Lending Stream, a mid-sized payday lender in Britain, is noticeably bad at handling payday loan affordability complaints. This article looks at what often happens in a Lending Stream affordability complaint so you are prepared.
By taking your complaint to the Ombudsman you may get a much better award. In the first half of 2018, the Financial Ombudsman was agreeing with the customer in more than six out of ten Lending Stream cases. This shows that Lending Stream are not making reasonable offers even where it should be clear that the loans were unaffordable.
A loan is unaffordable if you can only repay it by borrowing more money, or not paying essential expenses. Here is how to send in an affordability complain and ask for a refund of the interest you have paid: How to ask for a payday loan refund – with template letters.
I think Lending Stream’s complaint handling is so bad that its regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), should investigate it.
Putting in a complaint – you now can’t use email
In late 2018, Lending Stream invented a new way to be difficult. They have switched off the emails for their complaints department, making people submit complaints through their web form. See Lending Stream stops customers complaining by email for more about this.
Getting a list of your loans
You may be able to see all your loans in your online Lending Stream account, your password is often your birthday DDMMYYYY. If you can see the loans there, take a copy immediately as Lending Stream may delete them!
If you can’t access that, LENDING Stream will send you a list of your loans if you ask and they no longer try to charge people £10 for this. This isn’t because they have decided to be nice – it was made illegal in May for firms to charge a customer for a copy of their personal information.
Quoting absurd credit scores
Lending Stream sometimes tell people that their credit score was fine. But if they quote a score, it may bear no resemblance to your actual Experian score. Some examples:
adjudicator found in my favour for loans 4 to 42 over last 6 years. Lending Stream disagreed saying my credit score was 776. I don’t know how as I had three defaults at the time.
They also said my Experian credit report figure was 785. I have replied saying I was on a DMP since 2013.
So what is happening? Are they literally inventing these numbers? Lots of people complaining think they are!
When a case goes to the Ombudsman, if Lending Stream are challenged they usually explain that they don’t actually see the same credit record or score a customer can. That’s true but the Ombudsman is often very unimpressed with this. here are two examples:
LSL said that it was unaware of all of this at the time that it lent to Miss S. Although it was aware that she had eight loans with other lenders. It was also aware that the credit reference agency score indicated a poor credit history, which was no doubt a reflection of the fact that her mortgage was in sustained arrears and that she had defaulted on some accounts. Had LSL applied any meaningful consideration to the information it said was actually available to it, I think it should have prompted it to make further enquires.
Lending Stream says it doesn’t have full access to consumers’ credit files, and may have different subscriptions to the credit reference agencies – so would see less information. What subscription Lending Stream chooses to have is up to it. But if it means its credit checks may not be sufficient to give the proper picture, I need to look at what the proper picture actually was. There’s nothing I’m aware of to stop Lending Stream upgrading its subscription, but in any event, it could ask for further information if it feels it’s unable to glean enough from its credit checks.
So if Lending Stream tells you had a good credit score, just ignore this – it does not mean you have a weak case at all. And when you send the complaint to the Ombudsman, mention the problems on your credit record.
Making very low offers
Lending Stream sometimes makes quick offers, which sounds good. But the offers are often very poor.
There is no explanation of why those loans were picked – they aren’t the last or the largest loans often. They can seem quite random. Lending Stream just says the others were affordable – even if your situation was getting worse as the borrowing continued.
By late 2018 Lending Stream knows that the complaints where there is a history of borrowing every month for a long while will usually get much better awards from the Ombudsman.
The Ombudsman has published Technical Guidance that lenders are supposed to follow when they handle complaints. This makes it clear where there is a long “chain of loans” they should normally all be refunded after the lender has become aware there was a problem, not just have some loans picked at random for a refund.
Making a low and random-looking offer at the same time as quoting a very high “Experian credit score” is misleading people into thinking they have a poor complaint when they may well have an excellent one.
You won’t lose an early offer by going to the ombudsman
Don’t worry you may “lose” the offer if you don’t win the case at the Ombudsman. We have seen many of these complaints and no one has ever got less from the Ombudsman than was offered by Lending Stream! Here is one example:
I had a reply to say that they would refund me for the first five loans (I had 16 in total) I declined the offer and sent to the FO. I have had a response today from the FO who have advised they agree with the first five loans and have also found in my favour for loans 8 to 16.
Making an early rejection but not saying it is a final offer
In summer 2018, this is a very typical rejection letter that is being sent out:
We would like to highlight that Lending Stream conducts rigorous affordability assessments for all its customers on each and every loan application.
Our Findings
Between[dates], you borrowed [number of loans]. All loans were successfully closed. In-fact one or more loans were pre-closed before the original loan term. Below, we highlight the affordability checks conducted on each loan which was offered to you
· Where available, your stated monthly income, expenditure and disposable income were compared with the average monthly payments due on these loans at the time of approval. In some cases, as you took further loans, we also independently verified your income with third party sources
· In some cases, we used national averages for expense categories where data is available as a third party verification of your submission, and we revised upwards your total stated expenses while computing the disposable income
We hope the above addresses your query regarding affordability checks done on your loans
That doesn’t answer your actual complaint ( it wasn’t a query at all) which was about the non-affordabilty of the loans.
