Did payday loans make your finances more difficult or impossible? Those loans may have been “unaffordable” and you should not have been given them. You may be able to claim a refund of the interest you paid.
UPDATE – Wonga went into administration on 30 August. See Wonga no longer – latest news of refunds and complaints for details.
It’s easy to ask for a refund using the free template letters here. You can use these letters with any payday lender. They work if your loans were repaid on time, or late, or you still owe money.
Some special cases:
- if you are still borrowing each month, read Get help to escape from payday loans because you need to do this first before starting a complaint.
- if you defaulted on a loan, complain to the original lender even if the debt is with a debt collector. But there are some important extra bits so also read Payday loan refunds when you still owe money
- there are other pages with important extra details and different template letters for some other types of borrowing, including doorstep lender ssuch as Provident, guarantor lender such as Amigo; and large loans from poor credit lenders such as 118 Money. See the Refunds item in the menu for all these.
The comments below have hundreds of readers’ stories of the payday refunds they have been given. If the lender says No, or offers too little, this article explains how to go to the Financial Ombudsman – it’s easy and many people are getting large payouts!
What are “unaffordable” loans?
If you could only repay payday loans by borrowing again or from a different lender – your payday loans were probably “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.”
So for a payday loan to be affordable, you had to be able to repay it the next month and be able to pay your other bills and debts. If any of the following points apply, the payday lender should have realised the loans weren’t affordable and stopped lending you more:
- you often rolled loans or borrowed again soon after repaying a loan;
- your loans from a lender were increasing in size;
- some repayments were late; or
- the loan was a significant part of your income.
Were you treated unfairly?
If you told the lender you had financial problems the lender should have treated you fairly. read Payday loans: what to expect from your lender if you’re struggling which was written by the regulator. That has lists of what a lender should not have done, for example suggesting you roll a loan or borrow more money. If any of these happened to you, add them your complaint.
How much compensation can you get?
If the Ombudsman decides your loans were unaffordable, the question is when should the lender have realised this and stopped lending?
A typical decision by the Ombudsman is to say the payday lender should refund all interest after the third/fourth/fifth loan. This may be earlier if your first loans were rolled or extended a lot.
You aren’t likely to get a “full refund of all interest”, but ask for it and let the Ombudsman decide what is fair.
You don’t have calculate anything for your complaint, just ask for a full refund, see below.
Wonga and some other lenders have already written off some loans. You may still be able to get compensation if you had earlier loans that you repaid. Again just ask for everything and let the Ombudsman decide. Simple!
If you were treated poorly when you told the lender you were in difficulty, then add something like: “I would like to ask for a refund of interest and charges for all the loans I had. I would also like additional compensation for the way you mishandled my situation when I told you I couldn’t repay a loan.”
So how do you claim a refund? There are three steps:
Step One – get the facts about your loans
First take a copy of your Noddle credit report. After complaints are started, sometimes loans are deleted and you may want the full report if you have to go t the Ombudsman.
Next ask the lender for your loan details. If you know enough from your emails, bank statements, credit report, or your history on the lender’s website you can miss this out and write the full complaint letter in Step Two. But make sure you have a copy of the details on your own PC or printed out.
To get details of your loans, email the lender (see this list of email addresses for complaints) and say:
To help me explain the details, I want you to send me a list of my loans, showing for each loan when it was taken out, how much interest and charges you added and what I repaid. I understand you are not allowed to charge me for sending this information.
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. [delete this sentence if you know none of your loans were sold.]
You should never have given me these unaffordable loans. 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.
You are entitled to be sent a list of your loans within one month. This email starts off the affordability complaint – the clock is now running and the lender has to reply to your complaint (not just send a list of loans) within 8 weeks.
Step Two – full complaint asking for a refund
When you have your loan details, you can send in more details about your complaint. This is easy – you don’t need to calculate what refund you should get or quote laws.
Here is a template for you to change or add to. It needs to tell your story because everyone’s case is different.
