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?
Razza says
Hi Sara
Had an offer from Myjar off £587.40 with 8% interest of £201.40 minus 20% tax totalling £789.40. This offer is just from the loans within the last 6 years though of which they have given a full refund. I have loans older than 6 years with interest totalling another £464.80. Do you think it would be worth challenging for the rest or Should I be happy with my lot?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So MyJar are refunding all your interest paid on the loans that are less than 6 years old. Realistically if you take this to the Ombudsman you probably wouldn’t get a refund on all the older loans, but it’s hard to guess what you might get.
This is quite a personal decision – on it’s own £587 would be an OK offer, Myjar have added on 8% which some people would think makes this into a reasonable offer – you have a decent refund with little effort. Other people had a horrible time with payday loans and want to get back the as much as possible to improve their current situation.
Razza says
Thanks for replying Sara 😊. Yes I think it is actually a reasonable offer and will now probably accept but it just niggles away to think what I could have been offered if I’d have done this sooner. At least Myjar have broken down what they are offering and why though unlike QQ who have just come up with a random amount. I will definitely be pursuing them via the FOS even if it’s just for the loans within the last 6 years. P.S keep up the good work Sara 👍🏻
Edward says
Evening all – has anybody dealt with smart pig? Loans specially for students seems ludicrous they can even exist for students on minimal income.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, some success but they are quite a small lender so not often mentioned. I think there should be a special place in hell reserved for payday lenders that deliberately target students…
Aaron says
Do they tend to handle the complaints in a timely manner? I have emailed and not even had an acknowledgement even though their website states they will respond quickly?
Nat Garvey says
Hi Aaron, it took about 4 weeks for Smart-Pig to reject my complaint – it’s now with the FOS.
JD says
Hi
Thanks for all the advice everyone, haven’t gotten anywhere yet in terms of refunds but still going.
So just had a flatout rejection from Everyday Loans, so submitted my case to the FOS. My loans with them started in 2015, will this be likely to be picked up sooner than a case where loans started over 6 years ago?
Also, my Wonga deadline has passed now too, since there is still uncertainty from the administrators/fca/fos in regards to how claims will be handled and whether or not there will even funds available for redress. Should I submit a case to the FOS, knowing that it won’t possibly won’t be looked at for a while or even at all. Would that add it to a queue, as in better to do it sooner than later?
Thanks!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“My loans with them started in 2015, will this be likely to be picked up sooner than a case where loans started over 6 years ago?” yes – over 6 year cases have to be checked first to see if the FOS can look at them which slows them down.
“Would that add it to a queue, as in better to do it sooner than later?” I don’t know what the decision is likely to be about whether the FOS will have a role here. I would expect Wonga to come back with a rejection/offer at some point, the question is whether you can then take it to the FOS. I have no idea whether being “in the FOS queue” will be better than not being in it. Sorry… I wouldn’t put a lot of effort into writing a beautifully crafted complaint to the FOS – if you do send the case in just say you are making an affordability complaint and after 8 weeks Wonga haven’t replied.
Dana says
The FOS have finally started working on my complaints, they’ve come back to me regarding 1 of 4 and agreed I shouldn’t have been issued the loans, they’ve told PayDay U.K. these should be refunded with 8% interest. 3 to go.
gillian says
hi sara I would just like to say thanks to you I reclaimed payday refunds over the last year of over 20000 pound so I paid off the two defaults I had with tsb bank credit card and loan both from about 2013 total of 5000 pound when defaulted I have been paying small amounts to these since through companys like wescot and a few more it just got passed to other companies when I stopped paying one so I paid both off in full in the last six months when I got refunds so I got a nice surprise when I got two letters from tsb saying due to a mistake on two closed accounts made in 2013 these are the credit card numbers and the loan number accounts they are refunding 429.27 and 986.45 they don’t say what the mistake is but do inclose the cheques so another refund thanks again sara
James says
Hi, among others, I had several loans with WDA. They responded to my recent posted complaint by email. Then a holding email at four weeks. The eight weeks have now expired… Should I chase them? Sure I read on here some people received final responses/offers by post… Is that right or did I dream that? Don’t want to be too pushy if it’s good news but likewise don’t want to delay bad news and possible FOS complaint.
Mark says
James,
I would send a polite reminder email/letter advising them that the 8 weeks they are permitted has now expired and that they have 5 days to send you their resolution/final response letter, otherwise you will be forwarding your complaint to the FOS.
I ensured I sent a reminder letter chasing FSAR’s and final response letters every 2 weeks to lenders, so that if/when the deadlines passed, I could escalate immediately safe in the knowledge that the FOS could see I was more than reasonable in giving lenders the opportunity to resolve.
Hope that helps.
James says
Got an email following my chaser…
“Unfortunately, due to a recent increase in the number of complaints received into our business, I am afraid that we are not yet in a position to provide a final response to your complaint.
I am sorry for any inconvenience that this may have caused you. I want to reassure you that your complaint is important to us and a Final Response Letter will be issued to you as soon as possible. We will make every effort to provide you with a Final Response within the next 8 weeks from the 20 September 2018.
As we have not been able to resolve your complaint within eight weeks, you now have the right to refer your complaint free of charge to the Financial Ombudsman Service.”
Take it nobody would advise waiting and get it straight to FOS? Assume they would hang it out the full 8 weeks again?
Thanks. (At least it wasn’t a rejection!)
Mark says
James,
Yes, I would send it to the FOS straight away. It only takes 30mins and the chances are you will have the final response letter by the time the FOS pick the case up anyway. If the lender upholds your complaint, you can just advise the FOS. If they reject your complaint, you can then just forward the final response letter to the FOS once you have the FOS ref number.
In MOST cases the final response letters are only a few days late.
Steve C says
Having fun and games with Lending Stream.
They keep sending me emails saying the can’t confirm I am the owner of loans I had with them in 2012.
I sent them the loan agreement numbers, the address I lived at, my full name and date of birth, all the email addresses I can remember, a front copy of my driver license, Bank Statements showing the monies received, payments made, the front page of each loan agreement and copies of the collection letter that showed the remaining balance was sold on to Lantern group. I’m not sure what else I could give them?
Do you think loan companies are starting to do this to people with older loans, to try and stall?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, this is pretty unusual. I suggest you send the case to the Ombudsman.
Mar says
Hi All,
Just had another success this time with Safety net Credit.
They have upheld my complaint and agreed they have leant to me irresponsibly.
I was given a credit line with them of £450 which I constantly used. I still have an existing balance of £525 at present and they have agreed to remove all interest paid to date plus 8% which brings my total down to £239 to pay. They have also agreed to remove from my credit file.
What an amazing site, ive now had complaints upheld with 247moneybox, ferratum & SNC with total savings of £1286.
Thank you so much
Nat says
Hi, has anyone had any dealing with ferratum. I have repeatedly asked for a list of loans I had with them, even stating that they are well over the 1 month deadline to supply the list. The response I keep getting is that they will issue the list with their final reps ones by 8weeks. I want to review the data before that point. I have sent another email starting that I am entitled to this information as per the data protection law, but still get the same response. Anyone have any luck with them??
Mark says
Nat,
Assuming you sent the stage 1 letter (or similar), from this site, I would write them a very polite letter advising them of the following:
There were two components to my initial letter:
1) A complaint – which you have 8 weeks to investigate and resolve/send your final response letter
2) SAR – which you have 4 weeks to provide all requested information
If you chose to reply to both at the same time (obviously within the 4 weeks permitted), rather than supply the SAR information so I can elaborate on the details of my complaint prior to your investigation (as per my request), then I must reserve the right to respond/challenge your conclusion. I will then give you the 4 remaining weeks to then re-investigate and amend your final response if you chose to. Otherwise I will have no alternative but to escalate to the FOS.
My guess is this is a stalling technique, so you just have to make sure that you have been clear and reasonable if such time that it goes to the FOS. I had to send similar letters to 2 lenders and they both then sent the SAR doc’s within 10 days. Good luck!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Legally you cannot take your case to the FOS until 8 weeks has passed. The 4 week timescale for a SAR is nothing to do with FOS, it is a requirement of the Information Commissioner’s office. You could report Ferratum to the ICO for missing the 4 week deadline but unless you enjoy making complaints I suggest just sitting back and seeing what they send you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Someone called Mar commented yesterday that they had had a reply in the 7th week.
Mar says
Hi
I had the same thing I submitted my sat and my complaint together but never received the information from them. I then sent them a further email after the 4 th week to advise they had missed the deadline to provide this info however I still didn’t receive a response. And then like Sara says I didn’t get any response until they responded to my complaint on the 7th week when they agreed to remove all the interest from all loans off my current balance. Hope this helps
Nat says
Thanks all for the advice. I’m 5 and a half weeks into complaint, but they seem to not want to send the information. I have emailed back saying legally I am entitled to this information and want to review it myself. It’s as mentioned, it feels like they are stalling!!
