In October 2020, some customers who had payday loans from Mr Lender are getting emails about a review of their loans.
Mr Lender is carrying out a review of its payday loans over the last 6 years. It says:
Lending practices have evolved over the years. This means that on occasion, a review of previous loans is appropriate to ensure that customers were treated fairly and that we have fulfilled our duty of care as a responsible lender.
We are currently reviewing our historic loan book for all loans taken out between the 1st April 2014 to the 1st March 2020 to ensure the loans were affordable, that we took into account all relevant information at the time, and that our customers received the right outcome. It is therefore important that we have your correct contact details so we can inform you of the results of this review.
So some customers may get offered a refund!
What is “affordable”?
The regulator says that a loan is affordable if you can repay it on time and still pay your other debts, bills and everyday expenses. So if repaying one Mr Lender loan left you so short of money that you had to get another loan from them, or from another lender, or you got into arrears with bills, then the loan was not affordable.
Lenders are supposed to check that a loan is affordable for you before they offer the loan.
The checks only have to be “proportionate” – if it’s your first loan and you only borrowed £150, the lender isn’t expected to look in great detail at your finances.
But if you carry on taking more loans, the lender should have realised you were in trouble. Or if the first loan was very large!
People making affordability complaints can get a refund of the interest they paid on any loans which are decided to be “unaffordable” and negative marks on their credit records deleted. If a lender won’t uphold your complaint, many of them are being won at the Financial Ombudsman.
People asked to confirm their income details
Some people were sent emails explaining about the lending review and saying:
It is therefore important that we have your correct contact details so we can inform you of the results of this review.
Your first instinct may be to be suspicious this is spam and someone is trying to get your contact details.
But it isn’t – this review is real. If you want to confirm this, phone them on 020 8532 1969 – that is the phone number given on Mr Lender’s website.
Now people are asked to confirm income
Some people are now being asked to confirm their income, but often only at the time of a few of their loans.
My guess is these are the loans that Mr Lender is concerned may have been mis-sold because you could not afford them.
I don’t think you have anything to lose by supplying this information. If you don’t get a reasonable offer from the review, you can simply send your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman.
It will be useful if you have your bank statements for the ombudsman. These are easy to get for the last 6 years, even if you have closed an account, so it’s worth asking your bank for these now.
Might you get a second refund?
Some people getting these emails have already made a complaint and had a refund.
It is possible that the review may say that that you should get more…
Mr Lender often used to offer a £25 Tesco or Amazon voucher, or make an offer on only a few loans when FOS would have been likely to uphold more.
I can’t guess how likely this it but it is definitely worth making sure your contact details are correct.
“Should I continue with my complaint?”
Some people who have a complaint open at Mr Lender at the moment have had an email saying:
Please can you confirm if you would like to proceed with your affordability complaint or you if you would like us to review your loans as part of the review of historic loan affordability?
Here I think you definitely want your complaint to continue, for three reasons.
First, if you had loans before April 2014, the “historic review” won’t look at them. But the Financial Ombudsman will very often consider these older loans.
Second, if Mr Lender decided you shouldn’t get a refund, you want to be able to take the case to the Ombudsman. So you need a proper complaint in.
Thirdly, automatic redress programs typically look for a certain pattern of loans to decide when a refund is due. Your case may not fit that simple patter, but when your complaint is considered, it may be clear that you should get a refund. It is hard to imagine a case when a manual complaint would give a lower refund than an automated program.
“Should I start a complaint or wait for the result of the review?”
People are reporting in the comments below this article about what they are being offered. Some of them seem pretty poor offers.
You can then send Mr Lender a complaint (template letter here). But they then have 8 weeks to reply to that…
So if you want to speed this up, you can send Mr Lender a complaint straight away. You don’t have to wait for the result of the review.
“I haven’t had an email about this”
There could be a lot of reasons for this:
- sending someone an email asking them to confirm details doesn’t work well if the email address is wrong!
- it may have been put into spam;
- they may be going out in batches and yours hasn’t been sent yet;
- Mr Lender isn’t contacting all customers.
If you have already had a refund from Mr Lender and you think it should have been more or you had a complaint rejected, I suggest you make sure they have your correct details. You can’t just update your details online as this needs a case reference number from the email, which you don’t have. So phone them on 020 8532 1969 or the emails give the following contact address: complaints@mrlender.co.uk.
If you haven’t yet made a complaint read Payday loan affordability complaints which explains what an affordability complaint is and how to make one. Mr Lender sometimes gave very large loans, so you may be able to get a refund if you only had one or two loans if they were large.
SafetyNet Credit – very expensive debt
Credit card or catalogue limit too high?
Lender takes payments for loans already paid
Lou says
Sorry to jump in . Has anyone had a breakdown of their review when they have been unsuccessful ? They just said there was no further action needed but didn’t give a reason or any feedback
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, you need to send them a formal complaint if you haven’t already. then send the complaint to the ombudsman after 8 weeks if they haven’t made a suitable offer. This review seems largely a waste of everyone’s time, few good offers coming from it.
Lou says
Thanks Sara , as I thought . Yes I have put on a complaint . And apologies again for jumping in on someone else’s thread xx
Paul says
Hi,
How long after the 8 week mark should I wait until I nudge Mr Lender. Send an official complaint email on November 19th which was acknowledged on the same day. I now have my full loan history in paper form from them so am mentally prepared to go to ombudsman as I’m not very hopeful after seeing the responded many on here have had.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
nudge them now – say it goes to FOS in a week if you haven’t had an acceptable offer.
Paul says
Thanks Sara.
Since my initial complaint where I outlined the loans I took out I recieved my complete loan history from Mr Lender and id actually taken out more loans and more often than what I’d specified.
Would it be a fresh complaint to highlight these loans or would they have looked into this as part of my affordability complaint?
Thanks again
Paul
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Did you ask for the list of loans as part of your complaint?
I don’t think this is a problem – if they had upheld all the ones in your list, perhaps, but they didn’t!
Mike_p says
There’s not really anything to mentally prepare for, I’ve escalated things to the fos many times and it’s a very easy process. You just fill in the details on their online form, reply with banks statements etc when they ask for it, and then you just get another email to say they are looking at it and then one with their decision. I felt a bit embarrassed the first time but they aren’t at all judgemental and I never had to discuss any of my finances with them.
Paul says
That’s great to know thank you. I’ve filled in the ombudsman form today.
Can I ask in what format did you give your bank details? As my complaint goes back 7 years I can’t imagine scanning a paper one in would be too practical 😅
Mike_p says
Mine were quite recent so I could download the statements and email to them.
Heather says
Out of curiosity of those who received the review notice in December and responded with income information have yous had a response from Mr Lender as of yet with any redress offers.
I sent my information for 4 loans back on 8th December and I haven’t heard anything since.
Lou says
I was part of the review and they say there is no redress due . Put in formal complaint
Heather says
I just phoned them and received the same response, but also the additional comment of “it’s highly unlikely that any complaint made would change this decision”
I’ve now asked them to provide information on all loans I have borrowed.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you made a formal complaint yet? if you haven’t, do this now. you do NOT need a list of you loans in order to do this, nor do you need to jump through hoops answering Mr Lender’s questions – they just want you to give up. Hence them saying a complaint will reach the same decision.
So you can just say you want to complain that the loans you were given were unaffordable and say if they do not make you an acceptable offer and send you the list of loans you have already asked for, then the complaint goes to the Ombudsman after 8 weeks. Don’t let them delay this any longer!
Heather says
So an update on the complaint i made on 18th January, they have now decided to redress the loans which their review said no issue with.
They phoned me today and offered a four figure sum as well as having all of my loans removed from my credit report.
Paul says
Hi Sara,
I just had a response through the post that Mr Lender believe there is no case for a refund and that is their final decision.
I’ve now filled in a case form on the ombudsman site. My loan history is as follows:
09/10/12-31/07/13 £300 loan (paid £900 interest!?)
21/08/13-31/01/14 £300 loan (paid £495 int)
17/07/14-29/08/14 £200 loan (paid £90 int)
09/09/14-30/01/15 £400 loan (paid £360 int)
02/02/15-31/07/15 £500 loan (paid £412 int)
21/09/15-31/03/16 £250 loan (paid £233 int)
18/07/16-30/12/16 £250 loan (paid £209 int)
30/12/16-30/06/17 £400 loan (paid £339 int)
03/07/16-31/01/17 £400 loan (paid £356 int)
From this point I only took 3 more loans to date more than 6 months apart.
