show gambling, then Amigo should never have given the loan if they had properly verified your situation.
2. the fact that she had had to make a payment as guarantor to previous loans shows you were in trouble and should never have been given a top-up after that.
Your mum’s complaint should include these points – that she has your bank statements showing gambling (she could attache one as evidence), that she has a copy of your credit record and that she had made payments to the previous loans.
Overall I would be pretty surprised if your guarantor doesn’t win this complaint. And Amigo may well accept it straight away rather than make her go to the ombudsman.
She would get back everything she has paid as the guarantor, ie where Amigo had asked her to make payment as you hadn’t. She probably won’t get back any payments she made because you asked her to rather than default on a payment (and that’s why the other family member that made payment for you won’t be able to get a refund). And she should get 8% interest per year on these which can add up to quite a bit if this has been going on a long while.
Great.
BUT Amigo may want to then add back to your loans the amount it has refunded her. Not the 8%, but the refund of payments, on the grounds that if the guarantor hadn’t paid them you would owe this extra money. So you may end up owing more.
Not good.
This can’t be a disaster though – worst case your mum could use some of her refund to sort this out so you aren’t worse off and she is a little bit better off as she gets the 8%.
BUT if Amigo do this, then you now have brand new reasons to complain to them and go to FOS if they reject your complaint. These reasons are:
1) Amigo has not treated you fairly. It is unreasonable that a complaint made by someone else should harm you. This is why it’s important that your mum should make this complaint, it isn’t some joint complaint with you.
2) that you have based your finances around the previous loans having been repaid in full and the current one almost having finished. Point out you have rent arrears which are your priority. (There is a legal principle known as Estoppel that can help you if you have to argue this to the Ombudsman.)
3) and that anyway the loans were unaffordable for you, Amigo (or FOS) has agreed that, so it is completely unreasonable for you to be asked to pay more.
So you may be able to get your unaffordable lending properly considered through the back door of your mum complaining.
What do you think? You must have some questions! Think about going to your local Citizens Advice and asking for their help, you could even go together with your guarantor which would make it easier for them to talk about your possible choices.
Darren says
This is so so helpful, I really appreciate you spending time helping me.
I am going to call FOS on Monday and tell them that when I originally complained I didn’t provide the full details and now that I have the SAR I can provide these. I will also be explaining to them that although still struggling I am in a better place mentally to provide a full detailed breakdown of my circumstances at the time. None of this was provided to them before.
If this doesn’t come off then my mother with my help will raise her own complaint arguing that they shouldn’t have lent to me due to my gambling ( she wasn’t aware of the extent of my gambling at time of loans ) . Whilst I was in rehab she paid around 2K despite not even earning a wage. Every payment has since been made by mum so a further 3k. She has had to increase her overdraft and use credit cards for this.
My mum now manages all of my finances which pays towards the total debts and day to day living. My family have been hit massively through my gambling and anything I can do to make things easier and repay money to them I am desperate to do.
I am deeply ashamed of what I have done and regret a lot of decisions I made. I am now making progress and would love to be able to ease the stress for my family.
Thank you so much for your advice and I will let you know what FOS say on Monday.
Darren says
Hi.
So FOS say they will not look at the complaint again. This really frustrates me as the original complaint was for a number of issues and I only referred to the loans not being affordable.
I will however speak with them again tomorrow as the person i spoke to was not very helpful.
My mum has submitted a complaint to Amigo as guarantor, did this on Tuesday but has not even had an acknowledgment. She sent them another email Friday asking them to confirm receipt and again no response.
There is no possible way this loan was affordable, my credit file was getting worse, rent arrears were building up, and my bank statements show no bills being paid just crazy gambling transactions.
On my first complaint two years ago I didn’t have any of this evidence.
If Amigo just refuse to even look at my mums complaint is an option for me to start proceedings thru small claims court? Has anybody ever done this ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“If Amigo just refuse to even look at my mums complaint”
They can’t refuse to consider her complaint to be removed as guarantor just because they rejected a different complaint by you earlier.
Just take this step by step. No need to even think about a court case at the moment, that is a very long way off.
She has put in a complaint saying that she wants to be removed as guarantor because you could not afford the loans and she has included your bank statements that show you were gambling – correct?
If Amigo reject the complaint, send it straight to FOS.
If they accept it – find out how much she is actually refunded.
And find out if Amigo are adding that amount back on to your loan. If they do, you now have a completely new reason to complain to FOS… see my previous comment.
Marc says
Hi Sara
I had 1 loan with Amigo & 2 Top-ups.
Loan 1 – £3300 – (No Guarantor Payments)
Loan 2 – £4750 – (Topped up after 12 months and a few Guarantor Payments)
Loan 3 – £5000 – (Topped up after 24 months and a few Guarantor Payments)
Note all Guarantor Payments i paid to the Guarantor.
I got loan 2 & 3 upheld and sent in bank statements to prove i was using PayDay Loans
heavily to rob Peter to pay Paul so to say.
I was unable to get statements for Loan 1 (Changed bank and they did not keep them after 5 years),
BUT AMIGO did accept ALL my emails which i kept from the PadDay loan companies 3 months prior to
loan one being taken out. Put them in date order and in a PDF Document for Amigo to look at.
This had shown them that i should not have been given a loan at all!
They accepted this and i’ve now had a refund on ALL 3 loans & 8% interest dating back to
June 2010.
So total refund plus 8% was – £12,400!
Marc says
My mother the Guarantor got a refund of £1160! she gave me back an extra £500 and i told her to keep
the rest (that figure was included my £12,400 refund)
Very Very Happy that i’ve got this interest back, if it wasn’t for your site i dunno how i would
have managed it.
So in total to date with Amigo & Payday loan companies i’ve claimed back £22,670!
A WINNER!
Thanks again for all your help and every one out there stick with it, even if you don’t have
statements from your Bank , you can use all the emails from the PayDay loan companies
(As long as you’ve KEPT THEM) as evidence of your financial situation.
Just waiting now on the WageDay Advance ,Wongo & PayDayExpress payouts next year which well
as we all know won’t be too much but better that a kick in the teeth! around 5-10p in the Pound.
Daniel Hulme says
hi, how long did it take to get ur refund into ur bank?
Marc says
TopUps 2 & 3 where paid inside 4 Weeks for sending in bank statements, loan 1 took about 2 months as the person dealing with my claim was on sick then holiday but got it eventually another month afterwards.
Good luck
p says
hi sara
well i should of been contacted within 4 wks of me accepting the fos decision i rang amigo a day after the 4 wks and there response was ‘well the fos did not give a time scale on when to have yours has to be completed by so we can do it when we like and are dealing with the complaints that have a time scale before you’ i told them they are not going by the fos guidelines but they where having none of it so ive been back to the fos my case handler has emailed them to find out an update, absolute joke.
Ruth says
Hi Sara
Just thought I’d give you a update after sending my bank statements in and amigo refusing my complaint I sent it to the ombudsman and have just had a call to say they have upheld all three loans, I still have a balance but I’m hoping that the interest will clear it, I’m so so happy, can I give you the figures to look at? Thank you so much for helping me.
Ruth says
Hi Sara
Can you have a go of these numbers I can’t make head or tail of it.
Loan 1 £2000 made 3xpayments of £123
Loan 2 £5000 paid out £3080, made 2xpayment of £243.95
Loan 3 £5500 paid out £545.99, made 20xpayments of £268.34 and a balance is left of £3358.
Have I paid enough interest to clear the balance? I am so confused, thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
on those figures i think you have overall paid about £590 more than you have borrowed, Thats £289 interest on loan 1, £441 on loan 2 and on loan three you have only paid 5360, so £140 less than you borrowed. But that will be covered by the interest from loans 1 & 2.
So you should get back a bit more than £590 as 8% interest will be added.
let me know what Amigo calculate it as – they seem to be getting some a bit wrong at the moment…
Ruth says
Thanks so much! I will update you as soon as I get a response, many thanks xx
James says
Hi Sara,
Following your polite advice to consider chasing up Amigo and guarantor loans I’ve had some success.
