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?
Barry says
Hi Sara,
I put in a stage 2 claim to Myjar a week ago. I am currently paying off a loan with them. With 2 payments now remaining out of 12. I was due to make payment on Thursday. The payment didnt go through on my end. I logged on to my account and paid 1/3 of the amount on friday morning, then received a warning about debt recovery agency over the week end. I logged on to Myjar first thing Monday morning and repaid the remainder of my monthly payment along with £15 late fee and extra interest. My account stated I was no longer in arrears. In the past 10 minutes i received a text stating that as i never made agreed payments my account has been sent to a debt recovery agency who will be in contact shortly. When i log into myjar it states that my dealings are to be with the debt recovery agency. Their wording is accurate in that i never made agreed payments on the correct day so I probably dont have too much of an arguement. But im guessing that as there were no arrears on the account when it was sent to debt recovery this was done as i have issued an affordabilty complaint. Should i contact debt recovery agency and is it likely they will take proceedings to get me to repay loan in full or can i continue with agreed repayments? Thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“im guessing that as there were no arrears on the account when it was sent to debt recovery this was done as i have issued an affordabilty complaint.”
that is unlikely – what would Myjar gain from doing this? It is much more likely that your account is caught up in some automated process that always happens when someone misses an arrangement to pay.
“Should i contact debt recovery agency ” – Are your current repayments are affordable. If the problem last week was really unusual and you can normally make the agreed payments, then just leave it be and respond to them if they communicate with you. But if the repayments are too high, yes talk to the debt recovery company and ask to reschedule over a longer period.
“is it likely they will take proceedings to get me to repay loan in full” no, that would be pretty silly of them. You are only 2 payments from the end. And they can’t start legal proceedings whilst there is an active complaint.
Nat Garvey says
Safety Net Credit update
They have agreed that they shouldn’t have loaned me the money. Once the balance is paid, the loan will be removed from my credit file as set out in their final response. It was a small loan, but nonetheless I am grateful for the redress. I put my complaint in on the 30/7/18; my complaint didn’t go to the FOS. Thanks again Sara.
George says
Hi,
Does anyone know how long it is likely to take once a case goes to the ombudsman for a decision? And are they likely to agree with the adjudicator? The adjudicator sent his decision on 03/08 to unclebuck to refund loans 2-14 however the company never replied even after been given additional time to accept or decline. So has now been passed to the ombudsman for a final decision. I accepted an offer from wonga through the FOS on 26/08, I’m now guessing I won’t actually see any of this. So would hate for this to drag out for more months and a similar thing happens with unclebuck. Just my luck! Thanks for any help.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The timescales for getting an Ombudsman level decision are 2-4 months at the moment.
Much the most common result is that the adjudicator’s decision is upheld. In some cases the ombudsman tinkers with the number of loans – so may decide you should get 1-14 refunded or 5-14 say. It is VERY rare for a significantly different decision where there have been a lot of loans.
C says
Update on myjar,
Adjudicator found in my favour on the 24th August for £4452 (interest plus 8%) and just been paid in to my account.
Across 7 lenders, I’ve now had £26’222 back.
I’m awaiting Quick quid, money shop and THL – all Sat with the FOS at the moment.
These three is looking like another £20k back based on previous cases.
Shows how much of a mess I was in……
Keep at it everyone. I’m off to buy a bottle of prosecco from Aldi (keeping it frugal of course) and to drop another donation of to the CAB.
Thanks Sara for your help again
C
matt says
Massive congrats, some nice results so far!
I have a lot awaiting to be allocated and one with Wonga I am not expecting much from. When did you send yours off to the FOS and when did they pick them up?
Enjoy the Prosecco :-)
C says
Thanks Matt
So…..
Pduk, pdex, wageday paid up reasonably well and quickly upon sending complaint and giving a lot of detail.
Peachy was only two loans with £100 so was happy to close out with a gesture of £50.
The others went of March 1st and a two March 23rd
sunny and MrLender got picked up about July but I managed to talk them round on emails to a negotiation after giving so much detail on issues and I think they could see the light so these settled early, the FOS were happy with this(less for them to do).
My jar picked up beginning of August and settled today.
QQ sent march1st and still waiting, as is money shop (sent 23rd march) and THl on 23rd also.
Thanks Matt,
All the best for yours also, it’s a wait, but well worth it.
Cheers
C
Mark says
Well done C, great story! Thanks for keeping us updated, its great to read the good news stories, especially with recent Payday Lender events!
Nikki says
Is it true that a company gets charged £550 per case after the 25th case from the financial ombudsman? Surely they would be better off just paying anything back to customers that complain below this amount?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes it’s true. but any payday lender that offered everyone a refund if their complaint was under this amount would very soon be out of business.
Nikki says
Is that because a lot of people don’t tend to take it further to the ombudsman?
I have an outstanding complaint with 247moneybox, the interest element is only £148 so to me they would be better off refunding me that than having to pay £550 plus my refund when I take it to fos?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes – people give up. Some of them will of course have only had a weak case – 1 or 2 loans, not rolled, repaid on time, not large.
Let’s wait and see what moneybox 247 offer you – if anything.
Nikki says
Well they have agreed to a refund. I only had one loan with these so I knew I wouldn’t get anywhere if I took it to fos so I told them I would accept a refund of the interest I had paid without the statutory 8% otherwise I would take it to fos and they agreed straight away. Still £148 so better than nothing
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is a good result in a one loan case – well done!
B says
Hey everyone
Just an update on 247 money box. After quite a few emails going back and forth and them initially offering nothing and then moving to half of the interest paid as a good will gesture, they have today increased their offer which I have accepted along with removing all loans from my credit file. Great result, dealt with through their internal complaints proceedure so no need for FOS.
I have to say, they’ve also been extremely pleasent to deal with which came as a suprise!
Good luck all
Mo says
hello all :)
I have 4 loans across 4 lenders
loan 1 – quickquid total borrowed £14,175 from 2011-august 2018
loan 2 – Sunny total borrowed – £1700 from March to August 2018
loan 3 – My jar waiting to hear what the total is as don’t have the info just yet
loan 4 – Wonga I have requested SAR and these date back to 2011 too however I know this may not go through due to current situation.
can anyone tell me roughly what I should be expecting to be paid from Quickquid and Sunny ? I have complained to all of these lenders only on 3/9 so I don’t think I will hear anything soon but just wanted to get an idea of what is a reasonable amount I should expect instead of just going with whatever they offer me as from reading posts I can see going to FOBS seems a better pay out?
any help
appreciated
thank you!
Mo
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The total borrowed isn’t much help – you need to work out the amount of interest paid – that’s the amount you paid minus the amount you borrowed. Knowing this is a great help in assessing how reasonable (or not) an offer is.
Do you have current loans from these lenders? If so are you making payments? This is especially important for Wonga.
Do you have your bank statements? If not, this would be a good time to get them as with 4 lenders the chances are at least one will need to go to FOS.
mo says
oh right I see I think its massive task for me to work that out as they sent me a list of each loan but not really clear what I paid interest wise, once I hear from them I am guessing they will look at that and if they decide to reject or offer a payment I am most likely going to take it up with FOS anyways just to see if I can get anything better.
I have only one current loan for a amount I borrowed of £1050 but I have £123 left to pay on this loan as of today.
should I get bank statements from 2011 ? will fos be able to see all of that information for the 4 lenders via the statements right? so I can roll it all into 1 complaint once I hear back from these lenders.
thanks for the reply!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“if they decide to reject or offer a payment I am most likely going to take it up with FOS anyways just to see if I can get anything better.”
it would be better to try to decide if the offer is reasonable. If you are being offered most of what you could get, why not take it?
You may be able to tell immediately that an offer is great or very poor. If you aren’t sure, come back and ask? Myjar will sometimes increase an offer if you go back explaining why you think extra loans should be included.
Get all your bank statements from 3 months before the first loan.
You send one complaint to the Ombudsman for each lender. Add your bank statements to the first complaint. On the ones after, say that your bank statements have already been provided for your previous complaint and they will be shared.
