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
Sarah H says
Hi Sarah in regards to my comment yesterday my partner who is guarantor for Amegio loans put an affordability complaint in September asking to be removed as guarantor . He has received an email from them today saying that they have removed him as guarantor and will no longer contact him should i be unable to pay. So just need figures working out now for the offer they have made via the Ombudsman. Thank you for your help Sarah H
Mike says
Sara, love the work your doing here
We seem to be seeing alot of upheld complaints on here , and i myself have complained, however i was wondering how many people have lost there complaint? I have had a loan for £5000 from Amigo then a £7500 top up, i have about 16 payments left and have been struggling all the loan but only recently been sliding with payments (not actually missed any yet)
Fingers crossed i hear back within the 8 weeks, if they dont uphold the complaint are the response times normally sooner?
Thanks again
Sara (Debt Camel) says
People normally hear in the 8th week. Not hearing anything isn’t good news, it’s just what normally happens. Good luck!
Mark says
Hi Sara
I have had a reply from TFS asking for bank statements during the time the top up was taken out, I’m the guarantor and have said it was unaffordable and I should be taken off. What should I do? And how many bank statements if any should I send ? I’m self employed so when the loan was taken out in August it would show as Ok but October, Novemeber, december and January show a massive decrease in income.
Shall I send them all or not send any and wait to get the FOS involved ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
FOS normally asks for 3 months before the loan was taken out, so May-July – what would they have shown?
What was your credit record like at this time?
What has happened to this loan – are you paying it? being told you may have to pay it? just worried that the borrower may stop paying? Are you still on good terms with the borrower?
Mark says
Hi Sara
It was a loan taken out by my son who went into a DRO 2 years ago and I’ve been paying for it since. He made a complaint to them last year saying they should never have lent to him due to his mental health, he suffered and still does with anxiety and depression. They did not uphold his complaint and he spiralled once more.
I can’t recall my financial position back then and they obviously didnt sufficiently check my affordability without having my bank statements.
I submitted a SAR and they advised they had sent everything they had about me but they failed to send me the bank statements from the original loan. I had to say do you not have them and they said finally they did.
I don’t know if I should send the bank statements to them or not? My income for may was quite high but the proceeding months were a lot less.
Any advice would be appreciated
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK so there was an original loan – when was this taken out? Did you make any payments to that?
Then there was a top up loan – when was that taken out?
It sounds as though you were the guarantor for both – correct?
You sent them bank statements for the original loan? were you also asked for statements for the top up loan?
You said you income for May was quite high – what about June & July? If your bank statements showed a variable income, TFS should have been very cautious in assessing whether you could afford to repay this loan.
TFS say they have some of your bank statements but didn’t send them to you in the SAR? And now they have asked for some statements – does this include the ones they already have?
Sorry for all the questions!
Nancy says
Hi sara, I got my cd from Amigo. I had 8 loans which went from £2000 originally upto to £10’000 currently. The cd only shows credit checks 2019-2016. They said they don’t keep credit checks any further back and rejected my affordability complaint despite being on benefits the whole time. My question is if they don’t have credit checks for the loans 2013-16 then how do they prove they did? Or how do I believe them for that matter.
They said it’s due to the age of account a few weeks ago. I’ve just had my head in the sand worrying about how to pay yet another monthly. Now it’s rejected I will send to FOS but will the inability to provide credit checks at inception and the first 3 loans mean i may get true right result?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That’s interesting, I don’t remember anyone else being told they don’t keep old credit checks.
It’s not going to be a problem for your case as you have your current credit record which will show what their checks should have found!
With 8 loans and being on benefits the whole time this sounds like a VERY strong case. Have you got your bank statements to show to FOS?
Are you struggling with the current loan repayment? What are your guarantor’s finances like?
Nancy heuller says
I’ve had family paying the loan. I simply can’t. I did query where the missing credit check are as they did none the first 3 years then 3-4 then none a year then again 3-4. They said the records held don’t go back. I was in a dmp the first 3 years so they would have picked up all the pay day loans, loans, overdrafts I was literally at my lowest when I took the loan. I have all my bank statements but not sent to Amigo. They haven’t even started it and I’m in week 8. They just said “we have 8 weeks to respond”. I will send the bank info to fos if they reject it. I don’t want to waste anymore time with Amigo as I only just got them. I’m content to go to fos as it’s clear they did no checks and then only did them after loan 4.
My question is the cd info says they use call credit. They gave an indebtedness % and mines 99-170% depending on which year I look at. What does that mean?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I’m sorry, I don’t know. It may be your debts as a percentage of your annual income, but that is a real guess.
Have you also looked at affordability complaints to the payday lenders you used?
Mark says
Original loan taken out in 2014, May, I was guarantor. They had bank statements from me for this loan.
I didn’t make any payments to that loan. It was then topped up in august 2015. I did not send any bank statements for the top up.
June and july income alot less and gambling on bank statements.
In relation to the complaint they have not mentioned they already hold bank statements from 2014.
When I submitted SAR I asked for everything they sent me files but no bank statements so I asked if they held anything else they said no. I then said what about bank statements and they said yes they have them from 2014.
As part of my complaint they have asked for statements from when the top up was issued in Aug 2015.
Mark says
I have made countless payments since 2016 to the topped up loan
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, if you didn’t make any payments to the first loan it is now irrelevant, there is nothing for you to be refunded for this loan.
TFS are now asking for the bank statements prior to the top-up to see what they showed.
If you send them May, June, July, then they show that your income was variable AND that you had a gambling problem… that supports your complaint that you should not have been accepted as the guarantor so you should be refunded all the payments you have made plus 8% statutory interest.
I think you should send those bank statements and point out that your income was variable AND that you had a gambling problem so they should not have accepted you as guarantor.
Can I ask if your son included the guarantor loan in his DRO application?
Mark says
Yes the loan was included in his DRO
does this make a difference?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It could have got rather messy if the loan hadn’t been in the DRO… but as it was, you getting a refund should not affect him in any way.
Jean says
Hi sara
I would like to say a big thank you for your help
If you remember l submitted a claim to amigo for 2 loans they asked for my bank details which l supplied they sent a letter rejecting the claim stating that l was not reliant on payday loans at the time however l sent them some additional information l sent my final decision from the financial ombudsman stating my dependence on payday loans and also my letter from step change showing my outgoings and incomings ….
They got back to me today to say that the have accepted my claim and will refund me all interest and will take my guarantor of and freeze all interest 😊 l am extremely happy it has been a hard 2 1/2 years financially and l am glad it is over ….. please everyone keep the faith and keep pushing
Simon says
Has anybody had any claims against UK Credit upheld
Sara (Debt Camel) says
UK Credit are a small lender so aren’t mentioned much. Expect them to reject the complaint and for it to have to go to the Ombudsman. See https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/files/248907/DRN0102618.pdf for a UK Credit case won at the Ombudsman.
G says
Hi Sara,
Thanks so much for all your help on this page. A few months back i won my affordability case with Amigo loans and received my interest refund plus 8 percent :)
Around the same time as taking out the Amigo loan i taken a loan out with Guarantor my loan. They have rejected my compliant (as i expected) so i have sent this to the FOS. Im hoping for the same result as surely if Amigo agreed the loan was affordable at the time then it should stand the same with Guarantor my loan refund? im hoping the FOS see it this way anyway.
do you know of many pay outs with this company?
Thanks again
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you may be the first person to mention them…
Andy says
Hello again,
Is there a set time limit that amigo loans must adhere to when providing information to the ombudsman?.
My complaint is with an investigator at the moment, I have sent my bank statements to them my investigator and they are still waiting on a file from amigo to proceed with the investigation.
Do they have a time limit in providing the info to FOS when they have asked for it?
Thanks again.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
no set time, how long has it been?
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
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Syed, it can be complicated to do this. It depends on how large your first loan was, what the payments were to that and how much from the top-up was used to settle the first loan.
syed says
Hi Sara,
Below is the information
13 Sep 2017
Settlement of old agreement
£2,583.51
13 Sep 2017
Payout £4,416.49
13 Sep 2017
Opening Balance
£7,000.00
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, so that is all the information about the current loan. It looks as though in total you have paid £7216 so if this is the only loan where there is a refund, you would have the balance cleared abd be paid £216.
BUT there was one loan (or possibly more?) before this top-up. That earlier loan could also be refunded.
syed says
Hi,
I have spoken to Amigo their told me I had 4 top ups. their have sent me 3 statements with full breakdown. I should have it by next week. I should get a off them refund.
Loan 1 was £750 in May 2014
Loan 2 was £1250 in Dec 2015
Loan 3 was 27500 in March 2017
Loan 4 was £7000 in Sep 2018.
Bern says
Amigo loans have upheld my irresponsible lending complaint. They have paid my interest refund onto my outstanding loan. I am not in any arrears on this loan. Can I ask for it to be paid to me?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No you can’t.
