Debt Camel

Answers to questions about debts and credit ratings - in plain English!

How to get a payday loan refund – with template letters that work

Did your payday loans cost so much you had to keep on borrowing?

The regulator will say your loans were unaffordable and this was irresponsible lending.

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 if you still owe money.

This article covers everything you need to get started. It’s easy, free and many people are winning large payouts.

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!

Which lenders can you get refunds from?

Use these letters here to make an affordability complaint to any UK payday lender including:

QuickQuid, Myjar, Lending Stream, Sunny, Peachy, Satsuma, Mr Lender, Moneybox 247, Safetynet Credit, Payday UK, Payday Express, the Money Shop, Pounds to Pocket/OnStride.

But these letters aren’t always right:

What are “unaffordable” loans?

Was a loan affordable because you managed to repay 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 pay your other bills and debts.

Payday loans are meant to be used to solve a short term problem. If you kept rolling a loan or repaying one then getting another loan soon after, the lender should have realised you were in difficulty and stopped lending to you.

Many lenders ignored even very obvious signs of problems such as your loans increasing in size, borrowing very soon after repayment, late payments, or lending a very large amount of your income!

Payday Loan Refunds in 2019 from all UK payday lenders

How much compensation can you get?

In 2018-19, the Financial Ombudsman will see 50,000 payday loan affordability complaints. So we know what sort of decision is made about what a fair refund is.

A typical decision by the Ombudsman is to say the payday lender should refund all the interest you paid interest after the third/fourth/fifth loan. This is because payday loans are meant for short term problems and the lender should not have carried on giving you loans.

This may be earlier – from the first or second loan sometimes – if your first loans were rolled or topped-up or were very large.

You don’t have calculate what a fair refund is. Just ask for a full refund from the lender and see what you are offered. This is the simplest and best approach.

So how do you claim a refund?  There are three main steps. I expect you want to dive in, but first:

Before you send in a complaint

Begin by getting a copy of your TransUnion Statutory credit report – you need to download this by selecting print then saving the file as a PDF. After complaints are started, sometimes loans are deleted and you may want the full report if you later have to go to the Ombudsman. (Don’t get Experian or ClearScore report instead – many payday lenders don’t use those.)

If you can log-in to the lender’s website and see your loans, take a copy of them as sometimes they vanish when you complain.

If you still owe money to the lender:

  • 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.
  • read the Stop making payments? section in Payday loan refunds when last loan not repaid. If you want to offer a lower affordable amount, add a sentence to your complaint letter saying this.
  • if you have a lot of borrowing at the moment, read Escape from the payday loan trap which looks at how a debt management plan can help you.

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. Don’t skip this bit or a debt collector may go to court.  It is a good idea to carry on making payments to the debt collector if they are affordable.

Step One – get the facts about your loans

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 go straight to Step Two.

To get details of your loans, email the lender (see this list of email addresses for complaints) and say:

I am making a complaint to you about irresponsible lending.

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.

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 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.

[If some of your loans are more than 6 years old add a paragraph saying why you haven’t complained before. Put this into your own words so it covers what happened to you. The following is an example, don’t just copy it.] [I didn’t know that the lender was supposed to check that I could repay the loan without having to borrow more. I only found out in November 2018 when I saw a newspaper article in the Sun/an advert on Facebook for payday loan refunds/my sister told me about affordability complaints/a friend said they had made a complaint/whatever.]

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.

if you didn’t send a Step One email begin with: I am making a complaint about irresponsible lending and asking for a refund of interest on the loans you gave me.

if you sent the Step One email begin with: 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 from [2013 to 2014].

The loan payments to you left me with too little money.

For this period my take home pay was about £x a month.

[Include the following details if you know them, but if they varied a lot miss this out  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.]

I could not afford these loans. When I paid you, 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 all my other debts 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 charges I paid, plus statutory interest, and to delete negative information from my credit record.

Good ways to improve your letter

Add any points that help you describe what happened to you. And delete any bits that don’t matter to you. 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 only had one or two payday loans from this lender remove the bits about borrowing more often from the sample letter.
  • If you weren’t treated fairly while you were borrowing add a bit about this. See 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, mention them in your complaint.

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.

Send credit record and bank statements?

Some lenders ask you to send them a copy of your credit record, your payslips or bank statements. This is mostly to be difficult – the lender can check your credit record themselves if they want.

