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?
Mark says
Anyone had any experience of a refund with 24/7 Moneybox? They’ve got back to me rejecting my claim (even though I clearly couldn’t afford the payments) but have offered a goodwill gesture of removing the negative impact from my credit file. I’ve went back to them with what I think is acceptable. Do they tend to listen?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How many loans did you have from them? Were there any big gaps between them? How many have you suggested should be refunded?
Mark says
10 loans back to back paying over 700 in interest. Ive suggested the final 3 should be refunded
nikki says
They accepted the refund I put to them. I told them I would accept a refund of the interest I had paid without the 8% additional interest.
Neil says
Hello.
I have had a response from myJar and they have declined my complaint and said they done all the checks that they should off and are not upholding my complaint
I had 3 loads with them two were paid up early and one went full term. The interest that I paid on all the loads totals about £600. Is it worth going to the ombudsman and how long do you think it could take?
I have also sent complaint letters to sunny, QQ, pounds to pockets and likely loans and I am waiting on a response from these
james says
hi Sara
great job you’re doing
i have just found your website today, i wish id found it earlier but im grateful finding it all the same. between 2012 and late 2014 i orobably has over 50 loans with almost evry payday lender except wonga and peachy.
when raising to the companies, do i send them an email or is there a way to find their contacts in a centralised place
Sara (Debt Camel) says
read the article above ^^^ in detail – it covers how to put complaints in – email is best – it’s free, instant,k and you have a date stamped record of when you sent the complaint. It also has a link to page with the email addresses for all lenders.
Jack says
Hi again, I’m trying to find some spare time to get al this together.. I probably taken out over 50 loans paying one off with the other etc! What has been most people reasons for claiming back and had success in doing so if you don’t mind me asking? I just don’t know what to say to them because they might say it was my fault for getting in the trap and that they done all that was needed check wise.
Any help would be great thank you.
B says
Hi Jack
Mine were upheld for reasons such as
1) repaying and reborrowing close together
2) Number of loans taken out
3) repayments v’s income and outgoings (affordability)
4) credit file showing multiple payday loans
in my letters I used phrases such as “My pattern of borrowing was evidence enough that i was reliant on these loans and therefore in clear financial difficulty” and “if you had checked my credit file as a responsible lender should, you would have seen i had been reliant on payday loans for x amount of time and numerous other payday loans at the time of applying”
Hope that helps
SB says
Dear Sara,
I sent the initial complaint letter to most of my lenders. I have received a reply back from Safetynet Credit. They have not addressed my request that the interest charges be refunded. With 8% added it comes to £1,800. My outstanding debt with them is £750 and I’m in a DMP with them.
At the time of taking out the loan in 2016, I already had several payday loans on my file, many defaulted and 3 active payday loans. My bank statement, which they would have had access to showed poor money management due to poor mental health and gambling, including returned direct debits and evidence of other short term loans.
In their reply, Safetynet Credit state that they use automated decision making software for applications and credit increases but I received around 5 small credit increases between 2016-2018 when I was not receiving a regular income. I received over 50 loans/deposits from SNC over the two years.
SNC did not refer to any refunds of interest in their reply, they only mentioned that I could complain further to them or complain to the ICO.
Is it worth referring this straight the FOS or try another complaint?
Thank you,
SB
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you would be happy with your current £750 debt being wiped out, you could propose that, but give them a deadline of a week to accept this. But having given you an outright rejection, if you want a refund as well you should send this to FOS. And make all the good points in your comment in the FOS complaint!
GM says
Update:
Wageday Advance, Payday UK and Quick Quid wrote on the last day of the 8 week deadline saying they couldn’t complete the investigation in time.
QQ said with would take another two weeks to respond, while WDA and PDUK said it would take another 3 to 4 weeks.
Since the loans are all over 6 years old, I’m not holding my breath, so I’m sending these straight to the FOS.
247 Money box has rejected my claim, but I was kinda expecting that since I only had 7 loans with them between 2011 and 2014 (only two in 2011 were consecutive but the total was less than £300) i accepted their offer to remove any negative references on the CRA.
Cash Genie: 8 weeks nearly up and no reply, despite me chasing.
Dalton says
That’s less extra time than WDA have recently been asking for (8 extra weeks) but in line with what PDUK have been asking for.
I agreed to PDUK having three more weeks but they have gone silent now so wish I had taken the approach you are taking to be honest
Lou7 says
Hi all,
I have made complaints about a few pdl’s but I didn’t make one about satsuma. Having looked at my bank statements they gave me 2 loans that ran along side each other. One was for £1000 and then a few months later I had another for £690. Whilst paying satsuma off I had other pay day loans too. Do you think it’s worth putting in a complaint or not? Any advice would be appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Those are large loans. I think they should have done detailed checks, especially for the second one as the first was still going. Well worth complaining and going to FOS if rejected.
Grandees says
Anyone had any luck getting loans closed and refunded with DRAFTY?
I’ve been waiting for Ombudsman response for nearly a year.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes a few, but they are a very small lender so not many reports.
Tom89 says
Hi there,
I’ve just had a full response from CashASAP who have said that whilst they will not uphold my complaint (usual things – you were untruthful about expenditure etc) they are offering a goodwill gesture of £50 for full closure of the complaint. The total interest of all my loans with them only came to about £330 in total. Does this mean that they are concerned that this may be an ombudsman case that goes in my favour, is there any logic to this?
Thanks :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s hard to tell. How many loans did you have from them? What were the gaps between these loans? Could you say how much interest you paid on each in order eg £50, £80, £50, £120, £130.
Lisa G says
I had the same with CashASAP… had 6 loans but paid off early, in total I paid £150 (approx) in interest. They originally offered me £50 (although didn’t admit they’d done anything wrong).
I went back to them arguing my case and got them up to £90 which is what I settled for (no 8% or anything), which for me £90 out of £150 is fair.
I’d go back to them, argue your case and see if you can get that offer increased to something you’d be happier with. They took a while to respond but hopefully you’ll get there in the end.
nikki says
I would tell them you would be happy to accept a refund of the £330 interest you paid without the 8% interest they should add on. This has worked for me a few times and saves the wait at the FOS. Depends what your happy with though.
San says
I had a complaint to to the Ombudsman who agreed with the Adjudicator, this was against sunny marketing ltd (100 pounds loans). That’s the good news, the bad news the FOS couldn’t get hold of them and neither can I so how do u get the refund paid. I have checked and company still trading but not contact numbers. Any help/advice would be much appriciated. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you tried calling 020 8133 5059?
Anita says
Hi Sarah and everyone
Intetsing update. After waiting 14 weeks for PDUK and PAYDAY EXPRESS response I got one today. They mixed both cases and references numbers and I have received response to pduk loans with reference number related to pd UK and obviously findings relate to pd UK as well. It is so confusing. They upheld last loan but want my bank statements to see if previous ones were affordable. Any thoughts?
Sorry it is confusing. So..
Response with pd UK case number and investigation details regarding pd UK loans , issued for as payday express – headed letter . Hope you got it.
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s common (and actually helpful in a way) to get a joint reply.
So they have offered to refund the last loan… how many loans were there overall? How many have they said they will look at again if you send bank statements?