Thanks again
Nat
Mark says
Nat,
Yes I have had the same/similar thing with a few of the lenders. (e.g. I waited 7 weeks for Mr Lender’s FSAR and all they sent me was a two line excel s.sheet with my name/address/DOB!)
I have made a list and once the “irresponsible lending” complaints have been resolved by the lenders/FOS, I will be starting a new set of complaints with the lenders and then ICO if needs be regarding DPA/GDPR breeches for failure to provide FSAR documents on time/at all.
I couldn’t face dealing with the admin of all of those cases at the same time. :-(
Nat says
Just an update.
I sent another email this morning requesting again a list of the loans, to which they sent 3!!! I had at least 11 to 12 consecutively!! They seem to be trying to be very ackward.
Anyone got any ideas on how to deal with this? I’ve had no problems with getting the information quickly from other companies.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
are you sure you are 11-12 separate loans? Could there have been three that were rolled quite a few times? If not, then you need to phone them up and tell them they have sent incomplete information.
Nat says
Finally after threatening to report to the ico, they have found 16 other loans ‘on another system’ . Have now sent the 2nd template letter back and fingers crossed.
Thanks for the advice
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Good! If this goes to the Ombudsman, also complain about LS’s inaccurate response to your request for loan details and ask for compensation for that… it may only be £50 but it’s annoying you had to go through this and other people may have given up.
Hmb says
I am 48 hours away from the 8 week deadline with Lending stream. Nothing at all from them.
Still have another 3 weeks for sunny.
Have been in contact with my old bank and have now been waiting 7 weeks for copy bank statements. Frustrating indeed!
Mark says
Hmb,
Yep, it’s 1% letter writing and 99% patience isn’t it?
Still it will be worth it in the end. Keep your chin up.
Hmb says
Thats so true!! That made me smile thanks :)
David says
Just had response from sunny
Given the information available to me, I am unable to uphold your complaint. We believe that the aforementioned checks were proportionate and responsible. Initial assessment of your application accounted for some of the adverse information held at the credit reference agencies and as a consequence you were offered a small amount of credit relative to your stated income. In light of your declared financial hardship, I don’t feel it would be appropriate for us to extend any further credit to you, as such, we will not approve any further applications.
Not much of an explanation for someone who has had 35 loans since April 2016 is it?
Stevie C says
I got the exact same response fro Sunny word for word.
Gareth says
Hi all has anyone had any deslings with cash4unow they are owned by nova loans, long story short I have had 1 loan in past and currently 1 open with them which I had to ring on Monday to say I couldn’t make payment on Thursday as I have a electric bill for 178 to pay and i asked could i make a smaller payment and
Set up a temporary arrangement .
guy on phone told me cant help me and I need to wait until thursday until payment missed. I didn’t want it to miss I wanted to set something up but they flat out refused to help in any way now the loan payment will be ta ken and I’ll be unable to pay the elec bill. They made me feel that the loan payment was the the most important bill I needed to pay tomorrow lol even explained that I have rent arrears that needed repaying but still would not help awful company.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
oh dear. You should really have told them you couldn’t make the payment and told your bank to delete the CPA to them so they couldn’t take the money.
I suggest that you need some debt advice urgently – rent arrears and getting behind with utilities is not good, these are priority debts and need to be paid first, whatever other payday loans or credit card payments you have. I suggest you talk to National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 about your whole financial situation. They may suggest a Debt Management Plan is a good option for you.
Then you can look at an affordability complaint to cashforunow – and in the complaint also put that you told them you had priority debts and asked them to take less money and they refused.
Shem says
Hi
Yes, dreadful company! Not only do they indeed make you feel like it is vital you pay them regardless of other priorities if you sufpggest the loan is unaffordable they resort to scare tactics advising they will need to refer you to their legal team to investigate if you may have false information in your application….. they then pass you to a particularly nasty piece of work called Dianne who advises she must warn you she is recording the conversation for legal reasons! When I replied and said ‘that’s fine so am i’ I then said to her, being as we are both recording this can you please confirm that you are not willing to help me seek an affordable repayment plan and that you are an official legal representative for cash4unow who is insinuating fraud to intimidate me?…… she hung up!
In the end I just missed a payment and then having received a refund from a different loan complaint paid it all off, but I can’t lie it has put me off making the complaint. I have read the guidance on ‘lender says I lied’ but the insinuation of legal action still bothered me.
Just glad to be shot of them!
Shem
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you let them win with these disgusting tactics. As a previous reader said, who are they going to report you to, ghost busters? The police are not going to be interested in the slightest. No payday lender is going to sue a customer for fraud! Most of the larger lenders have stopped making these sort of threats.
Mark says
Shem,
I know it’s scary my friend, I lied on almost all of my 50/60 loan applications as I was addicted to gambling, so the mention of “fraud” had me worried too.
You should remember that if the lenders receive 100 complaints and they scare just 1 of those into dropping/not making their complaint it is a worthwhile (yet disgusting) tactic. It saves them money.
Dig deep, be brave and go get every penny back from these blood suckers!!!! Anytime you get that self doubt, come back on here and read more success stories. We’re here for ya. GOOD LUCK!!!
mike says
received from the adjudicator today ”
Quick Quid has said that from 2014 they made changes to its affordability assessment, and these changes were completed by February 2015, so it feels from this point onwards its affordability assessments were conducted properly. And therefore, it doesn’t accept my recommendations for the loans approved after this date. But it has made the following offer on your complaint:
refund interest and charges on loans 15 to 21, which it has said totals about £2,918.91;
pay interest of 8% simple per year on the above refund, which totals about £1,027.24;
deduct 20% tax, which totals about £205.45;
total refund amount would be about £3,740.70;
remove the negative entries associated with these loans from your credit file.”
this is £2000 short of my calculations if they fully agreed with the adjudicator. so have gone back saying i will meet them at £4,800 – anyone no if they are likely to accept?
Also if it goes to the Ombudsman does anyone have any likely timeframe (ballpark)
Thanks
Annie says
QQ disagreed with my adjudicator decision and offered fewer loans than recommended, so it has now been waiting 9 weeks so far for an ombudsman review so I’m hoping to have a final decision soon. So expect to wait several months before it gets picked up by an ombudsman.
Trev says
Hi, I have a question about when a payday lender has sold your debt to a collection agency.
I had a payday loan with Sunny. I had paid off some of the loan but after defaulting, they later sold the debt of £695.16 to MMF Debt Purchase and Recovery Service. I had subsequently paid in full this debt to this collection agency.
How would I go about getting a refund based on affordability from the collection agency?
Is it possible? Sunny don’t seem to have anything to do with this part of the debt as they sold it on.
Any help or advice would be appreciated!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Your complaint should go to Sunny not MMF. It was Sunny who missold you the unaffordable loan. Is this the only loan you had from them?
Trev says
Hi Sara,
Sunny have offered a full refund of all interest and charges paid totaling £103.66 (borrowed £899.91 and repaid £1003.57). They are offering simple interest at 8% totaling £35.24. But they are offering to write off the outstanding balance of £859.98 which they passed onto the collection agency and remove the record of my loan from my credit file. However I had already paid this off so have queried why they hadn’t already amended my credit file and have asked them direct how I go about a refund for this amount on the basis of irresponsible lending of the original loan. So will await a response I guess. There isn’t anything else that I can really do at this stage?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They should include the amount you paid to the debt collector in the “amount repaid” figure. So a much larger refund!
Trev says
Thanks Sara! They even got the name of the Collection Agency wrong! Anyway I will let you know how they respond.
Richard says
Hi I have a question I’ve had a loan with trusted quid since 2015 and on one occasion I think it was loan 3 or 4 I was declined by my credit check then 10 minutes later the manager rings me and over rules the credit check and gives me the loan is that breaching the rules or breaking them had 7 loans in total just wanted to see where I stand.
Richard
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like a very good point to include in your complaint. If a lender wanted to overrule the computer credit check, then they should have asked for extra information eg bank statements first, to make sure you could afford the loan.
The template letters ask for a list of your loans – I suggest you change this bit to say “a list of my loans and a copy of all other personal information you hold about me, including but not limited to any credit checks you performed and recordings or transcripts of all phone calls”.
Robin Savage says
Hi Everyone
Many thanks for this website, you’re doing great work.
I’ve written to all of the companies that I had payday loans with today. I got a reply from Harvey & Thompson, very quick, same day!
Problem is, they are asking for my address and date of birth so in their words:-
‘Could you please provide your address and DOB to help us locate your accounts.’
My question is, do they really need my date of birth? I’m a bit worried as they should be able to access this information from just my name, and then confirm my address, shouldn’t they?
Is this a scam attempt? What should be my next move?
Your thanks in advance
Robin
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You are trying to get them to refund you some money. They may be being difficult but they aren’t trying to scam you.
John M says
Hi Robin,
They all asked for my Date of Birth. My guess is that it’s to ensure they have the right person.
Every time you speak to the Financial Ombudsman (should any of your complaints have to go that far) you have to go through security questions.
