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
Shelby says
Hi I had an email upholding my loans and figures all in one excepted them straight away on the 17th how long does it take for the account to be closed and refunded they said 10-15 days ?
Ryan says
Hi Sara, can you advise of what could happen here.
I had a loan upheld by Amigo. They have stated that as my guarantor has made payments towards my loan they will contact them to ask them if they wish to receive a refund. If they don’t respond within 14 days the money will remain credited to my account. I have since let them know that my guarantor at the time died in 2017 therefore wont respond. Do you think they will try and pull a fast one and keep the money anyway or will the interest from that part just go to me since they haven’t responded?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I expect them to do as they said and leave the money credited to your account as the guarantor will not have reponded.
Lillie says
Hi,
I originally put a claim in with Amigo Loans in October 2019 and they rejected it in December. In January, I took the complaint to the FOS and they finally got back to me in April to tell me my case has been assigned and they had asked Amigo loans to provide their information.
In May, I was told that Amigo had told them there would be a delay getting that information over due to the current situation. I chased this up with the FOS in June and was told that Amigo still hadn’t send the information over and there was nothing they could do until they have it.
I’ve heard people say before that if the FOS don’t get the information from Amigo that they carry on with their investigation regardless but the doesn’t seem to be the case with mine.
So, I have two questions (sorry!)
Firstly, is there anyone that’s been waiting as long as me or longer? I’m seeing people getting responses after only a few months so just wanted to see if anyone else is in the same boat as me.
Also, do you think it would be worth emailing Amigo and asking when they’re planning on sending their information to the FOS?
Thank you!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I expect your complaint will be dealt with as part of Amigo’s clearing up the backlog. That is probably what FOS is thinking too. I doubt you will be able to get FOS to look at your case without the case file or push Amigo hard for the case fule unless your case is being treated as a priority because of your situation, not the age of your case.
Emma says
My timescale is the exact same as yours! I sent to FOS 31st December and still waiting. FOS have said on 2 occasions we should hear in a few weeks but both those few weeks have passed. I’ve asked what happens when we don’t hear and he said there are a team in FOS who deal with no responses… he also said his senior colleagues are aware of the cases that they are awaiting Amigos response on? Not much to go on but that’s all I know. So frustrating!
Lucy says
Morning Sara,
The Adjudicator from FOS sent their response agreeing in my favour on 9th April 2020, I’ve still had no response to this from amigo, however they are now chasing my up saying I only have one month of breathing space then payments due (I am guarantor) is it possible to tell them that I won’t be making payment until response to my complaint received?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
if your household finances sare till affected by coronavirus, ask Amigo for a second 3 month payment break.
Carla says
Hi Sara how long is a case usually with the Amigo complaints handler mine is nearly two week and still nothing getting really worried now
they said that it takes longer because I had 6 top ups looking at the recent post I’m worried that they won’t have money by the time it comes around
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They have a lot of money in the bank. It’s not impossible they will go under in the next few weks but it doesn’t seem likely!
there is nothing practical you can do to speed this up.
Sue says
I accepted on the 29th June. My 15 working day deadline is now up. Trying to get hold of them but the line goes dead after half an hour. Has anyone else who’s payment is overdue had any joy?
Alex says
I think everyone who accepted on 29th are waiting. I think they have something against us 29thers lol
Shaun says
They do say up to 15 working days. Mine is up this Friday. Others have been paid out within days of accepting redress. Hit or miss I would say at the moment.
Lissy says
Hi I accepted on 22nd July , still waiting , no one answers emails and telephone conversations no one seems to know anything , my 15 timescale has gone don’t understand what the holdup with paying the money into my account is ??
Ali says
Hi Sara hope you are well! On the 10th Week of my complaint I have received an email from Amigo Not accepting my complaint:
Very long email, but these are some points:
“”Your stated monthly income of £2,600.00 was verified by a third-party credit reference agency, and your monthly expenditure of £268.57 was checked against averages published by the Office of National Statistics (“ONS”)
In all, when we considered your monthly income and expenditure we saw from the information you had provided (and we had, insofar as far as was reasonable, validated) that there was a ‘buffer’ of £2,053.26 of disposable income.
You have also raised concerns that you had a gambling problem when the loan was paid out. Without making us aware of this, we had no reasonable way of knowing and therefore can’t guarantee that this would have changed our lending decision.
Overall, therefore, for the reasons set out above I am satisfied that on this occasion Amigo has acted fairly in its dealings with you””
– they say that they checked my income off a credit agency, which is not true as i was not earning that much and it cannot be seen anywhere on my statements (i gave them that amount because i was desperate)
Secondly, i had over 5k gambling transactions on the statement within that 6 month period (they say: “you shouldve made us aware” – shouldnt they have checked??)
Shall i send straitht to FOS, so upset!
Thankss!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think it should have occurred to Amigo that if you had that much disposable income why were you in financial difficulty?
I suggest you send this straight to FOS.
How are your finances at the moment?
pol says
Hi Ali, I had a similar issue with buddy loans. It turned out that when they processed my applications they changed my income figures for the loan to be accepted. They rejected my complaint which then the FOS upheld they didn’t agree with this so now its all the way to an ombudsman for final ruling. Dragged out over a year so far. Good luck with your complaint
AM says
Hi apologies if this is the wrong thread but I had an Amigo complaint upheld last month. At the time I took it back in 2016 I also took a UK Credit and TFS loan. Silly I know but desperate at the time.
I have put in complaints to both of them as well, do you think they use the same criteria for investigating as I don’t see how if Amigo upheld my complaint they they can’t?
Alos has anyone else had experience with them on timeframes as Amigo took 6 months
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Amigo should have tried to follow the same decision making that FOS did. That is what the other lenders should also do.
But the complaints are totally separate. You can’t argue that UKC and TFS should uphold your complaint because Amigo have.
Have you sent the UKC and TFS complaints to FOS? If they are over 8 weeks, send them!
AM says
No they are only at 5 weeks but UK Credit have not sent my SAR
Andy says
Got a reply today for my Amigo complaint raised 11th May upholding the 2 top ups but not to 1st and releasing my guarantor.
Accepted just need my redress figures now fingers crossed not to long to wait as made it a condition of the acceptance.
They also offered me £150 for the inconvenience.
Jase says
They offered you 150 for inconveniance? what?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do look out for the figures – see if they are deducting a lot for “unpaid interest” – – they shouldn’t be deducting anything, but you may not care if it’s only £30…
Jonathan says
Excellent news! I finally found an old email address associated with Amigo with my agreement number in from 2013. Most emails are about missed payments too so hopefully that will help my case and they can find me now and process my complaint.