Don’t send payslips – they won’t help an affordability complaint and the ombudsman never asks for them.

You can send bank statements if you want, but think twice about the cost of copying and postage if there are a lot. Some lenders do seem to use them when deciding if the loans were unaffordable but others just ignore them.

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 Service (FOS)

If the lender rejects your complaint or offers you a small amount, don’t be depressed. You may still have a very good case, they are just hoping you will give up!

Instead you can send your case to the Financial Ombudsman. This is easy and free.

Tens of thousands of these cases have been sent to the Financial Ombudsman where there is a higher success rate for these affordability complaints than any other type of complaint!

Give up, negotiate with the lender, or go to the Ombudsman?

Some lenders try to make your case sound bad when it isn’t. People have had thousands of pounds refunded after a complete rejection! Just ignore any of these comments, they do not mean you have a weak case:

  • 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  – 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.
  • your loans are over 6 years old – the ombudsman will look at these even if the lender says they won’t!

Will a lender improve an offer?

You may be wondering if you should go back and try to get the lender to give you a better offer. Most lenders won’t do this, but a few may if you make out a good case, for example if they have offered to refund some loans and you would be happy if they included one or two more, you can say why you think lons 3 and 4 should also be refunded. See When and how to negotiate about payday loan refunds for more details.

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 from a lender by going to the Ombudsman – this doesn’t happen.

Points to think about include:

  • 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. Some lenders offer a few hundred pounds to cases which eventually get ten or twenty times as much from the Ombudsman.
  • An offer to write off your current balance may be good or it may be very poor if you should get a refund as well, see Refunds when you have a balance owing for details and ask in the comments below if you aren’t sure.
  • 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 unless:

  • the loan was rolled or topped up several times; or
  • the loan was large. Here is a single MyJar loan case that was won even though it was an instalment loan and the borrower had a good income because it was for £3,600. And a single loan Sunny 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.

How to send a complaint to FOS

Put in a separate complaint about each lender. So you don’t have to wait until all your lenders have replied before sending the first one to the Ombudsman.

One reader said: They couldn’t be any nicer. 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 can add more details, for example, if you disagree with what the lender replied to you.

Make sure you include a paragraph about having only just found out you could complain if some of the loans are more than 6 years old.

If you have your bank statements, it is a good idea to attach these to your complaint. Ideally you want statements 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 they are needed!Also  attach a copy of your Noddle credit report.

What happens after you have sent a case

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.  That won’t happen until the payday lender has replied – typically it is between 4-6 months at the moment.

The Financial Ombudsman has a two-stage process. Most cases are settled by the adjudicator but about 10% go to the send “Ombudsman” stage, see What happens at the Financial Ombudsman for details.

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.
  • 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.
  • 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 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.

More information:

Ask for a refund for large bad credit loans

Asking QuickQuid for a refund

PDUK, PD Express & Money Shop refunds

Comments

  1. 8 days in after Pduk agreed with adjudicator in wait for money

    Absolutely worried I aint getting it back after what came out yesterday

    £1500 I was counting on been knocked by wonga and WDA already

    Reply

    • Think we all praying, crossing fingers and just hoping against hope. I’m a few hundred shy of £14,000 from Payday Express, Payday UK and the Money Shop, had all 3 offers Thursday/Friday, have accepted, but will I get it??

      Reply

    • I’m going to ring my adjudicator at FOS on Monday just to see if we’ve anything to worry about. I accepted an offer on Friday from Payday Express. Hopefully at this stage as they’ve not gone into administration we could be ok, fingers crossed

      Reply

      • Adjudicator said they are aware and are continuing to process claims from FOS and Pduk said “you will get paid out” but they aint gonna tell me otherwise are they fingers crossed

        Reply

      • What did your adjudicator say on Monday when you rang them??
        Lots of people on here relying on payday uk not going into administration???

        Reply

  2. Any idea which company blackheath.com was? I’m going through old bank statements and they look like a payday lender from the amounts but I’ve no idea which one? Thanks

    Reply

  3. Hi Sara,

    I have had my first case picked up by an adjudicator at fos, this ones with lending stream.

    In total 6 cases settled with the lender, 7 referred to fos.

    My question is – every loan history I’ve settled before fos, I’ve managed to get the lenders to agree to delete all record of the loans from my report, as they’d concluded they were unaffordable.