EITHER (if you didn’t send a step one email) I am making a complain to you about irresponsible lending and asking for a refund of interest on the loans you gave me.
OR (if you sent the step one email) I want to add some more information to the irresponsible lending complaint which I sent you on dd/mm/yy.
I have had x loans from you between date and date. [if you don’t have a full list give rough date eg “I borrowed a lot from you in 2013 and 2014. I would like you to send me a list of my loans, showing for each loan when it was taken out, how much interest and charges you added and what I repaid. “]
The repayments to you took so much of my wages that I had to borrow again.
For this period my income averaged about £x a month.
[If you have a family, add some details eg We have two small children. We had child benefit and credits which averaged about £x a month.]
My living expenses were roughly: rent/mortgage £x. Council tax £x. Utilities and bills £x. Transport costs £x. Clothes £x. Food, toiletries, nappies £x. Child expenses £x Other debt repayments £x. Total £x per month.
This shows that there was no way I could afford these loans. When I repaid them, I had to borrow again 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 my other debt repayments and problems including late payments/defaults /CCJs/debt management.]
You should never have given me these unaffordable loans. 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.
[Include this if some of your loans are over 6 years old: I only found out I could make this sort of irresponsible lending complaint in [April 2018]. I understand the Financial Ombudsman will consider all my loans, including those that are more than 6 years old.]
Add any other points that help tell your story such as:
- “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.”
- “After I had rolled the loan twice I was so worried about the interest that I repaid it even though this meant not paying my council tax.”
Don’t worry that the lender will say you should have cut back on your living costs, just put down your normal expenses. You don’t need to include evidence about your expenses.
Some common situations:
If you owe money to the lender, unless you can afford to make this months payment without borrowing again, cancel the CPA to the lender at your bank. Also read the Stop making payments? section in Payday loan refunds when last loan not repaid. If you want to stop payments or to offer a lower affordable amount, add a sentence to your complaint saying this.
If your loan was sold to a debt collector you still complain to the original lender but also tell the debt collector that you are disputing the debt. Just carry on making any payments to the debt collector if they are affordable.
If you only had one or two payday loans from this lender remove the bits about borrowing more often from the sample letter.
Send credit record and bank statements?
Some lenders ask you to send them a copy of your credit record, your payslips or bank statements. If you send bank statements there is no need for payslips.
Some lenders do seem to use them when deciding if the loans were unaffordable and it may make your case more likely to be settled with the lender without the need to send it to the ombudsman.
But some people feel these are personal and they don’t want to send them to a payday lender. If you don’t want to send them, tell the lender you will send the Ombudsman any information that is needed.
Step three – go to the Financial Ombudsman
If the lender rejects your complaint or offers you a small amount, don’t be depressed – you may still have a good case, they are just hoping you will go away quietly!
Thousands of these cases have been sent to the Financial Ombudsman and there is a higher success rate for payday loan affordability complaints than any other type of complaint!
And as one reader said, They couldn’t be any nicer.
Should you give up or go to the Ombudsman?
Think about sending your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman if:
- the lender rejects your complaint or doesn’t reply within eight weeks;
- the refund offered is too low; or
- they refuse to consider loans over 6 years old or which have been sold to a debt collector.
Some lenders try to make your case sound bad when it isn’t. People have had thousands of pounds refunded after a complete rejection! Ignore any of these:
- they relied on your loan applications and you didn’t give the full facts – see Lender says I lied for more about this;
- you repaid some loans early – so what? this doesn’t prove the loans were affordable, just that you were trying to save interest;
- your borrowing didn’t go up every time – also 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.
Deciding if an offer is good enough
If you are offered a refund on only a few loans, don’t accept if you think you paid a lot more than that in interest.
Knowing how much you paid in interest helps you decide if an offer is reasonable or not. Some lenders offer a few hundred pounds to cases which eventually get ten or twenty times as much from the Ombudsman.
If you aren’t sure, 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 from a lender – this doesn’t happen.
