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?
Sar says
Hi Sara
If I have to send a case to the ombudsmen when I send bank statements do they have to be in paper form? Or can i send them as a attachment in a email?
Neil says
You can just send them as an attachment in your complaint to them or by email at a later date if you don’t have them when logging your complaint with them.
Andy says
Hi, I had a an adjudicator ruling all 12 payday loans and one open ended loans I took out with QQ were unaffordable. QQ comeback and offered to pay loans 1,2,3 which I rejected. The adjudicator sent my complaint to the ombudsman on the 3rd of September. Does anyone know any rough time scales how long it takes for the ombudsman to pick up cases at the moment? Thanks Andy
Mike says
Hi
I did see Sara reply earlier that it is averaging 3-4 months, sometimes sooner sometimes longer. Mine went with the ombudsman on the 19th of September. so fingers crossed sooner, but prepare for longer.
Annie says
I have the same issue with QQ, adjudicator ruled on loans 3-5 and 11-19 QQ came back and agreed with only loans 3-5 which I rejected, it has been in the ombudsman queue since 20th July and not been picked up yet. 14 weeks so far but at least it will be accruing more interest. Here’s hoping it sorted this side of the year.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Andy, Mike, Annie, in case any of you are worrying whether QQ will go bust like Wonga, they released profit figures yesterday and their UK operations sound as though they are doing very well, more lending, more profits, no warnings about the cost of refunds.
Bill says
Hi Sarah,
Think my question will be relevant to other people on this site! The FOS have asked me to forward bank statements to support my complain re: irresponsible lending, the loans began in 2007 to 2011, although banks in the high street are very rare, I had to travel 20 miles to find a Santander, they were very good, although I had no proof of sort code or account number they can go back as far as 1987! (Sorted) when downhill after that, went to NAT West, can only go back as far 6 years, no good to me, went to RBS, told me can’t find details as don’t have bank details, although if I did they could only go back again to 6 years, any suggestions or anybody else had same problems?
Lisa G says
In branch NatWest can only go back 6 years. Using advise on this site I used their online “chat” service, gave my details and they were able to go back to when the account was opened (2010) so I’d imagine they can go back further than that even.
Bill says
I don’t have sort code or acc number which makes it a bit difficult so they told me, than again who does keep old statements
Just tried the online chat on NatWest, had no chance, just told me I had to visit a branch
Lisa G says
I didn’t either but using my name and address each bank were able to search for the accounts.
I also called some payday loan companies and asked them which bank account they paid the loans into to give my memory a jog.
I’ve had a total of 12 bank accounts that I needed to chase statements for and didn’t start with any details for the most of them but by going to banks and calling these companies I’ve managed to get everything (although I’m still waiting for some to arrive)
Sean says
Hi Sara
I am in the process of collating information for the Ombudsman in relation to two companies, Quid.co.uk and Think Finance.
I know that they are now trading under the Sunny umbrella. I haven’t seen any decisions in the FOS to date that actually mentions these two companies by name. I was just wondering if you have heard of any cases which mention these two companies by name or is is not possible to pursue them anymore?
Thanks!
Claire says
A quick question, I have now received DSAR info from Uncle Buck, Myjar, 118118, Avant Credit and Bamboo (the later which came by post, about an inch and a half thick!) Do I now need to contact them again, or wait for the 8 weeks to be up from my initial complaint to see what they come back with ?
Many thanks.
Rob says
Hi,
Anyone got any recent payouts from MyJar? How long did it take for them to pay after you accepted offer and gave bank details?
Cheers
Jane says
I wish Rob!
Just had mine knocked back at the 8 week mark. I’ve appealed for them to reconsider and sent further information.
Good luck and hope you get the payment soon.
Jane says
Good evening all,
Well today marks the 8 week point so if I may update you on progress ( or not!):
PD UK-need further time
My Jar-Not upheld-have appealed but, otherwise off to FOS
Quick Quid-with FOS adjudicator
Speedloan Finance/Herbert Brown-No response 3 emails
Likely Loans-Good communication entered into payment plan
Amigo Loans-no information received
Wonga-last loan written off (£985) due to incorrect affordability checks. Other loans in creditor queue
FLM Quick-closed no redress available
I won’t give up!
Henry Mcdermott says
I got the “we need 3-4 weeks letter , am I best waiting as on the 1st week that will be 8 weeks when I put the compliant in ?
Adam says
Just received a letter today from FOS saying they have now asked the business to send us the information they have etc etc
Does this mean an an adjudicator has picked up my case or just simply a standard letter that they’ve asked the business for information
Thanks.
Jason says
Standard letter
will prob be few months in my experience
Rachel says
Hi sara, do you always have to give bank statements or is payslips at the time you borrowed okay?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The ombudsman will prefer bank statements – payslips are not normally an alternative. But if you can get written confirmation from your bank that it cannot produce the statements, then payslips will be a help instead.
HA says
I managed to log into lending stream account and look at account history and noticed that I took out over 20 loans between 2015 to 2016. Is this irresponsible lending. It seems I had to keep taking them out to get by and pay other bills etc I have been trying to access statement account to look at what I had to repay but it doesn’t allow you to open it.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is a lot of lending! A loan was unaffordable if you couldn’t manage to repay it on time and get through without borrowing again – it sounds as though the loan repayment left you short so you kept taking more loans? That is a good basis for a complaint.
HA says
Yes and if I remember they kept sending emails to say I could borrow more.
I’ve managed to get bank statements back dated to 2011 and they are listed on there from lending streAm around that time 2011 too but this isn’t on the history statements account of their system. So god knows how they let me keep having loans after loans.
I sent a complaint but heard nothing from them 7 and half weeks but as they changed their email I thought it might have gone into spam box and deleted.as.i delete all spam, so was wondering was it worth emailing to chase my complaint up?
Thanks Sara for your help in all this.
Tim says
Hi Ha
I had a case that sounds very similar to this against lending stream, they didn’t uphold the complaint and when sent to the ombudsman they upheld all loans after loan 4. Definitely worth taking to FOS, takes 5 minutes and you have nothing to lose :)
Good Luck
KM86 says
Evening,
I have used payday loans for approx 8 years. to help with shortfall of bills and to cover everyday expenses. I would take out one loan to cover another at times. I was also in an IVA up to last year. I used mutliple payday loans. I still currently have 6 payday lenders that i am paying back on a repayment plans as I cannot afford the full repayment. These are H&T, Sunny, Quickquid, Wageday, Mr Lender, Lending Stream.
Tonight, I have sent my first email to all of them as a first step complaints procedure for irresponsible lending.
I just really hope I’m not going to cause issues if they become funny with the repayment plans i currently have in place?
Any advice debtcamel would be much appreciated.
Thanks
KM86
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What happened to your IVA? If you carry on with the repayment plan, I can’t see why the lenders would want that changed.
KM86 says
The IVA completed its duration. The payday loans were taken out whilst the IVA was in place.
I don’t want debt collectors after me from the payday loans so thats why i have set up payment arrangements for a minimal amount
Sara (Debt Camel) says
There is a chance that any refunds may be claimed by your IVA firm – there aren’t many cases so far so I don’t know how common this is.
