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.
Two special cases:
- if you are still borrowing each month, read Get help to escape from payday loans because you need to do this first.
- 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.
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
If you know your loan details (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. Do make sure you have a copy of the details on your own PC or printed out – lenders have been known to delete credit records and online histories when someone complains!
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 am making a Subject Access Request, asking for 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 you know none of your loans were sold.]
Under GDPR you are not allowed to charge me for this information.
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.
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 8-14 weeks at present.
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.
- 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.
Examples of gambling & payday loan refunds
What to put in an affordability complaint
how long do different payday lenders take?
matt says
Hi
Quickquid would not uphold my complaint as my loans were older than 6 years. I guess its not worth pursuing the case via the ombudsman?
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
no! Send it to the Ombudsman. It will take a while but why give up? The Ombudsman think they should look at these older loans, but QQ are arguing they shouldn’t. Send your complaint in, sit back and wait, and you could get a nice surprise!
neil says
Hi
I have done step 1 to all of the payday lenders I can remember (7) all replied saying they have no record of me. They have asked for email address date of birth national insurance number and previous mobile numbers which I have done to the best of my memory. However they have started along the same questions and now want bank statements showing their ref number. All of my loans were over 3 years ago I don’t bank with the same bank anymore so don’t have access to them. What’s my next action please?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can get your old bank statements from closed accounts, so I think this is your best option.
neil says
Hi
Thanks for that. I have got an answer and loans details from quick quid but they have rejected the claim for it being older than 6 years and that I have taken longer than 3 yeasts to claim. Do I now go through the ombudsman service or is there no point?
Thanks
Neil
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you should go to the Ombudsman. Other firms (Payday UK, Payday Express, The Money Shop, Wageday Advance, 247 Moneybox) are paying out for these loans. The FOS thinks it should be able to consider them. It’s just QQ are still arguing about it… so send in your complaint and settle back for a long wait.
Jessica says
Hi I just wondered if anyone could help me I received an offer from Peachy and accepted it however it did not include the 8% statutory interest. Can I go back to them to ask about the interest as that is what I originally asked them for? I thought the payment they was making to me included the interest automatically but it is just the interest and charges that I paid to Peachy that has been refunded to me. Any advice appreciated, thank you!
Marie says
Hi, i think the 8% statutory interest is only something the financial ombudsman can request off a company and not an offer directly from a payday lender. Hope this helps.
Jessica says
Ok thanks for your reply :) so it is only if you go through the financial Ombudsman that you can receive the 8% interest ?
Eva says
I had 8% statutory interest added automatically with WDA,Payday Express,PAYDAY Uk and My Jar before PAYDAY Express and Payday UK went to the FOS if that helps
Jessica says
Thank you for your reply Eva, yes thanks. I just assumed they all did as Wonga paid it to me but then Peachy didn’t. I thought when you recieved money it had to be added but I am new to this.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Some lenders include it, some don’t.
Jessica says
Thank you Sara and thank you for setting up this site, you have helped me so much, I really appreciate what you have done for people with this website. I see, so it is not something they are required to pay then, just up to the lender if they offer it?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, the Ombudsman will almost always have to say it must be added, but if you settle directly with a lender some don’t.
Jessica says
I complained to the FO regarding 247 Moneybox after being rejected by 247 originally, however 247 Moneybox then contacted me to deal with them directly and have just sent me an offer this morning to refund my interest and charges but this does not include 8% interest. Can I ask them for the interest?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If their offer is a good one, you can say you will accept it if they add the 8% interest.
Jessica says
Thank you Sara I took your advice and 247 Moneybox today agreed to the interest and removal of the loans on my credit file. Peachy got back to me today and declined to add the 8% interest and stated I could not contact the Financial Ombudsman regarding this. Thank you for all your help.
Gosia says
Hi this is what I have received as reply. My question is what is the next step and if the loans account its closed and I paid them off am I not able to claim this back? I paid almost 800 fees for those 2 loans
Thank you for your email.
