Did your payday loans cost so much when you repaid one you had to keep on borrowing?
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 you still owe money.
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!
Contents
What are “unaffordable” loans?
Was a loan affordable just because you repaid 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 still manage to pay your other bills and debts.
Payday loans are meant to solve a short-term problem. If you kept repaying one then getting another loan soon after, the lender should have stopped lending to you.
If the loan was small and it was the first loan or second loan from a lender, the lender may not have realised the loan was unaffordable for you. But it was irresponsible lending to just carry on giving you more loans.
Many lenders ignore obvious signs of problems such as your loans increasing in size, or borrowing again soon after repayment.
How much compensation can you get?
You don’t have to calculate this. Just ask for a refund from the lender and see what you are offered. This is simple and it works well.
The Financial Ombudsman has seen tens of thousands of payday loan affordability complaints.
A typical decision by the Ombudsman is that the payday lender should refund all the interest you paid interest after the third, fourth or fifth loan.
But if your first loan was large, or was rolled over several times you could get a refund from just one loan.
Which lenders can you get refunds from?
You can complain to lenders that are still in business, even if they are no longer lending. These include:
Lending Stream, Cash Converters, CashASAP, Drafty, Dot Dot, Fast Loan Uk, Fernovo, Fund Ourselves, Kabayan, LoanPig, Mr Lender, Moneyboat, MyKredit, My Finance Club, QuidMarket, Savvy, The Money Platform, WageMe, Wizzcash,
See this email list for payday lenders for a longer list and all the contact details to use.
If the lender has gone into administration, including CashForUNow, Piggybank, Ferratum, Oakam, Safetynet Credit, Tappily:
- make a claim to the administrators – there is normally a simple form for you to complete, see the lender’s website for details – but there will be a time limit for doing this.
- you may not get much cash back but this is very easy to do. A balance may be reduced or cleared even if there is no cash to distribute. And if you win the complaint any negative marks on your credit record will be removed.
It is probably too late to make claims to other lenders who gave up years ago, see this list.
For longer-term loans there are better template letters to use on other pages:
- doorstep lenders and guarantor lenders,
- Loans2Go – the worst loans in Britain!
- 118 Money, Likely Loans, Bamboo, car finance, bank loans and other long-term loans.
Do this before, before you send in a complaint
Doing these things now will make your life easier later.
Get a copy of your TransUnion statutory credit report and keep it. After complaints are started, sometimes loans are deleted and you may want the full report if you later have to go to the Ombudsman.
If you still owe money to the lender, read Will an affordability claim hurt my credit record, and other questions. These looks at your options for stopping paying, the effect on your credit record etc.
If the rest of your finances are difficult, look into a Debt Management Plan (DMP) where you make one affordable payment a month to StepChange. This gets you into a safe financial position as these affordability complaints can take a long time to go through at the Ombudsman. Winning a complaint then speeds up the DMP.
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.
If your loan was sold to a debt collector you complain to the original lender. But also tell the debt collector that you are disputing the debt. It is a good idea to carry on making payments to the debt collector if they are affordable.
Start your complaint & get loan details
Find the lender’s email address for complaints from this list.
Put “AFFORDABILITY COMPLAINT” as the subject of your email:
You should never have given me these unaffordable loans. Paying you each month left me with too little money so I had to keep borrowing 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.]
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.
[delete this sentence if you know what all your loans were.] I know the difficulties your loans have caused me but I no longer have all the loan details. Please send me a list, showing for each loan when it was taken out, how much interest and charges you added, and what I repaid. This will enable me to assess any refund you offer me.
[delete this sentence if none of your loans were sold.]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.
Some ways to improve this
Add any other points that help you describe what happened to you. You don’t need to list the loans – the lenders knows them.
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 weren’t treated fairly while you were borrowing or when you could not make a payment, add a bit about this.
You can attach bank statements if you like, This is a good idea as these show how unaffordable the loans were for you. If you have gambling showing, this helps your complaint, it doesn’t harm it.
I don’t know if many lenders actually read what you send them. I
it’s easy to make these complaints – you don’t need to calculate what refund you should get or quote laws.
Only one loan?
The template refers to multiple loans because that is what normally happens with payday lenders.
When you only had one loan and it was large, read Refunds from large loans and use the template there.
If you only had one loan and it was small, this is going to be a very difficult complaint to win. If you have borrowed once or twice from 5 leaders, that is much more difficult to win an affordability complaint than having 4 or 5 loans from two lenders.
Waiting for a reply from the lender
This email starts your affordability complaint.
They may send the list of loans first and later respond to your complaint. So don’t be surprised if you get sent info on the loans but nothing about your request for a refund.
When you get your loan information, you can send in more details about your complaint if you want. You don’t have to do this, your complaint has already begun and the lender has to reply.
The lender should reply to your complaint within 8 weeks from when you send the email, not when they acknowledge it. Make a note in your diary for 8 weeks time and chase the lender up if you don’t get a reply.
Don’t be surprised if you have to wait until the end of the 8 weeks to get response – this is common.
Send your bank statements or other information?
Some lenders ask you to send them a copy of your credit record, payslips or bank statements.
Credit record – the lender can check your credit record themselves if they want. But you should download a copy of your credit record asap as the Ombudsman will ask for it. Don’t put this off, the sooner you get a report downloaded, the further back it goes which is good.
Don’t send payslips – they won’t help an affordability complaint and the ombudsman never asks for them.
It is a good idea to send bank statements. But think twice about the cost of copying and postage if there are a lot. Some lenders seem to ignore them if you do send them.
Again this is a good point to get those bank statements even if you do not want to send them as they will help an Ombudsman claim a lot. You can get them going back at least 6 years even if the account has been closed.
Lender says No or makes a poor offer
If the lender rejects your complaint or offers you a small amount, don’t be depressed. You may still have a very good case!
It is easy and free to send your case to the Financial Ombudsman where many thousands of people have won their payday loan complaints, despite being rejected by the lender.
Give up?
Some lenders try to make your case sound bad when it isn’t. People have had large amounts refunded after a complete rejection!
Just ignore any of the following comments, they do not mean you have a weak case:
- they relied on your loan applications and you didn’t give accurate 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 – if you only had one or two small loans that is true. But if the loans were large or you kept borrowing, they should have looked more closely;
- your loans are over 6 years old – the Ombudsman will look at these even if the lender says they won’t!
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 by going to the Ombudsman – this doesn’t happen.
Some points to think about:
- if you are offered a refund on only a few loans, don’t accept it if you think the lender should have realised a lot of the other loans were unaffordable;
- an offer to write off your current balance may sound convenient … but it may be very poor if you should get a refund as well;
- 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 on one or two loan cases unless:
- the loan was large. Here is one single loan case that was won even though it was an installment loan and the borrower had a good income. And another single loan 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. When you aren’t sure, send the complaint to FOS. This is easy to do – let FOS make the decision.
How to send a complaint to FOS
Put in a separate complaint about each lender.
Don’t wait until all your lenders have replied before sending the first one to the Ombudsman!
FOS’s “complain online” option is easy and takes you through your complaint step by step.
You can just copy what you said in your complaint to the lender. You can add more details, for example, if you disagree with what the lender replied to you.
If some of your loans were over 6 years ago, tell the Ombudsman when and how you found out about these complaints. For example:
“I knew the loans were causing me difficulty in 2016, but I thought this was my fault for being bad with money. I didn’t find out that the lender should have checked the loans were affordable until June 2022 when my brother told me about these claims/I saw an advert from a claims company on Facebook/I read an article about these claims” – change this so it is right for your case!
Things to attach:
- the reply you have had from the lender.
- bank statements if you have them. Ideally 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 FOS asks for them.
- a copy of your TransUnion Statutory credit report
- a copy of the credit agreements for the loans if you have them. If you don’t, don’t worry, FOS will get them from the lender.