It suggests Lending Stream think your loans were affordable, but it doesn’t actually reject your complaint or tell you about your right to go to the Ombudsman… that is very poor complaint handling.
If you have got a reply like this, I suggest you ask Lending Stream if that is their Final Response as you will be sending your complaint to the Ombudsman. You don’t need to worry that your complaint is actually weak, that letter was completely standard, sent to everyone.
Objecting at every step of the way
When a case does go to the Ombudsman, Lending Stream is frequently very slow at responding and often seems to object at every step of the way. Although they do accept some adjudicator level decisions, there are many absolutely clear-cut cases which they insist on taking to the ombudsman stage.
Here is one example:
Sent complaint to LS in Sept 2017, they rejected after a few weeks but didn’t state it was final response.
Sent to FOS in Nov 2017.
Adjudicator found in my favour for loans 3-11 in March 2018 – interest and fees in the region of £1400…of course, LS rejected this and sent to Ombudsman.
Ombudsman agreed with adjudicator at start of July 2018.
Here is a case where even an unfailingly polite Ombudsman got a bit fed up:
Had it looked more closely at Mr F’s circumstances it should have easily realised he couldn’t actually afford all of the loans and it should have declined the applications. I am somewhat surprised that even after my provisional decision Lending Stream still considers it has acted reasonably.
Lending Stream often says the customer’s income was more than enough to cover the loan repayments, that it’s the customer’s fault as they were gambling, the customer should not have given inaccurate information etc.
But by now they have seen hundreds of these cases go through the Financial Ombudsman and they know these are not adequate excuses. Where there is repeat borrowing over a sustained period, the Ombudsman says that they should have looked more closely at whether they should continue to lend. As one Ombudsman summarised it:
Lending Stream knows they have a greater responsibility than the customer in the consumer credit relationship.
Two small bits of good news in 2018
- Lending Stream used to be appalling about dragging out payments, sometimes even beyond the 28 days they are allowed. In summer 2018 they have speeded this up and people are often receiving their refund within 10-14 days.
- Unlike many other lenders, they don’t routinely reject complaints about loans that are over 6 years old.
FCA should review Lending Stream’s complaints handling
The FCA says in DISP 1.3.3 that lenders:
must put in place appropriate management controls and take reasonable steps to ensure that in handling complaints it identifies and remedies any recurring or systemic problems.
I think the FCA needs to investigate Lending Stream’s complaints handling. Lending Stream needs to:
- allow customers to complain by email;
- stop misleading customers with its quoted Experian score, very poor offers and lack of mention of the right to take a case to the Ombudsman in early communications;
- adopt the same approach to answering a customer’s complaint that the Ombudsman would use, not try to settle cases by offering as little as possible;
- settle the clear-cut cases speedily. I’m not suggesting they have to give a refund to anyone that asks, but Lending Stream knows by now what a strong case looks like!
- conduct a trawl through its database to pick up customers who borrowed consistently over a long period and offer them an automatic refund;
- conduct proper root cause analysis from the affordability complaints to make better assessments of affordability before lending in future.
UPDATE – summer 2021
In May and June 2021, Lending Stream seems to be responding to complaints faster and making better offers. These are not always good enough, so some cases will still need to be sent to the Ombudsman.
The main payday loan refund page is now the best place to see how other people are getting on with their LS complaints and to ask any questions.
It also has the template letter for how to complain and details of how to send a complaint to the Ombudsman.
A large number of these complaints against Lending Stream are being won so it is well worth doing!
What if a loan application was wrong
Refunds from large loans & car finance
Stopping gambling – practical steps.
Adz says
Hi all
I’ve had a reply from the Ombudsman advising leanding stream to refund the interest on several loans they have until the 30th July to reply how likley are they to reply by then? I’m expecting to be messed around like everyone else
Mac says
Just sent my new details to LS today for a payout of £150, minimal but it’s better than nothing. Will keep you updated as to when I receive the payout
Neil says
A quick call from the ombudsman and less than an hour later my 747.80 appears and a further call to the DCA informs me lending stream are buying the debt back and all negative info including the CCJ removed from my file . Wonderful as I was expecting to wait the full 28 days . It helps they gave me a load of misinformation last call and I had it recorded and had ammunition to go back to ombudsman with and explain they were telling me to still pay the DCA and that loan that was sold out was affordable which it wasn’t as it was the only one that was sent out to a DCA . The ombudsman found in my favour for every loan apart from first 2. Amazing what can happen and they are capable of if pushed by the right people. Still took from July 3rd to today 17th to be in bank . So relieved it’s all over and lessons learnt .
Sara (Debt Camel) says
well done! Let us know how the CCJ removal goes – I would be interested to see how they tackle this.
Gill says
Hi
I am going through a similar situation with lending stream and the ombudsman. The ombudsman have found in my favour that 25 out of 28 loans issued were irresponsible. The findings have been passed to lending stream to comment or provide further information if they do not agree. In everyone’s experience do lending stream tend to agree with the findings or do they fight the decision made by the ombudsman?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Quite often they agree, but not always.