We acknowledge your concern regarding your credit file. However, we checked and found that your loan accounts [5 numbers] have been passed to Asset Collections & Investigations Limited ta Reconnect.
For further details regarding these loans, we would request you to contact the Asset Collections & Investigations Limited ta Reconnect
Please be informed that you loan accounts [2 numbers] are already closed.
Thank you in advance for your help
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You should reply that you are making an affordability complaint so you want them to answer it as they made the irresponsible elnding decision. Add that you want a refund of the interest you paid on all closed loans and for interest to be removed from any loans where there is a balance outstanding.
If they keep referring to you Asset Collections ask if that is their Final Response as you will be sending the case to the Ombudsman.
Gosia says
Thank you so much for your help!!!! You are great 😊
Eva says
Hi all,
an update on Lending Stream. Original complaint rejected by LS but goodwill offer of £540.70 offer on 2 loans (finally enough 2 from my repayment plan which they denied). Sent to FOS 04/01/18. Case picked up by an adjudicator mid May. Her findings sent to LS 24/5/18 (loan 1 and 4 not upheld, loan 2,3,5 to 11 upheld) with deadline 07/05/18. Today got email from adjudicator that LS agree and offered £2794.84. Acceptance form sent back so now let’s see how long it will take to receive the money. Will keep you updated on this.
UPDATE: I have received my money today 14/06/18. This was the quickest payout ever from a very difficultender who has been awful to seal with.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
what a nice surprise!
Nathan says
What’s fos I’ve had over 50+ loans with lending stream so I mite try hope u don’t mind me asking.
Eva says
FOS is Financial Ombudsman services. You go to them if the lender rejects your complaint or you don’t agree with the lenders offer etc.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Nathan – have you sent Lending Stream a complaint yet? There are template letters in the article above ^^^ that you can use. You need to do this first, you only go to the FOS if the lender says No or gives you a bad offer. Come back here and ask if you aren’t sure!
John Heart says
Hi DebtCamel,
I’m undecided whether to try and claim, how would I go about claiming?
What happens if you filled in affordability checks when applying? Can they still access them? As I cannot remember what my expenditure was 4/5 years ago? and what happens if you weren’t 100% accurate with the affordability checks?
Sorry for all the questions!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You have nothing to lose by claiming except an hour or so of your time. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/ for why it doesn’t matter if your application wasn’t 100% accurate, especially if you kept borrowing from the same lender.
John M says
Hi All,
Pay Day Express finally came back to me today and offered to refund £1500 on top of the £1200 I previously received so I got £2700 out of them in the end.
Now I have Cash Genie who need to reply to me.
Also have Pay Day UK, Wonga and Quick Quid with the FOS.
For all those that are just starting go for it! I was a gambler (been off for over 3 years now) and I thought I wouldn’t get a penny. I have now received £6000+ with my main 3 with FOS. Mine were all over 6 years old so some companies pay out (Pay Day Express, Wage Day Advance, 247 Moneybox and EPDL) while the others that are with FOS are less keen so I will have to wait a while.
Keep trying and keep pushing companies. Some are very helpful, others much less so. All you can do is try and I hope everyone has as much success as me.
I am so grateful to this site. Thank you Sara and I will keep you updated on the remaining 4 I have outstanding now.
Mr and Mrs C says
Well done John M – PD EX came back to you eventually after we commented yesterday
I too have QQ and Wonga with FOS – we may be in for more of a wait here I think.
John M says
I know, it’s mad that they replied the day after our conversation!
I am more than happy to wait for Wonga and Quick Quid. Paid out over £6k in interest for these two and as over 6 years if they eventually give in the 8% interest will be huge as well so worth the wait hopefully.
Pay Day UK gave me a terrible offer which is why that is with FOS so hoping that will get resolved quicker.
