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?
Adam says
Hi Sara
I have had a final decision in my favour from the ombudsman for loans from QuickQuid. Do you know how long they normally take to send the refund? Is there anything I can do to help speed things up?
Thanks
Liz says
Update!
So far I have heard back from Peachy, Satsuma and Sunny.
Peachy have said that they will not uphold the complaint, passed on to FO.
Satsuma have written off the loan and wiped from credit record.
Sunny, however, with whom I had AT LEAST 4 LOANS A MONTH with for 18-24 months have declined to uphold the complaint. This has been passed on to FO…do you think FO will be more successful? I just couldn’t believe it, it would be quite clear on my Credit Record that I was having to take out several loans from several companies to cover repayments of my Sunny loans and to survive, I don’t see how they can state that they lent to me responsibly under these conditions?!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds like a good case to me! It isn’t just the number of loans, it does matter if they were affordable for you, but having to borrow from other lenders should have been noticed by Sunny, as you say.
Liz says
Hi Sara,
So do you think FO will help me out on this one? I am now absolutely worried because I feel like I’m in financial ruin as it is!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
From what you have said, it sounds likely to me.
What are your finances like at the moment, are you still making debt payments that are causing you to struggle?
Liz says
Yes, 100% – and I am now in arrears with my credit cards as well!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You have to get your finances stabilised – cases going through the FO can take months. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/help-payday-loan/ and talk to StepChange about a DMP and cancel all the CPAs to payday lenders and DDs to credit cards. You may have hoped to avoid this, but now you can’t, so get yourself safe and then sit back and wait for the FO cases to go through. Hopefully you will get refunds which will clear your payday loan debts and give you more to start getting those credit card balances down as well.
Dana says
Hi Sara,
Since April I’ve complained to Wonga, Quickquid, Satsuma, Sunny, Lending Stream and PayDayUK. I was only happy with the response / offer from Sunny and Satsuma, Wonga’s offer was far too low so I sent to FOS, Quickquid, Lending Stream and PayDayUK declined my complaint, therefore, all sent to the FOS over a month ago.
Do you know roughly how long it usually takes for the FOS to come to a conclusion?
Thanks.
matt says
Hi Dana
I have some at FOS since late April, none of which have been picked up yet so it is a waiting game. Hopefully worth it in the end.
Matt
Louise says
Some of mine are still awaiting from middle of March 2018 – well all of them apart from the one I have just had a decision on which I am so pleased about so hang on in there it is worth it but horrible waiting.
Good Luck, Louise.
Darren says
Just phoned my bank and they refused to cancel a cpa Lloyd’s bank. What do I do?
Marie says
Yorkshire bank refused to cancel 4 of my cpa’s and left me in mortgage arrears. Ombudsman sided with the bank so still have to sort my mortgage arrears. Get a date, time and who you spoke to and fire off a complaint email immediately to your bank so you have it in writing.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
phone the bank up again and ask to speak to a manager, get the name of the person you speak to and note this and the date/time.
If they still refuse, put your request in writing – can you login and send Lloyds a secure message? If they still refuse put in a formal complaint and ask for compensation as well or you will take the complaint to the ombudsman.
See https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/recurring-payments/#cancel
lloyds bank cancel CPA
Holly Jane says
I received a reply from p2p telling me my credit report was incorrect as it was current. I assumed you only had one? Is there a way of getting one from 2012 onwards?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Tell them tough, the Ombudsman will be happy with this.
There is no way of getting historic reports.
Holly Jane says
Haha thanks, Sara. The reply was very snippy, she also told me I hadn’t attached pay slips so I said they didn’t need them. I also told them my credit rating wouldn’t have been any better the year before otherwise I wouldn’t have been using payday lenders!
Louise says
Hi Holly-Jane I sent my current one Noodle to FOS and they used that – I don’t recall that you can backdate a credit report?
Holly Jane says
Thanks Louise, I think they are trying to intimidate and stall!
Louise says
Don’t let them the credit report is current send to FOS you cant give want you don’t have ! A pain I wont lie waiting till picked up etc but worth it!
Jamie says
Had my first offer today from PDUK, 4 loans all rolled over several times between 2008 & 2010. They have said first was affordable, the next 2 they should have done more checks but unable to determine if affordable and requested bank statements, 4th deemed unaffordable. I’m happy to accept there findings on loan 1 and their offer of £1200 for loan 4 but am worried if I accept they won’t look at the other 2 once I have the statements and these 2 could be worth another £2500. Has anyone had the same thing with PDUK?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Go back to them and say exactly that – you are happy to take the offer on 4, happy to rule 1 out, but you want them to confirm that if they reject 2 & 3 you can then go to the ombudsman. even if someone else says this is fine, I still think you should get them to say it to you in writing.
Jamie says
Thanks Sarah, I have emailed them exactly that but not heard anything back. Won’t accept anything until they respond.
Kara says
Payday UK made me an offer to refund 2 out of 11 loans and said they would review 5 of the others with extra info from me. I sent it onto the FOS as I couldn’t get PDUK to guarantee that I could have a refund for the 2 loans and then continue the complaint with regards to the other loans. I sent it to the FOS in Feb 2018, they approached PDUK on Mar 3 and it has gone no further as PDUK are apparently v busy.
In hindsight I kind of wish that I had sent PDUK wage slips as they might have made me an improved offer by now.
Jamie says
PDUK have confirmed the offer made is in relation to the loans they have made a desicion on and the others would be looked at separately once they have bank statements and they will issue another final response for these which if I didn’t accept I could refer to the FOS. I have to say i’ve been impressed so far with their customer service regarding the complaint.
Nick says
Update
MoneyBox24/7. Upheld complaint, because it was one loan (£260) and it went to a DMP, they are wiping off 89.66 (remainder of balance) and removing negative marks on credit file. Good result.
Lending Stream. Had 19 loans betwee. December 2015 and jan 2017. They sent a long winded response to every single loan saying everyone was affordable based on credit check and my budget I relay to them. Should I go to FOS?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
19 loans in less than 18 months – definitely send to the FOS!
Karl says
Quickquid sent me a standard response confirming my complaint and asking for my banks statements, pay slips etc. I replied advising them that I am not happy to send them this information, however will send them to the FO if required. I have received the following response ‘In response to your email, I am sorry that you felt the need to complain. Please be advised that without all the requested information, we may not be able to fully address your points.’ Do I therefore have to send them?
Holly Jane says
I’m new to this but I don’t think you have to, plenty of people don’t. I sent mine to them but they still rejected my complaint!
mark says
I sent a complaint to WDA in may and just recently got a response..I had 14 loans (inc installments) over three years and they have offered refunds on only one loan (no 8 installment)…This was inlcuded in their replay “Within the explanation of credit document we advise that our loans are a high-cost, short-term lending product designed to provide you with a cash advance until your next pay day and
alleviate temporary cash flow problems”….Three years aint short term so will send off the FOS.
Becky says
Hi, had a final response from Myjar yesterday saying they are going to repay all the interest on the 16 loans i had with them! Happy days!!
