Did your payday loans cost so much when you repaid one you had to keep on borrowing?
You can get a refund of the interest you paid on unaffordable loans.
It’s easy to ask for a payday loan refund using the free template letters here. The letters work if your payday loans were repaid or you still owe money.
The comments below this article have thousands of stories of the refunds people have got using these letters. It is a great place to ask questions!
Contents
What are “unaffordable” loans?
Was a loan affordable just because you repaid it?
No! If paying a loan left you so broke you had to borrow again – from the same lender or a different one – it was unaffordable!
The regulator says:
“the borrower should be able to make the required repayments without undue difficulty, whilst continuing to meet other debt repayment obligations and reasonable regular outgoings.”
That means a payday loan is only affordable if you repaid it on time and you could still manage to pay your other bills and debts.
Payday loans are meant to solve a short-term problem. If you kept repaying one then getting another loan soon after, the lender should have stopped lending to you.
If the loan was small and it was the first loan or second loan from a lender, the lender may not have realised the loan was unaffordable for you. But it was irresponsible lending to just carry on giving you more loans.
Many lenders ignore obvious signs of problems such as your loans increasing in size, or borrowing again soon after repayment.
How much compensation can you get?
You don’t have to calculate this. Just ask for a refund from the lender and see what you are offered. This is simple and it works well.
The Financial Ombudsman has seen tens of thousands of payday loan affordability complaints.
A typical decision by the Ombudsman is that the payday lender should refund all the interest you paid interest after the third, fourth or fifth loan.
But if your first loan was large, or was rolled over several times you could get a refund from just one loan.
Which lenders can you get refunds from?
You can complain to lenders that are still in business, even if they are no longer lending. These include:
Lending Stream, Cash Converters, CashASAP, Drafty, Dot Dot, Fast Loan Uk, Fernovo, Fund Ourselves, Kabayan, LoanPig, Mr Lender, Moneyboat, MyKredit, My Finance Club, QuidMarket, Savvy, The Money Platform, WageMe, Wizzcash,
See this email list for payday lenders for a longer list and all the contact details to use.
If the lender has gone into administration, including CashForUNow, Piggybank, Ferratum, Oakam, Safetynet Credit, Tappily:
- make a claim to the administrators – there is normally a simple form for you to complete, see the lender’s website for details – but there will be a time limit for doing this.
- you may not get much cash back but this is very easy to do. A balance may be reduced or cleared even if there is no cash to distribute. And if you win the complaint any negative marks on your credit record will be removed.
It is probably too late to make claims to other lenders who gave up years ago, see this list.
For longer-term loans there are better template letters to use on other pages:
- doorstep lenders and guarantor lenders,
- Loans2Go – the worst loans in Britain!
- 118 Money, Likely Loans, Bamboo, car finance, bank loans and other long-term loans.
Do this before, before you send in a complaint
Doing these things now will make your life easier later.
Get a copy of your TransUnion statutory credit report and keep it. After complaints are started, sometimes loans are deleted and you may want the full report if you later have to go to the Ombudsman.
If you still owe money to the lender, read Will an affordability claim hurt my credit record, and other questions. These looks at your options for stopping paying, the effect on your credit record etc.
If the rest of your finances are difficult, look into a Debt Management Plan (DMP) where you make one affordable payment a month to StepChange. This gets you into a safe financial position as these affordability complaints can take a long time to go through at the Ombudsman. Winning a complaint then speeds up the DMP.
Unless you can afford to make this month’s payment without borrowing again, cancel the CPA to the lender at your bank. Otherwise the lender may take the money and you will be in a mess.
If your loan was sold to a debt collector you complain to the original lender. But also tell the debt collector that you are disputing the debt. It is a good idea to carry on making payments to the debt collector if they are affordable.
Start your complaint & get loan details
Find the lender’s email address for complaints from this list.
Put “AFFORDABILITY COMPLAINT” as the subject of your email:
You should never have given me these unaffordable loans. Paying you each month left me with too little money so I had to keep borrowing to get through the next month.
You should have realised from the number of times I borrowed that my debt problems were getting worse. It was not responsible to continue to lend to me. [Add more details eg how often you borrowed or rolled loans if you know them, how the amount borrowed generally went up etc]
[Include/change this if your credit record would have shown big problems:] My credit reports would have shown all my other debts and problems including late payments/defaults /CCJs/debt management.]
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.
[delete this sentence if you know what all your loans were.] I know the difficulties your loans have caused me but I no longer have all the loan details. Please send me a list, showing for each loan when it was taken out, how much interest and charges you added, and what I repaid. This will enable me to assess any refund you offer me.
[delete this sentence if none of your loans were sold.]If a loan was later sold to a debt collector, please inform me of the date of sale and the name of the debt collector.
Some ways to improve this
Add any other points that help you describe what happened to you. You don’t need to list the loans – the lenders knows them.
Some examples:
- “I took out another loan with xxxx to pay you.”
- “Sometimes I borrowed to pay the rent and then had to top-up to get money for food.”
- if you weren’t treated fairly while you were borrowing or when you could not make a payment, add a bit about this.
You can attach bank statements if you like, This is a good idea as these show how unaffordable the loans were for you. If you have gambling showing, this helps your complaint, it doesn’t harm it.
I don’t know if many lenders actually read what you send them. I
it’s easy to make these complaints – you don’t need to calculate what refund you should get or quote laws.
Only one loan?
The template refers to multiple loans because that is what normally happens with payday lenders.
When you only had one loan and it was large, read Refunds from large loans and use the template there.
If you only had one loan and it was small, this is going to be a very difficult complaint to win. If you have borrowed once or twice from 5 leaders, that is much more difficult to win an affordability complaint than having 4 or 5 loans from two lenders.
Waiting for a reply from the lender
This email starts your affordability complaint.
They may send the list of loans first and later respond to your complaint. So don’t be surprised if you get sent info on the loans but nothing about your request for a refund.
When you get your loan information, you can send in more details about your complaint if you want. You don’t have to do this, your complaint has already begun and the lender has to reply.
The lender should reply to your complaint within 8 weeks from when you send the email, not when they acknowledge it. Make a note in your diary for 8 weeks time and chase the lender up if you don’t get a reply.
Don’t be surprised if you have to wait until the end of the 8 weeks to get response – this is common.
Send your bank statements or other information?
Some lenders ask you to send them a copy of your credit record, payslips or bank statements.
Credit record – the lender can check your credit record themselves if they want. But you should download a copy of your credit record asap as the Ombudsman will ask for it. Don’t put this off, the sooner you get a report downloaded, the further back it goes which is good.
Don’t send payslips – they won’t help an affordability complaint and the ombudsman never asks for them.
It is a good idea to send bank statements. But think twice about the cost of copying and postage if there are a lot. Some lenders seem to ignore them if you do send them.
Again this is a good point to get those bank statements even if you do not want to send them as they will help an Ombudsman claim a lot. You can get them going back at least 6 years even if the account has been closed.
Lender says No or makes a poor offer
If the lender rejects your complaint or offers you a small amount, don’t be depressed. You may still have a very good case!
It is easy and free to send your case to the Financial Ombudsman where many thousands of people have won their payday loan complaints, despite being rejected by the lender.
Give up?
Some lenders try to make your case sound bad when it isn’t. People have had large amounts refunded after a complete rejection!
Just ignore any of the following comments, they do not mean you have a weak case:
- they relied on your loan applications and you didn’t give accurate facts – see Lender says I lied for more about this;
- you repaid some loans early – this doesn’t prove the loans were affordable, just that you were trying to save interest;
- your borrowing didn’t go up every time – irrelevant, what matters is that you kept borrowing;
- you had a good enough credit score or they didn’t legally have to check your credit record – if you only had one or two small loans that is true. But if the loans were large or you kept borrowing, they should have looked more closely;
- your loans are over 6 years old – the Ombudsman will look at these even if the lender says they won’t!
A good enough case to go to the Ombudsman?
If you don’t know what to do, ask in the comments below this article. Accepting an offer settles your whole complaint – you can’t change your mind later.
Don’t worry that you will lose a small offer by going to the Ombudsman – this doesn’t happen.
Some points to think about:
- if you are offered a refund on only a few loans, don’t accept it if you think the lender should have realised a lot of the other loans were unaffordable;
- an offer to write off your current balance may sound convenient … but it may be very poor if you should get a refund as well;
- if getting defaults or late payments removed from your credit record is important to you, are you happy with what the lender is proposing to do? Don’t assume your credit record will be cleared if the lender didn’t mention this.
One or two loan cases are hard to win at the Ombudsman. It’s probably best to give up on one or two loan cases unless:
- the loan was large. Here is one single loan case that was won even though it was an installment loan and the borrower had a good income. And another single loan case for a loan of £1,000. You can win cases for smaller amounts if the repayment would have been a large amount of your income; or
- you still owe money.
