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.
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 to the lender or a debt collector.
If you are still borrowing each month, read Get help to escape from payday loans because you need to do this first and then put in complaints.
If the lender says No , or offers too little, this article also explains how to go to the Financial Ombudsman. It’s easy and many people are getting large payouts.
The comments below have readers’ stories of the payday refunds they have been given and the Ombudsman decisions. It’s a good place to ask questions and get support!
If you have had a lot of expensive borrowing on credit cards or catalogues, also check out Can I get an interest refund from a catalogue or credit card?
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” and should never have been made.
Here is a regulator’s definition of “affordable”:
“To qualify for a given amount of credit, 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 over loans;
- you often borrowed again soon after repaying a loan;
- your loans from a lender were increasing in size;
- you were late making repayments;
- the loan was a significant part of your income and you couldn’t afford it because of your expenses such as rent, bills, transport, food, other debts.
Why does this matter?
If the Financial Ombudsman decides your loans were unaffordable, the lender will have to refund you the interest you paid. And for payday loans, that interest was a lot!
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 FCA, the payday loan regulator. That has lists of what a lender should (and 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?
This will depend on your case. 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 loans were “rolled” a lot.
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” but ask for the lot and let the Ombudsman decide what is fair. You don’t have calculate anything for your complaint, just ask for:
- a refund of all interest and charges paid plus statutory interest of 8%;
- “unaffordable” loans to be deleted from your credit record.
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 compensation? There are three steps:
Step one – get the facts
If you already have a list of your loans and how much you repaid a lender you can skip this and go straight to Step Two. You may be able to see your full history on the lender’s website if you can log in, or you may know from your emails, bank statements or even your credit report. If you can see the full history online, take a copy of it in case it later disappears!
To get details of the loans you had, email the lender’s Complaints team (see this list of email addresses) and say:
Some lenders make this step hard. See What to do if a payday lender won’t sent you a Statement of Account if your lender is trying to charge you for this.
If you don’t get a reply within a few weeks, go on to Step two and put in a full complaint.
Step two – ask for a payday loan refund
Email the lender saying you want to complain because you were given unaffordable loans. This can be a simple letter – just tell your story. You don’t need to mention laws or regulations or supply calculations showing why each loan was unaffordable.
Here is a sample letter you can use. Make sure you change it to tell your story because everyone’s case is different!
I have been borrowing more often and the amounts tended to go up. Your loans trapped me into a debt spiral, with the repayment taking so much of my wages that I had to borrow again to cover my next month’s living costs.
For this period my income averaged about £x a month.
[If you have a family, add some details eg We have two small children, both in nappies for much of this period. 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.
[“Bills” includes gas, electric, water, TV, broadband, phone, insurance costs. Put all car and commuting costs under “transport costs”.]
You should have realised from the number of times I rolled loans or borrowed again that my loans that my debt problems were getting worse and it was not responsible to continue to lend to me. [Add more details about how often you borrowed or rolled loans, how the amount 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 would like to ask you to refund the interest and extra charges I paid. The Financial Ombudsman suggests that statutory interest is added to this sort of refund.
[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 month/year. 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:
- “In August 2013, my hours had been cut at work and I was struggling with my normal expenses.”
- “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 and petrol.”
- “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, see How much detail should I put in a payday loan complaint?
Some common changes/additions are:
- If you have a current balance owing to the lender, ask for any collection activity to stop whilst your complaint is being investigated.
- If you have a balance that was sold to a debt collector you still complain to the original lender – they were the one that made the mistake of lending to you – but also tell the debt collector that you are disputing the debt.
- If you only had one or two payday loans from this lender remove the bits about borrowing more often from the sample letter. The more loans you had from the same lender the easier it is to make your case because the lender should have spotted the repeat borrowing. But even one loan could have been unaffordable, especially if it was rolled several times.
If one of the debts was sold to a debt collector, you still complain to the original lender, not the debt collector. If you owe money to the debt collector, also send them an email saying that you are disputing the debt with the original lender – this should prevent any court action whilst your complaint is being considered.