There is an exception if you are just about to be evicted for mortgage or rent arrears, but usually the standard approach is to repay the balance owed.
Bern says
Thank you for your reply. I have just had major surgery and only receiving sick pay. My priority bills are suffering as a result. Would they refund me in these circumstances?
I’ve had major surgery my husband has taken time off to look after me so both on very little pay. My mortgage payment is now two months behind and I am juggling house hold bills. It’s unfair as they have taken that interest off me in money surely I should be entitled to it back. They also got in touch with my previous Guarantor from a previous loans asking did they want a refund. Surely that is breaking confidential.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Amigo are reasoning that your previous loan should never have been set up as it was unaffordable so they should never have asked the guarantor for payments and should return the money to them. Are you on good terms with the guarantor? Because if the guarantor would give you the money, then that is a way of getting done cash back now to help with your finances.
If you have repaid the guarantor and are not now on good terms so you are worried the guarantor will keep the money you should objects strongly to Amigo doing this.
What are your other current debts like? Have you talked to your mortgage lender as they would prefer to know of the reasons behind your situation not just find you aren’t paying them?
Bern says
Guarantor got the money back they paid to my first loan. My current loan no one has paid to other than me that is the loan I want the interest back on. Their are no other debts and yes I’ve spoken to the mortgage. It’s the point and not fair that Amigo can just do that. They also state in their comment we thought it would be the best thing to do? They clearly don’t know the best thing for people they just know how to rip genuine people off. I’ve never defaulted on that loan so surely that should stand for something.Also their saying it reduces my term well I had a five year agreement with them why are they allowed to break.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Three seperate points, all important:
1) Will your previous guarantor pay you the money back?
(Obviously they should because you have repaid them but perhaps you don’t get on well or they too have a fiancial crisis?)
If YES then this is good as it gets some money back to you quickly, regardless of what happens on poiunt (2) below.
If NO then you should object STRONGLY to Amigo paying them and send your complaint to the ombudsman very quickly if Amigo don’t change their mind. I am not saying this will be an easy comaplint to win but if this is the only way you will get your money back let’s see how it goes. The Ombudsman will listen carefully and consider what is FAIR not just a legal contract.
2) trying to get the refund in cash from previous loan(s)
I think you have a good case to ask for this. Yoru argument is you now have mortgage arrears and other priority debts (eg council tax? utility bills?) because you have been making the Amigo repayments on your current loan. Provide Amigo with evidence of these debts. Again if they refuse to do this, send the complaint to the Ombudsman.
3) “they are saying it reduces my term”
For the current loan, wining the complaint doesn’t “reduce the term”, you can now offer a really low payment to Amigo each month and they can’t either default you or take the case to court. As you have mortgage arrears, I suggest £1 a month. This appies if they give you the refund in cash or take it off the balance…
Bern says
Thank you so much you are being so helpful. I don’t mind my. Fist Guarantor getting a refund as they did pay to the loan. However they never complained so Amigo contacted them telling them I had made a claim surely this is breaking confidentiality.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t think you will succeed with that argument. It would have been wrong for amigo to tell the guarantor at the time you made the complaint, but now you have won it, amigo have to sort out what to do now they realise the loan was unaffordable and should not have been given – release the guarantor and remove interest.
Bern says
I have asked for a Deadlock letter showing I have tried to resolve the matter with a Amigo but they will not provide me with one.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry, I didn’t see this comment.
The term “deadlock letter” mainly refers to utility complaints. You don’t need one for a complaint about a guarantor loan. If you don’t think Amigo’s offer has been fairly implemented, send the complaint to the Ombudsman.
Siobhan says
Hi Sara
Is there a timescale in Amigo loans? I finished paying off a loan with them in 2011, would have been earlier but I had numerous missed payments because I couldn’t afford the loan.
I have made a complaint to them earlier in the year but they refused it saying they have no record of me ever taking a loan with them (ONSTRIDE said the same when I complained to them)
Is it worth me going back to Amigo or is it too late?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Loans over 6 years ago are not automatically ruled out.
BUT when did you complain to Amigo? You need to check your response from them – it may say that you only have 6 months to take the case to the Finacial Ombudsman, or it may not, you need to know.
AND do you have records (emails? bank statements?) about this loan? If it is really old Amigo may not have records and then some proof is needed.
Siobhan says
Hi
I have bank statements showing payments going out, I was mistaken, the loan was settled in August 2013. I last had correspondence with Amigo in June of this year, they responded to say they had told FOS that they have no record of me and that is that. Is it worth me following up with FOS again? I never had a response from FOS.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
definitely go back to FOS and say you have the evidence of the loan in your bank statements.
O says
Hi
I have recently had two complaints resolved through the Ombudsman, one with Buddy Loans and the other for Amigo Loans. For those who have also had complaints upheld and received a refund of interest and charges, how long did this take? I’ve had no communication from either company and its been two weeks since they agreed to the settlement.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you phone them both up and ask what the timescale is. Was this just one loan being refunded from each lender? Are these loans finished or are you still paying them?
O says
Hi,
I’ve tried calling but neither were able to give me an answer. The amigo loan had two top ups and is paid off. The buddy loans was just one loan for £5000 and this is still being paid back however I have repaid more than the initial loan was for so expecting interest repayment there too.
Been going through the process since January so just trying to get it all finished and closed now!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, well make sure you don’t pay any more to Buddy!
Firms should may out FOS awards within 28 days. Most aim for quicker though.
Lou7 says
I have just had an update from my adjudicator regarding my amigo complaint. I was assigned an adjudicator 3 weeks ago but I hadn’t heard anything so I requested an update and she said she is still waiting for information from the business. But amigo told me they had sent everything over in January. I was hoping it would have been sorted before Christmas as the payments are crippling me.
Lou7 says
They had sent only the information for th last two loans so she as requested the information for the earlier loans. What happens if they haven’t got it? Do those loans not get looked at then?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do your bank statements show the earlier loans?
How large were the earlier loans and how long ago were they?
If you can get them, you should
samantha says
Hi i was wondering if anyone who had taken an amigo loan out and having trouble paying as its leaving me very short due to my income dropping dramatically. My guarantor hasnt had to pay anything thankfully. Ive had the loan 6 months so would i be able to do the complaints procedure.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Samantha, yes you can send in an affordabilty complaint.
Can I ask some questions?
Was this your first loan with them & how large was it?
Who is your guarantor? Would they be able to easily afford the payments? (I’m not suggesting you should stop paying!)
Why has your income dropped?
Do you have other high cost credit eg payday loons?
Laura says
Hi Sara,
I have just put a complaint in with Bright house and I found this page this morning. My husband has had a loan with Amigo which he is still paying off. We initially got £4000 in October 2017. It was topped up to £10000 in September 2018. We pay £365 a month. Total amount payable after the £10,000 was £23,000. Our remaining balance is £9000. My husband lied on the application. He hasn’t paid NI or tax since 2009 as he is off work. I pay for everything. I’m not proud of this but he did lie and. Filed in the application and received an email saying he was accepted and just needed a guarantor. We have made every payment but they chase every month as it is late and make it by the skin of our teeth. We have paid the loan back and a few grand over but the amount is crippling.
I have sent the email this morning and they responded straight away with the 3-5 days response.
Do you think this sounds hopeful? I am worried because he lied but we were so desperate for the money. Our kitchen had just flooded and had Xmas round the corner. The top up, was just pressed a button and my mum had to accept it again. I dont believe any further checks were undertaken.
Thanks x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Obviously it’s not good to lie. But you were desperate and Amigo knows that many of its customers may be, so they should have verified his income and expenses, certainly when he asked for the very large top up…
But can I check some of your numbers and dates? If you are paying £365 a month, you can’t have reduced a 23,000 balance at the start jin September 18 down to 9,000?
Your mum – could she really afford £395 a month? If not, perhaps Amigo didn’t verify her income either?
Laura says
I have just clicked on the app and I have a balance of 9300 but i think thats if I pay it off in full today. Just checked again and I think it was December 2018 we got the top up.
The interest has been getting less and less each month. In Jan 18 the interest was £531.98 and a bounced DD. Interest In October 19 is £311.47.
My mum earns round £1100 after tax as a home carer. She has bills of about £600 and then her food for the month so no she couldn’t afford the repayment at all. My Mum sent proof of income but we didn’t I don’t think.
My mums credit isn’t that great as she had used a debt management company to help her. My husbands credit is non existent. He even has 2 CCJS on his account.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ok then you haven’t got anywhere near repaying the 10,000 that was borrowed. If you win your complaint (and i think you should – with a very bad credit record and asking for 10k of course Amigo should have verified his income) then there will still be a large amount left to repay Amigo, but it will be a lot less than it is at the moment. We can talk at that point about your husband’s options are.
