When you get a payday loan, it arrives very quickly… so why does it take some payday lenders so long to pay out refunds for unaffordable lending? Especially as a few lenders are very fast?
Thousands of people have left comments on the main How to get a payday loan refund page on the progress of their claims.
This article summarises recent comments about the large and mid-sized lenders, looking at:
- how long lenders take to reply to your complaint
- whether they include 8% statutory interest
- and, when a refund is agreed, how long it takes for a refund to be paid.
It also gives an indication as to whether it is worth trying to negotiate when a lender has rejected or made an offer which is too low… You should always go back to the lender if there is a fundamental error e.g. they have the wrong number of loans.
But is it worth bothering if they have just made the wrong decision? For many lenders, you are just wasting time and mental energy as the lender doesn’t listen – send your complaint to the Finacial Ombudsman (FOS) straight away.
Contents
Don’t forget…
Your case is an individual one. You may get a good result quickly from a lender who has a reputation for being difficult. Or you may have a good case rejected by a lender that other people have found fair to deal with – that doesn’t mean you are wrong and it’s a bad case. The ombudsman is agreeing with customer complaints in 68% of payday loan cases!
So seeing what has happened to other people is interesting but it doesn’t really help you decide what you should do. The main payday loan refund page describes the whole process, including if you should take a case to the Ombudsman and how to do it. That page is the best place to ask questions… and also to say how your case is going!
The big three payday lenders
Wonga
With Wonga now in administration from end August 2018, what has happened with previous refunds is no longer relevant. See Wonga refunds after administration – latest news for up to date information.
Quick Quid refunds – includes their other brands, Pounds To Pocket and On Stride
Also see separate article about Quick Quid complaints.
Some PTP and OnStride loans are very large. If you have these, you can win a 1 or 2 loan case at the FOS – the usual guideline that 1 or 2 loans cases are very hard to win doesn’t apply to these big loans.
They usually ask you to send payslips and bank statements. You don’t have to if you don’t want to – just tell them to consider your complaint as it stands and that you will supply more information to the Ombudsman. I haven’t seen any sign that they actually pay attention to anything you send them.
In mid 2019 their offers are rather better, they now sometimes include loans over 6 years old and don’t automatically reject all complaints about loans since 2015. but the offers are sometimes a lot lower than you could get from going to FOS.
Response time – in the last of the 8 weeks normally.
Worth negotiating? No.
Do they add 8% statutory interest? Yes.
Do they accept adjudicator offers? Sometimes. Sometimes they reject. Sometimes they make a lower offer – in these cases the Ombudsman almost always upholds what the adjudicator said.
Payout timescales – After dragging complaints out, people normally get paid quickly. You should get an email from them in about a week and be paid the week after. Their number is 020 3859 2760 – phone them if you need to tell them a new bank account number or if you haven’t had an email from them in a week.
Payday UK, Payday Express and the Money Shop
In July 2019, Instant Cash Loans, that owns all these three brands, announce it was closing and setting up a Scheme of Arrangement to limit the refunds to it has to pay. See Money Shop to close – the implications for refunds for its 2 million customers.
The mid-sized payday lenders
Lending Stream refunds
Response time – They often respond fairly quickly by rejecting the complaint. Many people are told they had what sounds like an absurdly high credit score so ignore this. Sometimes they don’t say this is their final response, and if you ask if it is, they don’t reply – in this case, send to the Ombudsman at 8 weeks.
Worth negotiating? No. I don’t think they read anything you send them.
Do they add 8% statutory interest? No.
Do they accept adjudicator offers? They often do but sometimes they are very slow, if they go beyond the time the adjudicator set, leaving a bad Trust Pilot review sometimes speeds things up!
Payout timescales – Very slow. they say 28 days, then they take a few weeks to verify your bank details and announce the 28 days starts from that point. Tell your adjudicator if this happens.
Also check the numbers on their calculated refunds – sometimes they get the interest and charges to be refunded wrong. Weirdly it always seems to be less than you should get, not more…
Lending Stream is so bad at complaint handling that I’ve written a separate article: Lending Stream’s poor and slow complaint handling. The only good thing is that people are getting large refunds in the end via the Finacial Ombudsman.
Mr Lender refunds
Response time – usually in the first few weeks. Often they send a template reply to you complaining that you have sent them a template complaint! If you get this, just reply that your complaint started on dd/mm/yy and if they don’t respond in 8 weeks you will be sending it to the Financial Ombudsman.