Anita says
It was not a joint reply. Must mixed cases numbers and findings. They upheld 1 and did not 2 loans.
Yes. Case nr and head letter as pd express but all consent PD UK.
They quickly amended mistake. They offered me £339 for 1 loan.
Anita says
How can I calculate what I paid them. Help please. Thank you
Iain123 says
The extension fee is the interest you paid them. You’re entitled to this back ad it’s predatory lending. As it’s over six years you’ll need a good reason why you haven’t claimed before.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The “good reason” may of course be that she had no idea that a lender had a duty to check the loans were affordable in 2011 and that she thought her money problems were her own fault for borrowing too much. She then just needs to say when and how she found out about irresponsible lending eg she saw a Facebook advert or a friend told her.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Payday UK & Express statements are very hard to understand! Read https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-payday-uk-express-money-shop/ and see if that helps.
You need to know how many loans you had and what interest you paid on each. But if there were a lot of loans, then an offer on 1 isnt good so yes, send them the bank statements they have asked for.
colin says
Hi,
Anyone else dealing with Piggy Bank Loans? I put my complaint in 8weeks ago and have been giver an offer for £400.
I took out 8K from Oct 2016 – Jan 2018 paying interest of £1,700.. I always repaid on time or early, however i did so by borrowing from other payday lenders.
The complain offer they have outlined is interest from one of eleven loans (hence£400).
two questions,
will i lose this offer by asking for a better offer ?
is this as good an offer as i will get based on the numbers above ?
any assistance would be appreciated,
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how many loans did you have from them? what were the gaps between these loans like? did the amount you borrowed tend to go up?
colin says
11 loans :
oct 2016 – 450
nov 2016 – 680
dec 2016 – 600
dec 2016 – 1300
april 2017 – 600
april 2017 – 600
may 2017 – 1200
sept 2017 – 600
sept 2017 – 1300
jan 2018 -300
jan2018 – 1200
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That’s a lot of borrowing. Were these all 1 month loans? did you often have more than one open at once?
Colin says
Hi Sara, as always I appriciate your responses. The time frames varied from a week to 6 months for the bigger ones. While these loans where ongoing I had othe pay day loans, sometimes overlapping. Over 15k of loans in two years. My complaint is that when these lenders Did the credit checks they will have seen that for two years I was consistently in debt to pay day lenders. I no longer use pay day lenders and I am not in debt. One lender gave me 700 and Wonga is unlikely to do anything, but piggy bank was a big one and 400 is below what I received elsewhere. I actually didn’t expect anything back, like most people I blame myself 100% for taking the loans, but the more I read the more I feel like this is a misconception. These lenders have profited from people from all backgrounds creating plenty of damage along the way to people’s lives. Anyway, I hope people realise there are forums like this which can give information to normal folk and aid in getting something back
iain123 says
Hi. Complained to FOS through their website a few weeks ago. I obviously used the wrong form as they’ve just replied attaching a different complaint form. Something to do with GDPR rules. The new form doesn’t accept attachments such as bank statements, the email address is complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk, and it needs a signature.
The email was from ShortTermLending@financial-ombudsman.org.uk and doesn’t make clear if I should reply to that. i think i need to print this off, fill it in and post it.
any help?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can presumably just attach bank statements to your email. But if you have already sent these, I doubt you need to send them again.
Sorry, you can either guess about email or post or ask them….
Iain123 says
Hi Sara
Here’s the letter I received from FOS today….
Thank you for getting in touch with us about your short term lending (STL) complaint.
I can see that you’ve sent us a copy of the complaint form. However due to new rules and legislation regarding GDPR, we have now changed our complaint form and will need this to be completed moving forward. Can you please send us a signed and completed copy of the new complaint form which I have attached.
I do apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. Once we have this information we’ll be able to progress your complaint further. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.
——————–
Is this something new?
What is the correct email address for the FOS complaints?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I haven’t heard of it! It looks as though they have revamped their complaints page: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumer/complaints.htm. That doesn’t seem to have an email address any more.
How did you complain – by email or post or by using their online tool?
Iain123 says
My initial complaint was through the ‘submit’ button on their website.
Now I’ve printed off the PDF, signed it and I’m posting it, stamp/envelope, Monday morning.
I’m low tech, so can’t sign it, scan and email it. Wouldn’t be sure of the right email anyway.
Newcomers may need a step by step with this.
Kay says
Hi,
I’ve received a a final rejection from Lending stream regarding 24 loans I took out from them from 2014-2017, totally around £3000 in principle so even more with interest that I’ve paid back. They state all these loans were affordable (they made all the checks etc) and as they were settled in full and that they never recieved emails from me saying I was in financial hardship, eventhough I’ve sent them emails from me to them as evidence? So pretty much blew their point up with evidence.
I want to go to the FOS, but my only problem is that I did not state on my application form that I had 0 expendiable income, I was in a vicious pay day loan cycle and was desperate so I lied on the application form and gave myself around £800 spare each month according to the application forms. Even though 24 loans, month after month borrowing suggests anything but a disposable income.
I just want to know whether it’s worth going to the FOS even though I did lie on the income/expenditure form? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It definitely is worth going to FOS. Even without the emails about financial hardship is sounds a good case.
Read https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/ – that looks at the problem of not accurate applications. If you only had a few loans it does make it harder to win a case, but if you kept borrowing, the lender should have realised you didn’t have all that money spare each month. ESPECIALLY in your case as you had told them about your financial problems.
Lisa G says
So I’ve had a weird one… After it seemed the FOS deciding they will consider looking at loans over 6 years, on 14/10 I wrote back to Payday Express and WDA, as I’d only just had rejections from them (within the previous 3 weeks) asking them to reconsider in light of the recent FOS stance. I gave them a week to respond.
Today I got an email from Payday Express saying “based upon your statements and circumstances, I think you are in time to make your complaint” (this is for loans going back to 2010) and they have asked for a number of bank statements… needless to say I’m still waiting for NatWest to send me the ones they need 🙄, I was told 3 weeks ago they’d been ordered and have now chased again.
Does anyone have any idea how long NatWest can take to send these?
I’ve also got loans with Payday UK (loans over 6 years) and The Money Shop (loans both over and under 6 years) which I’m waiting responses on… have already sent to FOS, minus all bank statements. So maybe these companies are starting to move in the right direction again…
Must note: I’ve received nothing from WDA regarding reconsidering their final response.
Hmb says
I had to wait 10 weeks for natwest they are utterly useless i complained about the length of wait and they paid me £75 compensation!!
Gary m says
Had a few responses recently, Sunny came back to me saying they had come to a final outcome even though I had only sent the 1st stage letter asking for details of the loan saying they will not be upholding my claim which seems very odd as they don’t know what I am claiming for or what loans I am claiming for!
And I sent a 2nd stage email to themoneyshop to which they have replied asking for Full name
• Date of birth
• Mobile number
• Postcode
• Any previous postcodes
• Email address provided on your account
• Brand (Payday UK, Payday Express or The Money Shop)
Do I need to provide them with more information even though I told them my name date of birth and account number on the claim email?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“which seems very odd as they don’t know what I am claiming for or what loans I am claiming for!” if you used the step one template here, it says you are making an affordabilty complaint and they will have assumed it is for all your loans.
