Have you had problems with payday loans? 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 here. This works if your payday loans were repaid or you still owe money.
Contents
What are “unaffordable” loans?
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.
A loan is not affordable just because you haven’t missed a payment – if paying a loan left you so broke you had to borrow again – from the same lender or a different one – it was unaffordable!
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. Payday loans are meant for short-term problems.
Many lenders ignore obvious signs of problems such as your loans increasing in size, or your credit record showing increasing debts.
How much compensation can you get?
A typical payday loan decision by the Ombudsman is that the lender should refund all the interest you paid after the third, fourth or fifth loan.
But if your first loan was large, or was rolled over several times, you can get a refund from just one loan.
Which lenders can you get refunds from?
Lenders include:
CashASAP, Drafty, Fast Loan Uk, Fernovo, Fund Ourselves (now in administration), Kabayan, Lending Stream, LoanPig, Mr Lender, Moneyboat, My Finance Club, QuidMarket, Savvy, TickTock, The Money Platform, WageMe.
See this list for payday lenders for a longer list and their email addresses to use.
You can make claims to lenders who have recently stopped lending. It is probably too late to make claims to other lenders who gave up more than a few years ago.
For larger loans there are better template letters to use on other pages:
- 118 Money, Everyday Loans/Evlo, Likely Loans/Finio, Reevo, Bamboo, Updraft, Lendable, bank loans and other long-term loans.
- Loans2Go – the worst loans in Britain!
- doorstep lenders and guarantor lenders,
Do this before, before you send in a complaint
Doing these things now will make your life easier later.
If 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. Winning a complaint then speeds up the DMP.
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 have to go to the Ombudsman.
Unless you can afford to make this month’s payment without borrowing again, cancel the CPA or the Direct Debit to the lender at your bank. Otherwise the lender may take the money and you will be in a mess.
Start your complaint
It’s easy to make these complaints – you don’t need to calculate what refund you should get or quote laws.
Find the lender’s email address for complaints from this list. If your loan was sold to a debt collector, you complain to the original lender.
Put “AFFORDABILITY COMPLAINT” as the subject of your email:
I am making an affordability complaint about the loans you gave me. You should never have given me these 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 and the rest of my credit record that my debt problems were getting worse. It was not responsible to continue to lend.
My credit reports would have shown all my other debts [include this if it applies: 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.
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.
Some ways to improve this
Add any other points that help you describe what happened to you. 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.”
- “I had a gambling problem and your loans made this worse”.
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 (say £800 or more), 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 difficult complaint to win. If you have borrowed twice from 5 leaders, that is much more difficult to win affordability complaints than having 4 or 5 loans from two lenders.
Sometimes a lender will offer you a small goodwill amount to give up eg £50 or £100 so if you only had one loan and it wasn’t large, that would be a bit of help.
Waiting for a reply from the lender
This email starts your affordability complaint.
The lender should reply to your complaint within 8 weeks. Don’t be surprised if you have to wait until the end of the 8 weeks to get response – this is common.
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.
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. Don’t bother to send payslips.
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 rejects the complaint or makes a poor offer
If the lender says No or offers you a small amount, 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.
Give up?
Some lenders try to make your case sound bad when it isn’t. Ignore any of the following comments, they do not mean you have a weak case:
- they relied on your loan applications – see Lender says I lied for more about this;
- some loans were paid early – this doesn’t prove the loans were affordable, just that you were trying to save interest;
- loan size 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 closely;
- some loans are over 6 years old – the Ombudsman will look at these even if the lender says they won’t!
A good enough case to go to the Ombudsman?
If you don’t know what to do, ask in the comments below this article. Accepting an offer settles your whole complaint – you can’t change your mind later.
Some points to think about:
- if you are offered a refund on only a few loans, don’t accept it if you think you should have more refunded;
- an offer to write off your current balance may sound helpful … but it may be very poor if you should get a cash refund as well.
One or two loan cases are hard to win at the Ombudsman. It’s probably best to give up on one or two loan cases unless:
- the loan was large. Here is one single loan case that was won even though it was an instalment loan and the borrower had a good income. And another single loan case for a loan of £1,000. You can win cases for smaller amounts if the repayment would have been a large amount of your income; or
- you still owe money.
Don’t delay – there is a 6-month time limit after a lender rejects your complaint to send the case to the ombudsman. If you aren’t sure, send the case and let them make an independent decision.
How to send a complaint to FOS
Put in a separate complaint about each lender. There is no limit to the number of FOS complaints you can make.
Send the rejections as they come through – don’t wait until all your lenders have replied!
FOS’s “complain online” option is easy and asks for the information to set up your case.
Attach:
- the lender’s reply.
- 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.
- your TransUnion Statutory credit report
- it doesn’t matter if you don’t have the credit agreements, FOS will get them from the lender.
What happens after you have sent a case to FOS
Your case will wait for the lender to send FOS their case file and then be picked up by an investigator/adjudicator who will make a decision on it.
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 have been bankrupt unless your borrowing was all after your bankruptcy – 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 you are in a DRO now, a refund of more than £2,000 may mean your DRO is cancelled! But many payday loan refunds are less than that.
More help
Ask a question in the comments below.
Don’t use a claims management company. They are expensive and often incompetent. FOS says individuals making a complaint have a better success rate than claims firms.
Card & catalogue affordability complaints
Can you get an overdraft refund?
Could a Debt Relief Order help you?
mike says
Hi
quick question, when looking on the FO page at various rulings on cases some of them mention the ombudsman’s provisional ruling. when on my ruling there wasn’t a provisional ruling – is this where it hasn’t been looked at by adjudicator initially?
Thanks
Michael
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think the ombudsman usually issues a provisional ruling where they have changed the adjudicator’s award in some way – that then gives both parties the ability to comment. but if the Ombudsman upholds the adjudicator’s decision, then there is no need for a provisional decision as both parties have already had an opportunity to comment.
Colin says
Got a complaint rejection email from QQ yesterday about 4 weeks short of their 8 week deadline. In the detail they say they cannot consider over 20 of the loans as they are over 6 years old. Of the rest they say the amount was not increasing, so they could be afforded.
They have not considered the other parallel loans with other PDL companies nor the fact that I was insolvent at the time and they should not have lent to me as I had zero disposable income.