Paul M says
Hi, new to this page but I’ve found it invaluable in terms of constructing my complaints and finding a way to do so that doesn’t involve paying a huge percentage to claims firms. Thank you so much to everyone involved.
So.. I’m around 6 weeks into the 8 week window now for the 8 complaints I’ve lodged and I had my first response today (from Lending Stream). I had 8 loans with them in just under 2 years, with interest totalling £2300. Their response has baffled me slightly. They’ve conceded that some of the loans were “probably unaffordable” and have offered me £780 as a settlement. The weird thing is that the loans they’ve specified are the *first* 3. By that logic they’re claiming that the subsequent 5 loans that quickly followed after were the affordable ones? My salary/circumstances didn’t change a much at all in that time.
I’m not sure what to do next. Instinctively I feel like they’re trying to fob me off but at the same time I don’t know if I can realistically expect much more than that?
If I were to push back and argue the case would the next step usually be to go straight to the ombudsman or is it likely that they’ll offer a bit more in the hope of avoiding that process?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You are quite right that it is very odd of LS to decide the first three were unaffordable but the next five weren’t. Lending Stream don’t normally respond to people try to negotiate an acceptable offer. £780 isn’t a dreadful offer but it sounds as though you could get a lot more – I suggest you send the case to the Ombudsman.
Neil says
With how mine went, the adjudicator classed the one loan that sunny said they lent irresponsibly seperate to all the other loans. They said the first loan which sunny said they shouldn’t have give they should stand by their word, then loans 2-7 were affordable but 8-26 they should repay me the interest back
Miss J says
Hi
So Quick Quid Not upheld……. Amigo Not upheld….. and Sunny very small offer.
Just preparing everything to send to FOS, I know it’s a claim per Lender however do I need to send Bank Statements and credit report per claim?
Also what period do I cover regarding Bank statements?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Your bank statements are needed from 3 months before the first loan to when the last one was repaid – or up until now if there is still a balance. If you attach them and your credit record to the first complaint, they will be shared across the other ones.
Miss J says
Thank you Sara,
Luckily I managed to get bank statements before Halifax sold my overdraft debt on and closed my account.
——————————————————————————————
EDIT – Miss J went on to win all her QQ, Amigo and Sunny cases at the Ombudsman!
Mark Flower says
Hi,
I had a ridiculous number of payday loans from various companies but they were between 2008 and 2011. Am I still able to make a claim? All my loans were repaid in full and on time every month,.
I also don’t know any of my account numbers nor have bank statements going back that far, am also now with a different bank. None of the loans show up on my credit report so what personal details should I include in my email requesting the companies send me in my initial email to them in order for them to trace my account?
Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes you can claim – older cases take longer.
You need to try to get your bank statements, going as far back as possible, this is possible even from closed accounts.
Name address then, email that you have used then if different, NI number, date of birth.
Mia says
Hi
I’ve got a complaint against wage day advance all under 6 years. About 3 weeks ago FOS said it would be allocated in the next month. I asked for any updates yesterday and they’ve said it’s been moved to the manager. Is this normal?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
In that case there may be something unusual about your case – could you think what that is? Did WDA reject your complaint or make a poor offer?
Eric says
Sorry if this is in the wrong area.
But is there a cap on amount having to pay back on payday loans?
I initially took out a loan of £200, and fell behind and ended up having to set up a payment plan. Once I have paid this off I would have paid back the £200 capital + £325.70 in interest? Can they do this?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How long ago did you take the loan out? the regulator introduced a cap of 100% interest and charges for payday loans (but not loans over 12 months old) in 2015.
Sar says
Hi Sara
I need some advise I have told you I put in a complaint to sunny about 22 loans taken over a 6/7 month period well I also put in a complaint to lending stream as I had 3 loans of them as well the last 2 loans I had while I had loans with sunny. The 1st loan was for 100 2nd was for 600 and the last was for 100. They have got back to me today (only sent the complaint 2 weeks ago!) Saying they conducted proper affordability assessments and even broke down the 3 loans and income expenditure for me what I want to know is shall I bother going to the FOS with this as the interest is only 80 pounds but I also had loans with sunny and 247money box (Haven’t put in a complaint to 247 yet but will be)?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So the £600 loan was very short term?
Sar says
Yes I have just checked the bank statements I paid the loan off after a month so do you think it’s worth taking to the FOS due to it being only a small amount of interest and only 3 loans?
Lee sharratt says
Hello. When u send bank statements to the fo about a complaint. How long before the pick it up and deal with it? Only been two weeks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
3-5 months from when you sent the complaint to FOS at the moment.
t.puscas says
hi Sara
its been 8 weeks today from the time i whrote to LS mi claim .ive recived an email today that say the folowing
{ This is in reference to your correspondence dated 30th August, 2018.
We understand that you want the entire details that we hold for you.
We would like to inform you that we have attached the Statement of Accounts along with this email, which will contain the payment breakdown respectively. In order to open the attachment, you need to enter Miss. McLaughlin’s date of birth in DDMMYYYY format. }
i dont know Miss McLaughlin ,but managed to open the attachments whit mi DOB .
and thats it noting else
what do i do now ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you ask them when you will receive a response to your affordability complaint.
t.puscas says
ok thank you
t.puscas says
I called LS and asked about a response ,they say they canot tell me a date but thei whill get back to me whit a response .
I got to make one more payment off 24.00£
You recon they ar waiting to collect that payment and after refusing mi complaint
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, I doubt they are that well organised! I suggest you send the case to the Ombudsman.
Jo says
Hi Sara
I just wondered if I could ask for your help pls?i have today received a second final response letter from Pduk, in the first they told me 3 loans were over 6 years, 1 was lent responsibly and 13 they were unable to determine so requests bank statements and my credit report, they then wrote to me saying they were upholding 4 of the 13-they think the last 9 were affordable but they then included this statement:
Our records confirm that some of your loans were included within our regulatory repair program (RRP). As a result you have received a refund of some of the interest you paid on these loans in addition to 8% statutory interest on this amount. Your refund of £115.54 was processed to you on [insert date here] and we have therefore deducted this amount from our offer.
This leaves a refund of £61.13 to be repaid to you.
I have no idea what they are talking about?i have never had any money back?ive tried to email and call but can’t get through! Are you aware of this ‘program’ furthermore it seems suspect to me that the 4 loan that are being upheld were the only ones included in this program therefore meaning they have to pay me as little as possible!i have already forwarded to the FOS but wanted to see if u could shed any light!
Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry I missed this query. Payday Uk did have a small automatic refund program in 2016, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/wonga-small-refunds/. You should tell the ombudsman that you never received any money in this.
It isn’t really worth arguing with PDUK about this because you have to go to FOS for the last 9 anyway. But send them a clear email telling them you never received anything.
Keith says
Hi Sara I’ve actually had another one today from peachy as below
The last Loan went to debt company which I settled last nov just short of 500
You have had 4 loans from Peachy.
The first loan of £100.00 was taken on 30/08/2011, extended five times and the repayment was made on 25/10/2011.
You did not come back for a new loan for over a month.
The second loan of £100.00 was taken on 17/12/2011, extended twelve times and the repayment was made on 23/04/2012.