Worth negotiating? Definitely. They seem keen to reach a sensible settlement directly, so if you think extra loans should be included, argue your case.
They also get upset if you post a bad Trust Pilot review and try to resolve the issue with you.
Do they add 8% statutory interest? No, but people are often happy to settle without this.
Payout timescales – a few days.
Myjar refunds
Some Myjar loans are very large. If you have these, you can win a 1 or 2 loan case at the FOS – the usual guideline that 1 or 2 loans cases are very hard to win doesn’t apply to these big loans.
They usually ask for bank statements and payslips. Forget about payslips – pointless. I’m not sure they read the bank statements, but if you don’t have them this is a good time to get them so you have them ready to go to the Ombudsman. If you only had a few large loans it’s more important to send bank statements.
Response time – replies used to be in the 8th week but in late 2018 they started asking for an extra 2 weeks (10 working days) at the end of 8 weeks.
Worth negotiating? They seem to have an automated decision process that does NOT follow what the Ombudsman would do, so you may get made an offer on a lot fewer loans than you should. Some people have had success at getting one or two extra loans included in the refund, but if you don’t get an answer within a week send the case to FOS as you will probably get a lot more that way.
Do they add 8% statutory interest? Yes usually. If you didn’t specifically ask for it in your complaint, go back to them and they will add it.
Do they accept adjudicator offers? Often, but they can be slow if they go beyond the time the adjudicator set, leave them a bad Trust Pilot review, it sometimes speeds things up!
Payout timescales – erratic.
Peachy refunds
They often ask for bank statements and payslips. Forget about payslips – pointless. I’m not sure they read the bank statements, but if you don’t have them this is a good time to get them so you have them ready to go to the Ombudsman.
Response time – usually reply in the first four weeks.
They often make an offer quickly. It’s often the first you will get if you are making several complaints and some people say Yes then later realise it wasn’t a good one… so ask on How to get a payday loan refund if you aren’t sure how good it is.
Worth negotiating? Some people have had additional loans included in a refund when the first offer was too low but you may have to push hard with several emails describing your situation.
Do they add 8% statutory interest? No. But if you go back and say you will accept their offer if they add it, they sometimes do. And sometimes they say they will if you send banks statements – a bizarre waste of everyone’s time.
Payout timescales – 14 days.
Safetynet Credit refunds
Response time – Whilst you are waiting, make sure you have cancelled the CPA with your bank as SNC have a bad habit of waiting 30 days then collecting all the money, even though the complaint is still ongoing. Usually reply in 7th or 8th week but some people get quicker responses.
Worth negotiating? No. They often make a good offer but it’s not reliable. I can’t predict who will get a good result easily and who will have to go to FOS.
Ignore their lengthy comments that they are not a payday lender, that you are just using a template letter (so what? they are using template replies!), that they credit checked you (they may have done but then ignored it!), that your income was fine (haha). They should have seen from your bank statements that you were reliant on borrowing from them – send the case to FOS.
Payout timescales – fast.
Satsuma refunds
Some Satsuma loans are very large. If you have these, you can win a 1 or 2 loan case at the FOS – the usual guideline that 1 or 2 loans cases are very hard to win doesn’t apply to these big loans.
Response time – they are incredibly slow, often asking for more weeks. As they don’t often make a good offer, I suggest sending your complaint straight to the Ombudsman at the 8 week point.
Worth negotiating? No.
At the ombudsman: again they are very slow to send the case file over and to reply to adjudicator decisions.
Payout timescales – it used to be 28 days, now some readers are reporting quicker.
Sunny refunds
Sunny now have an automated decision-making program that appears to refuse to refund any loan in the first year and after the first year if there is a break fo more than a couple of months they stop refunding there. This is NOT what the Ombudsman does. Most people could get MUCH better offers by going to FOS.
Response time – usually in the 7th or 8th week.
Worth negotiating? No. Only exception if the refund offered is OK but they haven’t mentioned deleting the credit card record – if this is important to you it’s worth asking them to do this rather than have the case go to the Ombudsman.
Accept adjudicator decision? Sunny are very slow to reply to the adjudicator, often reject complaints and sometimes come back with lower offers. Leave them a bad review on Trust Pilot if they don’t reply to the adjudicator in time or reject a case with a lot of loans.
Payout timescales – 30 days, sometimes plus a few more :( Leaving bad reviews on Trust Pilot sometimes speeds things up a bit.