What happens after you have sent a case to FOS
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.
If you are still making payments to the lender, tell the lender you want to reduce these to an affordable amount. This will make waiting for an Ombudsman decision much less stressful for you.
The Financial Ombudsman has a two-stage process. Most cases are settled by the first “adjudicator” stage but about 10% go to the second “Ombudsman” stage.
A few problem cases
Don’t ask for a refund:
- if you are bankrupt now or have been bankrupt in the past – any refund would go to the Official Receiver.
- 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.
- if you are in a DRO now, getting a refund may mean your DRO is cancelled!
More help
You can ask a question in the comments below – you may get a reply from someone who has been in your exact situation.
Don’t use a claims management company. They are expensive and often incompetent. It’s easy to do this yourself and you can ask questions below and get replies from other readers who have done this.
Card & catalogue affordability complaints
Can you get an overdraft refund?
Could a Debt Relief Order help you?
Anissa says
Great information, thanks very much. I had several Payday loans from Quickquid and Wonga in 2012 which were totally unaffordable. Paid one off with the other and so on and so forth. If I apply for a refund using the criteria you have listed, which I believe applies to me, will Quickquid also remove the files from the credit report?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Anissa, if you are given a refund, then the lender is saying the loan should not have been given. On that basis you can also ask them to remove the credit file entry on the basis it would be “unfair” for you to be penalised when you should never have been given a loan.
SJ says
I have so far successfully claimed interest and charges from 4 payday lenders, 2 of which went to FOC and they found in my favour.
A fifth is being looked into by the FOC now and I am fairly confident they will also uphold my complaint.
Give it a try, none of the complaints too longer than 10 weeks to resolve.
Good Luck
rob says
Over the years 2011ish to 2014 I must of had a wonga loan every month most were around 600 some were around 900 I was only on a 1200 a month salary, isit worth filing a claim? I mean it was a sticky situation when one come out I didn’t have enough for the month so had to take another one out and then the cycle began, thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
hi Rob, that sounds as though it’s worth trying to claim. point out that they should have been able to tell from the frequency you had to borrow that you couldn’t really afford to repay the loans.
Alan T says
hi , as i am in possesion of 2 e mails regarding Wonga loans , one from Red castle offering aology on behalf of Wonga for allowing me an “unaffordable loan ” the other from Wonga telling me they had taken my debt back from Red Castle ( debt collectors )and due to there reorganisastion they have written off my debt ! with another apology for inconvenience caused ! youre thoughts ? i also still have a live one for over 600 with QQ and have heard nothing from them for maybee 6 months ?? . i did go on the “merry go round ” involving multiple re>loans to the extent i have no idea when i took these loans or from who , now just about level (except QQ ) i feel that after 6/7 years of hell from these guys i may have grounds for compensastion ,,,,your suggestions may help ,many thanks , Alan
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Alan, taking out one loan to repay another is a typical sign that the first loan was “unaffordable” and it is reasonable to ask for some compensation. So Wonga have written off your outstanding debt – good! But you may have had other loans from them previously that you did repay but which were equally unaffordable… And the same with the other lenders, including QuickQuid. The way to find all the details of how many loans, how large and when, is to write to the lender and ask for the details (Step 1 in this article). If you aren’t sure who the lenders are, could you look back through your bank statements or emails? If you aren’t sure if you had a loan from someone write to them and ask – all you are wasting is a stamp :)
Ian says
Hi All,
I have now had responses from all 11 payday loan companies and all bar one have agreed to my complaints and i have successfully reclaimed £7,628 in interest, charges and compensation!
rob says
Wow that’s alot lol, mines still going through been about 3 and a half weeks so far, how long did yours take?
Ian says
Hi Rob,
My pd loan spiral spanned a five year period, during which i spend most of my time re-loaning to pay another off and basically robbing Peter to pay Paul. The whole issue came to ahead in August 2012 when i lost my job and i couldn’t afford to live never mind make all the repayments. Claiming the refunds has not been an easy ride, i started to build my case back in July and i have only just received the last response.
Eric says
Round about 2000-2010 I had over £2000 of cheques rolling over each month with about 5 lenders, a spend of over £300 per month just to roll them over. Is there a time limit to claim, some of the companies have gone into administration but others still exist. Any help would be appreciated
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Eric, you can’t go back before April 2007. Large numbers of roll-overs is a sign that the loans were not affordable. I would guess it’s unlikely you can get anything back from the lenders who have gone into administration.
Michaela says
I have had numerous loans with wonga and approx 11 other payday loans due to financial difficulties and rolling over loans i have lost my house and i am now living back with my mum and my 9 year old son.. at the end of aug my latest wonga was £580 original loan £450.. my salary pays approx £1200pm i had £1600+ debts a month not including rent and household bills.. i am trying my best to pay them all back as i dont want a default on my credit file for 6 years if possible and going through step change and paying monthly this is what will happen… i am constantly worrying about money.. i wish i hadnt even looked at a payday loan
Sara (Debt Camel) says
There are worse things than a default on your credit record – being able to live free from worry may well be worth it. I suggest talking to StepChange again.
However it may also be worth your trying to claim some compensation as this article suggest!
Paul says
Anyone that has ever had any payday loan that has lead you into money problems I would advise to complain to them.
I had loans with 5 different pay day loan companies (Wonga, Sunny, Mr Lender, Uncle Buck and Pixie) and I had defaulted on them all, it was getting so bad the worry of it was actually starting to make me ill. Then I came across the advice here on Debt Camel and sent am e-mail to each lender.
So far Wonga (£1,400) and Sunny (£900) have both cancelled my debts with them. However, they have not offered me a refund of any charges or intreast. Though to be honest I’m just glad these loans have now gone and I dont have to worry about them.
Mr Lender (£675) agreed to remove all intreast and charges from the loan I had with them, so now I’m only paying back the original £250 I borrowed they have agreed to accept repayments of £10 a month until its cleared.
Uncle Buck and Pixie both rejected my complaints and these are now being dealt with by the Financial Ombudsman.
I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I can now get on with my life
Paul says
Quick update, just got my response back today from Financial Ombudsman regarding my complaints against Pixie and Uncle Buck. FOB has found in my favour and requested debt is wrote off and Im paid back all charges and interest with 8% added. What a result, if they had originally agreed to cancel my debt I would have been happy with that. Now it’s going to cost both companies more :-)
Becky says
I had an email from Wonga last year to say they were writing off my latest debt, which they did & removed from my credit file. I’d made a number of repayments on it already in the months before they emailed me. Could I claim these repayments back? Also, I took a few loans out with them before the one that was written off, which I had managed to pay off after a number of roll overs, these were never mentioned by Wonga when they wrote my final loan off, could I still apply for a refund? Thanks :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Becky, if you to to take out a lot of loans or roll them over a lot, that is probably an indication that they were “unaffordable”, so yes, it’s worth asking for a refund / compensation for those paid off loans and complaining to the Financial Ombudsman if Wonga refuse. It’s not guaranteed to work because the “write off” you have already had will be taken into account but it’s worth a try!