The third loan of £130.00 was taken on 09/05/2013, extended five times and the repayment was made on 25/10/2013.
The fourth loan of £250.00 was taken on 29/10/2013 and was extended four times following which you informed us of needing help with the instalment and a repayment plan was arranged. Unfortunately however you did not make the payments on time and as we were also unable to reach you to discuss the reasons behind the missed payments, the loan was subsequently sold to Lantern UK Ltd
They have offered me
We are therefore prepared to partially uphold this complain in regards to loans 3-4 and are willing to offer you a refund of £416.10 and to write off your outstanding balance with Lantern UK Ltd.
We would also be willing to remove these loans from your credit file.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
HAve you added up how much interest you paid on each of these 4 loans?
Keith says
I will dig out all the stuff.
Keith says
Hi Sara another one at it’s 7th week
What do u think ?
Also what would the refund be after 20%
tax or is it in the 507
Our Findings
Between 2nd July 2010 and 10th May 2012, you borrowed two loans from Lending Stream with Loan IDs (xx1 and xx2). One loan was successfully closed. Below, we highlight the affordability checks conducted on each loan which was offered to you.
Loan xx1 was approved for 215 GBP on 2nd July 2010 based on the following affordability information and checks:
· Your stated monthly income was 1100 GBP and you confirmed that you were in full-time employment
However, we note that the overall affordability of this loan was possibly marginal, and therefore, this loan may have possibly been unaffordable for you.
Loan xx2 was approved for 375 GBP on 10th May 2012 based on the following affordability information and checks:
· Your stated monthly income was 1200 GBP and you confirmed that you were in full-time employment
· Your stated monthly expenditure was 400 GBP, leaving you a monthly disposable income of 800 GBP
I’m basically being offered 507 which broke down
335.40 interest paid
171.94 — 8 percent
Then what looks like 20 percent charge man tax.
And wipe all credit
Sara (Debt Camel) says
guess what I am going to say … how much interest did you pay on each of these loans? Unless you know that, it isn’t possible to tell if an offer is good. Are they just refunding the first loan or the second or both?
Gemma says
Sorry if it’s already been mentioned. I have fallen into the payday loan trap. The loans I have paid off I have made claims against them for irresponsible lending. Claims with QQ and Peachy have been upheld and I received £2800. Others I’m waiting on. I have a few companies I haven’t claimed against yet as I am still making monthly payments. Can I still request a Subject Access request and proceed with a claim for irresponsible lending even with me still making my monthly payments
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes in theory. However, in an affordability complaint, you are saying you can’t afford the repayments without borrowing more… so it is harder to argue that the loans are unaffordable if you are still happily making payments! It is much simpler to stop making payments and ask for a payment arrangement at the same time as making your complaint.
But in your case you may have a better option – use some of the redress from QQ and Peachy to pay off the outstanding balances – this doesn’t weaken your complaint as you are using an unexpected windfall to clear the debts, the lender could never have expected this when they lent to you so their lending may still be unaffordable. By paying off the balances, if you win your next complaints you will get the redress back again, and if you don’t, you will have minimised the payday loan interest you are being charged and had your credit record unaffected.
Which are the lenders you still owe money to?
Lucy says
Hi Everyone
8 weeks have passed and still no final response from Wage Day Advance and Lending Stream. Typical email response from Wage Day Advance stating that it could take up to another 8 weeks before I receive a final response. Have send both to FOS this morning. But my question is has anyone had to wait 16 weeks for a final response yet?
Jo says
Hi Lucy
I am currently waiting for my final response from WDA…I also receive the additional 8 week email and I’m currently at the 12 week point, I fully expect them to take the full 16 weeks😓 but I have already forwarded to the FOS
Jo x
John says
Same here.
Lucy says
Thanks for the update Jo. Please post if you hear anything 🙂
Rachel says
Hi,
I am the same still waiting for WDA I am on the 12 week mark so have to wait another 4 :|
Rachel says
I haven’t sent it yet because I thought I would see what they say, same with payday uk, so far i have sent sunny, QQ, P2P and Satsuma to the FOS. I had an offer from MyJar of 1118 which they paid me and I am waiting to hear back from 118 and likely loans. Like everyone else says thanks for all your help Sara I come on this website everyday and I like reading through all the comments
Jasper says
I had the same email from WDA. I did think that asking for another 8 weeks on top of the 8 weeks I have already waited is pretty outrageous, but I haven’t sent it to the FOS yet as I don’t mind giving them a little more time, and my guess is that sending it to the FOS won’t give me a response within the next 8 weeks anyway.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s up to you, but if WDA don’t give you a good response after 16 weeks, you are then 2 months behind when you will get this resolved by FOS.
Craig says
Finally got an update from the FOS yesterday about my Quick Quid complaint, having chased them a couple of times to find out what was going on. QQ have told them all my loans were taken out more than six years ago, so they can’t consider them, which is completely untrue! I had 23 loans and 10 were within six years of my initial complaint (July 2012 to Jan 13, then Jan 14 to May 14). I have gone back to the FOS and told them this, voicing my displeasure that QQ have lied to them! I also said I’m willing to drop the first 13 loans, if it speeds up the complaint and gets some kind of resolution.
Graeme says
Has anyone had issues with QQ paying out an agreed redress after an FOS ruling?
The 4 week allocated time for this to be paid out elapses for me today and i have had no contact whatsoever from them since accepting their offer.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you told your adjudicator?
Graeme says
Yes Sara
I spoke to him a week ago and let him know I had no contact from them. Tried to speak to QQ directly but they don’t speak to you when the FOS is involved and only refer you to your adjudicator. He wasn’t keen on doing anything until the 4 weeks had elapsed but is now sending an email to chase up.
Just wondered if anyone else had a similar experience.
I had a payday uk FOS complaint offered a week past on Friday and it was resolved and paid out within 5 days.
Thanks for all your help here. 9 claims in total with 5 now resolved and £7k paid out.
Rachel says
Hi Graeme, I’ve just had a final offer from PDUK and Payday express, so I printed off the form and filled in my bank details ect, posted it off. Just wondering if they give you a date for payment, or does it just appear in your bank.
Thanks Rachel
Geoff says
Just appears! Pretty quick actually, within the week with me
Rachel says
Thanks, its just arrived in my bank, I only sent the form off on Monday. Can’t believe it .
Jojo says
I had this I rang QQ myself confirmed everything bank details etc and they paid out 48hrs after .
Lee says
The fo have asked me for a copy of my credit file
And bank statements
The loans are from 22/3/14to 1/10/15 so obviously need bank statements for this
I have clear score but my credit report doesn’t go back that far so how can I get one for 2014/2015
Graeme says
Hi Lee
I couldn’t get the credit file for the period they had requested but explained that to my adjudicator and I have now had 3 cases out of 3 ruled in my favour with the bank statements alone.for the first case the adjudicator asked plenty of questions before making a decision but for the two cases after I didn’t speak to the adjudicator at all and they pretty much used the exact information provided in the first report.