247Moneybox said they are not going to uphold my complaint but as a good will gesture would wipe the £288.00 i still owe them and remove any negative comment from my credit file, i have rejected their offer and sent to FO. I had 6 loans with them from Jan 2014 to Nov 2014 totalling £850, during those dates they took £2285.76 from me, i was also borrowing from 3 other loan companies during that time. Do you think i was right in rejecting their offer? Thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The 247 Moneybox offer doesn’t sound good. Sometimes they come back and make a bigger offer in the next few weeks once they know it has gone to the Ombudsman. Have you got the details of your loans with them? If you have, read https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-refunds-defaulted-loan/ as that looks at what a good refund should be when you still owe money.
Becky says
Yes i have all the information from my bank statements, i will have a read from the link, thanks, i feel a bit better about rejecting their offer now.
Stephen H says
HI Thanks to this site I have just been offered a settlement of just under £750 from Wonga and the 2 loans in question from 2012 and 2013 will be removed from my credit file as they had adverse affects on my credit rating. Best thing to do is make the complaint on your own as I was going to do it through the 3rd party company but it is so easy to do using the templates provided by debt camel. Try to give as much info as possible when sending the email and if offered settlement you don’t have to pay any 3rd party fees. Wonga responded to my complaint within 2 weeks updating me on progress and offered settlement within 7 weeks of making the complaint. Just waiting on my payment which they said could take upto 14 days. Thanks Again Debt Camel
Holly Jane says
Well QQ have rejected my claim.
According to them:
They did full checks each time I took out a loan
My pay was enough to pay them back
No loans were issued after I entered DMP
And the say they ombudsmen may not investigate my claim as I entered the DMP in 2014 which is more than 3 years ago, I should have complained within 3 years of realising there was a problem.
Ideas?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send it straight to the ombudsman.
If your loans are under 6 years old, the “3 year” point is simply wrong.
If your loans are over 6 years old, complaining within 3 years of knowing you could does matter, but their assertion that you must have known you could complain when you entered a DMP in 2014 is nonsense – your DMP firm would not have informed you about affordability complaints. And why, if you knew you could complain then, did you not do so?
Holly Jane says
Thanks Sara. Yes the loans are under 6 years old so that confused me!
matt says
UPDATE
Had a response from an Adjudicator on a complaint sent to PDUK. This is my smallest complaint sent to FOS in Mid March. The result is they have upheld on 3 out of 4 loans I took out. PDUK have until 12th of July to respond so lets hope they agree and this one can be put to bed. Not sure what the refund will potentially be but this one is a bonus as was only a few loans and makes me feel reassured that my large ones will end with a similar result fingers crossed.
Thanks again to Sara and this site.
louise says
Mine same Matt deadline date 11th July I got response yesterday.
louise says
Another update today this in relation to Onstride financial loan – She didn’t have my bank statements as TSB error (technical) cant get them at present. However, she said they did the relevant checks. I have said I want to escalate to step two as I had 4 loans (frightening and stupid) will large payments per month prior to Onstrides loan.
I have asked for the expense information she says they have sent on a spreadsheet and she hasn’t sent it to me – I have given her the loans that amounted per month to £1000 and my income at the time was £1500 and she says they completed the checks? I didn’t even know this one had been assigned.
What is the state of play with these larger loan companies don’t they have to do the checks? Surely they must.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They have to make checks, but it isn’t set out what these have to be.
Send Onstride (aka QuickQuid) a Subject Access Request asking for all personal information that they hold about you. That should show whatever the expense information they have is. It takes a month, so send this now.
Presumably you are expecting your bank statements to turn up at some point? Can you ask her to wait until you have these?
louise says
Thank you so much – she has called me and I was having none of it – I said 2nd stage as she said she doesn’t need bank statements. I have emailed her a response and listed the loans the dates taken out and the amounts all prior to these Onstride people.
She said you paid a small amount of only £149 per month to them I said yes but I had others – so if they had performed their checks they would have seen this she said they have an expenditure sheet on excel and she said she cant send it to me? Why?
My bank statements – FOS are aware of the situation – TSB don’t have the data apparently and I said this to the adjudicator she said I don’t need to go off statements.
Will get onto this now as I want to know what information they have as it differs to mine so I will go all the way or am I wasting my time as I have won Payday UK, Swift Sterling, Everyday Loans. The interest is around £1500 paid to these people.
louise says
Shall I copy in this adjudicator Sara as I am doing this now?
Thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, why not?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you sent her your credit report? Does that show your other borrowing? Onstride should have taken that into account, and they should also have looked closely if your loan application didn’t match your credit record in a significant way.
louise says
Thanks Sara – they have it with Payday Uk and said they were linking the credit file to all my other cases – I wonder if it is worth emailing her to ask has she checked it?
I have sent to her as well. CC in if I was in doubt I wouldn’t go to this level – is this normal to have t go to the Ombudsman and do sometimes things change or with information I have given her can she change her mind?
Jane says
I sent my complaint to FOS – I’m not sure if they will uphold my complaint. I got a good settlement from Wonga. Quid Quid have rejected me but it I have a chance. £2.5 k in loans and £4.5k in interest. They have the documents so hoping for the best. I’m not sure what the percentage is for the uphold for this type of complaint can any one shed some light?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like a lot of borrowing!
In the last 6 months of 2017, the FOS agreed with the consumer in 72% of Quick Quid/Pounds Till Payday cases. And many of the ones rejected will have just been for one or two loans, so there is a good chance you will get a refund!
Lou7 says
Hi all,
Has anyone had the same response as me? I wrote to 247 moneybox to complain about their lending to me, as I borrowed every month for nearly a year. They replied and disagreed, so I sent it to the ombudsman. The adjudicator said there wasnt enough information to make a decision so what does that mean?
Nick says
Had my final response from Wonga,
They not unholding complaint due to not complaining within 3 years even though loans in the 6 year time limit.
Trying to pull a fast one, based on other comments will be sending to FO. These loans in question where sent to a now defunct bank account ( I joined an dmp shortly after and they advised to shut bank down ) Do I go to the bank and request old statements? And do these cost money?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes go and ask for old bank statements – the FOS will ask for them from 3 months before your first loan. They should now be free after GDPR in May.
Rebecca says
On top of the payday loan complaints that I’ve lodged against Wonga, Lending Stream, Sunny, PayDay UK and QuickQuid, I also sent complaints to the FOS regarding Everyday Loans and Avant Credit. I had emails today saying that both have been picked up by the Ombudsman and that I will hear from them within the next four weeks how they can help me. Do they often pick these complaints up first? I only lodged them both on 20 June, so 9 days ago. Haven’t heard anything further from all of the others which were lodged on 25 May. Happy to wait, just thought it odd that those two were picked up so quickly.
James Alderson says
Hi,
After going right to the deadline and me chasing them, lending stream have rejected all 37 of my loans and payday express all 10.
Most of the LS loans were running back to back often 3/4 at a time over a couple of years.
Their breakdown of my claimed income shows my claimed expenses dipping drastically as my credit rating nose dived from desperation to make sure I could borrow. Surely they should have recognised this and that I was paying them far more than I was claiming I had in expenditure every month?
I feel totally stupid now, do I send them to FOS do you think?
Thanks James
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send them both straight to the Finanical Ombudsman!