Paul says
I have just been reading through the massive list of negative comments on Trust Pilot about Amigo Loans. A very large number of the comments come from people who have accepted their redress calculations, but have not been paid. I am increasingly concerned that Amigo is deliberately withholding large numbers of redress payments – this seems to be the case particularly with regard to FOS complaints and those where a cash payment of redress is due rather than settlement of a loan balance.
Is there anything we can do about this? The obvious risk is that Amigo runs out of cash before agreed redress payments are made. In which case, claimants will get very little if anything back. Any thoughts/ideas welcomed..
Fellowman says
My concerns exactly. I have been waiting 7 weeks tomorrow for the figures. I have chased all avenues with no joy. Even Amigo replied to me with a generic answer ” as soon as we can, we are busy” sort of answer. However nobody has addressed why it is just us through the FOS with no current loan to settle are having our settlements withheld.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t think it is just you.
It can be very misleading to judge the overall picture from the people who choose to post about their problem on an internet forum.
I don’t think there is any particular problem with these cases, I think there are problems with a lot of cases. Because they are scrambling to get through thousands of complaints. Mistakes are being made. Some cases seem to get forgotten.
Tammy says
Hi Sara,
I sent you over my redress figures last night and I have now had the chance to look properly at the figures.
Loan 1 – £1500 Paid 2 x £73.18 and then topped up.
Loan 2 – £3000 Received £1509,64.
Paid 2 x £146.37 then topped up.
Loan 3 – £4000 Received £1066.97
Paid 3 x £158.10
Loan 4 – £5250 Received £1196.22
Paid 3 x £207.51 then topped up
Loan 5 – £6250 Received £1034.51
Paid 3 x £247.03
Loan 6 – £7500 Received £1181.35
Paid 6 x £296.44 8 x £227 1 x £300
Guarantor paid 1 x £544.84 3 x £350
I haven’t paid this back but on good terms.
Redress details
Total interest – £6469.92
8% simple interest (after tax deduction) – £0
20% Basic rate tax deduction on 8% interest – £0
Fees and/or charges – £0
Total redress payable – £6469.92
Previous loan balance – £6308.31
Sum of guarantor refund – £1744.84
New balance (after guarantor refund) £0.00
New balance less redress £1583.23
Cash refund – £0.00
All loans have been upheld.
Does this look right to you?
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
when you have given the amounts paid eg (6 x £296.44, 8 x £227, 1 x £300), do these include the amounts your guarantor paid? Or are they just the amounts that you paid?
do you know how much your guarantor is going to be paid?
could you ask your guarantor how much 8% interest was included in their refund?
and were all their payments made to the current loan?
tammy says
They are all the amounts I paid, my guarantor is getting £1744.84
£48 she is having in interest. I paid all of the payments until January of this year when I made my last payment and then the guarantor made her payments
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So it looks a bit wrong.
You say your guarantor has paid “1 x £544.84 and 3 x £350” which adds up to 1594.
But they are being refunded 1744 which includes 48 in interest Which suggests that they have paid c 1696 – a hundred pounds more than you thought?
Then there is the different question of why they are taking 1744 off your refund. That is what your guarantor got, but they should NOT be deducting the 8% part that your guarantor received.
When I ran your numbers through my sprwdsheet I made the interest paid on each loan as follows:
loan 1 137
loan 2 226
loan 3 528
loan 4 587
loan 5 810
On the current laon you have paid a total of 3892 so you still have 3608 to pay before you repay what you borrowed,
But taking the refunds from the loans 1-5 then reduces the balance to 1320.
So that is about £260 less than Amigo’s calulations say…
What is the rest of your current finacial situation like at the moment?
tammy says
thank you for this….it’s really not very good at the moment.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
do you mind going into some details? Do you have any priority debts – rent arrears, council tax arrears, gas& electric etc? How much to you owe to other debts, are you making any payments?
Now your guarantor has been released you can put this and all your other non priority debts into a debt management plan.
Or if you feel you cant make more than token payments, then you can look at your insolvency options such as a Debt Relief Order (https://debtcamel.co.uk/debt-options/dro/).
The reason for asking this at the moment are that if insolvency is your best option, then there is little point in arguing with Amigo about £50 or £250 difference.
Michelle says
Hello
Just a quick question- I have had 3 out of 4 of my complaints upheld but i still owe on your loan- can the redress amount of interest etc be paid directly to me
Instead of lowering my loan amount??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
no, redress will be used to reduce what you owe to Amigo. This isn’t your choice.
staci says
So Amigo gave me my final answer to which I said i didnt think i was happy with and was forwarding onto fos (which this was already with fos anyways they knew about)
My guarantor made ONE PAYMENT to which they emailed him to see if he wanted refund it he replied same day.
i was then told a timescale of which they said i would have received my redress figure – guarantor one payment yesterday.
Now they are moving the goal past and saying they will not share anything with me want to hear from fos. Has anyone else had this and would you recommend saying anything more. I have said this is not the process i was giving and I should have the chance to fully see my redress
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
well if you have asked FOS to look at it, does it make much difference? I know it’s annoying.
staci says
hi sara , yeah the thing is though fos have said even though i have explained my full situation that they are so busy now it could be anything up to 4 months before they even get around to this so it looks like i am in for another half a year wait – just sick of it all now to be honest. and it doesnt really help my case in which i cannot afford to make any current payments so now this could go further
I am currently not working due to covid as well as my household been impacted. My guarantor is completely out of work and cannot make any payments – i made an offer they rejected then not heard anything more.
jase says
Sara, i have just had my redress email and they have cocked it up not only have they said my garuntor accepted the refund to her when she declined it but also they have added £2100 of unpaid interest plus only £60 of 8% interest which i assume because of the garuntor mess up it has affected that amount?. So out of £14,500 owed i lose £2,100 in unpaid interest?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How many loans did you have? How many are they refunding?
did your guarantor accept/decline by email or on the phone? if it is by email, do you have a copy of that?
Jase says
yeh i have copies of everything i had 7 loans and they are refunding 6/7. Just spoke with them aparently £60.00 8% unpaid interest is all i am owed.
They told me to forwared the unpaid interest calculation onto the ombudsman as there is nothing they can do about it.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are they paying you the rest of it now?
Jase says
yeh they are but this 8% seems so low £60 for £14,000 interest payback.
I’m getting just under £8,000 and paying off the £4,600 i owe.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I agree that 8% is too low.
Ask FOS to look at this as well!