Will the ombudsman look at the initial loans as I feel they were the ones that really contributed to my payday loans spiral. Also I haven’t sent the ombudsman any files (I have no digital bank statements and the loan history from Mr Lender is a paper letter). Will they have my files on record from when I did my lending stream complaint through them?
Thank you for your advice it has got me to this point so far when normally I would just go to a reclaim company to do it.
Paul
Jim says
Sara,
There was a telephone number – which I duly rang. But to no avail, Their letter is their final response and no negotiation to be had.
So, in terms of passing this onto the FOS, do I need to “construct” a case as such – or simply pass on as it is – and await any requests for paperwork?
I had a look back at past emails from Mr Lender etc. On only one occasion do I see that they asked for copy bank statements. I did find another email where they asked me to confirm by return email my “income/exp statement” – this showed that I had £890 per month “left over” (disposable income) after paying rent/food/bills/other credit. The loan was for £600 – payable over six months – so repayments would have been around £160-200 per month (with interest). I was also asked to confirm I wasn’t using loan for gambling or for repaying other loans.
Any help with passing onto FOS much appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So this letter is the reply to your complaint? See https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/ which explains how to send this to FOS. You can just use your complaint to Mr Lender and attach their response to you – very quick and easy. But if you want you can also point out why you disagree with their response.
Debbie says
Hi Sarah
I was contacted by Mr Lender in December and told they were looking at my loans. I’ve had one email asking for my income around two loans which they provided reference numbers for so I sent the information across. Today I’ve received an email to say they are redressing two loans BUT they have different reference numbers, do I phone them and ask if this redress is still being looked at for the first two as they were for a lot more than the second two reference numbers they have said they will redress. Any help is much appreciated
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how many loans did you have from them altogether?
Sam says
I have had a reply saying that owe me money. Nice little payout. They said they should have done more checks then they’d have seen it was not affordable. Called today and agreed to accept. Plus history of loan wiped of my credit record. I took out lots of loans with them but they are only considering 4 loans … either way happy with getting something especially as was expecting nothing. Good luck everyone
Lou says
Well done 😊 good for you
Nesta says
Sam, how long did it take for you to get a response once you sent your income information over to them?
Sam says
December first email from them, then paid out last week. I think about 6 weeks whole process
Ossie says
Hi, so about 3 years ago I made an affordability complaint to Mrlender, I had around 30 loans with them. I was reapplying for a new loan on the same day I paid back the previous one. They came back and said all the loans were affordable but as a good will gesture offered to wipe the last one off where I still had a balance of £1,400 outstanding.
I was in a bad place then and willing to accept any offer to reduce my debt so I accepted the offer.
I calculated that I must have paid over £7,000 in interest to them on these 30: loans
They recently contacted me and as part of their review into historical lending found only one of the 30 loans was unaffordable and offering to pay back the interest which is around £500. I’ve gone back and asked how they determined this one was different from the rest of the loans , they still haven’t come back to me.
Considering I accepted their offer 3 years again And can’t make another formal complaint, do I just accept the £500 ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you wait until you get a reply from them and see what they say.
Jas says
Ive just been offered £1021 today redress from Mr Lender. Final redress £1021. Does this mean they will be paying that amount to me?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
do you have a current balance owed to them? If not, then yes, that is the cash they are offering.
But before you say Yes to this, do you know how much interest you paid on all your loans from them? Don’t accept anything unless you know this important fact first – you cannot change your mind afterwards.
Jas says
Hi, thanks for the reply. I don’t owe anything to them, haven’t had a loan in about 3 years. I had a lot of loans with them at fairly high value. I have already accepted unfortunately, you’re making me wish I hadn’t now.
Sarah says
Hi anyone have any advice on this and weather I should accept the offer, They sent an email saying I would get a redress for £80 I asked for a breakdown of how they came to this sum, today I received an Email (pasted below), which has left me even more confused.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated
“We have reviewed all loans issued from 1st April 2014 – 1st March 2020 and multiple points were taken into consideration when determining the outcome of each customer. These points include but are not limited to; all relevant information that was given to us at the time, credit reference agency information, office of national statistical data and each customer’s loan payment history and borrowing frequency.
We can confirm that ‘other deductions’ refers to any refunds you have had with us previously.
On 28/03/2017 you were refunded an amount £800.25 due to an affordability complaint that you had made. This amount has been included in the total amount of redress due to you.
To confirm your loan dated 10/09/2014 you borrowed £500.00 and paid back £1042.00 so your interest and charges came to a total of £542.00.
You have already received a refund amount of £800.25, the refund offer of £80.99 is an additional amount of interest and tax that we are paying back to you.
If you would like to accept the offer, please sign and date the acceptance form and return this or call us on 02085325069
We look forward to hearing from you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
did you have a previous refund from them?
how many loans did you have and how much interest did you pay on all of them?
Sarah says
Hello Sara,
I did get a refund from them, but not sure on all the details. Of how many loans and interest
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you had previously made a complaint and had a refund, it may be hard to get any more. Unless you think there is something wrong with their figures.
Nesta says
Hi,
I too have had Mr Lender send me communication about loans and they have asked me to declare my income. I have noticed they haven’t included every loan on the list . Just the 8 most recent ones the earlier ones are from 2014 which they have excluded. If i recall they were for under 250 but then my borrowing ramped up to £1000 loans.
Just wondering after completing your income declaration form how long it took for people to see offers/decisions made. I think i do have a legitimate case against Mr Lender so hopefully they return some money as i was borrowing as soon as one loan was ending. The dates coincide with my pay day and are on a 3 and half year cycle.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
At the moment they don’t seem to be making good offers to many people and if you say your offer using good enough they then say you have to start a complaint and wait 8 more weeks.
I suggest you send them a complaint about affordability now to speed this all up a bit. And ask for a complete list of your loans.
Nesta says
Thanks Sarah, i will make a start on this.
Really appreciate all your help on this site, i wouldn’t have known or been able to claim back with this.
Trevor says
I feel im a bit stuck with MrLender as I got caught up between a complaint and their own internal investigation. What do you think is my best course of action based on the following correspondence with them?
MrLender 10/11/20:
We can confirm that we are conducting a review on previous lending and if any of your loans fall within scope of this review you will be contacted by our review team.
If you do not receive any communication from us it means that no further action will be taken on your account.
Me 19/11/20:
Whilst I am pleased to hear you are looking into my past borrowing history, I understand that your review does not cover loans taken before 2014 and could ignore loans that the FOS may consider were lent irresponsibly.
For this reason I would like to escalate my enquiry to a complaint.
I am asking you to refund the interest and any charges I paid, plus statutory interest, and to delete any negative information from my credit record for loans that were lent irresponsibly.
MrLender 19/11/20:
You have stated that you would like to escalate your enquiry to a complaint regarding loans taken before 2014.
In order for us to conduct a thorough investigation, please can you provide us with the details of your complaint against these loans.
Once we have received this information, we will proceed accordingly.
On 8/12/20 I provided monthly income for my loans as requested and was told they would do a 12 week review
Me 8/12/20:
I appreciate you are dealing with many accounts at the moment, but I’m not satisfied with a 3 month timeframe where you may/may not contact me. I would like to make a complaint about the affordability of my loans with you.
I am asking you to refund the interest and any charges I paid, plus statutory interest, and to delete any negative information from my credit record for loans that were lent irresponsibly.
If I do not receive a satisfactory response within 8 weeks, I will raise a complaint with the FOS.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I would send the complaint to FOS 8 weeks after the 8/12 complaint.
Derek says
Just wondering if you think i may have a case against Mr Lender.
Income was approx £1150 after tax
i took out 4 loans with them
16/05/2014 to 25/07/14 = £200
25/07/2014 to 27/01/2015 = £550
27/01/2015 to 02/05/2015 =£750
03/06/2015 sold to DCA = £500
i also used PDUK
01/08/2014 = £130
02/09/2014 = £130 (2 month loan)
28/10/2014 = £200
28/11/2014 =£200
01/05/2015 = £700
Avant Credit = £3200
28/03/2015
Capital one credit card 20/04/2015
Safety net credit = £300 limit 27/06/2015
Onstride financial £2000 10/07/2015
i also had defaults from mobile phone contract etc
the PDUK ones have already been upheld when i raised a case.
I was part of the Mr Lender review but they decided no action needed should i raise this as a complaint as they said unlikely to get a different outcome from the review.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes. FOS may uphold loan 3 and are more likely to uphold loan 4.