Uncle Buck refunds
They normally ask people to supply a credit report and bank statements. I suggest not doing this as they rarely make good offers and can be unpleasant. Tell them to consider the complaint on the basis of what they know.
They use a template reply which sometimes gives bizarre results eg saying a gap between two loans of less than a month is a long time. In general their offers are often poor, FOS cases seem to be going through quickly so send a poor offer or a rejection straight to the Ombudsman!
Response time – in the last few days of the 8 weeks.
Worth negotiating? No. They won’t move and this is definitely not a lender you want to talk to.
Trust Pilot reviews: If UB is ignoring a decision by an adjudicator so you are told it has to wait for an ombudsman, trying leaving them a very bad review on Trust Pilot. This has worked for several readers.
Payout timescales – it used to be 28 days, now some readers are reporting less than a week.
Wageday Advance refunds
Wageday Advance went into administration in February 2019. What happened previously with refunds from them is no longer relevant. See Wagdeday Advance refunds after administration for the latest news.
247 Moneybox refunds
Response time – 247 Moneybox now seems to often ask people quickly what they would see as a suitable settlement. This is your chance to propose a compromise you would be happy with. If you just say you want a full refund, then that’s fine, but it’s not going to speed things up. If you had say 12 loans and the first 3 were all small, you could be realistic and reply that in the interests of a quick speedy settlement you would accept a refund on loans 4-12 but if the case goes to FOS you will be asking for a full refund.
Send cases straight to the ombudsman at 8 weeks if they haven’t replied. They are also slow to send the case details to the adjudicator and sometimes ignore an adjudicator’s decision.
Worth negotiating? Possibly. Some people have succeeded saying they will accept the offer if it is changed to include 8% statutory interest. But they may ignore your emails. But some people have had an offer after they have told Moneybox 247 that the complaint has been sent to the Ombudsman.
Payout timescales – They were very slow, sometimes not paying out within the allowed 28 days after an Ombudsman decision. Also they sometimes don’t correct people’s credit record as they agreed to, so make sure you check your to see that it has been done.
MORE RESOURCES
There are a LOT of articles about payday loans refunds on this site. If you have one of the following situations, read up about it:
- Refunds where you still owe some money – some write-off offers are not nearly as good as they look!
- Payday lender says I lied
- How gambling affects payday loan complaints
- Ombudsman can look at loans over 6 years old
- Some reasons payday loan complaints are rejected by the ombudsman.
James aylwin says
Hi, has anyone had a refund from quickquid recently? The final decision was made on Friday. Shawn should I expect the refund?
Kelly says
I have had one about 3 weeks ago from quick quid and it was in my bank the same day, maybe give them a call. I had to do this to confirm my bank details. Hope that helps.
James Aylwin says
Thank you.
Rob says
Hi there,
I’m just wondering if anyone has had any success with Safetynet Credit loans being upheld??
So far I’ve had redress payouts from QQ and Sunny, but I’ve been using SNC for 5 or so years!!
I’m currently waiting on a final response. If it’s not upheld, I will most certainly be taking it up with the Om..
Regards
Rob
Alex says
Hi, I have just been paid by Sunny after 2 years. The adjudicator upheld the case on my favour on all my 15 loans. QQ was up help on my favour last year on August but they wanted to take it to the ombudsman for final decision. As for Safety net I have used them and complained last week. I am currently in a DMP, I asked the to clear my outstanding balance for irrisponsible landing. Especially them they could see my bank account before lending me the money
Sara (Debt Camel) says
5 years! SNC often make good offers. But you should be expecting a sizeable refund, not just wiping the current balance and a few hundred back. have you added up the money you have paid them and the amount you have borrowed from them? You need to do this or you will have no way of telling how good an offer from them is.
Robert Bateman says
Hi Sara. Yep, went through my bank history and I’ve basically been using my limit every year!! They’ve increased my limit every year and is currently £760!! I have no idea why they would do this when I was clearly in serious financial trouble and caught in the payday loop!
Do you think I have a good chance of being refunded?
I haven’t actually calculated each months worth of interest yet, but at a glance I would say around 5k…
I’ve used the template here to which I’ve had success with three other lenders. I’ve asked for a summery of all the loans and interest over that time.
Rob :)
A says
Hi Rob
I had an affordability complaint with Safety Net Credit last year and it was upheld by the Ombudsman! They took AGES … They never responded to my emails, the Ombudsman had to intervene in the end and they even took ages to respond to them. It took them a full 5 weeks to pay out after my complaint was upheld. But they fixed my credit records as well.
