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?
Luis g says
Hi , firstly thankyou for all information on this website it has helped me immensely. After 28 days of opening a compliant with pounds to pocket I now have a reply of acknowledgement that something went wrong and my complaint has been upheld. The offer made is to payback interest of £445 and take this off the balance I owe. The balance was £1448, so I owe them about £900 (this is with a debt collector). There is no mention of removing adverse credit or default off my credit file and this is important as I’m going for a mortgage soon. What do you think I should do? Regards Luis
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How many loans had you had from P2P before the last defaulted loan?
How large was the last loan and how much did you pay towards it when it was with P2P? And have you paid anything to the debt collector?
I am asking because these offers on loans with an outstanding balance are often pretty poor…
Steve says
Hi Sarah,
I made a complaint to WDA and they have outright declined my complaint as they said as its over 6 years this is now time-barred.
I have taken 10 loans with the last one not paid off.
Loan Total Paid
Wage Day Advance £100.00 28/02/2011 25/03/2011 £140.00
Wage Day Advance £150.00 28/03/2011 27/04/2011 £187.50
Wage Day Advance £150.00 31/05/2011 27/06/2011 £202.50
Wage Day Advance £300.00 28/06/2011 27/07/2011 £390.00
Wage Day Advance £400.00 01/09/2011 27/09/2011 £515.00
Wage Day Advance £400.00 01/10/2011 27/10/2011 £438.10
Wage Day Advance £400.00 29/10/2011 25/11/2011 £515.00
Wage Day Advance £400.00 26/11/2011 20/12/2011 £515.00
Wage Day Advance £400.00 21/12/2011 27/01/2012 £515.00
Wage Day Advance £240.00 £383.94 -(outstanding)
Will FOS take this complaint on? further to this, how do I work out how much should I get back?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes FOS will look at this. See the section in the article above on sending a complaint to FOS and include the extra bit it suggests saying when and how you found out about these refunds.
The last loan – did you make any payments to it?
Do you have your old bank statements? If you do (and you will need them for FOS) can you look up the payments you made in October 2011 as this line
Wage Day Advance £400.00 01/10/2011 27/10/2011 £438.10
looks odd, with the amount you paid being a lot less than the preceding line.
Steve says
I’m not sure if I am honest. I have requested for my bank statements to be sent to me from the bank. In the meantime I will start the ball rolling and raise the complaint with FOS.
Thank you for your continued support and prompt response.
janice says
We have drafted a letter asking to wipe the present loans and refund the interest and charges on the previous loans. Also asked them to stop taking any enforcement proceedings on this debt whilst the complaint is underway. Saying we have cancelled the cpa with the bank and no further payments will be made whilst the complaint goes through and will complain to the Financial Ombudsman if not satisfactory.
Told them he is, and has been a compulsive gambler for over 10 years and its irresponsible of them to lend him money etc..etc… I would imagine there are hundreds of other loans to pursue in the future but maybe this is a way of giving us all a little breathing space and putting a hold on them all whilst he decides the best course of action for him, and to get some professional help again with the addiction and his financial situation.
Thank-you so much for all the information you give on this site. We’ve been reading all day of others and the great advice you give.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Good luck!
EDIT I have moved the previous long thread to https://debtcamel.co.uk/gambling/ if you are wondering where it has gone.
Joseph says
Hi Janice, it’s been a tough read what you’re going through but i really hope you get there in the end – all the best! Joseph
Janice says
Thankyou Joseph. All the best to you too.
John M says
Hi Janice,
I am a compulsive gambler who hasn’t had a bet for 3 years and 8 months now thanks to help from GA and have used this site and have found the advice hugely beneficial. My wife took control of the finances but I did use this site and did all the work myself for refunds from payday loan companies.
First things first does he want to stop gambling? If he does then help is at hand for him. If not then at least you can start to get some help for yourself and Gamanon can really help you. I know this was hugely beneficial for my wife.
Take care of yourself
Iain123 says
Hi Janice. I’ve read through your comments and would like to add a few things. Firstly, I’m also a compulsive gambler and was trapped in the spiral of gambling debt for 20+ years. My last bet was six months ago and I’m still struggling with thoughts of gambling. Gambling ruined my life and is the worst addiction. Your son is only 27 so has many more pay days ahead of him if he can stay stopped gambling. He may need to knuckle down paying debt for a few years but it’ll be all in vain if he can’t stay stopped. He should be the one engaging with creditors, being honest is a crucial part of recovery.
Does he actually want to stop? If he has the slightest desire to gamble there’s nothing you can do. The number one priority is to protect yourself, being in the world of an active gambler is hell.
Sounds like he’s tried many forms of treatment, the answer is to try them again and keep trying. Few can stop on their own and it doesn’t sound like he’s going to mature out of it.
Search for the Gordon Moody residential treatment centre. Also check out the problem gambling thread on Reddit.
Dave says
Good morning, I’ve had a final response from peachy today,only had 3 loans with them in early 2013 with each amount increasing and the loans taken out within 1-2 days of paying the last one off.
I tried to apply with them early this year and updated all my income and job title details on their website. In their final response they have quoted the figures and job I declared this year but I didn’t start this job until April 2015! Should I go back to them or just refer to fos?Thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They do sometimes listen to a reasoned argument. But unless you have very strong reasons for thinking you should get a refund for all three 2013 loans (were any of them rolled?) then they are not likely to agree a full refund and you could suggest in the interest of getting this resolved speedily you will accept a refund on the final loan. If you want a full refund it’s not worth bothering with going back to them and you need to send it to FOS.