Have you sent Mr L a formal complaint yet?
Derek says
i have emailed them a complaint today.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok so 8 weeks until you can go to FOS if they reject it.
Derek says
so i’ve had a reply to the complaint this morning.
We have undertaken a thorough investigation of your account with Mr Lender and can confirm our findings concluded that all checks carried out were in line with our responsible lending policies and regulatory guidelines at the time your loans were issued. The checks conducted included but are not limited to; an income and expenditure assessment, employment confirmation, credit reference agency information, loan payment history and a review of your borrowing frequency.
The outcome of this review also deemed that all your loans were affordable and no further action is required.
Whilst we are unable to uphold your complaint, we do not like leaving our customers feeling unhappy with the service they have received. Therefore, as a gesture of goodwill, we would be willing to recall your account from SLL Capital Solutions and wipe your outstanding balance of £509.01. Meaning, your account with Mr Lender would be closed and no further payments required.
This is our final response in the hope of resolving your complaint. We look forward to hearing from you.
if they don’t consider it a valid complaint just wonder why they would offer to clear the £509.01.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so that is a refund of loan 4 – they are wiping the bal;ance and you will have paid a small bit less than what you borrowed.
if you send it to FOS loan 3 may be upheld as well, but it may not be.
You could say you are happy with this if they remove the negative marks from your credit record for loan 4? Or go to FOS if you want to try for a cash refund as well.
Andrew says
Hi sara, I don’t remember my exact salary at time of loans so will I need to provide proof? Won’t they have this information already as we would have needed to provide it on application?
Many thanks
Joanne Harvey says
I’ve sent my form back to confirm my refund, it says I’ll receive it within 10 days just wondering if anyone has had a refund and if it takes quicker than 10 days to go into my bank account.
Jason says
Hi, i scanned back my confirmation on the Saturday afternoon, money went into my account 3 days later at about 6pm on the Tuesday.
Joanne says
Thankyou Jason. I had a email last Thursday to say they’d received my form. So thought I might of got my money this week. Though it did say up to 10 days.
Jason says
Wouldn’t worry about it until the 10 days are up. They will pay you back, as long as your bank details are what they have on their system. Maybe processing more now which will take more time, you’ll get what’s owed to you, enjoy.
Joanne says
It’s just came through. Thankyou.
Jason says
Brilliant, I hope you can enjoy whatever you got back.
Susan Harding says
I also am waiting for a Refund from mr lender, gone past the 10 days, spoke to them and was told wait until my banks close of business, still nothing, emailed them and now it will be in the next few days, due to staff shortage because of covid!!really frustrating
Nesta says
What were your circumstances Joanne? If you don’t mind me asking, did you have multiple loans and did you ever get a refund for any before this?
Louis says
I have had a final response and they will not uphold any of the ten loan complaints . I took out one loan the day before the last payment had even cleared the bank . I do not begrudge anyone else having success and I wish you all good luck . I’m confused as to why I have similar circumstances to other people who have been successful and yet mine had been rejected
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send them a formal complaint and then send it to the ombudsman. With 10 loans you are pretty likely to get a refund!
Louis says
I had a unsuccessful outcome from the review and my complaint . They have said no twice so I’ve sent to ombudsman
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
good move.
Paul says
Does anyone have a rough idea on how long the FOS is taking to get back to complaints at the moment?
I sent my Mr Lender complaint to them about 4 weeks ago and the reply said I’d next hear when the case was assigned to someone. Imagine with the current working restrictions it’s a lot longer than normal….. I miss normal 😅
Jennifer says
Hi
I send it by email today. How long can it take for them to send back a email to say they have it.
Jason says
If it’s the email to Mr Lender, i sent my one back on the Saturday, they replied on the Monday confirming they had received it and paid the money in on the Tuesday evening.
Jennifer says
Thanks Jason.
Jason says
No probs. They paid my money in approx 6pm on the Tuesday, so don’t be disappointed if it’s not in your account when you check in the morning!! Hope you’re getting something half decent back from them. Enjoy 😀
Jennifer nash says
I borrowed 200 and payed back 428 I am getting 220.8. Thanks again. Oh I will 😀
Danny says
Can the refund from Mr Lender go in your account at any time? I only ask as they told me to wait 10 days why it’s processed, waited the 10 days but not got nothing yet. Rang them and they said it had been processed and will be with me soon.
Danny says
Hello Jenny
Yes finally got it. Took the full 10 days and got it around 7.30pm on Friday
Jennifer Nash says
Hi Danny I am still waiting. Today is day 9. Hopefully be in tomorrow. If not I will phone tomorrow.
Danny says
Hopefully tomorrow Jenny, I did get a bit worried about it on the 10th day because when they emailed me to say it had been processed I was thought it was just a matter of a couple of hours but on the email I got it said they closed at 5.30 and I hadn’t got anything then so it might get after that.
Lynne says
I raised a complaint 2 months ago via Resolver for various PDL’s (Mr Lender being one of them). Most companies replied except Mr L so I just emailed them directly this afternoon using the template as suggested on here. They instantly replied asking me to confirm details of the loans, address and so on. Thing is I have a different email address from the one I used when I was a customer of theirs, but they’re saying I need to reply to them from THAT email address before they can look into my complaint! I’ve explained I’ve not had access to it for 2 years but surely if I’ve provided full name, DOB and addrsss details that should be enough?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Indeed. Tell them you have made a complaint and it goes to the Ombudsman at 8 weeks if Mr Lender has not given you an appropriate reply to your complaint.
Lynne says
Thing is, I’m worried I missed out and could d maybe got something sooner as I can see some people have had payouts already. If they were trying to contact me they would’ve been using my old email address which is no longer valid. So I contacted them directly using the template and today they’ve confirmed it will be 8 weeks before they can conclude their investigations.
Jennifer says
Hi
I got approved for my refund on Monday morning and money still not got the money. How long can it take to come in?
Nesta says
Hi Jennifer,
How long did it take from the point of complaint/review to getting a offer from them?
Generally from reading comments on here they are fairly quick to process refunds if you don’t have anything by the end of today I would ring them up and chase them up on it.
Jennifer Nash says
They did say 10 working days but people say they get it very fast. Less then 2 days.
Paul says
Did they say exactly how long it would take ?. They emailed me on 5th January that they want to review 3 loans & asked for some financial details for those loans. I’ve had no reply as of yet.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How many loans did you have from them?
Paul says
Nine loans in total. They already wrote off one loan & refunded around £1,000.
Nesta says
Have you had any update on this Paul?
Paul says
No update at all. This would be the 8th week since the email.
Nesta says
Still no response?
Mr Lender seem to have gone really slow now
Steven says
Hi,
I asked Mr Lender in December 2020 for a Subject Access Request so I could see all my past loans with them. I received this in January and promptly sent them a formal complaint. I had 11 loans starting in 2013 through to 2016. Most of the loans were taken out the same day – three days after the previous loan was repaid. It was pretty clear that I was struggling.
They replied asking for bank statements and my salary for the period of five of the eleven loans. I got all the info and sent it back to them. This week I have received an email asking me to answer two questions that they need answering before they can continue with their investigation –
1. How you become aware you had cause to complain about your loans?
2. The date you become aware you had cause to complain about your loans
I’m not sure what bearing the answers to these had in affordability of the loans. Are they trying to trip me up or am I fine to answer with this –
1. When I looked at the information you supplied me following my SAR.
2. January 2021 when I received my SAR information from you in the post.
I can’t see anyone else ask this question on here so any help would be appreciated, thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They are asking this because they are hoping to be able to rule out some loans from refunds as they are more than 6 years old.
The 6 year rule though doesn’t apply if you have only found out you can complain in the last 3 years, hence the questions.
If the initial email from Mr Lender was late last year was the first time you realised you may have an affordability complaint against Mr Lender because of all the repeat lending, I suggest you reply as follows:
1) when I was borrowing from you I knew repaying the loans left me too short of money each month so I had to get another loan. But at that time I didn’t know that a lender should have checked whether the loans were affordable for me. And I didn’t understand that repeat borrowing is a sign that loans are unaffordable. So at that point I did not know I had cause to complain. I only found out about affordability complaints when you contacted me last year about the review and I looked into why this was happening.
2) when you wrote to me last year.
If you found out through someone telling you about these complaints, or see an advert for a claims company on Facebook, you can instead say that and give the rough date.
Steven says
Thank you Sara however before I had chance yesterday to reply to their email I received another from them with an offer.
