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?
Katy says
Hi, I’ve only just been told by a friend that it is possible to claim back some interest on pay day loans. I’ve just checked my quick quid account and it says my loans equalled £10,064 over 32 loans. My ex boyfriend had a wonga account and we regularly had to use one to pay the other off. I don’t currently know how much we loaned from wonga though. Is there any chance someone will help me work out how much I could roughly be claiming back? Thanks xx
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You need to look at the total you repaid and take off the total you borrowed – this will give the interest and charges you paid.
You may not get it all back – but with 32 loans you should have a good chance of getting quite a lot! And there may also be an extra 8% interest added on.
But you don’t have to claim for a specific amount – just put in a complaint that your loans were unaffordable, see the letters in this post. it sounds as though you can skip step 1 and go straight to step 2.
Good luck!
Fergie42 says
Well CFO came back today with a very, very long letter rejecting my claim.
I have e-mail trails asking them to stop harassing me and leaving messages with my work colleagues which they did over a period of months.
They agreed to wipe the interest of my last £750 loan which was one of very many loans with them. They claimed to have checked my credit file and there were no CCJ’s and a good score but this is complete garbage.
Off to the FOS now. Anyone had any luck with CFO?
Thanks x
Stuart Davis says
Hi Fergie42
Had dealings with CFO earlier this year. Have to give them credit, it didn’t need escalating to the FOS. They replied with their usual denial letter, I replied stating continual harassment and even pushing their Resolve product (luckily I had kept the old emails). They then offered to clear the defaulted balance but no recompense. I sent one last reply back saying how much interest I had paid back, and they offered £500 within 48 hours. In the bank within 2 days. Probably could have got more through FOS as I rolled over loans for quite some time, but this was the first “try” at a reclaim so I accepted their offer. Good luck
Rob says
Got a final response from Trusted Quid today rejecting my claim. They said all checks carried out.
No refund of interest or any goodwill gesture.
I took out a loan around Jan 2014. Paid off twice and reloaned Feb and Mar 2014. It looks like I made an arrangement to pay off a set amount each month from April until it was paid off in Dec 2014.
Do you think I should leave it or refer it to the Ombudsman?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think if you go to the Ombudsman you may get the interest back on the last loan, possibly the last two if you credit record was very poor when you took the loans out. Plus 8% interest on the refund.
Rach says
hi everyone, an update on my situation, have 4 complaints in with P2P, QQ, PDUK and WDA, only had an acknowledgement from PDUK so far, now in week 4, i am hoping WDA will resolve in the last week as they have done with others, this would be the smallest claim, the other 3 i will wait out even if it goes on for months. PDUK i still have an o/s balance i have worked out that i have paid off the amount i borrowed but cant log into my account to see for sure – they have locked me out – i have emailed them re this but no reply, the next payment is due on monday so i will wait and see whether they take this. Thanks to Sara and the other posters on here feeling positive, Good luck to everyone
Matt S says
Well my 8 weeks are up with Quid today. Was advised by email yesterday that ‘d have a response today and not a day later so now its just the waiting game. Had never realised how impatient a person I am, sitting here refreshing my emails every few minutes..
Matt S says
Well the final response came through 5 minutes ago and I’m very happy to accept their offer.
They were unable to uphold my complaint as they felt the checks they did were proportionate and responsible. But as a gesture of goodwill they are going to repay the difference between what I borrowed (£809.40) and what I repaid (£1416.63), so a refund of £607.23 to be paid back to my bank account. On top of this they are writing off my remaining balance of £213.87
The only thing they haven’t offered is the statutory 8%, however the outstanding balance that they are writing off will probably work out to be more than the statutory interest would have been.
Very happy with this outcome!!
hannah says
QQ update
The adjudicator upheld my complaint with QQ 2 weeks ago. They orignially only offered £150!
They have today made me an offer in agreement with the adjudicator recommendations and asked for my bank details to make payment
So happy :)
I’ve got to say a huge thank you for all the information on this site, I wouldn’t have had a clue what to do otherwise or even that I could make a complaint. The offer is in excess of 2k so I am delighted with the outcome
I would also like to add that anyone who is apprehensive about going to the FOS – don’t be. They couldn’t have been nicer or more helpful
John C says
Well done Hannah. Fantastic news for you
Do you mind me asking how long was it with the adjudicator before she made a recommendation to QQ? My case has been with the FOS for 5 weeks, 3 weeks with an adjudicator, but not sure how long they are taking to come to a decision and QQ to respond? I spoke to the adjudicator last Monday and she said she was going to recommend to CashEuroNet they refund all my QQ loans from May 2009 (aware there maybe a 6yr issue there) and all of my Pounds to Pocket loans. I’d only asked for the QQ from June 2010, so surprised she was saying further back, and hadn’t even complained about P2P. It’s well over £10k without any 8% added
hannah says
Hi John.
I got a decision after 5 weeks with the adjudicator. 2 weeks for a response to that from QQ who agreed and sent my offer today. I have mithered the adjudicator a little and also informed him of a difficult financial circumstance I have going on at the moment. He kept me informed along the way though so it’s worth ringing for updates
Hope you get a good outcome
Vicki says
That’s great I’m waiting on a response from qq and p2p as the adjudicator was in my favour , hopefully they agree, they have 2 weeks but not sure if its likely they will disagree
mine will total around £4000 if they both agree , it will just be nice to clear all my outstanding debt and start off again
hannah says
Hi Vicki
I was worried that they may disagree. They should have responded by yesterday. They hadn’t so the adjudicator rang them today before referring it to the ombudsman. They apologised for not getting back within the time limit and said the person dealing with my complaint had left the company and no one had read their emails. They agreed to the adjudicator decision right away after that. Sounds like they have a backlog of complaints and a few staffing issues. It will get sorted though even if it’s very frustrating waiting a bit longer
Ppsheepdreamer says
I need some advise please. I took out multiple loans from 2009 to 2013. Most were from qq and wonga. I was taking 3-6 loans per month from each lender to pay off loans from the other lender. I had changed my surname for personal reasons at that time and had 2nd account from qq using my new surname. Also took out multiple loans using this name. I have complained to both lenders and am 3weeks in with the complaint. Qq asked for bank statements and wageslips but i had to close bank account due to their collection practises emptied my account before i woke up on payday. I had £1500 taken out bank on same day at one point and then rent dd and stuff all failed etc. my question is do they need bank statements? Also as i tok out loans in both old and new surnames would this be an issue. I never used old name once i changed it. Wonga and quickquid are the worst in my oppinion as they were very easy to lend without checking. If they checked they would have seen i had 2 accounts with them with loan values more than i could afford.
hannah says
Hi
I changed my name after my loans due to a divorce but both my names are on my credit report. I’m sure they would have seen from their credit checks your full history in both names
Good luck
Kate says
My wonga loan was finally sorted today at week 12 and 4 days .. They upheld what I expected and gave £50 compensation for the delay , £2136 in total . They are now asking customers for an extra week on the 4 weeks. Fingers crossed for a speedy payment.
Thank you to everyone on here for help and advise and special thanks to Sara X
Sara (Debt Camel) says
excellent, I know it’s been so frustrating the waiting… I hope your QQ complaint goes well too.
Kate says
Thank you, they have till Monday to get back to the FOS with information requested. The lady dealing with my case did help to get wonga sorted as think they would have asked for an extra week or two as they have my husband. Just hoping the money doesn’t take too long now to be sent .. Fingers crossed.
Sam says
My complaints with QQ and Sunny are with the Ombedsman now.