How many did you have from Sunny? Do you know how much interest you paid?
Money Shop – that is obviously a standard request but I suggest you give them the details
Gary M says
Hi Sara, thanks once again for the quick reply!
I had 21 loans all roughly 50/150 pound over a 18 month period from March 2015 to October 2016. And for 50 pound loans you usually paid back around 40 pound interest! I knew I had a strong case with lots of lenders but wasn’t sure about Sunny but at the same time in 2015/16 I was borrowing off other lenders as well.
As for themoneyshop I will send all my details across to them, Once again thank you Sara!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
21 loans is a lot! they don’t look “large” but they may have been for you, it depends on your income and expenses. I think any case with so much lending is worth sending to FOS.
Andy M says
Hi there. Just wanted to say this site has been a huge help and wouldn’t have known where to have started without it! I had 8 complaints sent to the FOS. I initially complained some months ago and they came back to me asking for statements, credit report etc. I was slow getting back to them with this due to my partner suffering with some health problems. However I recently sent all the required info. Have had acknowledgements from most and have already had 2 of the complaints upheld [Pounds to Pocket and Payday express]. They have said I should have interest refunded on 1 loan out of 3[the last one] for each complaint, which I have no issue with. However, in respect of Pounds to Pocket, the adjudicator wrote to the company with their findings and asked for a response by 30th October. There hasn’t been anything further, and I appreciate its only a few days, but do I need to be doing anything, i.e. chasing them up, or just sit tight? thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Just sit tight. Checking your emails every few hours won’t help! Fingers crossed …
Lisa says
Letter from cash genie liquidators today- they don’t have enough funds to payout. Anyone else make sense of what we do next? The letter wasn’t very clear.
sue says
I got the same letter and like you am unsure what to do!!Annoyed as they only made me an offer Thursday through FOS!!
Tim ber says
I’ve had the same letter. I can’t make any sense of it. What’s the plan now was on week 7 waiting for a final response.
StevieC says
Yeah I got the same letter, guess it’s one to give up on.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Article looking at the letter and what you need to do if you are owed money: https://debtcamel.co.uk/cash-genie-not-full-refunds/.
There now isn’t enough money now for full refunds but you should still get some! You need to return the proof of debt form.
GimmeMyMoney says
Had a final response from money shop which owns two brands I’d lent from. The response is after 8 weeks so it’s already with FOS. Anything over six years they have automatically dismissed. They’ve asked why I didn’t complain earlier despite me saying in my email that id only recently found out.
They have upheld my last 8 loans and made an offer of all the interest and 8% (which is not an insignificant amount).
There’s no indication of a timescale on when I can accept this or if accepting it means I can’t progress with the older loans with the FOS. I’ve sent all the details to the FOS but wondering if anyone else has had a similar offer? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“There’s no indication of a timescale on when I can accept this” I don’t think there will be a time limit.
” or if accepting it means I can’t progress with the older loans with the FOS.” I would be very surprised if they let you do that. Thsi is an offer to settle the whole claim.
So the question is, how much interest did you pay on the older then 6 year loans?
Happier Now says
I replied telling them that I didn’t realise I could complain about the irresponsible lending until July this year. I raised the complaint with the FOS at the same time to start that ball rolling but on Friday I received an offer directly from PDUK including the loans over 6 years with no FOS involvement required.
I’m happy with their offer so now have contacted the FOS to cancel my complaint with them.
I would reply to them to let them know why you hadn’t complained earlier before you accept any offer from them. They might surprise you like they did me.
GimmeMyMoney says
Thanks, I’ll do that.
I’ve also asked them what dates the other brand relates to as I have nothing on my bank statements for PDUK. I complained as I knew I’d lent from PDE and received two replies from the same person about both brands. One has made an offer on the loans less than six years and the other brand apparently relates to loans only over six years ago. Thanks again
GimmeMyMoney says
Update.
They’ve come back to say my sole PDUK loan was in July 2009. That’s something I don’t remember (I’m equating it to my working situation at the time).
I’ve gone back to PDE to say why I’ve only just realised I could complain. No response yet.
On Wonga. They’ve emailed me to say it’s now being dealt with by the administrationrs and FOS have sent me a letter telling me they can’t deal with my complaint (previously they told me they were still handling Wonga complaints despite them going bust). Seems like its just a waiting game with the adminstratiors now unfortunately.
Dotty says
Morning all, I complained to Mr Lender six weeks ago …… does anyone have any experience of how they behave with a complaint. I paid them over £9k in interest & fees over a few years of continual lending…..
StevieC says
Hi Dotty,
They will wait until the very last day, that is what they did with me. They made me a reasonable offer, which i tried to negotiate on but to no avail. So I accepted rather than send to FOS.
Dotty says
Thank you so much for coming back to me I do hope they are reasonable…..I’m in a good space now so certainly don’t expect a full refund but a reasonable one would be grand.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They are normally one of the better lenders to deal with and they often are prepared to negotiate, but that is a very big claim. I hope you get a good offer, if you aren’t sure come back here to discuss it.
Dotty says
Thank you Sara I’m in a good space now but truly wished they’d never lent to me as it made a slightly difficult situation so much worse. A £300 initial loan ended up at £1700 pcm for a couple of years …..absolute nightmare.
Bill says
Hi All,
on June 24th 2018 i sent out multiple complaints using the template and information from this website,, i am nearly at the end of this process and wanted to share my experience and results..
247 moneybox responded after 8 weeks saying they had checked and found no fault but they would remove the loans from my credit. I emailed them back saying no thanks to the offer and i expected to receive 100% of interest paid on my loans. one day later i received an email saying the total interest was £453.52 and ti confirm my details for payment, I got the money within 3 days.
Sunny/Quid – they also took 8 weeks with zero contact and dealt with each complaint separately, for quid they admitted fault, paid 100% interest + 8% per annum. the sunny complaint denied fault paid 100% interest but no added 8%.
Mr Lender- another 8 weeks of silence followed by a part offer please see my trust pilot review for details https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/mrlender.com
Wonga offered me £2200 for 8 loans, i had over 30 with them so i rejected the offer. on August 31st i went back to them and asked if i could reconsider, they said yes and i am now an unsecured creditor.
payday uk & express took 10 weeks to get back to me and i had a very unpleasant time dealing with them but after sending bank statements we agreed on the payment of £1300.
quick quid and lending stream — are with the FOS and should be resolved this month
Money received £4415
Good luck all,
Bill
jack says
well done Bill that’s great!! it all worked out in the end for you.. Could you let me know what you said to them in order to get offers back please?
I’m just about to start sending complaints but want to make sure I have all corners covered first hence asking so many questions..
I counted 40 loans in total from 4 different providers all at the same times within 2015/2016 and that’s without me being able to assess some loans so could be more!
WDA/QQ/PDUK and Wonga
Jack
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Jack, just write the letters! No one has some magic wording that will mean any complaint is won. If there was anything unusual about Bill’s complaints then it probably isn’t relevant for you. This isn’t something you have to get 100% right at the start, just get going!
Sarah says
Did you receive your Wonga payout before they went in to administration?