Don’t delay too long – there is a 6-month time limit after a lender rejects your complaint to send the case to the ombudsman. When you aren’t sure, send the complaint to FOS. This is easy to do – let FOS make the decision.
How to send a complaint to FOS
Put in a separate complaint about each lender.
Don’t wait until all your lenders have replied before sending the first one to the Ombudsman!
FOS’s “complain online” option is easy and takes you through your complaint step by step.
You can just copy what you said in your complaint to the lender. You can add more details, for example, if you disagree with what the lender replied to you.
If some of your loans were over 6 years ago, tell the Ombudsman when and how you found out about these complaints. For example:
“I knew the loans were causing me difficulty in 2016, but I thought this was my fault for being bad with money. I didn’t find out that the lender should have checked the loans were affordable until June 2022 when my brother told me about these claims/I saw an advert from a claims company on Facebook/I read an article about these claims” – change this so it is right for your case!
Things to attach:
- the reply you have had from the lender.
- bank statements if you have them. Ideally from 3 months before your first loan until the last loan was repaid or you defaulted on it. This strengthens your case, showing how unaffordable the loans were. You can still get bank statements even if your account is closed – if you don’t have them, start the process of getting them now, don’t wait until FOS asks for them.
- a copy of your TransUnion Statutory credit report
- a copy of the credit agreements for the loans if you have them. If you don’t, don’t worry, FOS will get them from the lender.
What happens after you have sent a case to FOS
You will normally be contacted within a couple of weeks and asked for a copy of your credit record and your bank statements if you haven’t sent these. If you have sent these on one complaint, then when you complain about a different lender they will use the ones they already have.
After this initial contact, your case will wait for the lender to send FOS your case file and then wait to be picked up by an adjudicator who will make a decision on it.
If you are still making payments to the lender, tell the lender you want to reduce these to an affordable amount. This will make waiting for an Ombudsman decision much less stressful for you.
The Financial Ombudsman has a two-stage process. Most cases are settled by the first “adjudicator” stage but about 10% go to the second “Ombudsman” stage.
A few problem cases
Don’t ask for a refund:
- if you are bankrupt now or have been bankrupt in the past – any refund would go to the Official Receiver.
- if you are in an IVA, as refunds will go to your IVA firm not to you. If your IVA has finished the refund may still be sent to your old IVA firm.
- if you are in a DRO now, getting a refund may mean your DRO is cancelled!
More help
You can ask a question in the comments below – you may get a reply from someone who has been in your exact situation.
Don’t use a claims management company. They are expensive and often incompetent. It’s easy to do this yourself and you can ask questions below and get replies from other readers who have done this.
Card & catalogue affordability complaints
Can you get an overdraft refund?
Could a Debt Relief Order help you?
Jason says
Hi Sara,
I had a credit line with Drafty which I won an affordability complaint and got refund and told negative marks would be wiped from my credit file.
The negative marks came when I couldn’t afford and missed payments when the complaint was ongoing (Feb-June this year). Although I’ve been told it can take up to 45 days for this be reversed and show on my credit file, it still hasn’t. This is the sole reason my credit file has taken a big hit and dropped alot in points
My problem is this, I have two credit cards, Vanquis and Virgin. My Virgin expires in November and last week they sent me a letter that they’re not going to send me a new one due to my current credit score and recent history (the only payments I’ve missed ever was the recent drafty). Vanquis have now just sent me a letter saying they’ve reviewed my credit score/history and are increasing the the interest rate due to it being less than it was when I took the card out.
I have spoken to Virgin and Vanquis and neither can help even though ive explained reason for the bad credit rating
Because Drafty have wrongly ruined my credit rating, temporarily, and it should not have been ruined in the first and it will go back to normal soon, they have permanently ruined my use of my current credit cards.
What options do I have as this seems very, very unfair that they’ve ruined this for me.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
When was the Drafty offer accepted by you? Was this direct from them or via the Ombudsman?
How much are Vanquis increasing your interest rate? Did their email explain you can reject this interest rate increase?
Have Vanquis increased your credit limit while you were only making minimum payments?
The Virgin card – what is the balance? They have explained that you can continue to pay this off and you don’t have to repay it immediately?
Do you have other debts in additions to these?
Jason says
I accepted Drafty’s offer on June 6th and money was paid into my account 3 days later. It was done via Ombudsman which had been ongoing since January but due to high volume it took them 4 months to look at.
Vanquis are increasing my interest rate by 4%. Sorry I should’ve mentioned that I can reject that but then would need to pay back the limit, not all at once but I wouldn’t be able to use my card and they would then close my account once I’ve done so. They did increase my limit by £750 whilst I was only making minimum repayments. This came straight after a no interest promotional period so I’ve only just started paying interest, now they’ve said they’re increasing it.
Virgin I can keep paying off as normal but I can’t use it and once I’ve done so, they will close my account. The balance is £2,700.
I have other debts too but these are all manageable at the moment.
My annoyance comes as if my complaint had been dealt with Drafty had been dealt with quickly, the negative marks on credit file would have been long gone and it my credit rating would’ve stayed very good, and I wouldn’t be having these problems with the credit cards.
Do I have any stance on this? As if my credit file was wrongly marked negative but Vanquis and Virgin don’t see it this way.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Complain to Drafty? They are doing what the Ombudsman suggested.
Complain to Virgin and Vanquis? You could argue they are being unreasonable not taking into account that the Drafty negative marks are being removed. But Vanquis are increasing a lot of people’s interest rates. You can try but I’m not sure how this will go.
Obviously you should reject the Vanquis increase and pay it off at the old rate. This is a very expensive card.
You can also look at possible affordanility complaints against Vanquis, Virgin and your other debts: see https://debtcamel.co.uk/tag/refunds/ for articles with templates.
Matthew says
Hey Sara
I just had a email back from fernovo (Quidie) they have not accepted my complaint for a refund for unaforable lending . But they have offered me a goodwill gesture of £147 if I withdraw my complaint to come off my remaining balance a loan of £200.
I have had 9 loans over the course of 48 months ,With a total of around £1000 intrest .
They were saying it was affordable but why would they offer me this ? If I’m willing to withdraw my complaint ? Should I accept it ?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
what is your current balance?
Matthew says
£212 it says on my account
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, the 9 loans – were they generally increasing in size – could you list the eg 100, 100, 150, 250, 100, etc
how large were the gaps between the loans, between repaying one and taking out the next?
Matthew says
6/9/2019 £200
2/12/2019 £300
24/2/2020 £300
12/05/2020 £100
12/6/2020 £100
25/01/22 £400
19/01/2023 £400
8/06/2023 £ 150
1/9/2023 £200
They were the loan dates
Sara (Debt Camel) says
and how long were the loans – 1,3,6,12 months?
Matthew says
They are all different but mostly were 3 month loans
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how long was this loan 25/01/22 £400
What other debts do you have at the moment apart from this payday loan – have your other debts been increasing?
Matthew says
Just shy of 6 months that one , just one other payday loan , with credit cards and a bank loan . They have been going up and down the debt
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you may have difficulty winning this case at the Ombudsman. Some of the loans have been very small and there have been some largish gaps.
I think you need to stop taking payday loans! Talk to Stepchange about a debt management plan for your debts, including the remains of the current loan once they have reduced the balance.
You could also look at affordability complaints about the bank loan and credit cards, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/tag/refunds/ for articles with templates to use.
Matt says
Many thanks
Danny says
I complains to quidmarket for irresponsible lending after having two loans, they didn’t upheld the complaint but offered to remove the information from my credit report, I declined that offer and said I will go the FOS, they then asked me what will be a reasonable settlement, I said all my interest repaid back to me from my second loan which was £598 . They have now responded with this reply,
I think they know the FOS will upheld my complaint, any advice what to respond? Or a dept the £100??
Good afternoon,
Thanks for contacting us back.
We have discussed your case and reviewed the resolution provided. We have then reviewed your request for an amicable settlement of your complaint.
We feel with the offer provided within your resolution we have acted fairly based on the information you provided. And the information we obtained through the credit reference checks via our underwriting team.
We also agree our offer provided was fair and amicable based on this information. We still agree with our decision as stated in our final response. However, we are willing to offer a non-negotiable offer of £100 as a gesture of goodwill. And to remove your loans from the credit reference agencies.
If you wish to accept this new revised offer, please respond back and provide your account number and sort code for the redress to be repaid.
Hope this email finds you well.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how large were each of the loans? what was the gap between repaying the first loan and taking out the second loan>
Sarah says
Hi Sara
I have tried to go through all the comments to find one on dot dot loans but I can’t, some similar situations though. I had a huge problem gambling between 2020-2022. During this time I took out 20 loans. The worst year was 2021 which was x8 loans (3 with dot dot loans).
Loans with dot dot were:
29.1.21 – £600 over 9 months not upheld. Closed on 18.3.21 early, they say the £400 saved on interest is a rebate.