Ryan says
Hi Sara I’m curious to know. when people are getting the redress are they being taxed on this? I’f so @ what percentage. For example if I was getting a £6000 refund would I be charged £1200 in tax @ 20%
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Only the 8% added interest is taxable, the rest is your own money being returned to you.
Andy says
I spoke with Amigo today to accept their offer of the 2 upheld top up loans and request they send me my redress figures. The original loan was not up held but I accept this as it was affordable and I didn’t miss any payments.
They told me they have to allow a mandatory 14 days to allow for acceptance from both the borrower and the guarantor then they would be sent within 5 days. Does this sound right or are they fobbing me off?
PM says
That’s correct. I’ve waited the 2 weeks and should have my calculation by Friday. Timings for payment to be made after this point seem to vary.
Ashley says
Hi please someone reply,
I’ll brief it our.
Had my Affordability claim Accepted with amigo. They have taken the interest off and stuff.
Here is where I don’t get it.
They wouldn’t lower to an affordable amount for the remainder owed. After talking they basically agreed to less but then said that it will default cos I’m breaching the initial terms.
Sent me a default notice on the loan that they have accepted was unaffordable literally 1 day latter after 1st payment missed. Payment due 18th letter dated 19th. Literally first payment ever on the account.
However I did pay the revised amount that was accepted.
So confused why they can do this? Is this correct?
I’ve won the claim, they accepted. Now they are banging defaults. Any adverse credit file info should be removed is what I’ve seen, not now added.
Please anyone got any advice on this I’d greatly appreciate it.
I did comment this in the default section to.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They shouldn’t be doing this. They have agreed the loans was “unaffordable”, it is unfair not to let you make lower payments. Have you proposed what you can afford?
Ashley says
Thanks so much for the reply Sara.
Payments were (maybe slightly out as it’s off the top of my head) £217 originally. Proposed to pay £80, they originally wouldn’t accept saying it would take longer to pay and it’s breaking the terms. Then they said okay pay £80 but it will fall into arrears and have now sent this default notice, saying if the £137 arrears isn’t cleared by the 6th of aug it with default. Also on the default letter it’s saying under action.
1. Full amount will be owed immediately
Then
2. Take it from the gurentour.
Yet on the phone they have said the gurentour is released.
I really don’t understand why they are doing this now after they have accepted the un affordability claim. Shall I call them back up?
Thanks again.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They can’t do this. They shouldn’t add a default and they can’t go after your guarantor. You must have been talking to someone who had no idea what was happening.
Go back to them and say you have set up a standing order for £80 a month and you will be taking your complaint to the ombudsman and asking for compensation if a default is added to your credit record.
K says
I accepted my redress and have been paid. I did not get one loan upheld and was charged the unpaid interest in my redress. Can I take this to the FOS? Or is it too late as I accepted their offer of redress for top up loan?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how much was the unpaid interest? Have you complained saying you didn’t realise what it was and that this is unfair?
K says
Almost £2k. I queried at the time and was told this via email; Unpaid Interest from non-upheld loan represents the amount of interest that would have been incurred on the non-upheld loan. This interest would have been payable, in any event, had the upheld loan agreement not been entered in to.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Go back to Amigo again and say you have been told that this deduction is wrong. Many people who have gone back to Amigo and queried the “unpaid loan” deduction have been told to take the complaint to FOS.
Scott says
Hi there looking for some help.
I have accepted a redress on 7th July and been waiting for my money to hit the bank (been told the 15 days etc etc)
Whenever I have logged in recently I have seen that my “Balance to settle” is £370
“Arrears” £247
However tonight when I have logged in these numbers have changed slightly even though no payments have been made since 5th June. They now display as
“Balance to settle” £299”
“Arrears” £247
Can anyone explain why the balance to settle figure would have changed? Does this mean my money is on the way?
Thank you
Daniel says
Hi Sara,
Would you please be able to check how much redress would be due. Yesterday I informed that Amigo have upheld two loans (I only complained about the most recent one and am unable to remember the details of the older loan) and I should receive a redress figure in the coming days.
£5,000 borrowed
38 payments made at £197.62
Settled for £3,700.18
No payments missed / guarantor never made any payments
Just to clarify – the settlement was the settlement figure paid to Amigo to clear the loan in full.
The loan was from March 2013 and was settled fully in June 2016.
Thank you for your help
Sara (Debt Camel) says
38 lots of 197 is 7468. plus the settlement is 11186. So you paid £6,186 in interest which should be refunded.
Plus whatever interest you paid on the first loan.
Plus at least £1500 in 8% interest. 20% tax will be taken off the 8% interest amount – a basic rate taxpayer can normally claim back £200 of the amount deducted, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-payday-refund-get-back-tax/
Ross says
Good morning,
Just thought I’d update on how my case is going to give people somd information on my experience.
I lodged an affordability complaint on the 28.02.20. I received my SAR and sent the appropriate documentation required to outline my reason for complaint. I had one loan and two top ups.
My complaint was upheld on all 3 loans on the 22.6.20, my guarantor got an offer that day of redress but never accepted. I received my redress offer on the 11.7.20 and accepted on the 14.7.20.
I am now in the process of awaiting my redress. This is the 6th working day since then and the 23rd working day since my complaint was upheld. I’ll update when I receive this, I have been actively chasing this up.
Paul says
Hi, I am in the exact same situation as yourself apart from my complaints went in on the 28th January
PM says
Are you waiting for an outstanding loan to be settled or for the payment only? Past comments gave me the impression that those waiting for loans to be settled were having to wait a little bit longer.
Ross says
Paul I paid the loan off back in February in full, so nothing outstanding with them.
Kayleigh the number I call is 01202835170, it ranges from 15-30 mins for an answer. I continuously contact them to try and get some movement on anything as I think if you dont you’ll be forgotten about and they wont stick to any deadlines they give you.
Paul says
Thanks Ross seems like they are making up the payment timelines and just saying stuff to get us off the phone
Paul says
My guarantor accepted on 30th of June and accepted her offer, I declined mine on 6th of July – every week my guarantors payment slips…yesterday it was 27th of July then today told it’s 15 days after my decision but told today the 10th of August which is 25 days – they just seem to make up when people get paid – are any guarantors getting paid???
Thanks
Be says
Guarantor accepted 10/7 I accepted 17/7 account updated today and I’ve just been paid but my guarantor has not..still a waiting game for my guarantor. Just want it to finish for everyone involved
McMum says
Hi Sara,
I’ve had my complaint with Amigo since January and with the FOS since March. So far I haven’t had a response from either other than the usual due to the covid situation things are taking longer than usual….
I also have breathing space so not dye to make another payment until September. My current loan was for £3750 from last year and I currently owe them £3800.