My initial complaint was sent on the 18th July other than receiving automated emails. I received one today explaining it will take many months to even get a final decision and then even longer to actually get a pay out if they deem I am due one
Which sucks as I had over 25 loans with them over a course of a few years
Lisa G says
I had the same email from them today… I had over 30 loans over approx 2.5 years… I’m ruling them out and if at some point in time they give me a rebate for a few quid then great… it might be only £’s or something tho (£1 for every £100 interest approx etc). I never did receive a list of my loans so no idea what I paid in interest.
Darren says
Hey guys
As many have said on here, we cannot thank you all enough for all your help and input, you really are doing an amazing job and it’s heartwarming to know they’re people out there willing to help.
I have sent 2 complaints recently (Lending Stream and Cash4uNow) for irresponsible lending, my finances are shot right now and i am unable to make the repayments to these 2 companies.
How do i go about letting them know i am unable to make the next payments bearing in mind i have complaints with them both?
Thanks for any input <3
Darren
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You cancel the CPA to them with your bank and phone or email them saying you want a payment arrangement you can afford – suggest an amount you can manage without having to borrow again. If they refuse or says it’s not enough, wait until you have missed a payment and then offer it again.
Darren says
Thank You Sara.
I have cancelled the CPA and they have both emailed me saying this has been done and for me to arrange another payment method, i have not told them i cannot make the payments though, i should email them now with an offer, i am sure they will both decline because i have very little left for the next 3 pay days.
I am thinking these will end up being sold to a Debt collector.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes email and only offer what you can afford! You are trying to get out of this trap!
It doesn’t matter if the debt is sold. Big shrug. Hopefully your affordability complaints will get them reduced.
KM86 says
Hi Sara
I have replied to some of the lenders responses asking for bank statements, payslips etc. I have asked them for the details of loan/s taken out etc.
Some of the lenders have now sent me an account summary.
Do I know ‘have’ to send them my bank statements or can they deal with my complaint into irresponsible and unaffordable lending with out them?
My Jar from 12/07/2012 to 17/04/2016 I had 68 loans!! you can see clearly from the account summary that I was just rolling them over. That’s Scary!! Especially considering I have emailed 10 lenders and thats just one of them!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You don’t have to send bank statements. It isn’t some deal – you send me my trade details and I’ll send you my bank statements – you are legally entitled to trade details.
If a lender is asking for all your bank statements over a very long period then they aren’t going to look at them anyway! If a lender asks for bank statements for a few specific months in order to consider a few specified loan (that is what PDUK and PDExpress do) that is fine.
Personally I would be reluctant to spend any money posting a lot of statements to a lot of lenders.
Never send payslips.
KM86 says
Thank you for your advice above.
So, when they have sent me the account summary, do I just wait for them to send their final response too?
How do I proceed now I am in receipt of the accounts summary.? I haven’t sent any bank statements etc. X
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can use the loan details to write the more complete Step two full complaint if you want – it’s not essential, but it explains in more detail why the loans were unaffordable.
Hmb says
Hello! Since my last post a while back I have now had a response from the FOS, they have requested I send them copies of bank statements, loan history etc etc which I have done – can anyone give me some sort of time indication? Is this now a waiting game? Thanks!
Bill says
How many years bank statements did you get? Asked rbs and Santander, only give up to 6 years, I require longer but how did you get on ?
Lisa G says
I called Santander (I no longer bank with them) and got statements for all my closed accounts going back to 2004. They were one of the better and easier banks to deal with… and statements arrived within a few days.
RBS (or NatWest in my case) have sent me the ones up to 6 years (it’s all they can do in branch) but again, if you phone them, they can send you ones dating back further (I need back to 2010 and they can send them) I’m just waiting for them to arrive.
I’ve found you have to keep chasing them as a lot of people I’ve initally spoken to in various banks tell me they’ve ordered them but they haven’t arrived… but keep chasing, eventually you’ll speak with someone who knows how to order them for you!
Andrew says
NatWest wouldn’t go any further back than 6 years for me how did you get them so far back ?
Lisa G says
In branch that’s as far back as they can go but the system they use over the phone is different and can go back further than that.
Bill says
Hi,
I went to the one of not so many branches of (Santander) didn’t have my account number or sort code, I gave them my old address and they checked and noticed I had a mortgage with them or (Abbey national ) in 1987, but told me I had no chance to get a statement to get for 2007-2009…confused .com
Lisa G says
I went into a branch too… they were very unhelpful so I called them. Didn’t have my account number or sort code either but gave my address and he asked me some security questions.
He said I had 2 accounts and he’d order my statements for both (from when they were opened until when they were closed) but he said statements from years ago (ie 2004) might not show anything when they arrive, but they did, they showed all of my transactions for both accounts covering 2004 – 2008 & 2010.
I’d give them a call if I were you. I find the people over the phone are able to give better options, information and advise
Simon says
Hi,
Don’t even know if this is the right place to leave this comment/ask question. I had 31 loans with Lending Stream between 19/08/2014 & 27/09/2016…all loans rolled over month to month (often 5 loans open at any one time equalling 5 repayments a month)…net result being that by February 2017 I had amassed £1200 in rent arrears alone. I got my account history from Lending Stream & have calculated that I paid £4289.71 in interest…at the time of borrowing I had 8 defaults on my credit file. I’m pretty ashamed at the state I let my finances get into…I’m considering submitting a refund claim to Lending Stream using your template but feel sick to my stomach…do you feel it’s worth pursuing? Thanks in advance & for the great site
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is the right place and that sounds like a strong claim! Good luck.
Adam says
So just logged into my MrLender account to make payment on one of my payment plan installments and was met with this, are they having a laugh? Lol
SUPER SAVER: Settle your loan in full and close your account for only £257.00 (current balance is £258.60 so SAVE £1.60).
Chris says
Morning all,
I require a little advice if anybody could assist. I have a complaint with the ombudsman which after a year is now with an adjudicator. In short I had 7 loans with Payday UK /mem finance who originally agreed the last three were lent irresponsibly. The first four they claim were time barred and I should have known I could complain as I entered debt management (I did not).
The crux of the latest response is the first 4 loans could be considered dependent on when I ought to have known the business did something wrong. I’ve previously stated I was surprised that they lent to me given my credit rating and wondered what checks had been carried out. This is now the basis for not considering loans 1-4.
At this time I was reliant on payday loans and therefore would never consider complaining about something which at the time seemed to be a help in making ends meet. I wasn’t aware that I could complain until last year or that irresponsible lending was even a concept. All of the above ha been stated but I’m still being told they can’t be considered. As such I’m tempted to progress my claim to an ombudsman rather than the adjudicator.
Any thoughts on the likelihood of being successful? I’m mindful I’ve waited a year and given other businesses entering administration something may be better than nothing!
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, so how much interest did you pay on each of the first 1-4 loans? And how much have they offered you for the last 3?
” I’ve previously stated I was surprised that they lent to me given my credit rating and wondered what checks had been carried out. This is now the basis for not considering loans 1-4.” that sounds a rather feeble argument to me. You may well have been surprised they approved you for the loans – but unless you knew back then that a firm was obliged to make affordability checks, you may just have been happy to get the loans and not realised that the lender had broken the rules about irresponsible lending. If you thought at the time that it was your fault for getting into a mess and having to borrow so much, then you wouldn’t have thought the lender was at fault, even if you were surprised.