It is, however, for approximately half of what I had initially requested to be refunded when I submitted my complaint on 20/01/21.
Please could you take a look at the information I sent them and their reply and tell me if you think I have a good case to reject and refer to the FOB in order to receive interest, charges & 8% interest on the loans they refused to look at?
I first realised that I could submit an affordability complaint in December 2020.
(My reply is too long to send in one message so I have sent the rest in my next reply message)
Steven says
My loan details are –
1. £350.00 granted 23/08/2013 – repaid 04/10/2013 – Interest paid £245.00 – Charges £17.00.
2. £250.00 granted (was offered £700.00) 10/10/2013 – repaid 19/02/2014 – Interest paid £300.00 – Charges £31.00.
3. £750.00 granted (was offered £750.00) 21/02/2014 – repaid 29/04/2014 – Interest paid £558.00 – Charges £24.00.
4. £220.00 granted (was offered £850.00) 04/05/2014 – repaid 18/07/2014 – Interest paid £198.00 – Charges £24.00.
5. £220.00 granted 31/07/2014 – repaid 17/10/2014 – Interest paid £198.00 – Charges £31.00.
6. £310.00 granted 17/10/2014 – repaid 19/01/2015 – Interest paid £279.00 – Charges £31.00.
7. £600.00 granted (was offered £1000.00) 19/01/2015 – repaid 17/04/2015 – Interest paid £289.60 – Charges, none.
8. £600.00 granted 20/04/2015 – repaid 17/07/2015 – Interest paid £288.00 – Charges, none.
9. £850.00 granted (asked for £600.00, was offered £850.00) 19/07/2015 – repaid 24/11/2015 – Interest paid £644.87 – Charges, none.
10. £300.00 granted 27/11/2015 – repaid 19/02/2016 – Interest paid £126.40 – Charges, none.
11. £1000.00 granted 22/02/2016 – repaid 03/09/2016 – Interest paid £738.90 – Charges, none.
Total interest paid £3865.77
Total charges paid £158.00
Total of £4023.77
Plus Statutory Interest of 8%
Overall total of £4345.67
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The charges that were added to the earlier loans. Do you remember what these were? They aren’t the same amount each time so they can’t all be a faster payment fee?
Your totals at the end:
1) It is very unlikely you would get all the loans refunded if you went to FOS. The first two loans were small. You might get loan 3 refunded as the loans had effectively been continuous with no breaks, but often the refund is from loan 4 or 5. Let’s say refund from loan 4 as an average as it’s possible if would be from loan 3, 4 or 5. That would be £1175 less than your total.
2) The 8% statutory interest is NOT 8% of the final total, it is 8% per year since the loan repayments. It is hard to work out exactly but my guess is on loans 4-11 it would be between £1000 and £1500.
So overall your total isn’t that far out!
Steven says
[their offer]
• Refund interest and fees paid on loans 6,8,9,10 and 11 £2,108.17 (plus 8% simple interest)
• Remove the above loans from your credit file completely
This is our final response, if you wish to accept this offer, please contact us.
A few things baffle me about them and what they have put.
• They stated that the first six loans I had complained about were over the six year complaints threshold so they have not considered them as part of their investigation – HOWEVER they have included loan 6 in their offer!
• They haven’t included loan 7 in their offer which was taken out 19/01/15 (6 years and one day prior to my complaint letter on 20/02/21 – is that why? One day over? So why have they included loan 6 in their offer which was taken out 17/10/14?). Baffled.
• They have included loan 8 in the offer yet didn’t request salary information or bank statements for this loan yet they did for loan 7 which hadn’t been included.
With the 8% interest included the offer amount is £2276.82 which is of course a fantastic amount. However, loans 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 7 charges, admin fees & interest come to £2058.04 giving a combined total of £4334.86.
Am I wise to accept £2276.82 when the overall amount is so much higher?
Do they have a point about loans 1-5 (23/08/13 through to 31/07/14) are too far beyond the six years? I only realised I could claim in December 2020 and that makes the difference for me in terms of successfully claiming loans 1-5 (& loan 7) doesn’t it?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
With the 8% interest included the offer amount is £2276.82
Did they say this if is it your calculation? Because it should be much more! If they said this you MUST challenge it.
FOS is routinely looking at the older loans when someone has only recently found they could complain. I suggest you assume FOS will look at yours, the question fir you is whether you would rather take this money now or go to FOS and get more later.
I can’t guess why they included loan 6 but not loan 7. It could simply be a typo? Or some other screw up?
Steven says
Thank you Sara, I didn’t know the 8% interest was calculated like that. The figure I gave after Interest was my calculation not theirs. I will have a think over the weekend on what to do. Thank you very much for your thoughts
Dave R says
Hi Sara,
Query on Mr Lender.
I submitted a claim to them at the end of last year on the 10th November. I had the acknowledgement email and was told I would have a decision in the post within 8 weeks. They actually phoned me the next day on the 11th November and talked me through their decision – to not uphold my case – over the phone. They sent the voucher and cleaned up my credit record and I was told I would receive a final response in writing. They sent me a follow up email that essentially said “thank you for your time, we’re glad our call helped resolve the complaint, this is what we’ll do, this is our final response, this is your right to go the FOS” etc etc
My issue is that I have been given no information in writing as to the facts and findings of their case -their rationale for their decision etc. All of this was over the phone. Every other lender has provided a more clearly classed final response letter with a long breakdown of the process behind their decision. They definitely have my correct address and nothing came through the post.
Is there anything at all I can do on this?
It feels like they saw this as a case they could lose so they caught me off guard by getting in touch straight away with a very subpar offer.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you feel what they said on the phone was misleading? When did you change your mind?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Also did you feel they were pushy on the phone! Did you feel the low goodwill offer would be withdrawn if you did not accept it during the phone call?
And did you have loans prior to 2014?
Dave R says
Hi Sara,
I think what they said on the phone was definitely misleading and it definitely pushy. I changed my mind a few weeks ago when I was looking into it again, and that’s when I realised they never sent me a breakdown of how they reached their decision. I was made to feel like there was no way of getting a better offer and that I might lose it if I challenged it.
I only had three loans with them but I went into a repayment plan on every single loan. I had lots of loans when each of these were taken out…
December 2016 £500 -6 months
August 2017 – £500 – 6 months
October 2018 £350 – 6 months
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, then I suggest you ask Mr Lender for a Subject Access Request giving you a copy of all your personal information including (specifically mention this) a recording of the phone call in November about your complaint.
Listen to that and if you think it was unfair, go back to Mr Lender and say you think it was unreasonable, pushy etc and that because you had a repayment plan on the first loan you should have the second and third loans refunded.
If they refuse, take the complaint to the ombudsman and explain why you think you were pushed to accept a poor offer on the phone.
Dave R says
Amazing advice, thanks Sara. I’ll report back!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I’m not saying this is going to be easy but it does sound as though you were taken advanatge of.
Dave R says
HI Sara,
Update on this one. Mr Lender refused to send through information and just argued that they talked me through the response over the phone. I’ve gone back to them to again stress that they need to honour the SAR and send personal info and a phone call recording through.
“From reviewing your account, I can confirm you have held three loans with Mr Lender and there was a duration of seven months between your second and third loan which shows no evidence of reliance on the product at any stage. The checks carried out were proportionate to the loan amounts and the results of the checks carried out showed no evidence of financial difficulty or would suggest Mr Lender should carry out any further checks. Responsible lending must be met by an element of responsible borrowing and at this stage of the borrowing relationship you had a duty to inform us if you were struggling in anyway.
As a result, we would not be willing to reinvestigate your complaint as we deem the matter closed, unless you can provide us with any further evidence or information that we were not aware of at the time the first investigation was carried out.”
I’ve again spelled out that I went into a payment plan on every loan they gave me. I’ve also pointed out all the missed payments and loans that would have been on my credit file at the point of application for each loan.
Dave R says
I’ve now listened to the phone call and it definitely seems like they catch me completely off guard and expect me to accept the offer. They then explain how they came to their decision and it seems like way too much information for somebody to digest in the moment over the phone. I state that I will get back to them and don’t accept it there and then, but then accept it over email the next day. The phone call definitely made me feel like I had to accept it though and the fact they didn’t send me any detail in writing seems dubious to me. They’ve also send me the credit reports they used when I was applying for loans with them and reports that correlate with loans 2 and 3 have multiple defaults listed there.
I’ve gone back to them to ask one final time to remove loans 2 and 3, but I fully expect them to refuse to do so and will head to the FOS.
