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?
Helpwanted says
Hi everyone.
I have a complaint with the money shop which is currently with an adjusticator for irresponsible lending. I was on a repayment plan which I stopped paying once it went to the ombudsman.
Today I received a default notice demanding payment of the full amount by the 9th of August.
‘CONC 7.14.1: (1) A firm must suspend any steps it takes or its agent takes in the recovery of a debt from a customer where the customer disputes the debt on valid grounds or what may be valid grounds.’
I have replied with that and stating I will make catch up payments once the complaint is settled if needed but want the action to be stopped.
Where do I stand with this?
Thanks!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Technically sending out a default notice wouldn’t be classified as a step in recovering a debt. Why did you stop – was the repayment plan unaffordable?
Helpwanted says
Thanks for the reply. I felt the loan was missold so wanted to redo the payment plan once the complaint was settled with the correct amounts outstanding. I have kept the funds aside to make a payment once this had been completed however so sent an email offering to pay the amounts missed off the payment plan to prevent the default, but should they reject that I’m worried this complaint has in essense made me give myself a default
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well if you get a refund, any negative marks will be removed from your credit record, so although this feels worrying at the moment, it doesn’t actually tend to matter in the end. Were the repayments you were making quite low – how long would it take you to repay the balance?
James says
Thank you! I submitted my 12 complaints to different lenders 24 days ago. Today, i received my first reply from satsuma agreeing that my one loan with them was unnafordable and they wrote the whole thing off (interest and capital). So pleased, this was my smallest comllaint of them all so look forward to my other replies.
Pamela says
So the adjudicators decided I should get the interest and fees back on all 31 wonga loans and all 5 quick quid loans but both companies rejected so off to the ombudsman it goes
Mark says
Hi Sara, hope you are well.
I have received a letter today (Provident – trading as Satsuma), in response to an FSAR where they say, “your request has been extended by 30 days, due to a large volume of requests. Their 28 day deadline runs out tomorrow.
I need the FSAR to send to the FO as my complaint has already been sent to them and that is the basis of my complaint (ie they could see I was in trouble, but lent anyway).
Can they do this and if so how many times can they just change the deadline??? If not, what is my recourse????
I got my first letter from FO asking me to send bank stats etc. yesterday.
Thanks, Mark.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well it is unlikely to be picked up by an adjudicator for a couple of months, so even Satsuma should get your SAR back to you before then.
If it goes on more than another 4 weeks, also put in a complaint to the ICO about the SAR delay. I know they are very busy, they are having to filed SARs not just for Satsuma, but also Provident and Vanquis, all part of the same group. But that means they need to recruit more staff and deal with the demand properly.
Kayley says
So I had my reply from piggy bank today in the last week of the 8 weeks and they said the following
Based on my findings and the information above, I can uphold the complaint regarding irresponsible lending and am able to offer some redress in this matter. If you accept in full and final settlement of the complaint, I can refund the interest and charges on loans 4 and 9 through to the 19th loan. This totals £1136.51 plus, 8% statutory interest for each complete year on loans 4, 9 and 10 which totals £11.62. This will give you a total refund of £1148.13.
So my question is why are they only giving me the 8% on 4 9 and 10?
Am I missing something?
I think this is quite a good offer?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I have no idea! I suggest asking them – that sounds so odd it may be an error. Also they are not supposed to add 8% interest for each “completed year”, it should be done pro rata for the incomplete years.
Kayley says
Sara does it sound like a good offer? They have honoured 13 out of 19 loans?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds like they are refunding 12 out of 19?
Missing off 1-3 sounds pretty normal. But why haven’t they included 5,6,7,8? If they are all small, you may not care,
Kayley says
They are small interests I paid I think they total just shy of £200 in interest.
I have had rejection letters from a few companies today including lending stream where I have had nearly 30 loans with so I’m obviously sending this to FOS.
Jake says
Hi Sara
Has anyone ever had defaults removed from there credit file by payday lenders? I’ve got 4 defaults all from payday lenders. I was hoping to get them removed.
I have sent emails to 6 different lender using your first template. Only had one send me loan information as of yet.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If your complaint is upheld for those loans so you get a refund, you should also have any negative marks such a default or missed payments deleted. If you get an offer from a lender direct, not via the ombudsman, you need to check they are proposing to correct your credit record, not just assume they will.
Eva says
I had removed 2 defaults by lending stream and 1 by MYJAR.
JD says
Hi, I had 45 payday advances from cash converters over the last 6 years. They started at £90 a month until it increased to a maximum of £389 a month.
I worked out I paid £3000 in interest. They have said as I provided bank statements and they saw my financial history and affordability and it’s not a payday loan, they doubt I would get a refund. (That’s in store)
I would often have to pawn my items with them during the same period and was paying satsuma loans, sunny loans, and bright house a lot of money shown on the statements, but they said it didn’t affect my ability to pay as I was never late paying them.
Anyone had success with Cash converters, or am I wasting my time?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Definitely not wasting your time, send it straight to the Ombudsman – that sounds like a very good case. the fact they knew you were having to pawn items during the time they were lending to you is a strong argument that the loans were unaffordable.
It doesn’t matter if they think these loans were payday loans or not – people are getting refunds from this sort of cheque based lending.
JD says
That’s great thanks. It wasnt cheque based, it was a loan they offered in store as long as I provided a bank statement each month. I would literally redo another loan the day it was paid and put items in to pawn.
Hopefully I get somewhere with it, but how would I prove the items I pawned as I no longer have the buyback slips?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you should send Cash Converters a Subject Access Request. Send an email to customerservices.uk@cashconverters.com with that as the subject line. Say you want all the information they hold about your, including cash advances and pawned items. Say which store you used and give your name, address, date of birth and any reference number you have.
JD says
Hi. I sent a sars to that email address and it’s been ignored. I called today to see what was the progress of the sars for them to say they never received it, but can send me a statement of loans now.
I explained that I wanted all information they held on me to be told customer services only have my complaint and a statement of loans.
They asked me what I wanted in particular, I said
All loans taken out by myself.
All evidence of credit checks
All buyback pawned items including rolled over and lost items.
She told me they never do a credit check on their cash advances. They use an in house calculator to determine what I can afford.
They also have no records of items I pawned as these are only kept in store so contact them myself.
Would that be correct? How does it work when it’s a Franchise, would customer services not hold information on customers in shop?
The shop are so aggressive and unwilling to help at all.
Thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you should send the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman and tell them about the difficulty you are having.
Matthew says
My complaint to Wonga dates back to last summer! I made the complaint in about July/August and they got back to me in October with an offer which i ignored as it didn’t seem like a satisfactory offer considering how frequently i used to use Wonga. I found out later on that i had just over 100 loans plus countless top ups within a 6 year period! My sister had half the amount of loans that i had with Wonga yet they offered her twice the amount i was offered so i’ve no idea how that works?! So i started complaint procedure with the FOS straightaway. I gave them my credit report, bank statements and also a list of all the loans i had with Wonga which they sent to me. The FOS contacted me at xmas to let me know that one of the loans pre dates the last 6 years hence why it was taking so long to process my complaint as Wonga won’t look into loans before this 6 year period. So i decided to not pursue this one loan which didn’t amount to much anyway and hopefully to speed up the process. This was at xmas, It’s now July! I’ve had updates from the FOS about once a month and i’ve even called up myself sometimes for an update but haven’t had much news from the adjudicator. Apparently Wonga are digging their heels in and delaying my case as much as they can and also can’t agree on an offer with the FOS. Is there anything i can do to speed this up? Any idea how much i may be offered for the amount of loans i had? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you have a list of your loans showing how much interest you paid?
I understand the FOS is looking at how it handles some cases involving very large numbers of loans and it may be yours is caught up in that. Do you know what your adjudicator is suggesting?
Matthew says
Yes I have a list of how much interest and fees I paid on each loan. Do I just get the interest back? The fees as well? Should I add them up to see how much I should roughly get back? My adjudicator has pretty much said the same thing for the last couple of months, basically no news and they’ll contact me when they have some. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You should get the interest and the fees back. Plus 8% simple interest on them. Yes it’s definitely worth adding these up!
Jack says
Emailed wonga on the 9/4/18 regarding 40 loans I had taken out between 2012 and 2017. Received a reply 6 weeks later offering £3800 on only the first 12 loans mentioned and did not regard the later 28.
I have rejected this and taken it to the financial ombudsman.
Sent bank statements and credit file to the financial ombsudman 5 weeks ago and waiting on a reply now.
What’s the time scale on waiting for a decision from the ombudsman now?
Should I have just taken the £3800 and run?
Considering they offered the £3800 for the FIRST 12 loans when really the later loans were more wrongfully given in my opinion as they showed I was spiralling into deeper debt.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Probably a couple of months until your complaint is picked up by an adjudicator. It sounds as though you could get two or three times as much from going to the Ombudsman – have you added up the interest on the 28 loans they ignored?
