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:
- 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, Everyday lonas, Likely Loans/Finio, Reevo, 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.
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;
- some 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 instalment 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 free and 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 2018, 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 2024 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
- if you dont have the credit agreements, 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 FOS 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?
Tom says
Hi there,
I recently posted about a reply from Satsuma loans saying that after their thorough investigation, based on my (slightly exaggerated) earnings at the time, and my declared outgoings plus other loan repayments, that all of my loans were deemed to be affordable. I had numerous loans with them from 02/01/2014 to 25/03/2016. Before, during and after the loans with satsuma, i had multiple loans with various other lenders. I have gone through my bank accounts and noted all of the lenders payouts to me; my payments to them; and the date of each transaction in a spreadsheet. So its easier for me to see what i had going on at the same time.
Do you think it would be useful to email them a copy of this spreadsheet? So they can see for themselves?
I also wasn’t particularly well at the time of all of my loans so i feel i might mention that to them as well.
Mark says
Hi Tom,
I think the spreadsheet showing the timescale/extent of borrowing is brilliant and it couldn’t hurt sending to the lender(s). However in almost all cases the lenders don’t listen to reasoned argument and just send out a templated “we did nothing wrong, complaint rejected” letter, or “we did nothing wrong, we’ll refund the interest on your last/smallest loan”. So I wouldn’t hold any hope the lenders take this spreadsheet into consideration. However, I would definitely send it to the FOS. They are far more likely to take the bigger picture into consideration when making their decision. Good luck and keep us all posted.
nicola says
got my final decisions yest from the ombudsmen.its been a long process I started my complaint last year mine July time.wonga did not uphold my complaint so it went to ombudsmen adjudicator found in my favour on loans 16 to 68.wonga rejected there decision.so went to the next level ombudsmen was a better outcome they have found in my favour on loans 5 to 68 she upheld more loans.just need to wait on wonga accepting there finding then hopfully get my pay out.i think they are going to drag it out.they have till the 20th off next month to agree or not been a long slow process but it’s been worth it
Sara (Debt Camel) says
brilliant news – I love it when the ombudsman decides on a bigger refund than the adjudicator did!
Stephen C says
Hi Sara,
Thank you so much for this website. I have £9500 of debt racked up from being in a spiral of payday to payday loans. I placed my complaints in 5-6 weeks ago now and have heard back from 247 MoneyBox today clearing my outstanding debt with them (i have also asked to remove any negative reporting) The offer was nearly exactly the interest i had paid over 12 loans. My only other reply has been drafts who immediately denied any wrongdoing this is now with the FOS.
Thank you (£9000 to go)
James says
All, an update on my claim with Mr Lender.
I had 4 loans, paid approx £1500 interest.
They replied 2 weeks ago (in the 8th week) and rejected my complaint.
I sent them by bank statements (they didn’t ask for them) and they said they would offer me a refund of approx £600.
I then emailed back again saying it wasn’t enough and sent my credit report, they have said they are now prepared to refund approx £1300.
I have accepted
I must say they’ve been really friendly and a pleasure to deal with.
Phusita says
Hi
I have final responses from FOS
To my complain to Lending stream
I have 3 loan with them
1.08/07/13=£165
2.29/07/13=£50
3.02/07/14=£250
Decision do not uphold my complain
I do understand about 1and 2 loan but the 3 loan if £250 an the same time I have borrowed from another payday loan
1.quick quid
2.cleaaccount
3. Wonga
4. Payday express
And in April May,June,July,August 2014 I have no in come I have no job as that time . And I have been in jobseeker around for few month I start a new job in September 2014
When I apply for the last loan of £250 I do not change my income from the sistem.
For that I see is the bank statement that I have send by first class post did not help with any decision. Because it seem like have not been looking at it
By “ I am satisfied that lending stream did proportionate check income “
I very disappointed with desition
Scott says
Hi Sara,
Just had a response from Adjudicator not upholding one of my complaint’s.
According to them Income minus outstanding reported debt = Affordability. They also say that having lots of loans and paying them back had a positive effect on my credit file and that businesses are not expected to draw conclusions from multiple payday lending. Also it is a good sign that I have an AR marker which I am paying.
No consideration given for normal outgoings, monthly debt repayments or the fact that the AR marker is a sign that I couldn’t maintain my monthly commitments.
I have asked that it goes to the Ombudsman, once I stop laughing I will send a proper response to them.
Scott
HMB says
I have recently requested information under a SAR from Lending Stream and Sunny. It turns out sunny gave me 21 loans in a 17 month period. Lending Stream gave me some info but it didnt make any sense, me thinks they are trying to make it difficult for me to work out how much interest I actually paid them. I have emailed both to complain about irresponsible lending. I ended up in a DMP and they were both creditors albeit by that point with small balances. Just wondered on success stories for other people with these two companies. I have requested my bank statements so that I can go through and highlight what came in and what went out. I think this will be far clearer than the information both companies sent me. Look forward to getting some help.