    When successful with fos, I believe they describe that negative history should be deleted. For me any record of the loan is negative though as having one would stop you being able to get a mortgage etc. Is it possible at fos level to get the lender to delete all record of the loans? It’s really important to me

    Reply

    • Some lenders just delete all the loans whatever FOS says.

      If the payday loan was more than a year ago and has no negative marks, you should still be able to get a mortgage.

      Reply

  4. Hi just. A quick question about lendingstream, do they ever agree with decisions? Or do the reject all like qq & p2p?

    I had 7 loans and the adjudicator has ruled that 3 was unaffordable , I’ve paid around £650 in interest in total, the interest on the theee is just over £300, what do you think the chances of Lending’stream accepting the decision and not rejecting it to send to the ombudsman.

    Thanks for any help.

    Reply

    • Unfortunately they didn’t agree with mine and they didn’t agree with Adjudicator so it’s now gone to ombudsman been going on since March 2018. Mines for 11 loans

      Reply

  5. Hi everyone.

    In July 2018, I stumbled on this website. I was in circa £17000 in debt and was in a Debt Management Plan. I am happy to say that as of June 2019, I have completed my DMP thanks to Sara and this amazing website. Sara, you are changing people’s lives and I am so thankful – this time last year, I was in despair. I will post about the outcomes of all my loans with the FOS in a few weeks time as there are a few things that I want to comment on in regards to my cases.

    Thank you

    Reply

  6. If the adjudicator has upheld it then they’ll probably agree. I guess it depends on how many over how long etc.. but again if the adjudicator has made the decision then it should be fine.
    LS agreed with adjudicator for me, 13 days into the 28 day to pay refund. Hopefully should come through soon!

    Reply

  7. Hi all,

    Just sent off my LS complaint to FOS as they did not uphold. Had 13loans in less than a year from them which they deemed to be responsible lending! Had countless other loans, a default and missed payments on credit file but they deem that to be ok to lend.

    Hopefully will have a positive outcome – have also referred QQ, Onstride, Avant and Pounds to Pocket to FOS.

    As yet awaiting responses from MyJar, Safety Net, 118, Vanquis , Satsuma and Uncle Buck.

    Mr Lender agreed to remove all interest from account – considering I only had 1 loan of £200 though it was worthwhile instead of referring to FOS.

    This site is a god send and am grateful to know that I am not alone in being caught amongst the spiral that is Payday and unaffordable lending!
    Sian

    Reply

    • I had about 15 loans with Lending Stream, and at one point I had 6 open at once with the monthly repayment being £500-£600. All apparently affordable as they rejected the complaint – the FOS have just assigned at adjudicator so I’m waiting to hear their findings.

      Reply

    • Update: Satsuma (Provident) responded today requesting a further 14days to investigate – already had full 8 weeks. Referred straight to FOS.

      Reply

  8. Hi Sara,

    I have just been assigned an adjudicator for my QQ claim. Sent the complaint to the FOS on 03rd June and had the email saying they are looking into my case on the 21st June. (18 days).

    I submitted 2 others to the FOS on the same date but nothing from those yet. My Jar & Sunny.

    I take it they review claims case by case and not by person. Can I be assigned different adjudicators for each claim?

    Thanks
    Mike

    Reply

    • That’s quick! How old are your loans? It is standard practice for the adjudicators to look on a case by case basis, but sometimes people have let their adjudicator know that they have a few more cases open and they’ll end up looking into those as well, but it doesn’t happen very often.
      I tried my luck last week, but they said it wasn’t possible,but it’s worth a try!

      Reply

      • Yes I thought it was quick after reading through these threads.
        The loans for QQ where from 2017 – present

        Hard to know how the FOS are allocating cases. What is being prioritised etc.

        Reply

      • Mine were all picked up by different adjudicators. I let them know about the other cases I had open and they said they would use the same bank statements and credit reports for them all.

        Reply

  9. Hi all,

    I submitted complaints to Lending Stream and Sunny which were rejected so went to FOS in Dec 18. They then requested additional info which I sent in Jan 19. I received some holding letters a couple of months ago and have not heard anything since. I was just wondering what the timescales are at the moment, I know they were long but just thought I would ask out of interest, I am no real rush. I know some people have telephones to get updates, is this worth doing or is it just best to wait?