Generally how long does a case sit with them before you know if you complaint is upheld ?
hannah says
Mine was 5 weeks from submitting my complaint to hearing that it had been upheld. That was 2 weeks ago and I received an offer yesterday
Good luck
Kath says
The FOS rep working in my case upheld my QQ complaint eight days after receiving my bank statements and credit report. QQ have offered £896 which is roughly 80% of the interest I paid them overall. Very happy with this. I can’t thank Sara enough for setting up this site – I’ve received £1639 from Sunny, and £535 plus write off of £600 outstanding with Lending Stream, both with no FOS involvement. Just Wonga to go – their 12 weeks was up today. Keep going everyone.
Jamie says
Hi guys I filed with the FO, this week against Quick quid, P2P, peachy and different money, I did this via there website, can any one tell me how long it takes them to get in touch ? Or should I off called them as well ??? Also will they all be put with the same adjudicator ?
Donna says
Hi, I made my complaint via email with them and after 2 and a half weeks with no reply I emailed again asking if they had received my complaint. I sent that email 2 days ago and I got a letter in the post off them today asking for some more information.
Jamie says
Wow I’m guessing I’m
Lucky, I’ve had a response from them to day acknowledging they have recieved them, they said they will look at them and get back with in 2 weeks, I’m in no rush now so if and when I’m sucsesful it will be a nice bonus , so fingers crossed I have 4 with them right now and wil be filing against wonga on Monday as they have passed the 8 weeks with out any acknowledgement what so ever !
mark77 says
Hi all, my Sunny complaint upheld without FO involvement, 7 weeks and 3 days. Current 3 loans written off, all interest refunded plus 8%. Thank you Sara!
Matty says
Hi all, anyone getting any responses from Wonga? Week 13 just completely ignoring me now. Lost the plot a bit this morning and sent them the same email 30 times just to see if it prompts anything. Keep getting the whole ‘its been escalated’ rubbish
Annon says
i hadnt heard from them til the last day of the 12 weeks with a settlement offer.
get your complaint to the FO sent out and see who replies first
melly says
Hi All,
I received a reply from MYJAR by email enclosing my account summary info,i have then proceeded with the letter 2 example requesting a refund etc…does anyone else have any success with these or can anyone give me an idea of the timescale im looking at? They are the first lender to respond so far so i’m unsure as to how it goes from here
Nicola says
I received a response( by email ) from MyJar within 5 working days of my complaint and they refunded my interest and 8% within a couple of days.((£1600), though I had to ring them to push them to pay the money into my account.
Jessica says
Wow that’s great news!
Iv written to Myjar I had 69 loans and interest was just under 2k
Also have complaints in with QQ wonga p2p WDA & PDE
I explained I kept having to reloan as I couldn’t afford to pay my bills, included a copy of my wage slip showing my poor pay I’m hoping I get a refund and entries removed
Fingers crossed for you all
Gordon says
MONEY SHOP
Do not give them extra time!!!!
Take straight to the Ombudsman after 8 weeks.
I gave them an extra 6 weeks on top of the 8 and the response was ‘it was your responsibility to not take the loans if they were unaffordable’
They will not even provide a statement of account with the loans on saying that they don’t have to. I really thought they would be a bit more professional.
DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY EXTRA TIME
Fay says
Hi
If you don’t mind me asking, was your complaint regarding cashing cheques through their stores? I am currently on week 13 with them. I must say the people I have been speaking with have been very helpful and have said they can see I was rolling over each month which makes me think I might be in with a chance of a positive outcome. When I spoke with them on Monday they were currently on the 11th Jan and we’re hoping to get to mine next week.
I stupidly gave Wonga additional time for them to not uphold my complaint with so I’m hoping I have done the right thing with money shop!
Aga says
just quick Q has anybody had luck with H@T ? cheque cashing? they sent me an E mail asking to call back but i would like to have evidence in writing , don’t know what to do
Shoo says
Yes I have had success with H&T. They offered to call me a time that was best for me. I emailed back and they called.
I was asked what I would like? Told them as stated in my letter I want charges and interest refunded. They did admit that after 3 rollovers they should have realised that there was an affordability issue. Offered me a random figure to settled which I declined. I asked for the full amount I paid and said I want that back exactly if not I would have to go to FOS. They were polite and listened. It was referred to a senior manager and I got a call the next day offering full amount without statutory interest. I accepted as happy with the amount.
I was a bit scared to call, but they were very understanding.
John says
Hi there,
Thanks for all the advice that you have provided.
I have a question though. When I applied for my loans,for some applications I had to add my expenses and what not, say for example rent, council tax, travel. However I didn’t add any existing payday loan commitments from different lenders. I didn’t see them as credit commitments, I thought credit commitments were just credit cards or personal loans from say a bank? Can I still file a complaint?
Finally, I also went through a spiral of gambling at the time, surely the loan providers should have checked this? Would this prevent me from complaining?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi John, if you missed some expenses such as other payday loans off the application form, the lender won’t have had the right information at the start and so may not have realised at the beginning that the loans were unaffordable… however if you carried on repaying then borrowing again soon afterwards the lender should have realised that you were in trouble.
The same applies about gambling. What you said about your expenses may not have included this, so initially the lender made what seemed like a reasonable decision to lend you money.
The regulator takes the view that lenders should enquire more deeply into a customer’s circumstances for larger credit – so for a mortgage you would have to produce your bank statements and have an hour or two hour interview about the mortgage affordability. The regulator wouldn’t expect a payday lender to do that, it wouldn’t make sense. So there isn’t really a sensible way they could have seen you had gambling problems.
However again the fact that you kept borrowing should have alerted the lender to the fact you did have problems. We have had several people here have their complaint upheld by the Ombudsman with significant gambling showing on their bank statements. I can’t guarantee this will happen with you, but if you had a pattern of repeat borrowing then it’s certainly worth making a complaint.
Sam says
Had my first response with an offer lending stream offered to clear my balance as a sign of goodwill but they say they did all necessary checks so won’t take it off my file. I have responded saying if they take it off my file and refund the interest I paid over the original amount plus 8% as well as clearing the final loan I will accept their offer.
Oli says
Hi all,
Just a little update. To my surprise 247 moneybox have offered to write off my outstanding balance of £360 purely on the back of me requesting a statement of account!
I took out 3 loans with them, paying them off with a credit card and reloaning on the same day for larger amounts. I only actually paid interest of around 30 pound but I suspect they know they lent irresponsibly hence the offer to write off the balance.
Looking forward to hearing from my actual complaints now!
Peter says
I made formal complaint to myjar yesterday morning and they have upheld my complaint today!!! To a degree. They will refund second loan to pay off third loan. They said they should have noticed from the rolling that i was struggling but still said third loan was affordable.
Aga says
Hi Martin!
many thanks for your advice; I sent an e mail to Elevate yesterday ( reg 1 month loan ) and today I received the response that they could not upheld however they will refund all interest 1400; I am so happy !!!
Owen says
That’s exactly what they said to me.
I think it is they are admitting they were in the wrong, with out admitting they were wrong
Owen says
This is a really useful page.
I have already used the advice and sample letters to complain to Wonga, QuickQuid and One Month Loan.
One Month Loan offered a settlement of the full amount of interest paid, Wonga offered a settlement of the interest paid, 8% interest on top of that and removing the loans from my credit file.
QuickQuid on the other hand do not agree with my complaint, even though the loans were the same dates as Wonga and 1ML. I have forwarded my complaint against QuickQuid to the Financial Ombudsman and there adjudicator has advised they pay me the interest paid, 8% interest on top of that and remove the loans from my credit file. All in all, just shy of £3000.