Lenders should notice when a customers “expenses” suddenly drop, they should have noticed the deterioration in your credit record and they should also have noticed when you keep coming back for more loans…
S says
Hi Sara
One of my larger complaints is against Ferratum and I had 38 loans with them, pretty much 1 a month from 2014-17. I started at £100 a time but this gradually increased to £500, before eventually the amount I could borrow from them was reduced to 0.
My adjudicator has recommended refunds on loans 5-8 and 18-34. They say that although checks did not go far enough from loan 2 onwards, loans 2-4 and 9-17 were affordable. At the time I had various other payday loans with other companies.
Around loan 9 I started a new job which increased my take home pay by £300 per month. Throughout I also had problem gambling issues, most of which were cash withdrawals. The adjudicator does reference these in relation to some of the refunds, but only where it is clear from my bank statements that it was a payment via card to a bookmaker.
I don’t know whether to ask for an ombudsman to review or not… and if I do should I wait until I hear Ferratums response?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you worked out how large a refund this adds up to? And how much interest did you pay on loans 9-17?
Lewis says
So after rejections from QQ, then Adjudicator ruling in my favour finally 11 months later an Ombudsmen has picked up my case…..Any idea how long this will now take for a decision ? Thanks so much
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If the Ombudsman agrees with the adjudicator it’s usually pretty quick. If the Ombudsman makes a different decision both you and QQ get to comment on it.
What was the adjudicator’s decision?
Lewis says
They upheld all loans as mis sold…..there were two over 6 years which I asked them to exclude. The total interest I paid back excluding these 2 was £7,800 . Hence why I’m fighting.
In your experience do they often disagree with the adjudicator ?
Thanks so much
Louise D says
Looking for some advice – several years back I was stuck in a trap like most people were and thanks to this site I have been successful with the likes of sunny, wonga and have qq, p2p and a couple more at the adjudicator stage – just been checking back through my bank statements and have had 1 quite large loan from Mr Lender and one from Avant credit – as I only had one from each of these but these where at the same times as most of the above is it worth writing to them and asking them for a refund?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes it is. You can use the standard template but change it so that it is clear you only have one loan – and remove the word “payday” for Avant Credit!
Also it will help to be very clear what your situation was when you applied for the loan. What exactly would the lender have seen on your credit record – list recent defaults, missed payments, outstanding loans, credit cards and payday loans. Attach a copy of your Noddle report. And you may as well attach your bank statements for the three months before and a couple of months after getting the loan as you obviously have these.
If the loan is repaid, you just ask for a refund of interest paid as normal. If you are still paying it, work out if you have paid more than the amount you borrowed – if you haven’t, ask for the balance to be reduced so you only repay what you borrowed, if you have paid more, ask for the balance to be wiped and a refund.
So basically you write a very tailored letter. Don’t be surprised if it’s rejected – send it to the Ombudsman if you feel the loan was unaffordable and let the ombudsman decide.
Joe B says
Good morning all
I have just won a case against payday express and I am just awaiting the refund, my question is this, I complained about loans under 6 years old only excluding the older ones to speed up the process, can I now go back and contest the older loans or can I now not do That?
Many thanks in advance for any replies
Joe B
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, you can’t – not unless you have had this agreed with either Payday Express or the Finanical Ombudsman that you could split your case like that. It is a pity you did this as loans over 6 years old are being settled by Payday Express.
Jamie says
Hi guys . Anyone one had any luck with Trusted Quid? Took out 5 loans with 1 payment left. They varied from £250 to £400, yet when i applied on all application’s i said i was paying £250 to £350 just paying on other paydays loans. Do i have a good case?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Unless there were big gaps between paying off one loans and borrowing the next, that sounds like a good complaint.
Jamie says
Hi Sara, no when last payment was due on all loans i phoned up to reapply and been accepted all the time
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then that sounds like a complaint worth taking to the Ombudsman!
Tim says
Hi Sara
I had a response from lending stream regarding 20 loans i had with them. They sent me back a breakdown of each loan along with the answers to my affordability questionnaire and said that because proportionate and appropriate checks were made they will not uphold. They allowed me to take out 3 loans in 1 day for a total of £600 and allowed me to have 6 loans running concurrently. At the time I had a problem with gambling (haven’t been near a bookies for over 2 years now) . Is this worth referring to the ombudsman? Total loans with Lending stream are about 3.5k
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Definitely. Lending Stream almost always turn down even good cases it seems. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/gambling-payday-loan-refunds/ for more about gambling and payday loan refunds.
Lee says
Anyone know how long 247 Moneybox take to payout when an ombudsman has given his final decision and Ive accepted his final decision. Do 247 Moneybox then typical refund the money with the 28 Days despite the lack of communication?
Just wondering as take exactly 1 year to get to this stage from my inital compliant with them. Thankfully this is the last 1.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Moneybox 247 used to pay out quickly but there have been a couple of recent reports of them being very slow.
Hannah Hendy says
Hi Sara,
This is fantastic, thank you for all your help. Looks like many people have had success! I’ve had a win with cash genie, they have admitted fault (something about a wrong account) and are refunding the interest etc. I’m really pleased with the result. Just a little background –
Rolling account, eventually i couldnt pay back and wanted to set up a payment plan. I followed this process correctly, however they made it very difficult. I have the full transcript between us and I remember their behaviours at the time and it was dealt with really badly. I got constant phone calls, harassment at work, emails were unprofessional and they asked for full card details for payment through email, of which I gave. It was a really stressful time. Do i have grounds to complain to FO because of the stress caused or am I just being greedy and should accept their offer? Thank You!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest taking the money now – Cash Genie are in administration and at some point their money is going to run out.
Hannah Hendy says
Thank you :)
Andrew Lammas says
Hi I have had emails back asking for bank statements dating back to 2011 I am no longer with this bank (NatWest) I believe they hold on for 5 years after closing which I believe was 2012 what now ??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
These emails are from lenders? You don’t have to send them any bank statements, but this is a good time to try to get them so you are ready prepared to go to the Financial Ombudsman.
Get as many bank statements as you can from your later bank.
Jason says
Hi, i have sent my comlaints into 9 lenders who i used regularly for 4 years. As an example i had 101 loans (including top ups) with wonga alone within 4 years. Do you think wonga will uphold my complaint considering the number of loans?
Also, is there a limit to the number of complaints you can have running with the ombusdmen?
Thanks!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Unfortunately Wonga sometimes rejects excellent complaints – and sometimes makes an offer for a small number of loans apparently at random. How long ago were these loans?
there is no limit to the number of complaints you can have at the Ombudsman – but hopefully at least a few of yours will get settled directly!
Jason says
Thanks for your reply.
My first loan with wonga was July 2012 and the last was Feb 2016, it was at least one every month during this time. Also, looking back at my bank statements, after getting paid i never had enough to cover the repayments so i was paying off my payday loans, re-borrowing then paying my normal bills. I had over 20 loans with quickquid, poundstopocket, mr lender, payday uk so hopefully some will settle directly
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Wonga may well refuse to refund anything after some point in 2014 when they say they changed their loan acceptance policy. You should ignore this – lots of people have been winning cases against Wonga after this date, it has no significance at all to the ombudsman.
Good luck – let us know how you get on!