I’m just wondering, hypothetically, what would happen if Amigo went under? I know I’m still liable for this amount, but would it get passed to a debt collector? Would my guarantor still be involved? Would I be able to negotiate lower repayments? What would this appear on my credit report as?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If your household finances are still affected by Coronavirus, you will be able to get a second payment break when the first one ends.
If Amigo go into administration, then you owe them money but you also have a Claim against the company in administration and you have the right to “set off” what they owe you for the Claim against the amount that you owe them. So if the administrators assessed your claim at £2700 and you owed them £3800 that would be reduced to £1100 you owe them. If they assessed your claim at £4500, then they would owe you £700 but you would then be likely to only get paid a small amount of that.
Sometimes outstanding loans are sold to a debt collector when a lender goes under, but this doesn’t normally happen when the customer has an outstanding Claim.
What was your guarantor’s financial position a year ago when this loan started? Has it changed since then?
Shelby says
I woke this morning to find my account settled and closed , how long will payment be now ? Thank you
GL23 says
Hi, just a quick one. I accepted an offer off amigo on 13/07 and I’ve checked my amigo account today and my balance is showing as 0 where as yesterday it showed £124 in arrears. Does this mean they’re processing my payment? How soon after people’s accounts changing has money hit their bank accounts? Thanks in advance guys
Ken says
Hello all,
I hope you all get your desired outcomes sooner rather than later! it’s so frustrating.
Once your account on the homepage says “this loan is closed and settled”, how long does it roughly take to receive funds? I know it seems to vary but i see quite a few ppl getting it within a few days? It was updated last night.
Dan W says
I accepted my offer on 29/06/20 for £3,900. Was told 20/07/20 was when it would be paid by. Then I rang my claims firm and they changed it to 23/07/20 which would make it 15 working days. I have contacted amigo through facebook/phone/email no reply and Claims firm have told me they suspect that Amigo may be delaying payments deliberately (if they go into administration they wont have to pay any refunds) and have informed the FOS. Also most people with the acceptance date of 29/06/20 or after all have problems. Claims firm tell me they are badgering Amigo relentlessly for the payment which I suppose would be i there interest because if I don’t get my refund they don’t get there fee/cut. I will update if i do get any money through tomorrow just to give hope but I won’t hold my breath.
NeverAgain!! says
I have finally received figures of all loans from Amigo. Sara can you tell me what I could expect if all loans upheld, although I’m not expecting the first to be.
First loan £750 plus £75 broker fee????
6 payments of £85.02
Then received £2024.88
24 payments of £154.54
Then received £1102.73
6 payments if £154.59
Then received £775.20
7 payments of £180.35
Then received £1687.07
4 payments of £154.54
Then received £1793.27
19 payments of £195.16
Mum settled account in 2018 with a payment of £2738.86
First loan taken out 2013.
Thank you in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“Then received £2024.88”
can you also say how large the loans were for all the top up loans.
NeverAgain!! says
Loan 1 Settled with £415.12 taking it up to 2500
Loan 2 settled with £397.27 taking it up to 1500
Loan 3 settled with £974.80 taking it up to £1750
Loan 4 settled with £812.93 taking it up to 2500
Loan 5 settled with 2206.73 taking it up to 4000.
Loan 6 settled with £2738.86 by my mum
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok then in that case I make it you have paid the folloing interest on each of the loans:
loan 1 236
loan 2 1594
loan 3 399
loan 4 323
loan 5 323
loan 6 2443
That adds up to £5318
Plus about £1000 in 8% interest, they will take 20% tax off this 8% amount.
BUT if they don’t up hold all the loans, look out for deductions for “unpaid interest”… these shouldn’t be taken off.
Maria says
Hi Sara
I accepted my redress on the 17th July cash refund of £6553. Having looked at my account today and the full statement it shows:-
Current balance: -£6,659.32 then
21 Jul 2020 Bank Payment (CR) £1,139.32 £0.00
21 Jul 2020 Interest (CR) £7,845.32 £0.00
I am totally confused can you please help explain this.
Claire says
Hi Maria
Mine as also changed current balance = what will be refunded to your bank.
Interest paid = the interest refund
Bank payment = the 8% interest refund
Hope this helps I am hoping it is in the bank tomorrow :)
Maria says
Thank you that is helpful
Fellowman says
Hi.
Posting just for information purposes.
Timeline.
Complained Oct 2019
Rejected Jan 2020.
Sent to FOS jan 2020.
Upheld via Fos 3rd june 20.
Amigo agreed upheld 3rd june.
Awaiting redress figures since. 7 weeks.
No update being given from Amigo.
FOS say they can’t do anything more, can’t force Amigo to pay me.
So The only way i can move this along is to forward onto the ombudsman for final decision. Which will take months.
Bearing in mind my complaint is upheld, just needs to be paid. Very unfair conduct.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I agree that is unacceptably long. One thing you can do is email the FCA.
The FCA has written about complaint handling and coronavirus (https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/firm-handling-complaints-during-coronavirus) and has said: “We expect firms to prioritise:
– paying promptly complainants who have been offered redress and accepted that offer”
I think anyone who has been waiting for more than a month for figures – or who has had figures and still not been paid in a month – can reasonably tell the FCA about Amigo’s delays.
The FCA will not look at your individual situation but your email will be passed to the Amigo supervision team at the FCA.
Email to FCA at consumer.queries@fca.org.uk and copy this to nick.beal@amigoloans.net and complaints@amigoloans.co.uk
—————————————————————-
Subject: Amigo (708284) upheld my complaint 7 weeks ago but won’t pay me
Give your Amigo reference number, your name and address, your FOS reference number.
Summarise very briefly your borrowing from Amigo and their offer. Give the dates.
Say you see that https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/firm-handling-complaints-during-coronavirus says that firms should prioritise paying agreed complaints, but this is clearly no happening. Say that no-one at Amigo will talk to you or explain what the delay is or when you will be paid.
—————————————————-
There is no need to write a lot. Just say what has happened in your own words.
Fellowman says
That great sara. Thanks. I will give that a go.
Sophie says
Thank you! I have also just done this :) Hello,
My name is ***** and my FOS reference is PNX-***** On the 15th June 2020 Amigo agreed to uphold my unaffordability complaint. They told me that I would receive figures of the refund due within 2 weeks. It has now been 5, nearly 6 weeks since they made this offer, and I have not received any figures nor has my guarantor.
I put my complaint in on January 29th 2020 – nearly 7 months ago. I have contacted Amigo on numerous occasions to just try and get an update on my figures or at least an idea of when I may receive these but do not get to speak to anyone.