Payday Express has agreed a settlement of around £880.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send the complaint to the Ombudsman.
Also read https://debtcamel.co.uk/fos-time-limits-payday-loan-refunds/. As that recent article (last week!0 describes, the Ombudsman has just published a couple of important “over 6 year” decisions.
Jenn says
Hi, I have just received an email from payday UK today saying I had 13 loans with them and they have said that the first 2 were affordable but they were unable to determine the last 11 and are asking for bank statements. I had a bad gambling problem at the time and there are lots of transactions on my bank statements. Should I send them to Payday UK still or do I not have much of a chance getting a refund? The money shop offered me a refund without asking for statements. Thanks
Jenn
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well if you don’t send the statements, you won’t get a refund. Read https://debtcamel.co.uk/gambling-payday-loan-refunds/ which describes how people are winning these cases at the Ombudsman.
Sue says
Hi Sara
Just want to say thank you. Since finding this website I have had the following decisions:
£200 from MyJar refunded
£1400 from WageDayAdvance
£4308 pending agreement with adjudicator decision or they can appeal and will go to Senior for final decision.
FOS have dealt with my cases as a priority due to health reasons so all in all they took around 4 weeks from sending to FOS to getting their decision. Still awaiting results from 2 further companies.
Another response that is still within the eight weeks and awaiting Cash Genie but won’t hold my breath on them. Thank you so much
Megan Simpson says
Just had the adjudicator decision on Payday Uk. I had 14 loads in total over a 2 year period and they offered interest refunds on 4 back in March 18. It’s taken a long time but the adjudicator has ruled that 10 of the loans were unaffordable so a great result. The adjudicator has written to the business so I am just in the 2 week waiting period to see if they accept the decision. Thanks for your advice Sara
Jay says
Just wanted to share for any EPDL customers. FOS adjudicator uphelp my complaint today. Uphelp 17 of 28 loans as unaffordable. This is from 2007 to 2011. Waiting for them to respond. Thank you Sarah again for your sound advice.
Tony says
Good morning,
Just a quick update, I have had a copy of a letter sent from the FOS relating to 60+ loans taken between 2009 and 2014 from PDEX (so over 6 years) stating to PDEX that despite their objections, the FOS think they CAN look into these loans! Which is excellent news.
This complaint went to the FOS in Sept 2017 and has been with “a specialist team” since.
Hoping for the same with QQ and WDA which fit the same criteria.
It seems like things may be moving with the 6yr+ loans.
Thank you Sara for your advice and this incredible website, I will keep you updated.
Jen says
I’ve had the same with PDEXPRESS over 6 yrs sent to FOS may 17, hopefully moving forward with the 6 yrs plus now, still waiting on adjudicator decision tho, gd luck
John M says
Hi Jenn,
I had a large number of gambling transactions on my bank statements and I still got offered a refund once I had sent my statements in. Don’t be discouraged, send the bank statements and if you still don’t like their reply then feel free to take it to the FOS. I have just been refunded almost £2k from Pay Day UK after going to the FOS because the original offer wasn’t great.
K says
I’ve recently had decisions from my adjudicator in favour of myself and ready d’s agreed of 1600 from lending stream and 1000 from myjar they both got my acceptance yesterday.
Anyone any idea how long they both take to pay out?
Thanks
Sue says
My Jar paid out the very next day to me. Hope this helps
matt says
Hi All
Does anyone have any recent experience on Mr Lender replying to the adjudicator? Do they usually agree or does it get dragged out longer?
Allison says
Mr Lender rejected my adjudicator decision two days after deadline. They offered one loan – adjudicator said from 3rd rollover of loan one and 2-5. Went to Ombudsman who again ruled in my favour last week upholding the adjudicator decision in full.
Hopefully having just had a very long ombudsman decision go against them they will play ball again. Before they rejected mine they had been one of the better ones and looking on that FOS site not many of their cases do go to ombudsman. Good luck.
Jim says
Hi,
Is it required that the borrower mention to lenders in the complaint about a gambling issue.
Or do you just wait and use that as supporting evidence when and if the case needs to be referred to the Ombudsman?
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, you don’t have to tell the lender. Some people would not want to talk to a payday lender about this.
Glynis says
Hi. Has anyone had dealings with MyJar. They E-mailed me a week ago offering me a £655.89 refund and for me to provide bank details so they can deposit my refund. I sent them an e_mail with my bank details and today I e_mailed them and asked them where my refund is. They E-mailed me back saying they need my acceptance in writing which they hadn’t previous said. Anybody else had this trouble.
Mia says
Hi
I’d previously posted about 247, they have been really slow in the whole process not responding to emails and then after I’ve escalated to the fos they have ignored correspondence to supply the business file. I’ve contacted them and they’ve said that they have never heard from the fos? They also said they would be willing to negotiate with me. I’ve told them what I would be prepared to accept but now they aren’t replying again. Should I keep chasing? Will they reply eventually? Just looking for opinions and experiences please
Thanks in advsnce
John M says
Hi Mia,
247 Moneybox were a nightmare from day one. However I kept going and kept trying and eventually got exactly what I requested. Keep pushing them and keep asking them for updates.
Vicky says
Hi all
I just received an offer from MYJAR – I had, in total, 57 loans from them, every month without fail. They have agreed (in so many words) that these loans were sold incorrectly but will only refund interest and fees for loans 42-57 since loans 1-41 were over 6 years ago. Do I have a good chance to take this to the FOS and receive some of the older loans also? For reference they have offered me £311 + £97 interest for these 15 loans.
Any help would be very gratefully received!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Vicky,
sorry i didn’t see your post earlier.
I think you have a good chance – the FOS has recently published a couple of general decisions as guidance to lenders saying that it can look at these older loans, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/fos-time-limits-payday-loan-refunds/
Adam says
Hello everyone,
I have had an offer from sunny today, they are going to refund me all the interest I paid £656 + £235 8% , now I remember having to go to a debt management plan with sunny and other PD lenders so I don’t know if this is a low off, the maths add up with numbers they have sent me I just don’t trust them. Just short of £900 refund is a good offer, don’t want to sound greedy but would I get more from the FOS .