11.5.21 – £300 over 6 months, not upheld. Finished paying on time November 21.
2.12.21 – £500 over 9 months, paid back on 27.12.21, they say the £400 saved on interest is a rebate. Upheld but only to remove this loan from my credit file.
I only paid these back early with other loans.
Others loans at the time were:
January 21 X2 payday loans = total £1200 (one rejected with cash4unow)
Large loan 18/3/21 for £10k Neyber, used to pay others off.
Fernova loan was then on the 27/3/21, partially upheld.
I have a much longer list but this is just some around the time, plus 3 catalogued accounts and 4 credit cards.
I rent my home, I’m now in a DMP with stepchange since July 2022.
Also waiting for the amigo decision from a 10k loan from 2019 still paying.
Do you think it is worth sending the dot dot loan one to FOS? There response said I should have told them I was struggling/gambling and paying back early doesn’t show unaffordability.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you added up the interest you paid on each of the dot dot loans? That is the total you actually in monthly charges plus settlement paid less the amount you borrowed?
Hopefully the Amigo claim will be upheld.
Have you made an affordability complaint about the Neyber loan?
The catalogue accounts and credit cards, did any of them increase your credit limit at a time when you had only been making minimum payments?
The payday loans may have been a higher interest rate but they were short term and if you settled them early that will have reduced the interest you paid – other credit may actually have worked out more expensive and be easier to win affordability complaints about and give yo7 a bigger refund or balance reductions StepChange.
Sarah says
The interest is below once i have deducted what i borrowed.
January 21 – Paid back early in March 21 – paid £149 interest
May 21 – Nov 21 – paid 284.16 interest
2nd December 21 – 27th December 21 – paid £66 interest on this one.
At the time of these loans I also had safetynet credit, which i claimed and won against a few years back. This shows on my bank statements and at the time would have also been on my credit file but has now been removed. I also had a 4k loan with 118118 money, I can’t do anything about this one, they rejected it over a year ago and didn’t go to the FOS as I thought I mustn’t have a case.
Neyber – yes i have claimed against them awaiting a reply. I’ve paid 8k of this back but still is a high balance left for interest.
Catalogues and credit cards all raised the limits i have sent in a claim to them. The catalogue’s were with JD Williams’ (simply be and fashion world), they have only partially upheld theirs so I have sent it to the FOS. The credit cards, Zopa has rejected it also, i have also sent this to the FOS.
Thanks for your help
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is unusual to win a complaint about a first payday loan. Then the second loan was smaller and there was a gap of 2 months between paying off the 1st and taking the second. Your case against the third loan is strongest but you only paid £66 in interest on it.
You know these loans were unaffordable so you could go to FOS, but it isn’t clear you are likely to get much back,
Sarah says
Thank you, they’ve upheld the second one only but the only thing they have offered is to remove this loan only from my credit file.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ah I read your first comment as meaning that they had offered to remove the third loan from your record.
Could you copy and paste in here the bit of their decision that refers to the second loan?
Jason says
Hi Sara,
So I had an affordability complaint with Likely Loans upheld earlier this year. After all refund etc I was left with £1,093 to pay them back. Negative reporting to credit agencies suppressed and to be able to pay back at an ‘affordable rate’. In May they told me that ‘when I was in a position to do so’ I could contact them to set up repayment plan (as I was struggling for money at the time). I am now in a better position and was going to contact them at the beginning of November. I have just had an email from them last night with a ‘sum of arrears’ and the total is now £1,435 that I owe them? I’ve tried contacting them but as it’s a Sunday they cannot help me but its really playing on my mind.
I thought they couldn’t add on any interest or sums if my affordability complaint was upheld? Plus they said I’ve totalled up since March (when affordability complaint was upheld) an extra £415 which I now owe but £1093 plus £415 doesn’t equal £1435? So I’m very confused
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Go back and say you are happy to make an affordable payment arrangement but they should not be adding interest.
Beth McLeish says
Has anyone had a letter from Lending Stream offering redress? They only mention one random loan from 2018, but I had about 6 after that one and won at FOS on the final one through a claims company (didn’t know I could do it myself back then!) is it worth counteracting any offer to include the other loans? Thanks in advance for any help!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I hadn’t heard they are making some offers.
Did the FOS claim cover all the debts and they only upheld the last one?
Beth McLeish says
I think I only claimed for the last one, the claims company was dreadful and I did all the chasing & follow up myself! Can’t see original emails just the replies to the claims company, so can’t remember exact details.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So 6 loans over several years isnt a lot, but you can try going back to LS and asking for other loans to be included.
Ryan says
Hi Sarah,
I’m going through an affordability complaint process with Fernovo regarding two loans I had with them (£300 each). The first was paid early as I had a financial windfall from work, the second taken out two months later has resulted in a CCJ which is now settled. They are rejecting complaint due to what they believe to be suitable affordability checks having taken place (credit check with TransUnion, I&E). Their website states they check multiple credit ref agencies but only used TransUnion. The report from TransUnion doesn’t show other multiple loans, credit cards etc, I have provided bank statements to show these but still the complaint is being rejected with an offer of a £95 refund. Should I pursue with them and potentially FOS? Do I have any chance with this one? Do I have any chance of CCJ being set aside?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It can be hard to win a payday loan complaint about 2 300 loans. What was the gap between paying off the first one and taking the second one?
What are the rest of your finances like at the moment?
Ryan says
Gap was just under two months from paying off first one and taking out second one.
Finances are not good, payment plans for lots at moment due to gambling issue so have lodged lots of complaints recently.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
you normally have to have borrowed a lot more or have had several consecutive loans to win payday complaints. How realistic are the other ones? I think you should talk to a debt adviser about your options – with a recent CCJ it maybe that a DRO or bankruptcy is the best way to get a clean start.
Ryan says
Other complaints are realistic I think…
Aqua – started with a limit of £900, ended up with £4900 due to multiple increases offered by them
Lending Stream – 7 consecutive loans totalling just over £2k
Capital One – 2 x cards with them at same time
118118 – three consecutive loans after being offered new ones each time and a credit card all at same time
There are others as well for smaller amounts.
In terms of the debt, I’m starting to get on top of it now, it’s just the CCJs (x3) that are a big negative, one of them from the Aqua card
Richard says
Hi Sara. I had a claim in with dot dot loans. They have just gone into administration. The FOS sided with me. But they disagreed. Now we know why. So it could be dragged out when it went to an ombudsman. I had £900 still owning that got sent to lantern for recovery. I was paying bits of this each month. Knowing that eventually I’d get it back anyway. But now they gone in administration what I get back will be peanuts.
I don’t really want to pay anymore off it with lantern as I know administrators will write it off. So not going to be beneficial for me to pay it really.
Is this the best route I can take?
Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Had you told Lantern you had a FOS case?
Richard says
Not at first. But I have today.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
it is unclear at the moment what the administrators will do with loans that have been sold to debt collectors. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/morses-club-administration-scheme-fails/
How much are you paying Lantern a month at the moment? Have you already repaid Dot Dot orand Lantern the amount that you borrowed? Did you have previous Dot dot loans?
Richard says
Yeah had previous loans and yes definitely paid them what owed. This is definitely interest. Was paying lantern £50 a month.
Will we know in a few weeks what the administrators plan to do about lantern etc. am I best asking lantern to put account on hold for now. And see what happens. Or should I continue paying what I am paying to them?
Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I can’t promise the timescale, but I would hope that we do know in few weeks. Yes you can ask Lantern to put the account on hold.
Kelly says
Hello Sara,
I don’t suppose you know anything about what is going on with Piggy Bank redress? They went into administration at the end of 2019. They aren’t answering the telephone or responding to any messages / emails.
Is there a chance that maybe they aren’t paying refunds?
Cheers
Kelly
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The last administrators progress report in July (https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07952979/filing-history) makes it sounds as though there may not be enough money to distribute.
Jack says
0800 206 1560
Here is a number I got through to speak to someone from Piggybank
JT says
If you are successful with an affordability complaint, will/should the payday loans be removed from your credit file totally e.g. as if you never took them out?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
the Ombudsman normally only says to remove negative marks. But some lenders will simply delete the whole loan.
JT says
Ok thank you, fingers crossed
Tracy says
Hello,
I made an affordability complaint to lending Stream. At the time I was in financial difficulty with lots of payday loans and a CCJ.
The loans were
150 on 18/01/21 (paid)
400 on 18/02/21
150 on 26/02/21 (top up)
140 on 02/03/21 (also a top up)
In late March 2021 I took out a DMP with PayPlan and have been working to pay these (and the others off since) I have never missed a payment. I have now paid back nearly the total of the loans – but due to interest still have an outstanding amount of £700.
Lemding Stream have completed rejected my complaint. Should I go to the Ombudsman? I’m just concerned the amounts are quite small?