I now have a few other payday lenders to try this with.
kay says
Hi owen, how long did it take for the financial ombudsman to sort quick quid for you? One month loan were really good with me, i got £629 back, but all the others are not agreeing.
Thanks
Nigel says
Hi
I used part of the template letter above and sent it to 247Moneybox on 16/04/16, i’ve borrowed £1560 and repaid so far £1485.32 over a year period going by what they say. although i still owe £466.88. i got a reply 21/04/16 with things like,
“Do be aware that, in our experience, it is likely that any third party mediators you may refer your account to may ask you to repay the difference in order that you have at least repaid the total amount that we have funded to your account” is this true? and also,
“Where you hear comments re: refund entitlement +8% this relates to payments of interest and charges over and above the amount we advanced to your account”.
although they have offered to write off my remaining balance but want me to call them which i’d rather have in writing. where would i stand with FOS on this? any help will be appreciated. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Nigel,
“it is likely that any third party mediators you may refer your account to may ask you to repay the difference in order that you have at least repaid the total amount that we have funded to your account” that is rather a confusing way to word it, but broadly yes, it is right. I am in the middle of a new article about this exact topic, so look out for it!
“Where you hear comments re: refund entitlement +8% this relates to payments of interest and charges over and above the amount we advanced to your account” I think this is more problematic, but in your case where the loan only started a year ago it’s not going to be significant in any case.
” i’ve borrowed £1560 and repaid so far £1485.32 over a year period going by what they say” – I always think it’s worthwhile to try to double check these figures yourself. But assuming they are correct, then their offer to write off your balance sounds a fair one and I doubt you would get more from the Ombudsman.
Steven says
Hi, I’m looking for some advice please. I had loans from both Payday UK (2012-2015) and Payday Express (2010-2012) amongst others and lodged complaints with all lenders around 9 weeks ago. Payday UK didn’t respond at all, and Payday Express have responded but have said that they still havent been able to deal with my complaint about “Payday UK”. and I now have a right to go to the ombudsman.
I was aware that these two companies were somehow linked but my question is do I need to lodge 2 separate complaints with the ombudsman or will one complaint cover both lenders? I noticed that on the ombudsman’s website that it lists them as separate companies – MEM Consumer Finance (Payday UK) and Express Finance Bromley (Payday Express). My confusion comes because Payday Express have responded referring to dealing with my Payday UK complaint. Any advice would be appreciated as I don’t want to delay things by sending the wrong information to the ombudsman.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Steven, I suggest you put in a single complaint but divide it into two parts. If the Ombudsman wants them as two separate complaints, i would guess the same case handler would do them both.
Joe says
Hi David, I originally put my 10 providers on one form and then the case handler got me to give him information on each case individually and opened a new file for each one with the cases for sister companies going to the same adjudicator, so payday express and payday uk ended up with one adjudicator and quickquid and pounds to pocket with another. Futhermore just had cases upheld against mr Lender, payday express and quickquid by the adjudicators and lending stream didn’t agree with the adjudicator but have not provided any other info despite the initial decision being 5 weeks ago. So first case now going to the actual ombudsman!
sophiex says
Hi everyone just a quick update…
My last day of the 8 weeks is up today and so far I have got this without any FO involvement:
My Jar – Refund of £492.91
Lending Stream – Refund of £207.29
Mr Lender – £700 written off
Safety Net – £160 write off
THL – Outstanding balance of £575 reduced to just pay the £200 capital back (haven’t made any payments yet so fair enough)
Wage Me – Wrote £70 off
Savvy.co.uk (Lightning Loans) – Wrote off outstanding balance of £700 and refunded me £20.83
Sunny – Only had 1 loan and refunded me interest back of £90.87
Quid Market – Refund of £447.78 thought I was due about £700 they have written off £150 refunded me £447.78 so thought fair enough
Then the rest:
Next Credit – Refused so has gone to the FO
Peachy.co.uk – Refused so gone to the FO. (Really mad about peachy didn’t realise I had paid £650 as a penalty fee on a £160 loan even though I have emails showing them I am in debt management plan and they still added on interest!!! so defo want this £650 back!!)
CFO – Refused so has gone to the FO
QQ- Refused so with FO
Uncle Buck – Stupidly refused after reloaning 3 years straight nearly and after going into a payment plan with one offered me another loan 3 months after!!!!! so gone to the FO.
Ferratum – Refused to with the FO.
Satsuma – Same as Uncle Buck didn’t pay first loan for weeks and weeks eventually paid it all late then a year late they re lent to me so they refused so gone to the FO.
Cash Float – Refused so gone to the FO
Then!!!!! After 8 weeks being up today I have had emails from the following asking for more time ranging from 4-8 weeks between them all –
Wonga
Wage Day Advance
Payday Express
Payday UK
Donna says
Bit of an update re: Lending Stream and My Jar
My jar were very quick in getting back to me with an offer of writing off my current balance, which given how much I owed and the interest I paid I was happy to accept. They also agreed to remove the entries from my credit record.
I had a notification through from equifax a couple of week later saying there had been a change to my credit record. When I checked it it showed that my ‘My Jar’ account was now settled.
I emailed my jar asking why it had not been removed as this had been the agreement I made with them. They were very quick to get back to me and stayed there had been an error in their reporting to the credit reference agency which they had rectified. ive checked my credit file and it has now gone.
Lesson learnt from that is to check your credit file if a company says they are going to remove any items to make sure they do (apparently it can take up to 30 days to see the change)
Now lending stream
I received an email from them on the 29th March saying they were not upholding my complaint (I posted their reply at the time). I sent them an email asking if this was their final response, no reply. Further email sent on the 5th April saying I was presuming the no reply meant it was their final response and I was referring to the FO. No reply again.
Emailed complaint to FO a day or so later, didn’t hear anything. Sent further email to FO towards the end of last week and received a letter from them a couple of days later acknowledging complaint and asking for further details.
I was about to email them this evening but on opening my emails I saw I had an email from lending stream with the following:
We have looked into the records again and feel we should refund £564.87 as some loans were approved with some procedural errors and feel this would have caused you financial hardship.
The offer they have made is 50% of the interest I have paid, which I think is reasonable and I probably wouldn’t get much more from the FO as I only had 4 loans with them and the FO would probably consider the first one or two loans affordable.
I think I may be cheeky though and ask them to pay the 8% which the FO would add! No harm in trying! Has anyone else done this?
Coops says
Yes I did exactly that and they agreed and processed the refund the next day. No harm in asking!
Aga says
Hi everyone !
Cash Converters sent me a reply.
I had total of 1 personal loan and 12 cash advance loans:
first taken 20/08/11, 03/09/11, 01/10/11, 04/11/11, 03/1211, 24/12/11, 26/01/12, 19/03/12, 20/04/12, 25/05/12, 20/06/12, 19/07/12 and on the 11/07 same month personal loan
I was repaying and taking again; paid interest of more then 2000 .They offered only 197 for the last loan taken on the 19/07/12 only because on the 11/07 I had taken personal loan of 1000; how can I challenge this? : they sent me a list of all loans ( however without interest paid details) every loan explained- ” for example: ” 20/06/12 cash advance for 500 was granted; you submitted new bank statements and wage slips from 2 different employers, the assessment made by Cash converters was that loan was affordable”
Please help
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is a clear pattern of dependency that Cash Converters should have recognised. I think £197 comes into the “very low” category of offer. You could go straight to the Ombudsman or go back to them and say unless they refund all the interest you paid after the third loan plus 8% interest you will be going to the Ombudsman.