Stew sadler says
Hi all,
Had a reply from sunny about my loans, they agreed that i should never of had them so as such have written off the remaining 1400 from my debt an said they will update my credit file. The owed money had been passed to lantern debt recovery, an sunny said they will inform them they are writing it off, but my question is how long does it take to be removed? Lantern emailed me the other day about it so i just need to know how long it’ll be before its gone
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Suny needs to settle up financially with Lantern and then both Sunny And Lantern need to update your credit records. Most firms do this once a month, so it may be a while before this is done. And if you are using a checker such as noddle, you don’t see a real time version of your credit record, just a snapshot taken every 30 days. Best advice is to chill out and look at your credit record in 1 month and then at two weekly intervals. Complain if not sorted in 2 months – but it may be just a couple of weeks, it’s not always slow.
Russ says
A question regarding refunds . I have a case on hold due to the 6 year rules with QQ/P2P . I noted it the news today that Wonga May go under due to all these complaints . If they did would that affect a claim that is being processed.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Some firms have gone out of business in an orderly way and still paid out on compensation. Some have paid for a while then run out of money. Wonga will have significant reserves as the FCA has continued to allow it to trade. This is all speculation at the moment…
When did your QQ complaint go to the FOS? How many loans before 6 years and how many after?
Mike says
The financial ombudsman has sent an adjudicator decision to ombudsman and they have until Tuesday this week coming to answer. I have now seen that Wonga are on the verge of going into administration. Does this mean I won’t get my refund?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
There isn’t much point in trying to guess if Wonga will accept the offer or continue to contest it.
Fiona C says
Sarah you’ve helped with a few loans in the past & I’ve been refunded a few already but with quick quid some of my loans were over the 6years I’ve now waited a year & the Foc have kept in touch but it’s very slow I’ve looked into loosing the older loans & proceeding with the others but it’s so much money don’t mind waiting but do you think it’ll be another year in waiting??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think it should be quicker than that – but my track record on this isn’t very good so far!
B says
Hi,
Some advice on 2 outstanding complaints please
I put in a complaint with trusted quid who so far have only sent an awknowlegement email, however they immediately wiped my balance and stopped my upcoming payment and 4 loans appear to have been removed from my credit file. They havent informed me they’ve done any of this i only know cause i logged onto my account with them to see how much my upcoming payment was for. Anyone else had this from them?
Second complaint with 247 moneybox have responded to my complaint stating they are confident they done all the appropriate checks and said I should have been a responsible borrower as much as them a responsible lender. They then finished their email asking me to confirm I had understated my outgoings so they could continue their investigation which seems rather strange to ask – where are going with that question? Interestingly they didnt state it was final response dispite already claming they havent lent irresponsibly, anyone else had this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
247 moneybox have a reputation for trying to put people off by being unpleasant. Ask them if that is their final response and send the complaint to the Ombudsman.
Mille says
My payday loans date back to 2011 and therefore are no longer on my credit reports. If I start a complaint is there anyway these can reappear on my report?
Also for the Subject Access Request, how to they give this? Will it be in an email in PDF or do they post it? Is my email address enough or do they need more information to identify my account?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, they cannot reappear.
It is up to a firm how they respond to a SAR. They will let you know if they need more information from you eg date of birth, address and postcode etc
Matthew says
I’m a little worried after hearing that Wonga are “on the brink” of going under. My case has been going on for a year! I got an offer from Wonga through the adjudicator on Friday which I immediately signed and emailed back to the adjudicator. He now has to let them know so they can arrange to implement the payment. Do you think I’ll be ok?
JD says
I’m even more so concerned. I’ve only just sent them a complaint a month ago. Will this mean that my complaint is dead in the water considering it takes months and months to go through the whole process?
Tim says
Hi B
I had the same response from 247 moneybox. I told them that I was not going to tell them I had understated my outgoings and that I wanted to settle this direct with them rather than go to the ombudsman. Compared to a lot of users on here I had only paid a relatively small amount of interest (£500) but I said that if they would settle direct with me for £350 I would be happy to close the case, they transferred the money the same day
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Trusted Quid are a small lender and I haven’t seen enough people commenting in detail to know if they routinely do this when someone has loans outstanding. How many loans did you have from them?
B says
I had 8, repaying and immediately re-borrowing and then i had £238 outstanding. When i logged onto my account it said next payment due 0.00 and balance 0.00 which was done within 2 days of complaining but no email other than an awknowledgent
jack says
Hi Sara
I have received offers from payday UK and payday express. however there is still an outstanding 20 loans they say they are unable to determine as I cannot provide bank statements (these are from the year 2008-2009) I have asked my bank but they say they cannot retrieve statements that old. Can I accept the offer on the other loans but still go to FSO about the other loans.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry but you need to confirm this with Payday UK.