I have found this information – https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/firm-handling-complaints-during-coronavirus
which says that firms should prioritise paying agreed complaints, but this is not happening. I further understand that when I do get my figures, it will be another 35 days until payment is made. Even if I had my figures tomorrow, this would mean 3 months from Amigo agreeing to refund me, to actually getting my settlement – this seems extremely excessive.
I fear that these are delaying tactics, and I hope you can look into it.
Thank you
Sophie
Simon says
My complaint was lodged in December 19 and turned down on 2nd March 20. My case has been with FOS since then and Amigo just keep getting additional time to pass them the information. If anybody is about to pass to FOS then I suggest you prepare yourself for the fact that it will be 2021 before they get round to looking at it. The whole process is farcical.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The point of passing a case to FOS is not to get your complaint looked at now, but so you are already in the queue for FOS if Amigo reject or make you a very poor offer.
Lou says
Update: I accepted the redress yesterday.
Just had call saying they couldn’t verify my identity via my Monzo account and to provide additional bank account details etc
They said it would be processed today or tomorrow, I said I was expecting it so soon, the gentleman said they are “working through the backlog”
GL23 says
Hi. I’m in EXACTLY the same boat apart from mine is starling not monzo. Still no payment today, hopefully it does come in tomorrow!
Kelly says
Spoken to amigo again today, accepted on 29th June. Couldn’t tell me why I was still waiting for payment but apparently I’m in the batch for payments this week which are processed Wednesdays and Fridays so will just have to wait and see!
Dan says
Yep exactly what amigo said to me today. No payment today so hopefully Friday for all those that accepted on the 29th
Kelly says
Fingers crossed! Or I’m going to have another weekend of meltdowns until I can call again on Monday! Lol
Claire says
I’ve just received my payment this evening :)
Ross Sinclair says
Great news Claire!! When did you accept your redress?
Claire says
Thank you:)
Submitted my complaint 28/02/2020
Amigo upheld my complaint 14/07/2019 I accepted the same day.
My account balance change overnight last night21/22 July and I have received my refund in my bank today @ 5.30pm 22/07/2020.
Ross Sinclair says
Thats similar to mine I’ve had nothing so far so hopefully it’ll be soon.
Submitted 28.02.20
Accepted 14.7.20
Congratulations again!!
Ross Sinclair says
Checked it online balance shows as 0 thsts not promising
Claire says
Hopefully will change tomorrow :)
Ross Sinclair says
I hope so, what does your balance show as now? What time did you notice the change?
Thanks in advsnce 😀
Claire says
I noticed it had changed just past midnight last night, and now it is showing 0 balance again now I had received the refund , if you go to your statement it shows it all in there once it changes hope this helps
Maria says
Thank you so much Sara for all your advice and help. I accepted redress Friday and the money has just gone into my account.
Claire says
Hi All.
Just a update on my journey with my complaint
Submitted my complaint 28/02/2020
Amigo upheld my complaint 14/07/2019
My account balance change overnight last night and I have received my refund in my bank today @ 5.30pm 22/07/2020.
Thank you so much Sara for this site I will make a donation to my local citizens advice :)
NAG says
Hi all, so after much worry, frustration and annoyance, Amigo redress money is now in my bank. Thanks so much to all for keeping the posts flowing and of course, to Sara for the fantastic and helpful site, the advice and the patience with it all.
Here’s my timeline, if it helps anyone:
Loan 1 taken Dec 2011. £3000 over 24mos
Loan 2 (Top Up) taken Jan 2013. £5000 over 60mos. Both completely paid off in April 2018. Guarantor made payments to both. Online account showed as zero since 2018.
– Complained via email to Amigo: 20 Feb 2020.
– Complaint acknowledged via email: 26 Feb.
– ‘Still investigating your complaint’ email: 19 Mar.
– ‘Sorry we didn’t answer within 8 weeks, we are busy and will answer soon’ email received: 17 Apr.
– I submitted to FOS: 17 April (8 Weeks).
– Complaint Upheld for both loans and guarantor offered redress: 9 Jun.
– Guarantor accepted redress offer: 9 Jun.
– Figures received for my redress amount, I accepted : 8 Jul.
– Cancelled complaint with FOS (FOS hadn’t started investigation): 8 Jul.
– Amigo online account updated and showed a negative balance of the redress amount I am set to receive: 10:05pm, 21 Jul.
– Money received in my Bank Account: 22 Jul – Paid at 6:00pm.
6 weeks and 2 days after the complaint was upheld and 5 months from submitting the complaint to receive the money.
Good luck to everyone!
Chris says
My timeline from amigo for people in case it helps
Complaint made 30/01/20
Complaint upheld 1/7/20
Redress figures given 16/7/20
Accepted figures 17/7/20
Payment received in my bank 21/7/20
Sophie says
Can’t actually believe it.
Excepted my offer on Monday just gone and tonight just over 14k in the bank. Thank you so much for this website.
Hold in there guys I know easier said than done! Good luck
Shaun says
Appears to be a sudden rush of bank payments tonight to people who didn’t have to wait the 15 days. I wonder if Amigos men in black have infiltrated this site.😁
Sophie says
Hi Phil
I got my figures late Friday afternoon – excepted first thing Monday morning was told would take 20days checked bank this evening not expecting it and it’s there finally!
Phil says
Hi Sophie
Good for you. Lend me 50. Only joking Happy for you. But when was your initial email received saying that they would uphold your complaint. I understand that you got your figures last Friday but how long did you wait for the figures.
I’ve been waiting for my figures since 12th June
Sophie says
Hi again.
I put my complaint on the 7th April With the standard generic responses.
Then last week I saw someone On here had mentioned about emailing them direct ie on amigo web page it has contact for head of finance I emailed him direct last Wednesday as I’d got so fed up didn’t think it would even get picked up .. not expecting anything within less than 24 hours Thursday morning I had been assigned a case handler Again didn’t expect anything to happen Friday on my way home from work I received my full break down on figures upholding all of my loans. Rang first thing Monday. Now Wednesday money in the bank. Loan was paid of in full last year. Please hold in there x
Phil says
WOW
Thats so quick. Good for you. Have you got the email address you used. I’ve tried allsorts but i’m now on the verge of being evicted with my daughter so I need to get things sorted asap. So willing to try anything
Jt says
My guarantor received an email yesterday evening regarding refund of all payments they had made, they accepted the offer and were told should be paid within a month but could be sooner, hopefully this helps others that are waiting after the 15 days,
Emma says
Hi,
I have received my redress offer 17th July after complaining in February 2020 I have accepted the offer although I am confused about 1 point.