An offer to write off your current balance may be good or it may be very poor as you should get a refund as well, see Refunds when you have a balance owing for details.
If getting defaults or late payments removed from your credit record is important to you, make sure you understand and are happy with what the lender is proposing to do before you accept an offer.
It’s probably pointless if you only had one loan from a lender, not rolled, which you repaid on time. There isn’t much point in taking every case to the ombudsman.
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.
How the FO works
The Financial Ombudsman has a two-stage process. The first level is a FO member of staff called an Adjudicator. The Adjudicator will come to a decision, but unless both sides accept it, the case goes to the second stage where it is considered by an Ombudsman. Most complaints are settled at Adjudicator level – there are 10 times as many Adjudicators as Ombudsmen.
How to send a complaint to the FO
Caroline Wayman, the Chief Ombudsman, says:
It’s really OK to phone up and say, ‘I don’t think it was fair.” It’s not court; you don’t have to turn up with your ‘heads of claim’, you don’t have to write a fancy letter. Tell us your story and we will do the rest.
Their website explains the different ways to send a complaint to the Ombudsman. I like the “do it online” option which takes you through your complaint step by step and you can attach other information, such as the reply you have had from the lender. You could add some more details, for example, if you disagree with what the lender replied to you.
Put in a separate complaint about each lender.
If some loans are more than six years old, add a bit explaining why you are complaining now, not years ago. Most people knew they were in financial trouble when they were borrowing but had no idea that they could make an irresponsible lending complaint. So say how and when you found out that an affordability complaint was possible (a friend sent me a link about this, I saw it mentioned on Facebook, whatever).
What happens after you have sent a case
You will normally be contacted within a couple of weeks. If you didn’t supply a copy of your credit record and your bank statements you will be asked to send these.
You can still get bank statements even if your account is closed. If your bank wants to charge you a lot, say you need them for a complaint at the ombudsman about a payday lender and many banks will reduce the charge.
This initial contact is not when an adjudicator picks up your case and starts looking at it. That won’t happen until the payday lender has replied – typically it is between 3-5 months at the moment.
A few problem cases
- Don’t apply if you are bankrupt now or have been bankrupt in the past – any refund will go to the Official Receiver, not you.
- Don’t bother 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 or it may be sent to you.
- Don’t apply if you are in a DRO now, getting a refund may mean your DRO is cancelled!
- You can’t go to the Ombudsman with non-UK authorised lenders – the main ones were Swift Sterling and Pounds Till Payday, see that article for your options.
Need some help?
If you need help to complain, go to your local Citizens Advice, they will help for free.
Don’t use a claims management company. They are expensive and may be incompetent. A good claim involves telling your own story, not sending a standard letter!
Check out the Comments below – you could ask a question there. The comments are split into pages – use the “older comments” and “newer comments” buttons at the bottom to read them all.
Wonga refunds now they have gone under
QuickQuid – how to get payday loan refunds
PDUK, PD Express & Money Shop refunds
Claire says
Hi,
I’ve had my SAR request back from Uncle Buck today. Its a jumbled mess of excel spreadsheets, are they known for ever sending incorrect information at all? The info they have sent says my loans were 2014 & 15 but I know for a fact they weren’t. They were just about the 6 year mark. Has anyone had issues with the information provided incorrect?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds as though they may have sent you someone else’s info… I suggest you ring them up and tell them this.
If this goes to FOS, make sure you also ask for additional compensation as you were sent incorrect information.
Jojo says
I don’t know what to say about this site apart from a massive thank you .I started my claims on the 1st Jan this year as I was going to sort my finances .I have had results from all apart from provident .Looking back I was in a vicious circle one to pay another .But now when my wages go in I actually have some to enjoy life with . Altogether I have claimed back just over 10,000 having just had a result back from Lending Stream after going to FOS and still waiting cheque from cash genie but I have never been in such a good financial position debt free THANKS is not enough.