Tom says
Sara,
Thanks for all your help. Just a quick question. Am I right in thinking statutory interest is worked out by year? The Financial Ombudsman I’m sure is busier than ever at the moment and I can imagine cases going on for 1-2 years. Does the interest go up year by year? Therefore meaning the payday lenders will have to pay out more if the Financial Ombudsman disagree with their final response?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes it’s per year. At the moment VERY few Ombudsman cases take a year except for the over 6 year ones that are currently stuck. I am hoping they will come unstuck very soon!
David says
Hi all
My 8 weeks is up with Payday UK and Payday Express and I received the email saying that they haven’t came to a resolution yet.
I’m guessing it’s on to the ombudsman straight away as they are still investigating and will take a while to get picked up by an ajudicator anyway?
Nichola says
My partner also got this email yesterday. I have emailed back to say I am prepared to give another 14 days. I am not sure if this was a good idea but my opinion was that as the ombudsman has a big waiting list, another 14 days could make a difference between getting it settled, and waiting another 6 months for an adjudicator. Will be interesting to see what happens.
Mark says
Sara,
I have a complaint at the FOS re The Money Shop.
I am paying them back via Step Change and a DMP.
IF they go into administration, like Wonga, I know they will say “customers should continue to make their payments”, however that seems extremely unfair that I still have to keep to my payments, despite the fact that if/when the FOS rules in my favour I am unlikely to see any of the money returned to me?
I know I am basing this on a LOT of hypotheticals, but this overview seems entirely unfair. Surely they (and Wonga) should advise their customers with on-going complaints to hold off on making ANY payments until the complaints have been resolved and settled/paid. I know that would make asset selling far more complex, but the status quo means the only people that will lose out are the customers of a company(s) who have gone busto because they were lending outside the regulations?!
*rant over.
Any advice?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Anyone with a DMP with StepChange including a debt to Wonga and a complaint into Wonga should discuss the situation with StepChange.
Tim ber says
Hi.
I’ve had numerous very successful claims up to now with help from this website
Wonga 11k+
MYJAR 8k+
Moneybox247 8k+
A few other smaller ones
That alone has managed to clear my massive debts and leave me with pocket money.
I owe you a million thanks for them
As you can tell my borrowing was obscene.
I have a couple more with the ombudsman that are awaiting adjudicator. Now one of the company’s I borrowed a lot with was cash genie roughly 14loans
I see they are in liquidation now.
Average interest on these was around £170. So it’s quite a healthy amount around £2800 plus 8% interest over 7 years.
With it been a good amount I was wanting to follow this claim up but I have a few questions. What the chances of actually getting something out of them?? Who do I contact about a claim?? And how do I go about chasing this claim up????
Lisa says
Hi- get in touch ASAP. I put a claim in and the administrators are paying out. Accepted offer in June. Just waiting for next run of cheques to be issued.
Tim ber says
I’ve sent the a complaint. Fingers crossed. I Don’t expect anything tho. It would be a bonus if I do. Thanks
Bryan91 says
So after much help from this website I decided to submit my claims myself!
Just thought I would update on what is going on with the lenders I wrote to.
Wonga: complaint not upheld so sent to the ombudsman and awaiting a reply on that but not hopeful given the situation with them.
Paydayuk: complaints upheld direct with them on 7/10 loans refund coming of £600
Mr lender: complaint still being processed as within the 8 week period
Quick quid: complaint still being processed as within 8 week period
Anyone know how quick me lender and quick quid usually get back to complaints regarding refunds?
Hmb says
Would anyone mind giving me some info on their experience with Sunny – I put in an SAR request and stated I was investigating an irresponsible lending claim. Would you say my 8 weeks would start from the SAR email or my follow up once they had emailed me the SAR info? Also they emailed me again today a breakdown of all the loans, not sure if they realised they had already sent this stuff to me but they sent it to me in a super friendly format today which I could use for the FOS if it gets that far as far as I can see I should be due a refund of around £1200 from them and I also want the credit entries deleted. Can anyone advise how they went about trying to agree this with them without the use of the FOS I want to have a good leverage point for when they eventually email me back! Many thanks
Mike says
Hi
I used the standard second letter on this site with very little other detail. They reviewed the loans and agreed redress of £2200 and paid it in around 10 days. The whole process was very standard and I didn’t need to negotiate.
My belief is that they have a standard process and if your complaint meets their checkpoints then they pay redress that is due as they know if it goes to the ombudsman they will lose.
Good luck.
Colette says
Wow! I sent my step two letter on Monday as I took out 30 loans in an 18 month period…
Did you have to go to the ombudsman? Or was the matter resolved by them directly and that quickly?
C
Hmb says
Im similar to you, i took out 21 loans with sunny and a few with lending stream over an 18 month period! Good luck with your claim, i havent yet heard from sunny or lending stream and i complained a while ago now!
J says
Hi Sara – I have written to 11 PL companies four weeks ago and replies are finally starting to come in. QQ is by far the biggest (a massive £13,992) and they have offered settlement of £16.10 , one late fee plus interest. I took out 21 loans between 2011-2015 and they refused to review everything 6 years old or more and rejected everything else via the standard reply and also that they were over 3 years old sibce I took them out. I only finished repaying last week (to a debt collection agency they used for the last £500) and I only found about being able to claim a month ago. The loans were multiple, rolled over, re-issued the day after repaying, escalating amounts borrowed until maxed, some late fees and they continued to lend etc. I declined the offer and advised that I would escalate to the FO in four weeks when the 56 days finish.
Could you kindly confirm I am doing the right thing and likely have a valid case? I was confident and now I’m not ….
Many thanks and well done on a brilliant website, it is pure gold.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sounds like a good case – if QQ have given you a final response you can go to the Ombudsman now, you don’t have to wait 8 weeks.
At the moment QQ loans over 6 year cases are all on hold, but I am hoping there will be news on this very soon, so don’t decide to drop them just yet!
J says
Thanks Sara – I will got to the Ombudsman straight away then. Feel a bit more confident again now! The £16 offer was so ridiculous.
I’ll keep you posted on the results
JD says
I’m in a similar position as you, they didn’t take into account any loans older than 6 years and came to a conclusion of offering me about £16.30. My complaint with them was also combined with my pounds to pocket loans so my case is with CashEuroNet who own both. Needless to say I didn’t take the offer and sent it to the FOS. This does seem a bit bizzare though as each case costs them £550 when going to the FOS so I wonder if it would be easier on them if they offered that much at the least in the first place.
J says
It is strange but it appears that it is a policy decision, perhaps to discourage. I spoke to the FO on Friday and they were very positive and said send it straight in. Let’s hope that’s a good sign for both of us! Best of luck with your claim JD.
Derrick McCabe says
I have contacted the companies I have loaned from nd a few have got back already saying the loans are older than 6 years does this mean I can’t claim?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, the Financial Ombudsman thinks it should be able to look at these older loans and many lenders are paying out on them. Which lenders have you had over 6 year loans from?
Mia says
Hi
Thanks so much for this site
During the period 2011-17 I had around 200 loans with over 15 lenders. Have received refunds from around 3 and rest are with the fos. The adjudicator has just got back to me about my peachy loans. There were only 4 around £100/200 per loan, they have decided that this complaint won’t be upheld as they carried out “reasonable checks and don’t have to look at your credit report” I feel if they would’ve carried out these checks they would’ve seen that I was borrowing from so many lenders and couldn’t afford repayments. Should I ask for this to go to the ombudsman? I know it’s only a small amount but during the period of lending I had many other larger loans
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What were the gaps between the Peachy loans – the time from repaying one to taking out the next – and what dates were they?
Mia says
I paid one back and took the next out the same day or day after. They were from 2015/16.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
In that case it is very likely that Peachy did check your credit records. The fact they weren’t legally obliged to is irrelevant, if there was information that they knew, they should have taken account of it when deciding whether to lend to you.
I suggest you go back to the adjudicator and say this. If they say their decision stands, ask for it to go to an Ombudsman and also send Peachy a Subject Access request by emailing them at complaints@peachy.co.uk with SUBJECT ACCESS REQUEST as the email subject and ask for a copy of ALL your personal information, including but not limited to all credit checks and other financial verification checks they ran on you.
Phusita says
Hi Mia
I think I have the same situation I got small load from
1.Lending stream for 2 loan Fos not upheld my complain even I have no incomes when I took the loan my credit scores it very bad.