Thanks
A :-)
Mr H says
Yes, SNC upheld my complaint and sent the redress/refund fairly quickly.
Steve says
I have just had safety net credit uphold my complaint. They have agreed to refund all the interest I have paid, plus the statutory 8% interest. Now just have to wait on it hitting my bank. Anyone any experience with safety net credit.
mark says
Payouts very quick, in back within 2 days of upholding my complaint.
Andy says
Hi,
I have a complaint with MyJar /Txt Loan, they have asked for Bank Statements and Pay Slips.
Do i need to send this information to them?
Thanks
Robert Bateman says
I’m sure Sara said in one of her posts that they do not require this and to tell them so…
I could be wrong about that though.
Alex says
They ask me today the payslip and the bank statement when my loans were taken out. I had no issue to give to them. I bank with halifax and it was easy to download the statement . I keep all my payslip. They should had asked those documents when they issue my loan for my case.
Joseph says
You can if you want to, but you could ask MyJar to consider your complaint without them. Say that if you complaint goes to the FOS, you will happily suppy it to them.
Alex says
I do agree with that however as i have them they cannot make excuses. if had to bother my HR or to pay halifax I would not have done it
Robert Bateman says
I get what you’re saying Alex, but I don’t believe for a second that they will even look at the statements or pay slips…. they are simply trying to put the brakes on and trying to make the whole process daunting and time consuming.
If your complaint was about affordability, then I’m fairly certain that they will have known if they were in the wrong the second the complaint was made..
Amy says
The money shop have just upheld my complaint after me giving reason to why I was complaining over 6 years ago and without me having to defer to the ombudsman. They have upheld 14 loans from 2007-12 for the amount of £8,364.00.
Very happy with the outcome.
Alex says
Very happy for you
Joseph says
What was the reason Amy if you don’t mind me asking? Could help a few people
Amy says
Hi Joseph,
Do you mean the reasons I gave them to why I had complained over the 6 years?
Joseph says
Yes the reasons :)
Jake says
Hi all I have recently accepted a offer off Sunny for being miss sold loans I was just wondering if anyone has had a pay out off Sunny and how long am I going to wait the full 30days or does the payout come sooner cheers in advance
Alex says
I got paid after 5days I got the offer. I have rang them up many times
JamesH says
Hi Alex,
congratulations. Can I ask was there a particular dept you rang or number? Any advice on tactics would be appreciated! They’ve agreed to refund me but are dragging their feet about it!
Alex says
I have emailed and customer customerrelations@elevatecredit.co.uk and phoned them up afterwords. I told them that I was desperetly in need of the money to pay rent arrears nothing else. They are rude, a lot.
JamesH says
Thanks.
I called them today and said that as they’d missed the adjudicators original deadline that technically I had been waiting 30 days for payment. That I didn’t want to spend all day leaving negative reviews about them but I’d feel I’d have to warn others if they don’t sort things out.
They said they’d process today and I’d get the money tomorrow!
Thanks Alex for advice to call and thanks again Sara for great advice – this is £3k so a good sum! Now over £12k reclaimed this year already!
Cj says
Safetynet credit sent final response letter stating my partner’s wages have been included In their decision. Even though they never took a penny from his wages and was always took from mine. So they never upheld my complaint
Lisa legg says
Hi everyone just wanted advise I complained to Mr Lender looking back I had been rolling over pay day loans between 2015-2017 December was my last . I often rolled over to pay off the previous one by credit score was pore and I had a CCJs . Every time I paid off a loan mr lender would send me an email and text saying my limit had gone up and they were offering me a discount if I took out another loan. They’ve also said I was working full time which is not true.
They finally sent a full reply today and offers me £100 . I think I took 12 loans in 2 years all around £300 a time. Should I accept or go to the financials ombismun
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you think there were ever gaps of a couple of months or more between repaying one loan and starting the next one?
you were always borrowing about the same even though Mr L put your limit up?
Alex says
Absolutely no. How much interest they charged you? Get all the loans interests to be paid back plus 8% simples interest and ask to cancel it on the credit file
Emily says
Hi, I have just accepted an offer from Lending Stream via the FOS and I was just wondering how long til they pay out? Is there any way I can speed this up?