A says
How long did the whole process take? Mine has been with the solicitor since Feb 19, they say it was the FOS but awaiting allocation, FOS have my bank statements and credit report(received may 19). Thanks
Nik Will says
I received the payment has been initiated email from Lending stream on Monday (15th July) how long after this have people received their payments? Also what time do people normally see the funds hit their account?
J says
Hi Nik – I got my email on July 3 and received the credit yesterday, July 18; a bit of a wait. Credit landed around 7.30 pm. Hope this helps. J
Nik Will says
Thanks J that’s good to know! 😊
graeme says
Hi Nik
did you recive your refund? if so how many days did this take?
Guy says
Hi all
I received an email from the FOS after a 4 week delay from there decision to give lending stream (gain credit) more time (as the initially argued against one of the loans the fos upheld). The good news is finally they have greed to refund me 8 of the 14 loans I had with them and will refund me £2056. I emailed FOS back immediately to accept and start the 28 day deadline immediately (as I am also wary they may go bust soon as the refunds issued increase). When did you receive contact from lending stream by email firstly after FOS decision o give up to date details for the refund as of yeti have received nothing. Admittedly this is only day 3 after a weekend. Till waiting for a decision from quick quid who argue my historical loans were over 6 years
Chris says
Day 18 arrives of the Lending Stream refund process….sigh. Anybody else who submitted their acceptance around the 4th of July heard anything?
AG1980 says
I accepted from LS on the 5th July, I’ve followed up via email and all they have confirmed is that it will be within the 28 days. Frustrating isn’t it, I thought I’d seen a lot of comments previously where it had ended up being around the 3 week mark so i’m hopeful that its really the end of this week. Cross fingers
Andrew says
Mine was accepted by them 28th June I got mine saturday
Chris says
Hopefully something this week for me then with that timeframe, thanks Andrew.
Chris says
Speak of the devil, just got an email from LS saying the refund has been initiated and will be processed in 28 days. I’m assuming that means from the date of acceptance (4th July) and not today! But at least I’ve had contact at last.
Robinson says
I had mine in the bank part way through the 3rd week of acceptance date
ClaireR says
I had my refund in the bank about 7.30pm last night.
This was after accepting their offer on the 4th July.
Very very happy that this is now the end of this complaint.
The breakdown of figures included for them to pay off the £300 principal balance
that was still owing, I keep logging into the account today to see if it is still there,
and they have not wiped that off yet, will see how long that takes!
Good luck to all with Lending Stream refunds due, it is lovely seeing that sum sitting in MY bank.
Peter says
I Posted a comment earlier in the timeline, somewhat optimistic on my part.
LS will find any means open to them, legitimate or otherwise, to delay making payment.
16 days into the 28 days and they query payment details, and somehow that constitutes a revised acceptance of offer date so we’re now 16+28.
I will continue to leave negative posts on trustpilot as I have umpteen loans to refer to in my posts
John Heart says
Hi,
Last week I accept the ruling from the FOS in regards to Lending stream, irresponsible lending. LS accepted their ruling, I’m just wondering if anybody knows the time frame for them to pay out?
Liam says
Hi all,
Just thought I’d leave a comment after reading this forum for some time and getting some great advice . I lodged a claim with the ombudsman at the beginning of feb19 against lending stream and have had a response today from an adjudicator to say 11 of the 16 loans I borrowed should be refunded. So mine has taken just over 5 months….. just hoping LS agree with this decision, they have two weeks to respond.
John Heart says
They took the full 2 weeks with me and accepted the decision. You don’t get the full loan refunded, just the interest. It’ll still be a decent amount though and of course better than nothing :-)
Andrew says
I went through a payday refund company back in October and chased several times and they kept just advising that Lending Stream hadn’t come back. I got annoyed at lack of effort and complained myself in May, getting an instant response of 56 day SLA.
I received an offer from Lending Stream 25/7/19 advising only 1 of my loans would be refunded. The payday refund company were copied in and advised I should take this (giving them the 20%). I have rejected this though as the reasons and figures quoted are not correct and all of my loans were not affordable.
I raised a case with the Ombudsman (payday refund company said this would take a year and I won’t get anymore???) does anyone know if this can be escalated in anyway with the Ombudsman with it being raised last year? Lending Stream also emailed again today 29/7/19 to advise they are correct etc. I just hope the incompetence of the payday refund company doesn’t mean I need to wait longer at Ombudsman.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That’s what they normally do – they don’t negotiate. Your complaint is already with FOS, there is no way to speed this up.
I think you may have a good case for complaining to the Claims Company and saying they did nothing, you have done all the work. To decide whether to do ths, you could send Lending Stream a request for your personal data (go through https://www.lendingstream.co.uk/contactus/ and select a customer – personal deta request) asking for all infomration including all details relating to complaints you have made and any complaints that have been made on your befoalf by a claims company. See what that throws up.
Andrew says
How long roughly does the Ombudsman take just now? Quite annoyed that almost year had gone by because of the refunds company. If it’s happened with Lending Stream I can only assume the others have not been actioned or chased. I sent emails to them all again yesterday but am I quickest just to advise Ombudsman of them all?