    Thanks,
    Jo

    Reply

  10. Sara

    I gave recieved a final answer from zippa. They believe that all their loans 7 in total were affordable. Started off first one was for 150 as was the second before the last 5 were 250 pounds each. Once again these were all taken out just after one was paid off and it continued.

    They believe that as some requests by me were for around 500 pound and they only offered me 250 that this was deemed responsible.

    Do you think going to the ombudsmen I’ll have a chance or would you suggest that zippa may well be correct in their findings?

    This was 7 loans between March 17 and January 18

    Reply

  11. I’ve had of express settle on 3 loans last year and they were unable to determine 3 more, just started the process on the 3 others and sent bank statements. They made an offer on one of 3 but rejected the other 2.

    I don’t want to get caught up on this rumour so I ask- has anyone had a recent quick turn around from logging with the FOS? Has it quickly got to a case handler or adjudicator?

    If it’s a huge wait I will take the 400 at risk of losing it, if it’s a quick turn around then may wait a few weeks for the other 1400

    Reply

    • Hi,

      Unless you really want the cash, I would wait. You’re in for a few months wait, but it’s worth it for the amount you’re talking about. Then again, if you’re happy, take it now.

      Reply

      • I made a few complaints with the FOS in late march/early april and got adjudicators assigned at the beginning of June. I’ve just had a decision on one (which was a single loan case), and I’m still waiting for the others. When I initially spoke to one of the adjudicators she said she can’t give a timescale as it all depends on how long it takes the lender to respond and provide information.

        It really depends on what you might need the money for and when. I accepted a couple of relatively poor offers so I could put a bit aside for emergencies and pay a few other loans off to reduce my outgoings. That got me into a sustainable position I was happy with so I sent the others to the FOS to try and get back the maxium.

        Reply

  12. Sara and all,

    Had success with 118 money, they have refunded me £1000+ and wiped off my loan. Total interest I paid to them was about 6k so probably could have got more by going to the FOS, but I’m happy they wiped my loan and refunded me. Long process but it can be worth the wait.

    Reply

  13. Just had my payday express upheld by fos how quick are they to pay out said Up to 28 days? Been along journey over 12 months still got 2 out of 8 to go

    Reply

  14. Hi can I have advise pls mr lender I had 7 loans in total
    Loan 1 = 30-01-16 £500 till 27-05-16
    Loan 2 = 27-05-16 £500 till 25-11-16
    Loan 3 = 26-11-16 £750 till 23-06-17
    Loan 4 = 26-06-17 £800 till 09-11-17
    Loan 5 = 27 -11-17 £1000 till 28-04-18
    Loan 6 = 19-05-18 £300 till 29-08-18
    Loan 7 = 11-09-18 £1000 on payment plan paid in total £1400 they have refused all Loans any help or advise would be great all paid on time but had 6 other lenders from loan 3

    Reply

    • So you had nearly continous lending – never a whole month gap – and amountonly going down once.

      You can go back to Mr L – they do listen to a reasoned argumanet and an offer of a compromise.

      So the question is what to suggest. I think as a minimum you should be asking to get loans 4,5 and 7 refunded. Loan 6 was pretty small. loan 3 it’s possible you might get upheld if you go to FOS, espeecially if you had other payday lenders when you applied for that one, but possibly not.

      Reply

      • Thanks Sara i thought this too I was a bit surprised they never upheld any, Shall I send bank statements and my credit file over as well cos they did ask for them. Have not said it’s there final decision and said I’d send in these documents they will look at them again. On my last loan I’ve still a balance of £548 they say they will write it of as a gesture of good will. I’m prepared to Go fos as 3 other loans I had at same time was for large amounts over £1000.

        Reply

  15. Final response received today from 118, 9 weeks after making my complaint. I had 2 loans for £1000 and £2000. They have upheld my complaint on loan 2 and are refunding the interest paid + 8 % statutory interest and removing the loan history from my credit file. Redress total approx £2k without having to go to the FOS.

    Reply

  16. Hi
    I’ve just had my final response from piggy bank loans. I have accepted the offer made and wondered how long do they usually take to pay out?

    Reply

  17. I asked piggy bank via email how long it would take for the refund which was over 2k and they stated 7 days. I left a review on trustpilot stating how quickly they pay out for loans but not for refunds after 3 days of the email and it was paid the next day. Worth a go..