Thanks x
Dean says
Wait a month
Deam says
I accepted mine 1st July.. was initiated on the 23rd…. now I don’t know if I’m waiting 28 days from the 1st of July or 28 days from the initiated date.. I’m going to call my adjudicator on the 28th of July just to confirm.. keep us informed of your situation
Dean says
I accepted mine 1st July.. was initiated on the 23rd…. now I don’t know if I’m waiting 28 days from the 1st of July or 28 days from the initiated date.. I’m going to call my adjudicator on the 28th of July just to confirm.. keep us informed of your situation
Emily says
Hi Dean,
Thanks for your reply. I was always told it’s 28 days from the date you accept the offer, so in your case from the 1st July. My adjudicator has sent them an email to try and chase this up. I have rang Lending Stream and they just said payment would be made anytime between now and the deadline. Thanks
Emily says
What does initiated mean? Thanks
Dean says
I think ‘initiated’ means they have accepted/processed the payment on their side..
I’ll keep u updated on any payments
Emily says
Hi Dean,
I accepted on the 15th July. Got the confirmation email on the 16th July. Payment has just gone into my bank account now :) hope this helps, thank you. In order to speed the process up, I rang the fos and they sent an email to LS and they processed it the next day.
Marty says
Has anyone had any joy with Uncle Buck??? I complained to FOS in December 2016. They said they couldn’t look at it, however complained again November 2018. I’m told the FOS are looking at it but need to decide if they can as Uncle Buck changed their legally entity it’s absolutely nonsensical to me as it’s exactly the same place and coming up for 3 years since I 1st complained.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
this shouldn’t be happening. Persist with your complaint.
Mr Mac says
I had many loans from various companies between 2014 and 2018 and am now paying them back via a DMP arrangement. Safetynetcredit, 247moneybox and Wageday Advanced have all taken responsibility of irresponsible lending although Sunny, Unclebuck, Lendingstream, MrLender, Peachy, MyJar and 118 have declined my case so I am taking it to the FOS. SNC have seen I was between -£500 to -£2000 within my overdraft the the time of lending and have issued a full refund so I haven’t taken my case further though would it have made sense to bring the SNC case to FOS so they are more aware of my position for the other cases even though I probably would’ve gotten the same result with them anyways.
Safetynet Credit says
Safetynet Credit have told me they only payout redress on a Friday.
Lauren says
That’s good to know – I accepted an offer from SNC yesterday! :) It seems they payout very quickly, hope this is the case with me too.
Michelle says
To all the people asking about Sunny refunds and how long.
I have recieved my refund one day prior to deadline of FOS.
Michelle
Dean says
I had a adjudicator desicions for loans 6-46. Sunny camr back with an offer today for loans 25-46. I rejected. Are they likely to come back with a further offer or will this complaint go all the way? Anyone had any dealings with sunny. They missed the first adjudiactor descions and got back mid way through the second final deadline. They seem slow at replies.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They are very slow! Leave them a poor review on Trust pilot https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/sunny.co.uk saying they have ignored your adjuicator’s reasoning and made a very poor offer.
They may come back with a further offer, but I wouldn’t say this is likely. I hope Ombudsman decisions are going to be speeding up a bit, with the loss of all the Money Shop / {Payday Expres / Payday UK cases. And QQ accepting a lot more adjudicator offers.
Dean says
Do you think i was right to reject there offer. I am slightly worried that my offer may now be dismissed by ombusman They said there is around 2-3 months wait for final decisons. The difference between there offer was so poor.
Emily says
Hi,
Does anyone have any experiences of how quickly satsuma loans pays out refunds through the fos please?
Thanks
Jamie jones says
Hi,
I have a number of payday loans I was making the horrific payments but then I just wasn’t able to! I am now in payment arrangements and some have been sent to debt collectors. Am I able to still try and get refunds if the loan hasn’t been paid back?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes you can – here a refund often removes the interest from your loan so you only have to replay what you borrowed. If you had previous loans from the lender your balance may go down to zero or you could get a refund.
The overall approach and the template letter is on this page: https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/
Adam says
I received a decent offer from Peachy today only 3 weeks after I submitted my initial complaint to them. I also received a rejection of my complaint from Sunny.
With Peachy I took a total of 8 loans, with Sunny I had 27 spanning over the same period of time however the Sunny loans beginning before and after. Is it worth assuming that if Peachy have paid out without challenging my complaint that Sunny will perhaps make me an offer if I appeal to them? If the Peachy loans were unnafordable then surely the loans from Sunny taken over the same period were as well?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well you can try, but Sunny don’t usually negotiate.
Sarah says
How quick do snc respond to the original complaint.