How many do you have left before they go to FOS?
Tim says
Hi Sara
I have raised a complaint with lending stream- are you able to advise if it sounds like a good case? Below are the dates I received loans from them
22.10.15, 07.11.15, 26.01.16, 18.08.16, 03.04.17, 23.05.17, 30.06.17, 06.07.17, 10.07.17, 04.08.17, 31.08.17, 19.10.17, 02.11.17, 12.01.18, 03.02.18, 06.02.18, 05.03.18, 04.04.18, 09.04.18 and 13.04.18… the total amount over the 20 loans is about 4K, does the fact that on occasions they gave me 3 loans in the space of a week help my case (£400, £250, £300 all in 1 week). I raised the complaint with them around 5 weeks ago and am yet to hear back but wanted some advice on the strength of the case
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like a good case to me!
Alana says
Hello,
I am starting the process of above and have sent 4 SAR complaint emails to each of the payday lenders. Sunny, PayDayUk, Wonga and Quickquid.
I have read other peoples replies above, and have noticed you are mentioning alot of loan numbers.
I used to take out a loan and then pay it back over 3/ 4 monthly payments, and then another loan etc. with another 4 month payments. etc. Do you count that as two loans? my loans wern’t really high ones. it was like £50, and then maybe £200. It was the interest that caught me out and made every one go to a debt collection agency so that is why i may think i have a small chance?
Was also wondering, when you send to the Financial Ombudsman, would you send all 4 separately to treat each case differently?
name says
Hi Alana
The example you gave would be two different loans. Each time the business advanced you money, it was a different loan.
When you go to the financial ombudsman you complain against each lender rather than for each loan. So one complaint for all of your Sunny loans, another one for all of your PayDayUK loans etc.
Hope this helps!
Mike Biddell says
Hi All,
A few years ago I got into a lot of trouble with payday loans… At it’s worst I had 9 active payday loans in one month which lead to me going into a debt management plan… I was borrowing just to pay back previous loans, continually getting loans from the same lenders time and time again.
My question is, can I still claim on the grounds of unfair treatment/unaffordability even though I went into a debt management plan?
The debt management plan was paid off due a family member helping me… otherwise I think I’d still be paying it now!
Thanks
Mike
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“Can I still claim on the grounds of unfair treatment/unaffordability even though I went into a debt management plan?” YES. The fact you ended up in a DMP shows what a mess you got into!
Neil says
Hi
I’m about to start a complaint with 3 different companies and in the second part about my earnings and expenditures it should seem that the loans are affordable, but I’m sorry to say I’ve had problems with gambling and was just wondering do I fill in all the info and then at the end say that I’ve had a problem with gambling?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes you can do that, or if you don’t want to discuss your gambling with payday lenders, just shorten the template letter so it says the loans were unaffordable and you want a refund of the interest.
marie says
hello this week i sent off complaints to 5 companies on QQ and sunny i had 21 loans between them i borrowed 7,000 and paid back 12,000 i also had loans with WD and every day but cant remember details often over lapped i looked back on bank statments and found that some months i was paying for 4 at same time. often would finish a loan then started another right away this was over a period of 3 years . i also had a few with provident but started around 2006 and 2007 . i got into that trap with them and feel so ashamed i am free of them now . do you think this is a case worth fighting . i have never herd of this type of pay back before came across by accident.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think the payday loan complaints are definitely worth pursuing. The trap you were in was very common – no reason to feel ashamed of it.