2. 247 money box Fos not uphold my complain. I only have few loan from them but as the dam time I have took out from 1.Quick quid
2. My jar
3. Ferratum
4.sunny
5. Satsuma
6. Everyday loan
If Fos only looking at the loan that I took out and depend on how many you borrowed from that loan it have been complain and do not look as how many payday companies that You borrowed as the same time a big picture how affect the financial. I don’t think I will win the case.
Thank you for sharing
Kelly says
I received a final response letter from Payday UK today as follows:
‘My decision
One rule is that a customer must complain within 6 years of the problem. Another rule is that if more
than 6 have passed, you must complain within 3 years of knowing you could complain about the
problem.
I can see that all of the loans that you are complaining about are more than 6 years old. So for me to
consider these loans, I need you to tell me why you didn’t complain about these loans until now.’
All my loans are over 6 years (from 2009 – 2012). Should I go back to them as to why I didn’t complain (genuinely didn’t know I could until June this year, which is stated in my original complaint) or go straight to Ombudsman?
Lisa G says
Hi, I got the same standard response from Payday Express and Wageday Advance. I suspect I’ll get the same from Payday UK. I wrote back saying I didn’t realise I could complain until July this year and sent a list of loans I had running with them as well as other lenders (taken from borrowing summerys from companies as I don’t have a credit report for that time) which shows late payments, rollovers etc.
I’ve only emailed this information in the past few days so hope they’ll look into it. I’m not really sure how long to wait to see if they respond… I’m wondering if anyone else has had this response and what they did about it?
Kelly Webb says
I wrote back and received the following response;
Thank you for your email of the 7 September 2018, your comments therein have been duly noted.
I have looked at your file and can tell you that the decision in our Final Response Letter still stands, however if you disagree, then you still have right to refer your case to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) should you so wish.
Adam says
Hello again, two questions 1. Do companies have to get back to you in a certain time scale after sending the first email? Like an auto response? Sent one to a company called uncle buck 1st on September and not anything back. 2. How likely is it I will get anything back from wonga again sent an email to them on the 1st and had nothing back.
Thanks again.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you didn’t get an “undeliverable” message for your complaint to UB, you can assume it has been received. Firms don’t have to send an auto response.
You will get an answer from Wonga at some point. the most worrying thing is that even if they offer a decent refund, you may not get much of that paid, – unless you have an open loan with them?
david says
Hi all,
Just a couple of queries before I start my claim.
Would I need to send the initial email complaint from the email address I used when taking out the loan?
I am just aware that a lot of my payday loans date back 5-6 years and I know I had a different email address back then.
After getting myself straight I stopped using the old email as was tired of the endless spam I used to get!!
thanks,
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, but you should say in your email what your old email was and also give your full name, address (and if you have moved, your old address) and date of birth.
david askew says
Thank you Sara,
Also would it effect a claim if you had paid off a loan after agreeing a settlement figure with them for a reduced amount?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That would have reduced the amount of interest you had paid, so yes.
David askew says
Hi Sara, I sent an email to satsuma yesterday using the template but also adding my name, date of birth, current address and email and previous address and email. I have today received this response:
Thanks for your e-mail,
We are sorry to hear of your concerns, please accept our apologies for any upset caused.
For us to investigate your complaint we need you to confirm some details for us –
For security purposes and to protect your personal data, please could you confirm one of the following:
Loan Amount (Original amount borrowed)
Loan Agreement Number
Repayment Amount
Loan Term
Scheduled Re Payment Date/Day
Bank account – last 4 digits
Bank Name
Bank Sort Code
Current balance
Once we receive this information, we will address your query as soon as possible.
Alternatively, if you prefer to speak to an advisor, you can contact our friendly Customer Care Team on 0800 694 0004 which is free from most landlines or call 0330 303 2000 which is a local rate number from mobiles or you may find the answer to your question by referring to the FAQs on the website.
What would you advise I reply with? Surely with my name , date of birth and address they can identify me and send me the info I asked for?
I have tried to log on to my satsuma account to find the loan details myself but it was quite a while ago (although not as long as 6 years ago) and it appears my account no longer exists.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Presumably, you can supply the bank details that they have asked for?
David askew says
Unfortunately I don’t think I can provide them with the bank details. Back when I was in an awful mess I had 3 different bank accounts. When I finally managed to sort myself out 2 years ago I closed 2 of those accounts. I also shredded all the correspondence I had with them hoping it was a closed chapter and I had learnt the hard way. I have no idea which account I used and no idea of loan ref numbers etc. I was playing such a duck and dive game with many different payday loan companies at the time that I don’t even know which address, bank card, account or phone number I would have given on my application!
That’s why I was hoping by providing my details that they would tell me!
david askew says
ok, I am still going to contact them all with the template email.
over the last 5-6 years I had gone through several cycles of getting myself up to my neck in payday loans, trying to service the interest and charges, juggling who was on my back and chasing me the most, taking out more to pay off existing, paying off loans then taking them out with the same company straight after. I would get bailed out by family or friends then end up soon after in the same situation.
The last cycle I went through approx. 2 years ago, I came to some settlement figures and cleared the debt.
But this was not the case with all the cycles, and some of the companys wouldn’t offer settlement figures or if they did the discount was very very small.
Even if a company offered me a settlement on the amount I then owed, this might have been after many months of rolling the loan over and paying late fees and interest.
All in all I think its worth still taking a chance!
Thank you.
Tracy says
Hi Looking for some advice, I have just had an offer from my jar but not sure if I should just accept or tell them it’s not enough?
I had 20 loans from them over 11 months. Ranging from £100 – £400
They are basically saying that they will refund except for the £100 and £200 loans ( 8 of the loans) as they believe those were affordable (I wasn’t working during any of the loans, just been evicted from our rented house and moved area)
So £561 plus interest but they want to take off the last loan for £400 that we defaulted onalthough it says they had written off the final loan. Meaning they have offered us £369.30. Should I email back arguing this or just accept it?
I would appreciate any advice on this, many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Were the loans very short term or did you have several at the same time? Do you know how much interest you paid on all of the loans except for the last loan? the last loan, how much did you borrow? How much have you paid if anything to the last loan?
Tracy says
Hi Sara,
All the loans were short term, each was paid off before another was taken out. I have just realised that the first three have not been included as they are past 6 years and the letter says they have not included anything past 6 years. I paid £731.56 in interest in all the loans except the last one (including the 8 loans they have said we’re affordable or over 6 years) the last loan was £400 nothing of which was repaid, thank you
Anita says
Hi again
Apologies if I ask the same question but how do I raise my ‘bank’ complain with Ombudsman. it is about overdraft. What information they need.
Thank you for your email advice.
Anita says
Hi
Just spoke to the bank again in regards to the overdraft charges. They said they sent a final response saying that they will not going to upheld my complaint. They said they will send (they already did) send £100 to my account and stop the charges. They reassured me I can still go to the ombudsman and the fact that I got a good will gesture is not going to affect my complain to Ombudsman.
Is that a true?
Mark says
Anita, yes that’s true. “Goodwill gesture” is USUALLY bank terminology for saying “we did something wrong, but aren’t weren’t willing to admit it or put it writing!” If the refund you are due (if your complaint was upheld by the FOS), is greater than £100, take it to the FOS. Only takes 15minutes and is a pretty simple process. Just be aware/patient that it will take time for the FOS as they are busier now than ever.
Anita says
Thank you very much for your response. Was worried that if I accepted the money it may look I don’t have a rights to go to the ombudsman.
Where can I find a link for comolaing to them please.
Thank you again
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s your decision here. I have to say that overdraft complaints are MASSIVELY harder to win than payday loan complaints. If the bank has agreed to not charge you any more interest/charge whilst you repay the overdraft that is a good result from your complaint and it is possible you wouldn’t get any more by going to the FOS – but I can understand why you want to know if you could get more and it’s your right to send the complaint to the FOS.
Here is how to complain: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumer/complaints.htm
Andy says
Just received an email back from Pounds to pocket/quick quid that I emailed just on the off chance.
“We thank you for your complaint regarding the above account. We take complaints very seriously and have investigated the matter fully. However, our investigation indicates that the matter you are complaining of occurred outside the complaint handling time limits.”