Glynis says
Hi I’ve E-mailed a step one complaint to Mjar for a list of my loans and I’ve received a reply back from them today asking me for photo id for them to send them to me. Has anyone had this ? What do I do now. Thanks for your help
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t know why they are asking for photo id – but the simplest thing is to provide it, not dispute it.
Darren says
Would you be able to make a compensation complaint if you have had a DRO? i had one about 7 years ago (mainly down to using payday loan companies) it no longer shows on my credit report. Some of the debts included in the DRO were payday loans, but i would have had many many more that i did repay (this would have been around 2010-2010).
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes you can make a complaint. But if you are complaining to a lender where there was a debt included in your DRO, you may find any refund is used to repay that debt. There is an argument to say this shouldn’t happen, but it does for PPI. Also these loans are all quite old, so the complaints may be slow and difficult. I’m not saying don’t bother – if you had many loans from the same lender don’t be put off!
Nicole says
Hi
Last year in the space of 6 weeks I had 3 loans off sunny totaling a £1000. My income at the time was £1196 as I had put on there income and expenditure with all my other details. Looking back now my monthly repayments for all 3 £327 leaving me -£101 a month. Do you think this is reasonable grounds to claim interest back etc? It’s left me with nothing but stress and made me borrow more for other lenders just to make ends meet.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like a good case to me! You may only get a refund for the last one but start by asking for a full refund. And also complain to the other lenders – they should have seen the Sunny loans on your credit record.
Sean says
Hi….i had one with mini credit who opus say no longer exist and they will not pay out. They said they will reduce the debt by half.. should i still go to the financial ombudsman?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You could talk to the ombudsman about this – they may say that is the best you can do.
Jenn says
Hi, I’m after some advice please. I sent my complaint into Lending Stream 8 weeks ago yesterday, I got the standard how they conduct affordability checks email. I then emailed them back asking if this was a final response and if so. I would go to the Fos. I then got an email saying they are amidst reviewing this matter and get back to me in due course. Should I send it to the Ombudsman as it has been 8 weeks? Or should I send Lending Stream an email telling them what I am planning to do as they have not given a final response? The Fos are already aware as I sent in the first email thinking that was their final response and they said to send any further correspondence I have with Lending Stream. Any help would be much appreciated.
Jen says
I have settled with the FOS adjudicator stage for L.S loans, got this today, I’ve contacted L.S daily by e.mail, phone and their help page a diff 1 each day for the last 7 days each time stating that I need my refund urgently, last one (yesterday) asking that if I write a trust pilot review will they process it quicker, eventually got this today.
This is in reference to your recent correspondence. We would like to inform you that your refund is in process. Refund process takes time as we need to get several internal approvals and that is why it takes 28 days to carry out the settlement.
However, as requested by you, we have initiated it on priority and you can expect the funds latest by next 24 to 48 hours.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I hope you leave a suitable poor trust pilot review!
Tara says
Hi. I have sent of a SAR to both wonga and my jar today who I have outstanding loans with. I have been with them for over 6 years and continuously reborrowing. I’ve always been on income support and they both knew this.
Although they asked each time I applied for new loan they knew I was on benefits. My jar originally asked for bank statements for first loan but never asked again after that so couldn’t have been doing proper affordability checks. Each loan I got was more than the last one. What are my chances of winning these cases?
Faye says
I was in similar circumstances and my jar agreed to repay interest in all loans I had taken in their final response
Mrs R says
Hi Sara –
I’ve tried to have a look but couldn’t see a previous comment for this, but from what you’ve seen what are people’s experience with if it’s it likely or not that My Jar accept the adjudicator’s decision on a case?
Thanks!
C says
They’ve just accepted my adjudicators decision of 31 of 37 loans at £4.5k which is inclusive of 8% interest.
So probably a good chance to be honest.
Cheers
Laura says
Evening everyone,
I had my first contact today with my adjudicator regarding my Wonga case. I refused a 4K offer and went to FOS. She has re-assured me for the time being, And I feel a lot more confident than I did over the weekend. Said she has been in communication this morning with them over another case,so again that eased my nerves. I’m kicking myself because I waited a month before subtmitting to FOS and I’m sorry now. Let that be a lesson to others, don’t hang about!
Mar says
Hi
Just after some advice please. I have had various payday loans over the past 6 months with about 10 different companies. In Particular I have put in complaints with 247 MoneyBox and Ferratum. Im just wondering if anyone has any advice regarding how ferratum operate? I put the complaint in with them a month ago- I currently owe them about £500 but they have agreed to hold off taking the payment while they look into my complaint- I have had 4 loans with them in total, each one bigger than the last and usually taken out the day after the last one has been paid.