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s not a question of being greedy, it’s a question of what is right. In general Sunny are pretty straight with their offers, and if they are are refunding all interest on all loans, then you won’t get any more by going to FOS. But some situations are more complicates so it’s worth asking a few questions before you decide to accept. You can’t change your mind afterwards! Sunny would rather sort this out now than have you send this to FOS so they shouldn’t mind any questions.
Has Sunny sent you the details of all of your loans?
If they haven’t you should reply saying that sounds like a good offer but you can’t consider it until they have sent you a statement showing how much you borrowed and what you repaid for all loans.
If they have, then you need to look at this and work out if the last loan was sold to a debt collector. There could be more than one, but it typically with Sunny it is just the last one that you defaulted on. It is normally clear when a loan was defaulted and sold. But if the last loan just shows as closed even though you didnt pay much towards it, ask Sunny if the loan was sold, if so, who to.
If the last loan wasn’t sold, it doesn’t matter that you were in a DMP, all the payments would have gone to Sunny so they will all show up on the statement Sunny sent you. Just add up what you borrowed across all the loans and then add up what you repaid (ignore if that was principal, interest, charges, whatever, just add up every payment you made). If the difference between these figures is £635 then Sunny’s offer is great.
Anita says
Hi Sarah,
After 13 weeks of my complaint PDUK came back with final response. I had a loans 2009-2011. In their final response they say’ I can see all your loans are more than six years old. So for me to consider this loans I need you to tell me why you did not complain until now. ‘
Then they say if I am not happy with their decision I can escalate to Ombudsman.
Does it mean they will reconsider if they i tell them why I or is they it final response?
I will call them but would you kindly advise what shall I say.
Thank you
Kelly Webb says
Hi Anita, I had exactly the same final response and was confused as to whether they were expecting a reply, so asked the same question on here. I did reply and received the following response from PDUK within a few days:
‘Thank you for your email of the 7 September 2018, your comments therein have been duly noted.
I have looked at your file and can tell you that the decision in our Final Response Letter still stands, however if you disagree, then you still have right to refer your case to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) should you so wish.’
It didn’t make any difference in my case but nothing to lose by responding. My case is now with FOS.
David says
Hi I was wondering what other people’s experiences with wage day advance were.
Recieved my final response upholding loan 4 of 14. Basically in their response said they didn’t use credit reference agencies as the information would be inaccurate.
Are they worth negotiating with or straight to FOS?
Lisa says
Received confirmation today from adjudicator payday uk is paying out on one loan I took out in 2010!
Taken a year but worth the wait. There’s hope for all loans over 6 years.
Neil says
Hi All,
Just had a response from Ferratum saying they do not believe the loans I had with them were unaffordable as they relied on the information I supplied and I always paid back on time etc etc.
I must have paid around £2,000 in interest to them during the time I had loans with them.
They offered as a gesture of goodwill to refund me £500.
I would accept a refund of around £1,000 to avoid going to the FOS and waiting for them to look at my complaint.
I have two questions :
1) Is it worth contacting them to negotiate for a higher amount and pointing out I have a strong case , because I was continually re borrowing month after month for nearly thirty months and they should have looked more closely at my applications?
2) If i accept their gesture does this mean that I can no longer take my complaint to the FOS?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
1) you can try. Let us know how they respond!
2) you cannot go to FOS if you accept their offer.
Andy says
Good news case updates to hopefully give others hope.
Uncle Buck – Complained 8 weeks and 2 days ago. Chased today as no response giving them 48 hours to reply or I would escalate to ombudsman and seek compensation for lack of reply. Final decision letter received offering £648. I estimate I could have got around £750 so offer accepted.
118 – Got back to me today exactly 8 weeks after complaint, removing all interest from current loan – around £3200 interest removed due to rolled over loans. Happy with this decision and not pursuing any more compensation
Wonga – I was very lucky and my complaint and final settlement was just in time prior to the collapse and I received £4500.
Don’t give up – keep pushing the companies
Good luck everyone
Jane says
Great news Andy, really pleased for you!
I’m at the 6 week mark and it’s been a very interesting process. From my experience sending bank statements/credit files and additional information to support my case has certainly kept the communication open, though getting SAR or FSAR details has been difficult!Only Quick Quid responded with SAR details quickly though that claim skipped straight off to the FOS!
Hope to share good news soon, even if it’s one win out of eight!
Andy says
Hi Jane,
Ive been lucky in so much I could go back over bank statements and not need to put in the initial SAR – I could go straight to step 2 as could work out when loans were and what interest was.
I had a battle initially with Wonga disputing address, and stating hadn’t received my emails, then with Uncle Buck not replying on time but when clearly stated I would escalate to Ombudsman I received a decent offer from both. 118 were easy to deal with. I did not need to send statements/payslips or any other information.
I’m sure you will get more than 1 out of 8. I’m 3 out of 3.
Good luck :-)
karen wilson says
I believe the turnaround changed from upto 6 months wait to 6-12 months now as high volume of claims and with wonga going bust causing delays too im 5 months in with 6 claims only one of them paid out so far
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Wonga going bust will actually speed things up! No Wonga cases are currently being worked on so far as I know, so the adjudicators and Ombudsmen who would have been on those are now dealing with others.
Miss Jacqui's says
Thanks Sara
Have been back to them on Monday and they are not budging, even though i have paid back well over £1150.00 before i went into DMP and then carried on making payments which amounted to £645.00, they still insist i owe the princple amount of £474.00 just does not make any sense. I have reffered it back to the Ombudsman but it’s so frustrating as they are just stringing it out. Have seen this from Speedy cash before?
And thanks for confirming what i already suspected, i will let you know how i get on.