There saying there’s a time limit of six years. Is this correct please?!?! Cheers.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
at the moment QQ are refusing to pay out on over 6 year loans. The ombudsman thinks it CAN look at these, so far QQ and the FOS have been arguing over a test case.
I think the result of the test case should be known in the next couple of weeks. So I suggest you send your case to the Ombudsman.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
update with new decisions from the Ombudsman: https://debtcamel.co.uk/fos-time-limits-payday-loan-refunds/
Lisa G says
Hi. Just wondering if Payday Express and Wageday advance have changed their stance on payout for loans older than 6 years? I’ve put in claims to both – 15 loans with Payday Express, they rejected the last 2 and wouldn’t look at the other 13 as they were older than 6 years. I’ve asked them to reconsider, sending off evidence of other loans I had at the time (obviously no credit file to refer to) along with my reasoning for not complaining earlier (I didn’t know I could).
Wageday Advance have rejected all 5 loans, despite late payments and rollovers because they have all been older than 6 years. Again I’ve gone back to them with reasons for reconsideration.
I suspect I’ll receive the same response from Payday UK
Has anyone else had this problem? What did you do in this situation? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest sending them both to the Ombudsman.
Miss Jacqui's says
Dear Lisa G
Had seven loans with Payday Express all over six years, they were rejected by PDE and I sent it promptly to the Ombudsman, who decided despite the Jurisdictional issue they could look at it, the Ombudsman has just ruled in my favor and PDE have agreed to pay out on six out of the seven loans, so I have accepted and I am just waiting for the monies to be deposited into my account. The whole process has taken about eight months I sent my first letter on the 28th January this year and my complaint was allocated to an adjudicator a month ago. All my loans were from 2008 onwards so it can be done. Good luck
Ps £1300.00 for all six complaints plus interest.
Thanks again to Sarah for this great site
Lisa G says
That’s brilliant news! Thanks for the reply!!
B says
Hi,
rec loan information from WDA but can’t open the zip file it asks for a password, anyone know what password it is? getting a reply from them is like pulling blood from a stone
Andrew says
Have you tried DOB DDMMYYYY?
Simon says
Try your date of birth 11/11/1111
Mark says
B,
If the DOB doesn’t work, just email them and tell them you can’t access the file due to an unknown password being needed and as such the FSAR request is not fulfilled until they resolve this by issuing you with the password. In my experience they normally sort this within a few days. Hope this helps.
Lauren says
Hi
I also had this. You need to reply to the email asking for the password or give them a call and they will give you it over the phone.
Gavin says
Hi all
Sarah – thanks for a fantastic website.
I took out 17 payday loans in the space of a year 2016/17,
My jar 3
P2P 5
Sun 2
Mrlender 3
lending stream 1
satsuma 1
uncle buck 1
wageday 1
before my 1st loan i had 3 defaults on my credit report a maxed credit card and 3 loans taken out in the previous year.
As i understand i can only claim when having 3,4,5 loans with same company?
Or surely it was irresponsible lending (and borrowing) from the outset ie high level of debt, defaults etc
In sept 2017 i took out 8 loans by 7 companies.
In short, will i be able to claim of all companies?
Im now in the DMP and have sorted myself out.
good luck everyone
Mark says
Gavin,
Yes, you can definitely complain to all the companies. I was in EXACTLY the same boat. It will be slightly tougher to prove that the lenders acted irresponsibly, when you only had one or two loans, as there’s not the “constant borrowing with you to pay my monthly bills” argument to use. So, you need to show the lender that the way they assessed affordability was against the FCA reg’s (in most cases specifically 5.3.1 (4b) and 5.3.7). To do this get all info they used when assessing you application(s), by making a full subject access request. Then one by one cross examine all the info they used. In my case it was either that they took my word for certain income and expenditure figures (contrary to 5.3.1 (4b)), or certain figures they used were clearly wrong (in one case they had my food costs as £15 p/m! It takes some time and effort, but well worth it. Just won with 118118 (1 loan – £3500) and Payday UK (2 loans – less than £500), using this method, without having to use FOS. Good luck!
Mark says
……if the lenders send you the credit check(s) they used and it also has negative information on it, you should also cite this as proof you were already in financial difficulty and the lender should have realised this and declined your application(s), however in 12 FSAR requests, I have only received one credit search, so I would think disputing the income/expenditure forms will be more likely in your case too. The same can be said if the lenders asked for bank statements at the time of application(s). Good luck and keep us posted.
Gavin says
Thanks a lot Mark that’s very very helpful!
Will keep you posted on progress
Cheers
gavin says
Ive had a reply from Satsuma, basically saying i could afford the repayments, as i had filled in i had a disposable income of £1100 which was obviously not true. AT the time of this loan i had 3 ‘normal’ loans, 3 defaults, 2 credit cards and at least 4 other payday loans.
on my affordability, i have put no mortgage/rent and £300 living cost…..
They are saying that if i lied it is fraud.
What should i do next?
Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Did you just have the one loan from Satsuma? how large? What were the monthly repayments?
Gavin says
Hi Sara
Yes just the 1 loan with them , £1000, £316pm repayments
Phil says
Hi Sara,
I just wanted a bit of advice, after reading through your website I put in a number of claims against historic loans from 2010-2012, so they were all past 6 years, they were all refused because they were older than 6 years and they have been sent on the FO.
My issue is that I still have debts with 4 of these loans (which I have been servicing slowly over the last 6 years), in terms of capital borrowed I would of paid most of them twice over by now. So when i put in my claim I decided to stop repaying them the remaining amounts due. I’m now in much more comfortable position and I could clear the remaining balances within a couple months, but as only interest remains, i’m not sure if I should be doing so?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are the debts with the original creditor or have they been sold to a debt purchaser?
Mrs R says
Well after a bit of a nervous wait MY JAR have agreed today to my adjudicator’s decision to the refund amount of £3,500.
Thanks again Sara.
Robert says
Hi,
Just looking for a bit of assurance. I have a lot of cases sent to the FOS the first batch of which was sent beginning of May. I still havent had any of them allocated to the adjudicators, and when i rang recently i was told it could still be 6 months… im hoping this really is not the case!
Could i ask how long your cases are taking to be allocated?
Neil says
One of mine was sent in the end of March, picked up 3 weeks ago, but was Wonga so that is now on hold again :( . The other 3 of mine were sent in first week in April and none have been picked up by an adjudicator as of yet, and i heard back today from the adjudicator who has my Wonga case, saying he can’t pick up other cases.
Neil
Laura says
Hi, my first one with QQ was sent 1st March, picked up by adjudicator 16/08 (5 1/2 momths) by LS one and Sunny were sent in on 13 and 21st March, both been picked up this week. So 5-6 month wait I’m afraid..Haven’t even heard from adjudicator on QQ one and it a been over 3 weeks.. I ring every 2 weeks for updates..
neil says
Laura,
Have yours been picked up by different adjudicators? I would have thought it would have been better for all cases to be picked up by one person, saves several people having to go through all the bank statements people send in.
Laura says
No when I phoned, they were all assigned to different adjudicators..my QQ adjudicator wouldn’t have picked up my others as I haven’t heard from him and it’s been with him 3 weeks..I just think because of the sheer volume of complaints they may not do this much anymore..when I rung once they did say that different teams are assigned to different lenders, which is maybe why…
Steve says
Update with Safety Net Credit:
Sent my initial complaint to them on 24th July 2018, and my balance is £1032.18. I’ve just had their first and final response today (7th September 2018), saying they were justified in setting the original credit limit at £300, and then justified in upping it to £330 in September 2017. However, they agree that they should not have increased my limit in November 2017, and have proposed to redress all interest paid since November 2017 (£313.85) + 8% interest (£12.55)
They’ve also said they’ll remove interest accrued on outstanding balance (£252.18) and deduct the interest paid since November plus the statutory 8% from the principle outstanding balance (£780).
This will leave me with an outstanding balance of £453.60 to pay. They will also remove any adverse markers on my credit file.
Do you think this is a fair and valid result? I think I’m OK with this :)
Thanks!
Steve
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you think their figures are correct (this one “all interest paid since November 2017 £313.85” looks on the low side to me but could be right depending on how much you borrowed and when) then that seems like a fair outcome. You may also want to ask for an affordable arrangement to repay the outstanding balance – what do you think you could afford?