Amigo – they upheld 2 days before the 8 weeks on 17/10/19 – they said they would send calculations within 5 working days but I appear to be in a backlog and awaiting and email update.
UK Credit – I had a loan £4k on 19/08/13 and topped up twice (to £5k and then to £7.5k). They rejected first loan as outside 6 years (by a couple of weeks!), they have upheld the first top-up and are due to pay me £.5k by Thursday :). For the larger top-up which was for £7,500 they rejected it as they said it was affordable. That loan is finished in Dec. I have sent loans 1 and 3 to ombudsman today as I still think loan 3 was unaffordable and it’s for a lot larger amount and I’ve continued to juggle various debts in the intervening period.
Thankyou so much.
James
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am surprised that UKC has upheld even 1 loan – good decision to send the rest of the case to FOS.
Andy says
Can you actually accept the offer but send the loans they didn’t upheld to the ombudsman?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well in practice you are sending the whole case to the Ombudsman, but FOS normally won’t bother to look very hard at the one the lender has agreed is unaffordable.
It’s odd to have the middle loan accepted. Normally it is the last loan – and when the lender does that, they remove the guarantor from it, so a lot of the pressure is off you then waiting for FOS to look at the case.
Ash Alexander says
Hi Everyone
Amigo emailed me on Saturday with their settlement so I borrowed £9,000.00 and as they have been told by the Financial Ombudsman to refund all the interest on the loan at present which was £8,455.76 I had made total repayments of £9,604.44 that’s more than the interest that was sitting on my loan ?? I have final balance of £107.00 to pay and the loan is gone forever which I’m over the moon and not having to keep money over the Xmas period and worry about paying my instalment just after Xmas so that’s a relief . But I’m wondering with all the repayments I had that would wipe out the balance and refund me what’s left over ?? I know it’s killing amigo losing so much money with these complaints they are having to settle and refund they are trying to be sneaky and claw what it can back ? I really hope all these complaints and more people complain it will make them go under i had the sun newspaper wanting me to go into detail how I claimed all the interest back and virtually got the loan written off . Keep complaining people let’s wipe this company out with all the others that are disappearing so fast .
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Assuming this was the only loan you had that was being refunded. And that you made all the payments, your guarantor didn’t make any.
If you borrowed 9000 and have paid 9604, then the loan balance should be cleared and you should get a refund of 604 (plus a pretty small amount of 8% interest).
Go back to Amigo and say this and ask them to recheck their calculations.
Stuart says
Just wanted to say thank you.. I stumbled across your website in the summer and sent a claim off to Amigo half heartedly thinking I would never get a positive outcome. I assumed they would just say it was my fault for taking out these two loans.
Anyway 8 weeks later my claim was upheld. I am now due a £10,200 refund. So thank you so much, i’m extreamly happy with the outcome.
Just waiting patiently to see the money in my account and hoping they don’t go into administration before I get it.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Good result!
Have you checked the figures look right? See some other recent comments…
They are large and profitable. They aren’t in any financial trouble!
Stuart says
I didn’t expect anything when I complained and when the complaint was upheld I was thinking if I got £5k I’d be happy – these loans were paid off ages ago so was expecting nothing. To get over £10k is amazing.
I am happy to just take the money and bank it. I had a similar reward from Wonga and will probably only get £500 so not taking any risks.
Just contacted the FSO about Elevate as they refused my claim but hoping for a hatrick.
Lou7 says
Roughly how long does it take an adjudicator to come to a decision. It’s only been 2 weeks but I haven’t heard anything yet. Am I being too impatient?
Stuart says
I complained on 23/8/19 and got a decision in 16/10/19.. i’m guessing that’s about 8 weeks.
Sami says
Hi dear I have Amigo loan how to start make a complain Please anyone tell me and give me advice thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Sami, have you read the article above these comments? That describes what an “unaffordable loan” is. If you are struglling to pay your Amigo loan – perhaps you are getting behing with bills or having to borrow more money to make the payments – then there is a template there you can use to complain.
Aden says
Has any one had any luck with any other companies other than amigo. I am nearly 4 weeks in to my complaints to – amigo, Buddy, uk credit , trust two and Bamboo.
Just wondered if anyone had luck with anyone other than amigo too
Sara (Debt Camel) says
people are winning complaints against all lenders at the ombudsman. the article above has a link to an ombudsman decision against UK Credit.
But normally they get rejected by the lenders. Only Amigo seems to be making some offers.
Kate says
Bamboo turned down my initial complaint, with the usual you had a guarantor etc however all three loans I had with them have been upheld by FOS Adjudicator on Friday. Bamboo have two weeks to respond with figures for repayment of interest on all three loans. (All three of mine are paid off). If they disagree it will go to Ombudsman level but I’m not certain they’ll go down this route. Adjudicator stated that the initial loan was unaffordable and checks were insufficient, also that they had used ONS data at a lower level to calculate my outgoings. The other two were also upheld for the same issues, but with the caveat that they should have noticed and taken action by increasing balances being shown elsewhere and by the fact they themselves were increasing the terms and amount of outgoings as a factor.
However my initial complaint to Bamboo was last year, and it’s been almost a year in queue to get to the Adjudicator. Don’t expect it to be a quick process. Very happy with the end result though. Now just to see if Bamboo decide to cause any more delays.
Shaun says
Hi need help iv had 2 amigo loans my last top up was for 5000 but iv not paid payments off 272 since Feb 2019 as been in hospital with serious illness iv been in touch with amigo iv no means to pay this amount offered 50a month but they have rejected this it is now in the hands off intrum collection agency I paid loan for a year every month for a year would it be worth seeing if they owe me the interest
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Shaun,
sorry to hear you have been in hospital, hope you are on the mend? Are you managing on benefits?
Is Amigo trying to collect money from your guarantor?
How large was your first loan and how many payments did you make before getting a top-up?
What are the rest of your finances like, do you have other problem debts?
Shaun says
Hi yes my first lian was for 1500 paid that on time for a year took it over 18 months so toppex up to 5000 paid that for about 10 months then went into hospital big operation on my foot ended up having it amputated so could not work as my job was driving only living on benifits now and cannot pay all my debts off as they should my garuntor has since lost his job and on benifits now so it’s a right mess iv always been honest and open with amigo but they just want full payment every month so I just wondered whether it was worth sending them a template email
Sara (Debt Camel) says
oh life-changing in a horrible way. I hope you aren’t in much pain. I don’t know what benefits you are getting, but going to your local Citizens Advice could get a full benefit review and also help with this Amigo complaint.
This is definitely worth a complaint. You can use the template letter above. You are complaining that it was unaffordable WHEN YOU TOOK THE LOAN OUT, not now when you can’t work. But although you were in work then you may well win the complaint if it was hard to repay the loan. Having had a big top-up usually shows that things haven’t gone well… so give it a go, complain about the first loan and the top up..
If you win the complaint, your guarantor will be removed from the loan. If you have a lot of other problem debt, at that point it could be a good idea to look at a debt releif order or bankruptcy, but that’s a way away. Just get going with the complaint and then look at your new debt situation at the end.
Your guarantor could also look at a complaint. £270 a month is a lot for anyone to pay, and perhaps he should never have been accepted as a guarantor? See https://debtcamel.co.uk/amigo-complaints-by-guarantor/ which has a bit of a different letter for a guarantor to use.
Steve says
Hi Sara,
Thanks for providing this resource. It’s invaluable.
I’m helping a guarantor on a loan, as the borrower is late on the current payment, with the follow-up payment not too far behind. The borrower currently doesn’t have an income in the short term, and was told she couldn’t enter a payment plan, forcing the guarantor to step in. Even after stating how she wanted to avoid the guarantor being involved at all costs.
The borrower has now sent the complaint template you’ve set above for an unaffordability complaint.
The guarantor was being forced to enter a repayment plan as she couldn’t afford to make the payments herself.
She (the guarantor) is supposed to follow up on her own situation with Amigo this week, but now the complaint has been sent by the borrower, is she able to hold off until a response is received? Amigo are telling the borrower that the debt has transferred over to the guarantor, so is very concerned about this and feels very poorly served by Amigo.