Christopher says
So there’s about £200-£250 of interest and the loans acknowledged had interest of just over a £1000. The initial offer was for £594 after deducting the balance I owed for the last loan which was the point of things becoming unaffordable of £1000. I’m also still trying to establish if they are deducting just the principal or If that figure includes interest
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“So there’s about £200-£250 of interest” that is for loans 1-4 in total? or each?
“The initial offer was for £594 after deducting the balance I owed for the last loan which was the point of things becoming unaffordable of £1000. I’m also still trying to establish if they are deducting just the principal or If that figure includes interest” good thinking there.
Do you know what the interest was on loans 5 & 6? Loan 7. how much did you borrow and did you make any payments to it?
Christopher Taylor says
It was £200-250 total according to the statement I have. The other loans amounted to about £1000 of interest. I don’t believe I paid anything back on the final loan
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If the interest on the first 4 loans was only £250 overall, then it may not be worth pursuing these – typically the first three loans are not refunded anyway and these seem to have been small.
“The other loans amounted to about £1000 of interest. ” is loans 5 & 6? You need to ignore loan 7, the defaulted loan, completely.
How much did you borrow for loan 7?
KDS says
Hi. Just wanted to say thanks for this site and all the great information it provides. Back when I was a student I got myself into a bad situation with payday lenders, Sunny and Wonga being the main offenders. I’m not sure what the current situation is with wonga but I sent my affordability complaint email and received a response so I guess now it is just a waiting game. As for Sunny, I sent my email and I really thought I had a strong case – 36 loans over the space of 2 years, sometimes 4 loans taken out in the one month(!) – it was at a point where even my monthly repayments weren’t making a dent in the outstanding balance due to the interest that was being added on. Well roughly 7 weeks passed and I finally received a response and it was a rejection – their reasoning being that my lending with them was similar to that of an overdraft (although I don’t know what overdraft charges that amount of interest) and that they had rejected a couple of applications (even though they went on to approve more after said rejections). I have now raised it with the ombudsman just waiting for a response as I haven’t heard anything back yet. After my reply from Sunny I am not feeling overly hopeful.
Neil says
Don’t let it put you off!! I had 26 loans over 2 and a half years with a 6 month gap during the middle of it. Sunny only upheld the first loan out of them all, after 5-6 months of being with the FOS the adjudicator found in my favour for loans 8-26 and for loan 1 they agreed too. I am just waiting for Sunny to pay out now as they agreed with the adjudicator.
Nina says
Hi KDS, I had the same situation as you! Such a shame these were easily available to us as students, as we weren’t to know the implications it would cause and of course the debt!
Sunny initially refused me, i went to the FOS – bare in mind they take a while to respond also. But I did call the office a couple of times to find out how things were going – i was refunded £1081.00 last monday.
Neil a tip for you too… A lady on here suggested i write a complaint on trustpilot when I was at the same position as you waiting for my refund – within 30 minutes I had a response and pay out same day! Good luck everyone – I’m still waiting on Wonga and Quick Quid.
Neil says
Hi Nina, thanks for the tip, I did write a complaint on trustpilot after seeing others do it on here. I got a reply on there stating they have 28 days to payout. It’s only been since last Wednesday to be fair, but would be nice to get a payout ASAP
Jack says
Hi again, I finally sent off the template emails to all 4 lenders a couple days ago and have received an email back from all of them saying they have received my email and will deal with it within 56 days. Apart from Quick Quid who have said they want bank statements, payslips and other additional information to be sent to them? Do I now say I don’t feel comfortable sending these and will go straight to the FOS? Any help would be great thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
QQ – ignore their request for payslips. You can send the bank statements if you want (I’m not convinced they look at bank statements anyway), but if you don’t, reply that you will send them to FOS if necessary.
You can’t go to FOS now, you have to wait until they give you a final response to your complaint.
Do make sure now you have all your bank statements ready now – with 4 lenders it’s a fair bet that at least one case will have to go to FOS.
Kelly says
Hi Sara
I have just received a response after 8 months from the financial ombudsman to say they have upheld my claim for irresponsible lending from Sunny. They originally refused any wrong doing hence me escalating my complaint. The adjudicatior has asked that they refund the interest on 26 of the 37 loans I had taken with them plus 8%
Just wondered what happens now can sunny still refuse this decision
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes they can – in which case it goes to an Ombudsman for a decision. If this happens, make sure you ask for all your loans to be considered – because sometimes the Ombudsman will award more than the adjudicator did!
Mark says
Hi, once again thanks to this site. I put complaints in against about 9 lenders 6 weeks ago. Already had money back from Ferratum and today Moneybox 247 agreed to my offer (after some back and forth email negotiations). Mr Lender have also agreed to write off the loan I currently have with them.
Rachel says
Hey ive asked my lenders for a refund plus the 8% after following the templates. I may Sound a bit silly but Im not sure what the 8% is, is it monthly, yearly or an extra 8% of the total amount of interest paid. Can anyone let me know x
Tim ber says
From what I understand is 8% interest is what the fos use. And it’s simple interest so £100 it would be £108 for the first year then 8% of £108 and so on for the number of years. Hope this helps
CL says
Hi,
I’ve had multiple loans from several different companies since 2014, ive definitely been reliant on payday loans during this time. Ive has 23 loans from lending stream, 19 from Wonga, 6 from wageday advance, 4 from Uncle Buck, 3 from quick quid, 3 (at the same time) from sunny, 2 from peachy (one being a top up), 2 from safety net credit, and 1 loan each from PaydayUK, Mr Lender, Piggybank. Just wondering if it would be worth my while trying to claim from these companies. Some of my loans are still outstanding towards a few companies and I have payment plans arranged with them, can I still claim against them?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“Just wondering if it would be worth my while trying to claim from these companies.” LS, Wonga, WDA, UB, QQ, Sunny – all yes! The 1 and 2 loan ones, yes if you still owe a balance and yes if the loans were large. But a small loan that has been repaid – probably not worth bothering with. that’s a practical view.
“Some of my loans are still outstanding towards a few companies and I have payment plans arranged with them, can I still claim against them?” yes you can. these may be the easiest claims to get a quick result with – lenders will often offer to write off a balance owed. But this may not be a good offer, if you had had loans from them before the last defaulted one, it may be you should get a wrote off AND a refund. If you aren’t sure about an offer, come back here and ask.
Herve says
A big thank you to this website, I never had the motivation to claim or to take the time to do it.
Then last month I decided to push on that, and wrote the email to 5 lenders.
Today I received a positive reply from Safetynet, in only 3 weeks without the need to send them bank statements.
I think the Bank account tracking on their website provided them all the details needed.
Even they said my loans were affordable (which is not true), they accepted to repay in full my interest from 12/2016 to today and gave me £2600. I accepted the offer and hope they won’t take long to send the money.
Thank you again Debtcamel, this first victory makes me breath better (Until I receive the money).
Good luck to everyone, this money stress situation should not be a everyday situation.