I’m due a few thousand if they respond and agree and just wandered how long it normally took?
debt camel quick quidJames says
QuickQuid have asked me for Payslips and Bank statements at the time of my loan.
Do I need to provide these?
They have also asked why its taken me so long to make a complaint – does anyone have any guidance of what I can say?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
See https://debtcamel.co.uk/quickquid-payday-loan-refunds/ which looks at this point.
AndreaG says
Hi, contacted Mr Lender and the upheld one out of 9 loans, 2 were too old as over 6 years, next 3 were deemed appropriate, next one large increase upheld then had a gap of 3 months so wouldn’t consider the rest. Was gambling and advised them of this and the fact that I was defaulting on other payments as the continued authority meant this was always taken first. In total borrowed 8k, interest 4k and offered £550 for a loan from 2013 but no simple interest. Am I correct in thinking that I would be silly to accept as if I go to ombersman they will at least add the simple interest even if this is the only loan the agree and uphold?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think its very likely you will get more by going to FOS. but it’s worth suggesting a compromise to Mr Lender, they will often agree.
the first 6 loans – were they all nearly continuous? Were the first 5 all small? How large were the last 3 loans they aren’t refunding?
Andreag says
Hi, first 5 had at most 30 days between and were £300/£400 then I jumped to £800 and they confirmed my credit rating dipped, but as It was then 90 days after before I used them again they comment that it would have been considered new lending. I have all my bank statements going back to 2011 and had been spending £400-£500 per month gambling only offset if I won bits, I frequently had 4 or 5 loans at once. I did explain to Mr lender that at the one occasion I wasnt at work to do a phone verification of ID and they requested bank statements I cancelled and went to another lender but they didn’t see that as the red flag I did.
Andresg says
The last 3 were £600, £800 and £400 so hoped at least the middle one.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So roughly 300,300,400,400,300,800 (upheld), 3 month gap, 600,800,400?
In that case i suggest you go back to them and say you want a refund on the last two loans as well or you will be sending the case to the ombudsman, who may well order a larger reund plus 8%
Lorraine says
apologies if this has been asked before but has anyone had any dealings with cash4unow and paydayuk?
cash4unow have responded to me insisting they have lent responsibly and mention my credit score, the fact that I signed to say I could afford the loans at the time – their response is 5 pages long. I took the loan out at the end of 2015 and rolled it over many times as I couldn’t afford to repay it back after resigning my job through depression, stress and anxiety – along with a ton of other loans I had taken and couldn’t pay back from other lenders.
with paydayuk, I received what they termed a ‘holding’ letter on ‘day 28’ stating they were investigating. I didn’t hear anything until another letter termed ‘day 56 holding letter’ informed me that they wouldn’t be investigating further as they were going into a ‘scheme’. I just feel like they were dragging their heels because they knew of the impending scheme.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
cash4unow – send the complaint to the Finacial Ombudsman as they have rejected it.
payday UK were very slow at complaint handling, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/money-shop-to-close-two-million-customers-will-be-informed/ for the latest situation. This complaint can’t now be sent to the financial ombudsman.
Lorraine says
Sara, thank you for your reply.
I notified cash4unow that I wasn’t happy with their response and that I was escalating my case to the FOS. Within 30 minutes they have replied with a counter offer stating they will write the outstanding balance off (about £100) to close the case. I am thinking of accepting with the proviso they amend my credit file accordingly. Is this reasonable for me to ask them to do this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Definitely a reasonable request.
It’s up to you if you think this is a fair offer – do you know how much interest you have paid over time on this loan being rolled over?
Lorraine says
Hi Sara – they have come back to say that they won’t adjust my credit file as a default was placed because of non-payment. I couldn’t pay as I was juggling other payday loans. I’m not sure how much interest accrued. I only took one loan out with them of £300 and I think it was at 292% . I think I had an outstanding balance of £115. It is this that they have offered to wipe. But they have refused to remove the default on my credit file. Is it better to cut my losses and accept this? I know it would mean that I would have this on my file for 6 years … I just don’t know what to do now.
Thanks again
Lorraine
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you asked for a staement of account for the loan? That would show how much interest you paid. You said you rolled it a lot, so this is worth doing. It is pretty unusual to be allowed to roll a loan a lot after 2015.
Or can you look at your bank statements and add up what you have paid them?
It’s true you didn’t pay, but if they should not have rolled over the loan so many times, then it was unaffordable for you.