Lesley says
Just have to say a big thank you to Sara,
Had a call from Cash Genie this morning and they are paying £438 into my account by 7pm this evening. Going to try some of the other lenders now, going down the non-affordable route, thank you again x
Tasha says
Hi guys [edited] I’ve a lot of other payday loans in which they couldn’t of checked my credit rating as they would of seen how much I had defaulted on all other payday loans n stuff that I had. However I have since done a debt relief order which is still onngoin now and will complete 12/03/2016 so wondered if I could claim anything back? Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Tasha,
if you are in a DRO then you must NOT try to claim back any compensation, because if it turned out to be a lot you could have your DRO revoked. I know it must be annoying as it was the payday loans which trapped you in debt, but think of your DRO as the ultimate revenge…
TL says
[edited] TL’s comment was long and interesting, covering payday loans and keeping them a secret from your family and partner – you can read it, and her subsequent comment – here https://debtcamel.co.uk/telling-my-partner-about-my-debts/
Menai says
Hi Tl I am in the same situation, my partner and family does not know what i have done and im too scared to tell them. Been living a hell and been carrying a bag of debt letters everywhere with me as im scared of anyone finding them. i have contacted all the payday lenders with my complaint but only have had a reply from two one which is ready to make a decision, cashgenie has paid me a small refund and its impossible to get through to wonga their mailbox is full. all others i have now forwarded to the ombudsman, hope i get result will keep you posted. Good luck to you Tl with your journey. x
Gordon says
Hi, I got in difficulty with payday lenders moving from one to another to make the payments, In the end I started to default on payments on both loans. Both lenders were good enough for me to make affordable repayments which I cannot fault them and I do have to take some responsibility in getting myself in this mess but so do the lenders too. They were getting big bucks for small loans. I have now got sorted financially and now in a much better position. I contacted the lenders and one has already agreed with me as I called them that I am entitled to a refund. How much I don’t know and I am still waiting to hear from the other lender. Please get in touch with them and see if you can get something back.
John says
Hi, I was in the same position as a lot of people here. I wrote down today that I have borrowed from 11 different payday lenders over the course of 2 or 3 years. I only managed to get myself into a healthier financial position by defaulting on them all and trying to get arrangements. to be honest a lot of them haven’t even chased up the debt I owed them but it scares me to think how much interest they will have added on.
At the peak of my financial woes, I was borrowing £800 per month from Cheque Centre and would have to pay them back £1000 on my payday. This would leave me £56 left before any rent, food etc and forced me into getting more payday loans and everything just spiralled out of control. I now have defaults left right and centre on my credit report. I reckon to Cheque centre alone I must have paid £6000 in interest over this period. No other payday loan was as bad as this but the same principal applied.
Do you think that my case would be appropriate to apply for the interest back? I’m not bothered about compensation or the 8% interest. I would just like to get back all interest on the ‘unaffordable payday loans which I reckon must be about £9k or £10k.
Even writing that figure down makes me annoyed/ashamed with myself when I think what I could have done with that money, but I guess I wouldn’t have gotten those payday loans if I weren’t desperate.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi John,
yes! I think you should ask for any outstanding balance to be written off and a refund of any interest, late payment, default or extra charges on the loans that you repaid. From all the lenders – even if one lender was not loaning you an absurd amount they should have been able to see from your credit file that you had major debt problems and any loan would be unaffordable. Good luck!
Tracey says
Hi, I was in a bit of a mess with these loans for about 3 years before managing to sort it out over 2 years ago. I would love to reclaim all of the interest I paid. I was getting a loan from the Cheque Centre every month for at least 3 years. Same as previous poster – once I repaid the loan I had nothing to live off so had to reloan. I had read bad things about this company online re what they do when people don’t pay so I was terrified to default! I was scared they would phone my work too because they once phoned my work as a courtesy call to remind me my loan was due to be repaid on a certain day! I don’t owe them anything as I did pay of all monies borrowed. I also had a lot of loans with The Money Shop. I was taking the maximum out of 750 each month then repaying it with my full wage and having to reloan again. I told them I was in difficulty and I tried to get an instalment loan – at least then I would be paying it off for a set amount of months instead of paying only interest. They said no as I didn’t have a cheque guarantee card. I then complained to head office and they agreed to give me an instalment loan as I was a loyal customer! I have the letter for proof so do you think that would be a good reason for a refund seeing as they acknowledged I used the payday loans over a long period?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Tracey, I think you should be asking for refunds from both Cheque Centre and the Money Shop – the fact you repaid the loans doesn’t mean that they were “affordable!
Timo says
Am just started my 8 week wait .. I’ve done step one asking for information etc I am after a refund of sorts if am lucky Lolz. I took out Wonga payday loans back to back for about 2.5 years from 2012 to October 10th 2014 when they cleared my deep ‘affordable loan’, I ended up maximum amount in debt was £1200 with a payback of £1500 approximately each four weeks which includes top up loans. Had about 30 loans in total with Wonga I believe which I paid with another loan from Wonga till it hit the max.. I hated myself every payday.. With rent normal bills food water can tax .. Young family to pay for …
Cheers Tim.
a g says
I had loans in 2010 and 2013. I sent Wonga an email from my debt management company stating duration and amount owed. I also sent a list of loans extracted from my bank for the last 5 years showing my juggling history. I also sent a list of credit scores I got from credit expert they managed to find ones I paid for years ago. I also asked what affordability was carried out. They could only provide me with my salary, therefore they didn’t take this into account. To cut a long story short they have agreed to pay me £2,000 this is all interest plus 8% and £100 compensation for other complaints against them.
Cash Genie £250.
Text Loan have paid me £1400 so far.
Both cases where concluded after the ombudsman service were involved but they both offered me the compensation before the cases where looked at by an Adjudicator.
I am currently waiting for PaydayUK and Fortress to conclude their investigations for smaller amounts who loaned to me consecutively.
I am hoping to clear as much debt as possible.Good luck everyone. AG
Ag says
Just an update so far PDUK did not uphold my complaint but out of goodwill refunded all interest apart from first loan being £410. Cash genie £250, these creditors agreed and no need to go to ombudsman.
Wonga have refunded £2,200. myjar £1,400 for both of these I did fill online complaint with ombudsman but when they received a request from the Adjudicator they just rolled over and paid up.
Fortress have til 16th November to respond.
M success rate so far is pretty good and this has resolved a massive financial difficulty for me using it all to pay off my stupid debts.
Regards Adrian G
John says
I started the ball rolling yesterday with one of my payday loans. Quickquick quickly sent me loan information and even replied to my complaint within the hour. They have sent me a long response which doesn’t say anything specific about my case. I am not sure what to do next. I feel as though they are trying to bamboozle me with too much information. Any ideas how I should proceed?
[Quick Quid’s very long and uninformative reply deleted]
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi John, I suppose they think if they write enough words you will give up :) I suggest going to the Financial Ombudsman.
TL says
Hi John – Just to let you know, I got the exact same generic email from QQ – word for word. I wrote back to them reiterating the points of my complaint and stating how the points I had originally made were clearly NOT considered neither were the specifics of my complaint mentioned in their generic reply. I then got an email back from a real person within 24hrs stating that they were currently investigating my claim and would have a final response for me within 8 weeks.
Becky says
Hi,
I have just received full details from Wonga regarding all loans I took out with them. I’m in the process of writing a refund complaint for loans which I managed to, but struggled to pay in full. I believe I was affected by affordability issues, but I’m slightly confused as to what I need to ask, am I only entitled to a refund of the charges & interest applied, or is it a refund of the total amount I paid back? I hope this makes sense lol.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Becky, there is nothing written in stone saying what you are entitled to. The cases I have seen where the ombudsman has awarded compensation for “affordability” problems where the loans were repaid, have calculated this as a return of interest and charges added plus statutory interest of 8%. I would suggest this is a sensible thing to ask for for many people. But I don’t know your case – if say you only repaid a Wonga loan by not paying council tax, and then you ended up with bailiffs fees being added, then mention this and ask for compensation for those as well!
If you defaulted on some and Wonga handled this badly then there could be extra compensation for this, but it doesn’t sound as though this is relevant for you.