StevieC says
Hi,
Today safety net credit have agreed with the adjudicator. They initially rejected my complaint within the first four weeks and demanded repayment for the amount owed. I tried to reason with them to remove interest and repay the principal borrowed although this was refused out of hand. After escalating to the FOS I have had all outstanding balanced removed and £400 refunded into the bargain. Don’t give up guys!!
Davy says
Well after after my initial enquiries in December 2017, got my first result today when MEM agreed with adjudicators findings for 4 loans and agreed a refund of £1649!! Its been a long slog but what a great feeling when you get that email. My two biggest claims still to come with QQ and LS. Hang in there…. its worth it in the end!!
Grant says
Had no joy with my adjudicator again.
Declined my complaint for 2nd time and now has been sent for final decision… does anyone know what that means?
Not been overly happy with my adjudicator compared with my original wonga complaint. Doesn’t seem to understand my monthly costs and doesn’t reposnd to email for weeks at a time.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Does it say it is being sent to an Ombudsman? If it does, you need to review what you have sent the adjudicator and see if it can be improved on. This could be by:
– bringing a lot of points you made in different emails into one;
– being very specific (I think you said some of the figures were actually wrong?);
– reading some of those previous gambling decisions I linked to to see if there is any wording you could usefully use; and
– providing an analysis of your costs each month to (a) make it clear where your money went and (b) show if you made that months repayment to thiis lender (who is it?) you could not get through the month without borrowing more.
If you want to do this, send the new great summary to the adjudicator and ask for it to be passed to the Ombudsman.
Gambling does make decisions more complicated. It often means you won’t win a case with a low number of loans. But 8 loans should be OK if they were pretty much continuous.
paual says
Hi
I have been trying for 5 months to set up a payment plan with Satsuma and only ever get a auto email reply that i will be contacted in 48 hrs and never hear back. I have not paid anything for 6 months and i have had 1 letter in all that time.
Can i put in a unaffordable claim to them as i have not seen them in any of your correspondence.
DO you have a address or email i have the customer support but thats a waste of time. I ha
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes I suggest an affordability complaint. Add onto the bottom of the standard template (in article above) that you have been trying to set up a payment arrangement for months but haven’t had a reply from them.
Use onlinecustomercare@satsuma-loans.co.uk and put AFFORDABILITY COMPLAINT as the email title.
Adam says
If you’re trying to set up a payment plan then I suggest texting them. Use the number they send to give you reminders of payment. They usually reply within the hour and are actually quite helpful communicating through this.
Shelly says
Submitted eight claims back in April, i settled with five of them for fair amounts. Three companies rejected my initial complaints saying i should have made lifestyle changes and that My credit file said i could afford them. My debts spiraled and at one point i was averaging 5/6 payday loans a month just to be able to pay my bills. I had 24 loans with WageDayAdvance, 20 with Uncle Buck and an ongoing loan with H & T (topped up three times and i am only paying off the interest each month…I have another 20 months left to pay).
Filed complaints with FOS back in July and have sent bank statements, credit report etc. I have called them a few times to check on progress but they have not been assigned yet.
How long does it usually take for them to be assigned, they are helpful when i call but are very vague with when i will get an update.
I would just like the payday loans to acknowledge that they should not have lent to me and pay me a fair refund of the interest.
I wish i had never taken the first one out, it has damaged by credit rating and caused me a great deal of stress and anxiety. These companies prey on the vulnerable. People may say it was my choice to take out the loans but once you in the payday loan cycle it is extremely difficult to get out and it just gets worse.
neil says
mine went into the FOS end of April beginning of May, and a couple were picked up last month and one more still not assigned yet.
Neil
Tim ber says
Same as above put 5 complaints in around march time one has been given an adjudicator and upheld although due to lack of correspondence is now been sent to a ombudsman Been told 6 months for one of them. And the other 4 haven’t been picked up by and adjudicator
B says
Hi,
Submitted a complaint to FOS 2 weeks ago and i’ve today rec a letter through the post explaining what happens next and that they have asked the business for their side of the story. One thing i’m a little baffled by, they have asked me for bank statements, and any other information that supports my complaint but haven’t told me where to sent it to, can anyone advise?
My previous complaints were all sent straight to an adjudicator, but it hasnt been assigned one so not sure how they’ve started the case already
Thanks
Shannon says
They request the case file from the business and documents from yourself and once they have all the information it then goes into the que for an adjudicator. There should be an email address on the letter you received and you can send any documents you have via that.
Ross Lee says
Hi,
Can I ask please, do these lenders send you a final response letter via post or email? As I’ve moved since the address they will have.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Ross
Dee says
I had mine by email, all correspondence has been by email for me
Jen says
Most via e.mail but I had provident & wage day advance by post (last year) I would e.mail them all using any reference number they have given you, also your old address, so they can link to you asking them to update their systems with your current address, I’ve also had communication with FOS by post, most by e.mail tho. Maybe give them a call just to update your details
Dee says
Hi I have had final emails today from PDUK and PaydayExpress saying they need a further 3-4 weeks to investigate. It will be 8 weeks on Friday since I sent my original complaint.
All loans are over 6 years.
Is it worth sending to the FOS or waiting and see what they say? I don’t want to waste time waiting for a rejection.
Dee says
I have now had the same from WDA. Should I give them more time or just go to the FOS?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s up to you. You are trading off a bit more work now, that may turn out not to be needed if you get a good offer, against a delay in the final decision from the FOS if you don’t get a good offer. I have seen too many people with excellent cases rejected to feel confident that most people get a reasonable reply from a lender.
Personally, I think WDA’s request for 8 more weeks is ridiculous.
Dee says
Thanks Sara
I have replied to them all saying I will give 2 more weeks for a final response and then contact the FOS. I have requested my old bank statements from my previous bank also, incase these are requested but I have emails with statements attached from the time I was applying for the loans.
I guess its time to sit back and see what happens next!
Mark says
Anyone got any experience with Sunny? How long do the usually take to respond to a complaint, the full 8 weeks?
Kate says
They took 4 weeks with me and declined my complaint so just sent off to the ombudsman. I have over 40 loans with them in the last few years so hoping they uphold it at adjudicator stage!
Shannon says
They replied one day before 8 weeks declining. Sent to FOS beginning of April and received findings from adjudicator middle of October. Had 38 loans in 14 months and FOS upheld refund on all but three. It can be a long wait but if you think you have a strong case then send it to FOS if Sunny decline your complaint.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That just shows that lenders can decline even very strong cases! Anyone with more than a couple of loans OR with a balance outstanding should send a rejection to the Ombudsman – it doesn’t have to be dozens of loans.
L says
Hi Shannon. How long did Sunny take to pay out. They’ve agreed with the adjudicator on mine so I’m curious. Thanks
Shannon says
Still waiting. Settlement form was sent to them on 30th October and got an email yesterday requesting bank details for the refund. Been 9 days so far.
Neil says
they agreed with the adjudicator with mine on the 31th,
My refund has come through today, 1 day short of 2 weeks after they agreed with the adjudicator
Ross lee says
Hi,
Can I ask, do I need to send the step 2 full complaint letter or is the first letter sufficient? I can’t actually remember my income and expenditure and don’t currently have bank statements going back as far as it was.