Jack says
Thanks for the reply. I was thinking the sMe thing in regards to 2 or 3 times more.
To be completely honest I never asked for or received a breakdown of all my loans/interest paid. I was going to ask but by then I had already submitted to the FO so I assumed they would request that from Wonga anyway. By that time they was offering me around 1000 a month and I was taking a thousand a month and paying back every month and this went on throughout the last 28 loans.
Just hope turning down the £3800 wasn’t a mistake.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
From what you say turning down the 3,800 was a very good move!
I think you should now ask Wonga for the details. Send an email to customercare@wonga.com with SUBJECT ACCESS REQUEST as the title and ask for a complete list of all your personal information. This will be more than just the loans, it’s hard to tell if any of the other stuff you get will be useful for your complaint until you see it. Give your name, address, date of birth and customer number.
Jack says
Much appreciated. Just sent the email now so hopefully they get back fairly soon. Be interesting to see how much I lent and paid in interest. Will update once they reply
Thanks
Chris says
Hi
I’m about to start a claim against 10 different payday lenders.
I’m presuming most will go to fos, just wondering how I get that many copies of bank statements.
Guess that would be thousands of sheets of paper.
Would like to know what people on here do?
Thanks
Chris
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You send all your bank statements with the first FOS complaint – they will then use them for any later ones. Good luck – hopefully some will be sorted directly with the lenders!
Chris says
Thanks a lot
Thought I would need to print them 10 times.
Nina says
Hi, I don’t know if this will work depending on your bank. I’m with natwest and online banking – I went into statements, search transactions and searched by the lenders name for the particular year, it let me download the statement showing just their payments to me and me paying them back. Hope that helps :)
Angus says
I have quite a few complaints that have been with the FOS since December 2016. They do all include loans over 6 years and the adjudicator has agreed with me in all cases that the loans can be looked at but i have not heard anything for months (maybe even years). Does anybody have any idea when this is likely to be resolved???
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am optimistic there will be a decision soon (but I have been wrong in the past about this!)
Grant Dawson says
Advice please? I am in an IVA which ends in October. Am i best to wait until then before making a claim?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Definitely! But it is possible that you may have problems even after you get your completion certificate – someone reported in the last couple of weeks that the refund was sent to his old IVA firm. So don’t pin too many hopes on this working.
Grant says
Surely after IVA is finished it’s finished??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
no… not for PPI, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-iva-green-wright/ and the hundreds of cross comments below that article.
The principle of what is an asset at the start of your IVA which then becomes the property of your creditors can apply to other financial claims as well as PPI, so far only one person has reported this happening, I am just saying it might.
Jackie says
I finished my Iva payments in August 2016 and got my completion certificate Feb 2017 and have been informed that my creditors have been informed of the refunds I’ve been offered and that these refunds will go to my Iva practitioner. That was about 10 days ago and I’ve heard nothing from either the loan companies or my Iva company (payplan). My account is closed with payplan. I will keep posted on any developments with this but am gutted as these refunds would have paid off current debts.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you gone back to the Ombudsman and challenged this as I suggested?
Jackie says
No not yet, I did question it with my adjudicator who responded with
“We had to ask the IVA if they have an interest in the complaint, as the loans were taken out prior to your IVA being completed, meaning that the refund would’ve formed part of your assets. If however you have any more queries about it then I think your IVA would the best people to get in touch with as they’ll be able to provide you more information about this”
I will contact my Iva company to ask them though, is it still worth asking the FOS. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is worth going back to the FOS and to your IVA firm. You have two separate sets of loans – there is no question that the refund for loans taken after your IVA ended should come to you. It seems worth establishing this principle with FOS. The argument about loans taken out during your IVA is harder and needs to be had with your IVA firm. You should point out that because these loans were taken out after your IVA started, the right to make these claims was not an asset at the start of your IVA so the Green v Wright court decision does not apply and see what your IVA firm replies.
matt says
Update
Today PAYDAY EXPRESS have paid out after adjudicator upheld my complaint. I sent the acceptance form back on 5/7/18 . Really pleased. This is the first of my complaints, I have 8 more pending with FOS.
mike says
just received the below, i really hope this isn’t going to add a significant amount of time to my claims :(
”
Your complaint is currently being reviewed at the moment, we’re currently developing our approach to complaints where a consumer has a chain of 10 loans or more and the circumstances vary. Unfortunately I cannot give you a timeframe for how long this will take, however once a decision has been made or if there is any new update on your complaint we will contact you.
If you have any questions about your case do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours sincerely”
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes a few other people have reported this. How many loans did you have? The others had very large numbers, a lot more than 10.
mike says
this was for sunny which was 27 loans. The worst things was i got an email from my adjudicator 2 weeks ago saying he hoped to have the judgement last week :( i have another one for 56 loans with QQ which i presume will go the same way :(
Sara (Debt Camel) says
All I can say is that so far as I know FOS is looking into this in order to speed up their handling of these large claims. Keep going back and enquiring about progress every couple of weeks!
Nina says
Hi Sara, this page and all your wonderful tips has spurred me on to contact all my lenders – Thank you. I’ve had loans with wonga, sunny, quick quid, uncle buck, peachy and lending stream.
I’ve begun by emailing Wonga first, where I had in total 39 loans but they began Jan 2012 through til end of 2013 – Reading through the thread, Am i likely to be over looked due to them being just over 6 years now as we’re mid July.
I’ve also just emailed Sunny, 12 loans and were all 2013 – These were a horrible payday company, sent me to a debt collector which gave me a default. All settled and paid off years ago – but wondered if i need to contact the debt collectors also?
I’ve attached all transactions (Natwest let you choose transaction dates and just by using a key word, so you can have a list of all payments without showing all the other personal bits – Just a tip guys) and emails where I requested help when it got difficult to pay.
Should I have done that? Just so i know when i contact the others and also, how do i work out how much i spent in interest?
Look forward to your reply, thanks NIna
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“Am i likely to be over looked due to them being just over 6 years now as we’re mid July.” – they will probably ignore the over 6 year loans in their response to you. It depends how good their offer irs – if your later loans were larger, it may still be OK? But if it’s not good send it to the Ombudsman and settle in for a long wait – the over 6 year cases are slow.
“wondered if i need to contact the debt collectors also?” not if the loans have been repaid.
“I’ve attached all transactions (Natwest let you choose transaction dates and just by using a key word, so you can have a list of all payments without showing all the other personal bits – Just a tip guys) and emails where I requested help when it got difficult to pay.
Should I have done that?” well they should know it all but if a lender carried on lending to you after you said it was difficult to pay that is a VERY strong point in your favour.
” how do i work out how much i spent in interest?” how much you paid them (or a debt collector) minus what you borrowed from them – that gives you the toal of interest and charges you paid.
Nina-Maria Trofa says
Thank you, Sara.
I have taken your advice on board.
I wanted to double check i’m doing this correctly, so I added up the amount I paid out to wonga £7101 on my statements and the amount I paid them £7449.89. So, i would due back £348.89? Does that seem correct?
Also, on my statements from Sunny, peachy and QQ it doesn’t show the amount the debited to my account? Only what I paid them, seems bizarre. Have you heard of this happening before?
Thanks,
Nina
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That looks like a surprisingly low amount of interest for Wonga… if your loans were always for just a few days it could be right, but otherwise, I think you may have missed something. Is it possible you didn’t repay the last loan and it was later written off by Wonga?
“Also, on my statements from Sunny, peachy and QQ it doesn’t show the amount the debited to my account? Only what I paid them, seems bizarre.” is this from your bank statements? If it is, I suggest there must be something wrong in the way you are selecting the transactions in your online banking. Go back to the full statements for a period of a few months and go through them.
Nina says
Thanks Sara, i will do that.
Another issue (rolls eyes) – I had contacted a claim company before finding your site but cancelled literally the next morning as saw they would take 30% and all these other hidden fees. I did not sign any contractual agreement emails they sent through but peachy emailed to advise they’d already contacted them. I advised them to disregard any information sent to them by claims company and to only use information sent by me. Could this cause a problem??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This shouldn’t be a problem if you cancelled with the claims company in writing. I would be interested if you could list the “other hidden fees” – only VAT is common.
Bobski says
Hi, I first put my complaint in with QQ in September 2017. They made an offer to refund 4 out of 14 loans. The offer was just under £5k. I rejected this and the adjudicator added 2 more loans to the offer which would of made it just under 11k. QQ rejected this and it went to the ombudsman. This was picked up by them a month ago. I phoned today for a update and it’s been passed back to the original adjudicator who said they are waiting for more info from QQ. Has anyone else had this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It happens sometimes, normally if there is some more information the adjudicator should look at. I suggest you contact the adjudicator and ask them what further information they need from QQ>
.