Dave R says
As expected, they are holding firm and not moving on this. I’ve sent the FOS the email trail, bank statements, Mr Lender’s copy of the credit reports they used before issuing my loans and recording of the phone call. I’ll report back in a few months. I’m not expecting to get anywhere with this, but you never know…
Dave R says
Update on this one Sara…
Mr Lender responded to the FOS to say that I had accepted a final response and that they didn’t consider the FOS able to look into it. The FOS called me to say they have looked at everything I’ve said and sent them (including the recording of the phone call) and they feel that my case does have merit and have said they will allocate it accordingly asap.
May still get nowhere with it but it’s nice to know they are at least going to look at it for me.
Dave R says
Adjudicator has not upheld my complaint sadly. Have escalated to the Ombudsman but I expect this one is dead in the water. Oh well, worth a shot!
Nesta says
I’ve just had a copy of my statement of accounts from Mr Lender, i had 11 loans and have paid them over £5500 in interest. All my loans bar 2 were back to back. Meaning as soon as i cleared one i took another out on the same day. I even repaid a couple early just to borrow the maximum amount on the same day.
Mr Lender contacted me to say they were reviewing my loans but i have noticed their review only includes 7 loans and from what i understand they have not been very fair in the responses in this so called ‘review’ they are undertaking.
I believe a couple of years ago that i might have complained but i cannot find any emails to confirm this and i think if i recall correctly they might have written off the interest on my last loan and refunded me some money. So because of this i am guessing i am not in a great position and at the mercy of Mr Lender doing the correct thing as it’s clear from my borrowing pattern and my credit file at the time which had a multiple defaults/late payments and 1 CCJ over 3 years old that i was not in a good position and they failed in their duty to lend responsibly.
Just wondering what your thoughts are Sarah and how far i can progress this if Mr Lender don’t make a fair offer or even say the did nothing wrong.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
it’s a bit hard to guess as you don’t seem sure what happened.
Nesta says
I’ve asked for a DSAR, i should hopefully know exactly what was agreed a few years ago. Bizarrely i have no email trail, so maybe it was all resolved over the phone. I’ll let you know the full details as soon as i have them.
Nesta says
Hi Sara,
I got a breakdown of my loans
Loan amount £1000 repaid in full plus £901.91 interest 18th May 2016
Loan amount £500 repaid in full plus £167.20 interest 18th March 2016
Loan amount £1000 repaid in full plus £751 interest 18th October 2015
Loan amount £1000 repaid in full plus £441.34 interest 18th August 2015
Loan amount £1000 repaid in full plus £461.44 interest 18th May 2015
Loan amount £1000 repaid in full plus £563 interest 18th February 2015
Loan amount £1000 repaid in full plus £561 interest 18th December 2014
Loan amount £1000 repaid in full plus £479.60 interest 18th August 2014
Loan amount £1000 repaid in full plus £484.30 interest 18th June August 2014
Loan amount £500 repaid in full plus £150 interest 18th May 2014
Loan amount £250 repaid in full plus £230 interest 18th January 2014
They refunded me interest on my final loan when i complained about it in 2017. All loans except the bottom 3 are under Mr Lenders current review. I am kicking myself for not going to the FOS in 2017 but i mentally i was not in a good place back then. I can only hope Mr Lender act fairly but know that is unlikely.
At this point when i was borrowing i had multiple late payments and defaults on my credit file along with a CCJ too.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I can only hope Mr Lender act fairly but know that is unlikely.
Yup.
Joanne says
Hi, I received an email back in the end of January this year stating 3 of my loans are being reviewed and to clarify my salary at the times the loans were taken out. I emailed back the info the same day to which they have received. I’ve not heard anything back yet. They said if I don’t respond within 28 days they will go with the info they have on file. What is the turnaround to getting a response? Just to point out I did have a redress from them for about 6 loans a couple of years back and was refunded within 2 weeks of my complaint
Nesta says
Hi Joanne,
From the communication i have had with Mr Lender as i am in a similar position to you, they can take up to 8 weeks to complete their internal investigation. If you don’t hear anything close to the end of 8 weeks maybe worth dropping them an email or even a quick call to check the status.
I think they are using up the full time, maybe they are inundated with complaints.
G law says
Hi. I sent a complaint in 2018. They rejected this and due to several issues I never followed it up. I asked them for a review at the end of last year. They did this but just said no further action required. Is there anything else I can do
Sara (Debt Camel) says
probably not.
Ross says
Hi Sarah ,
I’ve recently went bankrupt. Is there any point in my chasing refunds? I have Mr lender and Royal Bank of Svotland so technically i still had balances with them?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No. Any refunds will go to the Official Receiver. Whether the payday loans were settled before your bankruptcy or a balance went into your bankruptcy makes no difference.
JR1981 says
Do we know how long they will take to make a decision from the time they receive confirmation of your wages at the time of the loan? Will they let you know either way?
Nesta says
In my initial correspondence i was told up to 8 weeks from the moment i sent over this information.
Some people have had replies sooner but some have had nothing when they have ruled no redress is due. It might be worth emailing or phoning them if you are close to approaching the 8 week period to see what the status is.
Mandy Watts says
I just had a call confirmation they are refunding me out the blue in the next 10 days I am really pleased
Nesta says
Excellent news Mandy, can i ask how long the whole process has been for you please?
I was contacted in January but i am still waiting to hear back from them.
Did you have any redress back before this?
Mandy watts says
Hi they contacted me December then February now March so about 12 weeks and payment will be up to 10 days
Stacey says
Mr lender started their historical review of my account in January, hadn’t heard anything from them until today. I recieved a phone call to say they had done the review and concluded that my outstanding balance would be wiped, negative markers on my credit file would be removed and I’m due a decent refund which i will be paid within 10 days. I didn’t make a complaint they contacted me saying they were going to review my account, very happy with the outcome of it
Nesta says
Excellent news Stacey, can I ask roughly when in January they started the review? I’m in a similar position too but they have gone silent on me.
Are they refunding interest on the all loans you had taken out with them?
Stacey Brazier says
I sent them details of my income on the 25th January, hadn’t heard from them at all since then. Then yesterday i received a phone call. I’m not to sure of the details as i haven’t recieved a letter off them but was happy to accept as I had 900 left on my loan which was sold to SLL Capital, they have recalled that loan and wrote it off. They also said i will be recieving a cash refund of 800.00. And negative markings on my credit file removed! So am more than happy with all that seen as i didn’t think anything would come of the hisyorical review 😊
Nesta says
That is fantastic news Stacey and thank you for taking the time to reply to my questions.
Sounds like i may get something come through my way in the next week or two.
Stacey Brazier says
I hope you get your response soon.
Will update once i have received my payment off them x
gaz says
excepted refund off 172.00 last week but not received anything as yet lol
Nesta says
I believe they say it can take up to 10 days.
Always annoying when they sell you the product it’s normally highlighted you get the money in minutes.
Can i ask how long this has taken from start to end for you Gaz and how many loans you had with them?
Gaz 61 says
Had ten loans in total about 400 each time offered 172.00 accepted last Wednesday still nothing hopefully before Friday’s shut down
Sent letter in December took until now
Paul says
I have just had a response from CashEuronet acknowledging my affordability complaint.
They said
‘Thank you for submitting your claim in the administration of CashEuroNet UK, LLC (in administration). At this stage, no further action is required from you.
Please note, it may take up to 120 days for your claim to be processed and assessed. ”
120 days? That seems a very long time. Is that correct?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
best asked over on the QuickQuid page: https://debtcamel.co.uk/quickquid-casheuronet-administration/
Gaz says
Received my money today hope theu follow wonga to the grave i bet iff i paid 1399 per cent interest would have had it in 15 minutes instead of 8 days please folks leave these corrupt companies alone
Nesta says
How are people getting on with refunds from Mr Lender? Have you been offered a refund, what were your circumstances?
I’m interested to know just how fair they have been with this review. I am yet to here back from them.
Lou says
I was refused a refund after the review . I put in a formal complaint and was refused again even though I have similar circumstances as people who got refunds . It’s now with the Ombudsman
Rome says
Tbh, I’ve not been proactive in chasing. They did send me a letter to do with income or something, which I misplaced but remembered it said they’d review my case anyway. I emailed them yesterday for an update. I did previously win a claim in 2019 so not sure what to expect really.
Montrose says
I was contacted in December about a review on 9 loans form 2015-2018. Yet to heard anything back so I am going to call them this week
Sara (Debt Camel) says
come back here if you aren’t sure an offer they make you is a good one!