Hope this helps
Sara (Debt Camel) says
FOS doesn’t need an old credit report, hardly anyone has these. Your current report will do BUT get a copy of your Noddle report https://www.noddle.co.uk/ not ClearScore, as more payday lender report to CallCredit (which shows on Noddle) than Equifax (which shows on ClearScore).
Mike says
Hi
Sunny have agreed with the adjudicator and the settlement was sent to them last Monday. I haven’t had any contact from sunny yet despite emailing both elevate and sunny so they don’t even have my bank details to pay. If I ring sunny they say they can’t deal with it over the phone and give me the elevate email address. Anyone else had this and anyone have the best contact for sunny/elevate.
Thank you
Nina says
Mike – I have.
Mass complaints handler from FOS emailed to say they were offering 1k with their attached offer letter, I emailed to say I want to accept the offer.
The complaint handler did not reply to my email, so I phoned FOS and was advised to contact elevate directly.
The same as mike, Sunny gave an email address – I have emailed them, with attached corrspondance from FOS and the offer letter attached and no response.
FOS have advised they are closing my complaint now as i’ve said i’ll accept the offer… This has annoyed me as I thought they would help me acquire the money. I now feel like I am just hanging and that elevate will not contact me.
What do I do?
Jen says
Hi mike check your settlement letter from adjudicator, mine said to provide bank details with settlement letter confirmation, which I did to the adjudicator direct rather than sunny, the adjudicator will pass these on if you forward them to them rather than sunny.
Jen says
Write a trust pilot review I did that as I didn’t hear from them as if by magic I had contact with them including payment date within 2 hrs
Nina says
Hi Jen! I will give this a go! I emailed them direct with account details!
Nina says
I’ve had an email saying they have transferred funds to my account and have removed details from my credit report.
Thank you so much Jen for your tip today. I’m over whelmed.
Mike says
Well had a reply via trust pilot from sunny
Hi there,
Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding to your emails. You should have a response from us this afternoon.
Best wishes,
The Sunny Team
Nina says
Brilliant – i am currently writing my review. What reference number did you use? I don’t seem to have on from them on their letter?
mike says
i just used anyone i could find. Jen said she used her email address. or you could try using your complaint reference from the FO.
Jen says
E.mail address just to link your account
Nina says
WOW. I’ve received an email response already. I cannot thank you enough Jen.
Please let us know how you get on Mike and i’ll repy back with mine!
Jen says
Well done, do check noodle in a few weeks to check they have removed any negative markers, they ‘forgot’ to update mine
Jen says
Hi mike in addition they do have 28 days to complete this but check your credit report, mine still had defaults 3 months after settlement agreed, I sent pm/dm Facebook & Twitter and wrote another trust pilot review, asking for compensation and them to fix it. More magic an e.mail frm p.baldry himself within hrs, apologised for this £50 compensation within 1 hour in my bank (after I confirmed bank details again) & credit report fixed in 7 days. Only last week. Gd luck nightmare company not gd at e.mails or phone but social media & review worked
Mike says
He has just emailed me asking for bank details!!!
Nina says
Oh my!!! That was quick – did you Trustpilot sunny?? As I couldn’t find a trust pilot for elevate?!!!
mike says
yes, and Elevate emailed before Sunny responded on trust pilot. I have said if we can resolve this in a timely manner i will consider removing the review.
Jen says
Nina n mike gd luck, hopefully sunny will learn from errors made and hopefully they will speed up communication a bit with people who complain in the future, I read it on this site about someone doing a trust pilot review, tried it and it does work.
Mike says
Sunny just paid – thank you debt camel for all your help.
sam says
Hi, I’ve had an email from an adjudicator regarding a payday loans complaint I put in about 1st stop loans. I submitted this to FOS in Feb so happy to be finally moving forward with it. The loans were in 2011 and 2012 and when I initially complained to 1st stop I just got your loans were taken out more than 6 years ago we don’t keep the details reply. She is asking me -when did a realise that 1st stop had done something wrong and what promoted me to realise this? – what is confusing me is that she then says it is important to note that I am not asking you when you knew you could complain, but that is when I realised they had done something wrong otherwise I would have complained in 2012!? Any advise much appreciated
Sara (Debt Camel) says
There are no right or wrong answers here, just say what happened to you.
Say what it was like while you were borrowing. You seem to have had a lot of payday loans from different lenders, did you feel under a lot of pressure to borrow more from one lender to repay another? If there was a clear reason why this started (illness? loss of job? gambling?) mention that or did it just start small and get out of hand? Did you blame 1st stop at this time for lending to you or did you think their loans were helping you survive and it was your fault for being in a mess?
If you ever had debt advice, did the debt adviser mention irresponsible lending or affordability complaints? Say when this was and who the advice was from. Or if they never mentioned this, also say that.
And say how and when you found out that a lender should have checked the loans were affordable. Was this from a friend or did you see Facebook ads from claims companies telling you this or how?
Ben says
Hi all, first post on here but wanted to give a realistic update to the new posts on here.
I started my claim 1 year ago last week against quick quid. After a couple of months this was escalated to the ombudsman after QQ refused my claim outright and went into a que. I then had to chase constantly with the adjudicator as all contact agreed from her was never upheld, this went on until July this year when she finally agreed with my complaint and progressed on to an ombudsman. I then joined another que, and have been waiting since. I was told that final decisions would be made 2 weeks ago however I am still chasing as the ombudsman is not available.
The process has been frustrating to say the least, HOWEVER I am now at a point where I should receive around £2000 back before Christmas from following the steps on this website and persevering. This is not a fast process by any means so don’t expect it to be, but the reward back at the end is hopefully worth the wait!
Good luck to you all!
Diane says
Just an update on my claims, cash euro net , pduk and pdexress been with FOS since March, I agreed to drop the 2 with qq over 6 years, I rang last Saturday to see if they had been picked up which they said they hadn’t yet, on Tuesday I got a email from an adjudicator saying they had sent a letter to casheuro net (qq p2p) saying they had to pay back all the intest on all my loans 3/7 and take off any negatives on my credit score, they never mentioned to them I had a bit of a gambling habit for anyone that is worried about gambling on there bank statements, they have till 6 th nov to reply, fingers crossed they agree, hope I get the same with pduk and pdexpress.
matt says
update
I too went for the trust pilot option this afternoon, reporting Mr Lender’s lack of communication as they are a week over the deadline given. 2 hours later I had a phone call and then an email offering me a refund in line with the adjudicator’s decision! They also said once agreed they would process in 1 day as opposed to the usual 28 days and apologised for the “confusion”.
Louise says
Hi I’ve just done the same on trust pilot with The Money Shop.Let’s see if they respond soon,hopefully it will work for me too..
Rachel says
Hi sara can you pls help me again.
One of the companys ive asked for a refund have came back and emailed me this.. (ive sent them my payslips)
Please be aware that is a customers responsibility to ensure that the figures provided on their application are accurate and true, otherwise, this could be seen as a deliberate misrepresentation, misstatement or omission of financial data for the purpose of misleading the lender. The T&Cs that you agreed to, mention fraud and a fraudulent application; ‘If you give us false or inaccurate information and we have reasonable grounds to suspect fraud or we identify fraud we may record this and may also pass this information to FPAs and other organisations involved in crime and fraud prevention to prevent fraud and money launderin
My wage is low. I added this my tax credits and child benefit together and put this on application for income. And this has got me scared i didnt think i was commiting fraud 😮
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sounds like you made a completely accurate application and the lender is trying to scare you off continuing. You can go back and point out why they are wrong or just ignore them and send the case to the Ombudsman if they have rejected your complaint.