Richard says
Hi
A quick question,
I have taken out over 100 loans with ~10 PDL companies over last two years – particularly over the last 10 months. I feel I’m worthy of compensation as for at least 6 months of this I was paying as much as my monthly income in monthly repayments – clearly unaffordable. My main question is, is it the loan company’s responsibility to assess whether I have ongoing loans with other companies, even if I say my current loan monthly repayments is £0. I just feel that if I have told them the loan is affordable during the application and its just them that I will owe to, I have no leg to stand on because I essentially lied.
thanks In advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Borrow repeatedly from the same company and they should have realised you had problems, whatever your application said. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/ for more details.
I suggest you should ask for a refund of all your borrowing – don’t try to judge which loans were OK and which won’t, leave up to the lender to make that call, and then the Finanical Ombudsman as with 10 lenders it’s a good bet some of them will have to go to the Ombudsman.
Do you still owe money on some loans? Sorry to ask, but do you have a gambling problem?
Richard says
Thanks for your response.
Yes to the latter two questions. I’ve been a cycle of borrowing and gambling for the last two years. It’s really difficult to live with and sustain the pretence of a normal life with my partner/family – both of which I am on my ‘final warning’ for borrowing with. I just want to live a normal life where I have disposable income.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, well you have to stop borrowing and stop gambling… There is no point in making these complaints whilst you are still gambling – any money you get back will just give you a few happy weeks whilst you donate it to the bookies profits.
So a possible way forward is:
1) cancel all the CPAs to the lenders you have used
2) contact StepChange and ask them to set up a DMP for you
3) read https://debtcamel.co.uk/gambling/ together with your partner and discuss what practical steps you can take to make it easier to stop and how how they can support you. Actions speak louder than words – your partner has probably heard you say you are stopping before. You need to take steps to make gambling much more difficult.
Then sit back for a few months and get back to a normal life. Then make payday loan complaints. At that point you may get the money back to clear some of your DMP and repay some of the family debts.
C says
Evening Richard
You’d be surprised how common a theme this is. I too was like you are now and have turned things around.
At first, it appears to be like a hole you can’t get out off but it can be done. Follow Sara’s advice and first thing I did was contact the gambling sites (12 in my case) and cancel my membership with them. After realising I gave away thousands to the bookies, a bit like pd lenders, it was a massive wake up call.
Stay strong fella and although it’s tough mentally, people will help you and be there for you if you help yourself.
Keep us updated with progress as many of us have been on the journey or are still on it and can support you.
All the best
C
Scarlet J says
I’ve had a response from QuickQuid, they’ve asked for the following information but my claim . dates back to 2012:-
Please provide us with the following information as soon as possible:
• Bank statements (at the point/s you took out your loan/s with us)
• Payslips (at the point/s you took out your loan/s with us)
• Any additional information relating to your financial circumstances (at the point you took out your loan/s with us)
Do I need to supply this? I don’t have my wage slips dating that far back.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you send bank statement, there is no need to provide wage slips. I have NO IDEA why they ask for these, unless they want to make this all sound more difficult than it actually is…
You don’t have to send them anything. I know some lenders are starting to actually look at bank statements, but some recent responses from QQ suggest they are still sticking to some very rigid formulas for what is “unaffordable” which give low refunds and which bear no resemblance to what the Financial Ombudsman will do.
But if you have the banks statements, why not send them? And if you don’t, this would be a good point to set about getting them from your bank as QQ may well not give you a good offer, then with the statements you are all set to send the complaint straight to the ombudsman.
JC says
Hi Sarah,
Wuick update Wageday advance have upheld my claim iro 9 of the 13 loans which I’m happy with to the time of £1,221.10 which I’ve accepted.
I still have 5 claims with the Ombudsman so am bedding in for a long wait. As it stands I have a ttotal redress of £8k if I accepted all the offers made but have calculated I paid around double that in interest so am going to fight my cause!
Thanks again and updates to follow.
John says
Having a lot of problems with 24/7 Moneybox. They’ve tried every trick in the book to obstruct and delay. So much so that the adjudicator has added £250 to his judgement in my favour, by way of compensation for their behaviour. Anyway, they’ve not accepted his decision and the matter has now been sent to the Ombudsman. Can anyone advise me how long this process usually takes?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Between 2-4 months typically, it isn’t clear why some cases are quicker than others.
brian says
I think I had to wait 6 week for mine, but they still haven’t paid out, what was set out in the final decision.
Stew says
Hi all,
Like alot of yourselves i fell into the payday trap a while ago, and since discovering this site ive tried to claim back whatever i can.
At the time i began taking them out, i had just started working in a job where my wage was on 700pm, on short hours, so i was having to borrow to live. There was a point where i distincly remember paying back quickquid and pounds2pocket on the same day, then trying to re-take the quickquid loan that same day, only to be told i cant take it out as i already have a loan with p2p. That day was the worst day of my life as the reality hit me like a ton of bricks that i had zero money.
Im in discussions with all the various ones ive had, as it all spiralled out of control as it usually does (at one point i had to cash in my wifes bonds to pay them off)
But im not really holding out any hope of getting anything.
They asked for statements an wage slips as previous people have mentioned, but due to the way my debts spiralled i dont use the bank account anymore, its been closed since at least 2014, and when i contacted my old employer they told me that in 2015 they updated there systems and now dont have any records before then!
Ive spoken to hmrc an requested an empoyment history from 2014/15 as thats as far back as they can go, so im trying to build some evidence for the likelihood of it going to an ombudsman, but as i say, theres alot against me here so im not feeling confident!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You don’t need payslips, forget about this, the Ombudsman never asks for them.
You will need to get bank statements for the Ombudsman, so set about getting these now. It is possible from closed bank accounts.
Holly Jane says
Can I ask what information you should put into your complaint to the ombudsman?
Do I need to explain every loan and repayment and include the other loans as evidence of why I was borrowing or will the ombudsman see this him/herself?
Also do I put down all my expenses if it is shown on my bank statements?
And what do do i say for the outcome i want?
Sorry for all the questions but I can’t see that info anywhere!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can just forward your complaint to the lender This https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-refund-complaint-detail/ looks at the general problem.
If you only had 1 or two loans from a lender then you could go into details about each, but if you had 20 that is obviously impractical. With a lot of loans it’s good to provide a short paragraph summarising them “I borrowed once from QuickQuid in 2012, then in 2013-4 I had four loans, all rolled multiple times. During this time I was also borrowing from other payday lenders.” That sort of quick overview.
Also say if there is anything that you disagree with in the lender’s response. For example if they have offered to refund a couple of loans but your situation was equally bad for a lot more of your loans. Or if your credit record was very poor but the lender said it was OK.
Holly Jane says
Great thank Sara.
Can I just add, QQ are so rude! Their rejection of my complaint coveted p2p as well which I didn’t realise because of the wording. I emailed asking for confirmation of this and they’ve just replied basically telling me to read the email properly!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
:(
Annie says
I have a QQ case with the FOS, they contacted me over 4 weeks ago asking about a large amount of PayPal transactions on my bank statement (gambling sites!) I replied within the given timescale but have not heard anything since. Would this have been an adjudicator? And do you think I will receive a decision soon?