Jonny says
Hi Sara
I have signed my acceptance forms and have this morning recieved emails from 2 of the companies for my bank details to make the payments to me.
Is it safe to email them back with my bank details?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well technically emails are not secure. But what is? Mail can go astray, unless you want to hand deliver a letter yourself(!). Email is the most practical option.
Andrew says
Having real problems with lending stream had 3 emails saying need more info to find me given them all the info I can suspect they are mucking me about and 8 weeks gone by willnit be worth sending to FO or will they just say no and give them more time ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are they saying they can’t find any loans details for you? Do you have the bank statements showing the payments to and from them?
Andrew says
Still chasing bank statements no they just keep asking for details email address etc given it several times and generic email keeps coming back
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you have emails from them about the loans? Or anything else which shows them? If not, I suggest waiting until you have the bank statements and then sending them to LS and putting in your complaint to the FOS at the same time.
Andrew says
Thanks still waiting to hear from NatWest don’t believe they will have them as account shut six years ago
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ah so these are pretty old loans… You are going to have to find some evidence about these loans. Have you sent a SAR to NatWest?
tom price says
they messed me about for 12 weeks, then denied all knowledge, so gave up and sent to the FOS – they truly are the worst of all companies to deal with
Nigel Walker says
So Sunny have agreed with the adjudicator and made me an offer which I have told the adjudicator I accept. Does anybody know how long Sunny usually take to pay out? This was about 10 days ago and not even heard from Sunny since I accepted.
Jen says
Hi did Sunny respond within the 14 days to the adjudicator, they have till today to respond to my adjudicators decision n I’ve not heard anything from either yet, thanks
Nigel Walker says
Hi yes they did I think. My adjudicator was on holiday until a few days after the deadline so didn’t hear anything until he was back
Jen says
Hi I’ve just heard that sunny have agreed with my adjudicator also, fingers crossed they pay out quickly for both of us
Orla says
Hi
i’ve been made an offer for a PDL and they pay me directly. I hadn’t realised their fee was 30% plus vat. They are getting really heavy i need to call them the same day as i get credited and pay them or i could be sued by their solicitor. I haven’t had funds yet. I was wonder what weight is behind their threat? Also what would happen if i paid them less than their extortionate could they sue me?
Has anyone had any dealing with ac ompany acting for them?
Orla
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes it is an extortionate fee to pay someone who has done almost nothing. But you do have to pay it. I have seen people taken to court for a CCJ by a claims company.
Alison Neary says
Has anyone complained to speed credit (tooth fairy). I’m not sure I want to contact them as last I heard I owed £3500 for a £300 loan.
matt says
UPDATE
Called the FOS for an update on 8 complaints sent to them 13 weeks ago. None of which have been picked up yet. Just a waiting game now.
The one was sent mid March and settled July 5th, paid yesterday.
tom price says
I made claims against 14 companies- settled early with 6 and the rest off to the FOS. I’m just being patient and waiting. this is 12 weeks now. The ones I settled with early gave me 11 k so more than enough to tide me over
Laura says
I am still waiting for my first one to be adjudicated, been with FOS for 20 weeks now..and 18 and 17 weeks for two others.. long waiting game..good luck..
David says
Hi everyone, just starting out on this long journey.
Received my first reply to a SAR from QQ five days after requesting it.
Received the usual response from what I’ve read on here. Bank statements/ Payslips etc. The loans were both sides of the 6 years. What’s the best action to take? Tell them I will send them to FOS if it goes to that, or seeing the time limit is still over 7 weeks away, try and get these statements and send to QQ?
Holly Jane says
I sent all my bank statements etc to QQ (and p2p, same company) and I got outright rejected. To be honest I feel like they didn’t even look at the info. I’m surprised so many on here got offers at the start, as my loans were taken out/paid off (from another loan) and taken out again, sometimes within days. It seems to be pot luck.
Claire says
Hi
I’ve just seen your comment about receiving a statement and it was password protected. Speedy Cash did the same to me I just rang and they gave me a password. Hope this helps
Poppy says
Hi all, I have just found out about Wonga doing refunds. I have had 13 loans from 2010-2014 I have worked out that the interested and fees totals £3160. As most of them are over 6 years old will I not receive a refund? One of the loans was for £859 and I ended up paying pack £1893 ???? payment plan. Has anyone been successfully with loans over 6 years?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Just send your case to Wonga and then on to the Ombudsman and settle in for a long wait. The Ombudsman thinks they can look at these older loans and some other payday lenders have already given in and are paying out. Not Wonga so far… but I hope this will be resolved soon.
Paula Partington says
Hi,
Can you claim for any payday loans taken out after 2017?
X
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes! If you still owe money, this is also possible, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-refunds-defaulted-loan/.
Paula Partington says
Thanks Sara.
Mine are all repaid. All loans taken out between April 2015 & Dec 2017. Sometimes off 4 different companies at once and multiple loans, once you borrow your stuck in a cycle of awful borrowing.
I claimed through a claims company with lending stream & Wonga before I came across your website a couple of weeks ago. I am 5 week into this and still awaiting to hear from them,
Pounds2pockets, Drafty, Likely Loans, Sunny & QuickQuid I hadn’t gone to them with a claim and found your website so have emailed them myself with your template letter & I am awaiting to hear from them.
So grateful to you for finding your website.
Hopefully I will win with he loan companies, If the payday claims company I have gone through come back and say lending stream & Wonga have not upheld my claim, am I able to go to the ombudsman without them or will they have to do this for me?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, I assumed some of them had balance as you asked about loans after 2017.
“If the payday claims company I have gone through come back and say lending stream & Wonga have not upheld my claim, am I able to go to the ombudsman without them or will they have to do this for me?” unfortunately the complaint has to carry on through the claims company :(
Lisa says
So after finding this wonderful site, over the last few weeks I’ve slowly sent off second letters to the following;
Satsuma: 4 loans in 2016. Interest amounting to £3718
118118: 3 loans within 8 months (2015/2016) Interest amounting to £2350
Piggy: 18 loans over 3 years (2015/2018) Interest amounting to £1894
Cash ASAP: 8 loans in 6 months (2015/2016). Not sure of interest, haven’t heard from them yet.
247 Moneybox: 16 loans in 14 months (2015/2016). Interest amounting to £1262
Safety net Credit: Approx 21x borrowed month to month (2015/2018). Not sure of interest, haven’t heard from them yet
Wonga: 20 loans in 2 and a half years (2013/2016). Not sure of interest, haven’t heard from them yet
Everyday loans: 3 loans within 1 year 8 months (2015/2016). Not sure of interest, haven’t heard from them yet
Provident: 9 loans in 5 years (2013/2018). Not sure of interest, haven’t heard from them yet
Mr Lender: 7 loans in 3 years (2015/2018). Not sure of interest, haven’t heard from them yet
Of the above, 4 lent to me whilst I was in a debt management plan.
I’ve also send off second letters to 5 others but they were only 1 or 2 loans (so really trying my Luck!)
I’ll keep you all updated.
Lisa says
To give updates so far.
Most companies (but not all) have acknowledged my 2nd letter and are looking into my complaint.
H&T who I had 4 loans with (3 in three months in 2012 and 1 in 2016) have rejected my complaint. Might take this to the FO, not decided yet.
SafetyNet Credit have refunded me £633 to be transferred to me and cleared my balance of £610 and my account will be closed with them. So I’m happy with that and have accepted. I sent my 2nd letter to them on 14/07 and received their offer today, so pretty quick.
As I say, still waiting on the others.
Lisa says
Another update;
CashASAP offered me a £66 “good will gesture” saying that’s the interest on my last 5 loans. Seemed very low to me so I’ve gone back to them to query that figure. That was 2 weeks ago and I’m still waiting.
Mr Lender offered me a reduction of £781 on my current loan. I accepted (it reduced the balance to £676). They’ve been quick to respond and very decent so was happy to accept.
Quick quid have rejected my complaint (over 6 years old). Satsuma (actually 9 loans not 4 as stated above), Provident, Cashfloat (only 1 loan) and Everyday Loans have also rejected my complaint. I’m waiting on bank statements and will send a case to the FO.
Still waiting to hear from 118118, Piggy Bank (although my current loan is on hold and they haven’t taken a payment), MyJar (again my current loan is on hold and they haven’t taken a payment), Wonga, 247 Moneybox, and 3 other lenders (1 loan, each Leander).
I have also submitted complaints to Wageday Advance (5 loans in 1 year, 4 falling into arrears), Payday UK (awaiting details) and Payday Express (15 loans over 4 years). All of these are over 6 years.
Effectively still waiting on 11 lenders, settled with 2 and will send 5 to FO (although expecting to send most of the 11 I’m still waiting to FO too).
Will keep everyone updated!
Darren Willis says
Update:
Heard back from 2 with final responses mrlender and lending stream both rejecting my claim because I was living st Home and had loads of disposable income… according to them.