Also have a look at whether you could reclaim from Provident, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/refund-doorstep-loans/
Diane says
Hi Sara
Just some advice please, one of my claimes is with payday express, there final response was first loan was lent responsibly 8 were unable to determine, they asked for bank statements which I sent, they said they couldn’t use them because my name and address wasn’t on the top of all of them so I sent my case to the ombudsman which hasn’t yet been picked you by a adjudicator , yesterday I got another final letter from them saying first loan lent responsibly next 4 irresponsibly and next 4 unable to determine, my position was the same with them 4 as the 4 before so I don’t want to except there offer ( 1800) which is a good offer but thinking surely the FO would agree to the other 4, I’m willing to wait do you think I’m doing the right thing and do I need to tell them I’m not accepting they know it’s with the FO because my case number is on there response letter
Thank you for all your help
Sara (Debt Camel) says
it would be unusual for the Ombudsman to agree that the first 5 loans weren’t affordable but the later ones were. Its not impossible – perhaps the later loans were a lot smaller? Or you had had a big increase in your income? But as you say your position was the same, then it sounds as though you could get a lot more by waiting for the Ombudsman decison.
I suggest you tell PDE that the offer isn’t good enough and you will wait for the ombudsman decision. And tell the FO that you have rejected PDE’s offer. Good luck!
Marie says
I had a reply off my jar recently stating my first loan of £200 was not affordable and offered a refund of interest but the following 3 loans of £400, £600 and £500 were affordable ( some taken out the same day another one finished). I hope my case will be strong with the ombudsman as they agreed the first one wasn’t affordable…doesn’t make sense.
Diane says
Thank you , I will do that .
James Richards says
Hello – I am in the process of writing to my lenders but wish to leave a few questions here…
1. Is it possible I can claim for unaffordability whilst still making monthly payments to my lenders?
2. Is it mandatory to enter DMP before requesting a refund?
Thanks in advance.
James
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“1. Is it possible I can claim for unaffordability whilst still making monthly payments to my lenders?” yes, but can you afford these monthly payments? If you can, without borrowing any more, are you sure the loans are actually unaffordable? If you can’t, well you can’t carry on borrowing after you lodge a complaint!
“2. Is it mandatory to enter DMP before requesting a refund?” no. But you need to get your finances into a safe position, where you can manage for the months it can take to sort out these claims. Otherwise you may feel you have to accept a poor offer from a lender when you could have got much more by hanging on and going to the Ombudsman.
gavp says
I had 36 loans over 3 years with Wonga totalling £9600 and 8 with Pounds to Pockets totalling £7000 over the same period, basically paying one back and taking out another do I have a case and how much realistically would I get back please? Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This sounds like a LOT of borrowing so it should be a strong case. It isn’t possible to guess how much interest you paid from those figures but each claim must be for thousands.
Gavp says
Ive had my credit report and also borrowed £2600 from myjar over 12 different loans and £1600 from Sunny all over the same period as above is it worth writing to all of them?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes!
Joe B says
Hello and good morning to you all.
Can anyone help please?
Case against payday express has now been upheld by Ombudsman after adjudicator als upheld the case, sent my acceptance form to ombudsman yesterday, told to wait for Payday express now who will make a settlement offer in 4-8 weeks? Is this correct and does anyone have any experience of how quick payday express make a settlement offer? Many thanks in advance for your replies
Joe B
Eva says
After I accepted it took 27 days put of 28 to receive the money
Paul says
Hi joe
I’m on day 24/28 for pduk and 23/28 for pdexpress refund from ombudsman acceptance. Still not received either.
Soph did u receive yours from pduk
Kaz says
FYI – Im on 24/28 for payday express. anyone get theirs sooner?