But at the moment, I suggest your mum also makes a complaint and asks to be removed as guarantor. The loan doesn’t sound affordable for her at all. If she gets removed as a guarantor, your husband can reduce his payments to Amigo to a much more manageable amount. There is a slightly different template for a guarantor to use, it’s over here: https://debtcamel.co.uk/amigo-complaints-by-guarantor/.
With him complaining and your mum complaining two, there are two different ways this can get resolved, so your mum complaining gives you an extra chance.
sarah H says
hi Sarah im having a nightmare with amigo loans my partner was my guarantor and put an affordability complaint in and had it upheld and has been removed as guarantor. they also agreed to me paying £200 a month after i told them i cant afford £395 due to no longer working. I have received a letter today saying that im in arrears for £195 and they will be going to my guarantor for the outstanding amount?. They have also made an offer via the Ombudsman whilst this is going on to remove interest and refund any interest paid plus 8% i contacted them today and they are saying that they know nothing about the complaint with amigo or the agreement of £200. Ive just phoned the Ombudsman and they said that there definitely is a case and not to worry. They said that they may need to put a separate complaint about them chasing me for the £195 when an agreement has been made for me to pay £200. Has anyone else had this issue thanks Sarah H
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If your guarantor has been removed, you don’t have one any more, you have a normal unsecured loan.
There are no situations where Amigo can go after your partner, they now have no contractual arrangement with him.
Can you really afford £200 a month? What are your other debts? Are you buying or renting?
sarah H says
hi this was agreed before the guarantor was removed and the Ombudsman took the case up. the Ombudsman have said once amigo come back with figures etc they can agree on a monthly payment if after all the interest and 8% there is an outstanding balance. I can’t really afford £200 either but hopefully now the Ombudsman is involved a more affordable agreement if anything is owed. thanks Sarah H
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you stop paying them anything. Tell them to come back with figures if they want you to start making payments.
sarah H says
hi i payed them £200 on 30th October. But im hoping it will be sorted soon. I owe safety net credit as well and have a complaint against them. they have passed the debt to opps limited and they are phoning texting and emailing me for the balance of £100 I have told them that i a complaint in with safety net but keep ignoring. Sarah H
Sarah Reid says
Hi Sara
I went back to Amigo and asked why they were only upholding the first loan to which they felt they had carried out the appropriate checks for the second loan. They could not confirm what the offer was to me… very odd! I went back to my Adjudicator and advised I would not accept the offer and for them to carry on with their investigation.
Yesterday I heard back from my Adjudicator and they have upheld my complaint on both loans and AMigo to repay all overpayments with interest! Amigo are due to respond by 22nd – fingers crossed.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Good – that was a very strange offer from Amigo to only refund the first loan not the second. Glad you now have a full refund.
Danielle says
Hi Sara,
I came across your website a while ago now and after reading the thread on this page, decided to make a complaint to Amigo using your template on the 23rd September. I was hoping to have heard something by now as it’s been 7 weeks but I phoned Amigo this morning and they said my complaint hasn’t been assigned to anybody yet and they have until 21st November to respond as they didnt acknowledge my complaint until the 26th September. I just wanted to check with you whether this is correct, do they have 8 weeks from the date they acknowledged the complaint or 8 weeks from the date I actually sent the complaint?
Thanks!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
it’s 8 weeks from the date you sent the complaint :(
But really it’s not worth arguing over this.
Danielle says
Yep totally agree, not worth arguing for the sake of 2 days. Some of the others I’ve made complaints to didnt acknowledge my complaint for over a week so I just wanted to check. Thanks!
Vanessa says
Hi took a loan out with amigo of £5000 in April 2014 at the time they only did a telephone interview on my earnings and outgoings no checks had been done all they would of known I had just come out if a DRO, my guarantor was not in employment she was on maternity leave.
In 2015 I kept getting increase your loan in my app by now I was starting to run up bills so clicked on it to receive £7500 but once the other loan was paid I only got £2200 by now my guarantor was on benefits and still no checks done! Have I got a case for affordability? I have contacted amigo waiting for reply
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like a good case to me. Put in a complaint using the template letter in the article above that the original loan and the top-up were both unaffordable.
Vanessa says
Hi Sara
I have thanks to this site I came across.They have transferred it to the complaints team and they are meant to respond in 3 to 5 days. Heres hoping as we are struggling to find the monthly payments and have two years to go.
Just wondering my guarantor has put in s thing to be removed as my guarantor as she has done the affordability claim aswell, till she gets removed can we reduce the payments to amigo or will it affect her? Many thanks Vanessa
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you and your guarantor have complained?
Her case sounded very strong, being on benefits when accepted as guarantor for a 7.5k loan.
If you reduce your payments now, Amigo will tell your guarantor but while she has a complaint in they can’t take her to court even if she refuses to pay them anything.
Your reduced payments can only harm her if you lose your complaint AND she loses hers. I think that’s pretty unlikely but it’s not impossible. I’m afraid you have to weigh up the immediate relief to you from cutting these payments against this small chance of harm – it’s not an easy decision,
Vanessa says
Hi Sara yes she has put in a complaint aswell neither of us have heard back. I have been making the payments each month even though I have a DRO in place as she can not afford the payments but we are struggling to pay them as are homeless living in a caravan and I am the only one in full-time employment my husband isn’t. That’s why we have got further in debt as the loan is a big lumps out of my money. I am ashamed.i lied to get the loans but we were desperate at the time
Vanessa says
Hi Sara
Myself and my guarantor got our CDs this week.
My guarantors interview on the phone when they asked about income for the first loan of £5000 she clearly said her only income was benefits will this help our case of affordability? For the top up loan she was still on benefits.
Many thanks Vanessa
Sara (Debt Camel) says
There is no law to say you can’t be a guarantor if you are benefits… but it’s very hard to imagine how someone on benefits could afford the repayments on a 5000 Amigo loan! She should not be borrowing any money to attempt to pay this loan.
Vanessa says
Hi Sara
None of us were in the position to be able to pay the loan but desperation took over. I’m still waiting to hear they said we will get their decision by the 26th December. I thought her being released as the guarantor would not take as long.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
oh they take 8 weeks at least with everyone.
She has a complaint in, she isn’t paying, they can’t take her to court while she has a complaint, she just needs to sit this one out. Bad for your nerves but nothing you can do to speed this up.
OBB says
Hi Sara.
Can you help me please. I appealed to Amigo in relation to affordability June 2017. They did not uphold my complaint. In the response letter sent by Amigo they confirmed that the letter was their final response, and if no reply is received within eight weeks on receipt of this letter, they will consider the complaint closed. They then said I have the right to refer my complaint to the Financial Ombudsman
Service. Although there are time limits for referring your complaint to the Ombudsman, we will consent to the
Ombudsman considering your complaint, even outside the time limits. I have enclosed their explanatory leaflet
for your information.
I then went to the FOS and the advisor did not uphold my complaint also.
I really do think my case has been unfairly handled.
Can I ask? My letter from Amigo doesn’t mention my right to use the ombudsman within six months of its letter- just that I can use the ombudsman so are my time frames to re-open my complaint extended?
Please can you let me know?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The problem here isn’t the timescale, it’s that you already went to the Ombudsman. You can’t take the same case to the Ombudsman twice.
Are you still paying this debt? Or has your guarantor made any payments to it?
OBB says
My guarantor got a bank loan to pay it because they took us to court re. CCJ and as my guarantor (and myself) didn’t want a CCJ on file she had to get a loan to pay them off. So I am now paying my sister back for the loan
I had a loan in 2012 then 3 top ups
My issue here is when when it went to the ombudsmen they concluded that Amigo did sufficient check on us both and the loan was affordable but having listened to the recordings again on 2 occasions they said to my guarantor,
“you have agreed to be the guarantor for your sister are you happy with that” She said “yes”
they said…. “looking at your credit file it all remains the same has anything changed” she said “no”
they said….. ok will we will email over the paper work for you to sign.
she said ok
conversation over….. Surely the adviser re: Ombudsmen cant see that as sufficient checks.
Having come across this website I can see that I was a fool to have let this slide with the Ombudsman’s response
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Did your guarantor put in a complaint? Or was it just you?
OBB says
I just made the complaint
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If your guarantor didn’t complain to Amigo before AND your complaint to FOS wasn’t a joint one with her, then I think she could make a complaint to Amigo now, saying that the loan was unaffordable for you, so it should not have been given, so she would like a refund of what she paid.
These situations can be complicated, if she is refunded Amigo may then say you now owe the money, but you may be able to challenge that! So this may be worth a try.
Joe says
Just received this from amigo. My complaint to them was regarding 4 loans which I got and u was on a debt management plan aswell as borrowing heavily from payday loan lenders. I sent off my complaint along with 10 bank statements 4 weeks ago and then they sent me this.
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.
Michael Lord says
Hi joe
Many people dont seem to get a reply for atleast 7 weeks, from what ive seen its usually 8 im 4 weeks in and not expecting to hear for another 4 yet :-( good luck tho!