Jamie says
Hi everyone great article. Today was reading that QQ was refunding people that should not have had loans. I had loans from 2010 with Wonga and Quick Quid until 2013 and was paying a monthly amount to clear the debts off I had my debt cleared by Wonga last year when they were forced to clear peoples debts. I still have debt with Quick Quid that is in default and after checking there site it says anyone due a refund has been contacted by email but I haven’t does that mean I’m not eligible. Over the years they have cost me ridiculous amounts of money and put me in many difficult situations. I started a DRO back in 2010 but was still able to take on debt with the two companies.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you haven’t been contacted by QQ, follow the steps in this post to claim! But your DRO is a complicating factor. If you borrowed after your DRO finished, you can def reclaim for that, no problem. But payday loan borrowing before or during your DRO is more difficult – if you are awarded a large refund, the DRO unit could in theory try to revoke your DRO. Now, 4 years after, this is pretty unlikely but it is a possibility.
Sophie says
Hi All,
After coming across this website and reading the story and peoples comments, I thought I would give a try and so far 1 out of 9 companies have given me a positive response. The one company in particular offered me £90 refund and the outstanding loan of £600 to be completely written off and the details to be removed from my credit file. 5 companies are now investigating and should have a response soon, although I can see it being taken to the full 8 weeks and 3 I have had no response as yet, it has only been 2 days since I started the process!
It is very much worth sticking to it and trying as you never know the response. I certainly didn’t think I would get any response from any of them, so to have £90 refunded and the outstanding one removed completely it was worth contacting them.
All the best guys :)
Sam says
Hi, After reading these comments, I have plucked up the courage to look at all my payday debts over the past 7 years – it has been an upsetting but liberating experience, as I feel like I can see things more clearly than ever before – mental health has been my biggest problem and by doing something constructive in sending letters to reclaim interest etc on these loans, I feel I’m making huge steps forward in my recovery.
Peter says
Hi all. Really excellent advice. Also going through the same process. So if a PDL was deemed to be unaffordable by the lender then will it be removed from your credit report?
Thanks a mil
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Peter, Wonga deleted credit records associated with unaffordable loans. The Ombudsman told Quick Quid to do the same in this case: https://debtcamel.co.uk/quickquid-payday-ombudsman/. That’s why this article suggests that this is part of the compensation you should ask for.
Sam says
Hi, I’d like to share some good news – I contacted MYJAR ( Txt Loan) to request details of my Payday loans with them over the course of a year. They sent me full statements ( FOC) and were excellent in their communication throughout my complaint. I sent a formal complaint by e-mail at the end of October and it has been fully resolved today. I have received the outstanding loan amount written off and a refund of the interest and charges from previous loans. They also updated my default to satisfied, however after I complained to the FOS, they have agreed to remove the default and the information from the CRA files. I am delighted ( this is my first success and I have a long way to go with other complaints but its a start).Thank you to this site, I’m finding a way forward to sort out my financial mess !x
neil says
Hi Sam
your case sounds very much like the one I am planning, did you use the template letter on here when you sent your formal complaint?
Sam says
Hi Neil
Yes I sent a version of the template letter on here – I simply stated that I wanted to raise a formal complaint and then gave two short paragraphs explaining why I was complaining. I asked if any credit checks were undertaken ( if they had I had several defaults, CCJs as well as other payday loans and arrears on various accounts.
I then explained about the length of time I rolled over the loans and was encouraged to borrow more even though I had problems repaying previous loans with them!!
Good Luck with the process and I look forward to watching out for your progress…. Sam
Saleh says
Hi all
I contacted ombudsman and they have successfully made wonga pay back £2200 in interest I have paid them during 2011-2014. I took 28 loans without no affordability checks. I am over the moon.
Elizabeth says
Hi, I wrote to Wonga on 30th October, all I have so far is acknowledgement of my complaint. I reluctantly borrowed £400 from Wonga in 2010 when my sister died suddenly and I had to travel from Scotland to Somerset for her funeral. With interest added the following month I was trapped in a pay back borrow cycle for 46 months. During that time I had to borrow every month and the total borrowed over the time was over £25,000 – and with interest added I paid back over £34,000! When the regulations changed in 2014 I applied for £100 and was refused, yet the previous 46 months I was borrowing £1000 per month, paying back almost £1400 and my wages were £1500. I didn’t know I could ask for statutory interest of 8%, I have asked for refund in interest charged and charges. Should I also ask for statutory interest?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Elizabeth, I don’t think you need to worry about this. If Wonga agree to refund interest and charges they will probably add on statutory interest. If they don’t, then you can ask them to add that. If it goes to the Ombudsman, they will include interest in any award. Best of luck, it is hard to imagine a more clear cut case than you have described. Let us know what happens!
menai says
just had a reply from QQ and Poundstopocket they are clearing my outstanding debt, clear from credit file and refund £150.00 each. so im waiting for the £300 to enter my bank, don’t know when they will pay though. Got the response just before the ombudsman looked at it as I had made a complaint myself since sept.
Pawel says
hi there. I have just been contacted by company who deals with payday loans companies and claims refunds for their customers. I have checked all my bank statements back to November 2010. I have realised that in a past 5 years I have paid back over £45000 to several payday loans companies. From a few months back all my debt are settled but through all these years I’ve been living in massive stress worried about my financial status. My relationship has almost gone and I was thinking of suicide. I know exactly how these people who can’t afford to pay back their debts feels like. There was many occasions where I’ve tried to ask lender to give me more time to pay back the loans I have had with them but all I heard was “theres nothing we can do about your situation as contract has been signed by you and you need to pay back on time otherwise you will face another charge”. All I hope now is I will get the refund that will finally put smile on my face as it’s been gone since I have put myself in this deadly circle. Wish all you people best of luck with your fights against these criminals!!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Pawel, thanks for this comment – it has reminded me to write a post warning about using claims firms! As you have just been contacted, you should be in the “14 day cooling off period”, so if you have signed up with this firm I suggest you cancel, follow the steps in this article and save a lot of money.
dominika says
i just took step 1 as on from 2010 – 2012 payday uk wage day advance sunny and wonga i rolled over my loans from month to month or repay and had to borrow again more just to make few quids for living … i had to change a bank because i couldnt anymore live like that as they was taking all my wage everymonth :( wish me luck :) will keep u update :)
Adami says
I have taken several loans with Payday UK in 2010-2011, following this really useful site I wrote to them, they have replied acknowledging my case and will review my case but have stated in there letter that the next letter will be a final offer letter not up for discussion which I think is odd.
What sort of compensation should I be expecting or accepting without feeling short change by the company. Around that time I had lots of debts and a really poor credit, these companies should have not given us loan. All my loans are now repaid back . This is just an example; if I have taken 200 around 2010-2011 and repaid it back how much should I be expecting and what should I be accepting. I did mention the charges and statutory interest in my letter. Can you advise me roughly how compensation figure is calculated
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Adami, if you took your case that the loans you were given were “unaffordable” to the Financial Ombudsman and the FO agreed, it is likely that the lender would be told to repay you all interest and charges plus statutory interest of 8%. If you have a list of what you borrowed and how much you repaid, then the difference between these figures is the total of interest and charges – if you borrowed £200 and ended up paying £260, then £60 has been added on in interest and charges. If this was 4 years ago, then 8% simple interest on £60 for 4 years would be £19.20.
Christine says
I emailed payday UK over a week ago and so far I have not had a response, should I follow it up by sending a copy by recorded delivery?
Adami says
Christine you can find an email address on PAYDAY UK website and address it to customer relation team is a much better way than sending recorded delivery post.
Just another quick question. Around 2012-2013 I also applied loans from another well known lender whom gave me multiply loans which were repaid one after the other. This company refused me throughout the whole of 2015 telling me to check my credit file but suddenly in last month have given me another loan for a smaller amount 200-300 which I found odd as my credit report is still very poor and I have still financial difficulties. I am fearful of approaching this lender for the compensation for 2012 -2013 loans as they may accuse me giving false information such as really low financial commitment in last month application for the loan? should I approach them or wait till I repay the loan and can I claim for the most recent loan. They did have a clause in the contract on affordability which I did tick to get the loan.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Adami,
1) taking loans you can’t afford makes your financial situation worse, not better. If you feel you can’t manage without borrowing, talk to a debt advisor (Eg StepChange) or get benefits advice from your local Citizens Advice.