    Reply

  19. Peachy is 14 days payout, they are pretty adamant about that. The 14th day is tomorrow for me, the lady advised it can be anytime on the 14th day so I would imagine 11.59pm…haha

    Reply

  20. Ok i know i put that comment on here last week an someone said they got it within 10 days so we will see i suppose.

    Reply

  21. Hi Sarah,

    Does this offer appear ok

    Loan ID Date Issued Date Closed Loan Amount Total Paid
    1562397 2014-05-21 2014-05-30 £100.00 £120.00
    1580546 2014-06-10 2014-06-28 £200.00 £240.00
    1635048 2014-08-16 2014-09-03 £200.00 £240.00
    1648253 2014-09-05 2014-09-26 £200.00 £271.67
    1693135 2014-11-05 2014-11-15 £300.00 £360.00 upheld
    1701910 2014-11-15 2014-11-28 £300.00 £360.00 upheld
    1709836 2014-11-28 2015-01-30 £300.00 £509.79 upheld
    1751820 2015-02-11 2015-02-28 £300.00 £340.80
    1766708 2015-03-12 2015-03-27 £150.00 £168.00
    1775470 2015-03-30 2015-03-31 £400.00 £403.20
    1784931 2015-04-17 2015-04-30 £500.00 £552.00
    1794833 2015-05-05 2015-05-29 £625.00 £745.00 upheld
    1810950 2015-06-01 2015-06-30 £625.00 £770.00 upheld
    1838056 2015-07-16 2015-07-31 £300.00 £336.00 upheld
    1856358 2015-08-13 2015-10-30 £1,500.00 £2,190.57 upheld
    1905943 2015-11-04 2016-02-22 £1,500.00 £2,389.58 upheld
    2021830 2016-04-26 2016-04-29 £350.00 £356.82
    2130063 2016-10-11 2016-11-30 £725.00 £847.56
    2160084 2016-12-01 2016-12-22 £1,000.00 £1,073.50
    2185721 2017-01-19 2017-01-31 £500.00 £545.00
    2194108 2017-02-06 2017-08-31 £1,275.00 £2,026.76

    Our Decision

    Following our investigation, it is our view that your complaint should be partially upheld.

    To put things right for you, we propose to refund the interest and charges you paid on the loans highlighted in the above table, totalling £2210.94.

    Reply

    • I can’t see why they have picked some and not others. Have they explained? Who is the lender?

      Have you added up how much interstvyou paid on the loans that were not upheld?

      Reply

  22. Adjudicator has upheld loans 2-9 with satsuma, originally only 4-9 as she didn’t realise my bank statements were all there but half with another complaint, originally they had until tomorrow to respond but she has looked at my statements (gambling addiction) and now included the extra two, fingers crossed satsuma agree…they completely rejected my complaint originally so not sure how it will go, they are the last lender I owe money to so if they agree balance would be wiped and a refund of around £1000…my whole spiral would be over ! Anyone have any positive outcomes recently with satsuma agreeing at adjucator level? Thanks!

    Reply

    • Hi Ali,

      I had several loans with Satsuma (also with a gambling addiction) and Satsuma rejected my complaint outright. The adjudicator found in my favour on loans 2-6 and asked Satsuma to refund £1568.. they agreed to this on the last day of the 2 week timescale and have to pay redress by 28th June.. they pay by cheque and I phoned them today to chase it to be told they haven’t sent it yet but I will have it by 28th.

      Good luck

      Reply

      • Hi Tim
        Thanks very much for the information, so glad you got a good outcome! Fingers crossed your cheque arrives soon!
        Thanks again for replying I will keep my fingers crossed for good news :-)

        Reply

  23. Hi Sara
    Bit of a Result with 118 118 today. I took out 3k loan in January 19 submitted affordability complaint and hey presto. Current balance of £5093 ( Incl Interest ) reduced to £2391.21 today. Cant say fairer than that.
    Obviously the affordability Criteria they look at ( which is standard stuff ) differs greatly from the likes of QQ, Satsuma etc……or maybe they just thought we dont need the hassle of this !

    Reply

    • Simon.
      Did they agree to that before going to FO??
      Interested as my complaint with 118 is now in week 7 of standard 8 weeks to reply????