Also payday uk who I only had two loans with but rolled the 2nd one over 3 times said the 1st loan was responsibly leanding and the 2nd they could not determine therefore I sent bank statements and credit report to them 6 weeks ago and have heard nothing back. Do they have 8 weeks to reply again?
Wonga paid me £4350 without going to FOS, for loans from 2012-2014, would probably have got a lot more for loans after 2014 if I went to FOS but it was a nice amount and helped a lot and had no payday loans since January, so getting back on track.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If someone from the FOS has asked detailed questions about your case (as oppsed to “Can you send a copy of your credit record”) then that is normally going to be an adjuidcator. If you phone the Ombudsman they will say who this is, and give you their email, then you can email them and ask if there is any more information you can help with.
I suggest going back to payday UK and say if you haven’t heard from them by the end of the week you will send the case to the Ombudsman.
Yes you probably would have got a lot more for post 2014 loans from Wonga – it is a disgrace they are routinely turning down these loans when they know the Ombudsman is approving them.
Annie says
Thanks Sara, I have email payday UK for an update and if I don’t have a response by the end of the week then I will refer to FOS.
Also phoned FOS and my complaint for Casheuronet has been upheld, they have until 6th July to respond. Still don’t have any figures yet so fingers crossed.
Annie says
Hi, thanks for all the great advice on the site.
Got a final response from Payday UK, They are now deeming the 2nd loan unaffordable 6 weeks after sending them bank statements. Have to send acceptance form back so a nice £744 back from them and only had 2 loans!
Casheuronet (QQ& & p2p) FoS heave ruled on my favour for loans 3-5 and 11-19 which I am now need to wait for QQ to respond whether they accept this or have any new information, don’t think they will have anything new to add as according to FOS report, I doesn’t look like they could supply very much supporting evidence! So hopefully they will comply and not stall. Thanks again everyone especially Sara. Hopefully this is now the end of payday loan hell!
Nats says
Hi all,
Need some advice. Today I received an offer on my complaint as partially upheld and an offer of £1500 for loans 21-29. They have disregarded 1-6 as they are time barred which is fine but 7-20 were between the years of 20-12 and 2014 in which I had a CCJ on my credit file as well as defaults from other payday loan companies. Surely this is reason enough for them to admit lending irresponsibly? I need the £1500 so tempted to accept but by my calculations I feel it should be double really
Nats says
It’s Wage day advance. I’ve sent them a copy of my credit file back and indicated what should have been red flags to them and asked them to reconsider 7-20. If not I think i’ll send to FOS but just wanted your views on this one anyway?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Whether a loan is unaffordable depends on the problems it gave you, but that is a lot of repeat borrowing and that is typically the sign of someone getting deeper and deeper into problem debt. they may not want to pay out on loans 1-6, but they should take them into account when looking at the later ones. So whereas the ombudsman might often recommend a refund from say loan 4, if there are already 6 before that are being ignored, then you may get a refund back from loan 6. Good luck, you would to be totally desperate to settle that for what they have offered.
Nats says
Yeh I don’t think I can settle with what they’ve offered. Just trying their luck aren’t they. Just wondering though whether they ever negotiate? Have you ever heard if them cooperating in this way or shall I just send it straight to the ombudsman do you think?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think it’s worth giving them a week to reply.
Nats says
They came back to me today and agreed they should uphold all loans from 6 to 29. This comes to £4000 and instead of the initial £1500. Please keep on at these companies as they’re just trying to fob us off at the first stages. It’s worth trying to negotiate and then if they don’t send to FOS immediately. Thanks for all your help so far Sara!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
A huge improvement – well done!
Nikki says
Hi, I have recently won my case in May of this year against Cash Genie. Due to liquidators they say they are awaiting confirmation of payment run from RSM. Am I likely to get this payment or not? Anyone received a cheque payment recently?
Jade says
Hi , I’ve also sent my complaints to the financial ombudsman back in march/ April of this year… I would have thought I’d of heard something by now, is this normal to wait this long, I’m just concerned as my final response letter from payday lenders say I need to seek help within 6 months.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
if You have heard nothing at all, phone up the Ombudsman and check it has been received.
Laura says
My first complaint was acknowledged 17 weeks ago and still not been assigned to an adjudicator.
Eva says
I have my last one still waiting to be assigned to someone which was submitted 05/01/18. On average my other 4 cases all were submitted 05/01/18 and took to be assigned between 11-17 weeks
Gary says
Hi
Well an update on my 247moneybox claim it went to the ombudsman end of feb/March I was given till 3rd of May to get all my detail in and currently the ombudsman are still awaiting my case file. Spoke to them yesterday and they are having real problems in actually speaking to anyone at 247 so have said if no comeback from 247 they’ll pick it up eventually at the ombudsman.
I said this is crazy as we were both given deadlines and I met mine? Anyway more as a heads up to everyone they are dragging their heals massively.
Lee says
247 Moneybox a nightmare. Just got my final decision on 22nd June nearly 1 year after inital compliant. Emailed, called sent letters no response. Wondering if I will actually receive my £890 refund back. Anyone been able to speak to anyone. And if so how? 3 calls this week for 30-40 mins waiting. Had to hang up in end. Frustrating.
Carol says
Hi I have payday loans with peachy, quick quid, pounds to pocket, myjar, payday uk, lending stream, ferratum and wageday advance. Peachy gave a final response saying I only had 4 loans which were small amounts £350 and I paid those early and I could afford them, quickquid said I did not have financial hardship and a bad credit record but these were never checked and as soon as I paid a loan they gave me another the same day, quickquid also said I had a flex credit account which is not a payday loan. I referred them to the ombudsman using the online system but I have not received a response.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Paying a loan early doesn’t mean it was affordable. Was 350 small amount for you? Probably not!
Flex credit accounts are getting refunds, QQ is wrong to imply you can’t get a refund for them.
How long since you sent the cases to the Ombudsman? Are you still waiting for replies from the lenders to your other complaints?
Carol says
I sent the peachy final response to the ombudsman last week using the online service, I was not sure whether I would receive an acknowledgement, I need to send the quick quid final response to the ombudsman and I am awaiting a response from the other loan companies however ferratum and myjar have sent me the statements from the loans I held with them
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You don’t get an automatic acknowledgement back from the Ombudsman. If you haven’t received anything at all after two weeks, phone and check they have got it.
Good luck!
PS please don’t put anything in the Website field when you comment – this is meant for use if you have your own website
tom price says
Hi Carol
I got over 5k back from a flexcredit account….. whatever you do – do not let them fob you off they will try anything to get you to give up!
Anthony says
Hi, I’ve sent the first templated letter/email to Mr. Lender they have now responded and sent me my account/loan information. Along with this they have asked for bank statements for the loan periods. Should I send these with the second template letter? Or shall I send the second template without and wait for a response?
Many thanks!
Ant
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you have the bank statement, why not send them? It can’t harm your case and it shows you have all the info you need to take the case to the ombudsman if necessary.
But if you do, don’t assume Mr Lender (or any other payday loan company) is right if they say they have looked at your statements and you could afford their loans! They may just be trying to fob you off or they may not have looked in details at your statements at all.
Mr Lender have a habit of making a low offer, but they will listen if you go back to them and suggest what else they should include. So come back here if they don’t make you a good offer and discuss it?