2) But the lender is supposed to make proper checks eg on your credit record to make sure you can afford something. Just having a “tick if if you can afford to repay this loan” box on an application isn’t good enough. You probably didn’t really understand what affordable meant before when you ticked it and you were desperate.
3) you don’t have to list the loans you want refunds for. Just say you have had many loans from them and they were unaffordable. I don’t think you have a lot to lose by applying to this lender. All they can do is say No!
Gary says
Hi,
Just wanted to give a quick update on my position. I borrowed repeatedly from many lenders and have the following updates
1) Sunny – repaid £1.5k interest charged without much bother
2) Lending Stream – intiially rejected but escalated to ombudsman and they have offered repaid interest on 3 out of 14 loans totalling £1k
3) Wonga – awaiting response
4) Quick Quid/Pounds to pocket – initially rejected but are now looking into it.
5) Payday – initially rejected but are now looking at in detail. Keep sending me letters delaying response with the next communication due by the end of the year.
It was a relatively simple process and just requires a bit of patience.
Adam says
I have just started to do this.The first I targeted was Quick Quid. I have had 41 loans with them from 2009 to 2015, often rolling over as I couldn’t afford to pay them and increasing in size. The latest one for £1000 is now subjected to a repayment plan.
Just had a response from QQ basically saying they have done everything at their end and my claim is denied, so feeling a little disheartened. How can it be affordable if someone has taken out 41 pay day loans in six years, surely that shows financial reliance on them.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Adam – if you had 41 loans increasing in size it is really hard to imagine that they could have been “affordable”. QQ are just hoping you will give up – go to the Financial Ombudsman!
Paul says
Hi,
Update on my earlier posts, Wonga have today come back to me with an offer this is the offer-
Interest of 8% simple per year has been added to the total redress for each loan from the date the loan was taken out until the date of calculation. Please see the outline below
interest and fees £1187.68
8% interest net £214.14
total settlement £1401.82
tax
8% interest gross £267.67
basic rate tax deduction £53.53
Compensatory interest is subject to income tax at the basic rate under UK tax legislation and, therefore, tax will be deducted at the basic rate of 20% from any payments made to you.
This is confusing me a little, so basically they are paying me 8% interest but then taking 8% off the total amount and also another £53.53 on top of that , so in theory I actually end up with less than they owe me, is this correct?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Paul, They have calculated that you paid interest and fees totaling £1,187 which they are refunding – this was your money so you don’t have to pay tax on this.
They are also paying you 8% simple interest on this refund, which comes to £267, but by law they have to take £53 basic rate tax off this.
So this comes to £1,187 + £267 – £53 = £1,401 which is what they call the “total settlement”.
Paul says
So this is what has happened to me after finding this website in Sept 2015 and complaining to all my payday loan companies
Wonga – One simple e-mail from me and they wrote off £1400 debt and offered me £1401.82 in compensation
Sunny – Wrote my remaining debt of £506 off
Mr Lender – Removed all interest and charges from my debt, I now owe them only the £210 I originally borrowed (using my wonga payout to clear)
Uncle Buck – They rejected my complaint. However, FOB found in my favour. Awaiting offer from Uncle Buck
Pixie – They rejected my complaint. However, FOB found in my favour. Debt cleared and I recieved a £60 payment from Pixie
Wage Day – Rejected by them, also rejected by FOB (very strange but outstaning debt only £190 so using my compo from Wonga to clear it)
This website has changed my life, I was constantly worrying how I was going to make my payments and didnt know what to do and living in fear of my Mrs finding the demand letters. 3 months later all my payday loans are cleared and most have been removed from my credit file, I also have just over £1,000 sat in my account just in time for Christmas which is great as I can now now treat my Mrs and our 4 and 5 year old daughters who are all going to have a great Christmas now. THANK YOU.
p.s. anyone that has ever had a payday loan send a compliant letter/e-mail to them and it will change your life
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Paul, that’s great news! I hope you will forgive me being super-boring and suggesting that you should only spend half of the money in your account and the rest should be the start of an emergency fund… see https://debtcamel.co.uk/emergency-fund-debts/ and think about opening a Credit Union account for it as that will help you get a loan at a non shark rate of interest if you need it in the future.
Paul says
Quick update, uncle buck have just paid me out £134 in compo and wrote off the remaining £80 I still owed them. Also they have removed all trace of the loans from my credit file as have wonga
Steve says
After reading the helpful advice on this site I’ve now contacted the following:
Payday UK, Uncle Buck, Wageday Advance, Quid. co. uk, CFO Loans, The Loan Store and Trusted Quid.
I have a few others I might pursue. I’m in a better financial position now and these loans are historic, but going back through them made me quite angry at how I allowed myself to be exploited, and also how the companies took advantage of my situation. My main complaint is the length of time they allowed me to roll over the loans, the lack of sufficient credit checks that took place (as I had a CCJ and had payment plans in place with multiple DCA’s at the time) and the number of times companies reloaned to me, in most cases days after I had settled previous loans. A clear indication I was struggling with finances.
Uncle Buck in particular allowed me to roll over 3 different loans for 14 months, 7 months and 19 months respectively. They have rebuffed my initial attempts of contact, saying the records do not go back that far 2009 – 2013. I have no sent the letter and spreadsheet showing my detailed workings and listing my complaints to their address via recorded delivery.
Payday UK have responded saying they will investigate.
Wageday Advance is a generic response noting the email has been received.
CFO have responded saying they acted responsibly. It was a pre-emptive strike as I’ve not actually sent them a complaint yet, just asked about the records.
Trusted Quid have sent me the information I asked for within 24 hours.
No response from the others.
I was wondering if anyone has any experience with Payday UK, Uncle Buck and Wageday Advance, as these were the companies I believe I would have strong cases against.
Good luck to everyone else. This site is a fantastic resource.
Christine says
Well done, did you write the first letter asking for details, also I wonder if anyone has had any luck from Quick Quid?
Steve says
I had most of the details from emails, and checking bank statements. I went straight into complaints with some companies and asked for details from ones I felt had better customer service processes. In my experience from the loans some of the companies have good customer service and some are terrible. Uncle Buck I think will be impossible to deal with and expect it will end up with the financial ombudsmen. That suits me fine though as they lent me 800 pounds (in three separate loans), and I paid back over £7000.00 before they allowed me to enter into a payment plan to clear my outstanding balance.
Christine says
I have taken a deep breath and looked through some of my bank statements from a couple of years back, there is evidence that I was robbing Peter to pay Paul as there were often more than one deduction on one day, however I am stumped by a deduction which is on my bank statement as Month End Money and sometimes as mem, not even sure which payday loan company this was, has anyone seen this on their bank statements? I am wondering if it could be Payday Uk?
Gary says
Hi,
Just a quick note to confirm that MEM are part of the Payday UK and Payday Express “family”.
They initially rejected my generic claim but I escalated internally with them evidencing the number of loans. They’ve sent a few lettters saying they are continuing to investigate and will have a full response by the end of December.
This is technically beyond the 8 week mark (original mail sent 30th October) but I’ll hang fire to see what they say.
It really is worth pursuing these and not getting disheartened with initial no-no’s. a bit of perserverance may provided dividends.
Christine says
Thanks, Gary that helps, I have sent the first letter and I am waiting for a response but I now know what all those payments were for! I posted earlier about Quick Quid, it s very confusing.
Good luck and let me know how you get on.
Sam says
Hi there, I’ve just been reading your article – I too had several payday loans with various companies including, Wonga, Moneyshop, PDUK, PaydayExpress (same company as PDUK) and QQ. I pretty much eventually defaulted on all of them and ended up pretty much killing any chance of a credit record at the age of 18-20.