Steve says
Hi Sara, I’ve had a look and the interest amount is correct so I’m quite happy with the result. I’m going to go back to them with an affordable arrangement to pay, which they’ve said I can request. I’m going to start with £20 a month and increase as my finances get better.
Thanks for all your advice on this website, I wouldn’t have done it had I not known I could! Still got complaints with several others, but at least a positive outcome from one. Thanks again!
Mar says
Hi
Thanks for all your help so far. 247 Moneybox have responded & I was just wondering if you could help me with what to reply as I want any negative impact remove from my credit report also.
There response to my initial complaint is:
Hi
Thanks for your email. Your account has been put on hold as we deal with your complaint.
We are confident that the required assessments were carried out prior to the advance of all loans. We are able to substantiate fully the information on which lending decisions were based.
Our relationship was based on responsible lending in addition to responsible borrowing. We provided you with all the facts about our product and the charges and costs involved. We treated you as a rational individual able to make a credible decision as to whether to borrow or not. For our part of the relationship we acted on the information available to us at the time and the prevailing regulations and guidance at the time.
You have borrowed a total of £785.00 from us, and you have repaid a total of £507.60. This means that you have not repaid the principal amount lent to you (ie minus any charges). As the principal has not been repaid, there is no redress we can offer.
As a gesture of goodwill however, we are happy to resolve today by writing off your outstanding balance of £489.24, in full.
Please confirm this acts as full and final settlement.
Kind regards,
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Is it correct that the total of the amount borrowed was £785? And that you have only repaid £507 so far?
Mar says
The amount borrowed is correct but I paid my first 3 loans in full plus interest. My last loan that they are wanting to write off is £380 plus interest so I think the offer is great but I want it to remove the negative off my report as well as write it off
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, then this is a very good offer, so you could go back and say you will accept if the last loan is deleted from your credit record or has any negative marks removed.
Mar says
Thank you will let you know how I get on
Baz says
Hi all,
Has anyone stated in their stage two letter that they would willing to settle for a lower amount than their overall claim to speed up the process. E.g saying to a lender, i have had 16 loans in a 14 month period. To settle early i would be prepared to not claim interest back on loans 1-11 but still have all loans and negative marks deleted from my credit file.
Have tactics like these sped up the process or worked in any way?
Thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I haven’t heard of anyone having success with this sort of approach at the start. There are a few lenders who can be persuaded to increase an offer to a reasonable level by arguing that they should also be refunding loans X, Y and Z because xxxxxxxx.
But in general lenders will refuse to delete negative marks on loans that they are not refunding – although this would be cheaper for them it breaks the rules of the credit reporting agencies.
Mark says
Baz,
I tried a similar tactic…..on 2 (out of 12) lenders (Mr Lender and QQ), i only had 2 or 3 loans for less than £300 total, so I offered to waive the 8% interest and need to remove from my credit file (as they were 5 years ago, and no missed payments so were’t a huge credit negatives), if they settled without the need of FOS. As with all the other lenders, they didn’t uphold my complaint in the hope I’d go back under my rock. Wrong! :-)
Baz says
Thanks Mark & Sara, this was probably the wrong approach then, but i have already tried it, so cant backtrack now. I have tried it with WDA and Quickquid. I will post how it goes. I had 16 loans from qq and 6 from wda. Qq initial claim was almost 5 weeks ago and wda claim was 2 weeks ago. Standard claim in with myjar however only 3 loans with them so might be tough.
Tara says
Hi. I’ve had a reply from my jar today from opening complaint. They have asked for bank statements and payslips even though Ive always told them I was on benefits (income support) my loans go back to sept 2011 was first one when they were called Txtloan. I’ve had a look at my account and bank statements and although I always paid up early there were quite a few time where I took out a Wonga loan to pay off my jar then took another loan with my jar either the same day or within a few days. Will this go in my favour as my balance after everytime I made a payment to my jar was nearly at zero. I’m now gonna send info off and they said they should give me final response within 4 weeks or 8 weeks of complaint being opened. Thanks
Mark says
Tara,
Sounds like a good case. FCA reg’s state you must be able to afford any loan repayments comfortably. If you’re saying you couldn’t without re borrowing, you have a good chance.
I’d send them back statements and confirm that you don’t have payslips.
Companies have 8weeks to investigate and provide their “final response”. Once you have the FR OR the 8 weeks pass, whichever happens first, you can complain to the FOS.
GOOD LUCK and keep us updated.
Kim says
Hi ,
I have recieved my Sar data from QQ. It looks very confusing but I can’t see anywhere about where they sold the debt to a debt collector or about the default added to my credit file – should this be included? Also the balance out standing is now paid as I have paid the debt collector? How do I get this infomation?
Thanks
Kim
lisa says
Hi- we are in the same situation. It is not very clear in showing all the rollover payments either. Ive still sent in a complaint to FO as their response was there final answer.
Kim says
Thanks for your reply – I think I will email them and ask specifically for those details.
It’s the default that is causing me concern a refund would be great but default being removed would be even better
Kim :0)
Ben says
My responses and luck so far. Not great but vast majority of loans are over 6 years so I imagine most will be escalated to FOS. Some firms are terrible and not even providing an email acknowledgement of my complaint. Others playing stupid games and denying loans or sending encripted files. Have set up different email folders to log different emails from different companies and will pursue until the end. Some lenders are basically saying they reject my complaint but haven’t made ‘a final decision’ so can’t escalate
Wonga – provided loan info promptly – refused promptly as older than 6 years – Escalated FOS
Quickquid / P2P – provided loan info promptly – refused promptly as older than 6 years – Escalated FOS
WDA – Eventually provided loan info via encrpted file – not answered complaint approaching 4 weeks
Peachy – Acknowledged complaint – no loan info yet approach SAR 4 week deadline
L/S – loan info given promptly – saying all checks were carried out etc but not issued final decision so can’t escalate yet – stalling
Moneyshop – No acknowledgement, no loan information POOR
PDUK / Payday Express – No acknowledgement, no loan information POOR
Cashfloat – loan info given promptly – saying all checks were carried out etc but not issued final decision so can’t escalate yet – stalling
My Jar / Txt Loan – refusing to admit I had loans with them even after I provide email addresses and customer numbers – stalling
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you have your bank statements for the full period of borrowing – this is what you need to prove that you had loans from a lender if the lender can’t find them
If you have these statements, you don’t need the SAR information either, you can construct a list of the loans yourself.
Stalling and being slow is tedious but there is nothing you can do except wait for 8 weeks to be up.
Rhiro says
Hi!
So I started my complaints procedure mid July with sunny & wonga. I had about £600 to claim with sunny and £2.5k with wonga if all sums were correct. 2 days ago I got an email back from sunny saying they would accept the complaint and refund me the £600 in 3-5 days. On 28th August I got an email from wonga saying my decision would be finalised in 14days which would be this Tuesday.
2 questions – has anyone had a refund from sunny and it definitely comes in 3-5 days? Or did it take shorter or longer?
Other questions, now that wonga are in administration, do you think i’m likely to hear back on Tuesday and if so, what are the chances of me still getting my refund?
Mimi says
Hi Rhiro
Sunny agreed to my refund on Monday had the money in my account by Friday evening.
With Wonga we are in the same boat the told me 7 days for a decision wich falls on Monday / Tuesday thereabouts.
Dean says
Hi
Firstly I would like to thank everyone who posts on this site cos I received a lot of help jus reading your experiences
So far I have been paid out £5300 by Quickquid, peachy, wage day advance and pduk.. however pduk are looking in to some other loans that I may be refunded.
Payday express have given me a final response just before 8 weeks were up- I had to send bank statements so I’ll wait for another week or so.
The only time I had to go to FOS was against SUNNY.. I have sent details to FOS 5 weeks ago
Does anyone know roughly how long I have to wait before I get anything back from FOS in regards to the sunny claim?
Mark says
Dean,
Well done and thanks for keeping us updated…..
I sent my bank stats to PDUK after they sent their final response and 2 weeks later they changed their mind and offered a full refund, so fingers crossed they do the same for you.