I would be happy to give them my details. None of these companies have passed my details on to anyone else as they would be in breach of GDPR so nothing to lose and everything to gain by getting them to review your complaint seriously.
My advice is be firm but fair and fair for me is to give my details so they give me the correct information.
I hope that helps
Robin Savage says
Cool, thanks for your advice guys, I’ll reply to them now
Mar says
Hi
Just wondering if anyone has tried to reason with Sunny before?
I have had 6 loans with them in total this year, I had 4 out with them at one point- I paid these off early but then took out another 2 for the same amount on the same day.
I currently have 2 loans outstanding with them totalling 800 which is incurring interest everyday. Each time I took out loans I also had loans out with multiple other companies sometimes as many as 10.
I have just received there final response 2 days before the 8 weeks rejecting my complaint, seems like its just a standard letter they send.
Im reluctant to take to the ombudsmen because of the amount it time it takes and due to the fact that I have 2 outstanding loans with them
Any advice appreciated
Mark says
Mar,
I’m reluctant to take to the ombudsmen because of the amount it time it takes and due to the fact that I have 2 outstanding loans with them – Why? If you take the matter to the ombudsman, you may receive a refund of some/all the interest you have paid them. Even if that does take a few months for the FOS to process, so what?
If you are concerned because you are struggling to maintain your weekly/monthly payments to them and you don’t want to “rock the boat”, your ability to pay them back now is a separate matter and one you should also deal with immediately. Read the information on here https://debtcamel.co.uk/help-payday-loan/
If you need any other encouragement to take the matter further, read everyone’s success stories! Good luck
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t remember anyone succeeding with negotiating with Sunny, but if you want to try it will only take a few days.
“I currently have 2 loans outstanding with them totalling 800 which is incurring interest everyday. ” this isn’t a reason not to go to the Ombudsman. If you can’t afford to repay these loans without borrowing more, what better alternative do you have?
Because of the payday loan cap, there is a limit to the amount of interest that can be added and this is usually reached very quickly. So if your case was slow and took six months at the Ombudsman, you are not going to see the interest balloon to thousands!
Tom C says
Hi – Great website and has been a great help.
Ive recently (2 wks ago) wrote to 8 historic payday loan companies all relating to loans over 6 years old.
Have received three responses so far with the requested loan details – 247 moneybox, quickquid, mr lender.
Question – a number of these details show I only took one or two principal loans but these were extended multiple times, some took over a year to re-pay in full and thus interest and charges totaling over £750 were paid on a principal loan amount of £200 etc, would this be worth pursuing a claim or does it need to be continual new loans?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What matters is how many months in a row you were borrowing for. So one and two one month cases are hard to win, but if the loans were extended / rolled multiple times it is well worth pursuing a complaint and going to the Financial Ombudsman if it is rejected.
Tom C says
Thanks for the reply – I will continue to pursue my complaint in this case then, as the majority of my loans were rolled over by multiple months at a time, some over a year in total and thus accruing significant interest.
Carl says
Afternoon All,
This is a response I have had from 247Moneybox….
Hi
Thanks for your email, and providing the information on which you are making your claim on. I will also do the same, and we can work together to come to a resolution.
Please see some of the information found on your credit report, prior to your most recent loan (dated: 08/12/17):
Number of Discharged BAIs in Last 6 Years: 0
Number of Defaults in Last 12 Months: 0
Number of Defaults in Last 36 Months: 0
Number of Active Judgments: 0
Number of Satisfied Judgments: 0
Current BAI Record: No
This is the information shown at the time and shows no reason for us to not lend to you. This information was used alongside the income and expenditure declaration you provided us on each application (in the same format as the example sent on 17/09/18).
Due to this, we believe we have carried out the required checks, and that our offer of removing all negative reporting from your credit file is fair.
Please advise.
I’m not 100% sure as to how I respond to be honest, have sent my bank statements and also credit report. I took out 17 loans from them between Feb 2016 & Dec 2017 totaling £3265.
Any advice would be great.
TIA
John M says
Hi Carl,
Same old 247 Moneybox.
My advice is go back with an offer you will accept. I went with taking off the interest from the first two loans (I had 14) and then advising them that I think they should pay back the interest from the remaining loans which totalled about £750 plus 8% statutory interest. They will try and negotiate with you and offer a lower amount so keep pushing them and eventually they agreed to my request.
It will take time and some perseverance but keep trying. They do negotiate with you as they don’t want the case being investigated by FOS as it costs them and in the long run a lot of cases are going in our favour.
Steve says
I had the same email – I went back and disputed that if they’d looked at my credit file further it would have shown more detail of late payments/defaults etc.
I went back with an offer I was comfortable accepting (75% of the total interest) + removal of the loans from my file. He emailed back an hour later that they were happy to accept this, and a couple of hours after giving them my details the money was in my bank.
It depends if you want to go for the whole lot, or if you’re happy to accept something slightly less and avoid going through the FOS.
Good luck!
Carl says
Thanks for both replies!
Have gone back with a counter offer, willing to accept slightly less to try and resolve now.
nikki says
mine was the same. I also told them what I would accept and the agreed to it and had money in my account the same week.
Mark says
If I were you I would request a Full Subject Access Request (FSAR) immediately. This way you will get ALL the documents they used to asses affordability (income forms, expenditure forms, full credit search info etc. etc.). The 10 lenders I have requested this info, have all had glaring errors (e.g. one lender had monthly food costs as £15 p/m). This should put you in a better position to dispute their position of “we have carried out the required checks”. As in all of my cases they DID carry out some checks…..but then they ignored all the “red flags” and lent anyway. Hope that helps. Mark
liam says
Hi All,
I’ve only just come across the fact that I can reclaim the interest from these companies.
As such, I’m preparing my reclaim documents to 5 different lenders (and a log book loan company too – trying my luck). I got myself into a mess from 2008-2014 and I’ve calculated my interest to be thousands of pounds. I’m not having much joy with getting any response from Payday UK and the others lenders haven’t sent me the statements I requested. So I’m preparing letters now so they can be sent registered post, given I submitted my email complaints 3 weeks ago.
However, (and this is probably a stupid question given I work in finance but …) is it worth even attempting to claim from Wonga now they’ve gone bust??? I just want to check I’m not missing something/somewhere I can submit my claim too (and I’m new to the reclaiming of interest process).
Any advise would be appreciated.
Liam
Sara (Debt Camel) says
People have won complaints against logbook lenders. It’s more likely if you topped up or refinanced the loan. I suggest you read https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/ as that may give you some ideas for improving your complaint about logbook lending.
“So I’m preparing letters now so they can be sent registered post, given I submitted my email complaints 3 weeks ago.” no, don’t do this. If you aren’t sure your email has been received, phone up to check. Sending in duplicate complaints by post is not a good idea.
“is it worth even attempting to claim from Wonga now they’ve gone bust?” the administrators are encouraging people to put in complaints if they feel they were given unaffordable loans. How much you might get back is unknown at the moment, but I have suggested a shortened complaint template here:https://debtcamel.co.uk/wonga-has-stopped-issuing-loans/.
J says
Hi Liam – I sent my complaints for Payday UK and Payday Express to Crwork@themoneyshop.co.uk and they responded very quickly with this:
Additionally, any correspondence relating to a Statement of account, Data Subject Access Request or details of loans summary, should be emailed to our Customer Rights Team directly who are responsible for processing these requests.
Their direct emails are as follows:
Data Subject Access Requests – DSAR@themoneyshop.co.uk
Statement of Account Requests – SOARequests@themoneyshop.co.uk
All previous requests submitted have been forwarded to them to action.
So, I did and I got acknowledgements within a few hours and full statements the next day.
Worth a try if you have had no joy so far – good luck & keep the faith mate
J
Liam says
Alright J
Thank for the info bud….PUK, I’m comin for yer ✊😀
And thank you too Sara for your response. Great help
Julian says
Hi all,
Just wanted to provide an update on my complaint with Uncle Buck. I had 5 loans which totalled £2400 and interest was £700 including fees. Final response from Uncle Buck was offering. £250 refund on interest for last 2 loans only. Short version I said I would settle for interest on the last 3 loans and wave 8% interest which would have been around £40-50. They agreed and so final settlement was £485 from possible £750. I’m
Happy with this considering a 3 months ago I wasn’t event aware I could make such a complaint. Completed settlement form and sent it back today. Now waiting for payment.
Thank you Sara and debt camel for your site which has helped so many of us with your invaluable advice.
Julian
Mark says
Update:
Payday UK (3 loans) – Just had £560 (full refund plus 8% interest) paid into my a/c, 5 days after returning acceptance letter. They’ve promised all loans will be removed from my credit record within 60 days.
So far…..