(Incidentally, there are many good reasons why applications may be inaccurate, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/. And despite all the bluster from the lenders, no one has ever had problems from this. It makes it harder to win an affordability complaint if you only borrowed a few times, but not if you kept borrowing.)
Rachel says
Okay thank u sara. Your a life saver
Lou7 says
Anyone know,roughly, how long the wait is when your complaint goes to the fos?
Nicki says
I believe it is taking between 3 and 6 months at the minute. Mine have been with them since 16th July and have not been allocated to an adjudicator yet, they are ridiculously busy at the minute so it’s just a waiting game. They will get back to soon asking for bank statements etc so get them ready
david askew says
Hi all,
has anyone had any luck with PDUK/PDEX?
Rachel says
Hiya, I emailed them 2 months ago, and received an email back on Friday saying I am getting £363 back from one, and £1500 from the other.
Only sent the one initial email off, and they sent me a final offer reply back.
Now I just have to wait and see how long the money takes to go in.
Yes, that’s the same email I used for them. Good luck.
matt says
UPDATE
After my review on Trust Pilot Mr Lender have been whipped into action it appears….
As requested, please see below your refund breakdown:
Fees repaid: £231.00
Interest repaid: £4,066.53
8% calculation: £1,766.01 (Please note there is a 20% tax deductible which we will submit to HMRC which is £353.20
8% compensation received: £1,412.81
Total refund: £5,710.34
Baring in mind Mr Lender originally offered me £580 quid to go away I think this can be considered a great result! The time taken has been a test of patience but thanks to this site, Sara and the FOS I am now seeing an end to my debt misery.
Steve says
That’s amazing! Well done Matt!
What sort of things are you writing on Trust Pilot to kick them into action? I’m tempted to do similar with MyJar as they’re taking FOREVER…
matt says
I wrote
recently had a complaint upheld by an adjudicator at the FOS for unaffordable lending which Mr Lender agreed with. However they have dragged it out over a week past the deadline and still haven’t made an offer for the correct compensation. I am sure if they were owed the money they would be hounding me for the debt.
They called me within a couple of hours after I put it up. All the reviews on there for some reason were very positive so my one stuck out like a sore thumb and obviously worried about people reading it and making complaints themselves for unaffordable lending!
Jen says
Well done Matt, they do seem to take notice of reviews
Claire says
That is a fantastic result Matt! Well done.
I am still waiting on cases being assigned an adjudicator. I know it will take time, but seeing peoples positive outcomes on this site
really does help keep hopes up!
My main one with the adjudicator is Lending Stream, which the FOS asked for some extra info on yesterday.
QQ and P2P, being over six years old are still being looked at.
Wonga, all on hold.
Sunny, have sent them affordability complaint 3 weeks ago.
MyJar not upheld, but was only 1 loan of £400.00, so not sure that is worth pursuing.
Uncle Buck sent me all the DSAR info, not heard anything else.
118118, Avant and Bamboo, still waiting on their initial responses, after getting DSAR info back from all of them.
I have collated a list of all the loans taken out over the 2012-2018 period.
It is quote apparent there was a pattern/regular borrowing. Actually quite sobering when you
see them all listed in print. A total of 82No. loans – totalling £22,205 !!!!!
I have sent this list to all the companies I am complaining to also.
Best of luck to everyone.
Claire says
Do you think it is worth pursuing My Jar for 1No. loan through the FOS?
Or agree to their repayment plan?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
1 loan complaints are hard to win but it may be worth trying as you have a balance. When did you borrow this? Was your application accurate – if it wasn’t it’s not worth pursuing a 1 loan case? Was this a payday loan to be repaid the next month, or in installments?
Claire says
Hi Sara,
This was taken out in July, On an installment basis.
matt says
Hi Claire
I have a complaint against Lending Stream that the adjudicator upheld over 2 weeks ago. Lending Stream haven’t responded so I am expecting it to drag on even longer and go to an Ombudsman fyi :-(
Sara (Debt Camel) says
have a go at them on Trust Pilot!
matt says
Hi Sara
I did that the same time I did the Mr Lender review. No response so far.
Paul says
I’ve just had my final response from MyJar. They haven’t upheld my claim is the short of it. Massively disappointed by it. I’m having no luck with these claims whatsoever. I had 4 loans with them and included bank statements, credit report and a list of loans during the times I had loans with them and stated my outgoings, incomings and outstanding debts at the times of these loans which all show my outgoings were more than my incomings every single month and shows how I was borrowing from other lenders every month in an attempt to stay afloat. I keep saying I’m confident with these but this one I was really confident on. Sigh.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Off to the ombudsman!
GM says
Same here Paul although I had nearly 30 loans with them, they only upheld one, so I’ve sent to the FOS.
I see a trend where companies are now rejecting complaints more often, maybe in the hope of putting people off. I thinks the payday loan companies are losing a bit more money than they anticipated
Lou7 says
Is there any way of hurrying 247 moneybox into issuing a refund? My complaint was upheld by the adjudicator but 247 didn’t reply so it’s gone to the ombudsman now! Any info would be appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Try leaving them a bad review here: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/247moneybox.com
Stevie C says
I have had an adjudicator uphold my complaint with Safetynet Credit and gave them 2 weeks to reply although i haven’t heard anything as yet? Has anyone had experience with SNC dealing with adjudicators decisions?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If they don’t reply, or don’t reject the decision, try leaving them a 1 star bad review on Trustpilot https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/safetynetcredit.com. That worked with a different lender (Mr Lender) yesterday.
Adam H says
Hi all, not completely sure if this has already been asked or posted, so i do apologise in advance.
Since mid 2016 ive landed myself in the PD loan trap, ive had a total of 15 closed loans with lending stream, amounting to around £1200 in interest, with 5 still open. Ive closed 5 with QQ with interest payed been around £360, with a loan still being payed off to them. Ive closed 4 loans with myjar with interest of around £715 been payed, with still an active loan to pay. i’ve had numerous loans with sunny and have emailed them for my cost of borrowing of the closed loans, as id like to know how much interest ive payed but still have 4 active loans with them. These active loans are completely ruining my paycheck, in essence it is my stupid fault, im just wondering would i even have a case to fight, or should i just bite the bullet and struggle through…?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You have to get out of the payday loan trap asap even if you don’t get a penny back, or your life will be wrecked and stressful until you do. Put in complaints to all the lenders you have used including those you are still using. Where you still have a balance outstanding ask for an affordable payment arrangement – if they won’t co-operate with agreeing an amount you really can manage without having to borrow any more, the just cancel your CPA to them and stop paying anything.
Adam H says
Thanks for the rapid reply, in regards to complaints, where should I start, I’m sorry for hassle just want to make sure I start correctly
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Read the article above ^^^ these comments!
You don’t have to do them all at the same time. After you have done the first one the others will seem easy.