Leigh says
Hi Sara,
A note to say thank you. After following your advice I sent a complain to several companies, including Amigo. Yesterday I received £3,998 from Amigo Loans.
Thank you so much.
Robert O says
I hope you can advise me further with regards to my claim.
I took an amigo loan out sometime in 2014 that i could not afford but still managed to pay it off in full (a few late payments across the life of the loan) I am now trying to make an affordibility complaint. The issue i am having now is that Amigo are claiming they have no record of my loan on their system. Now i have chaged mobile number and bank account since i took the loan out and the loan doesnt sem to be showing on my credit file which is strange as with it being around 2014 it should still be showing. They are saying the address and email details i am giving are wrong and keep asking me for a loan number which i dont have anymore. I fully believe they are trying to fob me off as i know the email i am giving when i took the loan out is correct and the one i currently use (i also dont have any emails of the loan application anymore). Do you have any advice on how i can verify i did take the loan out?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
can you get your bank statements from that period? They should show the loan and the repayments.
Robert O says
I believe I might be able to get my guarantor at the time to check as the money was put into his account. Do you think that will have come with some sort of reference number attached?.
Manys thanks, Robert
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It might. You could also ask your guarantor if he has any emails or other informant relating to the loan… in fact Amigo should also be able to trace the loan from your guarantor’s name, address and email address…
Matt says
Hi Sara I have just heard back from my adjudicator who says Amigo agree with their decision to uphold complaints for my 2 loans. The adjudicator has said Amigo will send me an offer, do you know how long this will take as I am still accruing interest at the moment? Thank you for you help previously, this complaint was first made in Aug 18 and seemed to have been forgotten by the ombudsman but with your help at the end of Sep 19 they instantly started the ball rolling. Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It seems to take a week or two usually. All interest will be removed so it doesn’t matter how much accumulates on paper. If you are due to make a payment soon, I suggest you cancel it!
Also if you aren’t sure their calculations are correct ask for a breakdown showing the interest they have calculated for each loan and top up. You should get any CHAPS charges, broker fees, processing fees, charges for Kate payments or letters refunded.
Annie says
Same situation with me, I have sent my acceptance via the FOS and the adjudicator has said amigo will be in touch but just to move things along I have emailed Amigo a copy of the acceptance letter and asked them to confirm what the next stage is. Though this might help move things along a bit quicker but I could be wrong.
All my loans were between 2012 and 2017 so been paid off in full for a few years.
Matt says
Thanks Sara I will wait for their offer then update you with the outcome
And says
Good morning sara
Yesterday I got a pleasant email from my adjudicator.
I’m emailing to provide you with an update to your complaint.
Amigo has been in touch to say they feel there were parts of your application for loans four and five that they could’ve handled better. As they don’t believe this was done, they’ve offered the following:
refund interest and charges you’ve paid on loans four and five
plus 8% simple interest
ensure that any negative information is removed for loans four and five
In regards to loans one, two and three they don’t believe that they acted incorrectly when providing you with these loans.
I’ve asked them for additional information so I can review loans one, two and three. This is so I can assess myself if I feel proportionate and sufficient checks were done when providing you with these loans to ensure they were affordable for you.
I’ve asked them to provide me with this information this week and once I receive this, I’ll be able to do a review on the remaining loans and provide you with an outcome.
In the meantime if you’ve any questions, please email me.
I have a loan payment due today, do u 5hink I should continue to pay this just now?..
Thanks again for all the information you provide truly am grateful.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Good news that 4 & 5 will be settled, and also good that the adjudicator is double-checking the earlier loans.
I think you are safe to cancel the payment today – although it may be too late to do that.
And says
I honestly would have given up if it was not for this site so genuinely form the bottom of my heart thank you so much!! A feel like a huge weight is off me and I might be able to begin the next chapter of my life. Thanks again.😀
N says
Had Amigo come back to say that the initial complaint is going to take longer than the normal 8 week period. They have said it is just because of the amount of complaints they are currently dealing with. They have said I should hear back in the next two weeks. Thought I should mention the potential extended time period so people are aware.
Nat says
When did you send your complain?
N says
8 weeks ago yesterday
Nat says
Nightmare. I sent mine 8 weeks ago tomorrow, so will await an email tomorrow saying it’s going to take longer 🙄
Pete says
Hi Sara / All,
Does anyone have any experience with Everyday Loans? The only complaints I seem to see on here are related to Amigo Loans.
Here’s my story anyway. I took out a £2500 loan in 2013 with Everyday, with my brother as a guarantor. Met all payments, and repaid the loan. Then in 2016, I took another loan out for £2000 as I was still struggling financially and was trying to consolidate. Repaid this one for a full year, until taking out a top up loan of £5000 in 2017. I was still struggling with other debts, so I applied for another top up in 2018, of £10000 which was approved. I have never missed a payment, as I cannot let my brother down, but it is causing a real strain trying to meet the £370 payment each month for the next 4 years.
I have written to Everyday Lending, complaining about irresponsible lending and that these loans were unaffordable. My credit score is terrible, has been for years, and if investigated correctly at the time of the 4th loan being granted, It would have shown 3 other unsecured loans, 4 or 5 payday loans, and 4 credit cards all up to their balance. My combined debt would have been about £25,000 at that point.
They have replied, saying they do not uphold my complaint, and that the loans were affordable. I’ve sent this off to the FOS last week so hopefully it will be picked up soon.
I just wanted to check if anyone else is going through a similar process with Everyday Loans? Or are there any success stories?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Amigo have 85% of the market. The rest is split between half a dozen other lenders.
Everyday Loans have two guarantor brands – Trust Two and George Banco. Who did you borrow from?
Pete says
Hi Sara,
I borrowed from Trust two on this occasion. I took out 4 loans in 4 years, finally ending up with a £10,000 loan in 2018, repayable over 5 years. The interest on it is crazy, I think I pay back over £20,000. Struggling to manage with this currently so I hope that the FOS will look into this properly and rule in my favour.
I just wanted to hear if anyone else has had any luck against Trust Two. Its pretty much Amigo all the way in here!
Thanks and have a good weekend
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You should expect TT to reject your case and for it to have to go to the ombudsman. But it sounds a strong case.
Pete says
Yep they did reject it, all 4 loans were affordable apparently. Despite me having a mountain of debt on my credit file and constantly topping up.
I sent to the FOS 2 weeks ago so just waiting for an adjudicator now.
Sara – Can I ask what the normal procedure is with the amount Guarantor loans and how the FOS see which ones are not affordable? I know with payday loans, they would normally say loans 1-3 are affordable but anything after is not. What about Guarantor loans? I have had 4 here for example, £2500, £2000, £5000, £10000. Would they usually class the first as affordable but subsequent top ups wouldnt be?
Obvioulsly I understand each case is different, but what is the general view taken by the FOS?
Thanks Sara!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Most people have had all loans upheld by FOS :) But it really is case by case.
Mike says
Hi Sara,
It’s been exactly 8 weeks today since I submitted my affordability complaint to Amigo, they acknowledged my complaint the same day. I have not had a response from them still. Please advice what my next move is, surely they can’t go against guidelines by not responding within the specific time period?
Thanks in advance
Mike says
Hi Sara,
Surprise surprise just received this email from Amigo on exactly 8 weeks since I fired off my affordability complaint to them! My question is are they allowed to go over the 8 weeks threshold in order to issue a final response? Personally I think they are just buying more time!
“We write further to our email dated 18th September to let you know that we are continuing with our investigation into your concerns.
As we are currently carrying out a high number of investigations, we have been unable to issue our final response to you. We apologise for the delay and we will write to you again when we have the results of our investigation into your complaint.
We anticipate, based on our current volumes, to be able to respond to your complaint in the next two weeks. However, we will endeavour to respond sooner.
If you are dissatisfied with our progress you have the right to refer your complaint, free of charge, to the Financial Ombudsman Service.”
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That’s disappointing. You can send your case to FOS now, but a lot of people are getting good results from Amigo so it’s probably better to wait :(
Mike says
Yeah that’s what I’m gonna do, just hold fire and wait to hear from them. Will keep you posted once I hear from them again!
syed says
Hi Sara,
I made an affordability complaint to amigo. Below are my figures since 2014 to present.
Loan 1 was £750 2014 May 18 x payment of £46.36 monthly made. Settlement for top up was £236
Loan 2 was £1013 2015 dec 15 x payments of £61 monthly made
Settlement for top up was £945
Loan 3 was £2750 2017 March 5 x payments for £134 monthly made settlement for top up was £2583
Loan 4 was £7000 currently paying.
15 x 276 payments made.
Lum payment 1 x £1000
2 x £296 payments made.
Will I get a refund regarding above ?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am assuming “15 x 276 payments made.
Lum payment 1 x £1000
2 x £296 payments made” are the payments to your current loan.