118118 Money (1 loan) – After stage 2 letter – Full refund deducted from loan balance and remainder now being paid at £10 p/m at 0%, plus loan removed from credit record
Mr Lender (1 loan) – Complaint rejected – At the FOS awaiting an adjudicator
My Jar (numerous loans) – Complaint rejected – At the FOS awaiting an adjudicator
Quick Quid (1 loan) – Complaint rejected – At the FOS awaiting an adjudicator
Satsuma (numerous loans) – Complaint rejected – At the FOS awaiting an adjudicator
Sunny (numerous loans) – Complaint rejected – At the FOS awaiting an adjudicator
The Money Shop (1 loan) – Complaint rejected – At the FOS awaiting an adjudicator
UK Credit (1 loan – 8k) – Complaint rejected – At the FOS awaiting an adjudicator
Amigo (1 loan – 7k) – Awaiting final response letter – Deadline 30/09
2 down…….8 to go!
Mark says
PS……..With the refund, I’ve paid off my Vanquis CC and will be sending Stage 1 letter to them tomorrow! ;-)
Gareth Moore says
How old were your loans with MyJar and QQ?
Mark says
Gareth,
QQ – 1 loan – June 2012. I complained 8 days past the 6 yr rule :-(
My Jar – 6 loans – first – Sept 15 – last Jan 16
Rob says
Hi,
Not sure if anyone else has been in this situation but looking for advice if possible. My payday loan hell got so bad that as what looked an easy option to pay some of the debt off I took out phone contracts with Vodafone and sold the phones to offset the payday loan debt. I currently have 3 live contracts and my monthly bill is £215. An absolutely stupid situation I know but the desperation was at its worst. I’m now in a much better situation thankfully and have some refunds from
Payday loans and lots still at the FOS stage. My question is can I complain about Vodafone irresponsibly giving me 2 extra contracts in the space of 5 months? All I got was an online credit check and I was good to go.
Sorry if this is not appropriate for this site I just wondered if anyone knew of advice
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well… I see your argument but I don’t know of anyone that has tried this with a mobile company. Are your Vodafone contracts Consumer Credit Act agreements? Go back and see what you were sent as confirmation when you signed up. If they were CCA agreements, then you could try an affordability complaint. If they aren’t, then the FCA CONC rules won’t apply so it’s probably not worth trying.
BUT even if they aren’t CCA contracts and an affordability contract isn’t going to work, you still need to deal with the fact the contacts are unaffordable. Talk to Stepchange about your overall financial situation to see what your options are. See https://www.stepchange.org/.
And also look at payday loan complaints against the payday lenders – if you get refunds from those loans, it may help you pay off the mobile contracts.
Julian says
Hi Sara,
can I ask, if I sent the stage one SAR request letter to Payday UK on 25th July and they sent the information on the 20th September that’s like 8 weeks. Now I’ve sent the stage 2 affordability complaint letter on the 20th September, do I have to wait another 8 weeks for their response? Their automated email response says they will try and respond wirhin the 56 day limit.
Thanks
Julian
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The 8 weeks starts when you first sent the stage one request. The stage two is just adding information to that. You could send the case to the Ombudsman now, but I suggest contacting Payday UK and asking when they are going to respond to your complaint of the 25 July.
Julian says
Ok will do. Thank you Sara.
Lisa says
I’ve been getting bank statements together… I’ve had no problems with banks, Santander have sent me statements going right back to 2004 (only for my own interest), however NatWest can only go back 7 years, meaning I’m missing a year when I send off to the FOS.
Has anyone else had this problem with NatWest? What did you do to overcome it? If this is standard for NatWest do the FOS understand you weren’t able to get statements going back further than 7 years with NatWest?
Mr D says
I had a torrid time getting older statements from Natwest but got there in the end. I used the online help facility through the app (once you’ve asked enough questions to get past the stupid auto assistant to a real person). The first person said no, but I got through to someone else the 2nd time who said they could do it but only in paper format by post. A week later I received a pack with the wrong statements! Haha. Then went back to them and requested the correct date range again (2007 – 2011) and received three copies a week later! I complained and Natwest gave me £30 for the inconvenience! So… They can do it, but it’s like getting blood out of a stone. However, if they mess it up do complain as you might get some compensation! Had a lot of fun scanning the paper copies as well…
Lisa says
That’s brilliant! Thanks very much! I’ll get onto the online help facilitie today… thanks again!
matt says
Hi All
Anyone with any recent experience on how long Uncle Buck take to answer an adjudicator? Just had a complaint upheld on Monday but nothing from Uncle Buck so far.
Cheers
Matt
John M says
Hi Matt,
Each company has 2 weeks to respond to an adjudicator so I wouldn’t expect a reply until the 2 weeks are up. Nobody is out to make it that easy.
I am waiting for Pay Day UK to reply and they have until 27th September so I am expecting they will reply around then.
matt says
Thanks John
I already had a refund from PAY DAY UK. That took about a week, so hopefully you will be close to your decision
Mr D says
Quick update on my situation and with enormous thanks for this great site and all the contributers.
My payday loan hell was between 2009 and 2012 and I only started the reclaim process on 31 May this year. So far:
Payday UK refunded £2k. Had to send statements.
Payday express refunded £2.5k. Had to send statements.
Money shop: Weird excuses about a franchise arrangement at the store I used for cheque advances. Eventually got an SOA but no acknowledgement of fault. Now with the FOS. Calculate around £4k interest in total.
Wonga: Said time barred so with FOS. (£3.5k)
QuickQuid: As above (£4k)
Safeloans: Had issues with these. With FOS. £500.
Lending Stream: Approx. £750 interest. Awaiting response as complained in August.
Mr Lender: Said time barred so with FOS (£700).
Wageday Advance: Said time barred so with FOS (£700).
Pounds till payday: £4k interest so submitted to Northway finance. No response to original complaint or chasers. All pre 2012 and reading other posts on the site I’m not hopeful but you never know.
Cash genie: £500 interest. In liquidation. Have said they are building my account history but has been 3 months now with nothing. Considering taking to FOS.
So, £4.5k better off than I would have been and hopefully can get some more but so much depends on the FOS decision re cases over 6 years old. Still been a cathartic process and thankful that those days are long gone. Fingers crossed and thanks again!
Cat says
Hi, thank you for this site, it’s been such great help.
I sent the letter from your site to several lenders, some of which haven’t replied yet, some have given me a no and one has given me £700 which I’m over the moon about. I’ve had just 2 or 3 loans off Ferratum the last one being for £250 which I couldn’t afford to pay back and arranged to pay £30 per month until the outstanding balance of £359 was paid back. I paid this off earlier this year. They have responded saying that as a gesture of goodwill they will write off my balance of £90 and pay me back £30. The £30 I’m not bothered about but i said I don’t have an outstanding balance and if I did why have you not contacted me for payment. They replied saying they don’t always chase people as it’s my responsibility to know what I owe and that the £90 is interest that they have continued to apply even though I was in a repayment plan with them. Can they do this ?
Laura says
Hi Sara,
Have had a complaint regarding MYJAR not upheld by adjudicator. It was in fairness only for 1 loan but it was for £1000, payments of £154 a month for 12 months and I couldn’t afford this without borrowing more and on top of existing debt, e.g. lots of payday loans last year. What he said, I agree with somewhat , but when I took out the loan I already owed 14,800. Anyway he said that if MYJAR had requested a bank statement at the time then it may be different. I did say in response to my jar’s final response (which he has) that I am 90% sure that I had to send MYJAR a bank statement before they gave me the loan but have no evidence of this. Have just sent MYJAR a SAR request, as didn’t need this before as only one loan..Will see if they send me a copy of my bank statement…Anyway the adjudicator said that I can refer my complaint to the ombudsman for a final decision but if there was no new information, then it will be highly likely the ombudsman will agree with him. I just thought that it is wrong for an adjudicator to say that (although likely true) as to me that is like saying you will be wasting yours and our time, which influences my decision and kind of makes me feel silly if I pursue it further. Just wondered what your thoughts may be…thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“Anyway the adjudicator said that I can refer my complaint to the ombudsman for a final decision but if there was no new information, then it will be highly likely the ombudsman will agree with him.” That is a standard statement that is put on the bottom of all adjudicator decisions. It is correct and it is important to point this out to people ortherwise lots of people will hopeless cass kight thing they may as well send it to the Ombudsman.
In your case however I think this should go to the Ombudsman.
Laura says
Okay, Thank you Sara Have only had one other not upheld with Shop Direct and the adjudicator didn’t put this so wasn’t sure.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
oh! Well it is VERY common on an adjudicator decision.
Tara says
Hi Laura. I had to send bank statement when I first ever got a loan with my jar who were called Txtloan back then. Ask the for FSAR which is a full sar so they send you everything they have on you at time of application.
In my situation I’m not asking them to look at my first loans as I was ok then but recently they had been giving me big loans and although there are entries on my credit report from them on same dates, I was given the loans instantly so there was no way they were checking what defaults I had or what I was borrowing else where so that’s not checking affordability in my eye. Luckily my bank statements show me borrowing from Wonga on the same day I paid off my jar and then I’d borrow from my jar again on same day
So I’m hoping my jar uphold mine. Good luck.
Hopefully they have your bank statement and it changes things for you.