Has anyone had a successful outcome without sending the letter in Step 2? As mentioned, I have sent the template letter one.
Thank you. Any help would be great.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No you don’t need to send the second one. Whether it makes a difference to your case probably depends on what would be in it and who the lender is.
But I suggest now is the time to try to get your old bank statements. As these will be needed if your case has to go to FOS.
David says
Hi all
Have just received my final response from peachy. Although I’m satisfied with the loans they are refunding, they are only offering interest paid and not the 8%. These loans are nearly 6 years old.
Should I accept their offer, try and negotiate the 8% or reject and go to FOS? Any help much appreciated
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Go back and say you will be happy to accept their offer if they add on the statutory 8% interest. Let us know what they reply!
David says
Peachy got back to me today agreeing to also add the 8% simple interest to my redress
Kareen says
Hi Sara,
Thank you for the advice you put on here, I have sent irresponsible letters to quick quid, lending stream, my jar,quid market,sunny, I have had lending stream, and my jar, request my bank statements?? And wage slips?? Should I give them such personal info??
Thanks
Kareen
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can send bank statements if you want. There is no reason to send payslips – the info will be on your banks statements.
If you don’t want to send these, you don’t have to – the lender still has to consider your complaint.
QQ will also ask for these details at some point.
Sar says
Hi Sara
I have received 2 emails 2day from the FOS about complaints I put in against myjar and lending stream. The emails are asking me to send a copy of the final response of both companies (which I have) but it doesn’t give me a email to send it too? Do I need to send it in paper form? Or is there a email address I can send it too?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you send it to the email address that emailed you.
Gordon Mccooo says
Hi guys looking for a bit of advice.
Never even realised people could claim until the fall of Wonga in August. Took out loans in 2011-2. I sent in complaints then.
Over the course of 6 months I had 16 payday loans. Plus other wongas but they are yet to reply. 12 quickquid loans. 4 myjar, 2 lending stream all overlapping.
Several loans within a week of each other while money still outstanding in the case of Quickquid. For example 300 on the 1st payment due on 15th new loan taken out on 6th of 300 again with 600 plus due 15th.
I have a really good case of quickquid Im sure of it as in 1 month I took 4 loans. Totalling 2000.
Anyways. The 3 x lenders have all refused a claim. I have all the loan documents from FOI requests. They all clearly show loans overlap and not just that companies overlap over that period. Do I send this all to the Ombudsman at the same time? Or is this 3 separate complaints? If it was sent as one big complaint the adjucator would see all the loans and dates applied for etc and wpuld be far easier to see the bigger picture.
Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is three separate complaints to FOS. You only need to send a credit record and bank statements once, they can be shared for all three complaints.
Kas says
Hi
Has anyone had an upheld complaint with Quickquid on the initial response without having to go to the ombudsman. I currently have a loan with them and a payment for £1800 is to be debited in January which is no way affordable for me. I originally complained to them in Sept and final response is due on 19th of Nov
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes… but they are currently in denial about any affordability problems in 2015 or later, so I wouldn’t be too optimistic that you will get a good response.
If you cannot afford the huge payment in January, you need to cancel the CAP to QuickQuid. Then if they don’t make you a reasonable offer you need to send the case to the Ombudsman and also ask QQ for a payment arrangement, to pay the balance over many months at an affordable rate.
Laurence says
Yes I have, I didn’t need to go to the Ombudsmen as QQ replied around the 9 week mark after relentless email chasing from me (just keep badgering them with emails and copy in as many addresses as you can find for them)
I accepted well over 5k from them and outlined I wanted the funds in my account within 24 hours or I’d take the case to the Ombudsmen. They paid funds into my account with 11 separate payments spanning a 30 min period well within the 24 hours.
Don’t give up with these people just keep chasing chasing chasing
GM says
WDA Update:
final response today (9th week) rejecting complaimnt:
“we do not believe that there is evidence of exceptional circumstances (…)”
“If (…) you believe we should consider that may change our decision, and can confirm why (…). (…) you believe you were unaware of the issues and your option to raise a complaint at that time, please feel free to provide this for our consideration.”
I replied:
“(…) I don’t recall any indication that would lead me to believe that customers would be able make affordability and irresponsible lending complaints. (…)the news I mainly heard of were about the high interest rates charged and that Wonga were contacting customers and making redresses on overcharges and fake solicitor letter fees, not the other way round.
(…)
This summer, through online advertising about payday loan refunds, (…) found out about former customers making affordability and irresponsible lending complaints. (…)
After considering all their stories and reading several decisions by the FOS in similar cases, I was now fully aware that I could make this type of complaint.
5 minutes later (yes, 5 minutes) they replied: “In light of your comments we would like to confirm we will be re-visiting your complaint and reviewing all loans”
Finger crossed!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think they are just hoping a lot of people will give up – good response from you.
Rachel says
Was this because you loans were older that you said that? I had the same reply from WDA and so I just said to them I will send it to the FOS. My loans were only 3 years old, thanks x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Rachel, are you saying WDA sent you an email suggesting you could complain now because you should have done this earlier? And your loans were only 3 years old ????
GM says
Rachel, my loans dated between 2010 and 2011, so more than 6 years old
Suhayl says
Hi Sara and All,
Firstly thank you ever so much for all the website content as its been ever so useful in formulating my complaint. I have sent across letters to all of my lenders using the templates you have provided and have managed to receive my first reply from Mr Lender. The contents of the letter are below:
Thank you for your recent email. We are writing to ask for confirmation and clarity on the reason for sending this as the detail within the email is slightly confusing.
While the start of the email suggests you are making a complaint there is vague information regarding the reason for your complaint just that you feel they were unaffordable, which is followed by a request for a list of loans, dates they were taken and the charges and interest you paid.
We are unsure how you are suggesting these loans were unaffordable if you are unaware of the number of loans you have had with Mr Lender and the value of interest and/or charges paid.
We have seen the same email from other customers and have found it to be a template generated off the forum website https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/. While you are within your right to seek advice, we do need more information in order to investigate a complaint which is not provided within the above templated emails. With this in mind, we are unable to log this as a complaint based on the limited information you have provided specifically relating to the loans you held with Mr Lender.
We have attached a detail of your loans with Mr Lender as requested, if you feel you would like to make a complaint regarding these loans please provide further detail indicating why you feel they were unaffordable.
Kind Regards, Mr Lender
———————————–
Is this a generic reply? If you could point me in the right direction, I would be ever so grateful.
N.B. I have sent them copies of my bank statements for the period in question along with a letter confirming when I entered in to a DMP with Payplan.
Many Thanks,
Suhayl
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sounds generic to me!
“We are unsure how you are suggesting these loans were unaffordable if you are unaware of the number of loans you have had with Mr Lender and the value of interest and/or charges paid.” That is not a very good argument – just because you haven’t kept the paperwork doesn’t mean that you can’t remember struggling and having to borrow more because of the Mr Lender loans.
You can now you the information to write the more detailed Step Two complaint.
suhayl says
Thank you very much for your swift response. I have this morning managed to forward them the step 2 complaint. I will of course keep you and the rest of the community posted on my progress.