Paul says
After sending the initial SAR asking for details to all my previous loans to Lending Stream, Sunny, Satsuma, PDUK, WDA and Piggybank – only Lending Stream and WDA replied giving me the details. Sunny and PDUK came back stating that they’d look into my complaint even though they’d ignored my request for info and I haven’t heard anything from Piggybank or Satauma. Today was the 8 week point and Sunny (who i’d had 14 loans from in a 12 month window) came back saying they wouldn’t be upholding my complaint and also said they won’t be lending me anything in the future (charming) as I’d mentioned financial hardship during the times of the loans between 2014-2015. Lending Stream (had 22 loans from these over 2 years) haven’t replied with a decision, PDUK and WDA both came back saying they hadn’t come to a decision yet and asked for another 8 weeks! I had to get all info from old bank statements which took ages to go through. I’ve referred Sunny, Lending Stream and PDUK to the FO today with bank statements, lists of loans and included info on family members lending me money to get me out of trouble. I’ve got a lot of gambling transactions on my statements which rightly or wrongly I’ve acknowledged as an issue in my complaints to the Ombudsman. I thought I had strong cases accross the board and felt really confident but with nothing coming back successful, I’m feeling pretty demoralised actually and not confident at all now but let’s see.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“ I had to get all info from old bank statements which took ages to go through” annoying though this is, on the bright side you now know you have accurate information and you have avoided the horror of having to read PDUK’s bizarre and confusing statement of accounts!
“I thought I had strong cases accross the board and felt really confident but with nothing coming back successful, I’m feeling pretty demoralised actually and not confident at all now but let’s see.” Many cases involving gambling have to go to FOS. To the lenders your income probably looked good compared to what you were borrowing and often with gambling and loans from family some loans would have been paid off early, so it may not have been clear that the loans were unaffordable. Of course they should still have wondered why you kept borrowing…
Tony says
UPDATE
Recieved further comms from FOS on 6yrs+ loans with WDA, agreed ALL loans CAN be looked at, given the business 1 week to respond.
Only QQ outstanding now, will keep you posted.
Cheers
m says
just had a email from sunny loans
advised me total interest was £75 over the 4 loans I had that totaled £1700, they have upheld my complaint and said we felt we did the right checks to give you what we thought was reasonable to afford.
my question is should I bother going to FOS for this as its only £75 of interest I paid is it really worth it?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
that seems a very small amount of interest… it could be right if the loans were very short term, only for a few days? But otherwise, have they sent you details of the loans – how much you borrowed and how much you repaid? could you list these as there are only 4 of them?
m says
hi yes these are the details of the loans
Borrowed £1,700.00
Repaid: £1,775.85
Interest: £75.85
loan amount dates borrowed
£550.00 0.56% 26/03/2018
£750.00 0.80% 01/07/2018
£50.00 0.80% 11/08/2018
£350.00 0.80% 11/08/2018
the repaid amount
£556.16
£806.89
£51.60
£361.20
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So the £75 interest is correct. And there was a gap of several months from loan 1 to loan 2. And loans 3 & 4, whilst taken on the same day were together for a lot less than loan 2.
I doubt you will get anywhere with the Ombudsman for these loans.
Leanne says
Hi Sara
Just had a reply from Sunny, I had a total of 24 loans from them. At times I had top ups and the maximum allowed amount of 4 loans at one time.
Response “ i am able to inform you that we conducted creditworthiness checks and assessed your affordability and how you we’re managing your debts, based apon this it was considered responsible to advance credit to you”
Having said that they have partially upheld my complaint saying “ factors in place should have prevented three of your loans from being granted”
These three loans were the very first loans I applied for so I find it strange that they have acknowledged they should not have given them too me but then deemed it ok to provide me with a further 20 loans.
The offer is just over £1k, The total of interest paid back was just over £8k.
do I accept of will I have a good chance with the FOS?
Help please 😃
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That does sound a strange offer. It is probably a very good case to take to FOS – normally people dont get the first few loans refunded, but Sunny have already conceded those!
Jordan says
Hi Sara
The adjudicator up help my complaint against Capfin but they have gone bankrupt, what will happen now?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You need to ask your adjudicator. If they are in administration, it depends whether there is any money to pay refunds. If you had negative marks on your credit record, they at least should be removed even if you don’t get any money.
Jordan says
Hi I’m new to all this but I’ve had quite a few payday loans in the past on 10th August got a company to send letters to some payday loan companies for me looking for a refund…I am currently in a DMP with stepchange with about £1600 left to pay to creditors (this was £8000 last year) and I’m looking to get something back from these payday loan companies.
I’ve had the first reply back from Sunny and they have rejected my claim and just wanted some advice please. Below is what I borrowed from them and when and how much I had to pay back with interest.
21/02/2017 borrowed £400 with £714 to pay back
24/02/2017 borrowed £150 with £262 to pay back
31/03/2017 borrowed £400 with £579 to pay back
12/05/2017 borrowed £150 with £178 to pay back
They sent me a letter saying they have rejected my complaint and also in the letter included a summary of my borrowing with loan IDs etc they said they carried out their assessment of me correctly for each of the 4 loans but surely It shows I was in financial difficulty to borrow twice within 3 days.
Do I have grounds to go to the Financial ombudsman or go back to sunny directly saying I’m going to the financial ombudsman?
I’m currently waiting for a reply from QQ also, they have another 10 days before the 8 weeks is up and with them I ‘topped up’ on loans…
Thanks in advance!
Jordan
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well done on paying off the DMP – that seems to be going very well!
What does the claims company say about these Sunny loans?
Richard Barnett says
Hi all I sent a complaint to safety net credit on the 26th June 2018 had a automatic response from then to investigate the complaint I had to wait till the last day of the 8 weeks for them to come back and say that they did nothing wrong on there side but as a goodwill gesture they would pay off the last loan that I didn’t pay back of 420 and remove any adverse credit mark in which I rejected and sent it to fos on the 1st of September just had a email from Adjudicator today saying that safety net credit have just changed there offer and they are going to refund all interest and charges
Safety Net Credit said in total you’ve paid £1,478.71 in interest. 8% on this amount is £484.29, for a total of £1,963. Safety Net Credit is required by HMRC to deduct 20%, or £96.86 from the interest payment, leaving a refundable interest amount of £1,866.14.
Because you have an outstanding principal balance of £300, this will be taken off the refundable interest, leaving an amount of £1,566.14 payable directly to you.
I would like to say thank you to everyone
Still Waiting on 4 more that are with fos
Tony says
Hello Richard/ SARA,
I am considering making a complaint to Safteynet credit. I have been borrowing since 2014 with them alongside other payday loans. I borrow directly after I repay.
If I complain should I cancel the repayment option? Surely having access to my bank account they should realise the financial difficulties?
Were they fairly easy to deal with?
Thanks
Richard Barnett says
Hi tony
Yes I would cancel your repayment option.