Anthony says
Thank you for the advice, Sara!
I changed my bank when I entered Debt Management as the bank was charging me as I was seriously overdrawn due to all my loans. I’ve contacted my old bank for these statements. Shall I wait till receive these?
Also, I had multiple loans which all but one have responded. The one that hasn’t comeback is swiftsterling. As these are a Maltese company what shall I do if they don’t respond? Can I take them to Ombudsman still?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Tell Mr Lender you would like them to consider the case as it stands and that you will send your bank statements to the ombudsman if necessary. This way you don’t delay your complaint and you are prepared to go to the FOS.
Swift Sterling, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/swift-sterling-pounds-till-payday/
nat says
I wonder, has anyone tried going to Amigo for misold loans and been successful? We had one with no checks done on us just the guarentor but still had to pay interest based on our bad credit not their good credit….changed payment dates and acrueed fees of over 2k, struggled to pay loan and no help from Amigo in any way. ended up paying almost 3 times the original loan…..any advice?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
See https://debtcamel.co.uk/how-to-complain-guarantor-loan/ for how to complain ambout guarantor loans are it isn’t quite the same as payday loans – although “affordability” is still the heart of the complaint.
Vicky says
Hi. Thankyou for the information here. It’s really useful. I’m hoping you can help with a query I have. last week we put in a compaint to quick quid regarding payday loans from 2013, obviously we are still waiting to here from them. The final loan we had was never paid back and has recently been passed on to a debt collector (we first heard from them in mid June) I followed the advice on your site and also emailed them explaining that we have put in a complaint to quick quid, and that the take no further action on the debt. However we have now received another letter from them, sent on the same day that we emailed them, saying that they are taking court action as we have not made any payments or arrangements to pay. They have not acknowledged my email to them in the letter. Can they do this? Could I write to them again advising that they take no action until my compaint is looked at by quick quid? Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“we have now received another letter from them” what does this letter look like – is it like the one described in here: https://debtcamel.co.uk/letter-before-claim-ccj/ with a Reply Form included?
Vicky says
Hi. Thankyou for your response. The original letter is like this. With the reply form included. I did not send this back but instead emailed them advising of the complaint I have made to quick quid. Since then they have sent a ‘final demand before court proceedings’ letter, as we have not made any arrangements to pay. Would the correct procedure be to compete their reply form and tick box D? Which is ‘i despute the debt’ and a cover letter reiterating my email that I have made a complaint to QQ about unaffordable lending?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You are now presumably beyond the 30 day point to return the Reply Form?
African Queen says
Hello,
An update from the Adjudicator on Wonga. I submitted to the FOS on the 14th of May.
“From what I can see you took out 18 loans with Wonga. They’ve let us know that you made your complaint to them about the first five loans more than six years after it was taken out. This means that we may not be able to consider the first five loans you took out as part of our investigation.
However, our service is still considering whether loans taken out more than six years ago is something we can consider and until we decide this, we can’t look into your complaint – due to the number of complaints this affects, it may take us so time to come to a decision on this.
Alternatively, you can choose to exclude the first five loans from our investigation and we can give you an answer on the remaining loans – but we won’t be able to go back and investigate the excluded loans at a later date.
Please let us know whether you’d like us to exclude your first five loans from our investigation or if you’d like to wait for an answer on whether we can consider all of your loans”
I have responded to say they should exclude the first 5 loans. They were quite small and I don’t want them to jeopardise a decision on the other 13 loans.
I will post any further updates.
Thank you as always x
Andrew Lammas says
That sounds like a bit of a precedent there then cause the companies knowing you ain’t gonna get anywhere with your claim that’s beyond a certain date are just gonna tell you they not interested most on my loans were 2011/12/13
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It depends on the firm – some are paying out on the over 6 years loans. QuicKQuid and Wonga are just being difficult at the moment with the Ombudsman.
Adam says
I have only taken one loan out with lending stream , however when I took it out I had taken out another payday loan with Sunny only 4 days previous , and had defaulted loans on my credit file.
The loan remains unpaid but has accrued a number of charges . Is it worth pursuing? What is the best/worst outcome I could hope for?
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Definitely worth making a complaint about – with a one loan complaint it’s worth making it very specific – say exactly what was on your credit record when you applied. Not just what the defaults and recent borrowing were, but what your monthly repayments were to any other loans or credit cards – LS should have taken them into account when deciding if you could afford to repay their loan.
Best outcome – all interest and charges are removed so you only repay what you borrowed. Worst – complaint rejected by the Ombudsman.
Jen says
Hi this has probably been asked but I can’t find it, do sunny loans usually agree with the adjudicator, they have until the 17th July to respond, found in my favour on loans 4-21, if they agree how long before payment is made. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Often they do, sometimes they don’t, even on good cases. Sorry, there is a big random element here.
Jen says
Thanks for all your help so far, I’m well over a year in trying to sort out my finances and get out of the mess I was in, this site has helped me so much, starting too see the light at the end of the tunnel now
Dan says
I have had all my decisions turned down by the payday loan lenders and zopa
11 loans QQ over 2 years -£3000 interest
18 Loans Sunny over £5000 interest
2 Loans Avant credit – Had 2 personal loans of 25000 and maxed out cc at the time
1 loan Zopa – large arrangement fee and had maxed out credit and other personal loan at time did not even ask for bank statements was gambling at timw
2 loans drafty – maxed out cc and 5 other payday loans at time and other loan
Waiting for Wonga
Most excuses are i didnt have defaults and my loans were affordable.
Was gambling at time but this is demoralising!!!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry if you were gambling then it is pretty normal for the lenders to reject the complaints. Send them all to the ombudsman for them to look at.
John says
I have just had a response from Quick quid not upholding my complaint. They said the following;
You are claiming that you were dependent on loans. Yet if you were dependent on taking out one loan to repay the other then you would have taken out numerous loans, for equal or increasing loan amounts, and with very little time between paying off one loan and taking out the other. When I reviewed your loan history I see that you held a total of 3 loans which given the low number does not exhibit financial dependency. I also note you had a Flex Credit account which is not a payday loan but a running credit account which is designed to provide customers with the option to drawdown credit up to their approved credit limit and repay it over a maximum of 10 months. Just like a credit card, we are not under an obligation to conduct an affordability assessment each time you drawdown on your credit limit.
I don’t really userstand this for a period of a couple of years I was taking out and paying back the full amount each time. I don’t even remember having the 10 month option available to me? Do you think I should go to the ombudsman now?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes I think you should. You can get refunds for this flex loan but if during this flex loan period you actually borrowed and repaid every month, just like a normal payday loan, I suggest you tell the ombudsman this and say you were not aware there was any difference.
Eva says
Update on Quick Quid. Originally rejected by QQ. Sent to FOS 05/01/18. Picked up by adjudicator 02/05/18. Decision made 15/06/18 for loans 2-5 to be refunded with 8% interest (loan 1 was older than 6 years at the time of original complaint). QQ respo see back on time agreei g with adjudicator. Acceptance form.sent off 02/07/18 so now waiting time to see how long it will take them to pay out.
Holly Jane says
Thanks for the update, Eva, I have had to send my QQ complaint to the FOS a couple of days ago, I had 11 loans with them! It’s good to hear some positive news!