Im also abit worried about my outstanding loan with 247 Moneybox, the loan was due yesterday and I haven’t paid this, I put in my complaint last Tuesday and told them to cancel the CPA I have with them. Im finding them quite aggressive to deal with they send lots of emails, texts & calls. Again with them ive had 4 loans which have got bigger each month and usually taken out the same day paid off.
Any advice on these two is greatly appreciated. Im finding this all abit overwhelming but knew I needed to stop paying them or ill never get out of this mess
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Best advice is to cancel the CPAs with your bank as well as telling the lender – puts you in a safe position.
Other people have said Moneybox 247 is unpleasant. Best advice is just to develop a thick skin I am afraid. After your complaint is in and your CPA cancelled, you need to wait for the response from the lender. With the 4 loan cases you have described, send them to the ombudsman if either lender rejects your complaint!
Robert says
Hi guys,
QQ rejected my complaint /they sent one e mail for two complaints as I also had a loan from poundstopocket/. They simply copied and pasted the text, did not even bother to send it by separate e mail.
It took 5 working days for PayDay UK to transfer £1472 to my account.
What attachments do I need to include while sending the complain to Ombudsmen?
Thanks,
Robert
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You should attach the rejection from QQ. It’s good to also attache a copy of your current Noddle report (not a report from ClearScore or Experian – Noddle is more likely to show your payday loans!) and your bank statements from 3 months before your first loan application to QQ.
If you don’t yet have the bank statements, send the complaint to the FOS anyway and set about getting the statements – this can be done, even from closed accounts. The FOS will ask for them later.
Mark says
Jenn,
If the lender has not sent you a final response letter within 8 weeks (the final response letter should clearly advise you that you have the option of taking the complaint to the FOS), you can automatically start an FOS complaint.
I have done this with a couple of lenders that have just taken slightly longer than the 8 weeks to provide their final response (I assume due to the huge number of complaints they are now receiving :-)) and within a week or so I then get the final response, so just forward to the FOS once they have made initial contact and advise the complaint ref number.
Due to the length of time it takes the FOS, I would do the same, if the lender (miraculously), upholds your complaint and gives you what you want, you can then just cancel the complaint with the FOS in the same way.
Hope that helps.
Stevie C says
Hi Mar,
247 Moneybox have been the fastest to get back to me and after my suggestion to clear the remaining balance and remove credit file reference they agreed. Maybe a follow up e-mail offering to pay the principal back minus the interest paid on the other loans so far?
Danny says
Hi, great article! Since 2013 until now I have taken out many loans and it has made life very difficult. I still have open loans with sunny and myjar currently, though not massive sums. I’m hoping to follow your advice, over the years I have used Wonga, uncle buck, lending stream, sunny and myjar. I have a question though, will my claims be invalid if I didn’t accurately put my living expenses in the forms required by the lenders before they accepted my application?
Thanks!
Danny
Mark says
Danny,
No straight forward answer to this I’m afraid as it will probably end up being the FOS that will have to decide what was “reasonable”. For example if you put your monthly food costs down as £250, where it should have been £300, it is less likely that the FOS will decide the lender should have realised that cost was underestimated. If however, the lender gave you a loan based on the fact that your food costs were £10 p/m, it is obviously far more reasonable to think that the lender SHOULD have known that figure was wrong.
I would read Sara’s article on “the lender says I lied” and start your complaints ASAP as there are far more success stories than not.
GOOD LUCK and keep us posted.
Liam says
Hi,
So over the past 5 years i have taken out multiple loans consistently up until now. I decided to take out an Amigo loan (with my parents being my guarantor) to pay off all of them and consolidate into 1 affordable monthly payment (which i am now doing). I have used them all- Wonga, Mr.Lender, Sunny, LendingSteam, WageDayAdvance, MyJar, PeachyLoans, Pounds to Pocket & QuickQuid- probably more as i was at the stage i would take one out with anyone that would accept me, just to get by.
At the time, i was desperate for the cash to pay rent, bills etc. I lied on my application of how much my outgoings were- would this affect any claims?
Just to confirm, I have to email each of them individually as stated in ‘Stage 1’ ?
Thanks!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Read https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/. Basically if you only borrowed a few times, you will probably struggle with a complaint if your application was seriously inaccurate. But if you kept on borrowing from the same lender, then the lender should have realised there was something wrong and asked extra questions.
But be prepared for these complaints to be rejected by the lenders and to have to go to the Ombudsman.
Yes send a separate email to each lender. Except you can sens a combined one for QuickQuid and Pounds To Pocket as they are the same firm – but make sure you mention you borrowed from both of them.