Then start your claim to them first , it will take up to 8 weeks for them to respond.
They rejected my claim with a good will gesture which I declined And sent it straight on to fos.
I didn’t even know an adjudicator was signed to it but then had an email a few days ago saying that safety net contacted them with a change of offer which was all my interest back and 8%.
Then they took the balance off what I owe as I stopped my repayments.
Hope this helps and definitely go for it!
Glynis says
Hi. Has anyone had problems with MyJar paying out after accepting their offer. Thanks
Rachel says
Yes me I am still waiting I emailed them again yesterday :( how long have you been waiting?
Rachel says
Okay just checked my bank again and it’s just gone in, so maybe check yours again? I have waited at least two week, good luck
Laurence says
Update – Final response letter from Mr Lender
Fully rejected and offered me 0.
I had 7 loans over nearly 4 years. One loan I paid in excess of £2,200 interest alone on £700 borrowing.
Sending my case straight off to FO.
Can’t say I can fault them with responding, very efficient and quick to provide all docs.
Uncle Buck I’m now about to come to week 8 with zero response to my SAR I issued them in August (7 separate emails sent)
Chased them threatened ICO even wrote a scathing review on Trust Pilot about them. (They replied on this within hours of course) but have now gone completely silent again.
Awaiting responses on WDA, PDUK, QQ
Thanks again Sara for all help and a great site.
African Queen says
Hello,
I wanted to give a quick update.
After submitting my complaint against Lending Stream to the FOS in May, I eventually got a ruling in my favour yesterday for 3 out of the 4 loans. The FOS have given Lending Stream until the 26th of this month to respond. I will post any updates as I get them so hopefully give others an idea of timelines.
One another note, I am still awaiting a decision from FOS on my complaint against MyJar. When I checked my credit file yesterday, MyJar have registered a late payment record which has brought my credit score down by 138 points. I have written to MyJar as well as the FOS as I don’t believe that that they can do this whilst the case is with the FOS. MyJar have always known that I had escalated to the FOS because I informed them. Thisis so unfair as I have been working hard to increase my credit score and was succeeding.
Sara, any thoughts on MyJar’s conduct?
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
technically Myjar are correct – you have missed a payment. If you win your complaint, the last loan with the balance will normally be one of the ones being refunded and the late payment marker will be removed.
There isn’t a way out of the payday loan trap of unaffordable loans except by not paying the last one.
Mike says
Hi, how long should I wait after sending the original complaint before chasing them up about it? I sent 7 on the 26th August. 2 have been sorted. Another 2 have said they haven’t managed to resolved it within 4 weeks but should be resolved within another 4 weeks. However, the other 3, I haven’t received any acknowledgement or anything at all since I emailed the complaint. Is that usual? Should I email them again asking what’s the progress of the complaint?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you have a list of your loans, just wait for the 8 week point
Blinky says
Hello!
Looking for some advice if anybody is able to help me please! I have had numerous loans with about 13 different lenders from 2014 – 2018.
I was enrolled in a debt management plan from late 2016 – June 2018 with a beginning total of just under 4K. (I didn’t finish paying it & they stopped my plan)
April this year got a loan with uncle buck. Didn’t make any repayments & have complained about irresponsible lending, they have sent their final response today and not upheld my complaint.
Some things they have said:
During our assessment of whether you were able to afford the repayments, we took into account the monthly income and expenditure you supplied on your application. You indicated on your application that you had enough disposable income to pay the loan back. The figures you provided did not highlight that you were experiencing financial difficulty at the time.
As there is no independent way to check a customer’s expenditure, we expect customers to provide us with true and accurate information in this regard. I do not find it unreasonable that we relied on figures you provided as part of our lending decisions.
Do these reasons really give them grounds not to uphold my complaint or do you think I could send it to FOS?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well first have you complained about the 13 other payday lenders?
One loan cases are not easy to win. How large was the loan? And your income? Would your credit record have shown a lot of recent problems? How accurate was the information on your application form
kevin thompson says
Hi Thanks Debt Camel
just got a refund from Mr Lender for £478 using your template letters
they was very polite think i could have gone for more but this was a reasonable offer
GM says
The are trying to fob people off and their stance has been quite arrogant hence why they are currently number one in the FOS “complaints ranking”.
Anita says
Sarah,
Just had a final response from Uncle buck. I had 5 loans between 200-500. At the time of my application I was few years in DMP. They did not uphold the complaint saying they did a credit check, internal check…
They also said ‘I consider it prudent to highlight that you repaid all the loans either on or earlier than the repayment dates as set out in the loan agreements. We don’t consider this action indicates financial difficulty, on the contrary, we consider it indicates these loans were affordable for you.’
I sent email asking for reconsideration with no chance for success. My question is do I have any chance with Ombudsman due to the fact the loans were settled.
Appreciate your comment and advise
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The fact the loans were settled is irrelevant – unless there were very large gaps of months between loans send this to FOS
Anita says
Hi Sarah,
Quick update. I called UB today as sent a request for reconsideration. I spoke to complaints department. They said I lied apparently if now I am saying the loans were unaffordable. We were talking and hitting ping pong ball. I said it would be beneficial for all of parties as Ombudsman will look into my complaint. They offered good will gesture £235. I was torn apart as paid around £700 but accepted the offer.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
UB can be pretty unpleasant :(
It’s now settled, and you have some money. It’s not a bad result, it’s very unlikely you would have got all £700 back
Stuart says
Does anybody know if it is worth trying to negotiate with Ferratum? They have rejected my complaint but offered to settle my loan as a gesture of goodwill. Even though I haven’t accepted the offer they have settled the loan anyway. They even stated in there final response that I worked for BT which I dont and earned £1750 per month which i dont and when I corrected them they apologised and admitted the error.
Lisa G says
Hi Sara / all,
3 days before my 8 weeks was up I received my SAR from both PayDay Uk and The Money Shop. Most loans are unfortunately over 6 years old for both.
My questions are; with The Money Shop I had taken out cheque loans (you give them a cheque, they give you the money minus interest and they don’t cash it until you say, so if you roll over the interest they take the interest and hold the cheques). In total I gave £3350 in cheques and paid £3091 in interest between April 2010 and June 2013 (many rollovers). Has anyone had success with this?