Andrew says
The payday refund company are now harassing me to take what’s on offer from Lending Stream. 2 phone calls, 3 emails advising to take the money they have offered as I won’t win and by Ombudsman will take over a year to respond and by then Lending Stream will have gone bust? Is there any truth in this going bust? Also they said if I chose to go to the Ombudsman I will be due them 30% of the win plus VAT??? Does anyone have advice on how I get away from the refund company as surely they can’t claim money on cases I am dealing with myself due to them not doing them?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send them a written complaint saying they have failed to handle your case properly, you only got a response from LS by complaining yourself, and that they are harassing you to take the low offer. tell them you will be complaining to the Ombudsman about their behaviour if they don’t agree to stop contacting you and that they are not due any of the compensation you may get from the Ombudsman as you have done all the work so far and you have no faith in their judgment.
There is some a possibility LS may go bust. At the moment they appear to be one of the firms doing rather well out of the demise of Wonga and the Money Shop. They are slow at complaint handling but they always have been, they haven’t got any worse that I can see.
Your decision probably depends on the amounts. What is the refund from the 1 loan they have offered? How many other loans did you have and how much interest did you pay on those?
Andrew says
They have offered me £572.51 and the payday refund company want 30% plus VAT of this for doing nothing – £206.10. On other loans they have put my income at a higher amount and when checking bank statements they have included the available credit at time (this was including payday loans from them and others) and the outgoings are not including payments back to them. There is occasions where they lend me £590 but taking back over £700 plus another loan I had from other company I was paying back over £300 and my wage was only 1200 at the time and hadn’t taken off rent or bills as yet. My argument is they have looked at available credit and not if I could actually afford it.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So list your loans in order and the interest you paid. Then take a realistic view of what an Ombudsman decision may look like and work out a likely possible refund from the Ombudsman. If it’s £900 then you need to think about taking £572 offered. If it’s £5000 then you know what you may gain!
Whether the claims company takes a cut is pretty irrelevant to the decision here. You can object either way.
Andrew says
There isn’t any loan reference unfortunately so don’t know what amounts pay back which loans. I have copies of all the credits and all the debits with them and in total I borrowed £3510 and paid back £5142.20 so overall interest is £1632.20. Not sure if can be worked out from that?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
that’s a good start.
were there any significant breaks between the borrowing, the time taken from repaying one loan to taking out the next one?
and the 572 you have been offered, does that include any 8% interest. if it does, how much ?
andrew says
It’s hard to tell really what amounts are paying back what loan but first amount borrowed was October 2012 of £150 and then also in October 2012 I was allowed to borrow £380. I was allowed a further loan of £60 in December 2012. Next loan was of £560 in April 2013 so it all looked fine before this loan and allowing me few months paying back them but from then on I was given £590 in June 2013, £590 in July 2013, £590 in August 2013, £590 in September 2019. The £560 in April is where I am getting the refund from as I couldn’t afford this but they have ignored the loans after this advising they were affordable but the clearly weren’t. The £590 was borrowed but I was still paying the £560 one and then payments added on top of this mean between June-September I was roughly paying back £700 odds plus had another payday loan was paying back with another company of £300 odds all on a 1200 odds salary. So I was reliant on these loans to pay back the previous months for several months. When they both refused to eventually give me any more I was left with no wages for a few months and lost my flat at the time, mobile phone contract and had several outstanding bills. I had to borrow from family to get back on my feet.
They added the 8% in the total yes. interest amount was 169.61
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So ignore the 8% added on for the moment. they are offering you 572-169=£303 refund. Overall you have paid £1632 in interest. My guess is (and its only a guess not having seen your bank statements), that if LS said the 560 was unaffordable all the other loans after that probably were too. So that is going to be most of the 1632 interest as the early loans were small. You could probably 4 or 5 times as much by going to FOS.
Johnboy says
Day 28 since acceptance and I still haven’t received payment. I have been emailing LS for the past 10 days and they assured me it would be done by the 30.07.19. yesterday’s email from them said it would be done ‘shortly’… Not sure what the next step is or how to get an accurate time out of them? Any advice? I have waited patiently for the 28day deadline, now the deadlines gone and all I have received is a headache
John Heart says
Contact your FOS case handler who will get onto them for you
andrew says
They haven’t provided me with details of interest paid. I have asked several times and been ignored. The response I got detailed how much I borrowed, my income at time of request and my outgoings. This is only in an email no actual paper copies of the loans or pdf. I can get details on bank statements on how much I paid back but it doesn’t advise interest.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The interest you paid can be worked out from your bank statements – it’s the amount you paid minus the amount you borrowed.
ChaCha says
Hi
I am due a refund – the 28 days passed due them apparently needing more info on my name change (all other account details the same so assuming this is a delay tactic) I am now 16 days in to the second 28 day period and no sign of any funds!
How long do refunds seem to be taking at the moment? I’ve been told It’s being treated as priority but I again think this is not the case!!