Lorraine says
Hi Sara
I’ve not asked for a statement of account. I can check my bank account to see if payments show on there. I’ll do this tonight as I need to check other payments to other loan companies. I just wanted them to sort my credit file though. 😔I’ve had a positive response from QQ and they paid redress with no quibble whatsoever. I can’t understand why cash4unow are being difficult as this loan was taken almost at the same time as those with QQ and others. I’m also having difficulty with uncle buck. They are upholding loans 3 and 4 out of 6 which is confusing me as 5 and 6 were also irresponsibly lent as far as I can see. They are only offering £344 redress for 3 and 4. I am going to go through my statements and highlight all my payments to each company and try to work out how much interest I paid. It’s all very confusing and very very stressful especially as I suffer with mental health issues. Sometimes I feel like giving up. 😔
Thanks again for your help
Lorraine
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“Sometimes I feel like giving up.” and that’s exactly why some lenders behave so badly…
Just take this a step at a time, you don’t have to sort them all out NOW, it’s ok for some to go to the ombudsman, that’s not difficult or scary, you have your bank statements.
You know this process works as you had a refund back from QQ.
Dean says
Hi
Does anyone know how long Mr Lender take to pay out after accepting adjudicators decision?
I initially complained last year in August.. Mr Lender offered £80 as gesture of goodwill.. I declined and took this to the FOS who came back to me on may 2019 and ruled me in favour for loans 3-5… Mr Lender had 28 days to accept.. they took another 6 weeks longer and offered 4-5 which I accepted.
Lorraine says
Hi Sara Response from Uncle Buck – I know it’s probably because of my anxiety and depression but I’m finding it really difficult to rationalise at the moment. Here is some of the response:
You have made a total of nine applications to Uncle Buck Finance LLP. Four of these applications were either declined by us or cancelled by you, leaving six loans funded.
If you choose to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service … we will ask you to explain any discrepancies between the information you supplied to us at the time of your applications.
I have reviewed the credit searches …and confirm there was nothing within your credit file which would have given us reason to decline your application.
…you specifically agreed to the following disclaimer: “I agree that the financial information provided is accurate and I have considered potential and future income and outgoings in determining my ability to repay the loan requested”.
We also make use of publicly available information, where relevant. This may include social media.
We have to assume that applicants apply genuinely, that is not to then retrospectively make a complaint.
I understand that you struggled to repay your final loan that you had here with us, however I am confident that all of the necessary checks were carried out when we assessed your application.
Thanks again for all your absolutely fantastic help – you deserve a medal for this.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think that is quite close to being aggressive.
The good news is that you don’t have to explain ANYTHING more to them or communicate with them at all. If you send the case to the Finacial Ombudsman (FOS), all communications after that will be through FOS, not direct with UB.
I think you should send it to FOS. The fact they declined some applications from you means they knew you were struggling. But they still gave you 6 loans without asking for verification of expenses eg by looking at your bank statements!
Also read https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/ which looks at this sort of situatiom.
Lorraine says
Thanks Sara – I asked Uncle Buck for a statement of account and there are some discrepancies in the amounts of interests and charges paid on that compared to the accounts set out in the final response letter they sent me – only a hundred or so pounds but still … if there are those discrepancies, what other mistakes have they made?
I’m also in touch with my bank in order to retrieve statements but my account was frozen around 2017. I have an appointment to go see them next Tuesday and hopefully I’ll be able to retrieve statements from 2014 onwards when I took out the loans.
My problem now is how do I word my email to the FOS? Do I just copy and paste what I originally sent to Uncle Buck? And, because I don’t have statements yet, to attach – will they accept them at a later date to support my case?
Thanks again.
Lorraine
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes you can attach bank statements later, that’s not a problem.
I suggest you start with what you sent UB as your complaint and add on extra points now you have read their reply. eg You could say that the FRL figures don’t seem to completely match what the statement of account shows.
If you want, you could also want to say you think their letter was unfair and aggressive and not a proper way to handle a complaint.
Lorraine says
Do I need to mention also that I had a favourable response from QQ with loans taken at around the same time?
Lorraine says
Hi Sara – I have now sent my complaint about UB to the FOS. I guess I’m now in for a long wait.
Incidentally, I sent a complaint directly to Lending Stream directly on the 28th May 2019. They have sent emails back and forth to me, each time saying they are ‘in the midst of their investigation’. I sent an email on 2nd August to query where they are up to as it’s now been 10 weeks or thereabouts and they still haven’t sent me a ‘final response’ letter. No response from them as yet. Shall I send them another email or wait longer?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send it to FOS too!