Jen says
Within hours of me saying in an e.mail about trust pilot review, I got that e.mail, still no money in my account yet 26 hrs later, after writing a trust pilot review on sunny they contacted me in an hour and money in my account 48 hrs later, these companies seem to really take notice of trust pilot, mega reviews on it on all pdl companies, good luck 😀
Kim says
Hi,
I have a CCJ on my credit file from TM Legal service for a payday loan I had with Lending stream.
Where do I stand with this can I have a CCJ removed? This collection company use very underhand tactics and even though I have offered a payment plan they are constantly threating an attachment of earnings. I only knew about the CCJ when it appeared on my credit file even though they had my email to contact me since!
I’m not concerned about a refund but it would be fantastic to have the CCJ removed.
Kim
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The only chance you have of getting the CCJ removed is to complain to Lending Stream about all your borrowing with them and ask for a refund. If this is successful, a couple of people have had CCJs removed, but many people haven’t … but at least if you get some money back for previous lending you can use that to pay off the CCJ!
Tara says
Hi again.
I’ve sent Wonga and my jar the 1st template letter of complaint and subject access request yesterday and I know they have 8 weeks to reply. I sent them by email to their complaints department listed in the email list on here. I haven’t had any replies to say they have received emails not even the automatic ones you normally get. Is this normal? Don’t wanna wait 8 weeks and nothing happens but I don’t wanna bombard them with emails again either. Do I wait the 8 weeks and go to fos even if no reply? Thanks
Andrew says
Safety net credit:
They operate differently and I’ve had loans from them weekly from memory for 2 years now. What they did is offer me £200 which I took. I get paid weekly so every Wednesday when I got paid they automatically took the balance and interest but obviously this was the bulk of not all my wages at times so I would withdraw out the facility again.
I did this every week basically which meant I was taking out additional credit every week from this company. Every month they increased my credit facility because I could display that I was paying it but I was withdrawing the same day every week usually within a few hours of them automatically collecting. They increased up to over a thousand pound before it’s got to the point that I can’t afford it anymore and got my wages paid into a different account to stop this.
As the limit increased I would pay for example £300 then a few hours later get £260 sent back to me from them and this has happened every week for 18-24 months.
Do I have a legit case still ?
Just not sure how it works as they operate a tad different to other lenders.
But they shouldn’t have been granting me more credit, conasidering I withdrew every week and they just chopped interest out for 2 years making a good profit now the balance with interest is over a thousand pound, despite the fact I’ve probably paid about 2-3k back.
Advice or other people’s experience if they’ve put a claim/complaint in please.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Lots of people have won cases against SNC. The fact they can see your bank statements means they should have noticed how much trouble you were in!
You must cancel the CPA to them immediately you put in a complaint, they used to have the bad habit of telling you they would suspend collection for 30 days, then restarting again after that without telling you even though your complaint hadn’t yet been answered…
Mimi says
Hi Tara
Yes it is normal I got my Wonga after a few days … My Jarvalso responded after a few days
Sarah says
Hi
The adjudicator today advised QQ to interest repay loans 5-12 as they were irresponsible and deduct the outstanding balance from the interest to be paid back plus 8%. Interest back is approximately £1500. Outstanding balance £1200. Loans 1-5 were in different months and 5 months or so apart from each other.
1. Should I accept this?
2. Can i reject and ask ombudsman to ask QQ to woff current loan and reimburse full interest or is that too greedy?
Thanks,
Mark says
Sarah,
It’s unlikely (not impossible), that the FOS will ask QQ to write off the loan. If you received the money, QQ will argue that you benefitted from the funds, therefore the lender must put you back in the position you would have neeen had the loan not been granted. I.e. the loan (minus fees/interest) still stands. However, as always, the decision is yours. Good luck
Morgan Murphy says
Hi I first took out a loan from Wonga in May 2017 and have been paying back every month since taking out about 7 loans in that time. Could I have a claim as I also took out other loans at Uncle Buck, wage day advance and Satsuma
Thanks,
Morgan
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes, worth complaining to all the lenders, not just Wonga. You may not get a refund for the first few loans, but as you continued to borrow, the lenders for the later loans should have seen all the other payday loans on your credit record.
It sounds as though you have current loans? You need to get yourself out of the payday loan trap by asking for an affordable repayment arrangement on all of these. Don’t make any more repayments if that will leave you so short you have to borrow again. See Get help to escape from the payday loan trap
Andrew H says
I contacted Uncle Buck for a statement of my account from around 2008/9 but they are saying;
“Unfortunately, I have been unable to locate an account under the details you have provided. This would either suggest that you haven’t had a loan with us, or you did, and the loan was repaid, written off, or sold in excess of six years. And as a result, all records of the account have been removed.”
Surely this isn’t acceptable to just delete customer details?
Many thanks for any help offered.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Deleting these details is not, unfortunately, illegal. CAn you produce evidence about the loans from your emails and/or bank statements?