Thanks,
Steve
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Steve,
the guarantor can also complain in their own right. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/amigo-complaints-by-guarantor/ for a template. If she can’t afford it now, should Amigo have been able to realise this when the loan was approved? She too could put in a complaint…
That way she will get removed as the guarantor if borrower’s complaint succeeds OR if her own complaint succeeds.
Or she could just wait and see what happens to the borrower’s complaint, and only if Amigo say NO, then bother with putting in her own complaint.
Scott says
Hi I put in a complaint with TFS exactly 8 week ago yesterday they replied the following day acknowledging my complaint and said they would look into. I received copy’s of my phone calls after about 4 but only for the ones regarding missed payment and none from the application process. They have not been in touch since and I’ve had no final response from them. Strangely though the account is now showing as removed from my credit file however they are still taking the payments via direct debit could you give me any advice? Also my guarantor has put in a complaint. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest phoning up and asking when you will get your response.
Ian says
UK credit have recently change their account number with Equifax so many of you will see your account drop off your credit file but will the reappear the following month. I’ve had this confirmed by UK Credit today
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Thanks – useful information!
Chris says
Do amigo send a copy of the complaint to your guarantor?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No.
If you stop making payments, your guarantor will be told, but the template letter in the article above says to include this sentence if you want to carry on paying:
If you don’t want your guarantor to be informed: [I want to carry on making the normal monthly payments because I do not want my guarantor to be affected in any way by my complaint.]
Aaron says
Hi Sara,
This is an invaluable thread !
I’m so pleased Amigo are getting what they deserve!
I’ve been with amigo for 3/4 years and have paid over £7000.00 worth of interest and still haven’t touched the loan balance.
It’s great to hear that they are now offering refunds on unaffordable interest fees.
I’ve sent my complaint over the weekend and have had an acknowledgement reply. I’m keeping my fingers crossed I get my complaint upheld and they either deduct what I’ve paid from loan balance or refund me the £7k. Either way I’d be over the moon. Do u know what they are more likely to do?
Regards
Aaron
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They will deduct from the balance if your complaint is upheld. Good luck.
George says
Hi everyone,
I made an affordability complaint against amigo and a complaint raising concerns that my guarantor should also have never been excepted ( I was drowning in debt and nearly lost my house which is why I originally took the loan out of absolute desperation ) today amigo have directly upheld my complaint and released my guarantor all interest will be removed and I will only pay back the loan in principal it’s a massive relief as I was using payday loans to make the repayments every month.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Good – you can now get them to accept a lower payment each month.
Abigail says
Have just had the following email after receiving my CD 4 days ago.. positive or negative with regards to refund??
“Further to our letter acknowledging your complaint, I’m writing to confirm that we are still investigating the complaint you have raised. This is due to your complaint requiring a more detailed investigation or because we haven’t been able to pick it up as quickly as we had hoped. However, your complaint is important to us and I’d like to assure you that we will be responding to your concerns as soon as possible.
Thank you for your patience. We will write again as soon as possible, and at the latest, within 8 weeks of the date we received your complaint.”
George says
Hi I had this same email TWICE whilst waiting for my response from amigo. I believe it’s a generic template they send to everyone. My complaint did end up being upheld and my guarantor was released.
Stacy says
Hi my cases are with FOA they have sent me a list of things to send them, 1 is a copy of my credit file before I got the loans, can anyone advise whete I could get them please
Thanks
Mark says
Stacy. I’m in the same boat. My banks said they didn’t retain 2012/13 records and my Experian doesn’t show credit that’s come off as their over the 5 year threshold. Even Amigo states they don’t retain the credit file for pre 5 years. I would think that makes it very difficult for them to disprove I was in such a terrible state of affairs when granted the loan but equally I can’t prove it.
Sara any advice?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
FOS normally asks for a copy of your current record., it knows people can’t get old ones.
Your credit record will often not show many problems over 6 years old. If your loan was taken out before that time, do you have any other evidence about credit problems? Some people still have paperwork or emails about rent arrears, untility arrears, CCJs, debt management plans. Or you may have a list of your loans from a payday lender which shows loans over 6 years ago.
Bank statements will also help if you have those or can get them.
Stacy says
Hi, mine were from 2016 2017 2018 so hopefully can get them, my bank statements show all the evidence on them
Thank you
Cat says
Hi Sara
I would just like to say thank you for the advice on this page. I would never of even thought of sending a unaffordable complaint to Amigo until I saw this site. I emailed them 6 weeks ago using your template. I only had one loan which was 10k and pay 400 a month. The loan was given to me at the worst possible time and I dont believe I should have been given it and even though I have made the payments each month have struggled immensely. I’ve paid 11.5k to date and would have been paying it off for another 2 years so 11k in interest. Anyway amigo responded today saying my complaint is upheld and will be taking the interest off the loan and refunding me anything over the 10k. Thanks again I really didnt think I would get this response with only having one loan.
Jim says
Hi Sara,
I had my response from TFS Loans today and they have rejected my complaint! They took just over eight weeks to get back to me!
They have rejected my complaint, saying that I could afford it and my disposable income was x and the loan payment was therefore affordable. Had they actually checked my bank statements or payslips, they would have seen my income was a lot lower, approx £800 – £1000, due to health issues. They have also seen that gambling had been a problematic issue for me, and should never had been considered for this.
I have now escalated the matter on to the FOS, so waiting to hear back from them…. do you or does anyone know how long it takes for the FOS to begin looking in to your complaint and how does this work? Do TFS get an additional eight weeks from when the FOS raise a case against them, or is this discretionary?
Thank you
Scott says
Tfs rejected mine yesterday as well so sent it to fos
Ant says
Hi I took out both an amigo and uk credit loan in January 2013. I was struggling financially at this time. I wanted find out as it is past 6 years is it worth pursuing.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes this is worth a complaint, don’t delay send it as soon as possible. And send it to the Financial Ombudsman if the lender rejects it.
You are likely to need your bank statements for the three months before the loans – set about getting those right away, don’t wait until you are asked for them in a few months time.
A says
Hi Sara,
Just over two months ago, while researching about getting other loans refunded, I came across this article and decided to take on Amigo. I had one loan with them with two further top ups equaling £9000. By the time I put my claim in, I had paid them just over £9500. When I took out the loan, it was the last resort for me having built up various debt since leaving university but I struggled to make the payments each month (although I did make the payments each month for fear of the impact on my guarantor).
As of today, Amigo cleared the balance of my loan and refunded me £2063. I didn’t want to post before today in case I jinxed it. I just wanted to say a massive thank you to you for your website and all the work you do. This is a huge weight off my shoulders (and my guarantors) and will help me to cope financially going forward. Word’s can’t really do justice for how grateful I am that I read this article.
I would like say to anyone who hasn’t heard back yet from Amigo or has been turned down and gone to the FO, keep going. As someone who read these comments religiously each day, I know how hard the waiting is but keep going and keep fighting because it will be worth it.
Sarah H says
Hi Sarah amigo loans have made an offer to me via the Ombudsman. They are saying the will stop any further interest and charges (if any) that you’ve paid on all the loans you’ve had with them;
If you’re still repaying your loan, Amigo will be reducing the amount you owe on your loan by the refund amount and no future interest will be applied to it. If the total you’ve paid in interest and charges is more than the amount you still owe, you’ll get the amount leftover once your loan is cleared;
The Ombudsman has asked me to contact amigo to find out what figures they are going to offer if they would still be an outstanding balance after all interest is refunded. Amigo won’t give me any figures until i accept but advised me there would be an outstanding balance after. I have tried to work out my balance and worked out i have actually paid back more than I borrowed. Do you have any advice on where to go next as im unsure whether to accept without knowing the figures. Thanks Sarah H
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They are saying the will stop any further interest and charges (if any) that you’ve paid on all the loans you’ve had with them;
Are they only refunding the current loan? How many loans did you have before from them? Could you copy out EXACTLY what have Amigo said?
Amigo won’t give me any figures until I accept but advised me there would be an outstanding balance after.