Loan 1 Oct 2016 £3500.00 Not Up Held
Loan 2 top up Dec 2016 £7,000.00 Upheld
Loan 3 top up Jan 2018 £7500.00 Upheld
Loan 4 top up July 2018 £10,000.00 upheld
The redress amount is:-
Total Interest: £12,845.71
8% interest: 0
20% basic tax rate: 0
Fees and Charges: 0
Unpaid Interest from Non-Upheld Loan: £1244.88
Total Redress payable: £11,600.23
Previous Loan Balance £11,931.97
Guarantor Refund: £1596.01
New Balance: £13,527.98
New Balance after redress: £1,927.15
I have returned to query the £1244.88 as the interest was over a period of two month before top up. I understand when topping up a loan it effectively clears the previous loan and you start again with a new loan ID ect. The complaints team returned to say the interest is worked out differently with it been a complaint, but could clarify as to why.. that’s just how it’s worked out as if the loan ran its course.
Does this sound correct to you? I have returned to query further.
I am very grateful for this website and people’s comment and even getting the redress that I have is absolutely amazing.
My account is yet to update online with new figures and my guarantor continues to await their redress. I understand in total they are expecting £1800.
Any clarification from yourself would be appreciated!
Take care!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The “unpaid interest” is not right. But Amigo won’t change their mind about this, you need to send the complaint to the ombudsman – is it already with FOS?
You won’t have paid a lot of interest on loan 1, but as it has to go to FOS you may as well tell FOS that you think loan 1 should be upheld as well!
Your gaurantor is being released, so from this point you can just offer an affordable monthl payment – how much can you manage and still pay all your bills and expenses? What is your current financial situation like?
Shem says
Hi all
I posted about a week ago to share the email I had sent to Amigo to challenge the deduction of ‘unpaid interest’ and said I would update when I got a reply. The deducted interest was only £169 from the first loan and I was paid £2511 settlement on loans 2-4 but it was more the principle as I had seen others have lost hundreds.
Well I had a call on Monday from Amigo saying In light of my concern they had reviewed my whole complaint and had decided they would uphold the first loan too as a good will gesture as they could of done better with that one too. Today I received my recalculation and am getting an additional £750 with no unpaid interest deducted as all loans now upheld. Make of that what you will but I wonder if they were reluctant to set a precedent by acknowledging their error!
Thank to Sara again for pointing out that Amigo should not be deducting interest that has been paid through top up deductions, I wouldn’t of queried it otherwise.
Shem x
Jase says
They added £2,100 for my “unpaid interest” ? so it took my redress from £14k down to £12k and my 8% statutory is £68.00… So im sure my calculations are a bit messed up, but they told me to forward onto the FOS. Would you reccomend otherwise? How did you word your original email?
Shem says
Hi Jase
I just said that they could not treat the top up loans like they didn’t happen on the basis complaints were those were upheld because it was the capital that was reduced from each top up value that’s was used to close the former loan early and not paid out to me. Therefore regardless of refunded interest I had repaid them the full amount of the capital, including the portion used to settle the old loan. I drew their attention to their policy on early repayment and the fact interest accrues daily and only on any remaining balance so they were actually in breach of their own policy by retrospectively applying an interest penalty when the balance was paid early from a loan I have ultimately repaid the capital of in full.
Hope this helps
Shem.
LEE says
Thanks Shem, wow so if they don’t uphold other people’s unpaid interest then that’s a complete inequity right there, I doubt they’d offer me a good will offer on £2300 worth. I got total push back from them.
Shem says
Hi Lee
They have not mentioned the unpaid interest, they have framed it as a revisit of the original final response and now extended the refund to include the first loan as a gesture of goodwill, stating they feel on review, they could of done better with that one too.They recalculated the redress across all loans and are paying me the difference between that and what I have received already which is £750 and means no unpaid interest has being charged now.
Essentially, I feel what they have done is covered my complaint about the unpaid interest by making the issue void and without setting a position or precedent on challenges on unpaid interest.
Shem
LEE says
Thanks Shem, I’m leaving it with FOS now. I’ve run out of energy to go to and fro :D They’ve even had the cheek to add £104.05 interest on what I owe after redress despite interest not being applicable due to most recent top ups being upheld as unaffordable.
One complaints agent said it will be refunded and the other told me that it’s part and parcel of what I owe so totally contradictory. Let’s let the FOS assist!
Thanks for sharing :)
Vicki says
I’ve had an in affordability claim going on since January 2019. Amigo disagreed with my claim and I sent to the FOS and they picked up in November 2019. After months of twoing and frowing the FOS agreed that I should not have been given the loan and told amigo they had to repay me. They still disputed and it has now gone to an ombudsman for a final review. Fingers crossed they also agree.
All the way through Amigo have been unhelpful and tried to make me feel like it was all my fault!! If it goes through I’m hoping I’ll get around £2k back – just hope it doesn’t turn into another Wonga fiasco!!
steve says
Seems no one is getting paid…i’m in the same boat. I reckon they’re going bust town hence why no one is being paid. I’m owed around 20k which they have admitted to mis-selling. Maybe it’s me being a pessimist, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up and spend the money in your heads, sorry.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Look in the comments above. Sophie, Chris, Claire, NAG and Maria were all paid yesterday evening.
Jonathan says
I am getting seriously hacked off with Amigo. First they tell me that they cant find my details as it is over 6 years old without an agreement number as my personal details would have been stripped away from the loan info for data protection. I manage to access an old email address and send them the agreement number and now they say they cannot find an account with that agreement number and send me this
“Dear Jonathan,
Thanks for the email and I do apologise about the delay.
However, I’m not able to find the account suggested with the information provided. Please can you email us back either the email address or postcode at the time the loan was taken out. If there have been any name changes, also, please let us know.”
Asking for the very information they said had been stripped away. I have sent them screenshots of the emails from themselves showing the agreement number and stating I am in arrears etc. What is my next play?? Surely their emails prove I had a loan with them?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
just send them what they have asked for. It’s more important they find the agreement than you have an argument that they are handling the complaint badly (which they are!)
Jonathan says
Just had this emailed to me:
Hi Jonathan,
Sorry for the delay.
I have raised the SAR for you, we will only be able to provide limited information as your data has been removed in line with data laws. Although you may be frustrated, however, as this is only being raised after such a long time period we cannot supply as much data as we would have been able to do. If we had kept all information we would be in breach of these laws
I have also raised a complaint on your behalf. Our Customer Relations Team will acknowledge your complaint within 3-5 working days and they will then issue a final response addressing your concerns.