      Reply

      • No pal, date was up on 20th June for final response, on 20th saying they needed a few more days ( maximum of 14 ) to consider decision.
        Not second guesing their motives but I reckon like the rest their snowed under and admin is costing them a few bob dealing with FOS.
        Let me know how you get on please, right result for me and I wish you the same result.
        Just need to appeal to a couple of other’s on the basis of this as their no restiction on naming them and bobs my uncle !

        Reply

        • Thanks for that. I’ll let u know. They got till next Friday. As I’m counting down the days. Every other complaint I’ve had I’ve won. But this one I did seperate as it more of a loan than payday loan I thought. Someone on this site advised me to put a complaint in. So I did. And if successful worth a lot of money to me. Never mind fingers crossed. I’ve got everything crossed.

          Reply

    • My 8 weeks have passed with them and heard nothing so sent an email today. Satsuma 118 lending stream have all asked for more time

      Reply

  25. Hi guys ,

    Sorry can someone please remind me how to download my credit report as a pdf with Noddle now Klarna please ??

    Reply

    • Hi Holly,
      If you download a PDF program (I use CutePDF Writer), when you go to print, then select this ad it will save as a PDF attachment, which you can then send to the FOS. Hope this helps?

      Reply

  26. Hi

    My case has been picked up by the adjudicator at the FOS after 6 months

    Just wondering how long it takes for them to make a decision.

    Thanks

    Reply

    • At six weeks I sent a polite email asking for news, they gave me a decision a few days later.

      No harm in a gentle nudge beginning of August.

      Reply

  27. Hi Sara,

    I had several loans with Mr Lender a while ago and complained to them, at the time I wasn’t aware of how good my case potentially was and they came back to me to say they didn’t feel as though they were irresponsible but they would allow me to split my last payment into manageable payments.. at the time I was taking what I could get but because they didnt actually refund any interest or charges and didn’t knock anything off what I owed them, can this still be raised to the ombudsman? The other thing is that I received their final response over 6 months ago but was in a dark place with all my debt so just took the payment plan- do I have a chance at getting these looked into?

    Reply

    • Well you should have taken the case to the Ombudsman at the time, you are now outside the 6 months.

      How many loans did you have? Were there gaps between paying one and taking the next one? Did the amounts go up?

      Reply

      • Hi Sara,

        There was no break – around 7or 8 consecutive loans some of which were increasing in value

        Reply

        • Simon, it’s worth trying. The FOS will consider if outside the 6 month window. Just ring them and tell them. I’ve seen, for example, someone with mental health issues be allowed. If you were in a dark place, explain that to them. Also, did they make it clear you had 6 months in their final response? Did they mention the FOS in the final response? Good luck with everything

          Reply

  28. Would it be helpful for FOS If I highlight all of the transactions on my bank statements I know are payday loans ? There is a lot :O

    Reply

    • Go ahead, although they already know by the account history with the payday lender. FOS told me they can access your files/complaint against other lenders to build a larger picture, so they know what’s going on.

      Reply

  29. Hi,

    I am filling in my tax return for 18/19 – I received payouts during the period for about £6k from PDExpress, PDUK and Mr Lender for historic loans (all over 6 years). The amounts included 8% interest with 20% tax deducted from that (I have kept all the documentation). Gross interest of about £1,600.

    As I’m now a higher rate tax payer I have underpaid tax on those interest payments but the self assessment form only has either taxed or untaxed options for interest received.

    Any idea how I should correctly report the interest received so that the tax calculation is right?

    Reply

  30. Hi, sunny should have answered to my adjudicator decision by 14th June but have not bothered. My main concern is the attitude of the FOS who seem almost helpless to get any of the so called company’s – loan sharks to comply in any way with dead lines or decisions. You could say now they have their number, and are now treating the FOS as a toothless dog lots of bark but no teeth. They are now clearly calling the shots and doing to the FOS exactly what they done to many of us for many years clearly using underhand bullying tactics. Is it not time for the government to step in before the FOS becomes puppet to these companies. Can we do anything as a collective to change things.