Thank you (incidentally this page helped me with a loans2go claim so is already saving me money!)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is a bit marginal. But the second loan was very soon after the first and much larger. The you needed two top ups very quickly. So I think this is worth a try.
Tracy says
Thank you so much!
Ron says
Hello
Just Wondering if anyone has heard any update from Piggy Bank/DJS (UK) Limited? I’ve not had any communication since I last emailed in June 2022. I things were supposed to wrap up towards the end of this year.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The last administrators progress report in July (https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07952979/filing-history) makes it sounds as though there may not be enough money to distribute.
Paul says
Hi could you help me. I had a DRO which covered all my debts and I served a year on this dro which expired last April 2022. Since then amigo this week have told me I am due redress but they say they will be taking the redress off the balance owed and that I need ru pay the outstanding balance. I had these loans covered by the dro and so know they were cleared from liability. An I entitled to have the redress amounts paid to me asi am not liable for these loans anymore. Amigo should have written these off as per a DRO.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
no you are NOT liable for the balance. But unless the refund would have cleared your debt, they are entitled not to pay you the refund.
Daniel says
Hi
I had 9 loans with Fernovo over 23 months
18/2/20 £100 repaid 25/2/20
14/3/20 £100 repaid 25/3/23
10/5/20 200 repaid 25/5/20
4/6/20 100 repaid 25/06/23
8/7/20 200 repaid 24/7/20
9/9/20 200 repaid 25/9/20
7/5/21 200 repaid 25/5/21
28/6/21 300 repaid 23/8/21
02/11/21 repaid 25/02/22
They have said they had no reason to believe that i could not afford the loans but offered refund the redress refund of £59.19 on the interest and erase all your loans from your credit file if i withdraw my complaint,
Would this be worth taking to to financial ombudsmen?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I assume the loans dated 14/3/20 and 4/6/20 actually finished in 202 and 2023 was a typo.
Do you know how much interest you paid on each of the last 5 loans?
Daniel says
Hi Sara, Yes my apologies should be 2020 rather than 2023, the interest for the last 5 loans is roughly 300 in total ( a couple of these were paid off early).
Cheers
James Dean says
Hi Sara,
Hope all is well, Safety Net admin finally got back to me after i complained in jan 2023 some 8 months later Aug 2023 and rejected my claim. Since using your templates in Dec 2022 i now have 2 late payments with bank removed 9k back from bank which removed 4k OD. Money platform arrears account from 2017 removed and reduced to 160 and paid off. Ccj removed debt reduced to 130 and default removed and paid. 3 sunny loans have come off after 6 years by themselves. The only negative history i have is safety net debt. Their reason for rejecting was checks were done and you had money. They deduced i had 590 remaining after everything but this cant have taken into account repayments on payday loans as one alone was 800 i had many and at the time they used to take the full loan back randomly auto from my account instead of agreed amounts which kept me locked in debt with them and to me felt illegal tbh. It caused me ti maxed out debt with them and block access to my account and then stop paying as i couldn’t afford all the debts i had at the time. My question is what can i do if admin reject my claim as i dnt think their decision is correct? I dont care to get a refund i still owe the full amount so i want the default gone and the amount reduced to reflect their unaffordable lending. NB the debt was passed ti lantern before administration of safetynet.
Please advise if next steps if any? can omb help?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
the Ombudsman cannot look at this.
You can ask the administrators to look at this again and detail why. If you have your bank statements and can go into details using them that may help.
If that doesn’t work, send a complaint to the 3 administrators directly – joconnor@alixpartners.com, ckennedy@alixpartners.com and sappell@alixpartners.com. Say the decision taken is irrational and appears to have ignored the evidence you have provided.
James Dean says
Thanks Sara,
You have been so helpful it’s crazy. a shining light on providing advice to laymen in financial literacy esp re unaffordable lending practices and rectifying ones position. These companys thrive off of people’s desperation and ultimately snowball people into a position that will take you 6 years to rectify, for many people that could lead to their lives spiraling out of control. This site and your advice took my credit score from 375 to 990 and removed a ccj which effected moving address and the list goes on.
To anyone reading my advice is don’t hesitate, act now rather than later and if you were lent to irresponsibly i.e had defaults, multiple loans, back to back lending etc. Make the complaint and take it all the way to the ombudsman.
I couldn’t thank you enough Sara.
JD.
Laura says
I have submitted a complaint to Mr Lender. I had 3 loans for 400, 300 and 900. Took the second and third out straight after the others were paid. I also delayed payments and prolonged the schedule by opting to pay interest only for each loan. At the same time, I had missed credit card payments, a default and other payday loans. Do you think I have any chance? Submitted on Monday and had no response so far.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like a good complaint for the last, large loan. Send to the Ombudsman if Mr L doesn’t refund that one.
Eva says
Hi Sarah,
Thank you so much for your advice. I sent your template to MoneyBoat and whilst they have claimed they did not lend to me irresponsibly, they have offered a goodwill gesture of refunding the full interest on my £800 loan and removing the negative credit markers.
My question is, is it possible to get the loan details removed completely? I see that some people have had this but when I asked for this I was told it would be reporting false information and they are unable to do this. Is this true and if so is it worth pushing for it? I am glad that the missed markers will be removed but would prefer there be no record of a payday loan at all if possible.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how long ago was the loan?
Eva says
I took out the loan last February (2023) and defaulted a few months later. I made the complain a few weeks ago and received an email today to say not our fault but we’ll uphold essentially.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The Ombudsman doesn’t usually tell lenders to delete a loan from credit records unless there have been a lot of them – one would be unusual. I think some lenders delete them because it’s easier than removing negative markers.
Unless you are applying for a mortgage, one payday loan a year ago isn’t a big problem.
Rich says
Have a complaint with Creditspring. The First loan is sent after 14 days. The lender claims to not charge interest on the loans but 12 x member fees alongside repayments. The fee and loans are reported as 2 lines of credit. I ran into trouble in August 2023 and borrowed to repay the loan 1 and all fees of £144 (£48 had already been paid ) after I repaid they closed my account as I stated the loans were unaffordable. Immediately the lender started sending emails offering me to rejoin with enhanced terms. Regrettably I signed back up in Oct 2023 and was accepted. I ran into problems again quickly. The lender replied to complaint and as a gesture of goodwill they were prepared to remove any further fees due for membership 2 totalling £112 (£56 has already been paid). They stated that the loan is repayable in full and no irresponsible lending had occurred. I then realised under my first loan credit agreement I had paid a full 12 months fees in membership for just 4 months use and was owed a refund of £96. I queried this and they have now offered to wipe member 2 fees of £112 and offset the £56 pounds already paid in fees for member2 towards the loan . They have offered to refund the fees from member 1 as a further offset of £96 towards loan balance . As the overpaid fees relate to a different credit agreement I rejected this and asked this be paid to me. Is the lender correct to offer the offset?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The Financial Ombudsman would normally allow an offset.
Jo says
Do you have the current contact email for my finance club?? I used support@myfinanceclub.com but the email just bounced back. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
try compliance@myfinanceclub.com
Jo says
Thank you I’ll try that and let you know
S Brown says
I was given a refund from quick quid and the remaining balance was paid off in the settlement. However, Lowell are still chasing me for the remaining balance on the quick quid account,. This doesn’t seem fair. I never received the remaining balance, it just said the debt would be written off
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you sent Lowell the email from the QQ administrators saying this?
Dave says
Hi
Just had this response from The Money Platform so not sure how to respond. Credit commitments were more than that and I had at least 100 gambling transactions on my bank statement I sent them. Rent was more than £250 as they would have seen on my statement.
‘You told us on your application you had a post-tax income of £1,600 and monthly rent payments of £250.
Remember that providing false information to obtain credit is Fraud.
The credit reference agencies also showed you have monthly credit commitment costs of £298 per month.
On this basis you appear to have plenty of affordability for this loan (maximum monthly payment of £181)? Let us know if anything is wrong in our calculations so I can look further and pass this back?’
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how large was this loan? is it the only loan you had from them?
Dave says
Had loans 05/10/20 16/11/20 14/01/21 07/02/21 19/04/21 15/10/21 12/11/21 28/01/22 24/02/22 05/05/22
Sometimes was paying loans off early with other loans and other times was getting a new loan out as soon as I had paid the last one off. My bank statements showed all the other loans I was taking out at lead 3/4 each month plus credit card payments was paying about £1000 on credit commitments not £250 as they state
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is a lot of repeat borrowing. I suggest you send this to the Ombudsman.
Other people have had lenders make worrying remarks about fraud but nothing has even happened when they sent a complaint to the Ombudsman.
J says
Hi Sara,
If I accept a refund, does this mean I can’t got to the Ombudsman? I had 18 loans with Lending stream, they are agreeing to pay back the interest on 6 of these loans totalling £167, when I must have borrowed nearly 3000 over the last few years, pay only £1000 in interest.