Laura says
Many thanks for your advice Tara, at the end of the day if I don’t win the complaint fair enough but if I did send a bank statement in at the time of the application, and I am sure I did, this would show I could not afford it. Just proving it…Have sent MYJAR a DSAR request, for the other information, had to send them my signed passport…we will see what happens. Good luck with your MYJAR complaint, hope all goes well for you..
Steve says
Having a back and forth with LendingStream at the moment…
I sent them my Stage 1 complaint on the 23rd July, and they responded on the 14th August. Sent Stage 2 letter on 15th August.
8 weeks went by on the 17th September, so contacted them. They said the complaint was submitted on the 15th August so still within their 8 weeks. We’ve now gone back and forth on this a few times, even though I’ve told them I’ve gone to the FOS.
Is this one of their delay tactics?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Correct to send it to the Ombudsman. Don’t waste any more effort arguing with LS, if they get back to you with a decent offer, you can withdraw the FOS complaint.
Sarah says
Yes.
I am having the same issue with them at the moment, I gave them an extended 5 day grace period after the 8 weeks to provide me with either a final response or an update
Once those 5 days are up I’m referring to FOS
Anna says
Just had a reply from PAYDAY UK. They are upholding my complaint and refunding me 14 out of the 16 loans that I originally complained about!! (Loans 1 and 2 were just out of the 6year time frame.)
They were 1 week and 1 day over the 8 week threshold but am pleased that I gave them a couple of weeks grace before referring to FOS.
Total redress to pay is £6429.82!!! Has anyone emailed back to say they accept and provide bank details?? Roughly how long before you’ve received your refund?
Thank you Sara and your template letter! And to everyone for your help and advice.
Now to do my Quickquid complaint.
John M says
Hi Anna,
Pay Day Express (same team dealing with complaints) were about 4 working days so send the email today and you should receive it some point next week.
Well done!!!
Anna says
Thanks John. Did you email them?
Anna
John M says
Yes I did email them with my acceptance
Mark says
Anna,
Well done!
I emailed and posted (by recorded delivery), my signed acceptance on 14/09 and received the money into my account yesterday, so within a week.
A couple of other people have said similar, so the drinks could be on you next weekend! :-)
Anna says
Haha… fingers crossed Mark! Thank you
Anna
Jasper says
Well done! That is a great result!
How long did it take from start to finish with PDUK/Payday Express?
I am at the six week mark and have heard very little other than some holding emails at the 4 week mark. Not even had the list of loans that I requested (although I have the details of ones within six years anyway and if they are not considering those beyond that, I am not too concerned).
Anna says
Hi Jasper. Mine has taken 9 weeks and 1 day from initial email. I did have all my loan details by going through my emails and checking against online banking so detailed this all in my initial complaint. Like you I had an email after 2 and 4 weeks saying they needed more time and again at the 8 week mark. And then the final response this morning.
Anna
Jasper says
Thanks Anna.
Looks like I should settle in for a couple more weeks’ wait then! Hopefully I will get a decent result at the end of it.
Lo1 says
Great news, and gives me hope. They are 8weeks +10 days, will give them until mid next week and then off to FOS if still nothing
Lee Davies says
they refunded the whole loans? or the interest??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Only the interest – it is VERY rare to get the whole loan refunded. Only happens if the lander was in notice before the loan was given that borrower had major mental health problems or had requested not to be given any more loans because of a gambling addiction.
Hmb says
So I have received a response from Lending stream today after I gave them a nudge they were over the “56 day” deadline. Of course, and in my no means a surprise they have come back to me and said that they have carried out an investigation and they do not believe they loaned to me irresponsibly. I have gone back with my thoughts, I was very polite even though I didnt want to be. I have asked them to reevaluate my complaint and I have also given them an offer in which I think is acceptable. Ive also given them till Monday next week to respond. I am more than happy to take it to the Ombudsmen and wait for an adjudicator as I feel I have a strong case for complaint so I will let you all know how I get on!
Mark says
Hmb,
Wow, you’re far more reasonable than me!
As soon as I got all my final response “we did all relevant checks……blah blah………we rely on the information you …….blah blah…….complaint rejected!” letters, I instantly commenced a half hour angry typing session on the FOS website.
Your way is better, as there are LOADS of ppl that have posted after successfully negotiating a slightly reduced offer without having to use the FOS and the inevitable 2-6 month wait.
Well done and keep us posted.
Hmb says
It was hard I have to say, they tried to spin me a yarn that it was my fault which I expected to be honest! Lets see what happens – I have all the time in the world. Its Sunny I am really invested in getting the money back from – they had alot from me and havent even acknowledged my email 3 more weeks to wait! Not quite sure how they will try to get out of the 21 loans in 18 months they gave me!
Mark says
Sara,
I’M FUMING!!!!
I’ve just got my clear score report and there is a credit search (for credit quotation purposes – so a full search!), on there from UK Credit (one of the loan companies I have complained about), dated 10/09. This approx. 3 weeks after I sent the “irresponsible lending” complaint to the FOS!!!!
This was not initiated by me, I’ve not applied for any credit this year.
I’m certain UK Credit have processed another credit check in order to defend their “irresponsible lending” complaint and also provide the FOS with any missing “creditworthiness and affordability” documentation that they did not complete at the time of the ACTUAL loan application (Nov 2017).
I’m guessing that they have already applied to remove the search rom my record, in the hope that I would never know this happened………..
What the hell do I do about this?!?!?!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you asked UK credit for a Subject Access Request for a copy of all your personal information? If not, do this now! If this is a guarantor loan, also read https://debtcamel.co.uk/how-to-complain-guarantor-loan/. You may also want to read https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/.
Put in a new written complaint to Uk Credit saying they have incorrectly added full credit search to your credit records, enclose a screenshot showing this, and ask for it to be removed and for £50 compensation.
Mark says
Sara,
Yes, I got a FSAR weeks back (remember I forwarded you a 10 page letter where I argued every single point on the income/expenditure form and stated that it breached FCA reg’s Yes, that was me :-))
My concern is that they didnt enclose a single peice of credit check documentation in that FSAR, so I don’t believe they either did a check or used any of the info, so I think they have done this check so they can now provide all the missing info to the FOS, as this credit check was done exactly 3 weeks after I got the FOS involved!
If they successfully pull that off, they can pay me £50 for the unauthorised credit check issue, but then successfully defend the £2k interest/fees irresponsible lending compliant with all the additional info they got.
I don’t want to go all “tin foil hat” here, but it’s a bit too much of a coincidence isn’t it?
Mark says
Sara,
I already have the FSAR I did when starting the complaint. Remember me? I’m the one that sent u that 10 page detailed assassination of UK Credit’s income and expenditure form?
My concern is they can now send a load of credit check info that they say they got at the time of my loan application, when it was actually from a check they did 2 weeks ago. If the FOS swallow that, they get out of a £2k affordability complaint and just send me £50 for doing another credit search “by mistake”.
And if Laura was replying to me (below), these companies have hit a new low and surely means they aren’t just breaking regulations, surely there’s a law to say that can’t just do a credit check whenever they want?!?!
Soph says
Hi Mark, UK credit have done exactly the same to me but I didn’t think much of it at the time. I complained to them around the beginning of May and they performed a credit check on the 1st June. My complaint is currently with the FO also. I think I will make a complaint to UK credit and also bring it to the FO’s attention. I am worried now also.
Laura says
They did the same to me, and on the response letter they said that I have taken out more credit blah blah blah since I got their loan…umm yeah to help pay their loan lol. With the FOS now.
Mark says
Laura,
Are you replying to me????
If so, you have in writing that a lender processed an unauthorised credit check to help get details in order to defend themselves against your complaint????
Laura says
Sorry Sara, reply was to Mark regarding UK Credit complaint..and thanks Mark didn’t realise that would be classified as unauthorised.
Mark says
Wow. I think we may have just stumbled upon a pattern of intentional regulation breeches by a lender!
I’ve just checked and the credit search was done 3 weeks after I referred to the FOS and just FIVE DAYS after the FOS wrote to UK Credit!!!
This is no way a coincidence. Thoughts Sara???
THANK YOU LAURA AND SOPH. I thought I was going crazy until u replied.
Soph says
Hi could anyone be so kind and provide me with a few lines of how I word a subject access request? A lender (UK Credit) has undertook a full credit check 3 weeks after my initial complaint so I want to know what information they now have and whether they’ll be using any of this to defend my complaint which is currently with the FO and I will be making a second complaint against them also! Many thanks
Mark says
Soph,
Give me half hour and I’ll post my FSAR letter. It’s the least I can do.
Mark
Soph says
Thank you so much. I was fortunate to pay my loan off early with the refunds I have received so far but have still paid them over £4k in interest. I’m worried now that they are going to somehow use their unauthorised credit search to their advantage in someway :( I had £10,000 worth of debt when they gave me a £6k loan so whilst I consolidated what I could I still couldn’t afford their repayments on top of the additional debt I already had and so the amount I borrowed afterwards to keep up with their repayments was a ridiculous. Thanks again
Mark says
Soph,
I posted that FSAR letter, I think some posts take longer to appear, if it doesn’t upload by 7pm, I’ll re post.