AK says
I sent an acceptance form on 25/06/2018, didn’t hear anything from QQ yet.
gillian says
just a update after having settled all my payday loans refunds thanks to sara all were refund in the end I decided to put in a claim to shopacheck I had 9 loans with them running from jan2012 to june 2014 I posted the letter on Monday to morse club and I was surprised to get a phone call from them this morning a nice lady told me they can only deal with the open accounts they purchased from sept2013 uptill july2014 but she had sent my complaint on to welcome finance who should deal with the ones before this she asked for bank statements for the period jan2013 to july 2014 I have these due to payday refunds so going to send them off later today I added up the total loans in that period and it comes to 2760 pound since you payback nearly double of this it is worth asking for refund the ones before these dates total over3700 pound so hope welcome deal with that as quickly the lady was very nice and helpful and said she would deal with it as soon as she received my bank statements so I am very hopeful if not it will be sent fos as it is easy to do thank you again sara and anyone looking into refunds please put in your claims I was in a bad way from 2012 till 2017
Jonny says
I stumbled on this comment section an just wanted to explain my experiences in the hope someone may understand and give me more info/help. For the past 7 years I had taken multiple loans from lenders, 118118, QQ, Wonga, Payday, Lending Stream, Western Circle, Cashfloat, My Jar. An maybe a couple more. I honestly was in a right mess and still owe about 3800. I was literally paying one loan with another and there was no end in sight. I have kept this secret for so long from family and friends as I felt ashamed of the mess I got myself in. Rent each month was a sheer struggle and would make me so filled with anxiety. I really don’t know how I juggled for so long. It affected my young daughters as I was unable to buy them things and they could see the stress on me. I worked hard to get out of it then was made redundant. Now I’m on JSA £73 a week. After CSA I get 65. I pay £60 pcm to the 6 loans left. It’s been nothing but trouble. I’m thankful that even with this small amount I am upto date with gas, electric, water, cc, rent but it really is a hustle. Any advice would be most grateful.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Jonny,
too many people have got caught in this sort of payday loan trap – if you repay one you then have to borrow again as you don’t have enough money to live on. No need to be ashamed any more – these lenders have made a fortune out of you.
Because you still owe money, the best thing is first to talk to StepChange about a debt management plan for all your debts, not just the payday loan and other high cost borrowing. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/help-payday-loan/. You will also need to cancel the CPAs and DDs to all your current lenders so they can’t raid your bank and leave you needing to borrow again.
Then when your current situation is safe, you can start sending complaints to the payday lenders and other expensive loans such as 118. Some you may get a refund from, other may just remove the interest from what you owe so you only repay what you borrowed.
There are template letters in the article above to help. You don’t have to do them all at once, start with the ones you have borrowed the most from. This can take a long while – many months – to get sorted as some of your complaints may need to go to the finanical ombudsman. But the FO is agreeing with the customer in most cases, so although this takes a while it is often successful.
Take it steadily, don’t be impatient. The best place for questions is over on the main payday loan refund page as more people read that and may answer.
Good luck!
Bev says
When I got into the same mess I saw a lady at the citizen advice and was advised to offer a payment of £1 on each loan and for them to freeze any interest, I called each company and explained everything and said I had been advised to offer this amount or I would have to go into debt management they all accepted, as long as you pay the pound every month they cannot do anything, I have been paying this now for 2 years and although I cannot get credit and it will never be cleared at least I have money every month to live on and I have not got the stress anymore I just set a direct debit up for each of the company’s
Robert says
Hello,
Has anyone had any luck with OnStride?
I emailed my complaint 8 weeks ago and had no response at all, should u just forward to the ombudsman or email OnStride for an update?
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send it straight to the Ombudsman and say that OnStride have failed to respond to your complaint within 8 weeks. Attach a screen shot of the original complaint which shows the date it was sent.
Robert says
Thank you, i will do that now
benjamin harding says
I had 2 loans with Onstride, they are the worst of the them all in my opinion. I was and still am getting emails addressed to other people sent to me regarding complaints and refunds. Absolute joke of a company.
FOS upheld my affordability complaint so stick with it!
Mark says
Sara,
Thanks again for some great feedback and advice regarding my claims yesterday.
Call Credit – I emailed them as you suggested asking for a FSAR so I can compare the information they supplied to Satsuma in order for them to confirm my income and expenditure when I applied for the solitary loan with them. Call Credit have been amazingly helpful (so far!), they have responded to the request within 2 hours, asking for ID and asking if I could complete their formal request form, but if I didn’t it would not stop them completing my request. I responded the following day and again within 2 hours they responded thanking me for the ID and confirming my request would be processed within a few days. They also asked if i’d like the info via email or recorded delivery. So fingers crossed I get all the info I need to confirm that Satsuma acted irresponsibly.
Vivus – Has anyone had any joy in complaining to this company? I have had the auto response emails and further emails from the company that bought Vivus’ existing loan portfolio, however as my loans were finished in 2016 (a year before they sold), the new company is saying they hold no details of loans/customers. I will complain to the FOS in the hope they can get me loan details and let me know who is now responsible for any complaints, but if anyone out there can help, I would appreciate otherwise it will take 2-6 months just to get the details to start my complaint!
Thanks all and good luck! Mark
Dave23 says
Hi Sara,
I took out 28 loans with Wonga between 2013 and 2016, which I managed to pay off, but during that time I fell behind on mortgage payments and was already in a debt management plan. I was doing similar to a lot of people on here, paynig the loan off and then instantly applying for another one as soon as the website updated. Thankfully, due to a lot of overtime at work I have managed to get myself straight again.
I have complained to Wonga and they have rejected it, so I have made a complaint to the FOS.
Would I need to send a historic credit report to them, as all of the defaults from my DMP fell off my credit report last year and so no longer show, but he late mortgage payments are still on there. I’m just worried that the credit report won’t paint a true picture of how desperate my finances were at the time.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you have an old credit report that would be great but most people don’t, so the ombudsman only expects your current one. You may have some other record of the debts in your DMP that you could send to the ombudsman saying that the defaults on these debts have already dropped off?
But in your case the number of loans combined with your mortgage arrears are likely to clearly show that Wonga was giving you unaffordable loans.
Dave23 says
Thanks for the quick reply Sara. I have now paid off the DMP and think that I have got rid of all of the paperwork. I have my old bank statements though which will show the direct debits going out, so fingers crossed I will get a good result.
Wonga used the excuse that I always paid the loans on time and that they have lent responsibly, which they obviously didn’t. Just one last question, the FOS responded to my complaint to them within two weeks, asking me to forward Wonga’s response. Does this mean my case has already been assigned, or do they just ask for the reply from the company before the case is assigned to an adjudicator?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is just someone getting your complaint ready. They will also be asking Wonga to supply your case file.
Karen says
Hi
I got a response from H&T after sending the template letter in saying they have rejected my complaint for the loans I have had As I could afford them when I took them out I have had a few loans from them I have payed off some and still owe on some evey time you take a loan out with this company they give you a big loan take off what you owe and give you rest
What do i do now are could you give me some advice what I should do
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds as though this may be a good complaint if they keep giving you bigger loans to pay off earlier ones. I suggest you send the complaint to the ombudsman to look at.