I have just sent both off to ombudsman, not holding much hope but you never know
Jojo says
Hi any advice on cash genie I just keep getting a email to say they are awaiting data ?I put complaint in April . I have no final email to send to FOS ?any thoughts thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send it to the Ombudsman and say you haven’t had a reply. Cash Genie are in administration but so far as I know there is still some money left so people are getting paid for claims
Phil says
Finally today received a refund of £3775 from Sunny.
I had 47 loans over an 18 month period. They rejected my initial complaint on the last day of the 8 week timescale and it’s been with FOS for 5 months, they wouldn’t communicate at all with FOS until the FOS advised Sunny they would make a decision based on the info I provided if they didn’t reply, well they did finally with a full refund of all interest. And the payout took 10 days.
For anyone going through the process keep going and always refer complaint rejections to the FOS it could well be worth it!
Jen says
Thanks for the info I sent my acceptance back to adjudicator last week, gd to hear sunny are paying out fast
Darren says
When sending your complaint what sort of things should you say to the ombudsman? ive had 4 companies reject me now.
do I just send all loan info and bank statements and say my complaint is about unaffordable loans?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can just send a version of your complaint to the lender. But https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-refund-complaint-detail/ looks at what extra you could add, eg if the payday lender has said something wrong in their reply to you.
Also you probably already know this, but just in case, you make a separate complaint to the ombudsman for each lender but you only have to send your bank statements and a copy of your Noddle credit record with the first complaint, they will be shared with all the others. Make sure you send bank statements from 3 months before the first loan with any of the lenders you are complaining about until the end of the last loan.
Steve says
Typical Lending Stream story from me – but finally at an end!
Sent complaint to LS in Sept 2017, rejected after a few weeks but didn’t state it was final response.
Sent to FOS in Nov 2017
Adjudicator found in my favour for loans 3-11 in March 2018 – interest and fees in the region of £1400…of course, LS rejected this and sent to Ombudsman.
Ombudsman agreed with adjudicator on 6th July 2018 and I sent acceptance back to FOS on the 9th. Phoned LS daily from there to make sure they sent a breakdown of payment, had my bank details and reminded them that, even though I know they have 28 days to pay out, the sooner they do it the cheaper it will be as interest is now accruing daily.
Received refund into bank 17th July, only a week after sending back acceptance. Seems quicker than most cases once I send acceptance back, so I would suggest you keep hassling them and you will eventually find someone in their team that will get things done. I also really emphasised that there was now absolutely no doubt that LS were in the wrong to lend to me and any further obstructions would be reported to the FCA.
Two outstanding complaints about Likely and Satsuma with FOS and then I’m all done – received back over £8k from 6 companies so far. Do keep at it and you will get the refunds you deserve.
Shells says
Hi, I also won case through Fos with lending stream! Was a long haul. I have a question tho, Fos said to remove any negative info on credit report, in my case a default, the default status has been removed but the loans are still showing. I thought the companies completely deleted from record or am I wrong?
Steve says
I think it varies. Some just find it easier to delete the whole record – but I think the exact wording from FOS is that they have to remove all adverse information from your credit file, so just removing the default is sufficient to satisfy that.
Shells says
Thanks Steve, I think that’s right. In the next 12 months they will all have dropped off anyway
Sarah says
So I came across this today which is great and I’m looking at getting my first letters sent out
But, I’ve just been on my wonga account and they only show me the loans I’ve had in the last 12 months all other loans I have taken out are no longer showing in my summary so I can’t work out my interest and chArges
Will they still have a record of all my other loans with them as between 2012-2015 I know I had a lot as most of the time I would pay back and then get another out asi couldn’t afford to live
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes Wonga will have all the details. The Step One template letter in the article above explains how to ask for them.
sarah says
Ahh okay – I was worried as there was a note above that they sometimes wipe your history
Thanks :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes lenders sometimes do from your credit records, but they can’t delete your loans from their internal records in less than 6 years and most keep them much longer.
sarah says
With the bad credit lenders such as avant credit – I managed to repay it early only because I lent the money of aa family member as the payments were crippling me on top of my monthly outgoings – how would I go about explaining that in the email and would that warrant a rfund
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Just say what happened. It doesn’t matter that the loan was repaid, what matters is that the monthly repayments were not affordable for you.
Lou7 says
Help, very confused!! Sent complaint to ombudsman about onstride financial service. Had a reply today from adjudicator saying she doesn’t think they did anything wrong even though she said they didn’t ask for my outgoings till June 2015 but I had the loan in January 2015? She also said that they didn’t do enough checks and that the loan company should have made more checks about my finances. But she agrees with them!!
She is saying I could afford the loans. But she said they only had a screenshot of my bank statement and my wages wasn’t what they said it was. Is it worth sending it to the ombudsman?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Does your adjudicator have your bank statements?
Lou7 says
Yes everything was submitted with my other complaint but the adjudicator said she checked the bank statement the month before the loan and that onstride had only a screenshot of my bank statement
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, what did your bank statement the month before the loan show? Did it show that the extra loan repayments would be affordable? If not, this is what you have to go back and argue – with the adjudicator if this isn’t a final decision yet. Adjudicators do change their minds, it’s well worth try for this before asking for it to go to an Ombudsman.
Lou7 says
I had a loan from a couple of pay day companies and I had a loan from avant the beginning of dec 2014. They would have shown on my bank statement
Louise says
The adjudicator for Onstride with me said the same – I said I don’t agree you have not looked at all the evidence hense – I am now awaiting an onbudsman decision. Onstride gave one screen shot of my income and the expense – it was not a check and it did not tally I have provided the evidence and still she said its my decision – watch this space as my decision to take it to the Ombudsman.
Lou7 says
Thanks Louise
Dab says
Has anybody had any luck with payday uk I have just received a final response they have said that the first loan they think it was affordable but for the ones after they said “we should’ve carried out more checks and asked more questions so i am unable to come to a decision on the other loans, if you would like to send us bank statements for the period of these loans I will provide you with another final response. If you are not satisfied with this you can contact the FOS”
It has been 6 weeks since I first complained to them, it sounds to me like they’re admitting that they didn’t do everything right so is it worth going straight to the fos or try and argue it with payday uk
JD says
Yes I had a payout from them. They were so difficult to deal with and started to ask for more time dead on 8 weeks, so I went on trustpilot and slated them, amazingly they refunded me 2 days after the review from me appeared and they asked trustpilot to take it down. (They didn’t as I provided the complaint to trustpilot as evidence)
Not saying that is the way to go, but it’s what I did.
Dab says
That’s interesting I will keep that in mind. It does sound like they’re just trying to delay it, taking 6 weeks to admit they should’ve made more checks and then asking for bank statements so they can give me another final response.
Louise says
Oh yes – sent mine straight to FOS same response – I suggest you do this now and get the ball rolling. I had success from the adjudicator for all loans (1-4) they refused loan 1 and was minimum £100 so I accepted the others – they paid out within 8 days of acceptance.
I had the same and just sent it directly to FOS at that stage.
Dab says
Thanks for the reply that was my initial feeling just to go straight to the fos as they’ve pretty much agreed that they could’ve done more before lending to me
Annie says
I had the same as you with payday UK, I only had two loans, the first they felt was affordable and the second they could not determine so I sent bank statements and credit report and they are refunding me the interest on the second loan, it take maybe another 6 week. sent me acceptance form and waiting for payout £745 so happy with that but if you have lots of loans it may be worth sending them the info and also a claim to fos started if they don’t pay out.
Annie says
Update – I sent acceptance form on 7 July to payday UK and they paid it out today so worth sending them extra info if they can’t decide on loans. And this was without going to FOS, so good luck.
michelle giles says
ive hasd the exact same letter from them today, asking for bank statements for 5 of my loans but admitting they were I the wrong on another 4 loans and offered me £1856 . I wonder how long it will take for them to assess it again swit my bank statements?? I could do with the money asap :( any ideas? or do I go straight to FOS
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How many loans did you have in all from them, Michelle?
Kara says
Back in January they offered me a refund of £1400 when I think I am owed £4000. They asked for statements and wage slips to help them determine 5 other loans, but I decided to do straight to the FOS and my case is finally with an adjudicator! They gave PDUK months past their deadline to provide files and I don’t even know if they have yet. And now my adjudicator is going on holiday and will look at it on her return. I wish I had sent statements to PDUK and then sent it to the FOS in the meantime.
Gary says
Hi again sara,
I sent a post yesterday that you replied to,im just wondering if you can give advise towards my safetynetcredit account.
I have £1144 outstanding,they’ve agreed on a £80 monthly payment plan but iv been using them for about 6 month,and even though I’ve spent the full amount on offer within a week after I’ve been paid,they have increased the amount to £940.