If that is right, then I think you have paid £140 interest on loan 1, £847 on loan 2, £503 on loan 3. On the current loan you have paid 5732 so far, to you still have to pay 1268 to repay what you borrowed. But that will be covered by the interest in the previous loans and you will get a refund of about £222 if they are all unaffordable…
Obviously the first two loans were pretty small so they may not have been unaffordable though.
emily says
Hi Sara,
I opened an amigo loan back in 2017. of 5,000 I missed a couple payments then applied for a top up of 7,000. I had bad credit at the time I took it out and multiple missed payments to amigo loans and to other lenders. Do I have a good chance of being unaffordable? I sent my complaint 4 weeks ago so still waiting.
Emily
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think so missing payments on the first loan suggests they didn’t check carefully you could afford that one and they shouldn’t have given you the top up.
Ruth says
Hi Sara, my loan is now closed and I had a refund of over £800, I actually cannot believe it’s all over! Thank you for your site I would have never done it otherwise!
Matt says
Hi Sara as mentioned previously I have won my claim against Amigo with the ombudsman and I am now just waiting for Amigo to send me their settlement offer. How do Amigo normally send this, would they post or email?
Annie says
Same as yourself and have today received an email to say I will have a breakdown of all interest within the next 5 days and to give bank details for payment.
Matt says
Hi Annie
That’s great news, how long have you waited since the adjudicator gave their decision? I will keep checking my inbox.
Annie says
The adjudicator emailed me last Friday and I heard from amigo the following Thursday so 6 daysand they then have until next Friday to send the breakdown of the refund due and then hopefully pay out quickly. When I sent the acceptance form to the FOS I also sent this to amigo the same day to save any delays so i don’t know if this made any difference or not
Jack says
I got a loan with amigo loans back in 2017 for £2,500 and chose my Nan to be guarantor who at the time was 64, she only lives off her pension which isn’t much. I then tried topping up to £10,000 later that year but it was refused due to my guarantor not being able to afford it, I got a call back saying that if I drop the loan to £9,750 that they’d accept, I was desperate so i took it. They were weird with some questions but when it come to my nans age we ran into an issue. She was approaching 65, I think it was against there policy for the guarantor to be that old but they gave us a call back saying it was ok even tho it sounded like they wasn’t going to be.
They asked if I have any health issues so I told them I suffer with EUPD impulsive type and I have attempted suicide several times, they didn’t seem phased by this and went forward with everything.
I emailed them early this year asking if there was any way to cut down the monthly payments as I was struggling and my mental health had gotten worse but I got no reply.
I then got a call from my frantic Nan two weeks later saying that amigo messaged her saying I was defaulting on payments so they were coming after her which wasn’t true as I had never missed a payment. I called asking what was going on and they just said it was a misunderstanding.
There’s more too it but I can’t fit it all in. Do you think I have a chance?
Sincerely
Jack
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you may have a good affordability complaint.
For you to want to increase your loan to 10k after less than a year suggests that your first loan may have caused you difficulties, so they should have looked very carefully at whether you could really afford the second one. And that should apply even more so when you told them about your mental health condition – that shouldn’t be an absolute bar to getting a loan but again it should have meant that they were extra careful about checking it really was suitable for you.
Saying they wouldn’t give 10,000 but would give 9,750 – ha! what a reduction…
They should also have contacted you when you sent them a message saying you would like your payments to be reduced and saying your mental health was worse. They may not have agreed to reduce your payments but it was not treating any client fairly to ignore a message saying they are in difficulty and as you mentioned mental health problems they should have been extra careful to respond in a careful and sympathetic way. Nor should they have worried your guarantor when you hadn’t actually missed a payment. I suggest you add these two points in at the end of the standard template letter in the article above.
Your Nan also has a good reason to be asked to be removed as guarantor. She could do this now, but if you don’t want to worry her, you could leave this and hope that Amigo uphold your complaint which does sound a good one. If your affordability complaint is upheld, your guarantor will automatically be released. Then if Amigo say No and your case has to go to the Ombudsman, you could get your nan to also put in a complaint, as a backstop.
Jack says
Thank you so much for the reply. Maybe there’s hope for me yet.
I’ll keep an update with what happens, again thank you for your help I really appreciate it :)
Charlene says
Hi Sara,
I made a complaint on May 2018 to Amigo. I sent another complaint on August 2019. But they sent that they won’t reopen my case. They did not uphold my complaint before and they said it was their final decision.
What can I do?
Thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think if you look at your Final Response from Amigo in 2018 it would have said you can take your case to the Ombudsman. Most firms say you have to within 6 months but Amigo didn’t used to impose a time limit. So you can now send your 2018 to FOS: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/contact-us/complain-online.
charlene says
Hi Sara,
I have sent my complaint to the ombudsman.
I will keep you updated.
Thank you.
Charlene
afaq tariq says
Hi Sara first of all extremely thankful to you and all the group members for their help. My complaint to amigo was successful and they refunded me £5298 and now the remaining balance on the account is around £5000 which I felt should have been refunded as well so i am going to make a complaint to financial ombudsman for that. Can you please guide me where exactly to complain and what shall i say to them.
details: they have refunded me for 4,5,6 and they didnt upheld 1st three. At the moment i still have pending balance of £5100 from 6th loan.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You need to think whether the three earlier loans were unaffordable. If they were quite small or a long time ago, you may think actually they were affordable, so you have had a good decision. You can ask to repay the remaining balance with a more affordable monthly payment,
But if you think you struggled with the earlier loans and they caused some of your later problems, then it”s worth going to the ombudsman about them. The article above has the link to send a complaint to FOS. You can just summarise your borrowing, say what Amigo have offered and why you feel the earlier loans were unaffordable. Attach the email with the Amigo decision to your complaint. Also your bank statements for the time of the first three loans.
afaq tariq says
Hi Sara yes I have done my research and I think they were not affordable to so I have sent my complaint to financial ombudsman already.
Johnny says
Just got my CD from Amigo but ive no CD Player.???
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you have a friend with a PC or a laptop? Most of them can read a CD.
You don’t have to worry about this now. Amigo settles a lot of cases directly. In that case you don’t need the CD! The reason for asking for it now is so you have it there in case your complaint has to go to the Ombudsman.
Johnny says
Thanks for your quick reasponse. I had 3 loans in total with 2 of them been top up loans. First loan were 2011 for £3,300 then I topped up 12 later up to £5000 and then 18 months later upto £5000 again. Finished paying for it over 2yrs later with a lump some of around £3700 I borrowed from family as the debt was not going down. I was in debt with payday loans before I borrowed but can’t remember what I said on the phone. I was earning good money but cant remember what adked for it for. If i said debt consolidation then they would of said the only debt then would of been them, if tjat makes sense.
Rachel says
I took an Amigo loan at the beginning of the year for £5000 to clear an urgent unexpected HMRC debt. HMRC were unwilling to negotiate with me over more than 12 months and suggested I take a bank loan.
I have been in a DMP for several years and have been chipping away at multiple defaulted PDLs, so a bank loan was not open to me. I have a couple of years left in the plan. I have not taken on any new debt other than this loan since entering the DMP and never would have done so was the situation not so desperate.
I am paying over 36 months and have not missed a payment, but as my DMP budget is so tight I am having to make extreme cut-backs in other areas. At multiple points I have had to borrow from family at the end of the month.
I would like to make an affordability complaint to Amigo on the basis of the fact that it would have been clear from my credit file that my finances were poor and I was in a debt management plan. However, this is complicated by the fact that my salary on paper is quite decent (presumably why I was approved) and whilst I don’t remember, there is a strong chance I would have underestimated expenses/not mentioned my DMP. Having this loan approved at the time felt like life and death.
Will I be creating problems for myself by complaining, and do I even have a right to complain? Thanks in advance for any advice.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“I would like to make an affordability complaint to Amigo on the basis of the fact that it would have been clear from my credit file that my finances were poor and I was in a debt management plan.”
It isn’t clear that you can manage to get through two more years of payments. Your loan sounds unaffordable and you have a right to complain.
my salary on paper is quite decent
That isn’t relevant. Amigo should have seen from your very poor credit record that you were already in a mess.
whilst I don’t remember, there is a strong chance I would have underestimated expenses/not mentioned my DMP.
This is pretty common. While it is obviously better to have made a perfect loan application, people applying for high-cost credit are often under a lot of stress and may not be focussed clearly on what their expenses are – see https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/. You have been doing your best to repay this loan, haven’t you.
Amigo know that many people applying for a loan may have underestimated their expenses. And they should have been able to see from your credit record that you had a lot of defaulted debts and were probably in a DMP. And if they had checked your bank statements, the DMP payment would have been obvious.
Will I be creating problems for myself by complaining?
You will need to carry on with the payments while the complaint goes through if you don’t want your guarantor to be asked to pay.
Who is your guarantor? Could they afford the £240 a month repayments or would they too struggle? I am not suggesting you don’t pay, but they too could complain if the loan is unaffordable for them.