I have today sent UK Credit and the FOS a letter detailing what I know and what I suspect. Asking them to explain themselves and provide the legal/regulatory authorisation they required to do the credit check.
I can’t believe a lender has gone this far outside the regulations (and I suspect the law), to defend themselves.
Class action lawsuit anyone? ;-)
Mark says
Please take this letter as a Full Subject Access Request (FSAR).
As such I require all copies of all personal information your company have on me.
That is every piece of information (both computer stored and in paper format), from my very first contact with you up until the date you actually process this request.
Under GDPR rules I understand you have 4 weeks to send me this information free of charge.
By all means email this information to me if that makes it easier/quicker/cheaper for you.
If this is not possible, then please post to me at the above address via recorded mail.
Hope that helps…..Mark
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Mark, Laura, Soph,
In these situations I am a great believer in Hanlon’s razor – never ascribe to malice what can be adequately explained by incompetence.
Although it’s possible UK Credit could be intending to fake a previous credit check from the one they have now done, it is more likely that someone in their complaints compartment was told to do some detailed research on your complaints and messed up by doing the wrong sort of credit check.
In your case Mark, you already have a SAR which didnt show an earlier credit check, so they will have difficulty explaining to FOS if they try to claim that there was an old one they didn’t send you.
I suggest Soph and Laura both ask for SARs covering all their personal data now and that all 3 or you put in a complaint about the credit check, enclose a screen shot showing its date, and ask for it to be removed and to be given compensation. This is then evidence to FOS about the recent check if that turns out to be needed.
And it would be good if you all keep each other informed here about how your cases go! I assume all of you have guarantor loans?
Mark says
Sara,
As always, brilliant advice!
Minor point though, UK credit did process a credit check at the original application stage, but you are right, they omitted all details/info from the FSAR documents they sent me. My worry was that they use some information from the credit check a couple of weeks ago to cover up the missing info when in discussions with the FOS.
That being said, I’m sure you’re right. I guess we need to wait and see how many other come forward with the same issue before we jump to conclusions.
Thanks again Sara and everyone and I will keep the forum updated.
Andy says
I have recently made a complaint to uk credit , 18/08/2018, therefore I am in the 8weeks waiting stage before I get a response , but will also post if the credit check happens during my complaint good luck guys
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send them a SAR now anyway.
Mark says
Andy,
Thanks, appreciated.
My search happened within a week of the FOS writing to me with the complaint ref number and advising that they had written to UK Credit, so keep your eyes peeled sir!
Good luck
Soph says
Thank you so much for that Mark I really appreciate it, I will be getting straight onto them tomorrow. And thank you for your advice to Sara. Yes it’s a guarantor loan, one of the worse mistakes I’ve ever made, trying to get myself out of a mess and it just made it 10 times worse. I will of course post on here what response I get back from them and the outcome with the FOS. It’s with an adjudicator now so hopefully not that much longer. Thank you again, this website has kept me sane through some of the hardest months!
Laura says
Sorry I have been busy with work and such the last few days. Although UK Credit stated in their final response that they had undergone checks to see what further credit I had after applying for the loan..this search does not even appear on my credit record so not sure I can make a complaint. I will be getting in touch with UK Credit tomorrow ‘re not sending me credit check information with SAR and if they do not will tell them I will complain to the ICO. Mark and Soph, can you tell me how long it was before your complaints were assigned to an adjudicator for UK Credit. Thanks.
Laura says
Sara, I did ask for SAR from UK Credit..had 2 loans with them.. They wouldn’t send me anything relating to my credit checks as they said it was due to contractual restrictions with the credit reference agency…I will check my credit file again to confirm as you suggested..I wouldn’t know where to start with a complaint.. do I need to state that they should have had my permission before conducting one??? And Mark and Soph can you keep me updated plesse, would be interested to see how your claims go..mine’s just gone to FOS. For my second one £5000, £224.41 over 4 years they didn’t even ask me for a bank statement yet they did with my first £2000 one a few years earlier…
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“They wouldn’t send me anything relating to my credit checks as they said it was due to contractual restrictions with the credit reference agency…” they can’t do that!
Reply that you will be sending a complaint about this to the ICO unless they send you all the personal information about you that they hold.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Your complaint UK Credit is that they should not have done a full search before granting credit as you weren’t applying for any credit. This matters as these sort of searches are visible to other lenders. If they had just done an administration check, this wouldn’t have been visible to other lenders.
Mark says
Laura,
I didn’t receive ANY credit check info in my FSAR either. I know they did one, but they didn’t send any info relating too it, for obvious reasons, it wouldn’t help their case!
I made this perfectly clear in my very long complaint letter when sending to the FOS.
Hence why I sent another complaint letter today when I found out about this unauthorised search.
I will try and post the letter I sent today as it might help you/Soph/others, but it’s quite long so may not get posted correctly. If it doesn’t work, maybe I could email it to Sara and she can then forward to you both? If that’s allowed Sara?
Mark says
Part one……….
I have just received my Clear Score credit report this month and found the following which indicates that you processed a credit search on me on 10/09/2018: (import screen shot)
I have not applied for any credit with you and have therefore not given you permission to process any credit searches.
The loan referred to above was completed in November 2017 and is now subject to the above Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) “Creditworthiness and Affordability” investigation.
As a result of my findings, I decided to investigate further and contact Equifax directly.
Equifax confirms that UK Credit Ltd processed a credit search on me on 10/09/2018 for the purposes of “Credit Quotation”:
I would like UK Credit Ltd to provide me with the following information:
1) A full explanation as to why this search was completed.
2) Provide the necessary documents confirming that UK Credit Ltd had all the necessary legal and
regulatory permissions to complete this search.
TBC…….
Mark says
Part 2……..
If you are unable to provide me with this information, you will leave me no alternative but to assume that UK Credit Ltd processed this credit search without any permission from me in an attempt to obtain further information that will assist you in defending the existing complaint.
I think this would be a reasonable assumption as your credit search was processed approximately 3 weeks after I asked the FOS to take up my complaint and less than a week after they contacted you to advise they were now investigating on my behalf.
I give the FOS permission to take this matter up for me alongside my existing complaint and ask that they give me the opportunity to review and cross examine the validity, accuracy and leagality of any credit check information you decide to supply the FOS in your defence to my complaint. As previously stated, there was not one piece of credit check evidence in the information you sent me in response to my FSAR last month.
If they are unable/unwilling to do this, I will take further action myself.
Yours faithfully,
C.C The Financial Ombudsman Service
David askew says
Hi, could somebody please advise how I might proceed with Satsuma who seem to be just messing me about after I sent them an initial email asking for the details of my loans. I have sent them my name, DOB, address, email, bank name & sort code and last 4 digits of account number. Yet they have sent me this email….
Thank you for your email,
Unfortunately we have been unable to identify you, as the details you have provided do not satisfy our identification and verification criteria.
In order to assist you further you will need to speak to our Customer Care Team on 0800 694 0004.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you phone them up… this sort of thing can sometimes be resolved much quicker on the phone.
Andy says
Thanks Sara already sent sar, no reply as of yet ???
Tim says
Hi all
Has anyone had any luck in complaining to Fernovo (aka Quidie?) – does anyone know if they are open to negotiation?
Thanks
Angie mcnaught says
Has anyone done this refund thing with wage day advance? That’s who I got my loans from so I’m gonna give it a bash if any of u guys think it would work
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes! Lots of success with wageday advance refunds.
Craig says
I’ve got a complaint in with them just now, but they are two weeks past the eight week response time. I got the loan info off them in good time, but they should have sent me a final response by the 4th September. Nothing yet, other than an auto response apologising for the lateness, due to the volume of complaints. Given them some extra time, but think the FOS will be my next stop fairly soon.
Callum says
Hi Sara
I had a logbook loan with Mobile money and rolled this 3 times. Borrow about 3000 and paid bac about 7000. At the time I was only working part time and very skint and had bad gambling problems. I have send a complaint to them regarding affordability and they have come back and said that they agree checks were done etc. Do you recommend I go to ombudsman? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes. Mobile Money should have looked more closely into your circumstance when You needed to roll the loan.
Send it to FOS straight away but also send MM a subject access request (SAR) as this may help you argue your case – you can send extra points later to FOS to add to your complaint if the SAR turns up something useful.
Also read https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/ as the argument for logbook loans is similar to those loans. Either they failed to do enough checks. Or they ignore some of the checks they did. Or both!
Eddie says
Hello
Thank you for your email.
The loan is no longer owned by this company, as was sold.
Please refer all complaints and queries to:
Asset Collections and Investigations
https://www.assetcollections.uk/home
Kind regards,
Anna
Customer Care
——
Hi Sarah just received this from smart pig what do you suggest I do now ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Reply saying you are making a complaint about Smart Pig’s irresponsible lending and they need to reply to it our you wil send the complaint against them to the Ombudsman.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
And also inform Asset Collections that you are currently disputing the debt with Smart Pig – you don’t want AC to reply to your complaint but telling them there is a dispute should stop them taking you to court until your SP complaint is resolved.