Soph says
Hi Paul, no still not received I’m day 25. I chased again yesterday and had an email advising it will be processed on the 18th June (day 28) and to allow a further 5 days after that for it to clear in my account despite being assured previously it would be with me no later than the 18th June. I have asked them to ensure it is sent via faster payment so that it is in my account by the 18th as they have previously assured me it would be. Feel like they are just taking the mickey! They are fast enough to hand out these unaffordable loans and to chase you 20 times a day if you miss a payment but it’s a completely different story when it comes to processing the refunds. Rant over :)
Eva says
I called them every other day but didn’t make any difference. They said it will be 28 days as per usual and it is same day transfer. And it was day 28 for me. No notification or email that payment was transferred. So just keep checking around day 27
Soph says
Thank you, will do. I’ll let you all know when it lands in my account
Sam says
I found this website of yours Sara and decided to start compiling my data together, between 2014 and 2017 I had 86 loans or top ups with Wonga, 9 with Quickquid and 17 with Sunny, I got into a terrible state having to borrow from multiple lenders sometimes to cover interests and such, I have received my statement back from Quickquid, but am still waiting for the emails back from Sunny and Wonga, I have a list of all the loans paid into my account from my bank statement from these companies, is this information enough to start my complaint with Wonga and Sunny with just my statement? Or do I need information of interest etc as well? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is a lot of borrowing! I think that is plenty to write a good complaint to each of the lenders. You don’t need the interest amounts at this stage.
Helen says
Hello looking for a bit of advice please i have complained to the financials ombudsmen about a pay day loan and they have said it has been passesd in to an adjudicator what does this mean thanks.
Annie says
I got mine at 21 days tho I did chase them every week
Natalie says
I have just had a reply from Mr Lender rejecting my complaint. They have sent a lengthy email to me advising they have not acted irresponsibly and had checked all my income and outgoings with me before I took the loans out and that my credit score of 535 was considered as good at the point of taking the loans out. They have my income of £1050 which was correct at the time but it looks like a massive typing error on my part on my outgoings and I don’t understand how they didn’t pick up on this, most of it is correct but under “Food & Travel” I have wrote a monthly amount of £40 which is very clearly just my travel expensise and not the monthly food/shopping bill.
Because I settled my first small loan before the agreement date they had no concerns in loaning me £1000 over 6 months. They feel they have done nothing wrong? Bare in mind at the time I would have been taking up to 4 other payday loans out at the same time to be able to fund paying them all back.
What are My next steps please, or is that it now?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well you could go straight to the Ombudsmna, but Mr Lender sometimes listen to a reasoned argument so I suggest you go back and say that they should have realised that £40 a month was not a realistic amount for food and travel – that was actually just your travel amount, you don’t know why it was wrong. Also they should also have noticed the other payday loans you had from your credit record. Say you would like a refund on the interest on the second loan (it sounds as though you only had 2?) or you will be going to the FOS.
Natalie says
Thank you, I’ve emailed them back pointing a few things out (the £40 is clearly a mistake) and mentioned that the credit payments were £0 on my expenditure however if they’d have checked my credit report they would have seen the other loans and realised this was wrong. I also think they should have questioned the £40 per month for food. All of the debts I’ve emailed to complain to I actually have outstanding loans with them that are currently with management companies, Is it too much to ask for them to just wipe the outstanding rather than have any form of refund on top? So I can be debt free.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So this is the second loan that you a still owe money on? How much did you borrow and how much (if anything) have you repaid?
Natalie says
I have 3 or 4 with different companies that I still owe money on. I paid Mr lender back in full for the first loan then took this loan out with them.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“Is it too much to ask for them to just wipe the outstanding rather than have any form of refund on top? So I can be debt free.”
I don’t know, if you tell me some numbers I can say what a reasonable request would be. Asking for “too much” will just get a rejection.
So how much did you borrow for the first loan? And how much interest did you pay?
Then what was the gap – the time between repaying that lan and taking out the next one?
The second loan, what did you borrow? How much if anything did you pay?
And what is the current balance?
Dean says
Hi Natalie,
I’m new to this and sent 10 emails of complaints off on Monday. I had a lengthy but quick response from Mr Lender via a PDF letter to my email. Roughly 5 pages long. My letter said exactly the same thing as yours did about my credit score being good/average (which it has never been due to my previous student life) they stated that they are not obliged to check if I had other payday loans. They made me out to be the villain and stated that it was up to me to provide the correct details.
I haven’t sent mine to FOS yet. Was going to do it tomorrow. Let me know how you get on with Mr Lender.