Suhayl
Jen says
Hi Sara & all
updates on LS fixing credit report after agreeing with adjudicator in August 18 and LS not fixing my credit report, I e.mailed LS asking for them to fix report and compensation of £50 for each default (4 in total) as it had not been done, no response from them within a few days
I then e.mailed my adjudicator saying this had not been done, and what I had requested from LS, (this was after what LS had said 45 days max) adjudicator e.mailed back saying they will now fix it & LS offered £200 compensation.
Compensation not in bank yet but my credit score Noddle has gone up 34 points in 2 weeks. Loans not off yet just showing as up to date not default any more.
Please everyone check report after settlement to check loans are not default any more.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well done and £50 a default was a good idea!
Jen says
The adjudicator said it was probably more than they would ask for, but that’s what LS agreed to, hopefully they will fix everyone else’s on time now, thanks Sara
matt says
UPDATE
TRUSTED QUID. THE FOS have come back with the following
From what I’ve seen you had 11 loans with Trusted Cash between February 2013 and
March 2014.
In their final response letter they offered to refund £384, but after further consideration they
have made a new offer for your loans. I think their new offer is fair.
After further review of the complaint, I see that Trusted Cash has made an offer on loans 1
to 11 that is in line with what I would’ve recommended.
Offer
Refund interest and charges on loans 1 to 11 (£1479.25), along with 8% interest – TOTAL
£2156.87.
This is subject to a deduction for tax which it has calculated as -£135.52
This is a result as I am sure the FOS would have not counted the first couple in their findings! I called Trusted Quid today to make sure they had the right bank acct to send the money to and apparently they will pay me today! Really happy with this. I originally complained 28/2/18 and sent to FOS on 16/4/18. So a long process but well worth the wait!
matt says
A couple of hours after my call and the money has hit my account! Thanks again to Sara and this site, my debt nightmares are nearly all behind me.
Rachel says
Omg Sara I followed your advice and sent my statements to paydayuk and they came back yesterday with an offer of just under £2500 i am over the moon thank you so much :)
Does anyone know how long they take to pay out? x
Geoff says
Had mine within days
Eric says
Good afternoon
Long time follower and user of this page, at the start of 2018 I wrote to several various lenders because I had borrowed over 100 loans in the space of two years where I had got in such a bad pay day cycle. Just want to give some feedback regarding some lenders and hope that someone could help me with my questions?
Ferratum – Accepted the complaint writing off my outstanding balance + refund on 22 loans
WageDayAdvance – Accepted the complaint writing off outstanding balance + refund of all interest on 11 loans
CashASAP – Accepted the complaint writing off outstanding balance
247Moneybox – Accepted the complaint writing off outstanding balance
Piggybank – Accepted the complaint + refund on 3 of my loans.
Wonga – Refused my complaint and I sent to the FOS back in April 2018 (As we know these have now gone into administration and looks like I wont get anything)
UncleBuck – Refused my complaint and I sent to the FOS back in April 2018, Today I have received an email from the adjudicator assigned to my case. I was wondering how long it takes roughly once it reaches the adjudicator? (ANY HELP WOULD BE HELPFUL)
Quidie – Refused my complaint and I sent to the FOS back in April 2018, unfortunately they said they never received this and only just resent it back to them so will have to wait several months again.
Could anyone give me advice on how long it takes once it reaches the adjudicator level.
Thank you for all your help.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That’s a nice bunch of results!
It is typically 2-4 weeks from when a case is picked up by an adjudicator, some shorter, some longer. But it does depend on how complicated your case is. Then it can take a few weeks for the lender to accept/decline the adjudicator decision – if they decline it has to go to an Ombudsman.
matt says
UPDATE
Lending Stream
A week and a bit after they agreed with the adjudicator I have received this just now
This is in reference to the FOS complaint received on your behalf (FOS Ref: 2029-0815; Our Ref: 1869491).
We would like to inform you that we are in a process of carryout the settlement and we can initiate the refund towards the bank account details that we have registered in our records, the account number ending bla bla bla.
Alternatively, if you wishes to receive the amount in another bank account you must provide us with a copy of the bank statement reflecting your name, bank account number, sort code and bank’s name in a non-editable format.
We await to hear from you.
I did send FOS the new bank so a little delay tactic but a couple of unhappy reviews on Trust Pilot seem to have them speeding up a little!
This one is £4600 so very very happy
Jen says
Hi Sara and all, I was reading through some trust pilot reviews on LendingStream, ?most 5 star reviews are from a person with 1 name ? They only review 1 company ? All the 5 star reviews with 1 name are verified customers ? Every few hours a new review, Different person each time, I have queried this with Trustpilot saying that I am aware reviews can be bought on e.bay, please have a look at the pattern and if you see it also please contact Trustpilot to investigate, I got an e.mail saying they will investigate, I’m only 1 person, just a thought if anyone else that’s never used them looks that’s what they will see also
B says
I’ve been noticing this on all companies. 247 money box replaces 1 bad review with 5 positive ones to counteract the negative impact. If you notice, all of their genuine reviews are about there terrible communication and the fact you can never reach them. Their ‘positive’ reviews all highlight how amazing they were at communication ans supportive they are when someone has financial difficulty.
Other companies renown for this is Tombola Bingo. Genuine reviews stating it’s fixed, and then 5 positive reviews stating how amazing it is and almost qouting things that, let’s face it, ordinary customers just wouldn’t say – all very professional.
I take trust pilot with a pinch of salt, companies massively abuse it
Torben Roberts says
Hey everyone
I had a total of around 10-12 payday loans across 6 companies consecutively taken out in 2014/2015 when I was at university, only 18 at the time.
The companies are:
Sunny (This was only £100 and I paid this one off fairly quickly so I haven’t pursued it)
Wonga – Got interest repayments back when they got in trouble, but as they’ve gone into administration I haven’t bothered pursuing them
QuickQuid – Had 2 loans with these guys
PiggyBank – Had one big loan with these guys at around £750 (last loan I took out)
SmartPig – Had 3 loans with these guys 2x £350 and 1 at £200
LendingStream – Had 3 I believe with these guys over the space of 2 years
I sent of the templates 8 weeks ago, both responses so far negative,
QuickQuid – They did the correct checks and the fact that I only had 2 payday loans and the second one was less meant that I could afford them, and they did the correct checks (although I have evidence of all the payday loans I had at the time)
SmartPig – They assess differently against my uni loan, but said it was enough to pay it off, not taking into account affordability
Waiting to hear back from the rest.
I have escalated to the FOS for SmartPig, but they are very slow at replying, my question is – Is that normal? Took them a week to come back and ask for the final response (Which I thought I already attached), and no response since?
As for QQ, only just got my response and am going to send it to the FOS this weekend.
GM says
MyJar complaint with FOS:
Two weeks after i sent The case to the FOS, got a letter from them acknowledging the complaint, giving a case number and saying that they asked MyJar for their side of the story. Asked for more info from me, if I had anymore, to be sent by the 21st. Is this already at adjudicator level, or just a first port of call before everything is passed on to an adjudicator?
Neil says
It’s them getting all the information ready before it goes in the queue to get assigned to an adjudicator. It’ll be probably be 3-5 months before being picked up