Eddie says
Thanks Sara
The debt has actually been paid off with assets collections – do I still need to contact them? Smart pig continuously borrowed to me when I was in a very bad situation so will reply to them now. Thanks again
Mark says
Eddie,
You don’t need to inform the collections company, if the debt has been settled in full. This is done as a precaution to stop any further legal action/cost, as it will likely take 1-6 months to resolve the complaint.
However, did they add any further costs (interest/collection/legal charges etc. etc.)??? If they did, it would be worth contacting them to get a breakdown as if your complaint is upheld the lender is (normally) responsible for putting you back in the position you would have been had the loan(s) not been granted. That would involve also refunding these debt collection charges.
Hope that helps, good luck and keep us posted.
Rachel says
Hi,
If the lender has come back with an offer could you say to them about the 8% interest as well or does that only work if you go to the FOS? I have been offered £1064 refund from a lender but I am wondering whether to say to them will 8% interest be added or is that not correct to ask that? Thanks
Mark says
Rachel,
If you are trying to negotiate a settlement, prior to going to the ombudsman, it would def be worth mentioning the 8% interest that the FOS award. Might also be worth mentioning that if you go to the FOS, the lender will be charged about £550 too. (Assuming they are a large company and have had more than 25 complaints for the year).
Rachel says
Okay thanks I have gone back to them and said i will accept the offer if the 8% interest is added. Thank you :)
Chris says
Hi all,
Recently found this website – what a great resource, thank you!
I successfully got back over £1500 from Safetynetcredit and I’m currently in discussion with Wonga (gone to FOS), Lending Stream and Payday UK.
I have heard back from Lending Stream. I had 26 loans between February 2012 and June 2016. They’ve come back to me stating all the information I put on the forms, monthly wage, expenditure etc. At the time when I applied for these I was not in a good place mentally (anxiety/depression which I have been medicated for for several years) and my figures are all over the place. Some of the loan information shows me having £300+ disposable income. Obviously this was never the case as I’d never have applied for the loans if I had that kind of money spare!
They’re only upholding 1 loan complaint out of the lot. With my figures on the form clearly being wrong on my part, am I able to take this further with the FOS? Will they understand that I have clearly submitted wrong information just to get these loans because I was struggling so much?
Any advice greatly appreciated. If I can provide more info let me know!!
Chris
Mark says
Chris,
It’s often the case that lenders “try their luck” by sending you an offer of refunding 1 or 2 loans in the hope that you settle for far less than the FOS are likely to award.
You clearly have a good case as you have already got large refunds with the other companies and if LS didn’t do anything wrong, why offer ANY refund???
Follow the templates/guidance on here and send it to the FOS, it’s likely that the worse that will happen is the FOS agree to the 1 loan refund, however FAR more likely is they will increase the refunds due.
Good luck and keep us updated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I agree with Mark. Also read https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/, which explains why incorrect details on your application make it harder to win a case awith just a few loans. But with your 26 loans, LS should have realised something was wrong!
Chris says
Hi Sara and Mark, thanks for your advice. Yes, they really should have. My head was so jumbled I was just putting anything in to ensure I got accepted for the loans I needed to get through the month/pay other loans off. What’s the best way of wording this to the FOS? Should I mention my anxiety disorder/depression issues and prescribed medication?
Mark says
Chris,
Just do the same thing as you’ve done with Wonga, complete the FOS form, send them all the correspondence you’ve had and let the FOS do the rest. Might be worth sending (or at least getting in preparation), bank statements covering the period u had all the loans, as the FOS will require them.
Chris says
Thank you Mark, I have completed the form and sent my correspondence. I have also sent the FOS my upheld complaint response from Safetynetcredit from the same time period as my LS loans so they can see at least they were fair with me! I’ll see what the FOS come back with.
Sue Edwards says
Hi
I submitted an irresponsible lending complaint to the administrators of Cash Genie, They responded saying that it would be 6 weeks or more to respond. However it is now nearly 9 weeks and I have e-nailed regularly just to be told there is still no news and they will e-mail me when there is. So do I send this to the FOS or are they no longer looking into claims against Cash Genie? Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you ask the Ombudsman. I haven’t seen any recent reports about this so I don’t know.
Lou7 says
Hi all,
Has anyone had trouble with 247 moneybox just not communicating at all? They didn’t bother replying to the adjudicator and now I have to wait for an ombudsman to review it! Is this what they are like with other people? Very frustrating.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You aren’t the first person to say this 😠
Gary Santer says
Hi
I sent my complaint to the FOS at the end of March 18 it is still awaiting assignment to an adjudicator. 247 never replied to several requests from the ombudsman I even spoke to 247 and they said they had replied but apparently nothing ever received. I’m due to call this week to get my two weekly update but guarantee I get the same spiel I’ve had for the past 3 months of “it will be assigned very soon”
Lou7 says
Thanks Sara and Gary. I will just have to wait it out.
simon says
Lou7, I reported them to the FCA when they wouldn’t reply to me or the adjudicator, I sent the FCA an email on consumer.queries@fca.org.uk and cc’d them in explaining all about the complaint and time scale it had been and feel they are deliberately ignoring me to stop me from making a complaint. With in about an hour of doing this 24/7 where emailing me asking how I felt they could resolve this complaint. Would suggest giving that a go.
Shab M says
New post
Hi
I wrote to Sunny loans re: irresponsible lending. During my time as customer I had THREE seperate loans (100, 100 & 400), re- payments hardship & paid back bout £600 in interest over time for three seperate loans.
Sunny (ELEVATE) finally responded & offered me refund to 600 loan (as ONE sum) that equates to £100 refund. I have tried to contact Sunny numerously & no response as feel the interest/refund is not satisfactory & needs to be reviewed as THREE seperate loans/refund interest.
The refund 100 reached my account & now I am still not hearing back from them.
Can I still take this case to Finan Omb Service? As Sunny have upheld my complaint but worked out refund interest incorrectly.
Would be grateful with your assistance. Thank you. Regards
SM
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can you say how much you repaid on the first 100 loan? And on the second?
The last 400 loan hasn’t be repaid, is that correct? Can you say what payments if any you have made to the last loan?
Hmb says
So, ive put in a complaint with the FOS today for Lending Stream. Now the waiting game begins, also as an aside I put in an SAR with Natwest to get copies of old bank statements and it has been ongoing since end of July. I finally snapped on Saturday after they sent me a letter saying I hadnt proved my new address even though I did this weeks ago…. the head of the complaints department emailed me at 6.30 this morning and I now have copies of all statements and £75 compensation for the hassle. Kickstarted the reclaim pot nicely :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ha! Thanks for the story. And good luck with LS.
Mark says
AMENDMENT – 1% letter writing, 98% patience and 1% going to the bank depositing cheques! ;-)
Hmb says
I think I am going to be waiting a while for the others but il look forward to it haha!
Hmb says
Sooo, Sunny came back to me today 3 weeks before the 8 week deadline which I was not expecting!! Obviously they have come back and said we do not uphold your complaint which is the least surprising email ive received this year. Ive emailed them back, offering what I think is fair and given them 24 hours to respond. If not FOS it is!! I am actually in no doubt that I would win that one so either way il be getting money out of them just a shame they want to delay the inevitable!
Ben says
Hi all, first I want to say thank you to everyone for all the comments and guidance notes on this site, it’s so useful!
I started taking payday loans in 2012, and got myself into a situation of borrowing from one to pay another, and it spiralled out of control! I was using the payday loans to pay for daily living, like rent etc, and also for paying off other payday loans. I’ve never really looked into getting the interest back and complaining, but thought why not! It definitely put me into hardship at the time and really affected my mental health, to the point of last year trying to commit suicide. I am now much better and sorting my life out, and hopefully I get some good news from the below! I’ll keep you updated on the progress of each!
Wonga: 15 loans between 2012 and 2014 (now paid off)
QuickQuid: 2 loans between 2013-2014 (now paid off)
PoundsToPocket: 4 loans between 2013-2014 (paid off)
118118: 1 loan in 2014 (paid off)
Amigo: 1 loan in 2013, 1 top-up loan in 2014 (paying off still)
I’ve emailed them all today as per your instructions Sara, so will keep you updated!
Laurence says
Hi Sara
What should be the standard protocol to follow if 4 weeks have passed since making a SAR and I have heard nothing?
Paydayuk and Uncle Buck have not replied and quick quid have outlined they need more time.
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send them a cross email saying you will report them to the ICO if they don’t send Yiu the SAR in a week.
Laurence says
Great many thanks
daron lee rankin says
i had a loan with provident i clarly could not afford it thay passed it over to lowell i had to do debt relief order i phone them up today and ive put in a claim all these pay day loans got me in debt lowell said you could clearly afford it i could not and that it
Sara (Debt Camel) says
When was your debt relief order?