If you have the dates of the loans and know how much you repaid, you can skip Step One.
Also read https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-refunds-defaulted-loan/ as you still owe a balance on some of them.
Good luck.
Baz says
Update on quickquid complaint-
08/08/18 initial complaint letter sent, 24/09/18 gentle reminder they had 10 days to respond, 27/09/18 final response/rejection received, 27/09/18 sent to fo, 29/10/18 missed call from fo, 30/10/18 spoke with assigned adjudacator, they have contacted qq and received similar letter to my rejection letter, adj has gone through my bank statements and i answered questions adj had on these.
Seems like i have got lucky getting assigned an adjudicator so quick, however i know this process can still be dragged out so wont get carried away. Quickquid very quick to get back so i feel they think i dont have a case. I feel like i have a good case however so be interesting to see how it progresses.
Wagedayadvance 8 weeks up tomorrow. They asked for futher 8 weeks. I have said to be fair i will give them one week then will send to ombudsman.
Myjar have rejected claim on last day of 8 week period (only 3 loans, but in the middle of 26 loans from other companies) this will go to ombudsman today/tomorrow.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Some QQ complaints do seem to be going through faster – long may it continue. Fingers crossed you get a good result.
Pamela Wilson says
I’m almost a year from when I first complained about quickquid. Mines on hold with the ombudsman as though none of my loans are over 6 years, quickquid is saying that they did the correct checks etc and contesting the ombudsmans way of doing things so mine and hundreds of others are on hold until they can come to an agreement
Baz says
Yes it is positive it was assigned so quick. I have had 2 separate conversations with adjudicator going through my finances today. They said they also have received what they asked from quickquid. I asked time frames and was told there are no timeframes. It could be 2 days. It could be a few weeks. Does anyone know the process they go through now and had similar calls with adjudicator and can suggest how long i may wait? Im hoping its not still months to wait to get adjudicator decision.
Mike says
Is anyone aware of the hold up between quickquid and the ombudsman? and how long these disputes generally last. Looking at the FO’s website i cant see any rulings on QQ since the middle of September.
Pamela Wilson says
The policy issue relates to the loans that you took after 2015 and the affordability checks that were carried out by the business at the time. There is some dispute between the Financial Ombudsman Service and the business about whether we think these checks were thorough enough, or not. And this is why the business did not accept my original findings for the loans you took with them.
We are trying to resolve this issue directly with the business to ensure that they are aware of our approach to assessing these complaints, and to avoid delays on similar complaints affected by this issue.
(This is from the ombudsman, the adjudicator previously responded in my favour as I had about 20 loans in the last 3 years with quickquid. Mine was picked up by the ombudsman 12 weeks ago and unfortunately mine and most other people’s are now on hold because of quickquid contesting)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ah yes, QQ are trying to argue that as they changed their lending policy in 2015 and the FCA “approved it” [I am never sure in what detail that could possibly be have done] then they shouldn’t pay refunds for borrowing after that point.
It is an argument Wonga tried for ages and routinely failed with.
It’s not a very good argument. It’s like passing your driving test – it doesn’t mean you will never get a speeding fine!
Baz says
Interesting pamela. All my loans are after 2015. In my case then it is likely that if the adjudicator finds in my favour, nothing will happen until the above has been resolved. So I could now be in for the long haul also.
As Mike had asked, any ideas on how long these disputes take to be resolved?
Veera mohan says
Hi
I put in a complaint to moneybox247 for refund as I had 3 separate loans with them and defaulted on the last one had set up an arrangement to pay it off which I’m still doing so, they rejected my claims week ago but today have said as a gesture of goodwill they will write off the debt what should I do
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This may be an ok offer for only 3 loans, it depends on the details. Do you know how much interest you paid on the first loan? On the second? The last loan, how much did you borrow and how much, if anything, have you paid so far? Also were the loans straight after each other or were there big gaps?
Veera says
Hi this is all the info that I have
an 1
Advance date: 07/01/2018
Principal: £60.00
Repay Date: 26/01/2018
Repaid Amount: £69.60
Outstanding amount: £0.00
Loan 2
Advance date: 12/03/2018
Principal: £100.00
Repay Date: 26/04/2018
Repaid Amount: £136.80
Outstanding amount: £0.00
Loan 3
Advance date: 26/04/2018
Principal: £175.00
Repay Date: Not repaid
Repaid Amount: £80.00
Outstanding amount: £202.40
Total amount borrowed across all loans: £335.00
Total amount repaid across all loans: £286.40
Outstanding balance: £202.40
Mark says
Veera,
If your figures are correct I’d snap their hand off!!!!
The MAXIMUM you could be awarded by the FOS is £46.40 (the interest from loan 1 + 2. As you are yet to pay any interest in loan 3, this will be ignored).
Yet they are offering to write off loan 3, which is £95 (after interst and repayments have been removed).
So that’s a brilliant offer even if you add a couple of years 8% interest which the FOS would likely award if you won
That is if your figures are correct and there aren’t any “extraordinary” circumstances which you think could result in the FOS awarding you a refund of interest AND capital. This is rare.
Kate Bancroft says
Hi all, so I have claims in with uncle buck (3) , lending stream (47) sunny (40) and satsuma (2)… I escalated to the FOS without realising I had to wait 8 weeks.. anyway so far I have had quite a lot of communication via the ombudsman asking for statements etc and any final responses… so far had declines from satsuma and myjar. Does this mean it’s already been picked up at the FOS or will I have to wait another 3-6 months from the final response date? X
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Early contact with FOS is usually from someone whose job it is to get cases ready to be looked at. They want the final response , statements and credit record from you and the case file from the lender. When all those are there, it goes into a queue to be picked up by an adjudicator.
Suzi says
Hello Sara,
Cash Euronet UK ; my adjudicator said 8 of the 9 loans should be refunded with all the usual detail In the final decision they said the business has failed to provide any evidence of checks etc. The business came back with an offer on 3 loans which was just under £3000 but I sent a ranty email to adjudicator saying it’s not really the stage for negotiations if they are in the wrong, then they are in the wrong. My adjudicator came back today and said that the business advised they won’t be paying on any post 2015 loans, has anyone else had this?
“The business have actually told us they are not offering settlements on any loans provided post 2015. The reason for this is that they believe they conducted fair checks from then onwards. As the business’ stance on this will impact numerous consumers, we are investigating on a wider scale whether we agree with their argument or not. We will get back to you once the issue has been looked into fully by our ombudsman team, however at the moment I don’t have any sort of timeframe for how long that will take”
So frustrating. Like many others I was due thousands from Wonga and now this!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, see my comments above to Pamela about an hour ago.
The difference between Wonga and QuickQuid is that QuickQuid have an American parent who has very good recent results. They said “Third quarter UK revenue increased nearly 20% compared to the same period last year, primarily driven by strong growth in our installment loan product. Loan originations rose 17% from Q3 of last year, led by robust new customer growth. And while complaints related expenses have increased, you can see there, it has had little impact on Enova overall, given our significant scale.” And they are hoping to grow more with Wonga and possibly other lenders exiting the market.