Thanks
Anna @ Amigo”
Does that suggest to you that they have found me now?
Sam says
I have had a response from amigo saying they believe the loan was affordable. Had they asked for bank statements they’d have seen I had a gambling problem. I lied about my income (said I was getting more than I was) and said I was living at home with no dependants when I was a single mum renting. Had they looked into any of this properly I don’t think I’d have got the loan. They have said they did all the correct checks etc. Is it worth me going to the ombudsman?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes this is worth sending to the Ombudsman.
Bad credit lenders know that desperate people’s loan applications may not be accurate. That is why FOS says they should have verified your income and expenditure. And if they had, it sounds as though they would have turned you down.
Do you still owe money on this loan? If you do, what is your current financial situation?
sam says
Hi Sara
Yes, I still owe over £9,000 on this loan and am in a worse financial situation than I was when I took the loan out. I currently have breathing space applied, so was hoping when I finally heard back the loan would be deemed as not affordable and therefore mostly cleared however the response I got has said they believe they done all the checks and that it was affordable. I am sure the checks the say they done aren’t accurate as the income I put down on the application was exaggerated, and they say they checked credit files to see if i had any defaults etc and I didn’t when I am absolutely certain I will have had! And had they checked my bank statements they’d have seen the monthly wages were not what I said they were, and numerous gambling transactions
Sara (Debt Camel) says
if your household finances have been affected by coronavirus, you can now get a second 3 month break from paying this.
what was your guarantor’s financial position when you took the loan out?
Ryan says
Had this email from Amigo
. Below is a run down on the full borrower/guarantor redress timeline. I have tried to keep short in bullet points for you to give you an idea of when to expect your funds.
Day 0 – when we issued our Final Response to you and a redress offer to the guarantor. This is what we call Day 0.
Days 0 – 14 – This is the time we allow for the guarantor to accept or decline the redress offer. Once day 14 has passed, the offer expires and we move on to the next phase.
Days 15 – 20 – This is after the guarantors redress offer has expired and we work out the borrowers redress from the response given by the guarantor. Please note if a guarantor was to reply on day 0, for example, we would have to wait for the offer to expire in any case they change their mind or have any further questions to ask.
Days 20 – 35 – This is the time frame we allow for the borrower to respond to the redress offer and for us to issue our refund/redress, as what would be stated on the final redress letter.
I hope this helps.
Kind regards,
Customer Relations Team
Amigo Loans
Paul says
I had this one sent to me couple of weeks ago and if you go by this my redress should of been paid by 26th July .I just had a conversation with an amigo agent who told me they can see who will be getting paid sooner than later and I’m in the later category I mentioned this email and I’ve had to email it to him I’m just assuming they are paying people with smaller claims as mine is approx £12000 fobbing us off till they file bankruptcy I’m now giving up on I don’t think I will see any redress/refund
PM says
Received my figures today, 14 working days after my guarantor accepted. It leaves me with a small balance to pay, but I’m happy because my guarantors refund is significant and we’re using said refund to clear what’s left. Little disappointed that the timelines have shifted again though, Amigo are now saying it is 20 working days after acceptance before you will get your money. I’ve sent a follow up email on this in an attempt to escalate so only time will tell. Waiting game now.
VlAD says
I made a complaint on 8th of July 2020 and reading this forum for hours….it seems that Amigo is delaying on purpose..inside they all know it’s going down. the share price is at lowest in history and they are in talks with the regulators to extend the deadline to clear the complaints…
cherry on the cake: on 20th they shares their results and had fallen to a £37.9 million pre-tax loss .
Personally i don’t have any hopes for my complaint. my guarantor is my brother and he started to make payments on account earlier this year. he made a complaint as well and all i wish is to take him of the loan .
Ruby says
I have just received my redress figures,
£2841.94
Minus £2212.67 quoted in the email (Unpaid Interest from non-upheld loan’ represents the amount of interest that would have been incurred on the non-upheld loan. This interest would have been payable, in any event, had the upheld loan(s) agreement(s) not been entered into)
So saying i should recieve £629.27
Is this correct?
Put in complaint in april. They contacted 7th of july regarding payment to guarantor (who didn’t accept offer) then got my redress figure today. Havent accepted as yet
Ann says
Hi Sara I have been refused my affordability complaint from amigo loans that is already with ombudsman but my guarantor has put a complaint in to about 9weeks ago but only ever payed one payment for me she wants to be removed will amigo still consider this and if they do what happens with my complaint sorry it’s a bit long winded thank you for all you help ann
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Is your guarantor complaining because the loan was unaffordable for them?
Ann says
Yes she is as they never asked for any bank statements etc when she agreed she only had just started a rug washing business from home so it was a predicted salary which was and still has never been achieved thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then in that case Amigo may still decide to uphold her complaint even though they have rejected yours.
If Amigo uphold her complaint, she will be removed as the guarantor. Your loan then carries on, as a normal, no guarantor loan. Interest isn’t removed – you have to win your FOS case for that to happen. But without a guarantor you can put the loan into a debt management plan or go bankrupt/have a debt relief order as you no longer have to worry about your guarantor being affected.
DLMB2017 says
I see from James Benamor’s recent tweets that he wants to be back involved with running Amigo & start challenging the FCA and FOS stance on affordability, perhaps in court. He has cited a recent big case in Australia where a judge has ruled against the authorities, and said that their lending didn’t breach irresponsible lending.
Now – I don’t imagine this will be a quick process if it happens, or even if they have the firepower to take the authorities on. But how would it effect claims? If the rules were to be reversed, would anyone who submitted a claim under the old terms have their complaint dealt with the law as it stood at the time, or will it have to be changed? I’ve been waiting 6 months now and would be devastated if something like this happened and they got away with taking this long to answer my complaint.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The Westpac case was about mortgages, a completely different kettle of fish. No read across to bad credit lending in a different jurisdiction. If you look on this site you will see I do not even have a page about affordability complaints about mortgages…
But on the more general point about court challenges. I don’t think Amigo would be so mad as to try to go for the FCA. Instead they can take FOS to court for a Judicial Review. This is what Benamor has been arguing for.
I am sure Amigo and a lot of other lenders have considered a JR over the past few years, so you have to think the lawyers probably advised them they would lose. A JR is NOT a reassessment of the FOS complaint with the judges deciding whether FOS was right to uphold it – the judges are just looking at the decision making. It can be won on basically two grounds. First that the FOS decision was “Wednesbury unreasonable” – a decision that no reasonable person acting reasonably could have made – that is a much strict test than saying the decision was unreasonable. Second that there was some significant error of process, for example if FOS had failed to explain the decision or not considered representations made by the firm about it. This is why the two FOS key Amigo decisions ( https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/files/238841/DRN2108651.pdf and https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/files/239434/DRN3847539.pdf) were so extremely long – FOS knew there was the potential for them to be JR’d and was very thorough in setting out the legal and regulatory background and how the decisions were reached.