Step three – go to the Financial Ombudsman
If the creditor doesn’t offer you any compensation or they don’t reply within eight weeks or they offer you compensation is too low, the next step is to put in a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman.
Should you give up or go to the 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!
Don’t worry about a lot of the stuff a lender says in a rejection letter, you can still win your case with the Ombudsman. Points to ignore include:
- they relied on what you said on loan applications and you didn’t give the full facts – see lender says I lied for more about this which can sound very threatening;
- you repaid some loans early (so what? this doesn’t prove they were affordable, just that were trying to save interest);
- your borrowing didn’t go up every time (that’s irrelevant – what matters is that you kept borrowing);
- you had a good enough credit score or they didn’t legally have to check your credit record.
If you know how much you paid in interest, this helps you decide if an offer is reasonable or not. Some lenders offer a few hundred pounds to cases which eventually get ten times as much or more from the Ombudsman! People have had large payouts after a complete rejection!
It’s important you get this right. If you are offered a refund on a few loans, don’t accept if you think you paid a lot more than that it interest. Accepting an offer settles your whole complaint – you can’t change your mind later.
If you aren’t sure, you could ask in the comments below. Or put in a complaint to the Ombudsman and let them decide.
We have never seen a case where the Ombudsman offers nothing or less than what a lender offered, so don’t worry that you will “lose” this lender’s offer.
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 your complaint to the FO
Putting in a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman is easy. In 2017, Caroline Wayman, the Chief Ombudsman, has said this about these sorts of affordability complaints:
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.
One reader said, “They couldn’t be any nicer.” See their website which explains the different ways you can Complain to the Ombudsman. I like the “do it online” option – that takes you through the complaint step by step and lets you attach other information, such as the reply you have had from the lender.
If you complained to the lender online, you can copy out information from the complaint that went to the lender. You could add some more details, for example if you disagree with what the lender replied to you. You can attach a list of your loans. If you don’t the Ombudsman can get it from the 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 what an irresponsible lending complaint was at that time. So just explain this and say how and when you found out that an affordability complaint was possible (a friend sent me a link about this, I saw someone mention it on Facebook, whatever.)
Put in a separate complaint about each lender. You don’t have to wait and send them all together. In the later ones, just add in a sentence such as “I have already put in a complaint to the FO about xxxx on dd/mm”.
The Ombudsman may ask to see some bank statements and your current credit report. If you don’t have your old bank statements, ask the Ombudsman, as they may be able to get them for free.
A few problem cases
- Don’t try to get a refund if you are bankrupt now or have been bankrupt in the past – any refund will go to the Official Receiver, not you.
- It’s not worth bothering if you are in an IVA as refunds will go to your IVA firm not to you.
- Don’t apply if you are in a DRO, 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.
You don’t need a solicitor or a claims management company. They are expensive and you can make a better claim on your own than they can. A good claim involves telling your own story, not sending a standard letter!
Do check out the Comments below – you could ask a question there. Reading other people’s experiences can be very helpful. The comments are split into pages – use the “older comments” and “newer comments” buttons at the bottom to read them all.
EXTRA RESOURCES
Payday lenders’ email addresses for complaints
If you have an outstanding balance Will the lender write it off?
Ombudsman says can consider complaints about loans over 6 years old
ARTICLES ON INDIVIDUAL LENDERS
Wonga – Quick Quid (& Pounds To Pocket) – Payday UK (& Payday Express & The Money Shop)
Lee says
Just had my first Final response back from one of my payday companies I have complained about, which is payday express. They have given me their final response rejecting my claim in full in just over 3 weeks after lodged my inital compliant.
Question is do I still have to wait the full 8 weeks or can I take this to the Ombudsman now?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
After a Final Response you can go straight to the ombudsman – good luck!
kelly says
Thank you for this site Sara, it has changed my life. Just had final response on my last complaint from the ombudsman going in my favour in regards to Pduk!! 4 complaints with Pduk, lending stream, p2p and qq all in my favour with a total of just over £6.5k being refunded in total! And I couldn’t have done it without this site!