Rome says
Hi I’ve had the below reply from Mr Lender.
In respect of our records show that you paid a total of £389.65 towards the loan agreement. This can be broken down as £189.65 towards interest and charges and £200.00 towards the principal loan amount/s.
It then shows a table with the following
Interest fees and charges refundable £189.65
Simple interest at 8% £29.20
Total redress before tax reduction £218.85
Tax deduction £5.84
Other deductions £189.65
Final redress £23.36
I’m not sure what the other deductions are as I don’t owe them any money. I was previously successful in getting some of my loans refunded in 2019, not sure if this was originally one of them.
Not sure what year the loan was for as it doesn’t show up in my account.
Any suggestions on how to proceed?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I was previously successful in getting some of my loans refunded in 2019, not sure if this was originally one of them.
If it was, that refund (or write off) then would show as an “other deductions”. You could check your emails? or ask Mr Lender?
Rome says
They’ve replied with
We can confirm that ‘other deductions’ refers to any refunds you have had with us previously.
Therefore we can confirm you made an affordability complaint on the 25/10/2019 of which an amount of £557.57 was offered and you accepted.
As a result, this figure has been deducted from your final redress amount due.
I thought this might have been the case but wasn’t sure.
Nesta says
Just spoken to Mr Lender i’m now well over the 8 week window they quoted to complete the review after i sent in my income details.
They have confirmed they will be in touch but it could be another few weeks yet. Frustrating but one i have to wait out due to previously having a complaint with them so it can’t be escalated to the FOS.
Montrose says
I spoke with them this afternoon and they said my review was completed with no redress due so case is closed. Quite frankly hard to believe they
Came to that conclusion considering my long standing loan history. I have just sent my affordability complaint email to them.
I will be interested to see what they come back with and actually see all my previous loans.
Mike_p says
It’s not surprising really. The only motivation they have for doing this “review” is to put people off making complaints that could cost them money when it gets to FOS level.
Nesta says
What were your circumstances were a lot of your loans back to back? Taken over a small time period?
I do think this whole review project is a farce from Mr Lender, they are doing this to try and avoid paying out more in the long run.
I hope it back fires on them.
Montrose says
Mine were mostly back to back over several years and I had several other payday loans at the same time. Had they reviewed my credit file properly at the time I would probably not have been issued them.
Sarah says
Hi Sara…wondered if you can help,
I’ve 3 loans on total which are showing on my credit report….
£100 November 2015 paid in full January 2016
£320 February 2016 pain in full may 2016 but had one month late repayment on this one
£320 may 2016 still not paid and in default
So as soon as I paid one off I borrowed another one until the 3rd loan defaulted..
I’ve sent a complaint to Mr lender and they have only offered to reduce the defaulted loan by 50% as my first loan they said was over 6 years ago…do you think I have a case to go to the ombudsmen unit I’ve copied their response below…during this period I was taking our different payday loans from different companies at the same time…
We have undertaken a thorough investigation of your account with Mr Lender and can confirm our findings concluded that all checks carried out were in line with our responsible lending policies and regulatory guidelines at the time your loans were issued. The checks conducted included but are not limited to; an income and expenditure assessment, employment confirmation, credit reference agency information, loan payment history and a review of your borrowing frequency.
After reviewing the points raised in your complaint, along with conducting a thorough investigation into your account, we have responded accordingly below.
Please note that you have held one loan that were approved over six years ago from the date of complaint and as such fall outside of the time frame for investigation.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how large was the first loan? when was it taken out & when repaid?
Sarah says
Hi Sara, sorry please ignore previous message
£200 borrowed in October 2012
Couldn’t pat back so went into debt management plan with them paying £30 a month until July 2013
Once that was paid I was getting emails from them offering a reloan so I applied they declined but sent me a link to take out from another lender I didn’t use it but they kept sending me the email with link..
Nov 2015 borrowed £100 paid back in January 2016
February 2016 borrowed £300 but that went into default as couldn’t pay it back
They have now offered me a 50% for the last defaulted loan
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So there was a large gap between the first loan being eventually repaid and the second loan. And the second loan was repaid on time. The older loan would normally be considered by the Ombudsman but as there was a big gap, it may not have much effect.
This is a bit marginal – you might get the last loan refunded in full or you might not at the Ombudsman. 50% off isn’t a dreadful offer. But Mr Lender will sometimes negotiate – you could reply that you want the last loan written off or you will go to the Ombudsman.
Sarah says
That’s great thanks Sara,
This is what I’ve sent, fingers crossed
Thank you for your response, whilst I appreciate you offering a 50% discount on my final loan i cannot accept as I am unable to pay.
Although my first loan was on 2013 and second one taken on 2015, my main issue is that even if Mr lender thought my second loan which was maybe authorised because they thought its 2 years later and was for £100 it should’ve still raised questions as I was unable to pay only £200 borrowed 2 years before and took a whole year to pay it off in a debt management plan and also the fact that after my second loan was paid originally a £100, I then requested another loan immediately this time for 3 times the amount of £300.
I feel questions should’ve been raised considering how much more I requested on the second loan and how quickly and also that the first was already a problem.
I feel if the correct checks were done which I appreciate that affordability checks maybe have been done but if my credit report had been checked they would have seen that I had a low credit score and numerous other loans to uphold too which is why I’m disputing that the second or at least the 3rd loan should have never been authorised.
I understand you may feel that a refund may not be due, but would at least writing off my last loan which is currently with SLL and removing any negative info on my file be an option?
I hope that we could come to some sort of arrangement.
Nesta says
Mr Lender responded to me today and it was a huge disappointment for me.
They picked out one loan, ironically one with the probably the lowest amount of interest repaid on i settled it early only to take out another loan on the same day that was larger. They are refunding the amount of interest repaid plus the 8% interest on top minus a tax deduction.
I already raised a complaint and foolishly settled on a dismal offer of just refund of interest on my last loan.
Disappointed but only myself to blame back when i first complained 2-3 years ago i wasn’t fully aware of what the FOS offers and how they review complaints.
I may not have had the outcome i wanted but i’ll do my best to help others on here get what they can out of Mr Lender.
ben says
Hi, I raised a complaint with Mr Lender about 6 months ago which was rejected. It has since gone to the Ombudsman and they have suggested that out of the 6 loans I had, they are recommending that only the last loan was questionable. My adviser from the Ombudsman has explained why and the outcome seems sensible so I have agreed to it even though I think the last 2 loans fall within the bounds he stated
The issue is that Mr Lender seems to disagree and it looks like they are going to push for a full review by the Ombudsman. Is it normal for them to do this as my understanding its normal in most cases for the Ombudsman to just uphold the adviser’s suggestion?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is case by case.
Tell your adjudicator that you were happy to accept just the last loan in the interests of getting this settled speedily, but if Mr Lender reject the decision you would like the ombudsman to also look at refunding loans 4 & 5 9if that is what you think).
Ben says
I heard back from the Ombudsman last week, and as expected only loan 6 has been upheld. I have been chasing Mr Lender for updates on my refund and they confirmed yesterday that they now had the decision and were processing the refund but that it would take up to 4 weeks. Any one had any experience in how long they actually take?
T says
I completely forgot about Mr Lender
I complained in 2017 and had my complaint rejected and didn’t think to go to the FOS after
I have submitted a new claim
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Mt lender will just reject saying you already complained. You are out of time to go to the ombudsman.
Lisa says
I made an affordability complaint to Mr Lender several months ago, which they declined. They did, however, offer me a £25 Amazon voucher as a goodwill gesture, which I also declined.
I referred the case to the FOS and, after investigation, the adjudicator felt that the last two loans I had should not have been offered. They recommended that the interest on those should be refunded.
Mr Lender did not reply within the 2 weeks they were given, so the adjudicator said that the case would have to be reviewed by the Ombudsman. However, a few days later, Mr L came back and agreed to the interest refund, which I said that I would accept as I believe it’s a fair amount.
But… this was almost 2 weeks ago and I’ve heard nothing about receiving the refund since. I’ve sent two emails to Mr L, both of which have been ignored. I plan to ring them on my day off tomorrow, but has anyone else been in the same situation with them? If so, how long did it take to get your refund?
Simon pidgeon says
I have been told by them they would process my refund within 28 days as stated by Fos rules still don’t know why takes so long when it just a bank transfer.
Lisa says
That’s what they’ve told me too. I suspect they will drag it out as long as they can.