David Cunliffe says
My complaint wasn’t upheld by lending stream but they cant take in to account my gambling problem at the time they say it was affordable by the information i gave them shall i take it to ombudsman will it look bad on me for gambling?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Read https://debtcamel.co.uk/gambling-payday-loan-refunds/ which has some actual decisions form the ombudsman involving payday loans and gambling – it’s good news if you borrowed a lot from Lending Stream.
Tim says
Hi David,
Lending Stream didn’t uphold my complaint and said it was affordable and I borrowed a lot from them, the ombudsman found in my favour on all of them after loan 4. The way I understood the response from my adjudicator, they factor in the gambling as an expense that LS should have checked if you were constantly borrowing from them – Good Luck
B says
Hi,
Complaint to 247 Money box back In august and they agreed to remove all credit entries from my file and refunded all but £200 of the interest. At the time, was feeling really fortunate to reach that stage with them. 8 weeks later, entries are still appearing so i contacted them to ask what was going on! they said they had done it their end so should appear soon, contacted them a week later to say it still hadnt been done and they asked me to dispute all of them on my file. they then came back and said “Just to confirm, we agreed to remove only the negative reporting and that was only relevant to 2 of the loans”
Firstly, that’s a lie and i’ve sent them proof of an email stating quite clearly “As a further gesture of good will we will remove all credit entries from the CRA’s” and secondly, none of the loans had any negative reporting on so i’m not even sure what they’re referring to there.
As they haven’t held up their side of the bargain, am i now able to raise this issue to the FOS? (i’m not interested in any further redress, just the matter of the credit file entries). Also, do i need to raise another complaint with 247 before i can go to the FOS (If i am able to).
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can take this straight to the ombudsman as they haven’t done what they said they would and it’s more than 8 weeks since the original complaint.
FOS will normally only tell a lender to remove negative entries. But your argument here is that they said clearly that they would remove all the entries and that is the basis on which you accepted their offer. Also they have messed you around since then, saying they had done it when they clearly hadn’t.
Also why not add a bad review for them to Trust Pilot: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/247moneybox.com
Steve says
Ok I’m at a bit of a loss with MyJar. After initially rejecting my complaint and me sending it to the FOS, they’ve now emailed to say loan one was unsuitable and will refund interest on this, but loan two was affordable.
How do they work out that if the first one wasn’t suitable, the later one would be suitable even though it was taken out a week later?!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Was the second one a lot smaller? Was the first loan still running when they gave you the second one?
Steve says
Nope, first loan was for £250, which was paid on the 29/3/18, then took out a loan for £550 on the 3/4/18…they’ve said they’ll use the refund of £158 on the first loan to offset against my outstanding balance, then as a gesture of goodwill wipe the balance of £86 that would still be outstanding.
I’m just unsure how the second one was affordable if the first one wasn’t?
Luke says
Hi all,
I had a loan with Safety Net Credit, about £420pm. Then it slowly got increased and for the best part of 18 months, I was paying £700+ (the original amount and interest) on payday then withdrawing again the same day either the full amount or in 2/3 lump sums, this happened for just under 18 months.
I was in financial hardship not long after the original loan, but had they checked my file they would have known this, also I think it should have been flagged up that I was borrowing like I was.
Does anyone think its worth me putting in for a refund?
A bit of advice for anyone reading,
Since 2014 I’ve paid off £20k worth of debt and now only have £6k to go. The worst thing I ever did was deny that I was in trouble, if you are struggling I really cannot speak highly enough of StepChange and their DMP’s. Its been a very long journey full of regret but the end is in sight and it wont last forever. Also I never told my wife about my debts and kept it from her for years, biggest mistake of my life. I only plucked up the courage to tell her two weeks ago and wish I had sooner, the weight that was lifted off my shoulders and the worries about hiding my debt went overnight, she was annoyed that I had hid it, but she was more upset thinking about how I had burdened it all this time. Debt is a serious problem and can cause you mental health problems, swallow your pride and speak about it I cant emphasise this enough. Lastly, It wont last forever, remember that.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like a good complaint against SNC. Do you still owe them any money?
StevieC says
Your story is very similar to mine. SNC rejected my complaint almost immediately. Although after referring them to FOS the adjudicator has ruled in my favour
Anders says
I had a similar situation borrowing month after month, I complained and got all interest I had ever paid from opening my account plus 8% back within a month. I borrowed between Aug 17 – Sept 18 with about £900 interest over this period.
Claire says
I have a current complaint in directly with Sunny, still waiting on their decision.
I had two current open loans with them, (although 28 in total over last few years) one was paid off last week.
The other current one still has a small balance on it.
I just logged into my online account with them and it tells me my account has been closed.
I hope this means that they have come to a decision in my favour.
Will keep you updated when i hear more.
Emily says
Hi, I’ve had something similar with them.
I had 40+ plus loans with them over a 4 year period, the interest paid totalled nearly 5k. They low balled me with an offer of £700 and to wipe my outstanding balance of £800. I declined the offer and stated I would take it up with the FOS and thought no more of it. Then when payday rolled around I saw my regular payment hadn’t been taken so I logged onto my account and saw my outstanding balance was 0. My account has now also been closed.
So they may be about to offer you something, but if its too low then definitely don’t accept! Its nice to know now that no matter what the ruling I have at least managed to get £800 back :)
Thanks
Emily
Chris says
I’ve had 32 loans with wageday advance all small ranging from £80-250 between 2011 & 2015 after 8 weeks they asked for another 8 weeks to resolve the claim do you think I have any chance or should I go to the fos
most of them loans had several rollovers should they pay out they were asking for another 8 weeks because of a serge of complants
B says
They done the same to me and then came back 10 days later saying they wasn’t upholding my complaint as they didn’t legally have to do credit checks and therefore would have had no idea about my financial situation.
Hopfully they have no excuse for not upholding yours as the sheer number of loans was evidence enough you were in financial difficulty
Laurence says
I’ve just gone over the 8 week point with Wageday.
They’ve asked for more time as they are inundated with complaints.
I sent off to the FOS and they acknowledge it within 10 days.
I’d def say get your case off to the FOS
matt says
UPDATE
It appears Trust Pilot has worked a second time and whipped Uncle Buck into shape! They were well over a month over the deadline and a negative review it seems had them accept the adjudicators findings last night at 1827PM, a few hours after I posted it!
Lets hope they pay up quick now
Laurence says
I had exactly the same with Uncle Buck. Refuse to reply for weeks on end. Posted a negative reply on Trust pilot and they responded within the hour
Laurence says
Hi Sara,
Just wanted to say a massive Thank You.
I accepted Quickquids offer yesterday afternoon of over £5,000. I could certainly have got a lot more had I gone to the FOS but for the limited hassle I had (only sent a few emails and no need to obtain old bank statements etc or wait months on end for the FOS.
Note to others, I read on here how QQ can be very slow at paying out.
I accepted their offer at 4pm yesterday on the provision they deposited funds in my account by midday today or I’d reject it and go to the FOS.
Needless to say funds were in my account by 10am this morning in full.
jack dabney says
Hi I’ve been reading up on all of your comments and this sounds hopeful.