Josh says
Hi, Just found this site and wanted to know weather you think I would have a case hive worked out my loans (Below) for my bank stamens. and am just gong through what was repaid when, I know many where extended and loans taken out to pay off previous loans.as well as multiple at a time They are all from sunny .
There also have been other lenders used although to a far less extent.
may wage always varies each month quote a lot so some times I would have high disposable income and others not but I would always have to estimate this.
My credit file has always been very poor with defaults and CCJ’s on it,
what would my next step be ,and do you think I would have a case?
I still have loans outstanding
2015
15th june 200
16th june 200
19th june 100
19th oct 350
26 oct 100
17th nov 100
19th nov 100
2016
25 jan 50
17th feb 200
10 mar 300
11 april 150
20 april 200
25 July 200
19 Aug 300
22 aug 300
19 sep 150
10 oct 500
8 nov 200
2017
17 jan 150
6 feb 150
13 feb 250
1 mar 300
13 mar 850
4 april 100
13 april 300
15 may 50
22 may 350
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is a lot of borrowing, definitely make a complaint and take to the Ombudsman unless you get a reasonable offer.
re the outstanding loans – cancel any CPA with your bank and tell Sunny you would like a repayment plan for these.
Mike says
Sorry to repost this but believe it may have been missed.
Hello everyone,
I am in the first stages of attempting to claim these payday refunds.
I have just received a response from Kapama for which I had a Mini Credit account. Here is their response;
I have looked on our systems with the information you have provided and cannot find an account that we own for you.
In 2014 Kapama Limited purchased some but not all Mini Credit accounts and it would appear that yours was not one of these. It is likely if they were paid off or active prior to 2011 we would not have purchased these.
We can only deal with complaints on accounts that we own and I am sorry we are unable to assist you further. You may be able to get resolution if you contact the original loan provider – I would suggest a Google search as we hold no information on them.
Has anyone experienced the same issue or offer any advice?
The majority of my loans from them were from 2011 to 2013.
Thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes a few people have had this. If Kapama didn’t buy your account, you won’t get a refund from them. Mini Credit has ceased trading. I believe it is still in administration but when someone a few months ago asked the FOS they were told “I heard from the FOS today, they spoke to the administrator of the business who said it was exceptionally unlikely that any funds would be left from the unwinding of the business to make any redress payments.”
Mike says
I have just found a random ombudsman finding http://www.ombudsman-decisions.org.uk/viewPDF.aspx?FileID=20264 that states ” refund the payments Mrs J had made to each of the loans, along with interest at 8% simple per year from the date of each payment until the date of settlement”.
The majority of my loans were from 2010 to 2013. I had initially calculated the 8% interest simply on the interest payment I had made and not yearly.
My question is would the 8% interest be on the original interest payment of say £100 (£8) per year £8+£8+£8 etc. Or would it be accumulating each year, £8, £8.64, £9.33, £10.07 etc?
Thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is £8 per year – that is simple interest. You don’t get interest on the interest – that would be compound interest.
Mike says
Thank you Sara,
This is a great site and I appreciate your help. :-)
Steve says
Hi Sara,
I received an offer of £2500 including %8 from SUNNY today via my adjudicator,he ruled that of 21 loans 6-21 were unaffordable,the 1 st loan was running credit,and although I borrowed from this 6 times the adjudicator ruled it was only one loan, he also ruled that two loans taken within a month of one another of £600 and £300 were affordable,even though it was clear I was borrowing more to make payments on these,I know it sounds like sour grapes but the interest I was hoping to receive in refund was £3500 not including any interest added,so I’m wondering would it be worth asking to escalate my complaint to an Ombudsmen,are they likely to see things differently from the Ajudicator without anymore information?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can you give the gaps between the first 6 loans – the time from repaying the last of loan 1 to taking out loan 2 etc
And also how much you borrowed for loans 2,3,4,5,6 ?