Rich says
Did lending stream decline at first? They have replied to me saying that they completed all credit checks and I often paid back early meaning they will dismiss my claim. Glad you have got yourself sorted.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Repaying early is irrelevant to whether the loans are affordable – hav eye sen the case to FOS?
Rich says
Thanks for your reply Sara. Yes currently in the process of submitting to the FOS. Hopefully have better luck through them. Thank you for your most informative website as well. Has been a massive help.
Jojo says
Yes LS did they have been worse to deal with so went to FOS.
Laura says
Due to have a refund with QQ, settled through the FOS on 28th September 2018. Received email from QQ on 4th October 2018, confirming bank details and settlement (I rang them up to change my bank details) and then after chasing up as to when I would receive payment, received an email on 9th October 2018 from QQ stating that it would be up to 15 working days for the money to go into my account. This takes me to 30th October 2018. As I really need this money, is there anything else I can do to speed payment up? I have a medical condition, aggrevated by stress and this is really not helping me at the moment. It seems that most people on here got a refund within a couple of days, no more than a week, and yet I have to wait over a month since settlement? Any advice would be appreciated. Have emailed the enova.com email that someone on this site suggested but no avail…
Jen says
Hi I wrote a trust pilot review for sunny & LS they actually responded fast within 2 hrs, stating I’d agreed refund through FOS for irresponsible lending, and takes so long to to receive refund when they did wrong & how fast they can loan u money & that I wanted paid today, they both paid within a few days, I would also state that they are aware that this is aggravated your health issue yet are not refunding you. Gd luck it will come in, try and stay calm 😀
Laura says
Many thanks Jen, I have now written a Trust Pilot review and will see what happens.
Jen says
You can try to contact them daily also, different method every day call, e.mail to any different addresses you have for them stating this is urgent every time, request payment that day, gd luck
Glynis says
I have just written a bad review on trust pilot regarding myjar refund. Still waiting for mine. They really slow. Sent them an E-mail yesterday telling them if I havnt received it by tomorrow Il be sending it to Fos
Jordan Milne says
Hi There,
I’ve just had a rejection letter through from QQ. I just wanted some advice and peoples thoughts on whether I should send to FO.
They state in their letter ‘DEPENDENCY – and then say we would expect to see increasing amounts to cover the principal loan’…… yet I borrowed £250 initially, topped it up to £650 two days later and then topped it up to £800 3 days after that??
They said they wouldn’t even look at the 2 loans I had with them over 6 years ago.
Shall I take this to FO?
Thanks,
Jordan
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I would have thought there is a strong case for a refund on the last top up. The 2 older loans, were they just before these later loans? How large were they?
Jordan says
Hi Sara,
Thanks for your reply.
When I log into my QQ account and loan history I can’t even see the loans over 6 years. I’ll ask them for a breakdown of my loan history. With regards to the ones topped up please see the amounts borrowed and dates below. Do you think I have a case with FO with those? Even though QQ have rejected them?
Base loan 10/1/17 of £250
Top upped 13/1/17 to £650
Top upped 19/1/17 to £800
Base loan 5/4/17 of £300
Topped up 10/4/17 to £450
Topped up 12/4/17 to £800
Many thanks,
Jordan Milne
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you couldn’t afford the repayments without more borrowing, then yes, worth going to FOS with those.
JD says
Commented a few times about my complaint with Cash converters. Refused complaint So currently with FOS. I’ve been struggling to get anything out of them regarding a SARS request including them saying they will only respond to the FOS from now on. Sent them a stern warning about GDPR regulations and I’ve just received an email from them. In it it says the following.
“however our records show that you applied, and were declined, for a Personal Loan over 6 years ago and we longer retain this information.”
I’m hoping the fact they have declined me online for a personal loan about 6.5 years ago, then allowed me 67 short term loans will be a massive help for me, or am I being over optimistic lol?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“I’m hoping the fact they have declined me online for a personal loan about 6.5 years ago, then allowed me 67 short term loans will be a massive help for me, or am I being over optimistic lol?” that sounds like a useful point to make!