That is unreasonable. Tell Amigo you would like to see what their offer is, with a breakdown showing for each loan:
– the amount borrowed
– the total of your monthly payments
– the settlement amount (if any, eg from the next top up loan)
– the interest they calculate you have paid on that loan
and also details of the 8% calculation (if any)
And tell your adjudicator at FOS that until Amigo give you some detailed figures, you don’t know whether to accept as they say their will be a balance remaining and you don’t think there should be.
Charlotte jones says
Hi can someone advise? Had two loans bamboo have today emailed to say they are refunding all interest so we only have £1700 left to pay which is amazing taken 5k off!! But amigo haven’t even responded to the email the emails were sent the same day! Should I email them again??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Good news from Bamboo. How long ago did you complain?
Sarah H says
Hi Sarah ameigo loans have made an offer via the Ombudsman. charges (if any) that you’ve paid on all the loans you’ve had with them;
If you’re still repaying your loan, Amigo will be reducing the amount you owe on your loan by the refund amount and no future interest will be applied to it. If the total you’ve paid in interest and charges is more than the amount you still owe, you’ll get the amount leftover once your loan is cleared;
The Ombudsman have asked me to contact them to ask for figures before i accept however ameigo loans are saying that normally they work figures out after i accept the offer. But I disagree as how can I actually decide if I don’t know what outcome is. They said that it is likely there will be an outstanding amount to be paid after any refund. I don’t know how to work it out with the 8%. Thank Sarah
Sarah H says
Continued ive done break down
first loan 6th September 2017 £3000. Made 1 payment of £118.
Top up 31st October 2017 £935.15 made £195.16
Top up £1568.24 made two payments of £276.67
Top up April 2018 £1964.59 made 3 payments of £355.72
Top up August 2018 £1097.50 made 1 1 payments of £395.68 and 1 payment of £200.
Once the 8% is added i don’t how to work it out and i would be grateful if you could help thanks Sarah H
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Sarah,
so good result! But it’s important to get the numbers sorted, as you say.
That is a good start with the figures. But when you say “top-up” do you mean that is the amount of cash you then received? Do you also know what the new loan size was?
Sara
Sarah H says
Hi thanks the top up is the amount I received actual loans are
September 2017 New Application £3,000 60 Months
October 2017 Top Up £4,000 36 Months
November 2017 Top Up £5,500 60 Months
January 2018 Top Up £7,000 60 Months
April 2018 Top Up £9,000 60 Months
August 2018 Top Up £10,000 60 Months
This is the figures that Amegio gave in their final response letter in November 2018 thanks Sarah
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok so that is 6 loans – the original one and 5 top ups.
But you only listed 5 sets of payments in your comment earlier. And this line
“Top up £1568.24 made two payments of £276.67” doesnt say if it is for loan 3 or loan 4.
That would give a list that looks like this:
1) Sep17 £3,000 60 Months – made 1 payment of £118
2) Oct17 £4,000 36 Months – received £935 – made 1 payment of £195
3) Nov17 £5,500 60 Months – received ? – made ? payments of ?
4) Jan18 £7,000 60 Months – received ? – made ? payments of ?
5) Apr18 £9,000 60 Months – received £1964 – made 3 payments of £355
6) Aug18 £10,000 60 Months – received £1097 – made 11 payments of £395 and 1 payment of £200
Do those numbers look right, ignoring the pennies? Can you fill in the gaps for loans 3 and 4?
Sarah H says
That would give a list that looks like this:
1) Sep17 £3,000 60 Months – made 1 payment of £118
2) Oct17 £4,000 36 Months – received £935 – made 1 payment of £195
3) Nov17 £5,500 60 Months – £1568.24– made 1 payments of £217.39
4) Jan18 £7,000 60 Months – received £1463.05– made 4 payments of £276.67
5) Apr18 £9,000 60 Months – received £1964 – made 3 payments of £355
6) Aug18 £10,000 60 Months – received £1097 – made 11 payments of £395 and 1 payment of £200
Do those numbers look right, ignoring the pennies? Can you fill in the gaps for loans 3 and 4? I have filled in loans 3&4 thanks Sarah H
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you only paid very small amounts of interest on the first three loans as you only made 1 payment to each of them. On those figures, the interest you paid on the first 5 loans is for each loan:
183, 127, 254, 1140, 968 which adds up to 2672.
On the last loan you borrowed 10,000 so when interest is removed, that is what you have to pay. You have paid 4345 so far in monthly payments and the 2672 refund from the first 5 loans will be used to pay off more, leaving a balance of £2,983.
I can’t tell if the numbers are right. It looks a bit odd that you paid more interest on the first loan than the second for example.
But it’s clear that you are going to owe a balance of c £3000.
You can ask to pay this at a more affordable rate. What are the rest of your finances like at the moment, what other debts do you have?
Sarah h says
Hi Sarah I no longer work and before this offer was made they had just agreed to my paying £200 monthly instead of £395.67. But I’m still receiving letters saying I’m in arrears. My guarantor has an affordability claim in with amigo asking to be removed as guarantor. The 8 weeks was up Friday and we are yet to hear back. Myself and my partner are on universal credit and have a disabled daughter. Thanks Sarah h
Sara (Debt Camel) says
As they are refunding the last loan, your guarantor will be released… so you can put the remaining balance into a debt management plan if you have other debts you can’t pay? When the Amigo balance is worked out, this would be a good time for you to get debt advice on all your options.
Sarah h says
Hi Sarah that is good to know thanks
I was due a redress via the ombusman from cashuronet which would have paid my debts off.But that doesn’t look likely to happen. Sarah H
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am afraid that’s right :(
Apart from Amigo, who do you owe?
Sarah h says
Hi Sarah only safety net but I have a complaint in with them already so fingers crossed I’ll hear back thanks Sarah H
Rachel Watson says
Hi Sara I wrote in a few months ago to say that I have complained to FOS about amigo loan. Today I received the fantastic news that Amigo have offered to clear my balance, refund interest + 8% which is amazing! I am so happy. I didn’t even have to send in any bank statements so very surprised at this decision so promptly!
Can I please ask – I am not sure how they calculate the refund. I have worked my interest paid on the duration of the loan to be just shy of £5,000 this is going by my statement on the website. does this mean the 5k will be REFUNDED to me + 8% or taken of my current loan balance which is around £6800.. FOS made it to sound as though the internet would be paid back but it does seem too goo to be true!?
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Did you just have the one loan from them? If so, how much did you borrow and how much cash have you paid them – ignore whether the statements say this is interest or not, just what is the total of the money you have paid Amigo?
Rachel says
Loan 1 £1000 – paid £309.10 – (5 monthly payments @ £61.82)
Top up 1 – cash from top up £864.18 – paid total of £341.52 (4 monthly payments at 85.38)
Top up 2 – cash from top up £3832.92 – paid Total of 1646.82 (7 monthly payments at 235.26)
Top up 3 – cash from top up £940.39 – paid total so far of £2569.10 (10 monthly payments at 256.91)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Right, it doesn’t look to me as though you wuill get a refund, I think you still owe money on the last loan after all the interest has been taken off. Sorry…
The details:
Loan 1, you borrowed 1000, you paid 309 and then settled it with (1750-864) so overall you paid 195 in interest.
Loan 2, you borrowed 1750, you paid 341 and then settled it with (5500-3832) so overall you paid 259 in interest
Losn 3, you borrowed 5500, you paid 1646 and then settled it with ((6500-940) so overall you paid 1706 in interest.
So the interest you paid over the first three loans adds up to £2160.
On the last loan you borrowed 6500, so far you have paid 2569. When interest is removed from this loan, you still owe 3931. But the 2160 of onterest you paid on the previous loans reduces that to £1,771.