Keith says
Hi I have many payday loans from almost 20 payday lenders from 2009 to 2014 I’ve had a look through old emails to find what I have paid off and what I have not. My bank statements are very hard to work out what I paid and rolled over. I have a few questions if anyone can help.
If I request a SAR how long does this take to receive.
Or should I do do the step 2 letter and see what I get in eight weeks?
I don’t want to waste 8 weeks of time.
This is the list of payday loans I have used
Lending stream — debt company paid
QuickQuid — paid
Uncle buck — paid
My jar —paid
Peachy — debt company paid
Wageday advance — written off
Payday U.K.— paid
Payday express — paid
Mini credit — paid
1st stop financial — paid
Cash genie — paid
Mr lender —- paid
CFO lending — paid
247 Moneybox— debt not paid
Speed credit— paid
Sunny — debt owe 217
Wonga — debt not sure what owe
Bongaloans— paid
Speedeloans — paid
Speededosh — paid
Txt loans— paid
Albemarl and bond— paid
Money shop – debt company
All of the above payday company’s I had several loans several roll overs. Money shop in the late 2000 I cashed cheques and also around 2014 I had a several loans and rolled them over
Hopefully you can help. Like all of us on here I got into a massive hole and couldn’t get out of it. At one point I had 7 payday loans all timing
Sara (Debt Camel) says
First work your way through your list and the email addresses here https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-email-addresses/ – that identifies some lenders who have disappeared so you can’t make claims.
It sounds as you know from your emails roughly when you borrowed so go straight to Step two – that begins by asking for full details.
Christine says
Hi, I complained to ECashWindow about EPDL borrowing. Today, I received a very long letter stating:
I had 12 loans across 2012 and 2013.
They are not considering the first five, but say I can go to the FOS
The have considered the other 7, but say I am complaining about the loans either later than 6 years or more than 3 years after I realised (or should have realised) that there was a problem.
The total interest and charges I paid amount to £1540 against a loans total of £2000 (for all twelve loans).
They are offering a goodwill gesture of £250.
What should I do? I am waiting a response from three other companies, including Wonga (no surprise or hope there!)
Appreciate your advice – thanks!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“The have considered the other 7, but say I am complaining about the loans either later than 6 years or more than 3 years after I realised (or should have realised) that there was a problem.”
Either they haven’t a clue what the Ombudsman’s rules are or they know but are deliberately trying to mis-describe them to you… The Ombudsman says you can complain about any problem in the last 6 years – the “within 3 years of knowing there was a problem” only applies if your loans are more than 6 years old.
£250 sounds like a poor offer! How much interest did you pay on the last 7 loans?
Christine says
Hi again. I have just trawled all through my bank statements. They have made the top-up and the new loan look different by putting them in different columns. However, having checked all the dates with my bank statements I see the top-up is incorporated into the new loan. So, I had £1000 of loans over 12 months (the 7 they will consider) and repaid £2795. How long does the FOS system take roughly? And can I just send bank statements for the date in question and a couple of days either side? If I send them all statements for the year it’s about 400 pages! Grateful for previous and continued advice.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds as though you have paid 2795-1000 = 1795 in interest and charges – that is a lot more than the £250 they are offering and the Financial Ombudsman will also add 8% interest for each year on top of a refund.
Timescales – cases are being picked up by an adjudicator in about 10-14 weeks at the moment, from there it is typically 1-3 weeks to a decision. Sometimes it takes longer if this has to go to the second “ombudsman” level.
The FOS will want all your bank statements from 3 months before the first loan to the end of the borrowing. these can be by post or digital if you can download them or scan in paper ones.
Tom says
Hi Sara,
I received my final response from Satsuma back in March, they accused me of lying on an application even though i stated in my complaint the average income per month for the year. I then refereed to this to the FOS due to affordability, the case handler had all my required details by around end of March. They stated they would now wait for Satsuma’s response, i chased this in June and they stated they are still waiting a response.
I have emailed numerous times and over the last 5 weeks i have not had a response to any of my emails. Is this normal? It’s about 5 months now and my complaint has not even gone to an adjudicator. What are my next steps?
Thanks
T
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Satsuma have got very slow. I suggest you phone up the Ombudsman and ask for your case to be considered without the response from Satsuma. I assume you have supplied bank statements?
Katie says
Hi
I’ve just had a reply from mr lender saying they did everything by the book etc and have offered me £140 as a goodwill gesture. Should I take this further. I assume offering this goodwill gesture is a sign of their guilt?
J says
Hi Katie,
I have previous experience with Mr Lender. I found that they are very open to reasonable argument, and I think quite a few others here have found that too. I would recommend going back to them and stating why you think their offer is not sufficient. How much did you take out in loans? What did you pay back in interest? What were the indications that it wasn’t affordabke and why was it obvious they should have known this?