And if your credit record got worse over this period ?
C says
Hello all, just wondered if anyone can tell me how long before refunds are in your account?. Payday uk agreed with aujudicator, acceptance form sent off thursday. Wonga agreed with aujudicator yesterday. These are small refunds compared to the refund im hoping to get from quick quid, quick quid have until 28th june to reply to aujudicator. The wonga claim, i had 2 loans from them 1 week apart, aujudicator upheld the last loan so interest is only £45.00….. But thats an extra 45.00 in my pocket. Dont give up even if you think its for a small amount.
Allison says
Hi, just wondered if you can help? Paydayuk had until 20th to reply, how long should I expect before I hear from adjudicator? Also my QQ has until the 27th to reply. Thank you . Allison
Jenna says
Hi c I got my pay day uk payment yesterday I signed the acceptance form with the adjudicator on the 01/06 so just over three weeks
John Smith says
Hi,
I sent an email to PayDayUK on the 31/05/2017 asking for SOA. They responded back to me on the 02/06/2017 saying the following “Saying that they are in no current obligation to provide statement of accounts” but then two hours later they sent another email with the following “Will be investidated with there complaints department, 8 weeks they will have a final response, if not heard back in this time then go to financial ombudsman”
On the 22/06/2017 they came back with a final settlement offer saying the following:
“I can conclude that I am unable to uphold your complaint in full on this occasion. However it appears
that upon completing your loan deposits between 27 November 2012 and 28 February 2014 there were
no further checks done and also between 10 May 2013 and 09 December 2013 your income and
expenditure information indicated the loans were not affordable to you. As a result of this I am upholding
your complaint with regards to your loan deposits between 27 November 2012 and 28 February 2014.
I am willing to offer you a restitution payment of £1,981.90 and remove the loans taken between
27 November 2012 and 28 February 2014 from your credit file in full and final settlement of your
complaint. This offer represents the contractual interest repaid regarding these loan deposits. If you
wish to accept this offer please can you complete and return the enclosed settlement form within
fourteen days of the date of this letter.”
I never got the SOA from them so I am not sure what I actually did pay them over the years? I have got 6 years of statements from my bank today and I can see the money I have paid to paydayuk but when money was coming in from them it does not say if it was paydayuk so i’m sure if this was them or from nother payday company at the time.
Do you think I should accept this offer as Financial Ombudsman may take ages if I go to them and may get offered nothing at all!? Or shall I go back to PayDayUk and ask for SOA?
MH says
Yeah I would still push them for a SOA because how can you be sure that’s a good offer if you don’t know the full loan amounts and interest paid (possibly with extra charges). I would reply saying the above otherwise you will take it to the FOS. As Sara says there has not been a case where it has gone to the FOS and a lower amount has been awarded.
T says
Firstly thank you Sara, thanks to you and your site over the last 9 months my financial situation has improved so dramatically, it’s made a real difference to my life.
I just wanted to pass on some info about credit cards which may be useful if you have more than one card with the same provider.
I good a capital one “credit builder card” it was quickly maxed out and a few months later I applied for another card with them and it was accepted.
Capital one rejected my complaint saying that these types of cards are “credit builder” cards and so considering defaults, past history etc is less important.
The adjudicator agreed with capital one and so I referred to the ombudsman.
The ombudsman partially upheld the complaint, they said their argument for the first card was valid however with the second card it wasn’t. They said that as capital one gave me a second card despite quickly reaching and going over my limit on the first card was wrong and I am due a refund of all interest on the second card.
Please don’t be disheartened if the adjudicator disagrees with you, if you feel strongly then go to the ombudsman.
Anyone out there with 2 cards from the same provider have a look at your statements just before you got your second card. If you were maxed out or incurring fees then you may have grounds for complaint.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Thanks, a useful point which I have added to this article: https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-catalogue-credit-card/
David says
Hi all,
I just wanted to say a massive thank you to Sara and Debt Camel for all of the advice and template letters being available here. As a result, I’ve been successful with a number of complaints against three payday loan companies. As a result, my financial situation has greatly improved, as has my credit rating. Here’s a summary of my situation and the outcome:
I had six loans with Quick Quid (QQ) between March 2011 and October 2013.