Amigo should let you make a payment arrangement o pay off this amount at a more affordable rate.
rachel says
thats fine I am just happy it no longer will be a high payment each month! its impossible to pay off with all the interest added! thank you Sara :)
Annie says
Well done Rachel! How long did the adjudicator take to make a decision for you. Mines was allocated 5 weeks ago and 3 weeks ago the adjudicator said he had all the info required from myself and amigo and would get back to me with his decision soon, I have heard nothing since and have sent a couple of emails this week with no reply. I don’t whether it’s worth phoning the FOS or just sit and wait. Any advice is welcome. Thanks
Rachel Watson says
HI Annie – my original complaint went to FOS end of July, I have rang a couple of times for update with no movement. I then rang around 2 weeks ago and it was been looked into and had the response today. so all in all its taken around 3 months for a decision, no bank statements were requested so that has sped things up for me :) hope you get the outcome you want! x
Sophia says
Hi, I’ve read this thread with the hope of claiming back from amigo. I emailed them and they said it was too late for me to claim back anything as my loan was originally taken out when it was flm loans in 2010, but the loan was paid off in 2014 with no top-ups. I was self-employed when I took out the loan and it on their paperwork, it shows my income as £0.00. Do I have a case that’s worth pursuing? Thanks!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Sophia, a couple of people have mentioned old FLM loan but haven’t yet got any clarity on this. I suggest you send your complaint to the financial ombudsman and let them decide if they can look into it. They may not say yes, but this is easy to do and worth a try!
Sophia says
Thank you! I have now sent all the paperwork to the ombudsman,so fingers crossed! I will let you know the outcome.
Roly says
My first loans with Amigo were FLM, and I have just received an offer from Amigo via my adjudicator at the FOS to repay all loan interest etc. so definitely isn’t an issue. Good Luck
Clare Webster says
Could some one help me work out the interest I have paid so far and what I may get back from Amigo loans please?
Clare Webster says
I’ve already had quite a pleasant email back from Amigo this morning after only sending the complaint last night, starting to feel abit more hopeful 🤞🏻
Natasha says
I just wanted to share my experience with amigo to encourage others as they have been so nice and easy to deal with. They upheld my complaint for two loans with only a letter (no other evidence), Their response was within 20 days of the complaint being made via email and they paid out my £6000 refund 5 days later with a breakdown of the refund which was correct. I’m so pleased with the process and very grateful to this site, I’ve now claimed a total of £14, 000 back from lenders all from accidentally coming across these pages. Thank you so much Sara! This has made the world of difference to me and my family.
Syed says
Hi Sara,
I have got an Amigo loan I had it since 2017 and I made a top-up for £7000 which I pay every month for £276. I can’t afford to pay any more as it got too much for me now. I believe I have paid so much and interest I pay is mad too much I think I cleaned the balance if the interest was not been changed and they owe me money for the interest I paid. I have put a complaint against Amigo loans.
Do I have a case to win Sara?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If your situation was worse when you had the top up then you may have a very strong complaint for that. And the first loan too may well have been unaffordable – for many people that is the reason they were struggling so much they took the top-up… So if this sounds like you, send Amigo a complaint now that they gave you unaffordable loans.
Is your guarantor well off? Could they easily afford the monthly repayments? I am not suggesting you stop paying while your complaint is going through, but your guarantor may also have a reason to complain.
syed says
Hi,
Yes, I have sent them a complaint there will get back to me within 8 weeks.
My guarantor does not want to get involved.
Amigo knows at the point I lost my job and i am still behind payments with them.
Syed says
Hi,
I am waiting for Amigo come back with my complaint there said it can take 8 weeks a outcome.
below are my payments made how will it work and how much refund will I get can you give me a guideline.
September 2017 I had a top-up with them opening balance £7000
Below are fingers I paid and still my balance is left £6192 I am in arrears I cant afford it anymore which is causing me health problem
2017 3 X £276 monthly
2018 11 x £ 276 monthly
1 x £500 month
2019 5 x 276 monthly
1 x £500 Month
2 x £296 month
Raj says
Hi,
I raised a complaint with Amigo and just under the 8 week deadline they responded upholding my complaint which I’m over the moon with.
As I still have a current loan with them this will clear a lot of my balance.
I just want to know do they add the 8% interest to the refund for outstanding loans or just on settled loans as they don’t mention it in their response.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you will still owe a balance on the last loan, then you actually have NOT paid any interest on it, so there is no refund to have 8% interest added to.
How many loans did you have? Are they all being refunded?
Raj says
Thanks for getting back to me Sara.
Only had the 1 loan. Took out October last year and they are refunded interest back to that so with other refunds I’ve had I can clear that.
Well happy as I didn’t even need to send in any bank statements etc.
I borrowed £6000. Have made 13 x £292.74 = £3805.
My guarantor was due a refund as they made 1 payment for me which they need back so they have refunded £2529.22 to leave a balance of £2502.99 which is about right except they have added £47.62 interest today which they are not meant to do.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
When you say you made 13 payments , does that include the one your guarantor made? Or was that what you paid?
They have to stop adding interest, I think this is some sort of systems problem they have. Go back and point this out.
You can now make an arrangement o pay at a lower rate if that would be helpful?
Raj says
Yeah the 13 payments includes 1 by my guarantor.
I checked my online account today and and the interest is still accruing so I will contact them to remove that.
I will be settling the account in full soon once I have the correct final balance.
Thanks for your help with this.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ok, do not borrow or stretch to settle this balance. It is now an interest free loan! your priority should be clearing any other loans, credit cards or overdrafts you are paying interest on
But I do understand why you would like to clear it and never have anything to do with this lender again…
Nathan says
Hi Sara
Firstly Thankyou for this thread, I used the template 7 weeks ago and received a response saying amigo will remove interest from all of my loans. 11 in total. Awesome news and appreciate you time commenting on here.
I’m looking for a little help with the calculations please
Loan 1 3000 paid 25x 137.46
Loan 2 top up to 3000, paid out 1363.1 payments 13 x 161.01
Loan 3 top up to 5000, paid out 2372.96 payments made 49x 197.62
Loan 4 top up 5000, paid out 3351.46 payments made 1 x 197.62
Loan 5 top up 7000, 2069.75 paid out payments made 5x 276.67
Loan 6 top up 8000, paid out 998.14 payments made 4x 316.2
Loan 7 top up 9000, paid out 793.22 payments made 5 x 355.72
Loan 8 top up 10000, paid out 1044.24 payments made 4 x395 8 a lump of 9000
Loan 9 top up to 3000, paid out 1933.29 payments made 2 x 118.57
Loan 10 top up 5000, paid out 2044.2 payments made 1 x 197.62 lump paid 5111
Loan 11 new loan 10000 payments 9 x 395
Sorry to ask struggling to get figures sorted in my head.
Not good at all, got into a cycle of having to use the with payday loans etc that’s the reason I am so please to have come across your page and the assistance you have given. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
no way you can do those figures in your head!
I have corrected the loan numbering.
Some questions:
“Loan 3 top up to 5000 paid out 2372.96 payments made 49x 197.62” was that really 49 payments you made?
“Loan 5 top up 2069.75 paid out payments made 5x 276.67” how large was loan 5?
“Loan 8 top up 10000 paid out 1044.24 payments made 4 x395 8 a lump of 9000” so there you made monthly payments, there was a large settlement amount paid and some of Loan 9 was used to settle the rest – correct? Where did this large settlement amount come from?
Loan 10 – where did the settlement amoutn come from?
Did your guarantor make any payments to any of the loans?
Nathan says
Hi yes correct 49 payments
Loan 5 7000
Correct with loan 9 and partner paid the lump sum
Loan 10 father paid settlement
Both settlements paid back to respective people using loans
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am assuming your partner and your father weren’t the guarantors for those loans they paid the settlement amount for.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, I have put the loan amount for loan 5 into your list of loans.
You need to ask Amigo for a breakdown of the way they calculate your refund, one line per loan showing how much you borrowed, how much you paid, the settlement amounts (from the next top up loan plus any other settlemets), how much interest you paid and how much 8% interest they have added.
I put the numbers into a spreadsheet, ignoring the pennies, and came up with the following numbers for the amount of interest you paid on each loan:
1 2062
2 1721
3 6302
4 128
5 1382
6 1471
7 1731
8 1647
9 192
10 308
11 borrowed 10000, have paid 3555, balance remaining once interest removed is 6445.
You should be able to check these numbers against what Amigo send you.
Those interest amounts to be refunded on loan 1-10 add up to £16,944. Plus what will be several thousand pounds in 8% interest as your loans stretch over nearly 10 years.
This will clear the balance of £6445 on the last loan and give you a refund of c £10,500, plus the 8% interest.