Surely the fact that they see my bank account whenever they need to,and the fact that i used the money on offer within a week of being paid,they shouldn’t have increased the overdraft.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think that sounds like worth sending to the Ombudsman to look at.
PQ says
Firstly, thank you for the advice on this forum. I’ve contemplated for a while whether to use companies or to go it alone, but with you lot and your advice, I’m not alone.
Anyway, 12 lenders have been approached, 9 payday lenders, 1 long term loan and 2 credit cards. All have been acknowledged.
Today I got my first proper response, from satsuma, who have outright said no, stating that when I apply I make a legal obligation to give accurate information. Essentially, if I had lied, then I don’t have a case. Plus satsuma advised that they make additional affordability checks to see that I can afford the loan.
I’m not going to let this stop me though, I’ll keep on, and I’ll keep you guys informed on my progress.
Keep posting, it’s great to hear how people get on.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How many loans did you have from Satsuma? Read https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/
PQ says
4 in total. 2 for 150, 1 at 120 and a final one at 1000. The terms increased every time I applied. From 3 months, then 6, then 9 finally 12.
I will refer it. Regardless of his final statement saying “ please be aware that submitting an accurate reflection of your outgoings is a legal requirement of any loan application”.
Stuart says
Hi all,
Had a letter from the FOS asking for bank statements from 3 months prior to loan and 1 month after. This was back in 2011. How do I go about getting 7 years of bank statements from my bank?? Will this be posted or sent as a PDF??
Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Some banks send paper, some send digital copies.
Julian says
I rang my bank today who are sending me 10 years of banks statements from 2008 to 2018 as that’s how far they could go back online. They said I could go into the branch and request from 2003 to 2008. It was with Halifax and hey didn’t charge me.
Hope that helps.
Stuart says
Many thanks.
jane says
hi I would like advice please back in 2014 Wonga sent me a email stating that under the new lending rules they would
not have borrowed me money I had several loans with them, I was repaying one with a payment plan I only had a very
small some to pay back and they wrote it off. I was wondering if I could claim back the interest on the previous loans
that should not have been given to me.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Jane, it depends how much interest you had paid on the previous loans – think of the Wonga write off as being the first part of your refund, the question is how much more could you get?
Suppose the last loan you borrowed £300, hadn’t repaid anything and with interest it went up to £500. When Woonga wrote this off, this is like getting a refund of £300 from your previous loans and the interest being removed from the last one. If you had only paid £150 in interest on the previous loans, well you have already had more than back in their write off. but if you had paid £800 in interest, then you have only had £300 back and so you could get more by complaining.
If you aren’t sure, put in a complaint now using the template letters above. The first one asks for details of your loans, so that should give you the numbers.
LO1 says
Hi, i just wondered if everyone received a receipt/acknowledgement for the initial complaint, followed by an answer/request for further information within the 8 week allotted timescale?
I have changed email address since my payday loan debacle, and thus received an email 24hrs later from LS and QQ stating they needed further information to verify my identity as they did not recognise the email address-i subsequently replied with the address at time of loans.
Wondered if anyone had similar experiences?
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You need to reply with the details they want. They have to check the request for loan information is coming from you – you wouldn’t be happy if they sent out a list of your loans to someone else who asked!
Holly Jane says
Hi all.
I just received my statement from WDA but when I open it (it’s password protected) it’s blank?? Am I doing something wrong or have they purposely sent me a blank statement?!
Claire says
Hi
Speedy Cash did same to me, I just rang them and they gave me a password. The statement was there, hope this helps
Holly Jane says
I have the password, well it opens when I put it in, there’s just nothing there, the document is blank!
Claire says
It did that when I did it on my phone but when I did it on my laptop it was there the full statement. Might be worth a try if you’ve not already done. Or are they trying to drag it out
Ant says
I had the same. The file isn’t blank, you need to open it upon in your web browser. Explore (windows) or safari (Mac) you should then be able to view your info. Hope this helps :)
Holly Jane says
I was opening it on my phone so that’s obviously what the problem is! Thank you both!
Phusita says
Hi Sarah
I have offer from Lloyds Bank for my loan Please can you help to see it good offer or I should send it to FOS
my loan is £4500 in August 2011 and refinance in March 2014 of £6200 This consisted of original loan an overdraft and credit card account (£1500 ) from 2011 I have been pay 105.84 / month from 2014 pay 98.62/ month.
1. refund the interest of £1660.24 that you pain in march 2014 loan before they transferred in to CDR
2.Refund the ovrdraft interest and additional charges of £905.84 you have paid to your account since we agreed refinance in march 2014 .The loan interest refund will be used to reduce the amount your own to your loan account. if this is the case, this will reduce the loan balance from £3442.98 debit to £876.90. however the ombudsman might not be able to consider your complaint if :> what your’re complaining about happened more than six years ago and > you’re complaining more than three years after your realised (or should have realised) that there was a problem, We think that your complaint about the agreement of your august 2011 loan falls outside of these time limited but this is a matter for the ombudsman to decide if the ombudsman agrees with us they will not have our permission to consider this aspect of your complaint and so will only be able to do so in very limited circumstances . Do you think should I accept Lloyds offer ? Please can you help me
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So it sounds as though they have upheld you complaint for everything that happened after 2014 – is that right?
I can’t say what the ombudsman would definitely do about whether they can look at the earlier loan, but Lloyds are correct that the Ombudsman may decide the 2011 loan is outside what they can look at.
There is also the general point that when there are two loans (or a loan and a refinance) the ombudsman may well decide the first loan was acceptable but the second isn’t.
It all depends on how strongly you feel about this. If you think the offer sounds fair to you, then accept it. But you can ask the ombudsman to look at it if you feel strongly about the first loan.
Jasmine says
Thank you Sara
I only take 1 loan from Lloyds in 2011 of £4500 but I have stuck to make a payment for the loan and credit card (£1500) so I decision to speak to them in 2014 because I get change last payment so much than Lloyds put the the loan + credit card together for £6200 that time I do not know what should I have to do not have a job some money come from payday and from job center . So I do not know should I accept or go forward but my complain it in FOS with adjudication she will call me tomorrow for my decision.
Thank you so much Sara.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You could go back to Lloyds and say you would like to accept there offer but at the moment you can only make token payments of 31 a month to the reduced balance as you are out of work? But I think it will be good to speak to your adjudicator tomorrow, as she probably knows more about your case.
James says
I have took QQ to the FO, took from end of Jan to mid July to get to adjudicator stage. Whilst with FO they have offered to pay out on loans 3-7 after previously denying them, they had also refused all of the flexcredit account i had. Adjudicator has ruled they need to pay out ALL from flexcredit account and also loans 3-7 – Result.
It is now a week outside of the deadline the adjudicator gave QQ to respond to his findings and they haven’t responded at all…just ignored the adjudicator so far….what happens next?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It will go to the Ombudsman. But sometimes QQ come back in a few weeks to say they have changed their mind and will accept the adjuidcator’s offer.
Steve says
I would be inclined to phone up QQ and hassle them to respond. Something along the lines that ‘the FOS has determined that you were in the wrong to continue lending to me and you’re now treating the FOS in contempt by not responding by their deadlines. Unless a response is sent today, I will report this to the FCA as you’re being obstructive to the complaints procedure.’ That hurried them up in my case so worth a try.
Nathan says
Hi Sara,
Firsf, thanks for all your help in creating this site and advising everyone.
I sent all my complaints about 6 weeks ago and am now starting to get some responses. Lending Stream said No as they were all over 6 years (Are they paying out on these when sent to the FOS yet?).
WDA also said no as they were all over 6 years. This wasn’t a final response so I’ve asked them to reconsider on the 3 year rule.
PDUK have partially upheld my complaint. They have said no on loans 1 and 16-18 of 18 as they were affordable. And to be fair, they probably were. Loans 2-7 they have asked for bank statements, and 8-15 upheld. Total of £5100 to be refunded.
I’m a little confused though as they have asked for more info and given me a full and final settlement form to sign. I cant figure out if I sign and send for the 5k if they will still investigate the earlier loans or not. Any ideas?
Either way, this gives me hope that an offer from PDE is inbound, and others may follow, and all because of you. :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t think I have seen a recent decision about LS loans over 6 years old. WDA have paid out on some.
I think you need to ask PDUK if you can accept the offer for 8-15, send them the bank statements for 2-7 and then send 2-7 to the ombudsman if they don’t refund them. It sounds like a big claim!
Nathan says
It could be big… possibly around the same again on 2-7 but I’m not actually that bothered about the money. The ones they are unable to determine are all over 6 years old and I doubt they’ll uphold 2-4 as that was right at the beginning of my payday lending.. I’m mostly wanting all the adverse marks removed from my credit file, which they have offered to do for all the loans they upheld so far.
I have sent them an email though and hopefully they’ll get back pretty quickly.