I’ve been getting acknowledgement letter with case numbers from the FOS within 3 weeks from the other 11 complaints I’ve made. If you haven’t received ANY confirmation from FOS re Sunny, I’d give them a call/email just to make sure they have received. If you have received your initial acknowledgement letter, it appears that it is taking anywhere between 1-6 months for the FOS adjudicators to complete their investigations. This largely depends on the lender (as they are taking ages to provide the info to the FOS, due to the vast number of complaints).
Good luck and keep us all updated.
Dean says
Thanks mate ☝🏽
One more thing- please DO NOT ACCEPT PEACHY FIRST OFFER.. apparently, they try it on by asking you to accept a much lower figure. Once u accept I don’t think this can be changed.
I accepted a £436 offer but later realised I was owed much more.
Mark says
Awesome, well done.
Dean says
Thanks mark
Just received final response from payday express (exactly two weeks after sending bank statements) and they agreed to pay back all interest plus 8%.. just over £4K
Now waiting for pduk- hoping they will get back to me in the next couple of days. I’ll keep updating
Lee sharratt says
Hello. Was this with loans over 6 years ?
Lisa G says
I’m wondering that too because I had 15 loans all over 6 years that they’ve flat out rejected so I’ll have to go to the FOS. I think they’ve stopped making offers on loans over 6 years and are going to take their chance with the FOS, just like we will I guess.
Scott says
Hello, I know this is not the right forum for this topic but I don’t know where else to turn. I have used this site to claim money back from payday loans. I have a gambling problem over the past week I have gone into melt down and taken out another 5 payday loans. I have lost all the money and can’t afford to pay them back. I lied about my expenditure to get the loans, any help would be much appreciated. I think I have finally reached my rock bottom
Sara (Debt Camel) says
oh dear. Read https://debtcamel.co.uk/gambling/ and work through how you can try to regain control of your finances. Do you have a partner or someone in your family that could help, not to repay the loans, but with this? If you seriously want to stop, then self-exclusion. blocking software and signing up to Cifas really will make it easier to keep to your resolution.
re the payday loans – tell them you can’t pay anything, explain why, cancel the CPAs and talk to Stepchange about your debt options.
John M says
Hi Scott, Sara has given you great advice. The other thing I would suggest is you go to Gamblers Anonymous. You will get a warm welcome and you can start getting support.
Take care
scott davis says
thanks John, i was going to GA then stopped and fell back into old habbits
Bob says
Anyone had any luck with Drafty? I opened an account with them and instantly borrowed £3000. Every month my repayment is around £200 and this would free up about £60 to borrow again. This has been going on for around 17 months now.
Stephen C says
I have a complaint at the FOS currently as they flat out rejected my complaint quickly. There final response is a load of rubbish claiming a ridiculous credit score that I have never had and anyone with that great a credit score wouldn’t be using such a high interest product.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
oh I hoped they had dropped that high credit score nonsense. Obviously not.
Stephen C says
A credit score of 769 apparently. If that was accurate I wouldn’t need that facility. I’d be pretty happy with that score.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you stopped repayments to them? If not, I suggest you should do this – cancel the CPA and tell them you want an affordable monthly repayment.
If you win your complaint, any negative marks on your credit record will be removed. If you don’t, well asking for an arrangement to pay is the only way to escape from their nasty trap.
Laura says
So I have received a response back from lending stream today 🤦♀️
“· Where available, your stated monthly income, expenditure and disposable income were compared with the average monthly payments due on these loans at the time of approval. In some cases, as you took further loans, we also independently verified your income with third party sources
· In some cases, we used national averages for expense categories where data is available as a third party verification of your submission, and we revised upwards your total stated expenses while computing the disposable income
· A credit worthiness check was completed and the third party credit reference agency confirmed a rating which was satisfactory for the loan obligation
We hope the above addresses your query regarding affordability checks done on your loans.
For loans with us that have an outstanding balance (Loans 3373339, 3465978), if you are facing financial difficulties, we are ready to extend our support in clearing the debt of 232 GBP through an affordable payment arrangement. Should you wish to set up the payment arrangement, we would request you to contact us at the earliest.”
I’m a little confused!I am currently in a debt management plan because of all of my stupid mistakes which includes the outstanding loans so they are already on a payment plan?!? And the debts have already been transferred to a debt collector! I’m not sure what I should do next?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The explanation is that no human has really looked at your complaint, you have just be sent a stock rejection. I suggest you send the complaint to the Ombudsman. In the complaint, point out that LS haven’t really looked at your case and say what your current balance is.
david askew says
Hi all,
I am in a bit of a pickle.
I have sent off emails to all the companies I had loans with 4-5 years ago using the template provided.
several of them have emailed me back asking for my bank statements from the time and the bank details I used for the loan.
at the time I was in an awful mess and was juggling 3 different bank accounts, along with 3 different debit cards to get loans with different companies.
However, after being bailed out by family 2 years ago, I paid off all my loans and closed 2 of my accounts as well as shredded all correspondence including debt chasing letters etc
I have sent off 9 different emails and have no idea which bank details I used for which, and because the accounts have long since been closed I have no way of checking my bank statements for these accounts or being able to provide these statements for the payday loans companies requesting them!
I also have no idea of loan reference numbers that are being requested, like i say I shredded all correspondence swearing never to get in that mess again. I have tried to log in to old payday loan accounts to retrieve details but a lot of my records seem to not exist anymore.
So in short, I cannot provide any details to these companies regarding loan details or my banking info from the time.
Surely they have the info and can identify me from my contact details, DOB etc???
nikki says
You can request copies of bank statements from closed accounts. Send and SAR request to the banks you had accounts with.
Aggie says
Hello,
I have had the first success with payday loan refund. I have had a total of three loans with Satsuma (which is not a lot). I repaid the first one, withdrew the second one withing 14 days of taking it and I am repaying the third one via DMP with Stepchange. I have sent the first email as a request for GDPR info but they have processed the email as a complaint and I did not have to do anything else. Last Friday I have received the email that my complaint was upheld only for the last loan for £550 plus £237 interest. They have decided to write off the remaining balance of my loan which is just over £400! I am really happy – one less payment to make :)
SArah says
Really happy I found this site, it’s been so much help!!!
So Its coming to the end of the 8 weeks companies have to respond to my initial complaint:
So far 2 companies have come back and said they reject my complaint. So these have been sent to the FO
UNCLE BUCK. Have responded today and have agreed to pay back all interest on all the loans I had taken with them. Plus the 8%, so after tax they have refunded just under £750.
Uncle buck were the loan company I had taken out the least amount of loans with, so looking forward. To what the rest have to say
Thanks so much to Sara for this site
One very happy complainer :)
Stephen C says
Hi Sarah,
Did unclebuck wait until the last moment? I have been waiting 7 weeks now although have had no reply except acknowledging the complaint.
Andy says
I’m the same with Uncle Buck – 4 weeks in an nothing other than acknowledgement. Nothing can do until the 8 weeks is up except wait out.
Sarah says
My initial complaint was on 18th July. So they’ve near enough waited until the last minute
But at least it was with a good outcome :)
Andyk says
Hi Sarah, i currently have a complaint open with Uncle Buck and they have just offered me a figure of £182, which was the interest on the 4th to 7th (Out of 9) loans. Did you accept your 1st offer? Just wondering if i should decline this? Thanks for your help
Sara (Debt Camel) says
was there a reason why they didn’t offer to refund loans 8 and 9? do you still owe a balance on loan 9?
Andyk says
Hi Sara,
Nope, Loan 9 is settled.
They have advised:
Each of your applications went through a credit check performed by the credit reference agency Call Credit, which confirmed the monthly income you provided was accurate. We also asked you to provide details of your monthly expenditure, in order to assess your affordability at the point of each application. Using the income and expenditure information you provided, and the credit searches we performed, we confirmed each of your applications were affordable at the point of application.
Investigation Conclusion
Having reviewed the information I have available, I am inclined to uphold your complaint in part.
As a resolution, I am proposing to refund the interest and charges, plus 8% statutory interest per annum for the fourth to seventh payday loan. This would result in a refund to you of £182.00.
I am guessing that not including all my outgoings to other loan companies at the time of applying for my loans has led them to believe that i could financially afford these loans and that my disposable income was more that it actually was, even though the first 8 were consecutive (Month after month).