    Reply

    • a) you can leave Sunny a very bad review on Trust Pilot saying they are ignoring an adjudicator decision – this sometimes kicks them into action.

      b) if you feel strongly, you could also send the FCA an email and tell them what you think of Elevate Credit’s complaints handling. Send an email to consumer.queries@fca.org.uk and copy this to mdin@elevatecredit.co.uk who is the contact given for Elevate (who own the Sunny brand) on the FCA website.
      Say that Elevate are ignoring a decision from an adjudicator at the Finacial Ombudsman. Say you know the FCA cannot get involved in an individual complaint but you thought the FCA should aware of one of its authorised firm’s poor complaints handling.
      Telling the FCA is just a simple email – they won’t investigate it – but the FCA team that supervises Elevate will be informed.

      Reply

  31. I have received the below from My Jar, has anyone had any luck with loans older than 6 years at FOS stage being upheld? I have bank statements but not gone fully through all them yet (as there is a lot) is it worth pursuing them? What was Myjar called on the bank statements?

    As previously advised, we keep data up to five years to meet our legal obligations under applicable United Kingdom data protection rules, the General Data Protection Regulation and in accordance with applicable anti-money laundering legislation. To review our company’s Data Retention Policy, please visit https://classic.myjar.com/legal/data-retention.
    Therefore, the records for loans which were taken five or more years ago, have been deleted from our system. If that is the case with your loans, it should no longer appear on your credit file either. We are unable to investigate loans that we no longer hold the data for.

    Reply

    • I had a case with MyJar, where most loans were over 6 years old. Complained in Sep’18, sent to FOS at the end of October and got a adjudicator decision and payout at the end of May, so definitely have a go!

      Reply

      • Can you confirm what information you had sent to FOS? was it just bank statements? what name do they appear on your bank statement?

        Reply

        • The case was opened via Resolver, so I just downloaded the full case with the correspondence and backup included, plus the Bank statements for the loan period. Initially they were called Txt Loan, so there’s two names you have to look out for.

          Reply

  32. Lending Stream:

    I had 20 loans with them and an adjudicator found in my favour on loans 7-20 over two weeks ago. I contacted the adjudicator last week for an update who said Lending Stream hadn’t responded yet to his recommendations and said that he was giving them two full weeks until the 24th to respond. I haven’t heard anything.

    I’ve read on here that a few people contacted Lending Stream when their claims were with an adjudicator and LS advised that they had responded but the adjudicators were saying they hadn’t received anything. Is it worth me contacting LS myself to ask if they’ve responded or not? Don’t really want this going to an Ombudsmen with further delays!

    Reply

    • No it’s not worth your time – they probably have already replied or are about to. There is no sign that trying to talk to LS speeds this up. Talk to your adjuicator in a few more days – if he hasn’t heard from LS or they have rejected the decision, leave them a bad review on Trust pilot: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/lendingstream.co.uk

      Reply

    • Lending Stream replies to the FOS in the last day, probably last minute also. It took 2 days to be seen by the FOS and assigned to my case, as they have so many emails, it then took a further few days to get the info from the FOS, however, when the FOS have told you verbally the reply Fromm lS, if you’re happy agree it over the phone. I did this but had also pre confirmed my account details with LS. They still need the nod from the FOS.

      My official acceptance went through to LS on the 11th, so they have upuntil the 9th July to pay.

      I have called and was told it would be done by yesterday but I was giving the wrong info, o have a sepereate complaint in against that as I asked for the recordings / transcripts.

      Reply

      • Thanks for the information and advice Sara and Brian.

        I’ll leave it a few days and then maybe leave them a negative review.

        Reply

        • And just like that, the adjudicator has been in touch and stayed that LS have now replied and they accept the adjudicators decision! They’re refunding me £2626.17 which I’m delighted about!

          Just need to wait now for LS to issue the refund.

          Reply

          • That’s great news!! Wish mine had been that simple originally complained March 2018 and ls have been a nightmare all the way through its now in a queue for the ombudsman to make an independent review. Nightmare

  33. Cash Euronet: Adjudicater upheld my complaints. They had until 4 June to respond but I haven’t heard anything. Is this common practice with Cash Euronet?

    Reply

  34. It not just elevate it’s the general vibe of most replies on here. I am sure this will be the 3rd case which will go to adjudicator level it is almost becoming a waste of time to have adjudicators they are putting in a lot of work all for it to be undermined with often no firm basis to do so. My biggest case was with wonga it sat with the FOS for 9 months without ever being looked at, this delay was probably caused by company’s deliberately clogging up the system with groundless arguements which are repeatedly put forward surely when they are proved wrong once this should set precedence. Why are they being allowed to keep flogging dead donkeys. Does the FOS need greater power to stop this happening as to me they have no power until they reach ombadsmen s level and the company’s know this and are abusing this.