Also Sara….. GREAT WEBSITE!!!
Natalie says
Yes I’ll keep you updated, you too. I’m not really sure how long to leave them to reply to my second email before going to the FOS but that will be my next step.
Kirsty says
If the loans were initially with 2 or more different companies that are now part of the same company (such as QQ and P2P or PDUK, Payday express, month end month and express finance/express finance bromley) should complaints be handled together as 1 complaint or as remain as individual complains?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest putting them in as separate complaints to the lender and also as separate complaints to the ombudsman.
Becky says
Hi, i sent my affordability complaint to all my lenders on the 25/04/2018, all but one replied saying that it was being investigated so my question is do they have 8 weeks from the 25/04 to give me a final response or is the 8 weeks from the time they sent me the email saying it was being investigated? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
8 weeks from 25/04.
Dave says
I just want to give some feedback on what I received since first stumbling upon this site in February.
Mr lender-£700 balance wiped
Sunny-£600 wiped and£300 refund
Wonga-£1800 refund, despite having £1500 wiped during the forbearance review.
Norhway-£340 wiped and £2100 refund
Payday express-£300 refund,only 1 loan
Payday uk-£3600 refund(2009/10)
Provident at fo
Sd Taylor at fo
Lending stream at fo
Uncle buck at fo
Barclaycard ppi (1997) £3100
So if you’re worried about complaining,DONT!!
Keep going!!
Natalie says
How did you get on with Mr Lender they’ve just rejected my initial complaint. I only emailed them 1 week ago.
gavp says
How long from start to finish did it take to get your refunds Dean. Im just about to start the process?
Dine says
Hi Sara
Just looking over my payday express statements, is a extension fee counted same as interest and could that be claimed back, payed quite a few at @ £147 each time
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes it is :)
Diane says
Thank you 😄
Brian says
Hi, I have just found this article and have had some comfort in reading peoples stories as my debt has left me in a poor mental condition. I have taken out a number of payday loans for the past 2 years. I have been a student and started getting payday loans when I found a job at the beginning of my gap year, through this time I was taking out loans and paying them back with ease, until the next year where I started uni again for final year. I had to work less hours than what I did throughout my gap year, however was still saying to payday lenders that I was earning around the same amount as I was using some of my student loans to help pay this off. To help pay various loans off I had to take out other loans which has concluded in a vicious cycle that has gave me payday debts which I am struggling to pay off even with my full time job back. I am just wondering what my options are as I have declared to various companies more income than I was earning and saying that I had less of an expenditure to ensure that I was able to get the loan and not have to default.
Apologies for the long comment, Thanks in advance for any help provided.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Brian – thanks for sharing your story. Many people have also found themselves trapped like this.
The only way out is to stop borrowing! Cancel the CPAs with your bank and tell the lenders you want an affordable payment agreement. If you can only afford £5 a monthly, don’t let them insist that they will only take £30. If you have a lot of lenders you may find this easier if you go to StepChange, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/help-payday-loan/.
Then you can set about sending them all affordability complaints. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/ for the problem that your applications weren’t accurate – if you kept borrowing from the same lender they should have realised this!
Bill says
On Friday I sent notifications to Wonga (48 loans in 20 months) QQ (8 loans with may deferments over 12 months) Quid and Sunny ( 15 loans with deferments over 16 months) and Payday UK & Express (15 Loans over 16 months with deferments ) and finally lending stream (11 loans that was moved in to a payment plan that an advisor initially refused to let me have as an option).
During 2013 I had active loans with all these companies and felt I was literally robbing Peter to pay Paul.
I also took loans with 247Moneybox, TXTLoan and others (15 companies in total over around three and a bit years)
I only had one, two or three loans from these other providers but I feel it would be pertinent to also to request refunds from them as I believe it will be important if these cases go to the financial ombudsman, is this the best thing to do?