I had five loans with Lending Stream (LS) between August 2013 and January 2014.
I had 38 loans with Wonga between May 2010 and July 2014.
Complaint Letters sent via email to all three companies on 11/7/16.
13/7/16. LS deny that loans were unaffordable. Raised FOS complaint the same day.
11/08/16 LS offer £388 to settle the complaint.
26/8/16. QQ deny that loans were unaffordable. Raised FOS complaint the same day.
6/9/16. Wonga apologises for the delay in dealing with the complaint.
28/9/16. Wonga offers to settle for £739.94.
6/10/16 FOS adjudicator decision on Lending Stream complaint, supporting my complaint in relation to three out of the five loans I had with LS. Lending Stream appealed it to the ombudsman.
06/10/16 Wonga offer £700 to settle the complaint.
10/10/16 FOS adjudicator decision on QQ complaint, supporting my complaint in relation to five out of the six loans. QQ appealed it to the ombudsman.
01/12/16 Wonga offer £1,538 to settle the complaint.
6/12/16 FOS adjudicator decision on Wonga complaint, supporting my complaint in relation to 32 out of the 38 loans. Wonga appealed it to go to the ombudsman. I could not provide bank statements in relation to the first six loans as they were so long ago, and so the adjudicator could make no finding in relation to these loans.
18/5/17. Ombudsman makes final decision on LS complaint, supporting my complaint in relation to three out of the five loans (same decision as the adjudicator).
25/5/17. Ombudsman makes final decision on Wonga complaint, supporting my complaint in relation to 32 out of the 38 loans (same decision as the adjudicator).
9/6/17. Ombudsman makes final decision on QQ complaint, supporting my complaint in relation to two out of the five loans (one less loan than the adjudicator’s decision).
9/6/17. LS issue payment of £637.17.
23/6/17. QQ issue payment of £1,454.99.
23/6/17. Wonga confirms payment amount will be £2,962.49.
Neil says
Hi David,
Thanks for sharing your info.
My situation seems to be identical to yours at the start with the amount of loans. (28 to Wonga, 18 to Piggy Bank, 13 to PDUK, 4 to Lending Stream, 6 to Quick Quid)
What would be your advise? Im up to the stage of sending them letters for first complaint. It looks as thought this could take a year to come through?
Thanks!
Neil
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Many more recent complaints are going through quite a bit faster than that, assuming you don’t have loans over 6 years old?
Neil says
Hi Sara,
Most of my loans are from 2014 onwards. I did have loans previous to this but at the time i had a different email address that i no longer have access to and bank account. So i cannot see any loans before 2014.
Thanks,
Neil
Craig says
Hello everyone,
Im just wondering if anyone has found themselves in the same situation as me. to save you all the back log story my complaint with Wonga went to the ombudsman. Who agreed that wonga should pay more than they originally offered on more loans. I then got a email stating that Wonga agree and will comply with the ombudsman, BUT wonga stated that the final loan was Redressed and should be deducted from my claim. I sent the original Redressed email to the adjudicator from wonga that states I must not make payments on the final loan and will be refunded if I have made any payments, but now they want it back????. Sadly the adjudicator has agreed that it is fair for them to deduct it. I think im just going to accept this very low offer as this has been going on since February. Any advice would be most welcome thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
First of all is this still at the adjudicator level? Or has it gone to an Ombudsman?
Your final loan – was this written off by Wonga a while ago? If it was, do you remember how much you borrowed? Whether you had made any payments to it? How much was written off?
What they are suggesting will sometimes be fair, but sometimes definitely not, it depends on the numbers … well worth checking on.
Pimmie says
Well my WDA story continues.