Karen Prophet says
Do Lending Stream usually agree with the adjudicator’s decision or do they let it go to the Ombudsman? My adjudicator has basically told them to repay all interest from every loan I took out with them but from reading other stories, I know Lending Stream don’t like to make things easy!
Lou7 says
Hi all,
Is there anyway to chivvy up 247 moneybox? My adjudicator gave a decision on a few of the loans agreeing with me but they didn’t respond. It’s now with the ombudsman in a queue. Will I just have to wait it out? They contacted me last week by voicemail to see if I wanted a loan but no other correspondence as happened.
Sar says
Hi
I have put in a complaint to sunny as in 2016 I got in a right mess with them. They borrowed to me 15 times in a 56 day period from 10th Jan up to 9th Mar the loans were all diff amounts ranging from 50 pounds up to 450 pounds (which was borrowed to me 3 times in that period) I then had a further 7 loans of them from 11th may to 29th June the amounts ranging from 150 pounds to 600 pounds the total of all these loans where 6250 pounds I paid all these back (I had to borrow money of my parents to do this) the total interest I paid was 777 pounds. Do you think they will offer me something as a lot of these loans was taken 1 day after each other?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think that sounds like a good complaint – if Sunny don’t offer you an OK refund (come back if you aren’t sure how good an offer is) then send it to the Ombudsman.
Sar says
Hi Sara
I sent the complaint into sunny Monday evening and I haven’t had any sort of reply not even confirming they have received the complaint shall I send another email or just sit back and wait? And also do you think sunny will offer me something or make it so I have to send it the ombudsmen?
Laura says
Hi everyone just wanted to share my experience. This time last November I was up at 2am worried about money and debt and found this page. At that point I had over £20k in unsecured debt and was in a cycle of payday loan use. I fired off the templates and Sunny came back accepting wrong doing. Wonga offered me £4K but I had 50 loans in 48 months and I rejected this and went the FOS. While I was assigned a adjudicator they went into administration which left me just with my pounds to pocket complaint. They flat out rejected my complaint but today I was awarded over £12,000 . I have 6k of debt so that will be getting cleared and I will be moving forward. Thanks so much for all thr help and advice. My advice to all, is not to burry head in sand, nobody will sort debt out for you. Throughout all the process , everyone at the FOS couldn’t have been more helpful and of course you too Sara. Feels great to be able to not have to think about money 24/7 but I will never forget how that feels. Good luck everyone xo
Sara (Debt Camel) says
£12,000 against Pounds To Pocket – wow, well done!
Ljc says
That’s amazing …very pleased for you
Sue says
Hi
Looking for advice put a complaint in to the FOS regarding Safety Net Credit but they have agreed with the business they did nothing wrong. One of the points made states “You have also said that you had a gambling problem at the time. SNC can’t make judgments over who has a gambling problem due to the amount that they are spending”.
What I want to know has anyone disagreed and escalated it to a senior adjudicator and have a different outcome? I have until next week to dispute the findings. There was also a lot of inaccuracies in regards to figures despite sending in statements.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Is this a final decision from the adjudicator? If not, you should go back with a detailed list of the discrepancies.
I would say that you shouldn’t get a refund just because your gambling was increasing… BUT what SNC should have been able to see from your bank statements and credit reports was that you had a lot of problems debts, including a lot of high cost borrowing, and that this was getting worse as SNC continued to lend. And they should have stopped lending because of this.
I suggest you make a list of your outstanding debts when you first started to borrow from SNC and then a list of them say 6 months later, and also list any new problems that had shown on your credit report during those six months – new defaults, new missed payments etc. Send this to the adjudicator.
I don’t remember a case involving SNC and gambling being rejected by an adjudicator. If yours is, then it’s well worth sending to the Ombudsman and ask them to look at the discrepancy list and your new analysis of how your borrowing got worse.