Should i accept, decline or go the FO? Unsure what my options are. Thanks for your help :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How large were loans 6, 7, 8, 9 ? What were the “gaps” between these last loans – from repaying one to taking out the next one?
Andyk says
Hi Sara,
Loan amounts below:
10/07/2014 £150.00 £52.43 Repaid
04/08/2014 £350.00 £122.33 Repaid
03/09/2014 £300.00 £104.85 Repaid
22/10/2014 £100.00 £34.95 Repaid
19/11/2014 £125.00 £43.69 Repaid
16/02/2015 £150.00 £14.40 Repaid
18/03/2015 £200.00 £24.00 Repaid
04/09/2015 £250.00 £116.87 Repaid
05/09/2015 £250.00 £116.87 Repaid
Thanks :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ah so the gap was after the 7th loan, not after the 8th. The last two loans were both at the same time?
What would your credit record have shown over this period? Problems (defaults? missed payments?)? or other payday loans?
Andyk says
2nd column is loan amount and 3rd column is interest.
Reuben Hanna says
Hello Sara,
My complaint against lending stream is currently with the financial ombudsman and has been for 6 months now. My adjudicator says the way lending stream loans are assessed is different and the payments could have been viewed as affordable.
My adjudicator says she is waiting to see from higher up if she can say it is unaffordable due to the amount of loans. I had 23 loans in a row, sometimes 4 loans at a time.
Is this common? Anyone else experienced this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds odd, all I can say is a lot of people have had large refunds from them!
Steve says
Hi, me again…I’ve had the below from 247moneybox:
“Thanks for your email. We are confident that the required assessments were carried out prior to the advance of all loans. We are able to substantiate fully the information on which lending decisions were based.
We also asked you to declare your income and expenditure. Below is an example of the information provided when applying for the most recent loan with us.
Affordability data:
mortgage_rent = £250.00
credit_commitments = £300.00
utilities_bills = £120.00
travel = £60.00
food = £0.00
other = £0.00
Net monthly pay: £1725.00
FCF: £995.00
You stated that you had a free cash flow (FCF) of £995.00, you were then funded an amount of £400.
In order to assist with our investigation, could you confirm if the information you provided was false or inaccurate?”
When I first applied (and got £80), the above was correct (although, food would have been something, and I guessed the credit commitment), but as I requested further loans (six in total), I don’t recall having to refill in the expenditure? I don’t know how to respond :/
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you read https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/ and think about if any of the points in that article applied to you. Did you miss some items off because you didn’t think of them? or did you underestimate because you weren’t sure what you spent? they missed off a lot of things that might have helpfully prompted you into thinking about things such as council tax, mobile, TV license, clothes, toiletries etc obviously the lender should have guessed that £0 for food is wrong! Your credit commitments – have a look at your credit record to see what it would have been – many people miss off payday loans here because they don’t think of them as being regular monthly amounts.
So the lender can rely on your application to some extent, but if something is obviously wrong they should have checked. they would probably have seen what your actual credit commitments were from your credit record.
But if you kept borrowing, then they should have realised that there must have been a problem and either asked you about this or stopped lending.
nikki says
They sent me this same email, obviously with different figures but its just a standard letter. I responded to this email saying how much I would be happy to accept from them unless I would be taking it to the financial ombudsman and they gave me the refund straight away.
Steve says
Hi Nikki,
Did you fill in the income/expenditure or just go straight in with an offer?
Thanks!
nikki says
I didn’t send them anything. I told them I would be happy to be refunded the interest I had paid without the 8% added on that the fos advise and they came back and agreed and asked to confirm bank details. 2 days later I had the money in my account.
Sharon Lewis says
Hi, I have claims with Quick Quid and Pounds to Payday which I believe are 1 company. They rejected my claim and I have take it to the FOS. I had to submit extra information back in April. Today QQ offered me £1200 with no breakdown. Is this a cheeky offer as there is more than that in interest I made never mind 8% etc. Do you think they have made an offer knowing that they will lose the case and I should hold out for more.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think they are trying to settle, but you need the numbers to tell how cheeky an offer this is. How much was the interest total on all your loans?
Sharon Lewis says
The interest total is nearly £2000 and the claims are old, going back 5 years.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then £1200 isn’t dreadful – it’s probably half of the maximum you could get, but it’s not that good.
JD says
Hi
I currently have some cases lodged with a number of lenders and one with the FOS (which hasn’t been picked up by an adjudicator). I started about 7 weeks ago.
Some of 8 week deadlines with some lenders are about to come up next week. They have only sent me the usual, “we’re looking into this matter” and some “due to the high volume of complaints, we’re experiencing delays” replies but I haven’t hadn’t had any request for bank statements or further information. Some have supplied me with SAR data and I used these to elaborate on some cases but should I be concerned that none of the lenders have asked me for bank documents or anything else?
I’ve also been wondering, aside from the £550 it costs for each complaint to the FOS, what’s stopping each lender from sending a stock affordability reply and rejecting all claims? I mean the result would be that most go to the FOS, but they take months and months to process but eventually some do get paid out.. is there any incentive for the lenders to uphold any of the complaints?
Thanks
JD
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Who are the lenders you have complained to? Not all ask for bank statements.
The immediate incentive to settle is it gets this sorted easily and doesn’t waste more of their time in dealing with the FOS.
JD says
Hi Sara
Thanks, I don’t know how they handle complaints or how much work is involved when the FOS does get involved but what it feels like is that they don’t mind playing the long game. I mean neither do I but was just curious.
The lenders are; Wonga, Lending Stream, Payday Express, CashEuroNet (Quickquid and Pounds to Pocket), Everyday-Loans, Sunny, Vivus, Satsuma, MrLender, Wizzcash and Peachy.
I admit that my finances were a bit of a mess after getting caught up in a bad cycle of short-term lending which ironically lasted more than 6 years.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am surprised that QQ haven’t asked you for bank statements – that is routine for them. Payday Express only ask for statements if there are some loans they can’t decide on, so that is often in the 8th week.
Emma says
Hi
Has anyone had any success with ferrtuma?
I didn’t even get an acknowledgement email they just passed it on to a debt collectors? I had 14 loans over 15 months. I had a remaining balance of £307 when I put my complaint in.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Assuming you mean Ferratum, yes, but complaints often have to go to the Ombudsman. If the 8 weeks is up I suggest that is what you do with yours as 14 loans in 15 months sounds like a potentially very good case!
Have they passed it to a debt collector to collect or sold it to a debt purchasing firm?
Emma says
Sorry auto correct! Yeah that’s what I meant!
Ehm unsure! They were trying to get me to pay the outstanding balance. When I told them I had complained about irresponsible lending they got pushy and said I had to give them a FOS reference number so I sent my complaint although the 8 weeks haven’t passed and they said they would let Ferratum know. I haven’t heard since. /
Stephen C says
Hi Emma,
The same happened to me and about two weeks later Ferratum came back to me to say they have asked the debt company to close the account as they will deal directly with myself. The 8 week deadline is up with them this week.
Emma says
Fingers crossed with you then Stephen! Please keep me updated I’m only on week 3 so I’ve still got a bit of waiting!
Good luck I hope you get a positive result!
Gillian says
Hi all
The bank account I used was closed in late 2014 and my loans were taken out prior to this. The co op bank have said that they no longer have any statements from the closed account, which I find surprising and have questioned it, but no success. As my 8 week final offers come rolling in I would now like to refer to the FOS, but I don’t fancy my chances much with no evidence of unaffordability. Has anyone had any success without statements? Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you sent the co-op a Subject Access Request asking for statemenst or transaction data for 2011-14 (or whenever). Sometimes that gets a response.
It will also produce a written response saying that they don’t have any, if that is the fact. Which you can then show to the FOS.
With a bank saying it can’t produce bank statements, it is possible to win cases. It will be helped if you have old payslips or P60s? Or any old information about rent, council tax, bills etc. In the end repeat borrowing tells its own story, but it may be hard to win cases when you only had a small number of loans.