I have literally just contacted The Money Shop who have advised me on the following:
———————————-
Thank you for your email.
In order to receive a copy of your details, please see below for your available options:
1. You can receive a copy of your agreement and a statement of account for a Statutory fee of £1.00 (per item). These will be provided to you within 12 calendar days of us receiving your request and payment.
2. If you would like a copy of all of the data held on your account which identifies you, you are required to pay a Statutory fee of £10.00. This information will be provided to you within 40 calendar days following receipt of the fee.
Your request will need to be sent to us in writing to the following address, together with a cheque or postal order as payment. Alternatively you can visit your local store with the written request and pay by cheque or cash.
——————–
Is the above a) allowed b) would you recommend I do this or ask for them to waive this excessive fee?
Regards
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Sam,
– £1 is the correct statutory fee if you ask for a copy of your agreement under the Consumer Credit Act. You don’t actually need this.
– I haven’t come across anyone charging £1 for a statement of account. This isn’t a statutory charge so far as I am aware. It seems pretty pointless as it will cost them more than £1 to handle a cheque from you – but I guess they are just trying to put you off!
– £10 is the maximum amount that can be charged for access to all your personal data that a company holds.
You really just need a list of your loans (dates, amounts borrowed, amounts repaid). If you can reconstruct this from your own records (emails? bank statements?) then you may be able to manage without anything from them. Otherwise I would probably suggest paying £1 for the statement of account and seeing if that has all the data you need.
Christine says
I sent a copy of my complaint to the CEO of Quick Quid and today I have had an email saying that my complaint has been passed to the final resolution team. Is this good news? has anyone else had anything like this?
Sophie says
Hi Christine
This is normal, this will be the department that will look after the complaint, they will have up to 8 weeks to respond to you.
Christine says
I have now received this See below -any advise please?
Thank you for contacting QuickQuid. The contents of your email were duly noted. We apologise if there was any delay in responding to your complaint.
Your query raised several questions on what loan affordability is based on and what statutory checks are processed before assessing credit approval. Please be advised of the following information in relation to your query:
-We processed a credit check, the search id: {1DED5EED-471A-46D5-8AC3-C7224B4E791C} confirms one of the affordability checks that were ran. You can find additional information on checks by contacting Callcredit which is one of the Credit Reporting Agencies we use.
-We also run various checks, which include but are not limited to, affordability assessment based on current financial commitments, as well as verifying any personal details provided on the application.
-After the application was submitted, we send our customers an email which contains the pre-contractual agreement and also contains a hyperlink that leads to an audio version for your convenience.
-Prior to making a lending decision, your loan application is reviewed and all of the information discussed above is analyzed and taken into consideration.
-Once that information is reviewed, we make a decision and subsequently contact the consumer to advise of the final credit decision.
After careful review of your account and the information you submitted at the time of your application, we have determined that we diligently followed our processes and conducted a credit and affordability assessment on each credit application that was granted. Furthermore, your request for a refund on the charges and fees associated with your loans has been denied
Sophie says
I received the same email, go back and say you disagree etc i believe it is automated email. I replied on the back of the exact same email and got a response saying they were investigating
Good luck!
Jay n says
Hi. I have found this site interesting and as a result have contacted 8 firms I have had pay day loans with and still owe money too. 7 are supposedly investigating. Uncle bucks have refused to uphold as state they did appropriate checks and information held proves this even though I have several defaults and a c c j on my record !
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Jay, I hope you are taking the Uncle Buck complaint to the Ombudsman – unless the defaults and CCJ on your account were old and had been repaid,they would certainly have suggested that you were having trouble repaying your existing credit which should have been a red flag against lending you any more. If you an add to this something about your income and other expenses, showing how you couldn’t repay the payday loan on time and meet your other commitments, then that is the basis of a good “affordability” complaint. Best of luck with this and the other lenders!
Jay says
Hi. Thank you for your reply. They are current credit card debts with defaults from 2012 onwards due to my business failing and being repossessed :(. Thanks for your advise. I believe I have a strong case. My credit report is appalling!!’
Jay says
Hi. I have heard from Mr lender and my jar. My jar will not uphold my complaint and have advised it was my responsibility to control my finances. Mr lender state they carried out a credit check and I had a high credit score with loans wtc paid on time!!!!! Prior to their so called check I had a ccj and several long term defaults. Do I now go to the ombudsman or reply to them
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Go to the Financial Ombudsman!
MJ says
MJ
Can I still apply for compensation if I entered into a hardship plan with QQ? I had 25 loans just with them and in the last 1 I had to give in and admit I couldn’t repay it. I also had quite a few with pounds to pocket, sunny and wonga who I still use, should I try all of these to see if I am due anything back?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi MJ,
QuickQuid – yes you can still apply for compensation, having set up a hardship isn’t a barrier. The fact you managed to repay the previous 24 loans doesn’t mean they were affordable – you probably only managed by taking out a new loan.
Pocket, Sunny, Wonga – also put in complaints about these! But you have to stop borrowing. If you have an existing loan with any of them, don’t repay it if it is going to leave you short of money for the next month – phone up and say you can’t and ask for an arrangement to repay. If you have other debts as well, I suggest you read this https://debtcamel.co.uk/debt-options/ then phone StepChange and talk to them about your complete situation.
MJ says
QQ have responded very quickly basically saying that they do all the correct checks before issuing a loan and if I have any further queries to be in touch, what should I do now?
As regards other loans they were paid this morning.
MJ
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Were QQ replying to Step one in this article? If they were, then send them the Step two letter. If they were replying to the Step two letter, then this is pretty normal, probably no one read it (that’s why they re response was so fast) and you got their standard reply – now put in a complaint to the Ombudsman. There are some stories in the comments on this other article https://debtcamel.co.uk/quickquid-payday-ombudsman/ about QQ.
re the other loans – put in requests for refunds! And no more borrowing… when you are in a hole, you have to stop digging.
MJ says
I’ve had 19 statements emailed through from QQ although my account showed 25 loans, a lot of these statements seem to show me paying off the loans early with little or no interest charged but I don’t think this is true, surely I am charged interest even if the loan is for 1 day.
Pounds to pocket have sent 4 statements with a lot more interest on them.
Do I accept that QQ are being honest and upfront and now see what the ombudsman says?
MJ
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can you check from your bank statements if the figures they have given are correct – not check them all, just one or two that look strange? I would suggest going to the ombudsman anyway, but it may be worth including in the letter to the Ombudsman that you aren’t sure QQ have given you the correct details.
tim says
Hi all.
I would like to say thank you ! It’s worked £2416.75p refunded to myself from wonga .. took the full 8 weeks but they paid. I followed the steps on this website to claiming a full refund of charges & fees and it worked hahaha merry Christmas Wonga, Cheeeeers
Tim
TL says
Hi all – just a quick update on my case… Sunny have denied my refund, Payday UK and QuickQuid were investigating but haven’t responded with a final response within the 8 week time frame and Wonga have accepted responsibility and I have just received £3,800 into my account – the exact amount I owed my partner who paid off my payday loan debt for me. I have now paid him off in full and look forward to starting 2016 debt free! After Christmas I’ll put my case forward to the Ombudsman for the other three lenders, but for now I am very grateful to Sara, as without this post I wouldn’t have even thought of applying for a refund!
Sophie says
Hi All,
So much positive news its wonderful to read. My cases are still on-going, 4 of mine are still within the 8 week time frame but I have been kept up to date with the progress. They don’t say much but just keeping me in the loop. The 8 weeks are up come the beginning of January so im keeping my fingers crossed that I will be debt free for 2016!