Any advice would be appreciated and i will keep the process updated for others as i have found it really helpful to review the experience of others on this site (thanks to those who have shared)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“I only had one, two or three loans from these other providers but I feel it would be pertinent to also to request refunds from them as I believe it will be important if these cases go to the financial ombudsman, is this the best thing to do?”
Whether or not you request refunds from these other lenders will not have any impact on your bigger complaints. You could wait a bit and see how the big ones go? Or just get on with them as they won’t be much work for you?
Bill says
Thanks Sarah,
I think I will move forward t keep everything moving at the same pace.
Tony says
Hi Sara,
I made a complaint against Mr Lender. I received an email in 7 weeks partially upholding my complaint but only offering interest for the last loan (out of 7). I have sent back an email stating that my credit file should have indicated how I was relying on other payday loans at the time and they should have checked this and asking them to include more loans. My question is how long should I wait for a reply before sending to the FOS. Should it still be within the 8 weeks from my original complaint? Or should I give them longer?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think it’s worth giving them a week to reply. Did you say how many you thought they should refund?
Brian says
About a month ago the Financial Ombudsman ruled in my favour against 247 moneybox. This was the final decision from the ombudsman, it was 12th May 2018. They have failed to refund me what was set out in their findings. They never replied to any of the requests barring the information from the outset. I spoke to someone in the Ombudsman office last week and again at the end of the week, but they said they cant get in contact with them.
So does anyone had any advice on what i can do next?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK so it is over the 28 days by a week.
I suggest you email the Chief Operating Officer, Mark Hannay. Try mark@activesecurities.com and mhannay@activesecurities.com – hopefully one of them will work.
Attach a copy of the Ombudsman’s final decision, point out this is legally binding and say you don’t want to have to go to court to enforce it but you will if it’s not paid.
Also make a nuisance of yourself on their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/247moneybox/ and twitter if you have an account https://twitter.com/247Moneybox.
https://debtcamel.co.uk/enforce-financial-ombudsman-decision/ looks at how to go to court but so far no one has needed to do this!
Brian says
Thanks Sara
Joe b says
Good morning
Thank for all your previous replies. I have a question that I’m hoping somebody can answer. Ombudsman have ruled in my favour and I’m waiting for payday express to give me a settlement figure, I’ve worked out the interest I paid and 8% simple which would equate to around 3k, my question is do they offer a decent amount and how long before I would expect to get a settlement figure?
Many Thanks Joe B
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Is the ruling from an adjudicator, or has your case gone to the second “Ombudsman” level?
Joe B says
Hi Sara
The ruling was from the Ombudsman second level.
Many Thanks
Joe B
Sara (Debt Camel) says
In that case I would expect Payday Express to give an accurate calculation. Obviously mistake do sometimes happen, but at this point PDE is not going to try to play games to get away with paying less. They normally take a few weeks to pay. If you aren’t happy with the figure they have calculated, ask them for details and go back to your adjudicator.
Daz says
Hi, I sent off my email to wonga couple weeks ago however have an outstanding loan with them… how do I stop them taking the money while they look into my case? I can’t afford to repay this 👌
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Phone up your bank and say you want to cancel the CPA to Wonga. this is like a direct debit, if you tell the bank to cancel it Wonga can’t raid your bank account.
Marie says
Can i just add when you speak to your bank get a date, a time and who you spoke to. My bank refused to cancel the cpa’s to 4 payday lenders and left me in mortgage arrears. The ombudsman ruled in the banks favour as they denied everything and this was a 2nd level ruling.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Was this a few years ago?
Marie says
No got my ombudsman decision last Thursday
Sara (Debt Camel) says
oh, I am shocked. The banks are supposed to have got much better at handling CPAs, they used to be very difficult back before 2015. I will tell people to make a note of who they speak to in future.