Secondly; looking at my PayDay Uk SAR I had 3 loans with them borrowing a total of £1320. I rolled these over many times and paid £2687 in interest… this seems colossal, over twice the amount borrowed. Is / was this normal for PayDay Uk back in 2010? Again, has anyone with this scenario had success with them without the FOS?
Lastly, I also had 7 loans with Payday Express paying £2550 in interest (again all but 2 were over 6 years old). My claim has recently been rejected, they rejected the last 2 loans and wouldn’t consider the first 5. I’ve gone back to them to ask them to reconsider in light of the recent FOS ruling and have argued that had all 3 companies communicated together they’d have seen the financial hardship I was in. Has anyone had any luck this way or have they gone straight to the FOS? I know it’ll probably end up with the FOS however it would be nice to avoid the long wait!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes lots of people have got large refunds in the end from the Money Shop – but they aren’t goog at making direct offers.
If you rolled the PDUK loans a lot that sounds quite normal :(
I am afraid most complaints with loans over 6 years have to go to FOS. the lenders know many people will settle for poor offers on the under 6 year loans rather than wait a long while.
I am hoping that from now on things will speed up, not just because of the over 6 year decisions but because the FOS is also being very clear that lenders should be paying out more on long chains of borrowing.
Adrian says
Just wanted to say thank you to this site. My Jar agreed to refund over £2100 and a couple of others have agreed to refund me smaller amounts while correcting entries on my credit file all without even needing the FOS. Great site and good luck everyone with your claims!
John M says
Hi All,
I met my MP last night to discuss my loans over 6 years with QQ and Wonga and he advised he believes loans from over 6 years should be in the process of being resolved as per your advice Sara. He believes that people are likely to get 1p in every £1 for Wonga but this is not confirmed as yet.
He is going to follow up my QQ case with various people which is very helpful.
He also discussed gambling online with credit cards as something he wants to get abolished. I know not for this site as such but a positive step never-the-less.
Mia says
Hi
Bit of a moan more than anything! Just so fed up with waiting!! I’ve had claims against 10 companies, hundreds of loans between 2011-17. Payday uk and mr lender upheld complaint all the rest now with fos since may/June. None have come back. I’ve tried contacting the companies again see if we can negotiate but none willing to budge. The fos saying they don’t know when they will be assigned and definitely not in the next month!! Have already waived all the over 6 year loans. Just feeling really deflated, I thought I had quite a good case with most of the loans but fact they aren’t willing to negotiate now worries me. And it’s just taking so long with the fos I know they have a backlog but god!! Anyone got any advice thanks
Carl says
Morning All,
Just had my first ‘win’ – 247 Moneybox are refunding me £500, I worked out the most I could have got would have been £800.56 plus 8% interest.
1 down, 7 to go.
Thank you again for this website Sara
Tom C says
I had my first and only win with 247 Moneybox, have to say, they were really responsive, all loans were over 6 years old and after a bit of negotiation they offered £550 (think it would of been £700 max), accepted and paid within a few days, took less than 4 weeks from original complaint.
Had two rejections (final response) – escalated to FOS.
And waiting to hear from 6 more companies – 8 weeks deadline is end of this month.
Paul says
I’ve seen quite a few people state that they have negotiated with some of these companies and have received offers. I’d be interested to hear what negotiating techniques people have used and general wording.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
My tips:
– put in a standard complaint asking for everything. Don’t try to negotiate to take less from the beginning.
– then wait until you have been sent an offer – don’t go back and offer to try settle lower to get a complaint sorted quickly.
– it’s not worth bothering if you get a total rejection or a daftly small offer – £120 when you have paid over £2000 in interest say. Only negotiate if including one or two more loans, or them adding 8% would mean you accept the larger offer.
– if there is a balance outstanding, check you know exactly what they are offering and read https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-refunds-defaulted-loan/
– know your facts. Work out the gaps between your loans, work out which loans were rolled, if there were any late payments, how much interest you paid on each loan etc
– point out any errors in what the lender said (“You said there was a 14 month gap between loans 12 and 13 which shows I wasn’t dependent on you. But during this time I made two loan application to you which were rejected.”)
– make a reasoned argument – not “I’ll settle if you up the £250 offer to £500” but “I think you should also be refunding loans 3 and 4. Loan 3 was taken out only 5 days after I repaid loan 2 and was a lot larger than loans 1 and 2. Loan 4 was a bit smaller than loan 3 but was taken out the same day as loan 3 was repaid.”
– if you want to argue that the lender should have checked your credit record, supply a copy of your Noddle credit report with the email and also set out in detail what they would have seen ” When I applied for the third loan in November 2016, my credit record would have showed that I had 4 outstanding payday loans and that I had missed payments to credit cards and loans in the previous 6 months.”
What doesn’t work well – pointing out it will cost the £550 if your case goes to the FOS so it will cost less to settle. You may think this is logical, but the lender knows they would soon be broke if they agreed to every complaint on that basis.
Jen says
Hi Mia it’s just a waiting game, I had 1 with sunny timeline complained to them end 17, offered really bad offer jan 18 sent to FOS end jan 17, adjudicator decision July 18, paid out aug 18, I sent in all my statements & all paper work, credit reports, final response etc in early feb 18, I didn’t hear anything to say assigned to adjudicator until I got their decision by e.mail
Jen says
I also asked the adjudicator if they could pick up other 1 sent to FOS same time, they did that after a week or 2, they were under 6 yrs, my 1s over 6yrs were sent may/June 17 and only 1 of them is picked up 2 weeks ago, just sit tight I know they are even busier now more than ever, just send them all the info from your side that’s all u can do, keep smiling 1 day these companies will no longer exist hopefully 😀
C says
Mine went in March and still waiting
What I will say though, when we took these loans (I know I didn’t) did anyone think we’d get this money back.
That’s what I go back to in my head. Although we were hard done by, at least we have an opportunity to make things right again…….. it’s just a wait.