Lorraine says
Hi Sara … gathering all evidence to send my complaint to FOS about Lending Stream. I emailed them this morning to ask for a statement of account and to let them know that it’s almost been 10 weeks and despite sending me emails stating they were still investigating, they still haven’t sent me a ‘final response’ letter.
Anyway, I have just now received an email from them giving my accounts etc which I asked for and they have also said in this email that although I’ve had 21 loans with them they believe that only 1 may have been marginally irresponsibly lent. They have offered me £76.50.
The email doesn’t state that this is a ‘final response’ and I know you said to send it straight to FOS but do you think I should email them back asking them to reconsider or shall I just email them back and tell them it isn’t good enough and that I’m sending it to the FOS?
Thanks,
Lorraine
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Definitely send it straight to FOS, they don’t negotiate so you would just be wasting your time. 21 loans sounds like a very strong complaint!
Alex says
Wow, that looks a copy and paste of the response that they gave to me. A section of the email is very threatening. I have sent it str8 to the FOS.
Lorraine says
Hi Alex – yes – I think it’s a standard response they send. There are lots of statements in it that are quite aggressive. I’m currently just jotting everything down then I can send it all to the FOS. They don’t acknowledge once, or have any sympathy for, my depression and anxiety – which because of all this is through the roof. Only QQ have had any kind of empathy – they were actually lovely to deal with and I didn’t even have to go to the FOS with them – did everything direct.
Good luck with yours.
Robert Bateman says
This is pretty annoying… SNC by monday will have taken the full 8 weeks to give me a final response! Does this happen often with them?
Regards
Rob
Lorraine says
Thanks Sara – I’ll do that now x
Dan says
Hello people I had 44 loans with sunny in a year a few years back over 17000 and they saying I’m not entitled to anything 🤔 is this correct??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
NO ! Send your complaint straight to the Finacial Ombudsman.
Daniel says
Thanks have done so do you know a response time?
Robert Bateman says
The FOS are pretty good with responding but the lender will take an absolute age to respond to the FOS… 4-6 months currently.
Robert Bateman says
Well guys! I had a result today. Safety Net Credit agreed to pay me £2960 in refunds for various loans I took out with them in the past. I suspect this should have been more like £3500 or possibly even more, but to be honest with you, I feel lucky to have even been able to get anything at all for any of the loan companies I’ve stupidly borrowed from in the past!
I’ve yet to hear back about the results of WDA and Wonga, but anything from them is quite frankly an extra little bonus.
I feel that this payment brings my era of ‘mad’ borrowing to an end, spanning all the way to my younger years, and I’m now 33.
I’d like to thank Sara from the bottom of my heart for the relentless effort she puts into encouraging the likes of you and me to fight these greedy, thieving payday companies and wish her all the happiness in her future! She surely deserves it! X x x
Rob :)
Daniel says
Thanks have done so do you know a response time?
Sarah says
Hi Rob
This is encouraging, I think I’m owed £269 0 from snc so take my debt and a bit less I’m going for an offer of £1500 which I’d accept. Well done and thanks for sharing
Mandy says
Anyone got a template or any advice on claiming back interest ! I have 4 credit cards all maxed out one Halifax and 2 new day the other post office. Had for years they kept raising my credit limit I’ve now closed them all and paying them down they have all Contacted me to say I’m in persistent debt I can’t afford to pay more than the minimum anyone any experience of this and got any interest paid back ? I’ve more than cleared the balance over the years in paying interest?
Also safety net due today that’s full 8 weeks and heard nothing! Any help appreciated thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
These “persistent credit card debt” letters are going out to a lot of people. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/credit-card-pay-more/ for what you should do about the letters.
In addition to that, you could also make affordability complaint, saying the credit limits were raised too high. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-catalogue-credit-card/
Mandy says
Thank you. I have 2 with new day marbles and aqua do I send one complaint for the 2 cards or separately as it’s both new day?
Anyone had any success with credit card companies?
Still nothing from safety net either
Amber says
Hi
Has anyone received a refund from Myjar and if so how long did it take to receive the funds?
Cj says
I received final response from snc.they not upholding my complaint they said I could afford repayments..but they have used my partner’s salary in calculation even though it was in my name only and they never took any money when his wages went in. My account was 5k overdrawn from the day I started using sync and was still when I put in complaint ..is this with sending to foc
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Definitely! Do you still owe a balance?
Cj says
Yes now under payment arangement still owe 1000 .I think interest has been stopped now .