Becky says
Hi,
I constantly borrowed from quick quid in a period of two years (2010-2012) each month the debt would just continue to become higher amounts, the interest was ridiculous and I just got myself into so much debt I had to keep borrowing from payday express just to get through the month.
Not at any point did quick quid contact me for an update on my circumstances.. in the end I managed to clear all my debt by taking out one large loan. Do you think its worth putting in for a refund ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Definitely worth a try – there are no guarantees, but repeated borrowing for two years sounds like an excellent case. If you know what the loans were, you can skip the Step One and go straight to Step Two in this article. QQ isn’t helpful when it comes to complaints and this is likely to have to go to the ombudsman, so settle in for a wait…
Danny says
today i was rejected form EPDL i had about 6 loans with them but 1 loan rolled over 5 times , 1 thing they said is they conducted a credit search every time but i have all my credit reports from this era , does anyone know what they would search under as i don’t think they did
thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Danny, they would just have done a standard credit search. Every lender can use their own scoring criteria, so their scores may not have been the same as the ones you saw. We have had lots of reports here from people who say the lender said their score was good enough but they had CCJs and bankruptcy on their files! Perhaps they ran the search but never actually looked at the results? Who knows…
For your complaint, the fact you had borrowed so often from them and rolled loans is a sign you were in trouble that they should have noticed, so it sounds a good case to take to the Ombudsman.
hannah says
The credit search didn’t seem to be a factor in my complaint that was upheld. It was based on repeated borrowing that should have highlighted that I was dependent on the loans to see me through the month if that helps
Dave says
Hi ,
Very mixed from me in terms of refunds etc.
The process has helped me gain a couple of refunds with my jar £250 and safetynet £250 and a smaller one with 1month for £150 all without ombudsman
Peachy rejected by the adjudicator but balance reduced to £70. Basically as the loans were only £100 they were deemed affordable even when rolled over, the only thing the adjudicator did say was that the interest and charges added were high after I defaulted on the loan and told them to reduce the balance as I had benefitted from the loan! I don’t regard this as a loss as such as I have managed to reduce the balance from £300 to £70 and only had 6 loans.
It does however show that decisions really are on an individual basis , good luck guys
WDA has been upheld by adjudicator but they sent it to be checked by the ombudsman,does anyone know how longs this normally takes in there experience??
Still with FO
Quid24
Paydayuk
Payday express
Ferratum
I started this process early January so be prepared for the long haul
Dave says
More details on Peachy:
Basically as the loans were only £100 they were deemed affordable even when rolled over, the only thing the adjudicator did say was that the interest and charges added were high after I defaulted on the loan and told them to reduce the balance as I had benefitted from the loan!
I don’t regard this as a loss as such as I have managed to reduce the balance from £300 to £70 and only had 6 loans.
It does however show that decisions really are on an individual basis , good luck guys
james says
22 loans with wonga alone, dating from 6/12/12 to 19/5/2014… all loans where back to back and intrest totals over £4400 !!! hoping for some good news. already been rejected from mr lender and peachy for less amount of loans but will be taking everything to the fos. is it worth taking them to the fos as soon as i am rejected or when i hear back from all my loan providers ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Go to the FOS as soon as you have a rejection from a lender – they are all treated as individual cases by the Ombudsman (except where you have used two different “brands” of the same company, eg Quick Quid/Pounds To Pocket and PaydayUK/Payday Express) so there is no reason to wait.
Annon says
Just wondering if anyone who’s had there loan details back from wonga can tell me what a interest fee correction charge is?
if you look there is a line that says interest which is self explantory but not to sure about interest fee correction charge and transfer charge,can you add these two thing to your interest to get a total or?can anyone shed any light on this.
In 95% of cases when I look at my statements it’s always £175 and more in most cases, what ever it is adds up to a lot of money.
James says
I didn’t even think of adding in the transfer fee, I’m assuming that’s just a charge for the bacs transfer and the other is your interest, I had 22 loans back to back with over £4400 in interest, the wrote off £1000 of my debt two years ago after me government legislation so I’m hoping after admitting fault there they will do the same here and refund me
Sara (Debt Camel) says
In an example I have seen, the loan was for nearly two months. On the first repayment date there is also a line marked “interest”, on the final repayment there is a line marked “interest fee correction charge”.
This looks to me like Wonga’s calculation of the interest due at the point you settle the whole loan. It may be that if you repay on the exact date you said you would this line is labelled “interest” and the “correction” bit is because the date changed so they redid the calculation.
But whatever the reason is for the label, it looks clearly like an interest charge to me and so should be refunded if the loan is decided to be unaffordable.
hannah says
Just a quick update re QQ
I had my complaint upheld by the adjudicator, 5 weeks from referring it to the FOS. He gave them 2 weeks to respond and on the last day they made me an offer which was in line with what the adjudicator recommended.
This was on weds and they said payment could take 4 weeks. I’m delighted to say they have paid it into my account today. Bizarrely they paid it in 8 random amounts but I am not complaining !
It’s frustrating waiting all this time but stick with it, it’s well worth the effort
Dan says
I’ve been waiting since 13th April for my refund from Quickquid after going the FOS, they did say 4 weeks however seeing other people get it quicker raised some concern.
Alan says
Hi my 8 weeks is up with pay day uk today and surprise surprise had no response from them so it’s to the fo for me any ideas what I should put on my form to the fo obviously I’m putting it was an unaffordable loan as it rolled over many times and same day lending with them just not sure how to put my complaint in words really any help appreciated
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Alan, it sounds as though you borrowed or rolled loans repeatedly – if so then this is the heart of your complaint. the frequency of borrowing should have alerted Payday Uk to the fact you were in difficulties. You could add in paragraphs on your general financial situation – how much you were earning, what your rent was etc. Also if the payday lending meant you got overdraft charges or got behind with rent / bills / council tax.
Attach copies of your original complaint to Payday UK and any Statement of Account you had from them, or a list of loans if you have reconstrected it from your own records. Good luck and let us know what happens!
But the simple heart of your complaint is the sheer volume of lending.
melly says
Just had this back from 24/7 moneybox any advice anyone?
Hope that you are well. [generic stuff edited out]
You have borrowed a total of £715 from us. You have repaid a total of £716.70.
We are, however, happy as a gesture of goodwill to resolve by writing off your balance and removing any defaults registered.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi melly, I have removed the generic stuff that they send to everyone. If you think the two figures they quite for the amount you have borrowed and the repaid are correct, then their “good will” offer to delete your outstanding balance and remove the default is a good offer. How large is your balance?
melly says
Hi Sara,
The balance is £374 and with what they were saying regards trying to persue it which was a bit off putting (sure they say that to everyone though) i think maybe it would be best to accept their offer? I’d be happy with my credit file repairing and the £374 written off i think just wanted a second opinion!
Jenny says
Hi, I’ve had numerous payday loans, too many to think off and I’m now thinking of trying to obtain refunds however I’ve entered into a repayment plan with three – Next Credit, 247 Moneybox and another whom I can’t remember at present. If I was to pursue a refund how would it work with these?? All three were taken out and rolled over many times or repaid and taken out again but I just couldn’t afford to pay them back. I have major debt issues so they clearly didn’t do credit checks or affordability checks.
Any advice would be greatly received!