So I took out loans from 2015 to 2017 with wagedayadavance, PDUK, Wonga and QQ, paying one off with the other and stuck in a vicious circle getting phone calls for late payments and then they would offer me higher loans again and again! This has ruined my credit and caused lots of stressed could someone please run through the steps of how to start a claim? do I go straight to the FOS and if so what do I write to them?
Any help would be greatful thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Read the above article^^^
That has the steps you need to take. As your loans are recent you probably have the email confirmations (so you know what you borrowed and what you repaid). and it should be easy to get your bank statements. Both of those help a lot. You probably know enough to skip step one and go straight to a full complaint in step two.
It’s a seperate complaint to each lender. Each complaint is more powerful when it focusses on what that lender did, eg ignore your previous late payments, rather than your general situation.
It sounds like you don’t owe them any money at the moment. Did you get out of the trap by taking a large high interest loan?
Colin says
Hi Sarah, got rejection from QQ, so submitted to FOS on 19th October. Didn’t even get any confirmation. at the time but this morning got a letter from the FOS through the post. They have picked up the case and asked the company for there perspective of the case. At the time I took out the loans I was desperate and in an IVA. I mentioned this in my complaint.
In the response from the FOS they have asked me to confirm if my IP has an interest in my claim. This is how I intend to respond.
None of the loans were included in the original IVA proposal and all were after the IVA start date. My IVA was completed and closed over 4 years ago, and from my understanding of the terms of the proposal, my IP has no interest in this claim.
Any thoughts?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am afraid it is quite likely that any refunds for loans taken out while you were in an IVA will go to the IVA, even though it is closed unless your IVA firm (which was it?) confirms they have no interest.
If any of the loans were taken out after your IVA finished, the refund will definitely come to you.
Jack says
Hi Sara thank for your reply, I was getting to upset and stressed and I confessed to my Aunty and she luckily helped me get out of the trap I was stuck in. If it wasn’t for her I think I’d still be stuck in it now.
I do have an email from every loan I’ve taken out with all of them and it’s probably over 50 loans!
So should I write/email to FOS explaining that I want a refund from each loan from each lender and wait for a reply or write/email them with all the paper work and bank statements etc? Sorry it’s a little confusing for me.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Nice Aunty :)
No, complain to each lender separately using the Step Two template with additions about them lending after previous late payments if that lender did. Some of them may make you a reasonable offer directly. If they haven’t replied or have made a poor offer, send the complaint to FOS at 8 weeks. Again a seperate complaint for each lender to FOS.
Your list of lenders:
– Wageday Advance – will be very slow, unlikely to reply in 8 weeks, send to FOS immediately it gets to 8 weeks
– QuickQuid – expect them to reject this as your borrowing is after 2015. Don’t bother to send payslips or bank statements as they won’t look at them. This “everything is fine after 2015” is a rubbish reason, send the complaint to FOS as soon as it is rejected. This one may be very slow at FOS.
– PDUK – they may ask you to provide some bank statements, it’s worth sending these if they do.
– Wonga – they went bust in August so there is a different procedure, send the much shorter email in https://debtcamel.co.uk/wonga-has-stopped-issuing-loans/, this one cant go to FOS, expect it to be slow and to not get the full amount back in the end.
Take it steadily, try not to check your emails for replies obsessively, this is money you never thought you would see again, so be relaxed about the time it takes. And pretty soon you too will be an expert.
matt says
UPDATE
Hat Trick of TRUST Pilot reviews do the job. This morning the FOS have received an offer from LENDING STREAM who have accepted my adjudicators findings. £4600 in compensation!
Thank you again to this site, my 8 year debt nightmare is finally drawing to a close.
Geoff says
Great!! How many loans was that?
matt says
Hi Geoff
I had 11 loans. They upheld loans 1,4,5 and 7-11. Loan 1 was back in 2011 but in Lending Stream’s original fob off reply they offered to award £540 quid for this one and none of the others. I guess they shot themselves in the foot a bit as the FOS didn’t consider the others over 6 years.
Geoff says
I had 29! All within 6 years! Should be picked up with adjudicator pretty soon as been with FO for 4 months
matt says
Hi Geoff
Good luck with your case! I submitted mine to FOS Late March, so taken 7 months to get to where I am today, waiting another 28 days for the money lol.
African Queen says
Hello,
Just wanted to give a quick update.
Submitted my complaint against Lending Stream in May this year. Adjudicator ruled in my favour for loans 4-6
Breakdown below:
Lending Stream have been in touch and confirmed that they agree with my assessment to refund loan 4 to 6, and remove any negative information from your credit file. Please see details of your redress below.
Refund of interest paid: £1797.38
Fees paid: £136.00
8% simple interest: £741.61
Total redress: £2674.99
She says she has asked Lending Stream to contact me directly to arrange payment. I’m not sure how long that will take but she has said I should come back to her in 4 weeks if I don’t hear anything from them.
I cannot thank Sara enough and my message to everyone is keep fighting but also be patient so that you don’t get consumed with checking emails everyday. I know it is hard but this is money we never even dreamt that we would get back. I am still waiting on MyJar, Wonga and Avantcredit.
Hang in there and good luck to everyone xxx
Stephen says
Hi Sarah/Everyone
I’ve only recently stumbled upon your site and immediately put in complaints against a number of lenders, notably Lending Stream who I had 16 loans with over a 3 year period and PDUK who I know I had a similar number with. LS were incredibly quick about responding to my stage 1 letter and provided a full statement of account within 48hrs. By the looks of things I paid over £5k interest on these loans alone, they have now gone quiet since I sent the stage 2 letter. PDUK have sent an automated response but as of yet I have received nothing back. How long should I wait before i begin my campaign of harassment/refer to FOS?? I’m currently into week 4 of the initial 8 week period.
Thank you for the advice and templates here on the site. I never knew that I could seek a refund on these loans and had put the entire period I was in debt down to my own recklessness and stupidity. Its somewhat reassuring (and scary) to see so many other people were caught in what is essentially a trap for desperate people. Fingers crossed for a big payout for myself and all you others!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Just sit back and wait for the 8 week point. Nothing you can do now will speed up getting a reply. And until you get a reply – or 8 weeks if no replay has been received – you can’t send the complaints to the FOS.
If you want to be prepared, make sure you have your bank statements for the period from 3 months before the first loan. And download a copy of your Noddle credit report.
Do you still have balances owed to the lenders?
Stephen says
Hi Sarah
Thanks again! No outstanding balances with any lenders, my parents really helped me out of the horrendous trouble I was in. However, having just checked my noodle report, a historic debt with pounds2pocket has appeared as an open loan in my current loans?! This was settled back in 2017. Is this usual? I’m scared that I was in such a mess financially that this in an old debt that’s now caught up with me?!
The noodle report has been fantastic, I was using clearscore but its so limited in comparison. I have now got details of how many loans I had with PDUK (19 over the span of 3 years!) so stage 2 has been sent. Bank statements from my now closed Santander account are on order and should be ready next week!
Given the number and frequency of the loans it looks clear cut to me! Do you think they will make an offer before going to FOS?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you ask PTP for a statement of account for the loan, saying you thought it had been settled in 2017 but it is showing as open on your credit report.
PDUK are better about making offers than many lenders, but that doesn’t mean it will be a good one.