Thanks again. I’ll let you know what they say. :)
Jamie says
I had a similar thing with PDUK, out of 4 loans they rejected 1, accepted 1 and offered £1200 and couldn’t decide on the other 2. I checked with them that if I accepted the offer they would still look into the other 2 if I provided bank statements, they confirmed this was the case and if I didn’t agree with the findings I could send these 2 to the FOS. I accepted the offer and sent in the statements they asked for and today I received an offer for a further £1500 just 2 weeks later, all the loans were over 6 years old.
Nathan says
Cheers Jamie,
I got confirmation from them of the same thing today, so have sent in my acceptance.
Now I just need to get the bank to sort the statements… :/
Congrats on your payouts… think I might book an exotic holiday. :)
Jasmine says
Hi Sara
I have speak to adjudicater today
She won’t say much about decision from Lloyds bank when I ask what did she think about the offer she say I( she have not read it the letter from the bank ) I have ask her yesterday and today she tell me she have not read the email from Lloyds yet (but she ring me to ask for my decision….???) I do not understand her as all for me she seem not helpful
She ask me what do I want from Lloyds I say
1.refunds all the interest charge
2. Refund leat payment
She say if that what you want Lloyds do have give you the refund .
The loan 6200
2014=April 98.62×9=887.58
2015=12×98.62=1183.44
2016=12×98.62=1183.44
2017=12×98.62=1183.44
3550.32+887.58=Total I have making payment is £4437.58
£6200-£4437.69=£1762.61
It no interest all to this loan my balance should be £1762.61 right?
1.Offer from Lloyds defund the interest £1660.24
2.Refund overdraft £904
Total refund = £2564.24
But My balance £3442.98
I have making payment £4437.69 from 2014-2017
And I’m still making payment by StepChange from 2018 until now for £54/month
I’m so sorry Sara if I confusing you about my Loan but she not help me as all to make my decision to accept or go forward to FOB,Thank you so much for all your help .
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So is it fair to say:
“I am happy with lloyds offer to:
1. refund the interest of £1660.24 that I paid pain in march 2014 loan before they transferred in to CDR
2. Refund the overdraft interest and additional charges of £905.84 I paid since the refinance in march 2014.
But I do not agree that my current loan balance is £3442. I have paid £4437.58 to Lloyds myself and then 6 payments through StepChange of £54 a month. So my balance should be a lot less.”
If that seems right, send that to the adjudicator.
Nick says
Hi Sara,
I also have a complaint in with Lloyds regarding my ridiculous overdraft as they allowed me to constantly increase it month by month however i thought that complaining to a bank would be a long shot, is this quite common? i ask because i also have a loan with them that has been topped up at least 3 times,
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Complaints that a bank has raised your overdraft to an unaffordable level are not common, but this doesn’t mean they are a “long shot” – if you think you have a good case then make it and take it to the Ombudsman if Lloyds don’t make a reasonable offer.
A loan topped up three times – it depends on whether the loan repayments after each top up were affordable. Often in these situations it may be decided that it was reasonable for th lender to give you the first loan, or the first loan and top up, but not later top ups. Use the templates above, obviously remove the references to payday loans, and change it so it is very clear about when you took the loan how those repayments affected you and why you then needed the next top-up.
Clare says
How do I find my payday loans history? I’ve had a lot in past years and I can’t remember the names of all the companies
Sara (Debt Camel) says
hi Clare, this article https://debtcamel.co.uk/find-out-payday-lenders/ may help. But remember you don’t need to know them all – just start off with the ones you used the most, get those underway why you are digging around your bank statements and credit records to find the others.
Bethan James says
I took out a loan with amigo loans 6 years ago my husband passed away shortly after I took out the loan and I was made redundant from my job I informed amigo but was told I still had to pay full amount can I make a claim from them?
Also can u claim from provident too?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I assume the Amigo loan was repaid? Yes you can complain, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/how-to-complain-guarantor-loan/ as guarantor loans are a bit different. NB you need to argue that the loan was unaffordable at the time you took it out. If it only became unaffordable after the death of your husband, you won’t win an affordability complaint. If you were given the loan more than 6 years ago, this complaint will be difficult.
Let’s of people winning cases against Provident, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/refund-doorstep-loans/ which looks at specific points for Provident loans.
Claire says
I’ve got a complaint going on with Amigo at the moment. The 8 weeks is up on Wednesday so let’s see what happens. I’ll update on here
David says
Hi all
Received my SAR from lending stream. From other people’s experiences, is it normal for the list of loans to be in no order whatsoever?
Katie says
Yes, mine from Quick Quid were in a series of spreadsheets and not in date order!
Katie says
Hi Sara, I’d really appreciate your help!
My husband and I had a number of loans between us. We had quite a specific chain of events leading to our financial hardship and thought it would make sense to submit our complaint letters at the same time, so we could cross reference each other’s complaints to build up a picture of dependence on payday loans, particularly as they were all paid into joint accounts and applied for using joint income details.
I have questions regarding 2 lenders, the first is:
Sunny: We have each sent emails to Sunny using the Step One template. I have had an acknowledgement saying they will respond within the 8-weeks, but my husband has had nothing. We had 36 loans with Sunny over 28 months from the bank statements I can still access online. I believe there were more before this too. Should we be chasing my husband’s loan details? I am concerned that they will consider my Step One complaint without any of the financial hardship and income/outgoing details that would go in a Step Two complaint.
I am also unsure what to do if we don’t receive a response to his SAR/Step One complaint?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
As a general point, although from your point of view your situation and your husband’s are clearly linked, this is not how a lender will see it. All they can do is try to work out whether you can afford the loans you were taking out, taking into account the information on your loan applications, your credit record and your previous history of borrowing from them. This is what you need to focus on, for your complaint against lender X, argue why lender X should have known you were in difficulty.
I suggest your husband asks Sunny why they haven’t acknowledged his step one email complaint, just to make sure it has not gone astray.
At the same time you also need to get hold of copies of your older bank statements, first so that you can check what Sunny send you and second so that you are ready to go to the ombudsman if you don’t get a reasonable offer from Sunny.
Katie says
Thank you so much Sara, I will get onto this.
The second (and I promise the last) is:
QuickQuid: I have submitted my bank statements and a complaint using the Step Two template.
QuickQuid say they have no record of my loans in my husband’s name. My SAR showed 14 loans over a 3 ½ year period. These do not all correlate with the QuickQuid deposits I can see on the available bank statements, which is why I do think some loans were taken out in my husband’s name. Do we have any scope to challenge their statement as the deposits show in a joint account but not the applicant’s name?
Thank you so much for your help. I am finding it overwhelming and so painful to go back into this period of our lives, the support on this site is so helpful.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you and your husband need to put in a joint complaint to QQ saying that EITHER they missed some loans off your SAR OR they should have found the loans that your husband had, attach your bank statements showing these.
It is because of this sort of thing that I am saying you need to get your older bank statements – you can’t assume what you get back from a lender is accurate!
Katie says
Hi Sara,
I have now got my bank statements back and they do not match info received from the lenders. In the meantime QuickQuid have rejected my complaint. Should we now put in our joint complaint as a direct reply to the rejection email? Or do you think we should we generate an entirely new complaint and send it to the complaints address?
As ever, so grateful for your help!
Katie says
Hi Sara,
As well as the response above from QuickQuid (rejecting my complaint and stating my husband did not have any loans), we have also received responses from:
Sunny – upheld some of my loans and made an offer but their list of my total loans was inaccurate, have not responded to my husband’s SAR chase (we are now beyond the 8 weeks since the original SAR/template one letter was sent)
Wonga – upheld one of my loans and made an offer but, again, their list of my total loans was inaccurate, they have rejected my husband’s complaint
You suggested making a joint complaint to QuickQuid and including our bank statements which we have now received. Would you suggest doing the same with Wonga and Sunny? If so, is it best to make the complaint as a response to their communication or generate a new complaint and start again, mentioning previous outcomes?
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
My suggestion of a joint complaint from your and your husband is unusual because the QQ situation seems to be so confusing. Normally I think 2 separate complaints seem to work better – but having said that I don’t remember anyone reporting on a joint complaint to FOS for over a year.
It seems very odd that several lenders have got the list of your loans wrong. Is it possible you changed email address while you were complaining? In which case the lenders may only be finding some of your loans.
Or have you taken account of the fact that the lender may be counting as one loan something which was rolled or topped up or a flexi loan, so from your bank statements there would be extra entries?
I definitely don’t suggest a new complaint to the lender. It may be simpler not to go back to the lender at all but to go straight to FOS.
Katie says
Hi Sara,
I have to admit I am really frustrated by it, it is across all three lenders where we both took out loans. This is why I was hoping our individual SARs would attribute the loans to the relevant person, but we are left with an excess of loans paid into our joint accounts versus those that the lenders have acknowledged (I have double checked any roll overs within these).