Thanks
Katie says
I accepted an offer on the 26th July and sent them correct bank details I called them on the 30th and confirmed they had everything and they said it would be up to 28days from the 26th. I got my refund initiated email yesterday. Anyone received their refund any sooner?
John says
So it took like 5 days for the refund to be paid?
Katie says
No still waiting. Received refund initiated 5 days after accepted
David Cunliffe says
Hi the deadline passed for lending stream to respond to adjudicator desicion what shall I do?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
leave them a bad review on Trust Pilot for ignoring communications from the Ombudsman who says you should have a refund: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/lendingstream.co.uk. It may work – also it’s true!
MrsK says
I accepted my £1,600 offer after adjudicator recommendation. Clock is ticking from 16th July but I’m stressing as I’m planning to move and this money would be a God send. Anyone able to shed any light on recent refunds timeline?
KM says
Mine has already been 10 days. Going to right down to the 28th day I feel.
Peter says
16.30 on the original 28 day deadline, LS credited my bank account.
Interesting, as of last week they were claiming that as they needed to confirm my bank account details, the start of the 28 days would be some 16 days later than my original acceptance of the offer. Seems FOS intervention may have had some impact in them complying with the original deadline.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
About 28 days. Contact them ASAP to tell them your bank details.
John says
I’m 1 week in; I received an email to confirm the have my bank details and that it would be processed in 28 days. So it doesn’t sound like the do the payment until the last of the 28 days. Very frustrating.
MrsK says
My refund has just been processed. Accepted 16/17th July.
Adz says
Hi all
I accepted an offer from LS through the FOS on monday, how do LS usually contact you regarding bank details etc? Or should i just contact them?
Thanks
John says
I called them the day they accepted the ruling and gave them my bank details, then asked for a confirmation email which they sent 24 hours later
Andrew says
They have now provided me with a list of all my loans and repayments and it really puzzles me why they think it was affordable?? I have less money on some of the loans they advised were affordable to that of the one they offered a refund on. I have raised it with the Ombudsman now, do you think it’s worth still going back the Lending Stream as well because a simple look at what I paid back on the loans shows it’s not affordable. They are saying my income is £700 more than my wage at that time but it’s including credits from loans not my wage like other loans have taken into account.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No. You would be wasting your time. They won’t think about anything you send them – they know some people will just give up here.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The only time it is worth going back is if you can show they have left some of your loans off the list.
Andrew says
Ok thanks, seems crazy that have proof they can still say they are in the right and pick out a random loan and say it was affordable. If you say they hope people give up though that’s probably why they are saying what they have. The statements they sent show all the amounts taken from me but they haven’t taken them on the dates advised on the copies sent over. Just need to hope Ombudsman can look at it quickly
John H says
Hi Sara,
I’m currently complaining to P2P & QQ, they’ve emailed asking for a copy of my bank statement at the time of the loans and a copy of my credit file. Will this strengthen my case significantly or is it just a tactic to put me off?
Katie says
How long have people had to wait for their refund after receiving email that the refund has been initiated?
John says
By the research I’ve done it seems between 14-28 days mostly
Jamie says
LS: I accepted my refund offer on the 8th July, then got an email to say it would take up to 28days to be in my account. On the the 25th of July I received another email which said my bank details are now verified and my 28 days have been reset, funds should be in before the 25th August. Frustrating and long process but hopefully be well worth it.
Shelle says
I accepted compensation of 3rd July as agreed with FOS. I am still waiting for my payment from Lending Stream. They claim they did not receive acceptance until 19th July which I have disputed. They only initiated payment after I had contacted them. They are now saying they have 28 days from 19 July to pay me. Is this right? I feel like they are stalling. After waiting for a year to get the complaint upheld I just want this closed and to have the refund I am owed. What else can I do?
Adz says
Hi Can someone in the know help me on this
I’ve accepted an offer via the fos they have advised lending stream to refund interest and charges on loans 3-6
1 03/07/2012 20/12/2012 6 £465.00 £232.50
2 23/09/2012 debt sold 6 £185.00 £241.30
3 20/11/2012 debt sold 6 £205.00 £304.80
4 10/12/2012 debt sold 5 £125.00 £342.30
5 20/12/2012 debt sold 5 £135.00 £270.72
6 27/12/2012 debt sold 4 £85.00 £324.56
What would i expect to be receiving back? Ive worked out interest and charges as £692.38 then
Lending stream are offering
Refunded interest and charges: £457.39
• Interest at 8% simple: £174.54
• 20% tax withholding on interest: £43.64
Redress due: £631.93
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ignore the 8% and tax deducted, the important thing is the refunded interest and charges. On the figures you have given, your calculation is correct! At first i thought they had just added up loans 3-5 but that is still out by about a fiver so it’s not as simple as that.
I suggest you tell the adjudicator that LS have got the figures wrong and tell LS too.