I’d rather wait for money back rather than have no opportunity at all. Just a thought
Jen says
Totally agree C the refunds I’ve had so far had a major impact in my life, found this site in may 17 after a post on Hotukdeals, Sara is doing an amazing job pointing us all in the right direction, I’m still checking and waiting a year and a half in, still a few to get looked at but I’d nought before I started this process, I’ve been able to pay off some debt and treat my kids to new bikes I thought I could never afford 😀
Paul J says
Hi,
Mr Lender offered me a reduction of £1 today regards my affordability complaint – stated that they did’t agree but as a gesture of goodwill they would offer me a £1. Have advised I am referring to the FO.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
£1 ? Seriously? That now gets the prize for the lowest ever offer. Did they give a reason for only offering that much?
Paul J says
Sara,
They stated that they carried out all the correct checks for all of my loans in accordance with their lending policies. However, they later stated in the letter than they could have reviewed and taken steps to not allow the last loan to have been approved and that further assessment questions should have been asked. They stated for this reason they would reduce the remaining balance on the last loan by £1, as a gesture of goodwill..
Claire says
Hi,
I’ve had a response from WDA, i only had one loan with them in 2009 but thought it was worth a shot as at the time i ended up paying it back in £5 instalments i was struggling that much. They have issued a final response of a flat out no, basically saying due to the extensive media coverage since 2013 relating to payday loan complaints i should have been aware earlier about complaining and now the loan is ‘time barred’. i thought they may decline on this basis.
Do you think it is worth taking this one to FOS or not to waste my time? I do have other complaints just at lender stage at the moment, this is the only final response I have had so far but I would imagine I will be going to FOS with a few others anyway. I’m just thinking it will be difficult to get the bank statements this far back and might be waste of time?
Thanks!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you set about getting your old bank statements – they will probably be needed for some of your complaints if not this one.
Wageday Advance are wrong that this old debt is time barred, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/fos-time-limits-payday-loan-refunds/. But one loan complaints are hard to win. Your bank statements may show this loan wasn’t affordable, but that isn’t enough to win a complaint with FOS, you also have to show that WDA should have known this. With one that that will be very hard. It’s up to you but this one doesn’t sound worth pursuing to me.
Jay says
Hey Sara,
Firstly thanks for all the information here.
I complained my MYJAR, I had a total of 10 loans with them, the first three were under £250, then four for £300, then two for £200 as I tried to get my finances in order, this didn’t happen and I had to take out another for £500 all loans were taken a few days after my paydays consistently after I’d payed back the loans.
The £500 I couldn’t pay back and the debt was passed on to a collection company. I paid them £290 and I currently have £210 outstanding to pay.
MYJAR have offered me the £290 refund only for the last loan I couldn’t repay plus writing off the £210 I still owe, plus removing this from my credit file.
Do you think this is a good offer from them? Or do you think I should be taking this to the FOS?
Also, there’s nothing mentioned in their response about 8% interest, if I do decide to take their offer, how should I go about getting this? Or is it already added?
Also can I ask what the FOS actually look for when checking bank statements?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can I ask about the last loan – you said you borrowed £500, you have paid “them” (was that Myjar or the debt collector?) £290 and still have £210 outstanding – is that correct? Because it suggests there is no interest on the last loan?
Jay says
My last loan was for £500, the total to pay back was £620, when I contacted them to say I had financial difficulty they offered me a repayment plan and the total to pay back on the plan was £751 in one payment. I couldn’t pay that and gave them a token of £23 payment to set up another plan, so after that the total outstanding was £728. I paid myjar £400 in total then the plan failed again and went to a debt collector – Secure recoveries. They contacted me and said the total amount outstanding was £500 and they added another £100. So I needed to pay them £600. I paid them a total of £325 and the plan failed again. I was then contacted by another collector called DRS that said my balance outstanding was £210 (this is the outstanding amount).
When MYJAR contacted me to offer a refund they said the £290 was the interest I paid on the last £500 loan and I still had £210 outstanding to pay them which they would write off.
I should have been clearer in the first message but I would appreciate your help as this is so confusing for me I’m getting this data from my emails.
Thanks for your response
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Last loans where there were difficulties can be very confusing!
It sounds as though Myjar are offering you a “full refund” on the last loan. I can’t see if they have included 8%, the numbers don’t seem quite right – if they haven’t then they will usually add this if you ask them to.
Is this a good offer? Not really! You borrowed consistently and Myjar should have stopped and asked questions about this at loan 4 or 5 I would suggest.
Do you know how much interest you paid on loans 4-9 (that is EXCLUDING the complicated last loan?)?
Jay says
Hey. Thanks for that, the total interest for 4-9 is £301.60. All of the loans were paid on time.
Do you think I should be going back to Myjar to tell them it’s a poor offer and ask them to consider these loans too? Or go straight to the FOS. Or any other advice is greatly appreciated.
MATT says
UPDATE
After chasing FOS i have received this…
Initially, Uncle Buck had until 3 October 2018 to reply to my assessment. However we’re aware that the business is experiencing some delays, so this was extended by a further two weeks.
As such if I don’t receive a response from them by Friday, I will be preparing the complaint for an ombudsman to look at.
I hope this answers your concerns, but if you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Q says
Matt, I had this exact same response regarding unclebuck. They never replied after the additional 2 weeks. It was then sent for a final decision from the ombudsman on 28/08. I spoke to the FOS yesterday regarding this and was told it was very unlikely it would be picked up this year! Hopefully they will reply to your adjudicator if not prepare for a long wait. Fingers crossed they don’t go into administration aswell.
Tara says
So it looks like I’m going to FOS with myjar.
Got email today saying they don’t believe I couldn’t afford my loans with them because I paid back all my loans early other than the last one which I defaulted on. They believe my payment of £517 a month was affordable whilst on benefits. Said I wasn’t borrowing sporadically even though I borrowed from Wonga often then paid them and when I repaid early I got next loan the same day often within 10mins of paying it off. There’s no way they done full credit history checks each time as the loans were instantly given. They don’t think I borrowed more and more each time even though my last 5 loans went from £1000 to £3500.
Anyway can you advise me on how I go about sending to FOS please.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“They don’t think I borrowed more and more each time even though my last 5 loans went from £1000 to £3500.” that is a rather large factual error. I suggest you go back to Myjar, point this out and ask them to reconsider. But send to FOS after 5 days if they don’t agree.
The article above ^^^ explains how to send a case to the Ombudsman.