Thanks
Jen
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Jenny, you can ask for a refund where you are in debt management with the lender. Part of your refund will be used to wipe out your balance, but the rest should be paid to you. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-write-off/
happy chappy says
I emailed 24/7 on Friday and had £511 back today and my credit file cleaned. Amazing just a simple letter.
Claire says
Anyone else got a case with the FO against payday express or payday UK and had an offer from the companies direct? They’ve had my complaint for 13 weeks now and still state they cannot tell me when I will get a final response!
john nash says
I had a response from pduk and payday express after 14 weeks offering a combined £1200 on a 7k plus claim. The fos have had the complaint for 5 weeks now and have sent 6 e mails asking for their information but both pduk and pde are being as awkward as they can be i spoke to my adjudicator this morning and has promised me an answer by close of business this coming friday
Andrea says
Rang up today about my PDUK and Express complaints. 7 weeks and 4 days and they haven’t even been passed to the right department!!
The lady was very apologetic and said they will get something out to me ASAP to say I can complain to Ombudsman which I’m going to on Thursday when 8 weeks is up or as soon as I hear from them.
This will be complaints 4 and 5 with Ombudsman. So far only Lending Stream have come up with an acceptable offer. Off topic slightly but I did have to smile- I used their refund to buy tickets to a rugby game and when I picked up the tickets I realised that the Money Shop sponsored the stand we were in and that one of their rivals had paid for my tickets! About the only time I have smiled through all this caper, I’m getting a bit fed up now :(
Matty says
FINALLY!! 14TH week Wonga respond. Upheld most of loans plus 8% and after tax nice refund of over £2k. Wasn’t really bothered about the refund just the fact they were issuing a default and hadn’t responded. I’ve accepted still got a few to issue to FOS. They’ve advised 3-5 working days hoping they don’t take another 14 weeks to pay out. Thanks to Sara and all on the forum!
James says
Matty can I ask for more info on your loans and dealings with Wonga so I can compare it to mine, 22 loans back to back from Dec 2012 to June 2014, over £4500 in interest paid.. However they clears a debt of £1000 when they were penalised by the government
Matty says
Hi James, had 19 from 2011-2014 total interest paid around 3800 but had outstanding balance of 550. Only got a refund for around 10 of them totalling 3100 and after 8% interest added on then the tax and outstanding balance taken was offered 2500.
Oli says
I have put complaints in with all my payday lenders 7 I’m total. I was due to put in one with PDUK but have come home to a letter from Dollar UK. The letter is headed with ladder loans/payday express/pay day uk/moneshop. Dollar UK is apparently the parent company of these lenders.
Anyway, they have decided they ‘cannot be sure they get their lending decisions right during the period 1st April 2014 to 1st April 2015’
They are refunding the interest and charges on 2 loans I had in this period plus 8% totalling £366.40.
They say they are in the process of contacting customers who were affected a bit like how Wonga did a couple years back.
They haven’t mentioned my loans since 1st April 2015 and I am still going to complain about the affordability of these. Hopefully if they have realised the previous loans were unaffordable, they shall have no issues recognising that laons after April 2015 were also unaffordable.
The first I have heard or read about these companies giving refunds off their own backs so thought I would share!
Michelle wilson says
I’ve just had an email saying wonga have decided to refund the interest from loans plus 8% interest, I’m so happy as I only started the process around 2 months ago. However my first two emails were ignored and I actually sent another one using text from one of these websites stating the loan was unaffordable because of my circumstances and I phoned a week later to say I hadn’t heard back then 2 weeks later I had the result I wanted! So happy as it means I can pay my overdraft off and open a help to buy ISA with the full amount :-)
So keep persisting, the third email I sent I mentioned that if I didn’t get any success I was going to the financial ombudsman. The process for me luckily was quicker than I thought so good luck everyone!
Danny says
Got my final offer from wonga , really happy feel like I can look back now and wipe out that part of the nightmare!! Over 3k from borrowing for a few years!! Really all thanks to his site and the posts all I can say is be patient , you already have paid it out its just nice you might get something back 11weeks!! Pay day uk to go now think this may be another couple of months reading the comments !! Good luck everyone !!
Sam. F says
So, today is a VERY good day! I have had the settlement figure from the Adjudicator on my case against Casheuronet (Quick Quid) & I am very pleased with the offer.
They’re only offering refund of interest & charges on only six loans but this is still a significant amount to me so I’m going to take their offer.
To break it down
3/1/2016 I issued them my complaint
4/1/2016 I sent it to the FO because I didn’t know the ‘procedure’ & the Adjudicator replied & informed me I had to give them eight weeks.
4/3/2016 I received my Final Response from QQ
10/3/2016 Adjudicator replied that they will take over the case once again.
25/4/2016 I received my refund offer from QQ, they are also removing all traces off my credit file.
I don’t suppose the refund will be very quick but the money will mean so much, I can pay off all my existing debt & go on holiday which I haven’t don’t for years & years.
THANK-YOU Sara for setting up this site! though I didn’t use your templates, reading people’s posts has been so encouraging & your supportiveness too.
Good luck to everyone else, this is my last one now, I’ve also had refunds from Wonga & Lending Stream, stick with it! S x
Sam. F says
I forgot to say, I have not been asked to provide any bank statements, credit reports etc.. Sara has asked me to post the figure I’m getting so I will, I have been offered £4,200 ~ I’d also like to add that my Adjudicator has been amazing & any radio silence has been the other side dragging their heels.
Their original ‘final offer’ was £350, So glad I didn’t just roll over & take it.
Graham says
Brilliant news Sam.F, QQ offered me £350, I declined and escalated to the FOS.
as I keep on saying I implore people to Stick with It.
Aga says
Yes that’s great ‘ Sam .F so far I had total around 3000 refunded( 1 month loan, spreed loan and , it helped me a lot i hope my Oakam would be succesful I paid 10,000 in interest plus they say I still owe them 3000 ?
Yes Sara thank you !!
Ian says
Hi all,
I had 18 loans with Wonga over a couple of year period. Although they were not huge ammounts they were still unaffordable for me. loans were between £50 and £200. Anyway they have had 8 weeks and asked for a further 4 weeks which runs out on 06th may. Do you think there may be a chance of me getting a little something back as they haven’t responded No at all?
Margo says
Hi Ian. I had 19 loans with wonga in 18 months. After 8+ 4 weeks they said NO to my complain..just wrote to ombudsman today. So fingers crossed. Good luck!!!
James says
I had 22 loans in 24 months all around 800-1000 and have my case with them currently. Hoping I should get a lot back, interest adds up to over £4400
Tony says
I finally got a reply from Wonga today offering me £818 including interest, apparently they think only 2 of the 20 odd loans I took out were unaffordable. Am not accepting and luckily it has been nearly 4 weeks with the ombudsman. Hope they look more favourably on my circumstances. The lad at Wonga got very flustered when I was asking how he came to his findings. Don’t get me wrong, if I get £818 it will be an amount I wasn’t expecting a few months back but I feel confident I will get more. Included in this was £25 compensation which I said was strange having read of people getting £50
James says
My situation sounds very similar to yours tony, but stupidly my loans where a lot more, almost £1000 each month for 22 months. Just sent off the complaints last week so looks like il be waiting awhile. My interest amounts to £4500 but they wrote off £1000 a couple years back after saying I was affected by they’re poor legislation so I expect s refund but wonder what il be offered
Mr Petrovic says
Hello all,
First success with Mr Lender. Had 5 loans with them last 12/2013…..all on time with 3 role over.Although they throughs are that all checks are done properly, and did not acted irresponsible…. Still offered me 214.00 as settlement…. I accepted as think is good offer,waiting from Sunny and Wonga…..My Jar with FOS……QQ with FOS……
Soph says
Hi all
Received final response from Wage Day Advance today. They are writing off my outstanding balance and refunding just under £70. I only had two loans with them so really quite surprised to be honest.