Adz says
Thanks Sara
I thought it was wrong
I’ve let the FOS know and sent them my workings
Thanks for checking for me
Adz
Adz says
Hi all
My calculations are
I have worked out that loans 3-6 interest and charges below
Loan Date Taken Amount Highest combined repayment
3 20/11/2012 £205.00 £304.80 304.80-205= 99.80
4 10/12/2012 £125.00 £342.30 342.30-125= 217.30
5 20/12/2012 £135.00 £270.72 270.72-135 =135.72
6 27/12/2012 £85.00 £324.56 325.56-85 =239.56
total £692.38
8% simple interest per year would equate to 56%
8% x 7 years 2012-2019
so 692.38 + 56% = 1080.11
1080.11 – 20% tax = £864.09
Am I right? or wrong? I’ve emailed the FOS back with my calculations
KM says
Tell your adjudicator ASAP that they have delayed payment
Mrs W says
Just an update…
After an appalling offer of £140 I sent my Claim to FOS in Nov 2018. I had 47 loans with LS over about 4/5 years. They were also quite a few which were over 6 years old. I was assigned a adjudicator 14.06.19. After further investigation in July he asked for a copy of my credit file I sent it Around the 10/07. On the 15/07 he completed his assessment and gave LS 2 weeks to respond. They responded in exactly 2 weeks(29/07). They agreed with the adjudicator that 45 out of the 47 loans were unaffordable. Now the adjudicator has given the company 4 weeks to make me a redress. I’m just playing the waiting game now.
Should I email the company half way through the 4 weeks wait to give a little push? Has that helped get the refund quicker.
Thanks for all your help and everything you have done,
Mrs W
Katie says
I would email them now just to make sure they have got your acceptance and correct bank details
MrsW says
Another update.
I sent an email to LS asking them to confirm they have received my acceptance on the 5th August. I got an email back early hours this morning (11/08:19) asking me to confirm the bank account. Confirmed it straight away and also asked for a break down of the refund as they haven’t give me a figure yet, which I think is unusual.
Mrs W
Mrs W says
After 3 emails in the last week trying to find out how much I am owed, lending stream kept sending me automated emails about the refund being processed. I sent an email to my adjudicator and he emailed them asking them to send the refund break down. LS emailed me within minutes of the adjudicator emailing the company. Finally I know the amount. £5700 ish… I’m so pleased. Hopefully they will pay on time.
David Cunliffe says
I rang lending stream to accept their offer so will get money within 28 days from 2nd August
Katie says
As long as they have your correct bank details and your acceptance you should get it within 28 days. Send them an email and ask for confirmation
Susan Rice says
Hi, I was wondering if anybody could give some advice. The FOS ruled in my favour on 10.07.19 for 6 out of 11 loans. LS had until 23.07.19 to reply. To date I’ve had no response from either party despite emailing FOS a number of times. Any suggestions on what to do now?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Leave LS a bad review on Trust Pilot. It may not work, but it’s the truth!
Andrew says
What are the timescales for the ombudsman to acknowledge your complaint? I have bee. Waiting over two weeks and heard nothing back with case reference or asking for details etc. I understand they are busy but how do I know they got my details ok if no response? Then is there a rough length to how long a case can take?
John says
Months, I reckon mine was 8 months before a handler contacted me with details of my case and that was right at the start of the investigation
Andrew says
Really? Considering just taking the offer in that case as by that time they will probably have went bust and no guarantee the ombudsman will agree. Was hoping they logged and agreed quickly and the timescales people advised were incorrect but looks like they aren’t.
Gillian says
Mine only took around a month after passing the lenders decision on to them. Then around a further month for the ombudsman to send me there decision. I’m now at the point where LS have two weeks to respond.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
As you can see, Andrew, timescales vary a lot. There seemed to be some blockage in LS complaints being handled at the end of last year, beginiing of this year. That has now gone. Cases in the queue are being worked through . Some new cases seem to be picked up pretty quickly!
What was your offer? and how much interest did you pay overall?
Andrew says
Is it maybe worth calling the Ombudsman? As I have my final offer from LS and they won’t even look at my bank statements for affordability checks. It wouldn’t take the ombudsman long to deal with.
Katie says
Anyone had their Ls refund lately?
Mike says
Day 16 of 28 and still waiting on my refund from lending stream….. accepted on 22nd July and bank details confirmed also on 22nd july by my adjudicator.
Jamie says
I’m on day 34 of my FOS acceptance and day 14 since the verification of my bank details. Frustrating!!!
H says
I’m on day 26 and still waiting.
I accepted on 12th July with the FOS, I had an email from them on 18th July to day the refund had been initiated… nothing since.
Hoping it’s in on Friday- otherwise it’s back to the FOS.
H says
I have just received my refund :)
Jamie says
I accepted on the 8th July and was told I’d be refunded by the 5th August. Just rang FOS they agreed so there going to contact LS in the morning. They did assure me that LS were pretty good at paying within the 28days and shouldn’t worry. Well done on getting your refund H.
Mike says
I was hoping to get my refund quicker than the 28 days as LS took 6 weeks to agree with the ajuducators decision.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
it doesn’t work like that …
R says
I received my refund earlier :) Accepted on the 22nd Of July and money went in about half fivish. I’m over the moon!
Mike says
That sounds promising… I too accepted on 22nd july and got the LS initiated email on 24th july so hopefully my refund shall appear in the next day or so……?
Jamie says
If it works out right MIKE You should get your refund tonight between 17:30-19:30 let us know
Katie says
Did you get yours jamie?