Have you looked at affordability complaints about the payday loans too? payday loan affordability complaints can take a long while to go through, guarantor loan complaints are usually quicker, but it’s worth kicking off the payday loan complaints now.
N says
Quick question for anyone that knows Amigo. I submitted a claim just a little over 8 weeks ago and have been told it could take another two weeks to process so that would take it up to the 26th. Over the weekend I have had a very large vet bill (around £1000 I will have to pay as pet insurance only covered part of the cost) My next payment to Amigo is due tomorrow which gets taken by direct debit. I have the money available in my account however with the impending vets bill I don’t know whether it is worth transferring the money to a different account and come to an arrangement with Amigo hoping that they side in my favour by the 26th. If they do side in my favour then I will have a small outstanding balance to pay which I will come to an aggreement with Amigo for however if they don’t find in my favour then I will then be a month behind with the large vets bill on top. Does anyone know how flexible Amigo can be?
I recently got a payout from Quickquid which has mostly gone towards bad credit high APR debts and knowing how difficult they were to break I am not prepared to get involved with them again. I don’t have massive debt anymore but I don’t have access to reasonable cost credit still. I am also not prepared to let my guarantor make a payment. The collections team are closed now so I wouldn’t be able to speak to them until tomorrow when the direct debit will be attempted. Any advise from anyone who has had similar or Sara would be greatly appreciated.
afaq tariq says
They are not flexible at all. If payment is late by one day they would start abusing you with emails texts and letters, but I get what you are saying. When my answer was due i stopped paying them and i kept emailing complaints department to answer me urgently. Me and my guarantor was still getting contacted but I knew until the end of month they wouldn’t try to attempt payment from my guarantor so I had waited and hoped i get answer before end of month which i did and my guarantor was removed and then i told them I cant pay and they have put my account on hold until i get a job.
N says
Thanks for the reply thats what i’m hoping for. The annoying thing is if they responded to my complaint on time then I would have had an answer by now which I am pretty annoyed about. I have chased them again today but still no response.
Shah says
Hi all,
I want to make a affordability compliant to trust 2 loans what are the chances for it to be upheld ?
My loan one was in March 2018 for £1600
Made 16 x £63.28 payments.
Loan 2 was top up £3400 Settlement was £1589.
Made 10 x £134 payments so far.
Will I get a refund or do I have more can you help me out and please
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are you sure about the numbers? They suggest 16+10=26 months since the first loan started which doesn’t sound right. And the settlement figure from the top up looks high.
A lot of complaints are being won, but you haven’t said anything about your situation and the first loan had quite low monthly payments. Really you are the best judge about whether the loans were “affordable” or not.
Shah says
Hi sorry for late reply.
March 2018 I took loan out with Trust 2 loans for £1600 my first loan due to been in hard time I was in debt.
Made 16 x payments £63.28
Topped the loan up was £3400 in January 2019
Settlement was £1589 from loan 1.
Made 11 x £134 payments to now.
Will I get any refund or any luck with complaint I sent.
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think if both loans are upheld you will still owe a balance of just over £900.
Shah says
Sounds good to me will wait for a outcome and put them on DMP if i won
Thanks
John Dixon says
Hi Sara
Well i have had my response from Amigo (a week early) who i have to say have been really good in the communication side of things and it is good news.
I have held 5 loans with Amigo 1 I couldn’t claim due to the date it was taken out however the other 4 have been upheld (including current loan) and are coming back to me within 7 days with total refund and closure of current loan.
I am unable to thank you enough as without coming across this site i would still be struggling and paying £356.00 per month with a year to go.
For anyone who has doubts DONT get your complaint sent!!
John
Natalie says
Hi Sara, FOS have almost reached a decision regarding my complaint. My investigator said he is considering what is fair redress in a unique case like mine. It appears that he agrees that the redress offered by amigo was not fair but he needs to Clearly evidence his decision. To do this, he has said he wants to understand more about amigos interactions with pay plan. As explained before amigo were not willing to accept my pay plan payments as a formal arrangement before but now that they are.
I continue to argue that the amount amigo refunded to my guarantor should be written off as the debt was repaid. With this being said I wondered if you could shed some light on the possible thought process of the investigator in him wanting to look further into pay plan and amigos interactions with me.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I wondered how your FOS case was getting on!
At first sight it’s not obvious what your previous offer of reduced payments via a Payplan DMP has to do with whether your guarantor should now be refunded.
But reading your previous comments, you said: “Two years ago I entered into a DMP and made reduced offer to amigo – which they declined saying it would be unfair and irresponsible to extend the loan term beyond a reasonable amount of time.
Amigo are now saying they are happy to accept this same arrangement- even if it takes me a further 20years to repay debt? What changed is only that I’m now solely liable.”
It may be that the adjudicator thinks that as a general principle you should not be left worse off than if you had not complained, agreeing with your argument about unfairly extending term and size of the loan.
Or it could be a rather different argument that the unfairness comes from Amigo having previously rejected an arrangement and because of this you then based your subsequent finances around the fact that your Amigo agreement was not in the DMP and payments were being made by your guarantor, so it unreasonable for this to be changed retrospectively. This seems a bit like the legal argument known as Estoppel.
Obviously I am speculating here!
Natalie says
Thank you! This has helped a lot. I want to cover all aspects in responding to the investigator. I have also considered the argument of Promissory estoppel.
I did think that maybe he was considering the impact of amigo not accepting my payments. That being that it resulted in my guarantor making payments. If amigo had accepted the formal arrangement back then they may not have pursued my guarantor so soon. Despite amigo rejecting my payments I still continued to make payments through my plan but my guarantor paid the shortfall each month (which was the majority).
I will keep you updated on the outcome as it is drawing to a close (at investigator level anyways).
Sara (Debt Camel) says
For anyone reading this wondering what on earth it is about… Natalie called her case “unique” – it has some VERY unusual features, there is no need to worry that your case will involve discussions of obscure legal arguments.
LJ says
My husband submitted a complaint to Amigo on the 8th November. Had a reply email but nothing further. I have the app on my phone and just checked it today. We have had a top up available for months now but wouldnt dream of getting another one. Now it says “You cannot borrow more money from Amigo”
Is this normal after you have put in a complaint? We do not want to top up at all just wondered if this is what happens for everyone.
Thanks
N says
Same thing happened to me think it is normal.
Anna says
Hi,
My questions a bit random. I got my CD from Amigo today. On it there’s a ton of useful info. I’ve 2 questions:
They use a company called Call Credit for their credit checks. The issue is in 5 years their pdfs show only 2 checks for the 5 top ups. I would have thought every top up they would have to do a credit check – Would that count against them with the Ombudsman?
I saw somewhere on the site someone referenced indebtedness and on mine it says in the 5 years I was 91% then 178% indebted. I had a ton of payday loans – if in the 2 checks they saw such wild indebtedness that’s surely a red flag?
I’ve paid off 4 of the loans and still got 1 outstanding. I presume there’s no 8% internet calculation if you have an outstanding loan with them and they just refund the interest if upheld?
My loans have gone up and my guarantor and uncles paid off 80% of the current loan. My affordability complaint was because I can’t pay for the last 2 years other people have been paying yet in 2019 they still let me increase the loan (I gave it to my guarantor as I was effecting them as a couple).
When I complained I didn’t send my bank statements In 3 weeks ago. I’m panicking that at week 8 they may ask for them and that will add months more. I presume if they ask I can request from my bank and go straight to Ombudsman? I did ask amigo if they had everything they needed and they said yes.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I would have thought every top up they would have to do a credit check
Yes!
if in the 2 checks they saw such wild indebtedness that’s surely a red flag?
I am not sure at what point it starts to be “wild” but the point here is that your situation was clearly deteriorating massively. That should have meant Amigo should not have given the top up without a very detailed examination including verifying income and expenses through your bank statements.
I’ve paid off 4 of the loans and still got 1 outstanding. I presume there’s no 8% internet calculation if you have an outstanding loan with them and they just refund the interest if upheld?
Not quite. If you have overall paid more than you have borrowed, so you have actually paid interest, you will be owed 8% interest on the excess.
my guarantor and uncles paid off 80% of the current loan
but there is still a balance? Had your guarantor made payments to loans before the current one?
You need to be prepared for some complications if your guarantor has paid a lot as the money is likely to be refunded to them and your loan balances increased… there are cases going through at FOS about this.
Get your bank statements now. Be prepared.
JM says
Hi I received my DSAR info and they said once i review it if i have any more questions or concerns i can go back to them but sent them the email with the template that was suggested. Does this mean i have to complain again or are they looking into it still.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You have sent them a complaint, they have to respond to it within 8 weeks. They only have 30 days to send the DSAR info, so that is sent sooner. this doesn’t affect your complaint.
Did you send bank statements with your original complaint?
PS I changed your name to your initials.