I too also agree without this site I wouldn’t have got as far as I have with 10 of mine, im very grateful for Sara for taking the time to post such helpful information. Merry Christmas everyone and I hope all you have a debt free 2016!
xx
Mark Waldron says
I stumbled across this site after a Google search and after tweaking the template letter, I’ve received £611 from Mr Lender and had 3 balances from Lending Stream written off…a total of £727!! Waiting to hear back from others
Thank you DebtCamel
Lily says
Hi,
I’ve sent off “step 1” emails to a number of lenders that I have used in the past, do they have 8 weeks to respond to this part and then another 8 weeks to reply to any “step 2” complaint I subsequently make before I should refer it to the FSO?
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Lily,
the Step One is just so you can “improve” the letter you write in Step Two. People normally get a fairly quick response to the Step One, but if you haven’t had a reply within two weeks, I would go straight to Step Two and include a sentence saying that you are disappointed they didn’t reply to your previous email.
Best of luck, let us know how you get on!
James says
Hi,
I started the process under 8 weeks ago today. Expecting the final decisions over the next 4 days from 3 companies. Just planning ahead for negative responses from them. How and what do I include when I contact the financial ombudsman? Should I include all the statement’s sent from each company? Thanks again and touch wood it doesn’t come to that.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi James, I suggest phoning the FOS, you can put in a complaint online or by post but as Sophie says on the next comment, they are very friendly by phone and they will say what they would like you to send them.
The basis of your complaint is pretty much much your complaint to the company plus any extra facts such as the lender never replied to your complaint / sent you a standard response that ignored most of the points you made / made some errors.
Sophie says
Hi James,
All I did was call them this morning, they had sent a form to me (can get it online too) all they need is a description what you are complaining about etc. Just copy your original letter and tweak it a bit. If you have any statements, that the payday loans have sent you can send these too, as back up. They asked me to send along the final response too, so I also including the first email I had sent just so they can see dates.
I asked how long the process will take, and it can be quite lengthy. Up to 2 weeks upon receipt of your email/complaint to reach an adjudicator then a further 12 weeks to be finalised. The lady I spoke to,had said that 9/10 it doesn’t take that long but they like to give the public realistic timescales.
Good Luck for the next few days, I am hoping that Quick Quid is the only one I have to go to the Financial Ombudsman with.
James says
Thanks for the replies.
Payday express who were meant to be doing a voluntary redress initially failed to contact in any way after they announced in the media they would look to redress. After contacting them they were very good good in getting back in touch. Until yesterday which was the 8 weeks time limit and date they said they would give their final decision. Didn’t receive anything.
Quikquid are up tomorrow. Then uncle buck on Monday.
Thanks again.
Sophie says
I also have one with Payday Express, although I had forgotten about these and it wasn’t till I wrote to Ladder Loans that I received a letter from Payday Express too! it has been communication through the post so you may have something in the next few days if your 8 weeks are up this week.
Be prepared for QuickQuid, it would be interesting to see that response you get as it seems like they are sending out automated replies to people. Mine came through late at night, which made me wonder.
James says
Further update: So I got home today to find 2 letters waiting for me. 1 from Payday Express asking for more time after 8 weeks is up. The other from Unclebuck offering a full and final settlement of £1600. I believe from the loans I have had it should be more in the region of over £4000. Any advice on how to advance would be appreciated again. As they have set a 14 day deadline to accept the offer.
I need to check my bank statements as I don’t believe everything they have posted. They say my loans did not increase in value over time but I beg to diifer. 200, 300, 400, 450(rolled over 4times), 350, 475(Rolled 2 times), 475(rolled 2 times), 300 (rolled 2 times), 300, 450(rolled 5 times), 725(rolled 5 times), 475(rolled 4 times, 700, 750 installments, 850 installments, 850 installments. There offer is for interest of any rolled over loans rolled over more than twice.
[some paragraphs edited]
They go on to say that the loans over 3 years old should be discounted as they are so long ago and I have had ample time to tell UB of any financial difficulties. Also credit checks from back then were less detailed so they were unable to see clearly my level of debt.
No idea what to do with this unclebuck offer, especially with the time limit. Can I point this offer out to the ombudsman with the time limit they gave as I don’t want to end up with nothing.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi James,
About the Payday Express request for more time. I think 8 weeks is plenty – I would go to the Ombudsman now.
About the Uncle Buck “offer”. From what you have said, the pattern of your loans is clearly rising. This says to me that the loans were unaffordable from early on and getting worse. It sounds as though you are more familiar with what actually happened than UB is – I have removed some of the extensive details in your comment.
The point that loans over 3 years ago should be discounted leaves me speechless! If their credit checks weren’t good back then it is their fault, not yours.
It would seem to me to be unlikely that the Financial Ombudsman would decide you should get less money than UB has offered, they may say the UB offer is fair but they could easily say a lot more. But I do understand that saying you won’t accepting an offer of £1,600 seems risky and that it is easy for someone not involved to say the risk is probably small.
Sophie says
Hi All,
Happy New Year to you all,
Just thought I would share an update with you…..
So the 8 week timeframe is this week, so far I have received 2 responses. Wageday advanced and QuickQuid. Wageday agreed to clear my outstanding balance to £0 and repay charges/interest to me with no fuss, just took them the whole 8 weeks.. The response from QuickQuid is not as positive. I had received an email late last night and the context of the email was practically the same as the first response I had received from them. which makes me think it was an automated email hoping that I was going to give up. Well no! As a result I have now spoken with the Financial ombudsman and they are now looking into this for me. They seem really lovely and helpful there but this could take further 2 weeks. Fingers crossed on this one. QuickQuid have been awful through this whole process and I regret ever getting involved with this company
I have one more to get back to me this week, which is Wonga, now I have no outstanding loans with this one but I am trying for compensation etc.
After this week I will only have 3 more left, it should have been 2 but I received a letter a couple of weeks ago from a company that I didn’t even apply to and that they are looking into my complaint. I don’t even remember writing to them :)
Good Luck everyone lets hope to a debt free 2016 x
Christine says
Well done, let me know how you get on with Quick Quid. I am about 3 weeks into the 8 week timeframe and I am getting what appears to be automated responses too. I am also awaiting a response from Payday UK.
Well done on your success with the others!
Jonathan Allan says
See Cash Genie went into administration yesterday. Wonder how that will affect redress?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Jonathen, Cash Genie have been conducting a redress scheme for three “unfair business practices” for a while. But these don’t include unaffordable lending, so I suggest you don’t wait for them to contact you about redress but put in a complaint as this article describes and then go to the Financial Ombudsman if your complaint is rejected.
Sam says
Heres one for you.
So the company I took one particular PDL from was 1monthloan.co.uk which I defaulted on who were absorbed into Elevate Credit International. I rang them today and spoke to a rather helpful guy who took my details and spoke to someone senior. He came back on the phone to advise that due to the many transitions and changes that occurred with the company (there were 2 takeovers i believe) he doesn’t have access to the 1monthloan.co.uk customer details and that his senior wasn’t entirely sure on the process either so has referred it to a collections manager.
With the above in mind, where does my default stand with a company being bought into another and having no relevant details on my particular account – should that be the situation?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Sam, there are two problems with this sort of complaint.
First getting the details of the loans – hopefully you can come up with some proof (old bank statements? emails?) about the loans you were given by them. You can then use this as the basis of your complaint to the company and then to the Financial Ombudsman if your complaint is rejected.
Second who is legally liable to pay the compensation after various takeovers – this you can leave up to the Financial Ombudsman to establish.
Sam says
Thanks Sara, Luckily I have a huge list of emails including emails relating to action being taken against me, all dated along with my original customer reference so will provide this should I not hear anything.
Sophie says
Hello,
So, whilst leaving my last comment Wonga have just emailed me (2 days before the due date) to let me know that my complaint has still not been resolved and they require a further 2 weeks and I should have a reply within that time.