Generally if there is a “goodwill offer”, companies think you would have a case if you went to the FOS. This is their way of hoping you’ll accept a low offer and go away. Try going back to them with what you think they should offer, and go from there. I went back and forth with my contact probably five different times and we managed to come to a resolution that was satisfactory.
Hope this helps
C says
With MRL, My initial offer of £650 eventually ended up over £6k, plus they removed all lending history. I had paid approximately £8.1k over five years.
after sending details of all my loans over a period of five year with them as well as other lenders, they realised it was simpler to settle with a better figure.
I proposed the removal of history along with the c.£6.2k and they accepted within 2 hours and the money was in my bank within 24 hours.
By far the best I’ve dealt with especially once I sent all the breakdowns of loans on a spreadsheet.
All the best and keep us posted.
C
Nat Garvey says
I’ve just finished watching the Tonight Show’s broadcast where it had a segment about payday loan refunds. Up until the end of July 2018, I had absolutely no idea that I could claim back any of the interest that I was charged from various payday loan companies – dating back to 2013. Now that the Tonight Show has aired this episode, I suspect that many more people will be filing claims as well.
I doubt that Wonga will be the the only major payday lender to go in to administration. It is interesting to see what a small amount of government regulation can do…
Sharon says
Totally agree Nat. Like many others I don’t expect to receive a penny from Wonga now. I feel fortunate that I have managed to at least recover some of the interest I have paid.
T. PUSCAS says
Hi
In June i put o big STOP on mi gambling ,and started dealing whit the financial problems that i got in durinng mi gambling .
From 2017 until 2018 ive had 25 loans whit LENDING STREAM ,13 off them been taken out in 2 months only .
What do you think do i have any chance to get something back ?
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like a lot of borrowing – put in a complaint but don’t be surprised if Lending Stream reject it – send it to the Ombudsman.
Ally says
May I ask a question in relation to payday lending, 7/8 years ago I was for 2 years repeatedly borrowed money as a wage advance by cash converters, where I wrote a cheque for £100 and they gave me £75 back. They state this does not class as a payday loan and is not classed as irresponsible lending. Could anyone confirm if this is correct as it placed me in hardship at the time and they knew very well that I was having to write more cheques to them to get by. I am just interested if this activity is unregulated and not classed as irresponsible lending.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is a type of payday lending. The same affordability rules apply to this “cheque-based lending” as normal payday loans. I suggest you send your case to the Financial Ombudsman and also tell the FOS that you think CC’s reply to you was misleading.
Diane says
I’ve just checked my credit score and it says prac financial ltd has removed your payday loans , does this mean they have been bought back from padayexress and payday UK ? Anyone else had this
Gareth says
I currently have 2 cases one with lending stream and one with payday uk, the adjudicator picked up my cases on 27/08/2018 and I’m awaiting a decision, 7 loans with each lender hopefully a good refund coming my way! The Financial ombudsman service sent me a email saying it is likely they will determine the lender should of taken more measures to ensure the loans were affordable so it’s looking good I’ll keep you posted
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“he Financial ombudsman service sent me a email saying it is likely they will determine the lender should of taken more measures to ensure the loans were affordable”
That doesn’t actually mean you will win your case … you also have to provide information showing that the loans were unaffordable for you. If the FOS has asked for more detailed information (eg more banks statements) you may well not win your case unless you provide them.
Alice says
Hi,
I forwarded a complaint regarding QQ and P2P to the FOS and have received a letter asking for bank statements covering the whole period of lending (2008 – 2013, 2 QQ accounts, 1 P2P account and continuous lending across the 5 years) I paid over £5,000 in interest to the company across all 3 accounts. I’m still repaying.
However there is also a second P2P account showing on my credit file with no payments made in the last 3 years since I started my DMP. P2P haven’t send me details of it despite me repeatedly asking. I’ve forwarded what I have of it (just a credit report screenshot) to the FOS, will they be able to help with this?
Is this correct that I need to send so many bank statements? I need to get and send 5 years worth of bank statements in the post? This feels like an impossible task, I was with 2 banks during this time, neither of which I have open accounts with any more.
I don’t know what to do.
Can anyone advise? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If P2P can’t send you any details of this account, then try suggesting that they should remove it from your credit record.
Yes FOS usually ask for this number of bank statements. You need to ask the relevant bank for these – if they say in writing they can’t supply them, send that to the Ombudsman.
Colette says
Hi there,
Has anyone had success with sunny?
Iv calculated that between 2014 – 2016 I took out 30 loans with them totalling £9550 and paid over £6000 in interest. During this time I over committed with debt and was caught in the trap of rolling these loans over just to get by. Thankfully I managed to get myself out of this and would like to explore the matter of refunding the interest I paid as I believe this is irresponsible lending due to the number of loans I took out, it’s evident that I was in a debt spiral.