Simon says
Yes I reckon soon too then on last day will make the payment only takes a second to process a refund not 28 days
Mike_p says
Lenders often drag it out as long as they can when it comes to refunds. Lending Stream were the same – 27 days to refund me yet when there was profit in it for them they could transfer it within 99 seconds.
Simon says
Did you manage to get through to Mr Lender Lisa?
Lisa says
Yes I did. They ‘didn’t realise’ they hadn’t sent me an email to confirm I would be willing to accept the offer made via the adjudicator (even though I am sure they were notified of that by the adjudicator).
According to them, they have 4 weeks to pay from when I accept and give them my bank details. So, had I left it 4 weeks from when the FOS closed the case to chase them (for an email I didn’t know to expect), I’d have had to then wait 4 more weeks from then to get the money.
I have since received their email and immediately replied… that was 2 days ago, so probably another 25.5 days before I get payment lol.
Simon says
Yes I be the same they seem to like to drag it out be different if we owed them money
Mike_p says
Lending Stream seem to have pulled that trick too. The FOS really should put something in place to put lenders off deliberately delaying the payout like this, maybe make the statutory interest payable up to the day the refund is actually paid or something.
Simon says
Yes I agree they would soon change then. I said to them other day why it takes 28 days to process a bank transfer. Its obvious that they doing it on purpose to maximise the interest. The fos should give them 5 days maximum
Maria says
Hello everyone.
I contacted Mr Lender today.
I had some age old loans with them – from 2012. I don’t have the exact details but I rolled over almost every month for 5/6 months paying £135 interest from the emails I can see.
I used the template to contact them and received this. Any advice?
Thank you for confirming your details.
We have been unable to locate any loan data under the details you have provided. This could be due to you providing different details to those you initially provided to us when your loans were issued or if your loans were repaid over 7 years ago, we will no longer have records of these. Our data retention policy only allows us to hold information for up to 7 years after the end of your relationship with Mr Lender.
Please let us know if you would like us to search under alternative details (eg if your name and/or address has changed), until we receive further information we will not be able to log this as a complaint as we are unable to locate your loans on our system.
Do I give up as they were so long ago?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You still have the emails relating to these loans?
Was the £135 in interest every month? or in total?
Maria says
It was every month
The emails I have read like this
This is confirmation that Mr Lender will debit just the interest of £135.00 on the 31/05/2012.
Your loan will then be due on your following pay date of 29/06/2012.
If any of these details are incorrect, please contact customer services 0203-225-5422 or reply to this email.
By rolling over your loan, you are agreeing to pay just the interest and we will mark your credit history in a positive manner, however, Mr Lender always recommend paying something towards the capital to help reduce your balance.
To pay something towards the capital or if you wish to settle this loan, please contact our payments department on 0203-225-5422 or just reply to this email. Lines open Monday to Friday 9am to 5.30pm.
Yours sincerely,
Mr Lender
And I have 6/7 of these
I was clearly rolling these over every month for at 6 months
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then I suggest you go back to mr Lender with an example of one of these and the debts when you had them – you need to know exactly how many, not “6 or 7”. Sat you want Mr Lender to consider why it allowed you to a roll the loan so often. say the case goes to the ombudsman if they do not make you a reasonable offer.
Ben says
I had 6 loans from Mr Lender, raised the complaint and was rejected on all points. Raised to FOC and the adjudicator found that only 1 loan should be refunded, using his explication I thought it would be the last 2 but given that the loan he said should be refunded was the largest I was not going to argue much. However Mr was having none of it, they pushed back on his findings so I now have to wait the 2 or 3 months for a refund.
Do you think it’s worth speaking to Mr Lender, my fear is that I will have another sunny experience. The Ombudsman issues a decision in my favour the day before they go into administration!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I hope you have told FOS that you were prepared to accept the decision to refund just 1 loan as a compromise, but as this has to go to the Ombudsman you would like all the loans after that one to also be considered for a refund.
What was the interest on this one loan? How long ago was it finished?
Ben says
Here is a summary, and when the adjudicator can back I said that based on his thinking I feel loan 5 and 6 should be included but I would accept just loan 6 to get this resolved quickly. The reason apparently is the gap between loans 3 and 4, but Mr Lender didn’t agree to anything so now it’s the long wait. If I seen a response before Sept I will be surprise. My calculation is that loan 6 is £936 in interest plus about £25 in interest payments. And yes had confirmation the Ombudsman will do a full review of all loans
1 02/03/2017 26/05/2017 3 £200.00
2 15/06/2017 22/12/2017 6 £750.00
3 03/01/2018 23/03/2018 3 £400.00
4 05/02/2019* 25/04/2019 3 £200.00
5 17/05/2019 29/11/2019 6 £600.00
6 11/12/2019 30/11/2020 12 £1,100.00
Ben says
Had my reply from the Ombudsman on this case and they upheld only the last loan. Anyone had any experience on how to actually get my refund out of Mr Lender?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So that was a pretty quick Ombudsman result!
I would expect Mr Lender to pay in the next 28 days without further trouble.
Montrose says
Looking for some advice please Sara. I emailed mr lender asking for all my previous loan information. This was to review before going to the ombudsman. I waited 6 weeks and didn’t get any reply. I emailed them again and they said the information was posted to me. I asked for it to be emailed but they said the only post it. I asked them to post it again and 4 weeks later I still don’t have any information.
What should I do next ?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send the case to the Ombudsman! They obviously don’t want you to see the data.
Montrose54 says
Hi Sara, I called them again and they decided to send my statement by email. They have only sent from July 2015 even though I had to other loans jan and May 2015. Do they have to send any over 6 years old or can they withhold the information?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Tell them unless they send the details for the older loans it is going to the Ombudsman.
BUT I don’t know why you are doing this – they haven’t offered you anything – just send the complaint to the Ombudsman now, this is just wasting time.
Kat says
I had an E-mail out of the blue on 27/05 – just said they are reviewing historical loans etc. had to update my contact details and that’s it – did anyone else get this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes a lot of people have.
Did you have loans from them from over 6 years ago?
Mark says
Hi sara, all of my loans that i had with mr lender are over 6 years old. Could i have a claim?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes but Mr Lender will probably reject it so expect this to have to go to the ombudsman.
Don’t let them mess you around and delay as you are unlikely to get a good offer – straight to the Ombudsman at 8 weeks.
Mark says
I recieved this back. My loans were between 7 and 10 years old.
Dear Mark,
Thank you for confirming your details.
We have been unable to locate any loan data under the details you have provided. This could be due to you providing different details to those you initially provided to us when your loans were issued or if your loans were repaid over 7 years ago, we will no longer have records of these. Our data retention policy only allows us to hold information for up to 7 years after the end of your relationship with Mr Lender.
Please let us know if you would like us to search under alternative details (eg if your name and/or address has changed), until we receive further information we will not be able to log this as a complaint as we are unable to locate your loans on our system
Kind regards,
Kat says
Hi Sara.. quick update. They have now sent me an offer for £300.. I’ve accepted as they emailed me out of the blue last week. Really quick! Bonus as I didn’t realise they were doing a review until I got the first email!
Daniel says
Hi Sara I put in a complaint to mr lender with the template you put on here so thanks in advance they sent me a reply via letter asking me , which loans do I believe were unaffordable? Please could I elaborate on the difficulties that were caused as a result of these loans? Please could I confirm the reason I believe these loans to be unaffordable? What would I deem to be a suitable outcome to my complaint?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
do you know how many loans you had from them? And how much interest you paid on them?
If not, I suggest you reply that you are complaining about all the loans, you have asked them to send a list and when they have done that you will be able to say what a suitable outcome would be.
Daniel says
Yes Sara it was included in the letter I had 3 loans with them
I had 3 separate loans all for £200 at one time I paid £183.44 on one £160.86 on the second and the third one I paid £6.40 interest
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so you settled the last loan very early?
Daniel says
Yeah I did with the last one but the first two was paid over 5-6 monthly payments
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so this isnt a strong case. You can reply about the trouble you had paying the first two loans. If you had to borrow to settle the last loan, say that.
You could suggest you would be happy to settle for the interest you paid on the second loan?
Daniel says
Thanks Sara I really appreciate it
Mark says
I recieved this back from mr lender. My loans were between 7 and 10 years old.
Dear Mark,
Thank you for confirming your details.
We have been unable to locate any loan data under the details you have provided. This could be due to you providing different details to those you initially provided to us when your loans were issued or if your loans were repaid over 7 years ago, we will no longer have records of these. Our data retention policy only allows us to hold information for up to 7 years after the end of your relationship with Mr Lender.