    Reply

    • I agree the Wonga & QQ over 6 year loans saga was allowed to drag on for way too long by FOS. Although in practice if FOS had taken the 6 year decision a year earlier, Wonga may well have gone under a year earlier.

      It can be hard to get a good feel for complaint handling from a quick check of comments here. There is the inevitable problem that people who get a good response from a lender often never post at all or just put in a quick post. So the majority of comments are about FOS cases. Again people whose FOS case is settled promptly at the adjduicator level often don’t post or only post once. So it tends to be the people who are having problems who dominate these discussions – that doesn’t mean that everyone has problems!

      Having said that, the FCA needs to act to make sure the lenders handle complaints better. FOS doesn’t need greater power to do this because it’s not their job, it is the FCA’s job to supervise firms and the FCA’s DISP rules have clear statements of how firm should manage FOS decisions which far too many firms are ignoring.

      Reply

  35. I have had 5 of 6 my payday loans reviewed by the adjudicator which have all been upheld.

    Piggybank accepted the adjudicator decision on the last day of their two week allowed time agreeing with the decision. Payment was made after 3 weeks. I did call to chase but they sorted the same day.

    QuickQuid- no surprise delayed for a further 4 weeks after their two week agreed time, and now I’m off to the ombudsman.

    Sunny are nearly at their two weeks and nothing yet, although they offered the adjudicator that they would wipe out my remaining debt prior to their decision. My adjudicator said yes to this but also they needed to refund interest etc on 4 other loans.

    Lending stream and satsuma are only a few days into their two weeks.

    My question is how successful have people been with sunny, lending stream and satsuma at adjudicator level or are these three likely to end up with the ombudsman as well?

    I have a final complaint with uncle buck with a different adjudicator which has been with them for four months nothing has been agreed there yet.

    Reply

  36. Hi Sara,

    Had a response form MyJar on the below loans:

    Date Issued Date Closed Loan Amount Loan Paid
    16/10/17 22/12/17 £350.00 £430.83
    11/08/18 03/09/18 £250.00 £286.28
    03/09/18 28/09/18 £725.00 £788.13
    01/10/18 £1,475.00 £796.72

    They claim appropriate checks were made on all loans even though my borrowing increased. I returned to university in September to finish my degree and was working part time however over inflated my income to get the loans. Also had loans with Satsuma Lending Stream etc. at the time of taking the loans out. They have not upheld and the last loan is still outstanding. Is this worth going to FOS with?

    Thanks
    Sian

    Reply

    • I think it’s worth going to FOS because of the escalating amounts. A good result here will be getting the interest removed from the last loan.

      Reply

  37. Question re FOS. My complaint re Capital One is now with the 2nd adjudicator to look at my complaint, the first person handling it moved department. The 1st adjudicator advised they had all the information require from Capital One and the case was being passed to someone else to investigate. The 2nd adjudicator contacted me and said they required further information from Capital One and they then contacted me again 2 weeks ago to say they now have all the relevant docs to proceed with the investigation. I emailed yesterday to ask for an update and she said she was working on it and should have an answer soon unless she needs more information from the company? Is this normal practice?

    Thanks

    Reply

  38. just out of interest – has anyone received their refund recently from Lending Stream and if so the time frame?

    I see a person has before and that there are others waiting.

    Thanks

    Reply

    • I am still waiting – but still in the 28 day window – accepted there offer on 10 June … so expecting payment no later than 8 July!

      Reply

  39. I have just read a F.T. Article that states that each company, after the first 50 compliments in a year has to pay £550 in admin cost for each complaint lodged after that threshold. Maybe of use to some as a bargaining chip at the 8 week point, if like me you’re not chasing refunds but just the recent defaults removed from your file. I tried to copy the link but it’s not working but I’m sure someone more tech savvy than myself can do so.

    Reply

  40. Hi all, I contacted quickquid asking for my loan details, they responding a couple of days before the 8 weeks asking for more details as they couldn’t find my account with the email address I was using, I provided the details but I haven’t heard back in the 5 weeks since I replied to that.

    What should I do next?

    Reply

    • You could wait for 8 weeks for a response or ask them to confirm they have found your account.

      Reply

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