However… I called them on the 4th April as they’d been sending letters to my old address. My parents still live there so thankfully I could still go and get them but this wasn’t really ideal so I called and updated their records to my current address.
Then the final response dated 25th April arrives today still sent to my old address. I have emailed the address given on my letter stating that while I accept the offer of refunding the amount stated I also wish to see some sort of gesture of goodwill for the distress caused by their breach of data protection. Had my parents not still lived in the old address this would have been confidential information being posted out to a total stranger. They may well refuse this but thought it was worth a try!
I have also asked them to confirm they will be removing the default from my file as the letter admits that the second loan should not have been issued.
Stuart says
Hi
Getting some movement at last with PDUK (after 13 weeks and several chasing and “nuisance” emails from me to them) and QQ. Lodged FOS complaints about 3-4 weeks ago.
Got a slice of luck in that the very small claim against QQ got allocated an adjudicator quite quickly (QQ refused to refund on loans over 6 years old, so I’ve tested the FOS position on it), and I mentioned in passing the bigger claim against PDUK, so he kindly offered to search for it on the pending list and took on the case there and then. That was about a week ago.
The adjudicator rang me today saying PDUK were offering £1600 refund (my interest claim total was approx. £3700 over 36 loans). He mentioned something about PDUK signing up to a customer Charter in 2012, which meant they weren’t considering claims after this date. I have refused their offer, due to the fact that I though their procedures and policies had not noticeably changed and that I was expecting a larger refund than £1600, and if he could confirm if that was before the 8% interest for multiple years. I left it with my adjudicator who I am expecting to call me again this week.
Must say my adjudicator was very friendly, listened thoroughly, and seemed to understand all the points, so credit to them there.
Claire says
That’s good news Stuart, mine has been with Payday UK for 13 weeks and still haven’t heard a thing but this has given me hope this is going to be sorted soon. Can I ask what date you raised your complaint with them? Just wondering as they say they are dealing on a first come first serve basis as to what date they are currently looking at?
Stuart says
Hi Claire
I raised my complaint with PDUK and others on 9/1/16. The 8 weeks expired without a final response so escalated to FOS around 12/3/16. Took a while to get allocated to an adjudicator, but once that happens it seems to speed up.
I just kept emailing PDUK (even after referring to FOS) saying it’s costing them more and more each week in accrued interest and why haven’t you sorted it out yet.
Once the adjudicator picked the case up, it only took a week to get their first offer today. He said that PDUK had quoted they signed up for this Customer Charter in 2012, and they claimed their affordability checks and procedures were tightened up, therefore subsequent loans were therefore more stringent. My reply was that their procedures and rollover extensions still continued unchanged and I noticed no different, so my claim stands.
As for the 6-year rule against QQ, the adjudicator agreed to look into it, and test the ruling, given that I explained that I “only knew consumers had a cause for complaint” within the last year or so, therefore raising a claim was legitimate on that clause. He is still investigating this. The amount is quite small, though would probably accept a “distress” offering on this one.
Stuart says
My adjudicator rang me again today to say PDUK has increased their offer after the first rejection, and upped the £1600 to £1900.
They accepted they had lent irresponsibly after the fourth loan, and have refunded the interest on those after (I think they may count a rollover as one loan until its finally paid, as I had 36 months where I rolled over, with the occasional full pay off). Anyway, the adjudicator said after looking at PDUK’s case notes, it seemed a fair and reasonable offer, so I have accepted this. Just waiting for it to credit my bank within a week.
Amazed it only took a week since my adjudicator took the case on to getting an offer, but took 13 weeks for nothing to happen with them directly.
Credit to the FOS though, my adjudicator was excellent.
Nothing to report on the QQ case (outside of 6 years) – he had some notes from QQ, but nothing decided yet.
A big thanks to this site too, plenty of good input and advice from many, including Sarah.
fusionx212 says
Just thought I’d swing by and update all.
Ombudsman has accepted my complaint and asked peachy to refund me all interest and remove the loans from my credit file. this was a good success for me as peachy sent me a full and final letter stating they had done no wrong. Ombudsman caught them out on the fact I have 2 defaults one already with a payday lender and also over 23 other loans with wonga. ( who are by far the largest lender i worked out 15 k total with 4 k interest. have asked for this plus interest .
the ombudsman was interested in this case and asked me to request her to review my complaint once wonga’s 8 weeks were up. they were very reasonable I thought and requested my credit file. I also gave a full breakdown of my report explaining my 2 defaults and latepayments were a strong inidcator I was not a suitable candidate for lending. and if they’d done the check properly this should of been seen.
whilst it hurts to be viewed as bad prospect etc. it shouldnt of been lent to me encouraging toxic debt and lending.
Jimmy says
Hi Fusionx212,
I’ve just had a reply from Peachy after 1 day of complaining saying that they’ve done nothing wrong. I only had 3 loans, the 1st for 100, the second for £400 and the third for £500; taking out the loans the day after paying the old one back. I then defaulted on the 3rd loan and it took me 9 months to pay back in a payment arrangement. I had 5-6 other loans at the time and defaulted on pretty much all of them. I can appreciate if they believed the first loan to be affordable, but not the second and third. My credit rating would not have allowed additional borrowing; particularly for increasing amounts.
I’ve since passed this complaint to the ombudsman so it’s great to hear your story.
Kate says
Hi all
The FOS has ruled in my favour today against QQ with £1437 plus 8%
5 weeks ago QQ offered me £150 compensation as a good will gesture
Keep going everyone ! I’ve been at it since mid Jan
X
Jimmy says
I have started my complaints this week. I have still to hear from Wonga and Sunny (one month Loan) for statements. Moneybox247, Ferratum and PaydayUK have acknowledged my initial email but have yet to send me a statement.
I had loans from 12 different lenders dating back to 2008 time and currently have 7 loans outstanding totalling approx. 4.5k.
I have found other stories inspiring and seems like a great community feel. Thanks all.
Aga says
Hi Jimmy!
regarding 1 MONTH LOAN; IF YOU KNOW HOW MUCH INTEREST YOU PAID , DONT WAIT FOR STATEMENTS ask them for refund straight away
good luck
Jimmy says
Hi Aga,
Thanks for your support. I received my statement from them. I had 9 Loans in total, but rolled over a total of 13 times; increasing from £150 for my first loan to my last 4 loans being £650 over a 2 year period (so effectively 22 loans in 24 months). I borrowed a total of £4165.25 and paid back £6733.63. I hope this seems like a good case.
Mike says
Hi guys is there a company that would help claim interest back on several loans taken with QQ I borrowed approx 14k over 2 year period 2012 – 2013 would I be entitled to an interest claim back on this as I borrowed elsewhere to help pay these loans off and am still paying for it now owing money to family
comeoncity says
What a great site here and thank you in advance Sara. I received 7 years of bank statement and spent all day Saturday searching for pay day loan transactions (old bank so couldn’t search on-line). The totals are £28700 capital + £9000 interest on 153 loans and top ups over 4 yrs. Searching through the statement brought back some bad memories and also the realisation that I developed Stockholm syndrome with Wonga. That is because thinking back they always lent me more money even on the same day I had paid for the last one. Also they still let me continue lending even after having to set up 2 payment plans.