KATHY says
I had an email from Pounds to Pocket telling me they have investigated my complaint which they are rejecting saying I took it out over 6 yrs ago which is untrue also they say I could afford it at the time when I had a mortgage and all other bills to pay on my own while only working part time, Is my next step the ombudsman?
Many Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So all your PTP loans were less than 6 years old? If that is correct, it is worth going back to them and pointing out they are factually wrong…
Kyle says
Hi,
I have had a response from Wonga to say that they are going to pay back interest and fees on 5 loans with a total settlement of £2487.92.
There are some loans taken out pre six years ago that Wonga say they my complaint has been made outside the time limits for.
Is there any value in trying to dispute the rest of the charges with the Ombudsmen for the loans greater than 6 years old?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are they refunding all loans under 6 years?
Kyle says
Looks like a selection of them (5 out of 15 under 6 years) for some reason.
‘’Based on the above, there may have been more that we could have done to assist you and so we have decided to uphold your complaint.
Additionally, we will also request for the redressed loans to be removed from your credit record. This may take up to 30 working days to be updated fully on your credit file.
We would like to offer £1857.92 which is an amount equal to the interest and fees on the following loans : xxxxx ‘’
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well in that case it sounds like a poor offer on the under 6 year loans. I suggest you add up the interest on the three groups of loans (ignore the extra 8%):
– loans older than 6 years
– loans under 6 years they are offering to refund
– loans under 6 year they are not offering to refund.
Because you have 3 choices:
– accept offer
– send whole case to the ombudsman (will be slow)
– send loans under 6 years to the Ombudsman.
Knowing the facts about the interest is the best way to make this decision.
Kyle says
Hi Sara,
I probed a little further with Wonga, asking why all loans under 6 years old were not included in offer and got this response.
“We can confirm that the loans that were not included in our final response was deemed as affordable”
I can confirm that there are 16 loans I had that have interest of £2,673.82 attached. Wonga have offered me £1,857.92 in interest and fees I paid on 5 loans using the above reasoning (excluding 8% additional interest).
Thinking about sending just loans under 6 years old to FOS
Hoping you can answer some of these questions:
1) How do Wonga deem a selection of loans affordable? (Paying on 5 but not the rest)
2) How long do you typically see FOS complaints taking from submission to completion?
3) Would I lose any of original offer by disputing and do FOS rule in favour of customer vs Wonga often?
Thanks
Kyle
Sara (Debt Camel) says
1) who knows? But from the interest amounts, it looks as though Wonga is refunding the larger loans, as the interest on the 6 loans they are refunding is c £1800 and the total interest on the 15 is only £2,600. So the interest on the loans they are NOT offering to refund is c £800 – correct?
2) that depends a lot on the lender and how well organised they are. Wonga are not particularly difficult but they are busy. Adjudicator normally picks up a case in 10-14 weeks after you send it in and takes a week or two to decide it. Then it depends if Wonga accept adjudicator ruling, your case sounds straightforward so I would hope they do but no guarantees.
3) I haven’t seen a case where someone got less than a Wonga offer by going to the FOS. Yes people often get good refund from going to the Ombudsman with Wonga cases.
This isn’t a dreadful offer from Wonga but it could be better – they are offering most of the interest under 6 years, the most extra you could get is c £800 (plus 8% interest). It’s up to you to decide what you want to do.
Kyle says
Hi. This is a final response from Quick Quid / Poinds to Pocket. I have emailed ombudsmen who have acknowledged my complaint in last few days explaining I am unhappy. Do you feel I have any further grounds based on QQ response?
AFFORDABILITY & CREDIT WORTHINESS
It was noted your monthly income was stated as £1929 per month. I compared your income to your total monthly repayment for each loan you took with us. From this I can see that the income you made during each payday loan with us was always more than enough to cover the amount you had to repay us
DEPENDENCY
If there was dependency we would expect to see constantly increasing amounts in order to cover the prior loan interest and principal. However, your loan amounts varied and actually decreased from the previous loan which shows that you were not relying on one loan to repay the previous loan.
You are claiming that you were dependent on loans. Yet if you were dependent on taking out one loan to repay the other then you would have taken out numerous loans, for equal or increasing loan amounts, and with very little time between paying off one loan and taking out the other. When I reviewed your loan history I see that you never had more than four consecutive loans with less than 15 days between loans.
HARDSHIP
Had you alerted us to your difficult financial situation, we would have put you in “hardship” status, as is our process.
CONCLUSION: COMPLAINT NOT UPHELD
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is QQ’s usual weasel words rejection, trying to make your case sound as poor as possible.
eg “From this I can see that the income you made during each payday loan with us was always more than enough to cover the amount you had to repay us” gosh so they never lent you more than your salary!
“However, your loan amounts varied and actually decreased from the previous loan which shows that you were not relying on one loan to repay the previous loan.” actually it is not being able to get through the next month wothout borrowing again that matters. Sometimes you may have needed to borrow less – that doesn’t mean the loan is affordable
“When I reviewed your loan history I see that you never had more than four consecutive loans with less than 15 days between loans.” if I rephrased that as “At least one occasion you borrowed again every month for 4 months with very short gaps” you will see that makes your case sound much stronger – instead they have chosen a sentence full of confusing negatives.
Good move to send your case to the Ombudsman.
Out of curiosity (not because it changes that last suggestion) did you send QQ your bank statements?
Kyle says
Thanks for reviewing Sara. I guess I’ll use some of what you said to articulate my case with FSO. Do you see many of these responses overturned?
No I did not send bank statements.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes lots! QQ cases are routinely won at the Ombudsman – over 70% from memory.
AK says
I had similar response from QQ. The ombudsman upheld my complaint for all loans taken expect two oldest ones. Good luck!
KATHY says
Hi Kyle, I had exactly the same email from Pounds to Pocket (same company as QQ) but with a different income amount.
Kathy
Holly Jane says
I just thought I’d add that I got the exact response in ONE email for both QQ and P2P, they couldn’t even be bothered to send 2 separate emails! It looks like they are sending out a standard response.
Becky says
Hi, i sent a case to the fos about The money shop a few weeks bk, i have been asked to provide bank statements but i dont know exactly when the loans were as they didnt send me a statement of accounts. I think they may have been in 2006-2008 but i was with Santandare then and im not now. I have no record of the account number or sort code so is it possible for me to get these statements from over 10 years agk? If so how? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok so reply to the Ombudsman you need the money Shop to send you a list of your loans then you will try to get the bank statements.
In the meanwhile, send the Money Shop a Subject Access Request asking for a copy of all your personal information. That should get you back the loan details. Just ask for the info, no need to say why or that you just want a list of the loans, ask for the lot.
Also you want to ask Santander for your bank statements. I would start by going into any branch and saying what you want. Give them as much information as you can – where you lived then, the email account you may have used, your date of birth, literally anything they may come back and ask you for.
BUT the chances are that the ombudsman will not look at any loans before April 2007. That is the first date they took over handling consumer credit complaints.
Becky says
Thanks i already sent the money shop a subject access request, got my list today from them, the loans started from 2008 to 2013. Im going to call into Santander today and email the fos. Thanks for the advice ????