Nathan says
Hi Sara, amigo came back with a transaction response which looks a little different, would you be able to clarify it’s correct before I agree. Also spotted chaps fees and a broker fee of £300 on one should they be refunded.
We’ll calculate refunds by totalling the payments that you made and deducting this amount from the capital loan amount that you borrowed and benefitted from. Any overpayment you have made will be refunded to you, with 8% simple interest added. You only made overpayments on some of the loans you have had with us, which is why 8% interest has been awarded on some of your loans but not others as detailed below.
45467616 Interest accrued: £3,243.26
44692402 Interest accrued: £74.37
42729707 Interest accrued: £1,252.46
40206959 Interest accrued: £1,734.36
38126628 Interest accrued: £1,155.38
36097918 Interest accrued: £1,200.15
35689033 Interest accrued: £174.20
11042605 Interest accrued: £6,367.62 8% simple interest: £1,299.58
WSF3155756 Interest accrued: £1,746.40 8% simple interest: £827.10
WST7601421 Interest accrued: £1,420.17 8% simple interest: £609.34
This totals: £21,104.39
Your loan balance was £10,184.36. We have used some of the refund to settle your current loan with us and will be happy to refund you the remaining £10,920.03.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am guessing that the loans are in reverse date order, so the most recent loans are first.
Yes you should get a refund of the CHAPS fees and the broker fee.
You mentioned your partner and dad making payments – can you confirm they weren’t making those payments as guarantor? I assumed they weren’t so all the refund come to you.
When you wrote “paid out” against a top up loan – was this the amount of cash you received?
Nathan says
Hi yes not paid as a guarantor, yes loans in reverse order but the missed one out. Thanks
Nathan says
Hi Sara have received the
Having reviewed how you applied for your loans these were all done through our website, as such there were no broker fees applied.
I can see that for your first loan you had a CAPS fee of £30 and I will have this included in your refund amount to bring the total to £10,950.03.
I have calculated the amount of interest that has accrued on each of your accounts and my transaction department provided the correct figures to us.
All that has been refunded is the interest that has repaid and 8% simple interest where applicable. The money that you have received for each loan are funds that you borrowed and benefitted from, and therefore these amounts would always need to be paid back.
From looking at the calculations in your email it seems that you have included the payments you made towards the capital loan funds as part of the refund you expect to receive. However, as explained above you would always have been expected to repay the capital loans funds as such this is not part of your refund amount.
Rachel says
Good morning Sara
I was hoping you could hep me. I have had a response off amigo loans last week , they are upholding my complaint. They are returning the interest plus 8% on previous loans and also removing the interest on my current loan, they are just sorting out the figures.
Now TFS have not upheld my loan and I will need to take it too the ombudsman , couple of queries , do you you have any advice on what to write to the ombudsman (I believe it is a on line form) and also how many complaints are actually upheld through the them?
Everyday loans (trust two) have not responded to the complaint since providing the access details also, and haven’t replied to my emails.
Any help would be brilliant.
Kind regards
Rachel
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Good news from Amigo!
But ask them for a breakdown of how they calculate the refund, on line per loan showing how much you borrowed, how much you paid, the settlement amount from the next top up loan (if any), how much interest you paid and how much 8% interest they have added. For the last loan, work out how much you have paid to this loan – take that way from the amount you borrowed and that should be your balance, which will then be reduced by refunds from previous loans. At the moment Amigo seems to be getting some of these calculations wrong where the last loan is still being repaid … and the errors are all in their favour, so they need to be challenged.
Sending a complaint to the Ombudsman is easy. Use their online form as that asks for a lot of details FOS needs that you might not think to put in an email (things like what your date of birth is and how you want them to contact you).
You can just use what you send TFS/Everyday Loans as the basis for what you put in the bit about what your complaint is. You can add more details if you want – for example if TFS said that your credit record was ok, you could say this is wrong because you had had a lot of payday loans and defaults showing. NB I just invented that! What you write has to reflect what happened to YOU not reasons other people have won their complaints.
You can attach the reply rejecting your complaint from the lender. FOS needs to know that the lender has had a chance to look at this.
FOS will also want a copy of your current credit record – Credit karma is the best one to send. And your bank statements for the 3 months before the application for each loan and any top-up. If you don’t have those to hand, send yopur complaint in now and set about getting the statements. You can send them to FOS later to attach to your case.
At the moment FOS is upholding a VERY large number of guarantor loan complaints:)
Rachel says
Thank you , I will do this today.
Amigo have said I will know within 10 days the figures , I am currently on day 7.
The only thing I don’t understand with the TFS is the letter to say no to the complaint only refers to the top up loan ? Not the original? Why is this
Thanks Rach
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Perhaps they never really thought about your complaint in detail and so their reply wasn’t very carefully written? Who knows… this isn’t worth bothering about, straight to FOS!
Rachel says
Good evening Sara
I have submitted a complaint to the ombudsman regarding TFS. Now Trust Two have said they aren’t upholding my complaint either , so I will be sending this to the ombudsman too. Can I send two complaints at the same time?
Both companies just state that they “asked questions about my credit file” which is extremely awful! They said they asked and I said I was sorting it out , which I did say , but I’m all honesty I wasn’t and just wanted the have the loan!
Will a ombudsman take that into account that nothing was ever proved regarding paying back creditors etc and also I said my partner paid a majority of the bills. Which he didn’t , I’m not proud of lying but if the lender had asked for proof of this I could never of proved it and the loan wouldn’t of been given? Can you advise please.
Also no figures from amigo as yet !
Thank you
Rach
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, just put in a second complaint to FOS. As soon as one is picked up by an adjudicator, ask if they can also look at the other guarantor loan case. This speeds things up if they say Yes.
In other guarantor loan cases the ombudsman has decided the lender should have looked more closely eg at your bank statements.
Annie says
So today the adjudicator has upheld my complaint against Amigo to repay the interest on all 3 loans (in his findings he states that Amigo were willing to replay on loans 1 and 2 and he has also found loans 3 to be unaffordable. They have until the 15th November to reply. Another great result for my last claim as I was lucky enough to get paid by Wonga, payday UK and casheuronet not long before they all went out of business.
Timeline
September 2018 – sent complaint letter to Amigo
December 2018 – Amigo refused irresponsible lending, sent to FOS
September 2019 – allocated adjudicator
After 3 weeks I was informed he had all the info required from myself and Amigo.
3 weeks later received positive recommendation and now waiting for Amigo to reply.
Complaint seems to be upheld as Amigo did not do enough check as if they did they would have a lot of gambling transactions on bank statement. (No longer gambling) so hang in there as the FOS seem to be looking at the cases a lot faster)
Hopefully amigo accept this quickly as the 3rd loan interest is the least of the 3.
Kevins says
Hi guys,
I have been reading this thread for a while and used the template for a refund from amigo, Safetynet and Mr Lender so i thought it only fair i share my experience with the rest of you all.
I sent my amigo complaint in and heard back within 24 hours saying someone would be in contact with me within 3 – 5 working days. I have had 4 top up loans since 2016 and currently have a balance of almost £4800. Strangly enough none of my previous loans were showing on my statement so i called and got them to email them to me, they also put them back onto my online account. Out of interst i logged on after i received my email and my statements had disappeared again. The top up button has also vanished so i suppose it goes to show they do look into things very quickly, i bet they will still drag out till the 8 week point though!
As for safetynet, i currently am paying through a debt collection agency and still have a balance of 950. I used this company for 16 months every month in total i asked for the interest which totalled £2500 plus the 8% they sent an email back within 2 hours of my complaint saying that they aim to resolve any issues within 4 weeks and just the usual stuff.
And not heard a peep from mr lender 👀.
I have read a few success stories on here from amigo, the interest is absolutely crippling. The amount of interest i have paid is on par with what i have left to pay give or take. Has anyones amigo complaint failed and if so for what reason?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s hard to tell why Amigo are rejecting some complaints and accepting others. All I can say is that 4 top ups suggests that they weren’t looking very carefully at your situation! Good luck.