Filed complaint requesting statements of account on 8th February 2017
I had 23 loans from Sept 2011 – July 2015 – on 7th March 2017 they offered me £751 interest for 2 loans.
I rejected and same day referred to FOS – case was picked up by an adjudicator who found in my favour for loans 5 to 23 with 8% simple interest added and clearing of my credit file. This was on 13th June – he gave WDA till tomorrow to respond. They’ve come back today disagreeing and offering 6 loans. I’ve rejected and asked for it to be passed to Ombudsman- my adjudicator thinks I’ve got a good case.
Anyone any idea how long it takes for Ombudsman to pick up & decide?
Thanks
Nick says
Ombudsman held decision in my favour for pounds to pocket loans. Any idea how long it takes to get paid?
Louise says
I received this today from my jar and was wondering if it would be really greedy to ask for the 8% added on to this or just be grateful for what has been offered. I submitted my complaint on the 30th of May so this only took 4 weeks to resolve
“In light of the above, it is our view that your complaint should be upheld. To put things right, we propose to refund you the interest and charges you have paid on all of your loans in the amount of £461.66. As your last loan remains outstanding to this date, we will reduce its balance to the principal sum you borrowed, £100. This balance will be credited from the proposed refund which would bring the total refundable amount to £361.66.”
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Personally, I think a full refund is a pretty good offer, but it’s up to you. How old are these loans, so how much will the 8% add up to? If you take the case to the Ombudsman 8% is usually added (not always, it’s discretionary) – but the Ombudsman may not include all the loans… in which case you would probably be advised to take Myjar’s offer.
The last loan – have you defaulted on that? You should ask for the default to be removed if this is important to you. If your credit record is pretty much wrecked, it won’t male much of a difference though.
Louise says
Thanks for the reply Sara. The loans are from August 2013 to August 2014. My credit record makes for pretty dire reading so not too bothered about the default
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So the 8%s would add up to about 25% extra. But, as I said, the ombudsman may not order a refund on all loans. Up to you.
Louise says
I think I’ll contact them and ask. They can only say no and as you say a full refund of all loans is a great result. Does anyone know how long it will take for them to pay out?
Natalie says
Hey everyone after great success getting all defaults removed last year I have now applied for a mortgage with Nationwide feeling really anxious anyone got a success story getting low-interest credit/mortgage after pay day loans. Would be great thanks.
Steve says
What sort of figure will Sunny deduct from refund of £2541 that figure includes the 8% interest,don’t want accept a figure then end up with it being drastically reduced.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you mean tax deducted?
Steve says
Yes,how much is it likely to be? :)
Katie says
Do Quick Quid and Pounds to Pocket ever agree with adjudicators findings ? Both cases’ deadlines are up on Wednesday. What are they like recently Sara? Or anyone else who has dealt with them recently. Many thanks
Andy B says
Hi
Thanks to stumbling across this site I put in 4 complaints to lenders my jar(formerly txt loans), wda, quick quid and wonga on 8th May.
Have now heard back from all. WDA responded 2 weeks ago not upholding anything despite having 23 odd loans with them over 3 years. (Interest approx 2k) Quick Quid offered £150 (laughable) for over 100 loans with interest paid well over 5k. Wonga offered 550 for interest paid around 3k and Myjar offered £1446 which is only a couple of hundred under what I paid.
I am going to accept the myjar offer and send the rest to the FOS. Can these all be linked when I phone or do I need to complain individually in regard to the lenders?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Individual complaints to the FOS. But on each one say you have also put in complaints about xxxx.
Andy B says
Thanks for the info. Im sure im in for a bit of a wait considering they are under a fair amount of workload but better waiting than accepting winga and QQ’s terrible offers
Shellbell says
Hi all,
Does anyone know how long lending stream take to pay out? From agreeing with adjudicator? They have 28 days, do they normally take this long?
Thanks!
Steph says
Hi All,
Received an email from my adjudicator today regarding my Sunny (Elevate) loans. She’s found that loans 1-5 were affordable, 6-11 were not and therefore has requested all interest for 6-11 to be refunded.