Sue says
Hi Sara thanks for the response it’s not the final decision as it says this at the end “if you decide that you don’t accept what I’ve said, then please let me know by 26 October 2018. If I can’t resolve things then an ombudsman here can look at everything again and make a final decision”
Regards
Sue
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ok then go back with lots of detailed points. Adjudicators really do change their minds at this point when you point out issues and explain why you think their decision is wrong.
Mandi says
Well, I’ve finally had my first bit of positivity with this! Just got off the phone with the adjudicator for my QQ complaint (it was only 3 loans).
She’s not upholding the first 2, but is upholding the last one, so she’s asking QQ to refund the £60 interest plus the 8% and is fairly certain that they won’t want to or be able to contest it.
Not exactly the £1000s some people have gotten but it’s a small win for me!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I expect you can think of a good use for that £60 !
matt says
update on Uncle Buck from FOS. So frustrating!
your complaint about Uncle Buck Finance LLP
Further to my last email, I’m writing to update you on your complaint.
an ombudsman will review your complaint
I sent you my view of your complaint on 19 September 2018. As the business has not replied, an ombudsman will review your complaint and make a decision. If the ombudsman’s conclusions are different to mine, they will explain why and let you reply before they give you their decision.
We should already have all the information the ombudsman needs to reach a decision. But if we need anything more from you, we will let you know.
what you need to do now
If you have any further points or information you want the ombudsman to consider, please send these to us by 2 November 2018.
If you need more time to reply, please let us know before this date. If we do not hear from you, we will assume you do not want to add anything.
We will keep you up to date with our progress – but please get in touch if you have any questions in the meantime.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Very frustrating 😡
What was the adjudicator offer? If it was say for loans 7-15 and you were happy to compromise on that but thought really 5 and 6 should also have been refunded, this is your chance to write and say that you would like the Ombudsman to also look at the tro earlier loans.
matt says
Hi Sara
Extremely frustrating. I only had 2 loans (with rollovers). They upheld loan 2 (around £800 interest and charges).
I take it they cannot ignore the Ombudsman’s decision if they agree?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, you can enforce an Ombudsman decision in court by sending the bailiffs in… no one has yet had to do that!
Patrick Brady says
I have emailed payday uk and have yet to receive a response. I sent my email 2 weeks ago. The rest of the companies I contacted were quick to reply. Do payday uk normally take long to respond?
GM says
they were very slow to respond, so 4 weeks after the initial message, I emailed them saying that if I didn’t the info within the 28 days established by the ICO, i would report to them. got a reply within a coupl of hours
Soraya says
Hi Sara
I have a complaint with the ombudsman about pounds to pocket (cash Euronet). I have sent loads of extra bank statements over the last month and now the adjudicator says it needs to be looked into by another adjudicator, why would this be?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Could you give some more details about your case – how many loans, over what period, how old etc.
Also are you sure you were talking to an adjudicator at the beginning? or just a case handler soon after your case was sent to FOS? Why were extra statements requested?
Mike says
Hi, the 8 weeks since I sent the complaints is now up and they’ve all been sorted apart from PDUK and WDA, who say they need another 4 to 8 weeks to issue a final response. Should I wait another 4-8 weeks for them or should I complain to the FOS? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I would send them now, allowing a week or so is ok but 4-8 weeks isn’t! You can always withdraw the FOS complaint if they make a reasonable offer.
Lisa G says
So, in the last 7 years I’ve located 12 different bank accounts which I’ve used to deposit and pay for payday loans… as well as wages etc… I’m still waiting on 5 account statements to be sent to me, 2 of those are with TSB (who I’ve requested 4 times from them but as yet haven’t received them – it’s like they’re not sure how to request them, but I’ll persevere). Virgin money tried to charge me £60 but I said under a DSAR I should get them free, they agreed and are sending them free of charge.
I’m just hoping the FOS can make more sense of my statements than I can, they’re a mess and they overlap with money transferred from one account to another etc.