Tony says
Hi Kevin. Hang in there with safetynet. i had my final response today after 7 weeks and they agreed with my complaint.£600 interest repaid. Also likely loans last week upheld a top up loan. Drafty due to respond by next week. Amigo have declined my complaint so that’s off waiting to be picked up at ombudsman. I have also had success getting my wife removed as guarantor for her son with both Bamboo and George Banco. Hope my amigo case is picked up soon. Hope safetynet come good for you.
Emma says
Hi there, I sent my complaint to Amigo 4 weeks ago and have had a response to say they will respond within 8 weeks. Today I had an email to advise my subject access request has been sent to me… I never actually requested this in my letter… good or bad sign? Or normal? 🤞🏼 For a good result the interest is crippling, 3 top ups so far I’ve repaid £9500 on the latest loan of £6500
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you used the template letter in the article above, that includes asking for a copy of all your personal information, which is what you are being sent now.
If you didn’t ask for it, they are probably sending them out automatically as most people do!
So getting this is normal, it’s not good or bad.
With 3 top ups that is probably a very strong case. Your first loan may have been unaffordable and the problems repaying that may have caused you to need the top ups, with your situation gettiworse each time.
Emma says
Fingers crossed Sara! I’m so pleased I came across this forum… thank you! I will let you know. My credit file is worse now than it was when I took out the loan! Will they take into account that I have had to take out pay day loans even until recently to meet day to day expenses?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well that proves after the event the loan hasn’t been affordable. But what matters for your complaint is whether Amigo should have known this before giving you the loan if they had made proper checks.
Sarah Reid says
Hi Sara
Yesterday I received an e-mail from my adjudicator informing me that Amigo have upheld my complaint on my first loan and have made an offer. The adjudicator stated “You now need to let me know if you want to accept the business’s offer by 15th Nov 2019”. The e-mail does not state what the offer is – how can I make an informed decision if I do not know what the offer is? I am a little confused. This is the breakdown of my loans and they have been paid in full:
Date 1st Loan Total Amount Payable Interest Top Up Total Amount Payable Interest
02/05/2019 £3,000.00 £5,496.17 £2,496.17
03/12/2019 £5,000.00 £11,857.48 £6,857.48
I would be grateful if you could help me work out what the offer might be please?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds as though you have had more than 1 loan but they have only upheld the first one?
How many did you have and were any of them “top-ups”? Do you still have a loan?
Sarah Reid says
Hi Sara
The loans are all paid off now.
Loan History – May 2013 was £3000 and then Dec 2013 a further £5000 which I believe was a top up. This top up paid off the first loan. I made a final payment to Amigo in May 2018.
Thanks for your help.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
the top up is legally a separate loan. If Amigo have only offered to refund the first one, this will be a poor offer as the first loan was smaller and was settled early so you won’t have paid much interest on it.
Can you go back and ask if the top up loan is also being refunded and if not, what is Amigo’s reason for excluding it?
Sarah Reid says
Will do thanks Sara
Suzanne says
Thanks to this website and a Facebook group I am now Amigo free!!! The FOS upheld my complaint (Amigo didn’t) and as of yesterday my loan is showing as closed and settled.
I believe I’m due some money back, around £4,500, just waiting for confirmation.
I started the process at the beginning of April, approached the ombudsman at the beginning of June so the whole process has been around 7 months in my case. But definitely worth the wait!!!
Keep up the good work 😀😀😀
Dean says
How many loans did you have?
It seems like people who took more than one loan with amigo are successful.. I’ve only had the one amigo loan of £10,000 which amigo rejected and it’s still with the FOS (has been for the last 6months)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Several people have won with only one loan. And many of those that won with several loans had them ALL refunded, suggesting that if they had only had the first loan, they would have won that case.
This is NOT like payday loans where there has to be “repeat borrowing” to normally win a case.
Has your case been picked up by an adjudicator yet?
Do you still owe money on this loan?
James says
Hi Sara,
Once again I want to thank you on your brilliant site and helping many people reclaim their due deserved money. Wonga refunded me nearly £4000 2 years ago thanks to you.
I’ve just submitted my complaint to Amigo. My case seems a little unique. I borrowed £2500 in 2014, to be IMMEDIATELY offered via email £5000 if accepted the contract today. I didn’t and took the £2500, but I had several months where I was late paying and topped up my loan another £2500 8 months later.
Amigo stopped all correspondance in Aug ’16, not heard a peek from them or anyone else yet the loan is still outstanding. I’m wondering if there’s any extra advice you can give me?
Thanks again.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like an unusual case. Are you sure your guarantor was never contacted? The loan is showing as defaulted on your credit record?
Obviously offering you a top-up after you had paid late for several months shows a lack of proper assessment of your situation by Amigo.
Have you done the arithmetic and added up how much you paid to the first loan? And how much to the second one before you stopped paying?
And when you topped up the first loan, how much did you actually get in cash?
Jamie says
Hi Sarah,
Hoping i can get some advice please.
My main issue is that i have a gambling addiction and have done for the past 7 or 8 years now. I earn pretty decent money, but i have racked up a fair bit of debt over the years – mainly from payday loan companies and similar companies such as Amigo and Loans2Go (logbook). Amigo in particular i have had 4 or 5 loans / top up with them consecutively for the past 5 years. I have a large number of defaults on my credit file, including outstanding balances on a number of these. At the time of the application process with Amigo, they could see the defaults and that they were in repayment plans with the debt recovery firms paying £10 a month. These have been in this plan for a number of years. My salary does cover all my bills, outgoings etc with a fair bit left over each month. My question is do i have chance of a claim against amigo and others on the grounds that they could see the amount of defaults ive had (therefore demonstrating my poor management of money), and accounts in arrears and payment plans?
Hope this makes some sort of sense. Thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you still have a gambling problem? If you do, then there isn’t really much point in making these complaints, as you will just end up handing over all the refunds to the bookies ina few months…
jamie says
No, I’m 6 months clean and trying to get things back on track and sort my finances out
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Excellent!
Right, then getting money back can make a big difference.
You have a very good case to complain to Amigo. If they had looked at your bank statements, they would have seen that your finances were a mess because of the gambling. And every top up makes that even clearer. If their loans were helping you, your finances would be getting better. But if each top-up showed that your finances had got worse – more payday loans, larger debts, more defaults – then they should have investigated more closely and asked for those bank statements.
So send off the template letter in the article above. Change it to make it clear that you had a gambling problem and attach copies of bank statements for 3 months before each loan and top up. If you don’t have the bank statements to hand, send in the complaint now, set about getting all your bank statements and send them to Amigo when you get them. Bank statements really help to win complaints about unaffordable loans when there is gambling.
Also read https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/ and complaint to any payday lender you used more than a few times.
Amy says
Thanks again to Sara / this site i recently submitted complaint for loans i took out with Amigo back in 2013. To my surprise given experiences of my PD loan complaints, they’ve come back to say its upheld and agreed to refund interest.
1st loan was for £3000 – made 4 payments of £309.17 and £2185.35 settled when topped up to £5000 so paid back £3,422.03.
2nd loan of £5000 in Dec 13 cleared May 17 at £197.62 a month so think interest for this should be about £4,258.50 so obviously am really pleased with outcome.
My guarantor (spouse) did make payments towards the second loan, 2 of the monthly then a lump sum £1500, and they have been in touch to ask if he wants a refund payments made along with 8% simple int. My response says if he wants a refund i will be liable and the loan reopened, then apply refund and any remainder will be paid with 8% int. applied to this amount.
Can’t see of any issue or that we’d be any worse off, only thing not clear is how 8% will be applied. Will of course be responding with acceptance and thanks again.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
When the guarantor is your spouse, this shouldn’t be a problem!
Come back if Amigo’s figures don’t feel right.
Mike says
Hi Sara
I’m into week 7 since sending off my complaint to Amigo. In the meantime this is what I’ve managed to find out about my loan and 2 top ups from the SAR.