I didn’t even consider claiming until I received an email from Wonga offering me £16.50 due to system errors in 2012. Then I found this great site and have sent my emails out to all pay day companies concerned. I’m in no hurry so hopefully I get a nice xmas present.
Aga says
HI Sara and everyone !
Today I have received e mails from PD uk and Payday express ( 8 week period gone today ) with exactly the same information :
“I am sorry for the delay in replying to you and advise that we are not yet in a position to respond to your complaint as our investigation is not complete.
The Financial Ombudsman Service gives a business eight weeks to respond to a complaint and, as this time has passed, this means: You have the right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, free of charge. The Ombudsman might not be able to consider your complaint if:
• What you are complaining about happened more than six years ago; and
• You are complaining more than three years after you realised (or should have realised) that there was a problem. ”
how would you interpret the last bit? .
I don’t have statements or payslips for that 2011-2012 period so I would rather wait longer however is there anybody who`s complaint was upheld by PD UK or P express or Money Shop without getting FOS involved ??
graham says
Hi AGA, I got the same e-mail, so escalated to the FOS. PDUK are just delaying, they will most likely ignore the FOS as long as they can, Stick with It.
Paul says
Hi,
I have posted on here before about some of my successes with payday companies and also with cases I have raised with the FOB. However, I have recently noticed the FOB adjudicators are being more in the favour of the pay day loan companies. I have recently raised my last 2 complaints with the FOB against payday loan companies (I had 10 in total).
One is against our old favourite QuickQuid. The adjudicator has come back after a few days saying that QuickQuid has offered to recall my outstanding debt from debt collectors and waive any outstanding interest and only collect the remaining principal. The adjudicator has then said “When considering this offer, you should bear in mind that the ombudsman service never asks a lender to write off the debt. ” which I think is their way of saying accept this offer, yet no offer of a refund for the interest I have already paid on this and other loans (though I only had 3 loans with them so may accept this)
My other complaint though is against the other nightmare pay day lender PDUK, with whom I have had loans on and off from 2010 to 2014, many times rolling the loan over for 6 to 8 months at a time. Within that period I have calculated I have paid PDUK over £3k in interest alone. I also showed that the only way I could pay the loans off was by borrowing off other payday loan companies who have all accepted that they leant irresponsibly. The offer I have received from PDUK through the adjudicator is clear my outstanding balance of £710 and remove only that entry from my credit file the adjudicator has indicated this is a good offer as I was able to repay the loans (even though sometimes it took 9 months) and that the amount I borrowed didn’t increase until the last few loans.
I have however responded back saying that the only reason I could pay back the loans was from borrowing elsewhere and the reason the loans didn’t increase is that I was borrowing the maximum that PDUK would offer me. I’ve also raised that PDUK would e-mail me monthly after I had paid the money back offering me another loan, which I would then take out to repay other loans I had taken out to pay what I had borrowed from PDUK in the first place. If the adjudicator still doesn’t change their mind I will ask for this to got to an ombudsman
Sorry for the long rant, but I was wondering if anyone else is finding the adjudicators are now trying to just clear everything quickly and if not are finding more in the pay day loan companies favour?
Mark says
I feel the same, they ruled in my favour only 9 days ago and have now changed their mind yesterday and reduced what I was getting by around £800 from £1400
Paul says
Mark, I would refuse the offer and push for it to go to the ombudsman. Thats what I’m now going to do with all mine in future. I have also found that depending on the adjudicator as effects how much evidance and further information they ask for from you. The adjudicator I have for the PDUK case, didnt ask for anymore than what I put in the origianl complaint, even when they sent me my original e-mail to say they were looking into they said they needed no further info from me. Yet other’s have asked for more, such as credit reports, bank statements etc
Mark says
I think I will appeal it to the ombudsman, I’ve mailed the adjudicator to see if he will review it. He ruled out my 1st 2 years of loans saying the borrowing was big but not unaffordable but I was in a trust deed paying over 20% of my income to it every month during those 1st 2 years
Just looked at my qq flexible loan that got ruled out, 14 rollovers in less than 6 weeks totalling over £4k but that’s supposed to be manageable due to being flexible. This loan got me into a hardship program so can’t see how it’s ruled out.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Paul,
re the QQ one – I have written an article that looks at a case of only a few loans and a balance on the last one which sounds relevant: https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-write-off/. It depends how much is outstanding on the third loan, how much interest you have paid on the other two and what the gaps were between the loans. I don’t think what the adjudicator has said here sounds like a change of policy, but when you look at the detailed numbers you may decide that you can argue the offer should be better.
re PDUK – that sounds like a poor offer and i thin k you have done the right thing. Count up how many months you either borrowed or rolled loans and also calculate the gaps between the loans – PDUK should have recognised a pattern of repeat borrowing showed the loans were unaffordable for you.
Paul says
Thanks Sara, I have just received clarification from the adjudicator today of what Quick Quid is actually offering me.
QuickQuid have previously conformed to me “Our records indicate for a loan of £400.00, you repaid a total of £250.60 to date”.
Their offer was to remove all interest and only ask me to repay the principal sum I borrowed. I asked the adjudicator to clarify exactly what that was, as QuickQuid have in the past quoted different amounts I owe them and to be honest I just don’t trust them.
This is the e-mail I got from the adjudicator “Quick Quid has explained that the balance on the date your account was sold to the third party was £527.40, which is made up of £400 principal and £127.40 interest. Quick Quid are therefore willing to waive the £127.40 interest and only collect the principal amount of £400. This means you’ll still need to repay £400”
So basically I still repay the £400 and they have made an extra £250.60 out of me in interest!!! Told the adjudicator today that I have refused this “offer”!
Paul says
Just got this back from the adjudicator about my PDUK complaint.
“Thank you for your emails. I have taken your additional comments into consideration and after reviewing them, my opinion has not changed. I will explain why below.
Whilst I appreciate you were experiencing difficulties at the time of taking out the loans, we expect a customer to take responsibility for its financial situation and inform a business of any difficulties experienced. It is not the responsibility of the business to be aware of your financial difficulties, additional loans or to verify whether the information provided is accurate and truthful. A level of trust is placed in customers to be as forthcoming as possible with your personal circumstances.
If a payday lender did not respond to you in a positive and sympathetic manner after being informed of your financial difficulties, then this may change the outcome of the opinion. I have not been provided with any evidence to show that you raised any difficulties with MEM during the loans and loans were repaid in full.
In hindsight, I agree that looking at the volume of payday loans shows you were in financial difficulties and struggling to make repayments. However, I cannot say that this is the responsibility of MEM.
Also, interest and charges are the cost of borrowing and MEM is not unreasonable for charging interest to borrow money. If I were to recommend that interest and charges were refunded to you across all the loans, you would have had the benefit of borrowing money without any cost. As I cannot see that MEM acted incorrectly under the OFT guidelines, I am still of the opinion that the offer by MEM is reasonable.”
So she says the volume of loans does show I was in financial difficulties but thats not their responsibilitie, WHAT! It’s their fault hence my claim. This has really surprised me. Any advice would be much appreciated, though I am still going to ask for it to go to the Ombudsman
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Paul commented on 29th July:
“Not sure if anyone remembers but my case was the one where the adjudicator originally ruled against me saying PDUK had done nothing wrong, even though she agreed I had been in financial difficulty when PDUK had continued to lend money to me she advised that it was my responsibility not theirs!
Anyway, I insisted that my complaint went to the ombudsman. The ombudsman found in my favour and in his findings said that my remaining debt was to be written off, all charges and interest to be refunded as well as 8% on top.