Lilly says
Hi, ok, here goes. I contacted satsuma at the beginning of August and they informed me they had sent me a letter dated 1st August but I hadn’t received it and told them. Few days later I received it. I have several emails stating I borrowed to repay them and at the time I had loans out with other creditors. Satsuma declined my complaint and I took it to the ombudsman. I am in process of sorting documents for them to receive by Friday. I have noticed in the irresponsible lending refusal they have stated I have said I do not owe any lenders. I had sent them a Income&expenditure detailing lenders and amounts owed. I told them of other lending when I made complaint on July 27th. They also claim that they couldn’t look into my health as they requested more information in the letter dated 1st Aug and hadn’t received anything back. This is a lie they had never asked for information only informing me my account will be froze for 8 weeks. I feel as if they have only said this as they believe I haven’t had letter and I wouldn’t be able to dispute this. I have a copy of the letter which I will be sending to ombudsman. Will all the information that they have neglected to add in my complaint, information that I have proof they have help go in my favour?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think its worth making these points about Satsuma’s poor complaint handling when you send your complaint to the Ombudsman. Add them as a final paragraph to your complaint, saying “I would also like to complain about the way Satsuma have handled my complaint. etc”
This won’t actually help you win your complaint unless the loans weren’t affordable and Satsuma should have realised this. But it may get you some compensation for the poor complaint handling.
Jen says
I received 4 letters from the ombudsman saying that Wonga, QQ,, PD Express & provident are objecting to the loans over 6 yrs & they are still looking at the test cases & they will be in touch, started complaint process may 17. Hopefully they agree to the 6+3 rule soon
Tony says
Same here, with QQ, WDA and PDEX.
Complaints started Sept 2017.
Everything crossed!
Lou says
Hello
Apologies as I know this has been addressed before. I have finally received a refund but tax has been taken off. Did I read somewhere that £200 can be claimed back. If so, how do I go about this please? TIA
K says
The instructions on the following page should help you to do this:
https://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-payday-refund-get-back-tax/
Andrei says
Hi Sara,
First of all i want to thank you for this amazing information you provide.
After reading your blog, i decided to send complaints to all pay day loan companies i ever took money from.
All of them are paid, besides Pounds to Pocket.
I got £1000 from them and i pay £229 every month for 12 months.
By my calculations i already have paid the base loan. I emailed them with Step 2 email you provided. In reply they asked for my bank statements and pay slips, which i provided to them.
I want the £229 monthly payment to stop, if they do this then i am happy. Do you believe this is possible?
Thanks a lot.,
Andrei
Leah C says
Anyone had success with mr lender mines with the adjudicator now fed up waiting :(
Lee sharratt says
Hello , I’m waiting for fo to look at my complaint with Ferratum, it’s been five months, is there. Time limit , I think I’m waiting for a atticatory to pick it up
Bubba says
Hi,
I had 5 loans with Satsuma over 3 years all increasing in amount and term each time. I have now received a refund. However this is only a refund of one of the loans as they claim there were no financial difficulties on the others. This was the second loan taken with them out of the 5 and there is no explanation of why this one was considered that there were financial difficulties. They have stated that it was my responsibility to provide true and accurate information and that if anything was omitted it would be treated as a fraudulent claim!
As this was the second loan, if anything, the later loans were the ones I couldn’t afford and had to take to pay off other loans with other lenders. I am not sure about accepting this offer and considering taking to the Ombudsman but if I cash the cheque they have sent just now does this count as acceptance of this offer and I cannot then go to the Ombudsman also? I do feel they have just sent this so I will go away and not pursue this anymore!
Thanks
Mark says
Bubba,
“if I cash the cheque they have sent just now does this count as acceptance of this offer” – This is debatable, but the lender would have some claim to suggest that by cashing the cheque you have accepted their terms. My advice is not to cash the chq, until you decide to accept the offer.
“I do feel they have just sent this so I will go away and not pursue this anymore!” – Welcome to Payday Lender rule 1 of “complaint management” :-) If you think you have a good case and your claim is for more, I would take it to the FOS. But be prepared for a long wait.
Good luck and keep us all updated.
Neil says
Hi Bubba,
I had the same thing with Satsuma, they sent a cheque for my second loan out of the three i had. Don’t cash it as that would be you accepting their offer, and you wont be able top go to the FOS with this one. My argument is that if the second one was unaffordable the third should have been to. Its with the FOS now just waiting on it getting allocated
Neil
Sarah J says
Hi Sara
Payday express and payday Uk have emailed me ( here trading as the money shop now I’m guessing ) advising they are still investigating my complaint and have made acknowledgment that they are aware their now past there 8 week deadline with complaint guidelines.
Should I go ahead and send to FO? Or shall I hold until they send me a final response
Thanks
kelly says
I had the exact same email from payday UK last week, on the last day of the 8 weeks. I was about to refer to FO then received a final response letter from them (3 days after the 8 week deadline).
Mark says
Sarah J,
There really is no right/wrong answer to this……
If you give them a few extra days it will save a little hassle as they MIGHT uphold your complaint so it will save you the time (less than 30mins), in starting FOS proceedings and then subsequently sending the FOS the delayed final response letter.
If you refer to FOS immediately after the 8 weeks is up you will be a few days further with your complaint and with the current climate of Payday Lenders stopping lending, that might be advantageous.
In my case I wrote to the lenders that had missed the deadline giving them 5 days. In all but 1 case that resolved the issue.
Hope this (fence sitting) helps
Gail S says
Hi Sara,
Could you help with regard to the timing of when to go to the Ombudsman? I have had some emails back and forth with Sunny. They responded with regard to one repeat loan but did not address the 19 other loans we took out with them. I asked them to investigate these and have not heard back. I’d like to take this to the Ombudsman, could you advise:
– do I wait the full 40 days from this follow up email before approaching the Ombudsman or do you think it is now reasonable to do so, given that my very first email complaint (using template one) was sent on 5th June?
– do I need to advise Sunny that I am taking this to the Ombudsman?
Thanks in advance,
Gail
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes you can send this to the Ombudsman now. You don’t have to tell Sunny but why not, it’s a gentle nudge, they may still sort it out.
Gail S says
Thank you so much for this Sara.
Holly Jane says
Hi all, a quick question.
I have now sent all my complaints to the FOS as I had no responses/negative decisions in the 8 weeks. I have just had an email from the FOS regarding my LS complaint, telling me I have to contact LS first to give them the chance to put things right. I did this and only received my statements but no decision regarding my loans which is why I forwarded it to the FOS. Isn’t that the correct procedure??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If it was 8 weeks from your first complaint, yes. Tell the ombudsman this and offer to forward your original complaint email to them, that will have a date stamp on it.
Holly Jane says
Thanks Sara, I’ve just done that. I was worried I had got it wrong!
Holly Jane says
Ok I’m getting really confused now!
I sent the email to the FOS with original complaint emails attached and have heard nothing back. In the meantime LS have emailed the FOS agreeing that the complaint date is 11th Sept! I emailed LS asking them why they have said this (original complaint was made on 18th June) and they have replied saying my complaint on 18th June was a subject access complaint and the formal complaint is 11th Sept! What do I do now?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
if you used the first template from here, it says clearly that you are making an affordability complaint. Point this out to the FOS.
tom says
Hi all, i just wanted to give and update on whats been happening with my active complaints.
I have until October 7th until the 8 week window is closed.
MyJar, Quick Quid, Wonga, Amigo, Vanquis, Credit star, payday express, uncle buck are still to send a final response.
Savvy and piggy bank have rejected my complaint, and based on the info i am inclined to agree that, at the time, they were affordable.
Satsuma also rejected my complaint, but i responded with a chart listing all of my incoming loan transfers and outgoing payments to creditors at the time i had loans with them. I also included information regarding my mental health at the time and asked them to consider this also. Still waiting on a follow up.
Safety Net credit, who i still have an outstanding balance of £501 with, have rejected several of the loans i had with them and said they were affordable at the time as i was only borrowing smaller amounts, but they agreed that the larger loans were not affordable. Their offer was to clear the balance of £501, close my account, and issue a refund of £101.28 which i have accepted.
Thrilled at that response. It’s a very good start.
Thank you for all of the advice, and i would never have realised i could even complain about this sort of of thing if it wasn’t for this website!
I will post further updates as they come.
J says
Hi Tom – good to hear you made a successful start with a favourable response from Safety Net Credit – fingers crossed it continues for the others