Please let us know if you would like us to search under alternative details (eg if your name and/or address has changed), until we receive further information we will not be able to log this as a complaint as we are unable to locate your loans on our system
Kind regards
Mark says
Hi sarah is it possible that they dont have any record of my loans as they are over 7 years old or are they just pulling a fast one? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
A lot of lenders have deleted or anonymised old loans.
Mark says
Ok thank you.
I guess this will hit a dead end then.
Jess says
Hi Sarah ,
I made a affordability complaint to Mr lender. I asked for the interest on all my loans to be refunded plus the statutory 8%. They responded this week saying they have investigated and are willing to only uphold the most recent claim for £300. They advised they will refund the interest plus 8% statutory.
Do you think I should accept this offer or escalate to the FOS ? I’m thinking they should be upholding the second one also seeing as they granted that one out whilst I was still trying to pay off the first one. Is it likely the FOS will agree with their outcome? Please see loans below ..
Date Funds Transferred 12/03/2010
Date Loan Settled in Full 30/04/2010
Capital Borrowed £200.00
Total Capital Paid £200.00
Total Interest Paid £100.00
Date Funds Transferred 07/04/2010
Date Loan Settled in Full 30/06/2010
Capital Borrowed £250.00
Total Capital Paid £250.00
Total Interest Paid £187.50
Date Funds Transferred 30/06/2010
Date Loan Settled in Full 30/09/2010
Capital Borrowed £300.00
Total Capital Paid £300.00
Total Interest Paid £225.00
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think it’s a bit marginal. They aren’t large loans, refunding the third would be a common FOS decision, but FOS may agree with your argument that the second loan should not have been given while the first one was running.
It’s also a long time ago and you may have difficulty in producing any evidence about your other debts, credit record or your financial situation?
Mark says
Hi jess, they told me that they didnt have any record of my loans as they were over 7 years old. Did they say this to you first aswel? How did you manage to find this from 10 years ago?
Jess says
Hi Mark ,
I initially rang them and asked for the information on my account to be sent to me as when I logged in nothing was showing up. They sent it within a week.
I then went on to make an affordability claim . They looked into my claim and came to a decision all within 2-3 weeks.
Jess says
Ok thanks!
I may just take the offer if the chances are slim. I’m aware a lot of people are currently claiming and fear that if I do escalate to the ombudsman (with there length waiting times) i may get caught up in the process of Mr Lender entering a scheme and losing out altogether! I’ve read this happened to a lot of people!
Karl says
So after originally being offered £400 they come back with around £1000 after the Ombusman said they should refund 18 of my 24 loans. I rejected. They come back with around £1800, then £2200 before finally coming back with £3600 which was all 18 loans the FO said they should be refunding originally.
It’s taken since November but its worth sticking out and rejecting their scandalous offers originally.
Thanks so so much for your help Sara. Is there any particular charity or place I coukd make a donation to to keep places like this keep on running. The advice is invaluable.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
A small donation to your local Citizens Advice would be great.
Karl says
Thanks, as soon as they get back to me and it clears I will do.
Thanks again for your help. One other thing, I got quite a few loans from Provident and have since had a letter from them, Friday just gone funnily enough. I didn’t think of pursuing them as they were in my address with my ex partner but the letter has come to my address and loans were in my name. Now we had a doorstep collector then so I have no proof of payments etc. Would it be worth putting a complaint and asking them to send out details of all loans I had between the times stated?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
See https://debtcamel.co.uk/provident-scheme-refunds-vote/ for how to vote on the Provident Acheme – voting yes or no puts in a claim to the Scheme. They will not look at any complaint before then.
Mark says
Hi sarah, my loans from lender are over 10 years old. But i had alot of loans with them. Is it work taking this to the fos? And how do i do this? Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Mr L has rejected them because they are over 6 years? Definitely worth taking to FOS. Include in your FOS complaint a parargraph which says:
the loans you are complaining about were taken more than 6 years ago but you only recently found out you had a cause to complain when [a friend told you, you read an article in the Sun, you saw an advert from a claim company on Facebook, you were contacted by the administrators of another payday lender,… whatever, just say how you found out about these complaints] as before that you were unaware a lender should have checked the loans were affordable to the borrower. So you are making your complaint within 3 years of finding out a complaint was possible.
See https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/ which has a section on how to make a complaint to FOS.
Mark says
They emailed back saying they have no record of my loans, so ive said il take it to fos. Should i wait or act now? Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
do you have details of the loans?
Mark says
No unfortunately not..
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you don’t have any details, there is nothing for FOS to use to make a decision. Emails or bank statements are the main evidence people sometimes still have.
Lou v says
I sent a complaint to financial ombudsman who ruled in my favour and Mr Lender are disagreeing and have raised queries . They had till 7th to reply and on last day are trying to fight it . Has anyone else had this ?
Jimbo says
I’m expecting the same. FOS upheld my complaint on 6 of my loans (luckily for me, the biggest loans) and I fully expect Mr Lender to disagree with it. They’ve got till 22nd to submit any response. Waiting game I guess.
Lou v says
I must’ve been naive as I always though FOS decision was final . Can’t understand what they can be querying now a month after they provided FOS with all relevant info . Good luck with yours . Funnily enough Mr Lender only have to refund 4 of the smallest loans and they are STILL fighting it
Sara (Debt Camel) says
A final decision from an Ombudsman is legally binding on a firm.
But the first decision you get is from an “adjudicator” – this is more informal. If you or the firm rejects it, it has to go to an Ombudsman.
The Ombudsman makes the same decision as the adjudicator in 90% of cases.
Lou v says
Thanks for clarifying Sara 😊
Lou says
So now mr lender have argued back and want the final decision to come from ombudsman . Talk about dragging their feet . This has been going on for 4 months now . Mr Lender seem to be the worst lender I have ever dealt with !!
SP says
Good afternoon Sara,
I have raised an affordability compliant to Mr Lender over 4 weeks ago, thank you for the template which you have put on your site.
They still have another 4 weeks to go before they have to issue me with the final response but I have noticed that Mr Lender is no longer on my credit file on Credit Karma. Is this a common practise that they remove the entry off my credit file prior to issuing me with a final response?
Thank you, I look forward to your reply.
Mark says
Hi sara i recieved an email back from mr lender. But they have asked me a couple of questions which i dont know the asnwer i should say back if you could please help me?
Dear Mark,
Thank you for your email.
Please accept this response as acknowledgement of your complaint and a request for a statement of your account.
To determine whether your complaint falls within the time limits that are outlined within DISP please can you confirm the following:
The date you became aware you had cause for complaint about your loans.
How you became aware you had cause for complaint about your loans.
As you have made us aware you are dissatisfied with the service we have provided, we can confirm we are conducting a thorough investigation into your concerns raised.
We can confirm, we received your complaint on the 9th June 2021 and we have up until the 4th August 2021 to provide you with our final response.
Once we have completed our investigation, we will send you a final response letter in the post, using the address that we have on file for you.
Please make sure that we have the most recent and up to date postal address for you on file as we will only hold the address on file that you gave us at the time of your loans with us.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how old were your loans from them?
Mark says
9-10 years ago??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok so they have asked you
“The date you became aware you had cause for complaint about your loans.” and “How you became aware you had cause for complaint about your loans.”
You should tell them what happened. There are no wrong answers here. A typical response would be
“When I was talking the loans from you, I knew they were causing me problems but I didn’t know what else I could do and at that point I had no idea that a lender should have made affordability checks to see if I could repay a loan without having to borrow again. I only found out about this [earlier this year when my sister told me she had made a claim / a friend told me about a claim he had made about an Amigo loan / I read an article online about it], so I have complained to you within 3 years of being aware I had cause to complain. I understand that the Financial Ombudsman will therefore consider my complaint even though the loans are more than 6 years old.”
change the bits in brackets to have the right date and details for how you heard about these complaints.
Mark says
Thank you for your help sara
Mark says
They replied again this morning with email asking for documentation but i dont have any. Surely if there doing a full investigation then theu have what they need?
Dear Mark,
Thank you for your email and for providing the below information.
Please can you provide us with any documentation that may support your complaint for the period of your loans.
We will continue our investigations accordingly and issue a final response in due course.
Kind regards,
Sara (Debt Camel) says
you can just ignore this if you don’t have bank statements for the period.
James says
Does anyone know how long it took after you accepted there final response offer for the money to be in ur bank