Anyone have experience with Sunny agreeing to adjudicator decision? Or do they usually push it to ombudsman?
Thanks
Sharon says
They didn’t even reply to my adjudicator so it’s gone to an Ombudsman and I’ve been advised it’s a long wait.
Thanks
John says
Good Morning!
Some of the lenders have got back to me asking for pay-slips and bank statements from 2012! I declined to send these and they have come back with –
“Thank you for providing additional information in regards to your complaint. I am sorry that you felt the need to complain. Please be advised that without all the requested information, we may not be able to fully address your points. As a responsible company, we will do our best to review the complaint in whole with the information you did provide and will provide a full response or update as soon as possible”
What should I reply to this email?
Any help much appreciated
John
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ignore it. The lenders that ask for this stuff (QuickQuid, Uncle Buck) normally just seem to disregard it and don’t make good offers anyway.
There was a horrible example last week where someone had put in their complaint that they had been admitted to hospital with mental health issues – QuickQuid asked him to supply doctor’s evidence about this. As you might guess, he found this distressing, but he sent them the info. They then rejected his complaint and didn’t even refer to his health problems :(
The heart of most people’s complaints is that the lender should have been able to see from the repeated borrowing that you were in trouble. They don’t need any extra info to do this.
Sal says
Dear Sara,
I complained to Wageday Advance a few weeks ago.
This is their reply.
Can you advice me on what to say?
==
Thank you for your recent email regarding your complaint.
Your email suggests that you have only recently been made aware that you are able to complain regarding the affordability of the loans granted to you by Wageday Advance.
Are you able to confirm how you were notified of the fact you could complain regarding the loans granted and when this was?
If I could request this information as soon as possible but by the latest 23 July 2017 to assist in dealing with you complaint promptly.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Just tell them how you found out about affordability complaints. There is no right or wrong answer – did you see it on Facebook, did a friend mention them so you googled to get information, did your brother send you a link etc.
Most people will have realised they were in trouble when they were trapped borrowing each month from a payday lender. But they may have thought it was their fault. And not realised that there were responsible lending rules that the payday lender may have broken – so they didn’t know they could make a complaint before.
Sal says
Fantastic !!
Thank you so much
Darren says
Hi everyone,
I had one loan with Vivus which was outstanding for £400. Had been outstanding since the start of last year.
I complained to them as at the time the loan was taken out I had a lot of financial difficulty. Complaint made start of March.
Today I have received a response from Vivus saying they had sold the debt onto Merligen Investments at the start of the month and I was to take the complaint up with them.
Quick email to Merligen regarding the situation and they have written off the balance due and going to update my credit file.
Hope this is of any use to ones where a complaint was made and then the debt sold elsewhere!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think that should be treated as an oddity. If you had more than one loan from a lender you want the lender to consider ALL the loans they gave. A debt purchaser has NO responsibility for the original irresponsible lending decision.
If a lender refers you to a debt collector, tell the lender you want them to consider all your loans, including the one sold on.
Stefan says
Hi Darren,
First time you complained to Vivus, and after that to Merlingen? Did you have more than one loan with Vivus?
Thanks
Darren says
Sara, Stefan,
That was the only loan I had with Vivus. This was there response
“Please find attached the statement of account that you requested. Please note that the outstanding balance on your vivus loan was sold to Merligen Investments Limited on 9th May 2017. Any further correspondence, including to make a compliant, should be with them. They can be contacted on their customer helpline 0203 126 4544.”
And then Merlingens response after I contacted them.
“Merligen Investments Ltd purchased your account from Vivus Uk on 1st January 2017. We can confirm we have been acting in good faith based on the information we have been provided by Vivus UK. We therefore, have no record of your complaint with them and are unable to comment on their actions regarding the handling of your account.
Taking your concerns into consideration we have taken the decision to close our file and write off this balance as a good will gesture. We have also requested for this to be removed from your credit file. We are sorry for any inconvenience.”