JM says
Thanks Sara. No I didnt send any bank statements i will wait to see what they come back with.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If they say they need to see bank statements at the end of 8 weeks, this will delay your complaint by another 2-3 weeks. That’s why I suggest sending them now. But if you would rather wait, do make sure you have got all your bank statemnst ready to send off. They will ask for statements covering the 3 months before each loan application
john says
Ok so yesterday i posted that Amigo had upheld all my complaints bar one due to timings which i accept, Today i chased GBanco and with the 8 weeks being up they haven’t even sent me my DSAR as requested. They have advised they will not uphold my complaints and was evident that they never looked at the statements etc i have sent them to highlighting finances. This was a final result so i have sent everything over to the FOS although how long does this take?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
GB haven’t sent you the DSAR information? Have they said why?
The waits at the Ombudsman used to be long, but I get the impresssion they have got through a lot of the backlog and I hope complaints will be going through more quickly/
John says
No they haven’t it’s like until I chased they haven’t even looked at my case. Have the excuse there was a back log.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That’s bad.
I suggest you also put in a complaint to the ICO that you haven’t been sent the information you asked for.
You are complaining about Everyday Loans Ltd trading as George Banco. Their address and ICO registration number are at the bottom of the George Banco website.
Syed n says
Good evening Sara or all,
I made a complaint on 21st October 2019. To amigo loans for affordability complaint I had an email yesterday saying we need more time to investigate your complaint and will shortly receive a final decision soon, should I wait ?
Today I received an text saying your data subject access requests it’s a on a disk what do I do with it ??
Any help with my questions I really appreciate it
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You complained less than 8 weeks ago. You have to allow them 8 weeks to look at your complaint before going to the ombudsman.
Did you send them bank statements?
Syed n says
I have sent my statement to amigo they said will look into it with complaint hopefully let’s what the outcome come is.
Thanks
Emily says
I made a complaint to amigo on 12.10.2017. On the same day I recieved an email to confirm my complaint and it read that they had 8 weeks. I still haven’t had a response (I forgot to check in with them) what should I do now? Its been 2 years.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Contact them and say you never had a final response from them, would they like to consider your complaint now or shall you send it to the ombudsman? Also ask them for a copy of all your personal information.
Emily says
Do you think I could complain about it being so late?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well of course you could have chased it up… the important thing is to get the complaint considered now. If they dig out some response you never saw, it is likely to say you can take it to the Ombudsman with no time limit, so you can do that.
Emily says
Sent my case to FO as they emailed today with a letter (which I did not receive with a response) Will this still be okay even though its 2 years old? and how long will it take FO to sort this out for me?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you read the letter it should say you had a right to take the case to FOS and that there isn’t a time limit on doing this.
Make sure you read the all of article above before you send the case to FOS as that talks about affordability complaints and highlights what a lender may have done wrong – so that should suggest what to say to FOS. It will help if you can send your bank statements. There haven’t been enough recent cases going for there to be much idea of how long it will take at FOS.
PF says
Hi Sara and all,
Has there been any movement with Amigo allowing the FOS to look at loans over 6 years old? My original complaint to Amigo wasn’t even investigated just dismissed by Amigo as too old. I did escalate to the FOS and now have had it assigned to someone who before they investigate the affordability has to consider if my complaint is one the FOS should be able to consider.
Mine was taken out in 2010 and was only one loan but my guarantor had to make a number of payments. If anyone has any news of the FOS investigating older complaints please share.
Thanks PF
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Not much you can do except sit this out. Some of these older complaints are slow as they have to go through an extra stage at FOS, the “jurisdication” check that they can actually look at the complaint. I don’t recall anyone having their case rejected for this at FOS but there havent been many of them.
PF says
Thanks Sara,
At least I know it is progressing and not just sat in the queue.
PF
John says
I am in the exact same position too. My compliant to Amigo was rejected after 1 day!
Hopefully they will look at the older ones.
PF says
Fingers crossed John.
Amigo made me wait the full 8 weeks before telling me they wouldn’t consider it due to it being over six years. How are people supposed to put in a claim for affordability if they aren’t aware they can. I am so grateful for Sara and everyone who contributes to this site – to date I’ve managed to reclaim almost 3k and improve my credit score. Without the info on this site I wouldn’t have known anything. The FCA & FOS should allow everything from when they took over.
Ayden says
Hi Sara
Finally got a response from the first of 5 I have complained about.
Bamboo loans replied saying they would not uphold nor remove my guarantor nor remove any interest as they felt they did the relevant checks with third parties to ensure my income. Although they did not ask for statements or payslips from myself or my guarantor. Even through the investigation they did not ask for any statements. Regardless of what I said to them on the phone they should have really requested proof of income and bank statements knowing I already had 20k in unsecured debt taken out within a 6 month period ?
The also said in their response that they were aware of my 20k unsecured loans with other guarantor loans companies and because I could ‘afford’ the loan they saw no problem. They said that they were also professionals in borrowing money to people in financial hardship and would not uphold my complaint.
Had they have requested bank statements they would have seen gambling transactions probably totalling around £10k a month.
I have replied to their email but expect nothing else from them. Should I just send through to the financial ombudsman and how do I do this ?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes send it to the Ombudsman. The article above talks about this, it has the link to the Ombudsman’s online complaint form to use. You can make this quite brief, pretty much what you have just said in this comment. Or go into a lot more detail if you want. Attach your decision from Bamboo.
A A Ron says
I was in a very similar situation myself almost identical. bamboo dismissed my complaint and would not uphold neither of my loans I had with them because of the spiel they gave yourself. Sent it to ombudsman about 5 month ago got a reply last week stating that they have now changed their mind and should have done further checks on second loan for 5k so will uphold that one but not the first one for 2k however the ombudsman still found because of gambling and the large amount of debt I was already in that they should not have lent me the first loan either so send it through to ombudsman asap and they will probably come to the same conclusion. Hope this helps.
Ayden says
Thanks – I sent an email reply to them advising they adjust their stance explaining the points above and I have today received an email saying all interest will be removed and that my guarantor has been removed from Bamboo. A happy bunny today !!! 1 down – 4 to go
Sara (Debt Camel) says
good result from Bamboo! You can now get them to agree to lower monthly payments if you need that. Or put the remaining balance into a DMP eg with StepChange e https://www.stepchange.org/how-we-help/debt-management-plan.aspx
Hmc says
Hi
I have received response from TFS stating ‘ affordability’ complaint not upheld but I’m sure I complained about irresponsible lending? Is this different?
They say because I have clearly paid the loan there seems to be no problem!
They have not upheld my complaint and I will therefore send to FOS as after receiving SARS one of the first telephone recording clearly says’ we are a little short on affordability’ but if you could just …. ‘ ???
That to me smacks of ‘fiddling’ to get where they needed to give me the loan.
Anyway off to the FOS.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Irresponsible lending and affordability are pretty much the same thing.
It does sound like fiddling the figures. Good luck with FOS.
Vanessa says
Hi Sara
If I paid off the first loan with the second loan of £7500 and the 2nd loan I have paid over 11000 now so £3800 interest over what I owed. How much will I get back if my complaint is upheld
More details:
the first loan was for £5000 in April 2014 I had just come out of a DRO and my daughter who stood guarantor was not even working on benefits only a phonecall and we got the loan. Then in 2015 August I topped loan up to £7500 which paid back the first loan and left us with £2000 in cash daughter was still on benefits and I was getting deeper in debt. I’m homeless now because of my outgoings my daughter can not make the payments so we have both done a affordability case we have got a reply to say they have up to eight weeks
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How much did you pay to the first loan before it was settled?
Are you sure about the amount of cash you received from the top up? That looks very low – it suggests the first loan was settled with a payment of £5500, which is more than the first loan and after 15 months of payments to the first loan that looks wrong.
Vanessa says
Hi Sara
They got back today saying our request is in a queue.
Of the second loan we have paid £11.561.16 so far and I still owe £5.692 and two years left to pay of the £7500 loan which was a top up to.the first loan.
I’m not sure how they work refunds out if your case is upheld.
My guarantor has put in a affordability complaint aswell.
The only problem we have is we no longer have access to bank statement s of our bank as it was included in my second DRO.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“we no longer have access to bank statement s of our bank as it was included in my second DRO.”
when was your 2nd DRO? was either Amigo loan included in it?
Vanessa says
Our second DRO was in September yes amigo was included in it but because my daughter stood guarantor for us and she’s on benefits we have been giving her the money to pay amigo which we can not afford to do
All I can remember is they took what was left to settle the first loan and we got what was left
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is going to get complicated.
– If you win your complaint, your daughter will get a refund of the amounts she has paid.
– I don’t know exactly how your refund will be calculated.
– And if your refund is over £1000, your DRO may be revoked. You will then have other options.
You can’t be worse off through making this complaint, but it’s probably best to take this one step at a time.
Vanessa says
Thankyou Sara my daughter has only made a few payments. We got the other DRO as have been living on credit cards etc as the payments were unaffordable for us.
When we got both loans my daughter was not working and on benefits.