But to answer your question – if FOS lost a JR on some process grounds, it could often correct those and decisions would go on as before. If the JR was lost on more fundamental grounds that affected when a loan would be considered to be unaffordable, then that would be likely to be taken into account in future decisions and fewer of them may be upheld.
Dan says
Has any one had a complaint against buddy loans I put in a affordability complaint to them last month they have come back and said they have listened to the calls when I was taking the loans out and used other methods to confirm my affordability they are saying if I agree the income and outgoing are correct the case is closed if it isn’t they will look at what they could have done and it is fraud to not declare stuff I got into a trap and was desperate so some of my outgoings was less then what they are plus I had an amigo loan a few months before I have won my affordability with amigo I’m just unsure what to do as know they have mentioned fraud any help would be grate thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
A few lenders do this. No-one so far has had any problems when they take a case to the Ombudsman… it seems as though they are just bluffing in the hope you will give up.
Dan says
Thanks shall I reply or just send it to fos I don’t know what to say as the outgoings were wrong
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If they have rejected your complaint (have they?) then I suggest you just send it to the Ombudsman, together with your bank statements which will show your true position.
Dan says
They are waiting for me confirm the outgoings if they are true what I yelled them they will close the case they said if I admit they aren’t then it’s fraud and they will look at if they could have done any thing other to confirm my expenditure
Sara (Debt Camel) says
have you sent them your bank statements? If not, send them those and say they can see your true position from them. Don’t get drawn into discussing details, but be completely open. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/ which looks at a lot of reasons why applications are inaccurate.
SamF says
Hey
So after a long 7 and a half months amigo has emailed finally emailed me today with their final response. They are upholding 2 out of 3 of my loans I had with them!!
I can finally breathe.
Thank you Sara for all your help I wouldn’t have got this far without this website!! X
Sara (Debt Camel) says
good… but have they sent you figures? You may find they are deducting money for “unpaid interest” on the first loan.
do you agree the first loan was affordable?
SamF says
They told me I’m not due interest back and infact I’m still due them £1722, that’s the amount It was to pay off the second loan when I took out my 3rd, Thankfully now that my guarantor has been released I can make affordable payments back
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have they deducted money for “unpaid interest”?
And do you agree the 1 st loan was affordable?
s says
Hi Sara,
Amigo has came back and said they do not owe any 8% interest on our loan as we haven’t paid any overpayment.
Back story:
Loan 1 10,000 paid £7505
Top up loan 10,000, settlement £8693, paid out £1306.
Top up loan was upheld back in December 2019. We took loan 1 to ombudsman and they agreed that it was irresponsible lending.
We owe them £4817.
Is this correct that they do not have to pay any 8% interest?
Thank you,
S
Sara (Debt Camel) says
what did the ombudsman say about the top up loan?
How much have you paid to the top up loan so far?
Has Amigo said how much you still owe them?
s says
Ombudsman didn’t include top up loan as Amigo already upheld that loan. I have paid £5180 to the top up loan. We owe £4817, interest isn’t being applied as it was upheld.
They are paying us £1385 with no 8% interest applied.
m says
Hi all
Just an update for those who have complaints in with Buddy Loans
My complaint was upheld (1 loan paid in full with not GT payments) on 3rd July, they left it until the end of their 14 days to reply and replied on 14th July. I have seen their response and a lot of it is challenging have to ask for bank statements etc but nothing specific to the points the FOS raised about my circumstances.
I gathered that Buddy Loans would uvse delay tactics but the recent correspondence from them has confirmed this. I raised a review on trust pilot to state like many others have done on there about Buddy Loans using delay tactics and they replied with the following
” I understand that you would like to come to a resolution asap, however, we are within our rights to challenge the initial investigators findings. Once the Ombudsman has reached a final decision, if the case is in your favour we will of course adhere to the proposed resolution.”
At no point in their response to the FOS did they ask for it to be reviewed by the Ombudsman – just goes to show how they never had any intention of accepting their findings and are using any excuse possible now to avoid paying out.
Anyone who has a complaint with them hold in there but be aware they will probably use any excuse under the sun not to pay out.
Dotty says
Hi there ,
Amigo haven’t sent response been with FOS since February adjucator had given them another 7 days until escalation apparently anyone else had this happen to them ?
I’m only looking for the refund of my payments I made to the loan on behalf of my grandson his complaint was upheld and he had paid £7411 back of the initial loan of £7500 , I paid 12 payments of £296.44 on top of that , the guy I spoke today I’d tot should be straight forward and the refund should of been issued first instance
Emma says
Hey please could I have some advice , I got 2 of my 5 loans upheld , which were my last 2 loans
My current loans of £6000 at £237 a month for 60 months was upheld and my guarantor accepted his redress of £7600 , I did make some payments on this loan myself.
That loan currently stands at 5560 , but I have just received my calculations and it’s now stating once guarantor redress is refunded and my redress paid the loan payable will be £8000! Is this right ?
I thought that if I took out the loan at 6000 and with all the interest would of roughly paid back 14500 so if the interested is wiped due to being upheld how do I now owe 8000 ,
Oon my calculations they have put on there unpaid interested occurred on non upheld loans , but these loans have all been settled as the 2 loans that have been upheld is my current one and the previous one before that , is this right for them to charge this on settled loans that were topped up? Totalling over 4k
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No it isn’t right, they have no right to “unpick” the settlement on those loans and announce you owe them more money.
You can complain about this unpaid interest deduction to Amigo now and take this complaint to the ombudsman.
BUT also think about the 3 loans they have not upheld. – Do you agree they were affordable? Or did the problems you had paying these cause you to have to borrow more? Because you can also ask the Ombudsman to look at upholding those loans as well.
Jay says
Just received the automated ‘ Following the further extension we requested we are still to investigate your complaint. Unfortunately, some complaints are more complex and may take longer than expected to issue a response, as such we still need to look into this for you. ’
So off to the Financial Ombudsman it goes.
I finally managed to get my SAR, they kept ignoring my emails but I left a trustpilot review and got it within 24hours! only took them 7ish weeks haha!
Jay says
So I was going through my SAR and my income is down as £1500 (I was only earning £1000 a month during that time) Is it possible they have changed this information?