Thanks for all your support from this website, I’ve had nearly £1000 back so far from various pay day loan companies.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
if you accept the offer you can’t go to the Ombudsman for the other loans.
Nats says
Does anyone have an update on Piggy bank? It feels like a long time since anyone has had an update and its been years.
Thanks in advance
David says
I have taken out 19 payday loans in the last 12 months due to gambling problem and was considering if they have acted fairly. Here is a list of my loans:
Mr Lender – 5 loans in last 10 weeks totalling £1250 interest of £36.55 – currently have outstanding balance of £300 loan
Lending Stream – 5 loans in 7 months totalling £900 paid back £1338.42 – nothing outstanding
Fernovo – 3 loans in 8 months totalling £500 interest of £75.85 – nothing outstanding
Tick tock loans – 1 loan in last 8 months totalling £300 interest of £50.40
Cashasap – 5 loans in 8 months (can’t find details of total borrowing) interest paid back £171.30 – nothing outstanding
I have also taken out a credit card with capital one twice with a limit of £200. I paid it off about 6 months ago after having several missed payments and also said not to give me another card but they have now issued me another card with a £200 credit which i have maxed out and is outstanding.
I realise this is my own fault for taking out these lines of credit and being misleading on my applications but I just wanted to have your thoughts on this to see if you thought there’s was anything I could for my current situation with the £500 debts I have outstanding currently with Mr Lender and Capital One. I don’t think they have acted responsibly, the same as myself!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
are you still gambling?
David says
No, going to meetings and trying to keep on top of it.
Mr Lender didn’t ask for any bank statements or pay slips even after me taking out these 5 loans in 10 weeks, they just asked a couple of questions why I wanted the loan!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think that is a LOT of borrowing. I think you should make affordability complaints against all the lenders, with the exception of tick tock. You may only win about the last few loans but complain now about them all.
I think you should also ask Mt Lender and Cap One for repayment plans for your current balance – you cannot be sure which complaints will be one so repayment plans will get you into a safe place.
But really you have to stop gambling. There isn’t a “safe level” for someone who has had a big problem.
Steve says
Hi, I sent an affordability complaint to Lisa Middleton for my multiple lending stream loans from 2018 to 2022 on 11th May this year and have yet to receive a response. Should I escalate this as it is now over 8 weeks and if so how do I about this? Thanks in advance.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Did you get any acknowledgment? MY page with the emails addresses said to do this with lending Stream if you didnt get an acknowledgement within a week.
Lending stream has now changed their complain email address on the FCA register to debbie.gandy@gaincredit.com.
Steve says
Hi Sara,
Unfortunately I didn’t receive any acknowledgement so I’m guessing it wasn’t picked up, my fault.
Thanks for the quick response, I will forward on to new email address you provided.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
then check up if no acknowledgement on that
Matt says
Hi Sara, wanted to ask few things. I have a loan with quidmarket of £1475 which is a pain now. Have to pay weekly £136. I also had two loans earlier with them £600 with £525 interest and £1500 with £1312 interest which both repaid. I cannot keep up with payments to quidmarket unfortunately, loans were issued one after another pretty much. Does affordability complain stands here? I have more than few credit cards also with a credit of 1200 and few less than 500. Had also another loan same time i had a loan with quidmarket. Also, how affordability complain affects future borrowing, for example if me and my partner wants to get mortgage in the future? Thanks for any comments
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Who was the other loan with?
Jamie says
Hi there, glad I came across your site. I’ve recently used your template to go to the many lenders I’ve been using over the last 5 years near enough constantly. All payday lenders with lots of loans to each. Hoping to get some good news back to get me sorted out.
My finance club- I’ve had lots of loans with them and lots of the time new loans the same day of repaying one.
Lending stream- 20 loans between 15/11/18 and 17/09/21 ranging from £50 to £210 each time.
Fernovo- similar thing used over the years sometimes paid of early to take out more money.
Cashasap, quidmarket, fundoursleves,moneyboat and drafty credit line. using all these regularly. I didn’t really miss payments as I have a steady job, this stemmed from gambling if I’m honest and I’ve stopped now but the rut is hard to get out of I’m lucky I have my job. Meanwhile I’ve had an overdraft of £1300 with my bank.
Surely this can’t be allowed? I understand I’ve paid on time but it’s clear it’s not sustainable? Any help would be appreciated if started a complaint with almost all of the above with the help of your template for a lot of loans. over the last few years.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Complain about them all. Separate template for payday loans you have used several times here: https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/
your overdraft – how many days of the month are you in it? Were any gambling transactions showing on your bank statements?
Jamie says
These days my income is £1730 per month and my overdraft is £1300 so after my 4/5 payday loan payments I’m well into it from day 1 of being paid. And there definitely would’ve been I gamstopped but was transferring people money to place bets. Then I was using crypto sites that weren’t regulated in the UK. For example one time I applied for a loan and they said the gambling transactions including crypto means they can’t lend. So they should’ve known that for sure. I’ve used the template and sent them too all. Got a good few emails today acknowledging the complaints. And moneyboat sent me the 13 loans I had with them showing all the interest etc as requested in your templelate. Thanks again for ongoing help
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You should consider asking the open payday loans for payment arrangements to repay the current balances. These hurt your credit record, but it isn’t doing you any good, is it? You need to get out of this borrowing spriral. Talk to National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 about this debt option.
Jamie says
Now I’m not gambling I’m planning on just paying these off but was just looking at the compensation side of it due to the checks not being in place. Just to check… I won’t be hurt for asking about being compensated will I? I haven’t missed any payments really and my credit score isn’t actually bad considering…. So I’m planning on just paying what I have left hopefully and being compensated for the loans that I can. Thanks a lot for the help really appreciate this.
Jamie says
Hi there. Done a fair few unaffordable payday loan complaints. Fernovo have come back to me already. This was the reply.
In Conclusion:
This complaint was partially upheld
However, because you always repaid in time all your loans before the last one, and you have decided to file for an affordability complaint, we are ready to reduce the interest on the last loan, if you withdraw your complaint, as a gesture of goodwill we are happy to reduce the open balance to £0 instead of £397 and refund £271.65 on the interest and erase all your loans from your credit file.
In summary, there is no indication from a fair reasonable, and unbiased perspective that you were unable to afford the sums that Quidie had lent to you when you needed Quidie to help you bridge your momentary cash flow issue till payday. We strongly feel we have done nothing wrong,
Sorry for the big email had to cut lots of it out – is this a win ? What should I do. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how many loans did you have from fernovo before this one and over what period? How large were these loans and wheat were the gaps between repaying one and taking the next one out?
Jamie says
Hi there, I had 10 loans from £200 to £350. At the start first few had a gap of some months last year or two has been paying off a long and instantly taking out another. Recently paying one off early and applying and getting a new loan right away “same day” fernovo got back to me working 5 days with this offer. Just wondering what I should email back? Thanks for the help
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you know how much interest you paid on the other 9? Because this may not be a good offer.
Jamie says
From the other 9 loans I paid a total of £809 interest all in.
Loan 1 – £250 – interest – £91.36
Loan 2 – £200 – interest – £90.12
Loan 3 – £250 – interest -£134.76
Loan 4 – £300 – interest – £97.96
Loan 5 – £300 – interest – £181.95
Loan 6 – £ 300 – interest – £21.60
Loan 7 – £300 – interest – £93.06
Loan 8 – £200 – interest – £89.76
Loan 9 – £200 – interest – £21.30
Above paid early to then take out the ongoing £350 one.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“we are happy to reduce the open balance to £0 instead of £397 and refund £271.65 on the interest ”
I am not quite clear what this offer is.
If you borrowed 350 and the balance is now 397, then clearing the balance is just removing the interest on it. Here if you went to the Ombudsman you pay get the interest refunded on some of the later loans. But as the land were pretty small it’s very unlikely you would get 1-4 refunded and loan 5 is doubtful.
If they are ALSO offering to refund to £271 in cash as well as clear the balance, then they are effectively refunding the interest on loans 6-9 and a bit of 5. It’s very unlikely that you would not get more than that from going to the Ombudsman.
you may want to clarify what there offer means before deciding whether to accept it.
Whether you accept it or not, you should IMMEDIATELY download a copy of your credit report showing these loans, as you may need that for other claims. You don’t want to wait until these loans have disappeared to do this.
Jamie says
Thanks a lot I’ve responded and asked if that’s what they meant. I’ve got my TransUnion credit … however I can’t seem to see where I download this to PDF etc? Is there a way I can do that to keep it before they wipe the loans. Thanks a lot for the help I will be back when I get more offers. I used the lending stream complaint on there website, and emailed the rest of the lenders however they’ve all shown acknowledgement apart from lending stream is this due to me not emailing lending stream and just having to wait up to 8 weeks for them with no acknowledgement ? Thanks again
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You have a TransUnion statutory credit report?