Kayley says
Had some great news Thursday last week my adjudicator agreed that lending stream shouldn’t of given me loans 4 to 41 that’s 1600 pounds !! Just waiting for LS to come back to her anyone know the time scales for LS to come back to you and then to pay out?
Thank you yet again Sara without this website I wouldn’t of even put a complaint in!
Ben says
Success! After nearly 8 weeks and complaints with 13 lenders with no luck got an offer of £574 from one month loan. This was all of the interest paid but not any 8% interest added. Decided at the moment the £574 was a good offer even though could have escalated to the FOS. Happy to finally have some success thanks Sara and the other contributors to this site!
Lisa says
Adjudicator has ruled in my favour for loans over 6 years with payday uk today. They have 2 weeks to respond.
Diane says
That’s good news, can I ask how long it took to be picked up by an adjudicator
Lisa says
I can’t remember exactly but I put the complaint in a year ago. I think it was March time. I have one with wonga also and just waiting for adjudicator response- all loans are over 6 years on that one too. I haven’t hassled FOS- they will contact when they have information but I know it feels like you are waiting forever to hear anything.
Lee sharratt says
I’m awaiting for the fo to look at my loans over six years with payday uk. It’s killing me. I’m tempted to tell them look at the others and forget six year ones , but I won’t
Diane says
Thank you, I sent mine in March this year, I also don’t want to keep ringing them incase they put it back, I’ve dropped the ones over 6 years with QQ , you just worry if same thing happens like wonga
Tina says
Hi Sara,
I’ve recieved the following response from the FOS today in relation to my complaint with Quickquid:
‘We aren’t able to issue our opinion quite yet as there are ongoing discussions taking place between our ombudsman and Quick Quid about how certain types of loans were sold. Your complaint is one of those affected, and as these discussions could affect the outcome of your complaint we don’t want to issue our opinion until they have been resolved. Please accept my apologies for this delay, your continued patience is greatly appreciated and we will be in touch as soon as we have a further update. Thanks.’
Does anyone know what the discussions with QQ relate to and has anyone else had anything similar?
Kind regards
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s a mystery. A couple of people,have had similar comments. Could you summarise what you QQ borrowing was – how many loans, what sort, when?
Tina says
I think it might have something to do with the flexicredit loans. I took out both the usual payday loans and flexicredit both with QQ. The very first loan in August 2013 which repeatedly rolled over (further borrowing) every month for approximately 2.5 years. Does anyone have any further information please surrounding this issue?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
People have won flexi credit complaints in the past. It may be those though. One person guessed it was loans taken out after 2015, which doesn’t sound likely for you. Not much you can do part from wait.
Kim says
Hi,
I’m after some asvice please.
I sent the initial email asking for a SAR which I got myself by logging on to my account. However I have since recieved an email advising my complaint has been upheld and they are offering to pay £270 of my outstanding balance (which happens to be my outstanding balance) they are only looking at loans after September 2012 of which I had 7 totalling £4050 plus interest and charges of £1564.29. I had an amount of £481 outstanding which I have been paying £35 a
month to lantern for and the balance with the is £271 at the moment. What should I do? I’m not accepting it but what is the best approach to take when I go back to them also there is no mention of removing negative details from my credit file which I need them to do? Any advise would be greatly appreciated
Kim says
Sorry to add this is QuickQuid and i’ve Just realised it interest from the first and last loans only? The email also says this is a final response
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you paid over £1500 in interest on loans in last 6 years, then them offering to write off a balance of £270 is a poor offer. QQ don’t usually negotiate, I suggest you send the case to the Ombudsman.
Kim says
Hi
thank you, I actually paid that over 1 year! I was going to go to ombudsman however his maths is completely off – should I be expecting everything except the principal amount borrowed?
OFFER BREAKDOWN
Please find the breakdown of the offer below:
-Contractual interest and/or charges £196.37
– Interest at 8% simple £92.04
-20% tax withholding on interest £18.41
-Amount applied to your outstanding balance £270
This for 2 loans one loan taken out in August 2012 for £650 total amount repaid £882.37 (so refund would be £182.37??)
There were then 5 more loans and the final loan which I defaulted on.
This loan was for a total of £700 (£250 then £450) in total I have repaid £892 towards this. However there are still claiming a default balance £481. There were late fees in included in the default balance
My reckoning would be the refund for these 2 loans would mean he should be offering to pay me £370 not deducting £270 from the outstanding balance? Would I be ok to query his maths first? Or i’m I wrong ?
Thanks
Kim
Sara (Debt Camel) says
But this is a very poor offer even if they sort out the details of those two loans. So why bother to argue about an offer you aren’t going to take?
Kim says
Sorry 😐. That’s sort of what I was asking – Is it worth trying to negotiate with them when I have something to go back with or should I just go straight the ombudsman? Has anyone had any success negotiating with QuickQuid?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t remember any successes from people trying to negotiate with QQ.
Ben says
Hi Sara just thought I would let you know,
Sent my complaint to payday express/ PDUK / Money Shop . Sent a chase email today and got the below response. Do I need to resend my complaint and does the 8 week time line start again? Feels like a stalling tactic by this company changing the email address? Thanks Ben
Thank you for your email, we appreciate you getting in touch. We assure you that your issue will now be investigated thoroughly and we will be back in touch within the specified 56 day regulatory period.
We are currently experiencing extremely high volumes, please therefore allow additional time for an official acknowledgment to your complaint.
Should you wish to contact with any further information or queries regarding this issue, please either telephone on 0800 280 2548 or email us on customerrelations@themoneyshop.co.uk. Our telephone opening hours are from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They clearly have your complaint and the 8 week clock has started. No need to resubmit. Do you want a list of your loans? If so email that SoA email address and ask for one.
Emma8390 says
So I send a gentle reminder to satsuma to say that the 8 weeks were up and they have emailed back saying sorry but they have checked my file and that the complaint was not logged. It can take up to 56 days but they will note that it was original at the beginning of July! I have proof that they replied in July saying it would be logged should I just go to the FOS as this seems like a stall tactic?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes go to the FOS. And add to you complaint that you want compensation for the way Satsuma have handled your complaint so far.
Tara says
I got this email from my jar today.
Has anyone else received one the same and had a good result? Does it sound promising?
Dear Miss *****
We are contacting you to provide you with a progress update on a recent complaint you made to us. Unfortunately, and despite our best efforts, we are not yet in a position to give you a final resolution.
We will be contacting you again shortly and we will either issue our Final Response giving our decision on the outcome of your complaint and the reasons for this or, an explanation of why we have not yet resolved your complaint. At the very latest, we will issue our Final Response within eight weeks from receipt of your initial complaint. However, should you have any queries now or at any point, please do not hesitate to contact us using the details below.
The Final Response will also provide information relating to the Financial Ombudsman Service and how you can contact them, if you are dissatisfied with our resolution. For information, please find a link to our complaints procedure:
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sounds like a standard automatic email. I doubt anyone has yet looked at your complaint.
Tara says
Yh that’s what I was thinking. Well hopefully not too much longer before I get a final answer. They have been quite quick at answering to it so far.
Jane says
Hi Tara,
I put in a complaint with My Jar on 30th August.I had the same response on 11th September but,was also asked for bank statements/pay slips/credit report at the time of applying for the loan.
I sent a bank statement and credit report with further information/explanation of debts/financial situation etc and many reasons why I should never have been given the loans.
I have an outstanding loan of £900 and they have ceased all collections activity and reconstructed the over 12 months…
Will let you informed.
Best of luck,Jane
Tara says
Hi Jane.
I put mine in on 28th August. I too was asked for banks statements etc which I’ve sent back. I currently have a loan of £3500 which had a lot of interest on top. I defaulted that and it’s with their debt collections and I’ve been paying weekly. I’m still paying it even though I’ve put in the complaint as less I owe the more I should receive back hopefully. If they uphold just 5 of my last 32 loans I’ve had off them then it should pay off balance and still be about £5000 interest owed back. Fingers crossed. All my statements showed I borrowed from Wonga the same day I paid them bk and then renewed loans with them instantly same day. There’s no way they done hard credit checks as each time it was instant approval. Fingers crossed for both of us 👍
Lou7 says
Hi all,
A quick question. Is tax always paid on refunds and if so whose job is it to see that it’s paid?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The refund of interest and charges isn’t taxable but if you have 8% interest added that is taxable as savings income. Most large lender will deduct 20% of this and pay HMRC. 20% may well not be right for you! See https://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-payday-refund-get-back-tax/
Karen Allagui says
Hi I did H+T loans that is with the ombusman and as been for 10 weeks now it’s not been allacated to a case handler as yet..
I also did money shop and provednt they are saying the loan was affordable at the time and can not do nothing is there anything else I can do
I have took cases to the Ombusman for differt things but I have never won a case it seem they go with the lenders than the customer’s
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The Ombudsman has thousands of these cases, at the moment 3-5 months seems average for case to be looked at.
Send the money shop and provident cases to the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is approving a VERY high percentage of affordability complaints, higher than for any other type of complaint.