Laurence says
Hi Sara,
I’ve been chasing Uncle Buck now for nearly 8 weeks following my SAR. (No reply despite lots chasing)
I sent them all my details (account number with them, full name, previous address, mobile number etc) so they could locate me.
I also sent them email correspondence regarding some of my loans.
Today I finally received a reply.
“I can see the emails below are from 2010, we were using a different system back in 2010 and we are only allowed to hold records on file for a period of six years so this could be the reason we are having difficulty locating an account with the reference number you have provided”
What would happen if they cannot locate my account which is what this sounds like?
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The best thing is if you can get your bank statements from this period – they can be used to recreate the details of the borrowing from UB< showing what they paid you (the loan amount) and the details of what you paid them.
Jen says
Sara just a quick question, what is a reasonable amount of time for a payday lender to remove any defaults from my credit file, it’s been over 3 months since I agreed through adjudicator with sunny and still showing defaults, last updated by them 4 weeks after they agreed with adjudicator, sent another complaint e.mail today to them. Just wondering how long on average it should take them to correct it. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Before now! I suggest you tell your adjudicator.
mike says
Hi
So Sunny agreed yesterday and have offered me a good sum. I sent the signed agreement back via email to my adjudicator yesterday morning. Does the adjudicator usually confirm they have received it? and what the next steps are?
Bill says
Hi mike,
How many loans did you take out if don’t mind asking, I had 25 over 15 months, total borrow £5000
mike says
27 over a few years, they ruled 8 to 27 in my favour.
Grant says
Hi
Has anyone had a case declined by an adjudicator saying it was affordable? I was borrowing everytime upon repaying within a couple of days.
They have got some of my figures wrong but wondered if anyone got this overturned. I was gambling at the time which is where the money was going so don’t know if worth adding regarding this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How many loans did you have from that lender?
Is this a final decision from the adjudicator? If not, you need to go back and argue your case. They do change their minds!
Read https://debtcamel.co.uk/gambling-payday-loan-refunds/ and the FOS cases linked to there. Some of those may give you some ideas about what you can say to your adjudicator – you can’t say “In this case FOS decided” as previous decisions do not affect future decisions. But you may find some of the words that were used are good ways to explain your situation and why the lender should have realised and stopped lending.
JD says
Hi
So I just got off the phone to the FOS. They mentioned that regarding one of my cases (so far) that the company being complained about has told the FOS that some of my loans were over 6 years old and that I didn’t complain within 3 years of the loans. That was all stated on the rejection letter that I received from the company back in August. They said that they don’t know yet whether my case will be picked up because of this reason. I did say that I only became aware I could make these types of claims recently and mentioned that’s why all the other complaints I made are grouped together. Is there any reasonable way I need to prove I didn’t know about these time limits because I definitely did not about making complaints like this until I found your website.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can’t “prove” this. Read the “FOS will ask people how and when they found out they could complain” section in here https://debtcamel.co.uk/fos-time-limits-payday-loan-refunds/ which shows what you are likely to be asked. At the moment you are just talking the an early stage case handler, not an adjudicator.
Wazza says
Update – Hi Just had an offer from safety net credit – can anyone advise if they think i should accept? ——–
Having investigated your complaint fully it is our view that our original decision to lend to you was
justified. However, we consider that allowing further borrowing in October 2015 may not have been
appropriate.
Ensuring credit is affordable is a key priority for this business. That is why we, unlike other lenders,
use real life and real-time data to perform our affordability assessments. This data is provided
through a secure, read-only access to an applicant’s real time online banking transactions. If an
applicant does not agree to provide such access their application will be declined.
We use the transactional data to help us develop a clear picture of an applicant’s financial
circumstances. It allows us to see what income an applicant has and to determine from their
expenditure how much uncommitted income they have. From this we can make a decision on
affordability based on real behaviour and not, as is the case with other lenders, self-certification or
estimated spend.
The transactional data that you granted us access to when you applied with us for an account shows
that you had an average salaried income per month of £1,181.28 from ” between
June 2015 to August 2016. You were also in receipt of regular bank transfers which increased your
monthly income.
Wazza says
As well as analysing income, our affordability assessments also take into consideration all regular
monthly outgoings.
After taking this and all other outgoings into consideration, your average monthly disposable income
was in excess of £335.82 at the time you were approved for your initial credit limit of £250.From our assessment of your bank transactions, use of payday or short term loan accounts was
deemed affordable, and so these repayments were reflected in our calculation of your disposable
income.
On the basis of the above we determined that you could be provided with credit and set an initial
credit limit of £250.
Once you became a customer, we continued to carry out affordability assessments on a weekly
basis. These checks are to ensure that any potential credit remained affordable.
For running account credit, the test of affordability is whether a borrower who took the whole credit
limit on day 1 as a customer could afford to repay that amount in a reasonable period. In your case
it is clear that your disposable income meant you could easily repay the full amount within 1 month.
As such the credit was clearly affordable.
We also performed a full credit check with information provided by CallCredit. From these checks
we can see that you no CCJ’s or defaults and a low overall debt. There was nothing to suggest that
you should not be accepted for credit. This information was used alongside your disposable income
to deem your credit worthiness.
Wazza says
However, on review, we can see that there was a change in your circumstances due to an increased
spend on gambling in the months prior, we feel that allowing further borrowing from the 13th
October 2015 may not have been in your best interests.
In circumstances where the Financial Ombudsman Service finds in favour of the complainant they
normally propose that a full redress of interest plus an 8% statutory interest repayment is made to
the customer, with the principal outstanding balance being deducted from this amount.
Therefore, we propose that we provide you with a redress of all the interest that you have paid since
13th October 2015 (£334.58), plus statutory 8% interest (£65.14). In line with HMRC guideline we will
deduct 20% (£13.03) from your statutory interest and pay this to HMRC, meaning that you will not
have to declare this redress in your tax returns.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
When did you start borrowing from them? Was your credit limit increased? Do you still owe a balance?
Wazza says
Started borrowing 10/7/2015 and no current balance. The limit was increased to 500.
Thanks for the help
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So then from Oct15 sounds OK then? Have you checked their figures, as the interest calculated from then sounds quite low?
Wazza says
Seems odd as the figures they have given me total interest = 449.07. And the interest from the 13/10/2018 which they agreed from = 228.70 however they said the total interest from this point was 334?