Faye says
14 weeks after sending quite an extensive complaint to FOS (80 loans in the last 7 years – I choose to forget about the ones older than 6 years, as there wasn’t many, to speed the process up) they contacted me to say they were upholding my complaint for every loan in the last six years and would be contacting wonga with their findings to see if they agree. Despite having 2 weeks to respond, the FOS contacted me only one week later saying wonga have agreed the terms and have offered a settlement of £4350 on top of my outstanding balance being written off. I have sent my email agreeing the settlement and they now have 4 weeks to pay it into my account. Three things though:
1. I came across this site by chance – thank you so much for the step by step instructions. I really can’t thank you enough 😁
2. To anyone thinking of doing this – absolutely do it – and if your lender outright says no – escalate it to the FOS
3. Although wonga have been told by FOS they have 4 weeks, what are the chances of it actually taking the full 4 weeks?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is a great refund! It will probably take most of the 4 weeks to arrive.
tom price says
Hi Faye, I like you agreed to a settlement with Wonga,- however be prepared for a long wait on the payout, for me it took 37 days. after the 28 days was up I called them and they said they had a backlog and it would be an additional 14 days. they did not want to be rushed and were a pain in the ass tbh
Nats says
Does anyone know if Northway financial are supposed to reply within 8 weeks like the other lenders? Or is it different as they are a Maltese company?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This page https://debtcamel.co.uk/swift-sterling-pounds-till-payday/ is the best place for questions about Northway.
Daz says
getting there very slowly.
So 6 of the 12 companies have come back to me with the information requested and sadly its very poor viewing and really opening my eyes up.
5 have replied saying they will get back to me in 8 weeks with there decision but not provided the details requested or asked for copies of bank statements.
with the 6 that have replied I have borrowed £12012.37 and paid an extra £4798.24 interest.
this doesn’t even include my biggest ones Wonga who haven’t replied at all and lending stream who haven’t given me the info but have said they are investigating and will get back to me in 8 weeks.
I dread to think what the total amount borrowed is.
Kerry says
After finally resolving my complaint with LS with FOS last month with a refund and accounts cleared and closed I am unbelievably shocked to have received a email from a debt collection agency called Lantern this morning saying my Lending Stream “debt” has been sold to them and that I need to pay it!! Lending Stream really are an awful awful company!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send Lantern an email attaching a copy of the FOS agreement and say you do not owe anything on the debt. Send LS a complaint,telling them you want a letter from them and from Lantern confirming that you no longer owe any money. you could also ask for compensation for the hassle … £100?
PS if you think LS were bad, try dealing with Lantern…
A Younger says
Sent an email to Capital Resolve (debt agency for Liquid Advance) on Saturday regarding 3 loans I had with Liquid Advance ( no longer trading), they have stated that the complaint is nothing to do with them. Surely someone must have details somewhere as I though information was supposed to be kept for a certain period of time and these loans were taken out and cleared 4 years ago.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Were these loans repaid?
A Younger says
Yes all paid in full.
mark says
I got a refund from wonga last july..They paid in a couple of days after me agreeing with them,although it was not not through the FOS.I assume they pay out ASAP so they can close the case before FOS get involved.
Eric says
Good afternoon
I’ve had a final response from Trustedquid who state I only had two loans with these when in fact I had 3, they are missing one between my first and second. Should I respond to them or just take it straight to the FOS?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Go back and tell them. It is always worth pointing out a fact that a lender has got wrong. This could be a good point to say what you would agree to settle for – what were the gaps between the loans? How much did you borrow for each of them? How much interest did you pay? And is the last loan fully repaid?
Lisa says
Hi I’ve been dealing with birthday financial over some payday loans I took out in 2011 I complained back in November 2016 and it took 2 years for them to reply! 10 weeks ago I received an email saying they would review my complaint and get back to me within 8 weeks. I’ve heard nothing back and my emails are being ignored? Any advice? Xx
Lisa says
Oops I meant northway financial (predictive text)