Jamie says
Hi there I had 10 loans from 12/04/22 to 22/07/24 and lowest was £200 and highest was £350. First few loans had gaps of months then recently it’s been taking out new loans same day or day after repaying. And even paying early and taking out another at higher amount. They’re saying because I never missed a payment but clearly them saying they’d wipe all from my credit file means they are at fault? Also is that them saying they’ll repay the latest loan and refund £271.65 interest to me? Or is that included in making my balance £0. Thanks
Jamie says
Hi there- just wondering if I have a case here- had issues for years with gambling and payday loans etc. just won a case with fernovo- thanks ! Anyways last year I had 8+ ongoing loans with different lenders + £1300 overdraft, managing them but not really- (paying and not missing payments) but in a cycle. Desperate for another loan I was on comparison sites- only place that would accept me was salary finance- so I jumped and took £1000 out. This comes of my wage each month at £58 or something. Only 1 loan with them however unlike my other company’s where there’s sometimes 10+. Is it worth a complaint ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes it is – £1000 is a large loan and they should have seen all your credit history with payday loans.
Have you complained to all the others? Do you have enough money to pay your bills, your current debts and for essential living expenses or are you short most months?
Jamie says
Hi- I’ve complained too all- fernovo were very fast and efficient and you advised I take the offer which I did- paid 2 days later into bank. I’m into overdraft every single month- claim with bank ongoing too- it’s just because this loan comes direct from my salary before I see it, wasn’t sure if this effected it or if it’s worth a complaint- I just remember using a 3rd party for loans and salary finance was the only option that came up because my company had started with them and I had lots of loans with other lenders.
Jamie says
Hi there- fund ourselves the 2nd out of 10 payday lenders to get back to me- fernovo paid back all interest and wiped al loans from credit file – fund ourselves said this – Conclusion – partially upheld
Based on our investigation and the information you have provided us with, we are satisfied that the loans
were affordable. However, we partially uphold your complaint as we believe additional checks should have
been completed to ensure affordability prior to loan 7.
In order to put things right, we offer to waive the interest on your active loan totalling £127.35. We will
also refund the interest paid on loans 7-8, totalling £410.31.
There is an outstanding balance on the active loan of £155.66, which is the principal amount borrowed,
minus the interest and the amount paid towards your loan of £94.34. This amount will be deducted from
the overall refund due, which will settle your balance on loan 9. Therefore, the refund amount totals
£254.65. All adverse information will also be removed from loans 7 – 9. If any. I had 10 loans
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I assume you are asking if this is reasonable.
Can you list how large the fund ourselves loans were in order, so 200, 300, 400, 250, 300 etc…
Did you ever have more than 1 loan at a time from them? Were there ever any breaks of more than a couple of months between repaying one loan and taking your the next?
Jamie says
Loan 1- £210 – 5/8/22 repaid – 13/10/22
Loan 2- £200- 29/10/22 repaid -8/12/22(early)
Loan 3 – £100 21/2/23 repaid 2/3/23(early)
Loan 4- £150 14/4/23 repaid 16/4/23 (early)
Loan 5- £150- 31/5/23 repaid 14/9/23
Loan 6- £250 15/9/23 repaid 7/12/23
Loan 7- £410 19/12/23 repaid 29/2/24
Loan 8- £400 29/2/24 repaid 20/6/24
Loan 9-£250 31/7/24 paid 1 payment of £94 so far
May I add, I had 7/8 other payday loans ongoing while they were lending to me. They said I never declared this but they can now see from my credit file ? Surely that’s their job to check? A bank statement check or credit file check would show them this. Thanks again and hopefully you can advise next move with this one
These loans were sometimes repaid early due too gambling wins. But this was not affordable even though I never missed a payment.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
A lender only has to make reasonable checks.
You could argue that after 3 loans they should have checked more, but the loans were small, not increasing and were being repaid early.
I can’t predict exactly what the Ombudsman would say here. But I would be surprised if FOS thinks any of the first 5 loans should be refunded.
And they have offered to refund 7,8 and 9.
That just leaves loan 6 – it was larger and was taken just after the previous one was repaid, not early. You could say at that point The lender should have made more checks and seen your other payday loan. FOS may agree with that. Up to you if you think its worth going to FOS for that loan.
Jamie says
Hi there- got a response from my finance club.
1/10/21 £200- 13 days
11/4/22 £205 13 days
4/05/22 £200 21 days
27/05/22 £250 27 days
15/07/22 £150 35 days
4/10/22 £150 37 days
3/6/23 £200 19 days
29/6/23 £150 20 days
29/7/23 £150 19days
18/08/23 £150 26 days
13/10/23 £250 55 days
1/3/24 £150 27 days
5/7/24 £150 13 days
29/07/24 £250 loan outstanding
They offered me a refund on loans 5 and 10. Only £73
My finance club basically done a big fancy reply saying they don’t all checks and I was basically using them as a cheaper overdraft etc, but I was already £1300 into my overdraft and they could’ve saw that with bank statements I’ve sent them and numerous other payday lenders etc. just got £2000 of lending stream and £300 of fernovo. This seams a bit of an insult considering ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
what is the balance on the last loan?
Jamie says
They said this – In consideration of the whole matter, we have reviewed your account, and My Finance Club maintains that adequate checks were carried
out in accordance with our responsible lending practices, however, we recognise that some of the loans were provided in quick
succession, without a substantial break in lending.
In light of this, we would like to extend the offer of a refund of interest on loans 5 and 10. This would total a refund of £73.20. As you
currently have an outstanding loan, the balance as of the date of this response is £338.00, the refund would be actioned as a reduction of
interest that has accumulated on this loan. This would reduce you outstanding balance to £264.80. Please note, interest would continue
to accrue on the account at £2.00 a day, until either the loan repayment has been made, or the interest reached its maximum capacity of
one hundred percent of the loan amount. After a reduction of balance of £73.20, your new contractual repayment on 27/09/2024 would
be £296.80.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So the end result of this is you will be no better off as the money they are crediting to your last loan they will then just take back in interest?!?
You could say unless the last loan is wiped you will be sending the case to the Ombudsman.
Jamie says
I know ? I don’t know why they’ve used loans 5 and 10 ? The 2 lowest amounts ?? I’ve said to them I want a better offer or I’ll go to the ombudsman. Will keep you posted but can’t see them budging…
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so there was a few months gap between 5 and 6.
and 2 months between 10 and 11.
I think MFC may be trying to argue that the gaps “reset” a pattern of dependence when they should have stopped lending. I don’t agree that that is appropriate. I think all the loans from about 8 should be refunded as you were clearly going back into dependence.
R smith says
Hi Sara,
How long between larger loans who you also say could be classed as dependence?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Start a new thread about your case. Generalising often isn’t helpful
Jamie says
Hi there, sent an affordability claim to the money platform. They’ve responded saying which loans would I like to claim for?
Loan 1- 5/7/23 £250 12 weeks £357.66 repaid
Loan 2- 27/9/23 £350 11 weeks £477.90 repaid
Loan 3- 15/12/23 £250 7 weeks £254 repaid
Loan 4- 5/01/24 £300 12 weeks £442 repaid
Loan 5- 15/04/24 £400 13 weeks £629 repaid
Loan 6 22/07/24 £500 11 weeks £480 repaid so far one payment next month left of £240 to comeplete that loan.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I would say them all as they were unaffordable. I wouldn’t settle for a refund on less than the last 3
Jamie says
Hi there, using your help a lot appreciate it !
Just heard back from quidmarket and offering a refund on my last of 6 loans. Thoughts ?
17/02/2022 £300 5 months £479 repaid
10/06/23 £400 4 months withdrawn
24/06/23 £400 4 months £629.44 repaid
17/11/23 £300 5 months £359.36(early) 17/12/23 to be able to take more out
20/12/23 £700 5 months £1127.90 (early) 28/03/24 to be able to take another loan out
28/03/24 £400 4 months £625.24 repaid . I believe it’s clear the last few loans shouldn’t have been given ? And I thinks it’s harsh to only refund the last ? What do you advise thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
say you will go to FOS if they don’t also include loan 5?
(I am guessing here as to what FOA may decide. There are no fixed guidelines)
Jamie says
Moneyboat now sent a response – As mentioned at the start of this letter, we are partially upholding your complaint. We can see that you had 12 loans with us and have found that loans 1- 8 and 10 – 12 all met our lending criteria and were affordable to you. We have found that loan 9 did not and we are partially upholding your complaint on this basis.
As we are partially upholding your complaint and as the interest that you have repaid on the upheld loans is more than your principal outstanding balance (the amount you originally borrowed from us minus any interest that has been applied), we are going to offset the total amount of interest that you have repaid against your principal outstanding balance £73.92, and what is remaining, £92.60, will be paid to you as a refund. This has been calculated according to the total of all interest paid to date on the credit borrowed.