We each submitted an initial SAR/template one letter. In each complaint we put our own dates of birth and previous email addresses and have kept that information in all correspondence with them. Our initial emails were from our joint email address. Wonga and QuickQuid both asked for letters of authority to speak about each other’s accounts.
Essentially each lender has sent a conclusion to my complaint, but been slower in responding to my husband’s. Without the SAR info for his loans, it has been difficult to challenge mine as I can see the number of loan deposits into the accounts but not which payee. Now we have responses to his complaints we can see there are loans missed across the two.
I feel like we now have to make joint complaints rather than the original individual complaints we were hoping to do, because the lenders’ info doesn’t match the bank statements and the statements don’t show which one of us was being paid. Would you agree and do you feel we should send all three to the FOS now?
Lee says
Hi all, I’ve been fighting back at payday loans, I’ve won against satsuma, Safetynet and myjar, but didn’t win against Sunny, even though I had the most loans with them. So planning on taking that to the ombudsman. I’m just wondering has anyone tried against avant credit? Still owe them and want to know how about complaining ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, people have won against Avant. If you win, the interest will be removed from the balance to so you only repay what you borrowed.
You presumably know enough about this loan to go straight to step two. The general template two above will do, but change it so it is clear you only had 1 loan (or a loan and a top up, or whatever), remove references to “payday loans”, “for this period”, all the references to loans in the plural.
And I suggest looking at your credit record for when you applied for this loan – were there any recent problems – defaults, missed payments, CCJs in the previous 6 months before you took out the AC loan etc. If there were, add a bit into your complaint listing these (“you should have seen that in the 6 months before I applied for this loan I had missed payments to MBNA, Vanquis and Sunny. And that I had had 9 payday loans and there were 3 outstanding.” or “you should have seen I was in a DMP and would therefore be unlikely to have enough spare income to repay the loan from you” that sort of thing.)
Lee says
Thank you for the reply. I’m just a bit worried that I had appplied over the phone and I wasn’t honest with them about my finances, I think I was honest about my pay, but I was desperate with being in the payday loan trap, I needed that loan to help me pay other loans.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well it does depend in part what your application said … but the lender should not have assumed this was correct if it was implausible (spending amount way too low or missing) or contradicted by your credit record (eg you didn’t mention other loans you had).
See https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/.
As part of your complaint put in a Subject Access Request for a copy of all personal information that the lender has about you. That may turn up something useful – evidence that Avant had that they chose to ignore when giving you the loan.
Also expect your complaint to be rejected and for it to have to go to the Ombudsman. Avant seem to routinely turn down complaints.
DK says
Hi folks. Wondering if anyone’s ever had the FOS get back to you on a complaint fairly quickly? I submitted 4 complaints on 11/07 and got a letter through the door for one on 21/07 asking for bank statements, credit file, loan dates, correspondence, etc. then an email through this morning asking for the same info for another one. I was expecting to hear nothing for at least 3/4 months. Is this a bad sign?? Not sure why they’re asking for loan dates and correspondence either as this is all in the complaint I submitted. Guess this could be a generic email right enough. Any help would be much appreciated! Hoping for a good outcome with these so fingers crossed :)
Laura says
This is an email/ letter from the mass claim handler, you usually get it a week or two after you submitted your complaint. For it to be assigned an adjudicator is a much longer wait..from my personal experience anyway. I have 3 claims from March that haven’t been assigned yet..if you sent in all your info when you submitted your complaint, you don’t need to add anymore. Hope that helps ????
kelly says
Hi i submitted a claim to wonga they advised thet sent me a final decision via email in Aug2017 but i didnt get it. They forwarded me a copy last month and said they wont look any further at it and i have missed the month referral deadline to the ombudsman. Is there anything i can do
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The time to refer to the Ombudsman is 6 months, not one month. Is there a reason why you didn’t follow up with Wonga why they hadn’t given an answer to your complaint within that 6 months?
Ben says
Hi –
Can anyone advise me a bit. I’ve had debt collection letter from lantern. Claiming 1229 from an unpaid loan with the Cheque Centre. I have a claim against them but obviously they are in administration.
Do I need contact FRP the administrators? The problem is I had no idea about this, it’s not reported on any of the CRAs.
My claim from them is for 3179.30, I understand the debt is still collectible but I have grounds for the loan being u affordable. Is there anything I can do?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
SWhat has happened to your complaint against CC? Have they said you should get £3179 but there is no money, or hasn’t it been determined?
Lee Sharratt says
Just sharing good news. Lending stream payed out 1200 today. Ferratum agreed 1k today. Another 4 with fo. Happy days
Kamila says
My complaint complaint against Wage Day Advance is at the adjudicator’s level. FOS sent me an email asking me to provide more info as Wage Day Advance have objected to them looking at the first four loans I borrowed (more than 6 years). My adjudicator needs to know the following:
When did I realise that something had gone wrong with the loans I borrowed and Wage Day Advance were responsible for this?
When did I realise that Wage Day Advance had a duty to lend to me responsibly? What should I write? I started writing to the payday loans companies only last April as I wasn’t aware that any money could be claim from them. I would be grateful for any advice.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The first question is asking when you realised the loans from WDA were causing a lot of your money problems. You may have realised this quite soon, or you may have carried on borrowing for a long while before you realised you had to get out of the cycle of payday lending, perhaps by getting a payment arrangement, entering a DMP or borrowing from family to end the borrowing from WDA.
The second question is asking when you heard that a lender has a duty to lend responsibly and make adequate affordability checks. This could have been a long while after you stopped borrowing from them. Just say how you found out about affordability complaints – did you see an advert on Facebook? did a friend tell you about this page? There are no right or wrong answers, just say how you found out and when.
Julian says
Hi there,
I have settled all my payday loans after making payments to clear them off. They froze the interest and spreaded each loan over 3 months to clear the balance. On my noodle report, some show in the status history as, AR1, OK, ST, UC, AR, AR3, AR5, ST5.
My credit report shows:
My name, address, date of birth, account type, last 5 digits of account number, account start date, account end date, payment start. Date and payment frequency! Some lenders have out the opening balance and some haven’t. I had a number of loans with the following providers:
Uncle Buck
Mr Lender
Payday UK
Lending Stream
Wonga
Pound still payday (this isn’t showing on my noodle report)
Quick Quid – I think but can’t quite remember about this one.
These loans span from June 2013 to December 2015 depending on which company.
Should I send each one a SARs request or use the info on my credit report? Also, do I need to request the statements from my bank for the last 6 years. Any advice you can provide will be much appreciated.
Thank you for your assistance with this request and thank you for this website and the advice and support you provide to all of us. I would never have considered making a complaint for a refund because I just thought we had to pay it.
Thank you.
Julian
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes you should ask for a list of your loans – credit records are not a reliable source.
Yes you should ask for statements from your bank. You don’t have to do this before sending in the complaints to the lenders, but (a) you can use it to confirm what is on the list of loans the lenders send you and (b) you have it there to give to lenders if they ask for it or the Finanical Ombudsman, because with that number of lenders it is a fair bet not all of them will settle with you directly.
Julian says
Many thanks Sara. Much appreciated.
I will do that.
Julian
Julian says
I have now filed SARs request to about 12 different payday loan companies going from back from 2005 to 2015 which is how long I used Payday loans. I didn’t realise how bad I was. It’s terrible.
One thing I have done is to search for the names of these companies in my email account and luckily being by just doing a search I have found emails of credit agreements for some of them and emails deferral my loan and offering me new loans with increased credit limits.
Just a thought but it might be worth search your email account for any loan agreements or emails from companies who you may have had loans with. I think the evidence I found will definitely help
My case if I have to escalate to the ombudsman.
Ben says
Hi Sara,
Can you advise me a little please, I’m not sure what to do with this one.
Lantern have contacted me saying I owe £1229 for a payday loan from the Cheque Centre.
I have checked all 3 CRA and I can not see any record of this. To muddy matters more I have been in contact with FRP the administrators who have said I have a claim for 3327.30.
What do I do? I’ve made a verbal request to Lantern for SAR and I’ve also said I do not accept their claim. They have put it on hold for 30 days.
I took over 11k in loans from CC in just over a year, it seems unfair that a debt can still be collected when in all likelihood the borrower acted unfairly.
I can’t be sure but I think I last took a loan with the CC in 2011, so potentially it’s statue barred?
I have had correspondence with FO can they help me with this?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
lots of questions – could you answer them all even though some may be irrelevant?
did you get a list of your loans from CC when you made that complaint? if you did. did that show payments to the last debt?
did your CC loans used to show on your credit record?
do you know when Lantern bought this debt from CC?
do you know how large this loan was that has ended up at £1229?
have you told Lantern about the claim against CC?
Statute barred is going to be the easiest defence here if it applies for you.