Jamie says
Not yet but hopefully it’s monday I will let u know soon as it lands. I accepted on 8th of July but they dint verify my bank details till 25th so starts from then.
Katie says
I’m just behind you then accepted 26th. Did you get a refund initiated email?
Katie says
Fingers crossed for mine soon too then
Amir says
I complained to Lending Stream back in August 2018 and in October had their final response saying the loans were all affordable… so decided to send off to the FOB… this was picked up in April this year and finally got their decision in early july to tell LendingStream Stream they should refund loans 7-32, roughly £5400, they agreed with FOB on 19th July which I accepted so the 28 days started then for payment. I’m over the moon with this, just hoping I get my money soon as I’m now on day 21 and worried they might go bust! Lol
Mike says
My refund hasn’t arrived yet Jamie…. I’ll let you guys know when it appears.
Jamie says
I got my refund initiated email on the 25th so I should be a day behind you. It’s a gd amount so I’m guessing they will hold it to the last day.
Adz says
What email did you guys use? I emailed them last week and had no response regarding acceptance and wrong figures
Katie says
I just reply to emails they have sent me like the one that says they have initiated refund
Critch says
Shocking that they can pay a loan out in minutes but take weeks to pay refunds.
I’m currently waiting on just over 2 grand. Accepted their offer on 24th July.
Jim says
Has anyone had a claim and thought it was on the low side the offer that lending stream offered
Gill says
I’m still waiting for leading stream to get back to my adjudicator, it’s now a week overdue and nothing. How long does it normally take lending stream to respond?
Critch says
Anyone been paid recently?
Katie says
Nope still waiting for mine too 18th day
Jamie says
19th day for me but 36 days since I actually accepted offer
John heart says
Yes I got paid today. I accepted/gave bank details on 30th July; I was a royal pain so I’m not sure if that had anything to do with the timeframe. I rang them on the day I had confirmation to give them my bank details, left about 10 negative reviews on trust pilot and emailed them last week to say if I didn’t receive my refund by last Friday I’d consider legal action (like I’d know where to start?!), the replied yesterday to say they had 28 days to process the refund, I replied asking why it took an hour to process a loan but a month to process a refund.
Today I get an email saying they’ve paid the refund and it’s in my account. Good luck all 👍
Shelle says
I got the money on Sunday after accepting on 3rd July. They only initiated payment on 19th July after I contacted them. They tried to argue that this would be the date that the 28 days would start from and that they wouldn’t pay before 16th August. I continually emailed them, left negative reviews and let the FOS know that they were stalling. Although only a couple of days before the 16th I like to think I annoyed them enough that they wanted to pay me to get rid of me!
Jamie says
Two got there refund last week on the 7th heard nothing since : (
Daniel says
Hi all.
Lending stream have agreed with the FOS adjudicator to refund me on 10 of my loans. They have said the following to the FOS:
‘Please also confirm that we can initiate the refund towards the bank account details that we have registered in our records, the account number ending with XXXX’. The adjudicator has confirmed this to them.
Now I have read a lot that lending stream drag their heels with redress. Would you recommend me phoning them up and getting in writing that they have the details or is this email enough to trust?
So delighted to have finally beaten LS – just hope the money isn’t too long a wait.
Thanks
Daniel
Tony says
Great news! Can I ask how long they took to agree with the adjudicator?
Jamie says
Finally got my refund after pesting them all day today plus getting the FOS to ring them too. Over the moon 8k in my pocket. Never again lesson learnt.
Took 20 days after they confirm my bank details.
Katie says
Great news!! Jamie
Mike says
Great news Jamie….
Think I’ll be emailing them and calling them today to chase my refund too…. 23 days I’ve been waiting now.
katie says
I keep chasing mine they just ignore me now 😊
Mike says
I know the feeling Katie… they’re ignoring my emails… and when speaking to LS they just cant answer simple questions either.
My adjudicator is going to call them as my 28 days end on 19th august so the refund better be in my account by then… £5700 so looking forward a nice holiday.
Katie says
My adjudicator says they have 28 days so won’t do nothing. Mine isn’t even a big amount it’s just over £1000 but would be a great help
Mike says
It’s just a nightmare having to wait 4 weeks for money which you’re owed eh…. I’m hoping it arrives tomorrow or it’ll be Monday…
You had any other claims successful?
Katie says
it certainly is and the fact they ignore you makes me even more angry . Fingers crossed for you . Yes I had one with wonga before they went into administration. And one with qq they were the best to deal with it did go to fos but they didn’t drag it out. I rang them to change bank details and they paid it out straight away. What about you?
GM says
I accepted my offer via FOS on 7th August. To date I have had no contact from LS. Does anybody have an email address that seems to work?
Vicky says
Phone them
Denise says
I am in an IVA and earlier this year was offered a £100 loan from lending stream. I could not afford to pay them back and eventually they stopped asking for payments. A couple of months ago i was offered another loan of £100 from LS, and having no money i took it knowing full well i could not repay it. They keep asking for payment. What grounds do i have if any to nit pay this one back. I have a dreadful credit score in an IVA and not a spare penny each month. Is this irresponsible lending.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You took the loan knowing you could not repaying. They are two very small loans. I doubt you will get anywhere with an affordability complaint, but you could try.