Loan 1 – 5/11/21 £200- interest – £46.60
Loan 2 17/01/22 £250 – interest -£81.03
Loan 3 3/04/22 £250 – interest- £69.96
Loan 4 27/05/22 £400- interest -£162.78
Loan 5 26/08/22 £200- interest- £69.79
Loan 6 20/01/23 £200 interest £0 withdraw
Loan 7 18/03/23 £200 interest £56.64
Loan 8 3/6/23 £200 interest ££68.34
Loan 9 18/8/23 £300 interest £157.81
Loan 10 8/12/23 £300 interest £18.90
Loan 11 20/12/23 £700 interest £455.12
Loan 12 26/06/24 £200 ongoing as above.
Moneyboat said the reason for refunding loan 9 was- Upon reviewing your case, we found there to be a large amount of other short term loans showing on your credit file at the application for loan 9. As such, we don’t think that this loan should have been given. now I’ve had 5,6,7,8 payday loans at once over the years hence all my complaints currently. There’s no way that only loan 9 flagged this up and surely there’s a clear dependency on show over the course of all these loans ? Thanks a lot again for ongoing help
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you send it to the Ombudsman.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
See the “How to send a complaint to FOS” part in the article above which has a link to use.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Don’t bother. FOS will get these from the lender.
Mandy says
Hi Sara
I have had a reply from 118118 credit card today stating I am getting £751 redress, however I have had the card since 2021 with a £1200 limit then increased to £2000 in 2022, which I was at the limit most of this time, this redress seems low to me as their APR is 49%, has anyone else had an offer like this? That seems lower than they should?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
when did they increase the limit? Did their reply say they thought the 1200 was affordable?
Mandy says
Hello
They increased it to £2000 in June 2022 yes they said it was the £1200 was unaffordable too
Mandy
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So they said it was unaffordable from the start? Then the refund should be all the interest you have paid.
Mandy says
Thanks Sara I have replied to them and asked them to check their calculations
Mandy
Jamie says
Hi there, heard back from cashasap- sent a big response about how they done all the checks and I never missed a payment etc. but said this Although we cannot fully uphold your complaint we recognise that we could have done more when assessing some of your applications and we would like to close this case in a way that is acceptable to you and recognises the fact that we appreciate you being our customer. Your current balance is £240.06. We want to help you settle your cashasap.co.uk loan in a way that you can afford and we can agree to write off all the interest you incurred on this loan and reduce your balance further by all the interest and charges that you paid for another 4 loans from us as a full and final settlement of your complaint. The interest write off and the refund total £760.33 which clears your outstanding balance of £240.06 and we will refund the remaining £520.27 to you. They also said this You had a total of 13 cashasap.co.uk loans and you evidenced the accuracy of our assessment by settling 12 of your loans in a timely manner with 5 of your loans settled in advance of your scheduled repayment date. Your final loan is currently outstanding. to be honest this seems a good offer? Just wondering your thoughts before I reply thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So they are refunding 5 out of 12 loans. That may be a decent offer.
Do you know how much interest you paid on each loan and which they are refunding?
Jamie says
No, I’ve just asked them for all the info on my loans and interest I’ve paid as I asked in my complaint letter (your template) but they have not gave me this and on website just shows my ongoing loan. Also sent 2 to the ombudsman on Saturday, in there email it says they will only get back to the people they can help, within a week, if I haven’t heard back in a week does this mean I can’t get help? Thanks a lot for ongoing help. Will update you when CASHASAP get back to me
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The Ombudsman will look at your case – that rather silly message refers to people that it cant help because they are complaining about their electricity bill or a non UK bank or a debt owed to their nursery school … not things that FOS covers at all.
Jamie says
Took out Repaid Borrowed Interest
2020.08.04 2020.10.17 160 59.32
2020.10.18 2021.02.04 305 162.36
2021.05.11 2021.06.24 302 105.57
2021.08.13 2021.09.17 150 63.24
2021.09.23 2022.01.06 424 212.22
2022.04.07 2022.06.23 302 117.57
2022.09.30 2023.02.02 150 98.91
2023.02.14 2023.03.02 150 41.14
2023.03.16 2023.07.20 205 114
2023.07.24 2023.12.07 304 193.23
2023.12.07 2023.12.17 250 19.9
2024.01.05 2024.06.20 450 346.79
2024.06.22 n/a 450 240.06 still to pay
That’s my loans. Just asked them which they’re refunding.
[edit the ones in bold are the ones they are offering to refund]
Jamie says
The interest refund is on loans taken out on 4th August 2020, 14th February 2023, 7th December 2023, 5th January 2024 and 22nd June 2024. That’s the ones they’re refunding, find it odd that they’re refunding loan number 1 however ? And some of the very low interest ones or ones I’ve repaid early ? Will await your thoughts before moving forward.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
that looks very random. I suggest you go back to them and say you also want the loans take on 2023.03.16 and 2023.07.24 refunded as by that stage you were clearly dependent on the loans and they should not have been given. say the case goes to the ombudsman if they don’t agree within a week.
That would be an extra £300 cash refund.
Ruth says
Hi Sara, I got a rejection from Zopa about my affordability complaint. According to their response, they approved
£3,000 over 36 months on 13 November 2017
£1,000 over 12 months on 20 July 2018
because my rent of 725pcm and pre-tax income of £35,450 was deemed affordable, even with what they’ve written as £13,530 debt commitments on my credit file.
I’m waiting for my bank statements from that time, but do you think I can push them to reconsider or go straight to FOS?
I think that might be paid off now as I’ve been on DMP since 2019, but first loan is still on there.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Don’t waste your time. Go straight to FOS now and send the bank statements when you get them
Ruth says
Thank you, Sara! I’ll go do that
Jamie says
Themoneyplayform respons-I borrowed over £2000 off them over 5 loans This was there response –
All loan applications use trans Union for checks. We also perform income and identification verification, and bank and affordability checks . We always try to help our customers if they inform us that they are experiencing financial difficulties, or have any other requirements. We appreciate that you contacted us about this and always welcome our customers working with us to improve our processes.
Our website makes it clear that our service isn’t for anyone in distress .
The Money Platform does not purposely lend to anyone struggling. There was no indication that you were reliant on high-cost short-term lending. credit score was wel within the minimum.
From our side you have taken 4 loans with us which were all paid on time with no deferrals- this does not demonstrate a reliance on our product. Your current loan does not have any missed instalments and the two instalments have been paid on time, indicating it is affordable and manageable for you.
However in light of your situation as a quick settlement on this, we can offer you a three-month payment holiday which means your final payment will be in
———————————————-
this is my loans with them
Loan 1- 5/7/23 £250 12 weeks £357.66 repaid
Loan 2- 27/9/23 £350 11 weeks £477.90 repaid
Loan 3- 15/12/23 £250 7 weeks £254 repaid
Loan 4- 5/01/24 £300 12 weeks £442 repaid
Loan 5- 15/04/24 £400 13 weeks £629 repaid
Loan 6 22/07/24 £500 11 weeks £480 repaid so far one payment next month left of £240 to complete that loan.
They’re saying there’s no dependency here because I didn’t inform them I was gambling at the time? I had numerous 5+ other payday loans ongoing ? This seems ombudsman job but they’re emailing me asking me to explain to them why I would apply knowing it would put me in more distress???
Sara (Debt Camel) says
you have listed 6 loans but they said you had 4?
Jamie says
Yeah they emailed me asking which loans I wanted a refund for I believe, as I say no other company has done this, so was very weird I think I chose the last few and one I didn’t repay early as the 4 ? Just very odd
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Just send it to the Ombudsman. Say you think all the loans were unaffordable.
Jamie says
Can I send it to the ombudsman before they send me a final response ? As I said they’re emailing me questions but no final response yet? They’ve only offered a “quick” settlement of a 3 month holiday? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How long ago did you complain?
Jamie says
Only on the 11th of august so still time for the 8 week limit
Jamie says
Hi there eventually got my final response from the money platform – Following our assessment, we do not believe there was any irresponsible lending on our part.
Therefore, there is no guarantee that your complaint will be upheld as you had plenty of
affordability.
Our lending decisions were based on the information available at the time, and we believe
that appropriate checks were conducted.
However, in the interest of resolving this matter amicably and to acknowledge any
inconvenience caused, we would like to offer the following settlement:
The removal of all interest and charges on your current loan, reducing the outstanding
balance to the principal amount only.
Furthermore, a £250 goodwill payment, to be issued once your existing loan has been fully
repaid.
This means you would only be paying £20.22 for your last instalment and will receive a
payment of £250 if;
1) You agree that this resolution closes the complaint concerning all lending from
The Money Platform, i.e. the complaint is considered closed for all 6 loans.