Ben says
Hi Sara,
did you get a list of your loans from CC when you made that complaint? if you did. did that show payments to the last debt?
– I never had a response from them, I sent it to FO at 8 weeks who advised due to the administration of the company to contact FRP. Which I did they sent me a claim form.
did your CC loans used to show on your credit record?
-No I don’t believe so, I’ve been checking my Credit report since mid 2017 and I have never seen anything to do with MMF or CC.
do you know when Lantern bought this debt from CC?
– No, I have made the SAR request so hopefully this sheds some light on it.
do you know how large this loan was that has ended up at £1229?
-Unfortunately no, I have no records of it and I used to go into the shop and it was all done in there.
have you told Lantern about the claim against CC?
– Yes. They didn’t say a lot, I (stupidly) spoke to them on the phone because I thought BW legal had sold my other debts. (Similar figure) I did say I had no knowledge of any outstanding debts to CC and I believe they owed me hence my claim to FRP. Have I inadvertently reset the Statue barred clock?
Looking at my bank statements my last transaction to them was in May 2012 for 1210. Which I paid to them.
Hope I haven’t shot myself in the foot, to be honest if it had been recorded on my CR files I would have known. Due they have to report it or is it more best practice.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you also send FRP a SAR.
For statute barring, you can’t acknowledge the debt on the phone, it has to be in writing. Anyway you said you had no knowledge of any outstanding debt to CC. So this doesn’t sound worrying.
If the debt is already statute barred, then nothing you say, even in writing, can unbar it. But if the loan was after May 2012, that is looking very tight :(
“Looking at my bank statements my last transaction to them was in May 2012 for 1210. ” Did you think there was a last debt to CC that you hadn’t repaid, or has this come as a surprise? When you were borrowing and repaying to CC, was this regular each month or did it vary?
“Do they have to report it or is it more best practice” no they don’t. Have you checked your credit records with all 3 CRAs?
Ben says
Ok I feel slightly better in respect that I haven’t potentially unbarred it – if it is statue barred.
Its come as a surprise – I was sure CC was cleared. As I say I have been methodical in checking all 3 CRAs for any outstanding items and been addressing them all. The borrowing was regular I would say monthly, and it was over 12 months. I’ve looked through emails and if there was an issue with payment they would email me, but I received nothing at that time.
I haven’t or not that I am aware of received a default notice but that would make sense if they haven’t/don’t register the default.
I guess I am going to have to sit tight until the SAR information comes through.
Oh – I have contacted FRP and they have said they don’t have any info, they aren’t the data controller and as such don’t need to or can’t do anything with my SAR.
Ben says
Ok received the SAR from lantern. Its not even worth the paper it’s written on. There is nothing in it apart from reams of papers with little info on.
There is no CCA or anything i have signed. There is no account information other than when they were assigned the debt in 2013.
They also sent me a usb stick but its password protected and they havent sent me a password? Will this have the crucial info on or will it be the same as the printed stuff.
Not sure what to do at the moment.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ok so you do now have the date they bought the loan, that’s more than you knew before! I can’t guess what is on the USB stick so I suggest you ask for the password.
Ben says
Hi Sara,
So I worked out the password to the stick after someone commented on a other thread – Lantern have yet to come back to me even though I asked for the password over a week ago.
The contents of the stick… is an 8 minute telephone conversation between me and lantern were I query what the debts for.
So all I have gained from the SAR is that Lantern (MMF) bought the alleged debt in 23/01/2013.
They have no ‘legal’ paper work and I suspect they know very little with regard to this alleged debt.
Should I ask them for a true copy of the Original Agreement, Verification of their claim, the accounting for the debt, statement of possession, Deeds of Novations, notice of assignment, copy of the default notice – In my mind it isn’t enforceable and is in line with the practice they have been reprimanded for in the past.
I have successfully fought a rebutted claim in the last 12 months , so I am confident I am right.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You think you repaid all your CC loans, is that correct? If it is, I would start any communication with that. “As I explained on dd/mm/yy (the phone call) I had some loans from Cheque Centre but they were all repaid. I deny that I currently owe any money. If you think this is incorrect, please supply me the following information…”
Ben says
I have now received a response from Lantern, they have written off the amount (about 1200) due to CC going into administration.
I requested a whole bunch of stuff but namely the CCA which they didn’t have, it seems to me that there name has changed but not there tactics.
I would implore anyone who has one of these letters to ask for the CCA and account details.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Thanks for that information!
Darren says
i don’t get payday uk :-(
basically admit they didn’t do things right on my second loan which took me a year to repay due to rolling it over every month. yet they say I have to send more things in..
this is there response…
I think in some cases we did everything we were expected to.
When you first approached us for credit on 4 April 2011 you asked for a loan of £120.00. You confirmed your net monthly income was £1,084.00. A credit check was also completed via the credit reference agency Experian. The total amount repayable on this loan was £150.00 and this appeared to be affordable for you based on the information you declared.
The loan repayments were low value and appeared to be affordable based on the information you declared. There didn’t appear to be any particular issues with other lenders that concern me and I don’t think you were reliant on borrowing from us, given that this was your first loan.
You continued to borrow from us, receiving a further loan on 2 May 2011. Having looked at our records, I believe we should’ve asked more questions and done more checks at the time we lent this loan to you. Unfortunately, I have been unable to reach a decision as to what we should have with the information I have available to me. However, if you are able to provide the documentation I require as laid out in the table below, I will be happy to look at your loan on 2 may 2011 again, providing you with my final response to your complaint.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What is happening is that they are agreeing they didn’t do enough checks, but they don’t know whether if they had checked they would still have lent to you. So I assume they are asking for bank statements?
If you have these, I suggest you send them to PDUK. If you don’t, you need to get hold of them and then send them.
Darren says
they did and asked for £2 credit report which ive applied for. ive sent them the bank statements and advised will forward report as soon as I get it.
is there a way I can get what they want off clearscore or noodle as I already have an account with them.
On the statement I sent it has 8 other loans being paid into my account and large sums coming out to pay them back in the surround 2 months. will this help my case?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Did they ask for any particular credit report? because Noddle, your Call credit report should be fine. Clearscore probably won’t show many payday loans.
yes, borrowing a lot should help your case.
Darren says
this is there actual wording
Your credit report which you can obtain for £2 from the Money Advice Service – https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/how-to-check-your-credit-report.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, well the £2 charge has been scrapped, after the April GDPR changes. I think your free Noddle report should fine.
Valencia says
Hi Sara,
I have received my report from PDUK and I am not sure how to make sense of it, so that I can send the second letter. Also I have loans going back 11 years – still worth complaining about?
Where it says a loan was deferred, then settled. Does that mean the original loan was rolled over?
And then I have the transaction history listed below. How do I understand this?
27/12/2007 Interest | Deposit £52.50 £262.50
27/12/2007 Principal | Deposit £210.00 £262.50
18/01/2008 Principal | Repayment (£52.50) £210.00
18/01/2008 Interest | Deferral (£52.50) £262.50
18/01/2008 Principal | Deferral (£157.50) £262.50
18/01/2008 Principal | Deferral £210.00 £262.50
18/01/2008 Interest | Deferral £52.50 £262.50
20/02/2008 Interest | Repayment (£52.50) £0.00
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Loans going back 11 years – definitely worth complaining about! You are going to need to try to get your bank statements going back as far as you can.
“Where it says a loan was deferred, then settled. Does that mean the original loan was rolled over?” yes
The first two lines are clear – You borrowed 210 on 27 Dec. the interest charge will be 52.5 on this loan, so you have a balance owing of 262,5
On 18 Jan, instead of repaying the loan, you deffered it and paid 52.50 (the interest for the previous month, oddly this is marked as a principal repayment not an interest repayment) and were charged another 52,50. So at the end of the mysterious set of entries, there is no change in your balance , you still owe 262.50
on 20 Jan – is that the only entry? there should be a principal repayment line?
JumpingJack says
Sara
I hope you can help. Between May 2011 and March 2016 I (stupidly) took out 34 payday loans which equated to £14,030 in total borrowed and £18,000.86 repaid. the majority of them were rolling that is to say pay one of take another one out straight away though there are some gaps were I managed to pay off the loan with help from family and not use them again for a short time.
Is it worth me asking them to look at all the loans as being unaffordable or just those in succession? Also, regarding the 8%, is that added to the total interest paid? i.e. the interest paid was £3970.86 so would the interest be £317.66?
Ben says
If I was you I would send the complaint and let the payday lender make a judgement. I would say you have a very good claim for them all.
If they come back and it doesn’t seem like a good offer – Send it to the FOS. Either on 8 weeks or on receipt of the final response.
Also some lenders might not want to look at the ones over 6 years, so the sooner you get them in the better.
JumpingJack says
Many thanks – I just worked out the interest too which works out to be an extra £1544 so well worth submitting all – thanks again