I had only just come out of my first DRO so had been struggling with debt. Do you think we have a good case? I can’t afford to pay my daughter the payments anymore and she can’t make them either. I don’t know where else to turn
Sara (Debt Camel) says
When was your first DRO? Was the first loan in that?
I think you have a very good affordability complaint, but the DRO complicates things a lot.
Vanessa says
My first one was in 2013 and the first loan wasn’t included as I got the loan just over a year after having it
How will the DRO complicate things? Will they not uphold my complaint because of it?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t think the DRO should stop the complaint being upheld. But the money your guarantor has paid will get refunded to her. That makes it hard to work out what interest you paid. The refund may result in getting your DRO ended is the complication. At that point there are options, what they are will depend on the refund and the rest of your non guarantor loan debts.
Vanessa says
Thankyou Sara for your replies. Best case scenario for me will be the loan to just be finished, I have got in so much debt because of it having to live on credit cards etc also am homeless because I can not afford to rent I just want it from around my neck thankyou again
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is a very practical and sensible attitude to take. For you, the loan is already legally finished because of your DRO, but not ethically finished as your guarantor can’t make the payments.
If you or she win your complaints, your guarantor will be removed. And whatever happens to your refund, there will be a good way forward that means you don’t owe your debts. So let’s leave the complications for your DRO until we know what is happening to your complaint because at the moment it’s hard to predeict..
With hindsight it would have been simpler for your guarantor to complain on her own, not you. Anyone else reading this who is already in a DRO should look at this approach. But I think it will all be fine for you in the end, it’s just an uncertain path to get there.
Vanessa says
Hi Sara
Thankyou I’m just hoping they uphold my complaint so I don’t have to take it to the FOS as I don’t know what else to do and wish I hadn’t put my daughter in the position
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Lots of people here feel that :(
Vanessa says
Hi Sara
We are unable to make our payment this month just haven’t got the money as to make payments we use to live on credit cards for food etc now we have DRO are no longer able to fit. Also my guarantor has not got the money to pay them either. We are both making affordability claims but waiting on the decision as hasn’t been eight weeks yet. Can they take any action on our guarantor? Many thanks Vanessa
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Amigo can’t take any legal action against your guarantor when’s he has a complaint open with Amigo or with the Financial Ombudsman. If Amigo reject your complaint or hers, you should send it to the Ombudsman the same day, no hesitation.
She should not try to borrow money to make these payments. I know this is hard and scary for both of you, but you have no practical alternative but to carry on. I hope it will soon be resolved.
Chris says
I would like to share my recent dealings, I wrote to Amigo loans last year in August regarding irresponsible leading regarding a £4000 loan with 49.9% interest I took out in 2014. The loan was eventually paid off after having to take out another loan which was more affordable. Amigo Loans did get back to me before their 8 week deadline. Their response was that they had carried out significant checks by doing a phone interview with me going through my in and out goings. They also said they had gone through my credit records so they will not uphold my complaint. At the time I had 2 other loans, 1 payday loan and a largish overdraft. I passed on all the details to the FOS after this decision including my bank statements at the time I took out the loan. I finally have had a reply to my complaint that the FOS adjudicator rules the loan was unaffordable due to the debts I already had, including an overdraft and that the loan from Amigo only made my debt more significantly more and unaffordable.
The FOS have told Amigo to put things right by refunding all the interest plus 8% Statutory interest back to me so I would had to pay the amount what I was given £4000, so I should get £1934.33 plus the 8% interest. Amigo have until the 22/11/2019 to get back to the FOS to agree to this, so fingers crossed.
Thank you for your help with the website, I wouldn’t of been able to get this far otherwise.
Emily says
Thats brilliant news. Amigo said mine was affordable to I have just gone to the FO. Hoping for a good result like yourself! How long did it take FO to sort it out?
Chris says
The whole process so far has taken over a year, I sent it to the FOS at the end of September 2018. I am still waiting to hear the news if Amigo agree with the FOS, otherwise it will get passed to another FOS member who will make a final decision, but more than likely it will be the same outcome.
So I would just stay patient and just wait for the news for the FOS to get back to you.
Adam says
Hi, I’m new to the site so apologise if this has been addressed in the comments previously, i have had 3 loans with amigo each significantly more than the last & a different guarantor each time. I also had other guarantor loans with George Banco , pay day loans and defaults on my credit at the time of borrowing. i feel this was irresponsible and unnafordable lending. Im currently still in the loan engagement with amigo haven’t missed any payments albeit a struggle. Basically long story short, do i have a case and secondly how will this effect my guarantor? i will continue paying whilst any complaints are on going.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like a strong case to complain. Use the template in the article above and change it so it describes your case. It won’t affect your guarantor if you carry on making the monthly payments.
Also put in a complaint to George Banco!
Danielle says
Hi,
I’m 8 weeks into my complaint to amigo, today I received an email saying they basically want a further 2 weeks to deal with my complaint due to high volumes of complaints being made. I’ve read a few comments on here made by people who also received this email. Just curious as to whether anybody who received this email has had a final decision from them yet? I dont really want to have to go through FOS for the sake of waiting 2 weeks but if I know theres a risk of them extending the time even further (after this 2 weeks) I may think differently.
Thanks in advance!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This has only recently been mentioned. No one has yet got the the end of the next 2 weeks. I would give Amigo that extra time as they often make a reasonable offer.
Tony says
my wife had the same email a few weeks ago then an hour later had her final response. complaint not upheld. now if with FOS hoping for better result. Her complaint was to remove as guarantor. Seemed a bit odd that the final response came so quickly after stating they needed another 2 weeks Think it depends who picks up your case at Amigo both mine and my wifes were rejected by the same person. Different loans but strange that the same person dealt with both and basically gave the same response.
Danielle says
Thank you for your reply! I suppose it’s kind of reassuring to know it may not take the whole two weeks. Sorry to hear you didnt get a positive response. Good luck with FOS!
Danielle says
Thanks Sara! I’m going to wait it out, I haven’t received a CD like others have yet and havent been asked for any bank statements or any further info for that matter. Is this unusual?
N says
I got the same message on the 12th and am yet to here anything further. I chased yesterday looking for a guarantee it would be within the two week extension period but not heard anything back. Mine is up next Tuesday so hoping for a response before then will report back when I do either way.
Danielle says
Thanks for your reply!
I saw your previous comments, must be very frustrating given your situation with the vets bill. I’m really trying not to obsess over it but I feel like the longer it takes them to reply the more anxious it’s making me. I hope you hear something soon! I will post if I hear anything.
John says
Well as previous mentioned my four out of five loans have been upheld just a few days ago a week prior to final eight week deadline. Today I also got my calculations and can say I’m happy.
Around £8k in refunds just under £6k paying off my £356 month loan which had another year to go along with over £2k back in my account within next five days.
Unable to thank Sara and this site enough. Amigo honestly have been fantastic from start to finish constant communication throughout. Please all persevere ensure all documents are in before they request them as this will speed things up.
Thanks.
Now FOS for GBanco
Sarah H says
Hi Amigo have got back to me this is their email
Dear Sarah,
Following your recent complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service,
I’m writing to confirm that the proposed settlement has now been
completed.
We’ve removed the interest that has accrued on your loans. This
amounts to £7,705.09. No further interest will accrue in future.
We’ve put this towards your outstanding balance to reduce this. Your
loan balance is now £2,652.56.
I have also requested that the credit referencing agencies remove any
negative information relating to this loan from your credit file.
Moving forward I can see that we have agreed a payment plan with you
to make payments of £200 per month
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You said you were on UC – in that case £200 is a LOT to be paying. How much you should offer depends on your other debts and expenses.
I suggest you talk to StepChange https://www.stepchange.org/ about your full financial situation – they may suggest a Debt Management Plan for all your debts including the Amigo loan because that is now like any other loan as your guarantor has been released. Or they may suggest other solutions.
Emily says
Rang FO tonight to find out more about my case. They have said they might not even take my case into consideration due to the final response being 2 years ago. I didn’t witness seeing any response letter because at the time I was in hospital and when I returned I still hadn’t seen it. Very disappointed as I felt I had a good case.
Abigail Jackman says
Hello,
I made my complaint on 2/10/19 and have received an email today (21/11/19) stating that they are still reviewing my complaint but need some further information. They have requested 3 months bank statements from PRIOR to my loan being paid out??
Surly this is a fault in thier due diligence within underwrit before accepting my application?? Why do I NOW have to provide them with this?
They say that if they don’t get within 10 working days (which takes us PAST the 8 week deadline) then they will have to.answer my complaint based on the information they already have?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Amigo has decided that they didn’t do enough checks.
BUT they don’t know what they would have seen if they had done more checks, so they want to see your bank statements.
This is the procedure the ombudsman follows. to win a complaint the lender’s checks have to be lacking AND the loan has to be unaffordable.
I suggest you send them your bank statements as they have requested.