I received in total just over £3,200 back from PDUK, it just shows that even if the adjudicator doesn’t find in your favour, make sure you insist that your case goes to the ombudsman!”
Christine says
I have been successful in my claim with PDUK and had my refund-thanks Sara and also to all the members of debt camel.
I have a problem with Quick Quid and that has gone from the adjudicator to the ombudsman and I have had a letter saying it may take up to 6 months.
Motor Mile Finance have been sending letters/emails chasing me for a loan with Quick Quid that I took out in 2010. The loan was for £300 but MMF have been saying I borrowed £600. Many emails alter, they acknowledged it was £300 and Quick Quid said that they would make sure that MMF knew that the loan was for £300.
I wrote to MMF and told them the matter was now with the FO. They have written to me and are back to claiming that I borrowed £600.!! grhh Should I complain about MMF to the FO?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you should put in a formal complaint to MMF and then go to the Ombudsman if they don’t resolve it. If you have a case worker assigned to the QQ complaint, at the FO, ask them if they can look at this MMF one as it is related.
Donna says
Hello,
Just thought I’d update with my result from WDA.
I received a letter from them yesterday with their final response. It’s good news and they have upheld my complaint.
I had a total of 14 loans with them with 5 roll overs/deferrals between 2010 and 2013. I have an outstanding balance of £743.75 which is with motor mile.
WDA have agreed to refund all interest and charges from the 4th loan and will add the 8% statutory interest.
The total refund they have offered is £2360.03 minus the outstanding balance. So they will be paying £1616.28 into my account.
I’m more than happy with this and don’t think I’d get a better offer if I took it to the FO.
I have asked if they will also be removing any details of the loans from my credit record.
I made the complaint to WDA on the 3rd March so it’s taken the 8 weeks to get this result but it was worth the wait.
Aga says
Hi Donna!
WDA is the quickest with the response ; I had similar offer ,refund of interest from the loan no 4 , they usually say first few loans are affordable , I was so happy as well. I accepted it .
Jimmy says
all. I have my first refund (well kind of). 247moneybox offered to refund all interest and remove any defaults. This means i still need to pay £150.92 as i borrowed £615 in total and have paid back £464.08. I feel this is a good result, it’ll work out like an interest free loan. I think it’s fair and have accepted.
craig says
QuickQuid are 1 week away from the 8 weeks and today I received the following:
We are sorry that there is as of yet no approved Final Answer to the complaint, but can assure you we are looking into the information you provided, in addition to our internal records. We will provide a full response or update as soon as possible.
Under UK law, we have eight weeks from when you first complained to send you a final response; however, we will of course attempt to respond as soon as we can. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Let’s see what happens in the next week!! I have a balance of £300 I would like them to write off
Sam. F says
*spoiler alert* they’ll make you a nominal offer.Their usual strategy is to offer a really low amount to try & make you go away… they may just write that off, best of luck.
grace says
My initial offer was £250 I kindly declined went through the FO and was offered £2,200!!!
Jimmy says
Hi all,
I have just received my statement from Wonga. I was lent 21 loans in total; 18 of these within 12 months. I’m appalled at myself. I borrowed £11,519 in total and paid back £13,999. Wonga also wrote off £872 as part of their refunds a few year back. I guess i have reason for claim?
Aga says
yes very good reason Jimmy ! do it today !!
they take time , 8weeks extended to 10 weeks in my case but I am patient this is the money we never expected to claim back
good luck
Suzi says
The Money Shop Hardship Complaint
Complaint 1 November 2015 they took until 26 January 2016 to issue final response saying they will waive some of my balance outstanding ,
I had lots of cheque roll overs from 2009-2013, some cheques were rolled over up to 15 times !!
Took to FOS -adjudicator upheld they told The Money shop in March they didnt even reply , now passed to Ombudsman to look at
Its been with them for 1 month ,
Any idea of how much longer Ombudman needs -also does the Ombudsman just agree with the adjudicator anyway
Anyone in this situation ?
Gordon says
Hi Suzi,
Is this payday loans or actual cashing a cheque and them cashing it in on payday?
I used to do cheques a long time ago maybe 10yrs ago, didnt know you could complain about those.
My complaint has just gone to the FO, I took a loan each month for 2 years and they say that it was my choice and they were affordable!
Good luck and hope you get the response you deserve.
Suzi says
Yes actual cheque cashing but on pay day couldnt afford to let them go thru , so rolled over & over & over
They no longer offer the cheque cashing service , !!! i wonder why ,
The Money Shop took well over 8 weeks then all i got was we will write off part of your balance outstanding as good will, leaving me still to pay around £300
Thats when i went to The FOS & got it upheld but The Money Shop didnt even bother to respond to the FOS & the adjudicator said next stage The Ombudsman , it has been with the Ombudsman approx 4 weeks ,
When i called for a update i was told call again in a week so hopefully the ombudsman will say the same as her adjudicator
Im really hoping to get back near on 5k as this will help me sort out my debts
Good luck @ FOS dont give up
Aga says
5k is a lot good luck Suzi! i have no idea how much interest i paid ?I asked them for the statement of account however i received nothing ; did they send You statement of how much interest You paid ?
did you have to send you statements or payslips to adjudicator ? I have nothing from those years 2009:10;11 so I hope I I’ll get a positive outcome from Money Shop however there is very little chance
Suzi says
Yes they sent me a statement of account , it took them 6 months yes 6 months to send it to me ,
Go straight to FOS as the 8 weeks is up,
The FOS said they should have seen i had a problem after i rolled over cheques again & again paying up to £17.99 a time
My statement was over 5 pages long from 2009-2013. I was shocked at how much these roll over fees add up to.
I hope to get back all my roll over fees , charges what i paid for to roll over plus the fos 8% interest for every year
I will report back as soon as i hear from the Ombudsman.
The adjudicator asked for bank statements & a copy of my credit file from now to prove i was still in hardship
No wage slips , The fos even offered to get the bank statements for me if i had trouble , but i managed to get them and guess what they all showed i was overdrawn !
The Money Shop did not do a credit search or they would have seen i had other debts
Go to the FOS they are a good free service .
Vic Smith says
I LOVE WONGA!
Wonga wrote off a loan of £1500 a couple of years.
They refunded me £3200 in January for unaffordable loans.
Now they emailed me saying that they owe me £28.
I used to hate Wonga.
Now I love them.
Vic
James says
Vic what was your loan amounts and how many etc, curious because Wonga wrote an outstanding debt of mine a few years back and I’ve since gone back to complain about interest charges and wonder if I have a claim, 22 loans in two years about £1000 each time
Vic Smith says
Hiya James
My situation was the same as yours between May 2009 and January 2011,constantly borrowing 1k at a time with 280 interest every time.
I went in to a DMP in January 2011,as I couldn’t face it anymore.
I must have had about the same amount of loans as you,but they said after October 2009,the loans were unaffordable,so refunded about £2300,and added 950 pound interest.
They turned it down at first,went to the FOS and hey presto.
Go for it
James says
Hopefully it works out, I never went into a plan or anything, just had very understanding parents who helped me out so hopefully I can give a big chunk of this back to them. What was your total interest with the loans compared to what they offered
Vic smith says
Hiya James.
I started borrowing from Wonga in May 2009 and reckon I must have paid them at least £4K in interest up to January 2011.
I complained in October 2015,but they wouldn’t recognise anything before October 2009,due to the 6 year rule.
Still they paid 2.5k back plus £750 interest,cleared my £1500 balance,and gave me £27 as well.
Vic