Now, do I wait for the 2 weeks or do I take this straight to the Ombudsman now?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I would go straight to the Ombudsman – 8 weeks is a very long period to have to wait without them asking for extensions!
dominika says
just quick update on my situation :) After finding this site ive made complain to Wagedayadvance, Paydayuk, Wonga, MrLender, Safteynetcredit. Today is excatly 6 weeks after my complain emails was sent so far got just one final response and that is from Mrlender( hate that company they are the worst from the worst ) – of course negative one as it didnt take them long to investigate now case is with FO :) Cant wait to get all replay as am a bit inpatient :) will send update when all companys will give me final responses . All the best to everyone in their ungoing cases and big Thank you to Sara for providing with this link
chris says
Hi all, I sent a refund claim to wonga 8 weeks ago, I have received an email today to say they couldn’t resolve it within the 8 week time frame and they need an extra 2 weeks, is this a good sign or should I now go to the financial ombudsman, I had loans with them a few years ago which I had to roll over and also borrow from other lenders, I had CCJ’s worth £80k plus defaults after the death of both my parents (as I was guarantor), I had to get these loans just to cover food shopping………………
Paul says
Hi. This what Wonga did with me. A werk later they agreed with my compliant and offered my over £1,400 in compo. Got to say of all the payday companies I complained to, Wonga were by far the easiest to deal with
Lesley says
Hiya, Cash Genie paid me the day after sent my email to them, had over £400 back, however pounds to pocket dont think I have a case, so i shall be going back to them. I havent heard from Mr Lender or MyJar, Lending Stream or Monkey Dosh but they still have time, I am about to contact Piggybank and Uncle Buck next and the Ferratum, what do we get ourselves into ay, good luck, keep going, I’m sure you will get some of it back xx
Lily says
Hi all,
Quick update…..having sent step 1 information requests to a number of lenders I’ve used in the past I’ve had:
QQ – generic email stating we credit checked and did everything right, so have gone back to them detailing the contents of my credit report at the time of loaning and reloaning again and again and stating that they hadn’t answered most of my points. Awaiting a further response.
My Jar/Txt loan – quoted the information I had included in my application and that they credit checked therefore no viable complaint. I’ve sent them the info from my credit report which shows why they were not affordable. Awaiting their reply
Payday UK – came home to a letter stating they were investigating my complaint and would endeavour to send a final response within 4 weeks.
Wonga – by far my most utilised lender and I’m awaiting anything from them other than the standard we have received your email.
Must admit I’m a little surprised that simply requesting information has them all automatically responding in relation to my “complaint”. I hadn’t actually complained yet!!
Chris T says
Hi I have been in touch with quick quid as I had 8 loans from 2011-2013. They have said they have contacted 4000 customers who were affected and I wasn’t one of them. I have now gone to the ombudsman. They have also sent me a generic email rejecting my claim. Will I still get a refund now that I hsve gone to the ombuddman
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Chris, QQ have paid some redress to a limited number of customers. Even though you weren’t one of them you may still have a good – or even excellent! – case for a refund. And their standard rejection letter means nothing at all. Well done on going to the Ombudsman, come back and let us know what the Ombudsman decides.
John says
Not been on for a while but thought I better provide an update. I have sent off claims to various different companies. Got a full and final settlement offer from the Cheque Centre yesterday. They have offered me a refund of just over £7200. I was originally claiming just around £8000. I have decided to take their offer. They agreed with my complaint that the loans were unaffordable and they looked back at my bank statements I had provided them with (which they asked for at the time to approve the loans). They admitted my statements showed payments going to DCA’s, other payday lenders and bank charges and have advised me they should have done more at the time to see if I could afford the loans. I am excited to see what other lenders have to say now.
Mark says
Hi John, I too used the Cheque center every month. Taking the maximum amount of £1000 and paying £1300 back, every month for nearly 2 years! Sickening i know but so easy to get trapped.
I emailed them on Friday and the reply was
‘I am very sorry to learn that you have been dissatisfied with the service we have provided and can confirm that we will be conducting a thorough investigation into your concerns. Once we have completed this, we will write to you again.’
What was your process and how long did it take as i plan to clear my existing debts and finally be debt free for the first time in forever.
John says
Sorry Mark. Was just looking back over previous posts and realised I never answered you.
I sent the Cheque Centre a letter to their head office asking for all details of my loans but they came back asking for £10 postal order as I was asking for data access request. (If you have your paperwork you can skip this stage and if you don’t have paperwork it is probably best just to send them the £10 to save time as the most likely will ask you for it anyway. It took them about 2 weeks to send this info. I then sent my Complaint (stage 2) and they sent me a letter acknowledging my complaint. 4 weeks into the 8 week period they have for dealing with my conplaint, they sent a holding letter advising they were still looking at my complaint. I think it was around about 6 weeks they sent their full and final offer. I accepted their offer and they have now issued me with a Cheque which I am just waiting on to clear in my bank.
I found the Data Access Request to be very useful as they send everything including any notes they have on file for you which actually added weight to my complaint, as there were even notes on my record saying that they called me and left a voicemail to say that “I still had £200 left to top up etc if I wanted to”!!
Good luck!!
Wayne says
Feeling Hopeful
Back in 2012 having seeing adverts for Wonga on TV I decided to take out a loan from them !!! Funds was tight at the time and overtime had been reduced at work, however I need some money to repair an expensive repair on my car. My bank had refused me, also my credit cards were at a maximum, my only option was to try a Payday loan. I had convinced myself I would get the overtime to pay it back. On Feb 13 I borrowed just £300 from Wonga, this led to a incredible £21000 + interest over 4 years borrowing from 7 lenders
Quickquid £5596 – Wonga £5475 – PoundstoPocket £3516 – MyJar £3325 – Payday Express/PDUK £2144 – Lendingstream £539 – Mr Lender £300
Wanting to keep my credit rating clean I’ve struggled for 4 years, It’s been most stressful period of my 47y life. In October 2015 I had to give up and defaulted on several accounts. If I could have borrowed the initial £300 over a longer period I would be in a far better situation now. Moving on I have reduced my monthly debt payments from just under £1000 to £121 per month , all interest and charges stopped.
My next step is to claim back all the interest paid to the Payday Loan Sharks and compensation I believe I’m owed. With help from this site, it has given me the confidence I need to claim all the money back I paid, ie interest and charges,
I have got all details from my credit report and going straight to Step 2 and writing with my demands, there is sufficient evidence on there that I should have never been offered any loans,if I don’t get the reply I’m after its straight to the Financial Ombudsman. I have nothing to lose …
I will update accordingly. Bring it on..
Wayne says
Update
Have been chexking through some 8000 emails today and its been well worth while :-D I have good documental evidence that sufficient affordability checks weren’t being carried out by any of the payday loan firms, in addition I have evidence encouraging me to borrow more, roll over my loans and even offer me discounts. Also not all my loans have been recorded on my credit report !! So I’m actually looking at a lot more than £20k I thought I borrowed , next step is to get bank statements going back several years .
Sophie says
Hi Guys,
Just wanted to know if anyone has had any success with Ladder loans/Payday express? I still have till the 18th January until my 8 weeks is up, but cannot get hold of them on the phone and they don’t seem to reply to emails. I have only received the 1 letter from them stating that they needed more time, hence the 18th January. I know every case is different but just wanted to see what other peoples experience with these were. :)
James says
Payday Express. They sent timely letters then after 8 weeks asked for more time so it’s with the financial ombudsman now.
Does anyone have any idea how long they can take with my complaint?
Gary says
My advice to anyone would be to stick with it. I’ve had 3 refunds so far (Sunny – £1.5k, Lending Stream £1.1k and Wonga £0.7k).
Possibly could have pushed LS and Wonga for more through the ombudsman.
Currently got QQ/PoundstoPocket and Payday UK/Express with the Ombudsman – both have been diabolical to deal with. Think they are all moves of the dance.