I’d open a new account to try and get my finances in order (a fresh start) but always failed.
Has anyone else had this number of accounts? Were the FOS able to make head or tail of it? I’m struggling to even put them in order! I’m hoping when they all arrive it’ll make a bit more sense 🤞
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think 12 might be a record!
Lisa G says
It’s proving to be a nightmare! 🙈😂
Adam says
MrLender contacted my employer today regarding missed payment, there wouldn’t have been a missed payment only they never replied to my emails to set up a payment plan, finally got that done today through live chat which was a task in itself.
What is the policy regarding contacting my employer? I believe it should not be allowed is this correct?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you mean they rang you at work? or they tried to talk to your employer about your debt?
Adam says
I got a text from them about a missed payment
My employer received the exact same text.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Had you supplied a work number as your daytime contact number?
Adam says
No, I only ever used my own mobile number for any contact number.
Furthermore, when I contacted Mr Lender and asked them why they had contacted my employer they said that they had not and hold no record of employer’s numbers.
My boss sent me a screenshot of the text he received from them which was the exact same text I received, surely this information shouldn’t be allowed to be disclosed to my employer?
Thanks for the replies!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No it shouldn’t be! So the interesting question is, where did they get this number from? I suggest you send Mr Lender a Subject Access Request asking for a copy of all the personal information they hold about you, including but not limited to, any credit checks or other affordability checks they have made. Send this to customer.services@mrlender.co.uk and put Subject Access Request as the email title. No need to go into any detail about why you want this, let’s see what they respond with.
mike says
Hi All
Sunny agreed with my adjudicator on Monday and i emailed the agreement back first thing Tuesday morning, i have followed up with an email each day to my adjudicator and rang twice who say i have to await for the adjudicator to pick it up and the settlement hasn’t been sent back to Sunny yet. Am i being really impatient or does this seem a long time As you can imagine i am keen to get it closed and pay some debts off.
Is it worth contacting Sunny myself, and if so would you use the general contact?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are FOS saying Sunny haven’t told them they have accepted the award?
mike says
Hi Sara
No, Sunny have agreed with their assessment and the adjudicator sent me the settlement form to sign and send back which i did on Tuesday. So very unusually it’s the FOS who need to send that to Sunny to get me paid. I have had lots of contact with the FOS and usually get a response in 2 days max obviously the 5 days has me worried.
Thanks
Carl says
Afternoon All,
Sorry if this is a silly question, my 8 weeks is nearly up, when I go to FOS, do I register a case per company presumably?
My first time going to FOS for anything.
TIA
Neil says
Hi Carl,
Yes it is one complaint per company, so if you have 5 different companies you are complaining about you need to fill the form in 5 times.
Neil
Trish says
Hi, I just received a rejection letter from pounds to pocket. I took out two loans from them, first around 450 then the second 950. The last loan being over a 12 month period. At the time (2014/15) I also had multiple loans with WageDay Advance and other lenders. I also ‘topped up’ the second loan regularly. They said because there was 192 days between both loans, it was not unaffordable. Do they take into account the fact that I was living off other loan lenders to make payments? I did stipulate this in my letter (I had 25 in today from WD over same period). Is it worth taking this to Ombudsman if I only had two loans?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s not the strongest of cases because of the large gap between repaying the first loan and taking out the second. But I think it’s worth going to the Ombudsman.
R says
Hi, sorry to post this here but seems best place to get good responses.
It’s about overdraft but also relates to payloans. I was in a cycle in 2013 and ended up applying for a £5k loan from the Halifax to try clear the PDL’s. The application was immediately declined, that same week I was able to increase my overdraft from £200 to £5,100 …. with the Halifax!!
5 years on, i’ve managed to get this down to £2,850 thanks to various PDL refunds, but then last year they announced OD fee’s would be changing and what was costing me £45 per month would now cost me £130. I’ve been struggling since.