Are you struggling with your IVA? how many years to go?
Emma says
Hi all I have unpaid loan accounts x 3 working out to around £1400 I’m just now thinking why let me open up another 2 when I’ve not paid the 1st one off I haven’t made any complaints as yet
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you may be overthinking this – send them a complaint and get the ball rolling.
Amir says
Got my payment yesterday after sending lending stream a snotty email yesterday morning, the money was in my bank later that evening. So took 25 days from acceptance for me, so pleased it’s in the bank! Thanks for all the helpful advice x
GM says
Further to my previous comment, I sent a total of 4 emails and recieved no response to any of them. I have managed to get through to them on the phone today to confirm my bank details. They have said that the 28 days starts from today even though the offer via FOS was accepted on 7th August. Do you think going back to the FOS with this information would speed payment up?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
honestly, no.
GM says
OK. Thank you Sara
Critch says
The baffling bit is why some refunds are paid before others. You would think there would be a queue but it seems to me that they just grab a bundle each day to pay out!
Critch says
25 days since acceptance and still no payment. Unless they pay out at weekends if it’s not paid by Monday it’s back to the FOS.
Katie says
Be day 23 for me tomoro. I have seen people get their money on the weekend so maybe
Mike says
Day 25 also for me so fingers crossed it appears by Monday or like you I’ll be into my adjudicator to sort.
julie AMER says
Hi all I Initiated a complaint against Lending Stream last year for 2 loans I took out with them I’d made a couple of payments and then had a back injury and ended up having an op on my spine. Was off work for some considerable time and lost earnings. I asked them for a payment break which they agreed to, they then more than doubled my monthly payment which I wasn’t expecting and couldn’t pay. I had borrowed £600 in total and the payments I had made before the op were just short of £150. I offered to pay both loans off at the end of March 2018 as I had a work bonus coming through, just didn’t know exactly how much it would be. I offered to pay £750, so I’d pay back a total of £900 for the £600 I’d borrowed. They kept instead offering monthly payment plans which would have dragged it out over more months, I just wanted to pay it off and get back to normal. They bombarded me with so many emails that in the end I agreed to a payment plan, once I’d said yes set the payment plan up they came back and said ‘sorry thats no longer on offer’! They then sent the debt to Opos who also then bombarded me with emails and calls. I got Opos to send the debt back to Lending Stream and made a complaint via the Ombudsman in May 2018. A decision has just been made and the adjudicator has decided against me saying an Ombudsman can review it but is likely to come to the same decision
Is there anything I can do? Sorry that was so long
Mike says
Day 27 from acceptance for me and still no refund.
Acceptance date 22/07/19
Refund intiated email 24/07/19
Refund due by 19/08/19.
So looks like its going the full 28 days for me that’s even after phoning and emailing them!. Lending stream are a nightmare to deal with. Will be glad to get the refund and put it behind me.
If my refund isn’t there first thing tomorrow I’ll be straight onto the FOS adjudicator
Critch says
Check your numbers Mike. Your 28 days are up today!
Mike says
Hi Critch I took it as 22/07/19 being the 1st day and counting 28 from that which would be tomorrow 19/08/19.
I’ll get onto my FOS adjudicator first thing to chase up….
Mike says
Refund received tonight from lending stream finally….as good as on the 28th day….. glad it’s over with them…. nightmare company to deal with.
katie says
Got mine tonight aswell. Glad its over too.
Lea says
Hi
Just had a question if anyone can help! I accepted my offer from lending stream via my fos adjudicator , she told me she told them I accept the offer and they need to get in touch within next4 weeks. Should I wait do they actually contact you? or should I contact them with bank details? I see some ppl out they get refund initiated emails ? Do I need to give bank details first ? (They have them
Anyway on my lending stream account) Any advice would be appreciated as this has been such a long process just want it over!
Thanks
Lea
gillian says
I would give them a call and confirm they have received your acceptance from the FOS and to also confirm they have your bank details. That way they do not have any reason to delay paying your refund. That is what I have done today and was told they now have everything they need to initiate my refund within 28 days. Now it’s just a waiting game and I suspect I will not receive it until day 28 like most.
Lea says
Thanks just called them and sorted it ! They said should have it latest 13th September . He also said they’d emailed today but not seen anything as of yet! Let’s see!
DJ says
Acceptance date 16/8 and still waiting for refund initiated email? I rung them on 16th to confirm bank details too.
Lea says
Yeah I haven’t had a refund initiated email yet still and I accepted my offer 16th August as well. Will update when I get it!
Critch says
So still waiting for my payment,and tonight I get an email saying that they are in the process of initating my refund and it will done shortly!
WTF does shortly mean? Tonight, tomorrow,next year?!!!
Ben says
Hi Critch,
I also had this email yesterday evening and called them to clarify. They said it’s because I had previously emailed to enquire about my refund (which was ignored at the time). I’ve been told the money will be in my account by Friday at the latest.