Do you believe I have a case?
Thanks
C says
I settled early with Sunny after sending a breakdown of all details of other loans on a spreadsheet. It was obvious there was an issue from this detail and they agreed to reasonably settle c.70% of interest plus 8%. When I asked, They also agreed to remove history if I settled early, but took a bit of negotiation.
All the best.
Craig Lumsdaine says
Hi there. Thanks to this site, I put in complaints against Wonga, Quick Quid and Wage Day Advance. Between 2011 and 2016 I paid around £8000 to the three of them in interest and charges. Wonga were due to get back to me by tomorrow, to be within the 8 weeks, and I’ve pretty much written that off given recent events.
Quick Quid sent me my info fairly quickly and also responded to the complaint, dismissing it of course! Their standard template rejection email by the looks of it. That’s been with the Ombudsman for a few weeks now. Having seen the comment above about them being in dispute over loans more than six years old, I think I may review my information again and see how many I had in 2011 with them. If only a handful, I may ask the ombudsman to drop them and get the rest moving.
Wage Day Advance just sent me an auto response, saying they are struggling to respond within the 8 week timescales due to the volume of complaints. The 8 weeks are up tomorrow. I’m thinking I’ll give them to the end of the week and then forward the complaint to the ombudsman, which they suggest in the email as they are in breach of the timescale. They are the smallest claim, £990, out of the three so I would have liked to process that without any involvement with the ombudsman. What has been people’s experience with Wage Day Advance? Easy or difficult? Loans were in 2011, 2012 and 2014. Only two in 2011, rolled over 8 times, and the two 2012 loans were rolled over 4 times.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Wonga – all you can do is see what happens – but having low expectations at the moment is probably good :(
Reviewing the QQ 6 year situation is sensible.
Wageday Advance – it’s up to you whether to wait. Most lenders will continue to look at a complaint whilst the case is at the Ombudsman. As most of your loans were over 6 years old that may make it less likely that you get a good offer directly.
Tom says
Just had a payout of nearly 2k from safetynetcredit. Thanks to this site. Safetynetcredit operate differently to other lenders, I was always sure I would win this one.
B says
Hey everyone,
Having such a mare with 247 Moneybox. Been playing email ping pong for weeks now. They keep stating they done the appropriate checks but I keep returning with other facts relating to irresponsible lending (such as repeat borrowing). I initially aksed them for a set figure to settle nd they counter offered half of that figure as a gesture of good will. i then went back
To them again stating i wont accept any less than i requested and they reiterated they would pay me half. It makes no sense as they refuse to provide a final response (now requested 3 times) and get they keep claiming they’ve acted responsibly – so it baffles me why they won’t provide it.
The annoying this is I know i’ll win this with the FOS! They’ve upheld all complaints to date and 247 were one of the worst!
If it goes to the FOS i’ll get more than i’ve asked for too
Any advise? Can i just send it anyway?
Nikki says
Anyone had any experience on how long it takes wageday advance to get back to fos? Adjudicator issued response today was just wondering if anyone had an idea if they are pretty quick at responding?
Ted says
I’m in the situation with Wonga too – accepted offer week before news
Also have a Qq complaint with Ombudsman – most loans (30 plus wrong side of 6 years – hopeful the 3 year element is considered ) but worried that waiting for FOS decision may lead to Qq being in same situation as Wonga :-( especially if cost of 6 year complaints has substatial impact on QQ OVERALL.
Also …
Has anyone got information on irresponsible lending from ;
Drafty – high interest rate & regular limit increases maxed out
1st stop / consister – also included £450 “set up fee”
Hitachi – 2 large loans 3 months apart
The above was all unfortunately during regular and rolling pay day loans and followed a cc default
Lo1 says
Dear Sara
Wonder if you have come across this previously?
Complained step 2 to Lending stream and within 5weeks received a rejection, though this was not stated as a final response.
Nonetheless i sent it to the FOS, who assigned it to a preliminary case handler. 2 weeks later Lending stream emailed the case handler, and copied me in to the following:
“…We would like to inform you that when we had received the complaint from [claims company] we did not receive proper authorization documents from them.
Since you have shared the proper authorization document with us, we will investigate the complaint now and share our final response shortly…”
I’ve not heard back from my case handler as of yet, wondered your thoughts on this?
Thanks
Tim says
Hi Sara/Everyone
Has anyone had any dealing with Savvy? Can anyone advise if they are open to reasoning to get cases handled outside of the ombudsman?
Thanks
Nat Garvey says
Hi Tim, Savvy rejected my claim within 2 weeks – it is currently with the FOS. They were not very open to negotiations either, but your case might be different.