If i had been granted the loan, it would have been paid off 3 years ago and cost me £600. To date, i’ve paid £6,000 in fees and still owe £2,850 which is so frustrating. At the time of applying for the OD (which was increased daily by £500 over 10 days) I would have had over 150 settled / active PDL’s on my credit file.
Any advice? I’ve complained to them today asking to clear the OD as a gesture, but they were suggesting That if my complaint isnt upheld I could instead enter into a repayment plan to clear the debt within 12 months at a cost of £220 per month.
Do i have grounds to take this to FOS if it’s not upheld? It’s keeping me awake at night, i’m so stressed out
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This page https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-catalogue-credit-card/ is a better place for overdraft complaints as they are closer to the credit limits you get on credit cards than loans. I will move your comment there in a few days.
Overdraft complaints aren’t easy to win, but your case sounds very strong because of the loan refusal. To refuse you a loan but give you the same amount of money on a more expensive overdraft suggests that they didn’t properly assess increasing your overdraft limits. Not only did they not check on your credit record, but they also ignored your past history with the Halifax which included the recent declined loan application. I think you should send this to FOS if they do not clear your overdraft as you have suggested.
Stevie C says
Somewhat a positive result from the FOS today. Heard back from the adjudicator who has upheld my complaint against Safetynet Credit. They have deemed my borrowing from 2 months into a 12 month cycle was unaffordable. I went from a £200 credit limit to £1200 in 12 months. Thank you so much for this website I just hope that Safetynet agree with the adjudicator rather than following through to an ombudsman.
StevieC says
Has anyone had any experience of safety net and adjudicators decisions? Do they normally accept them or query them?
John says
So it’s been 18 months since I first sent 247 Moneybox an email informing them that I was making a complaint of irresponsible lending. They ignored that, and multiple other emails that I sent them concerning the matter. They’ve behaved as though I don’t exist.
My complaint went to the Ombudsman where an adjudicator spent endless months trying to get information from them. So now, some 18 months later the Ombudsman has judged in my favour and has awarded me somewhere in the region of £1500, including £250 for treating me with such contempt.
It’s 6 weeks since that decision has been agreed by me and since they were sent a copy of the Ombudsman decision which directed them to make payment.
I’very not heard a thing from them. Emailed the Ombudsman last week and received some limp response along the lines of ‘we’ll ask them why they’very not contacted you’.
My question is, what powers does the Ombudsman have under these circumstances? Can this vile company continue just ignoring them?
Tim says
Hi Sara
Had an outcome today that I wasn’t really expecting, sent complaint to ombudsman for lending stream and adjudicator has sent out his findings today suggesting they repay from loan 5 to 22 which is around £4200. Before he sent out the outcome he had to have it checked by the team that deals with these complaints and they agree with him, do lending stream usually just accept the adjudicator decision or do they usually come back with an offer, I would like to get the full amount suggested but I also don’t really want to be waiting months for it :/ thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well done, that is the last of your FOS cases isn’t it?
With gambling involved it can be very random whether a lender decides to accept an adjudicator decision.
Tim says
Thanks :)- yes this is the last one. Uncle buck came back with an offer that was about half way. If I did send it to the ombudsman if they reject, us the ombudsman’s view likely to be the same as the adjudicators?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The most common decision from an Ombudsman is that the adjudicator’s decision is upheld exactly – over 50% of cases I would say but there aren’t any published statistics.
But the Ombudsman may quite often tinker with the number of loans is tinkered with, so instead of 5-22 in your case it is changed to 2-22 (yes people do get more!) or 9-22.
It is VERY VERY rare for there to be a very different decision in a case such as yours where there are a large number of loans.
Louise says
Hi everyone,the fos have given The Money Shop 2 weeks to agree with them,does anyone know if they take the full 2 weeks and do they normally agree with them.Thankyou..
Nick says
They agreed with my adjudicator on the last day and paid out on day 26
C says
Evening Louise
When did you send your initial complaint to the ombudsman please?
Thanks