Loan 1..31/12/2010
Broker commission £300 Payout.£3000
Opening Balance. £3300 Monthly payments. £151.19
Made 12 x £151.19 = £1814.28
Interest total. £737.86
Loan 2 TOP UP.. 10/01/2012
Processing Fee. £500
Settlement of loan 1. £2562.14 Payout. £2437.86
Opening balance. £5500 Monthly payments. £217.39
Made 43 x £217.39 = £9347.77
Interest total. £7266.41
Loan 3 TOP UP..28/09/2015
Settlement of loan 2 £3403.34 Payout. £3596.66
Opening balance. 7000 Monthly payments. £276.67
Made 44 x £276.67 = £12173.48
Interest total. £10944.01
So there we are! Any idea how much I’d be looking at by way of refunds after paying of the original loan? Also the broker fee and processing fee for loans 1 & 2 were very sneaky and something I did not spot easily at the time of taking the loans out! Would I entitled to a full refund of these charges also?
Thanks in advance!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The figures I gave previous were wrong – here are the corrected numbers.
Yes you should entitled to a refund of the broker fee and the processing charge as well – you are asking for a refund of interest and charges that you have paid.
So that makes:
loan 1 £3,000 and you paid £1,375 in interest & charges
loan 2 £5,000 and you paid £7,735 in interest & charges
loan 3 £7,000, you have already paid more than this, so that is £5,144 in interest & charges to be refunded after the loan is cleared.
That gives a total of £14,254 to be refunded if all three loans are decided to be unaffordable. Plus 8% interest, say £5,600 but that’s a guess.
Mike says
Thanks so much Sara, I shall keep you fully up to date once I receive a final reply from Amigo!
Mike says
Hi Sara,
I’ve just received a reply from Amigo, 2 days before the 8 plus 2 extra weeks deadline. I am delighted to announce that they have upheld my complaint on the 3 loans!!!! They are coming back to me within 5 working days with calculations for the refund! I cannot thank you enough for your guidance and continued support, thank you thank you so so much from the bottom of my heart!!
A says
I am currently at week 6 on my complaint with amigo not heard anything yet which is the standard but I got thinking whilst 2 years into my loan with amigo I had to get a debt relief order and was told that amigo wouldn’t contact me anymore due to the order and payments would be made by my guarantor (my mam) we knew this and we paid my mum the monthly money each month and then she paid amigo. So if I was lucky to win my complaint would amigo refund the whole amount or just what I paid and my mam would have to make her own claim for that since I was technically taken off the loan? In my eyes we should be refunded the whole amount because it was me who originally took the loan out! My mam has already said she would let us keep any money she was refunded as we paid her but wasnt sure how it would work
It was a £5000 loan over 60 months I paid about half before my debt relief order and I probably had my mam pay a couple of payments before she had to make the rest of the payments after the order was in place.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok so you may well have paid more than £5000 – that would be good. I’m not sure how this one will go – let me know.
A says
Ok will do I feel like amigo will try and wriggle out of it if they can but surely I took the loan the out and I still had to pay the money for the whole of the loan (well to my mam) even though my name was taking off it. If amigo had done the proper checks originally then they would have seen it was unaffordable from the off.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No you didn’t have to pay your mum the money. Ethically perhaps, but legally it was not your problem. After your DRO you no longer owed any money on this loan to Amigo or anyone else. There is also the problem that if you are owed any money, then Amigo may well say they want to set that off against the amount you didn’t pay them in the DRO. There are a lot of possible permutations here so wait until Amigo reply and come back here with what they say. Don’t accept it, don’t reject it, don’t send it to the Ombudsman, don’t tell your mum what she should do, come back and ask! Right?
A says
I’ll let you know what happens but even if amigo say they want to offset that against the money I didn’t pay them then surely they would refund what my mam paid for the other 2 and half years as the loan has now been paid off. I originally sent them the complaint in 2016 but they dismissed it but because of my mental health I didn’t take it the fos and I contacted them again (6 weeks ago) before taking it the ombudesman as amigo let you take it after the 6 months and they said they would relook at my case any how I will keep you updated
Steph says
Hi Sara,
Have you heard about anyone having any luck with Trust Two / Everyday Loans ? They refused my affordability complaint back in July, even though they have incorrect information about my outgoings – They stated that i didn’t pay any rent at all, which left me with a disposable income of £200 per month (my rent is £500) and gave me a loan of which the payments are £370 per month ! I have sent this onto the FO but am still awaiting an adjudicator to be assigned. I have had 3 loans with them, currently paying off £10k loan at the £370 per month and it’s killing me. I have got behind with all council tax and water – which Trust Two are aware of, but just say that if i pay less then my guarantor (my 69 year old father) has to cover the difference.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
All the lenders apart from Amigo are small, so not much mentioned. And it doesn’t really matter if other people have had a good or bad result from them, what matters if how the ombudsman sees your case.
I think your case sounds a good one! They should have queried why you weren’t paying any rent.
I hope your case will be picked up soon. Are you finding this very stressful?
Marty says
Has anyone had any joy with George Banco ?
Final day of 8 weeks got a response basically saying call credit and the figures I provided on the phone were sufficient and gave me 15 days to agree I am content.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Was this a Final Response? It should say you have the right to go to FOS. No idea what the “15 days” means.
I suggest you go back to them and say if they don’t refund the interest on the loan you will be sending the case to FOS.
Here is a FOS decision against them: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/files/239288/DRN3037894.pdf
Emma says
Marty
I had my George Banco complaint upheld by the adjudicator at FOS but George Banco disagreed so now have to wait for ombudsman.
I hope you have a better result
Emma
Marty says
Hi Emma – fingers crossed for you !!
I’ve went back to them, no proof income or expenses was ever requested essentially I could have said anything!
Rachel says
Hi Sara, I have had my settlement figure from amigo loans, I’m not to hot on figures so This is the break down they have given me.
——————————————–
I have broken down your refund as requested. All interest has been removed from your loans. I have attached the account statements as requested.
To calculate your refund we totaled the payments that you made, then deducted this amount from the capital loan amount that you borrowed and benefited from. Any overpayment you have made also had 8% simple interest added. You only made overpayments on some of the loans you have had with us, which is why 8% interest has been awarded on some of your loans but not others as detailed below.
17680210 Interest accrued: £692.96 8%: £210.08
22632868 Interest accrued: £3,773.70 8%: £672.28
31583252 Interest accrued: £1,253.69
44507286 Interest accrued: £200.24
46686928 Interest accrued: £1,226.15
Total: £8029.10
Your loan balance was £5,040.43. As explained we used some of your refund to settle your loan, leaving £2,998.67 remaining.
£8029.10 – £5040.43 = £2,988.67
You are able to review the total interest that has accrued on each of the accounts on your online account statement.
Please let me know if you have any further questions.
————————————————————
Is this correct please? Many thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So they are settling the last loan and offering you a refund of £2988.
I can’t tell from those figures if this is right.
What I need to know for each loan and top up is:
how much you borrowed
how much was paid to you in cash if this was a top-up loan. eg you may have topped up a loan to 4000 and received 1800 in cash
how many repayments of how much you have made to this loan eg 11 payments of £212.
any other payment you made to this loan (normally none)
I am assuming that your guarantor never had to make any payments.
Rachel says
No my guarantor didn’t , I have the statements , am I able to email them to you at all ? As won’t be able to attach on here.
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, sorry.
Can you dig out the figures from the statements?
HAve a go at just the first loan – how much did you borrow? what is the total of the monthly payments you made? when you took the top up, how much from that loan was paid to you in cash and how much was used to settle the first loan?
Rachel says
I’ve tried to break it down as much as possible.
Loan 1
14 jun 2014 – 3,000 payout
Paid £146.37 each month for 7 months. Then topped up the loan Feb 2015 Settlement £2,814.74 / paid to me £2185.36 new balance £5000.
Loan 2
Balance £5000 – paid 23 payments of £197.62. Topped up that loan Jan 2017 £7500 settlement £4622.63 / paid to me 2877.37.
Loan 3
Balance £7500 4x direct debit of £296.44 , balance then paid off £7864,17 jun 17 new balance £0
Loan 4 balance 1,500 Nov 2018
3x payments £73.18 then topped up to £5000 settlement figure £1,480.70 paid out £3519.30.
Loan 5 balance £5000 , paid 6 direct debits of £197.62 per month. Now balance of £5040.28 was cleared via interest refund
Hope this makes sense