2) You agree that this resolution is fair and should in the future you decide
anyway to escalate to FOS, the fact that you previously agreed to a settlement
will be taken into account. What should I do ?
Jamie says
In your experience is this a decent offer ? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So that basically amounts to a refund of loans 5 and 6. You may Get loan 4 included if you went to FOS. Loan 3 had very little interest (are those numbers right?)
Loans 1 and 2 you are Unlikely to get refunded.
It’s not a bad offer. Up to you if you think it’s worth going to FOS to try to get it improved with an extra loan
Bo says
Seeing the other comment about the money platform prompted me to share my experience so far as well. I complained about them issuing me 3 loans (£400, £1000, £1000) despite significant levels of debt on my credit report (including CCs and payday loans). They have tried some tactics I haven’t seen from other lenders (e.g., saying that I always had the option to take less if I didn’t think I could afford it, that they had no obligation to ensure it was affordable beyond checking my reported income vs reported credit commitments, and lastly when I said that I would like their responses over email as a final response so I can ask FOS to look into it, they responded by saying that they are confident they wouldn’t lose my case if FOS would look at it). I have basically told them that I think their behaviour (trying to shift the blame on me instead of acknowledging they are responsible to check affordability, and trying to indirectly dissuade me from escalating to FOS) has been unprofessional. I plan to submit this email thread as evidence to FOS as well because I think this is unacceptable way to handle complaints.
Jamie says
I second this, I’ve received refunds from- fund ourselves, fernovo, lending stream, myfinanceclub and fair few others, none of them are emailing me asking why I took the loan out if I knew it would make me worse ? And the money platform aren’t sending me a Final response they just keep sending me emails ? Trying to offer a quick settlement of a 3 month payment holiday??? Laughable.
MK says
Hi Sarah
Thank you so much for this site it is so helpful.
I took out a loan with The Money Platform of £500 and although I had bad credit they approved me. I have struggled to make payments as I am on unpaid leave looking after my mum who is very poorly. I have repaid £385 but still have a balance of £349 which will incur interest. I want to complain but not sure how to word this. They have given me a reduced repayment each month but the interest is increasing.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how long was the term of the loan? what was the interest rate?
do you have other debts as well?
MK says
Hi Sarah details below. I also have a loan with Vanquis and a loan with quid market
Terms agreed 02/06/2023 09:57
Loan commencement date
(the date that you received your loan & the date from which interest is calculated) 02/06/2023 13:08
Amount £500.00
Term of the loan contract 12 weeks
Daily interest rate 0.8%
Annual interest rate 292%
Your interest charge £224.00
Total amount to be repaid £724.00
Sara (Debt Camel) says
you won a complaint against the Vanquis loan, didnt you? How much are you paying them a month? If you are in difficulty you should ask for that to be reduced, to a token amount if necessary.
are you claiming any benefits? You cannot get yourself through a bad patch by taking payday laons (Money platform, Quid Market) as they just make things worse the next month.
I suggest you should immediately ask MP and QM to allow you to repay at a much reduced rate and to stop adding more interest. If they refuse, just stop paying, they cannot carry on adding interest forever as it will hit “the payday loan price cap” – you can never pay more in charges and interest than you have borrowed.
You can also make affordability complaints against both of them. Single loan complaints aren’t easy to win but £500 is a large loan for someone in a lot of difficulty so its worth a try – send to the ombudsman if they reject this.
MK says
Yes I won with Vanquis they refunded interest reducing the balance then sold my loan to Moorcroft debt collection who have agreed a reduced payment plan. QM have agreed a repayment plan
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how much are you paying Moorcroft and QM?
MK says
Hi Sarah £25 each per month.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you ask them to reduce that while you are in such difficulty
MK says
I will do hopefully they will agree. I will also write to MP and update you of their response
Jamie says
Hi I sent my Moneyboat case and quidmarket case to the ombudsman on 21/09/24 and received a email back on 30th saying my Moneyboat one had been received but nothing yet on quidmarket ? Does this mean quidmarket won’t be taken further or ? Thanks a lot
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, it will be looked at. Ask FOS if you are Worried.
T P says
Hi all,
I have noticed two default on my credit file from 2020. The name on the default is Perch . When checking my emails it seems MyJar sold my debt to Perch. And another one from Provident.
During the period I took the loans out I was in a very bad financial situation and feel the loan was unaffordable. I recently won an affordability complaint with another loan provider (from the same period) after escalating my complaint to the financial ombudsman.
I have looked at both MyJar and Providents websites but both have gone into administration. I can also see that they had time scales on when a complaint had to be in by which were a few years ago.
Am I still able to submit an affordability complaint either directly to MyJar and Provident or the financial ombudsman? I am not too bothered about and financial redress I am just wanting the negative markers removed from my credit file.
Any help will be much appreciated.
Thank you in advance :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, it’s too late, the lenders don’t exist now and the Ombudsman won’t take the complaint.
The defaults will drop off in 2026. If you dont Make a payment arrangement with Perch there is a danger they may go to court for a CCJ.
T P says
Hi,
Thank you for your response.
That’s a shame that I can’t lodge a complaint :( Debt have been paid off I was just hoping I could get them removed before applying for a mortgage.
I also have a defaulted car finance agreement from the same time. I am currently paying back £50 a month but have an outstanding amount of £3500. This is currently with the financial ombudsman and I hope to have a positive outcome.
When looking online it seems mortgage lenders want defaults to be over 3 years (this is coming up to 6 years in August 2024 where it will be removed) and to be paid off over a year ago.
I am in a position to pay this outstanding amount off but haven’t done so as I was hoping I would have had an outcome from the financial ombudsman by now.
I am unsure if it better to just pay it off so the year since settlement comes around sooner or should I hold of clearing the loan until an outcome has been given?
From my calculations I have paid £4500 to date, I owe £500 to cover the cost of the car (not including interest) and the remainder of the £3500 debt would have been the interest.
Thanks again.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you settle this as soon as possible if you can do this without borrowing more money. Thai won’t affect your affordability complaint (that is a rest on your position at the time you took the finance out) but it will put you in a slightly better position if you don’t win the case and have to apply for a mortgage with the default on your record.
Jamie says
Hi there, I took a got a £1000 loan from salary finance when I couldn’t get a loan anywhere else.(paid from my wages before I get them) I had numerous other payday loans ongoing during this period- there final response said this- At the time of your application, we relied on data from Experian, and said I didn’t have any loans apart from aug- 2021
Our decision-making process is designed to be thorough and responsible. Although we did not request three months statements.
After receiving your complaint, we requested and reviewed your bank statements from May 2023 to October 2023. These statements revealed the presence of various payday loans and short-term lending during that period. However, these loans were not visible on your Experian credit file at the time of your application. This is likely because some lenders, particularly payday and short-term loan providers, may either choose not to report to Experian and report to a different credit bureau, such as Equifax or TransUnion. Or may not report to credit reference agencies at all. As a result, we were not aware of these loans when assessing your application.
So basically they’ve not upheld my complaint because they couldn’t see on Experian that I had any loans ?? I had – 7 I was currently paying on my bank statements that they’ve now saw. They’ve said their loans helped me as if I used it to payoff others I would benefit. The whole £1000 loan was basically gambled and was useless to me. Do I have a case for FOS ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What would your Experian report have shown? You can check by getting a statutory report for free, see https://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/statutory-report.html
What is the interest rate on the salary finance loan? Have you sled them for a payment arrangement?
Jamie says
24 months at 29.9% and I’ve had a lot of loans sorted recently for unaffordability, my Experian only shows 20 closed accounts and isn’t showing them all for some reason ? And payments are fine now this is my last loan left but this is because of getting all the others sorted out and getting refunds etc.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
does the Experian show any payday loans?
Jamie says
Im waiting on my statuary report from them.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok well let me know what it says as it changes your possible argument.
Jamie says
Ticktock loans responded. On 19/04/22 you were granted a loan of £300 to be repaid in 3 monthly instalments.
On 21/07/22 you repaid a loan.
On 29/07/22 you were granted a loan of £300 to be repaid in 3 monthly instalments.
On 13/10/22 you repaid a loan.
On 22/03/23 you were granted a loan of £300 to be repaid in 3 monthly instalments.
On 22/06/23 you repaid a loan.
On 31/08/24 you made a complaint about irresponsible lending.
They’ve offered me £50 and to delete all loans from my credit file.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
There was a big gap between the 2nd and 3rd loans. You may well not won a complaint at the Ombudsman
Lane says
Thank you thank you thank you. I got myself into an awful cycle of payday loans and completely fell into depression about the state of things. After reading all of this and the comments I decided to email them affordability complaints – it’s only been a day and fund ourselves have already agreed to refund all of my interest and remove negative information. I can’t believe it, £500 back in interest on a £500 loan that I had to pay £1000 back. Guessing the others won’t be as easy but it’s a huge start.