If you try to negotiate with peachy, apart from pointing out they have quoted the wrong income and job details, also mention in this email:
– that the loans were taken out within one or two days of repaying the previous one;
– that the loan sizes increased (if they did),
JOJO says
Hi Sarah.
Need some advice particuarly relative to Drafy (owned by Lending Stream I believe) issued noticed of an intended complaint and requested SAR. Today received final letter not upholding and my SAR, surely these companies who issue final letters before sending the SAR are putting people to a disadvantage in not being able to explain the reasoning behind the complaint prior to issuing their waffle? The first thing they point out to me is that they are NOT a PDL company. They advise they approve a credit line which customers use whenever they feel like it……similar to a CC I guess.
They provided me with 3 applications? All to LS and dont seem to bve anything to do with Drafy (poss some LS loans I had and subject of another complaint direct with LS). they advise they credit checked at the time (no proof of this) and every month thereafter (no proof of this either).
They also go back to I&E figures provided in 2016 perhaps they were correct in 2016 but certainly not in 2017/2018 and if they did credit check they would have seen this.
they seem to have provided monthly statements which are all over the place (I would guess a deterrent in me having to sort them all out to make any sense of them.
You think worth an FOS referral.
Anyone else had any experience with Drafty ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Definitely worth a referral. Ignore the point that they are not a PDL – SafetyNet Credit (similar to draft lines of credit but much larger so you see them mentioned a lot more often) often tries that and still loses cases at FOS.
It sounds as though they haven’t kept the details of your application to them or the credit checks they did? That is promising for your complaint!
JOJO says
Thanks Sarah. do you think they are wrong in sending me copy applications that were made to LS (prior me even having an account with Drafty) and whilst I appreciate Drafty owned by LS surely they should not be passing my data between companies? Isnt this wrong. I looked at the four applications they gave me, a lot of errors on there, each on has a different employment date etc, its strange but can LS pass my personal info to Drafty?
You think worth me emailing them with all my points etc or just FOS?
thanks Sarah, and appreciate all your help in 2018
All the best to you and all the other DC participants and readers in 2019
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think it’s better for a company to share data between brands than not to – how are you disadvantaged by this?
But Drafty should have done credit checks when you applied in addition to looking at previous ones by LS.
Significant inconsistencies should have been a red flag to look further.
No point in trying to talk to Drafty. I am not sure LS actually have any employees whose job it is to look at customer emails!
Steve says
Hey fellow debt fighters, I would like to thank Sarah and the team for all their help and wish everyone a successful,healthy 2019.
Lets do it!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Happy New Year everyone. May 2019 be a better year for all of you.
Sara
Jane says
Happy new Year Sara and all of the Debt Camel posters!
May 2019 be a great year for you all!
Janice says
Hi Iain
Well done on conquering 6 months. Keep strong.
‘Does he want to stop’? Today I would say he definitely does. I would imagine he still has the desire to gamble and will have for a long time coming, even if he gets help and stops anytime soon. If the desire wasn’t there, he wouldn’t gamble. Sounds simple for me and others to say to him ‘Just stop’. Done that a million times over the last 11 years. He says to us convincingly every time he’s been on a binge and its out of control and he’s depressed, that its not a problem any more. He doesn’t ever want to feel this low again. He cant live like this anymore so doesn’t need professional help as he’s not going to gamble ever again. He does believe this and over the years we have believed him too. Now I absolutely know he cant stop without more professional help. It is a nightmare living like this. Also very isolating for me and my husband as very few of our friends or family are aware he even has a problem. The odd ones that do, don’t understand.
David Sewell says
Hi Sara,
I’m looking for a bit of advice on an offer I’ve received from Quickquid who also appear to be suggesting that they are taking into account loans from PoundstoPocket also.
Amazingly had this offer drop into my email inbox on New Years Eve after waiting for a response for close to 6 months.
Total of 11 loans over a period 17th May 2011 – 13th December 2013. This was purely the Quickquid loans, and the case has already been sent to the FO.
They have offered me £2167.65 comprising of interest and fees paid £1608.06, 8% interest £699.49, 20% tax deduction £139.90. The total of the loans taken was £3550 and with the interest.
So I’m not sure if it would be considred a good offer or not on this one.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“Amazingly had this offer drop into my email inbox on New Years Eve after waiting for a response for close to 6 months.” Did you not get a response at 8 weeks?
“The total of the loans taken was £3550 and with the interest.” how many loans are they refunding? Do you know how much interest you paid on the ones they aren’t refunding?
David Sewell says
Nothing at 8 week from them directly, and they’d also not provided any kind of response with the company who made the original complaint on my behalf. The only email received from the was a subject access request in August 2018 – offer looks like it’s 1 loan.
These are the loan details.
funding date principal amount interest/fees paid avg monthly repayment contractual final payoff date actual paid date
5/17/2011 100 29.5 223.84 6/3/2011 6/3/2011
6/23/2011 150 44.25 715.34 7/1/2011 7/1/2011
7/10/2011 100 29.50 200.28 7/9/2011 7/9/2011
10/11/2011 200 59.00 363.82 11/1/2011 11/1/2011
12/7/2011 400 118 664.36 12/30/2011 12/30/2011
5/17/2012 250 73.75 680.57 5/31/2012 5/31/2012
6/21/2012 100 29.5 475.66 6/29/2012 6/29/2012
7/16/2012 200 372.73 203.94 8/31/2012 1/31/2013
2/1/2013 1000 1608.06 152.77 1/31/2014 9/11/2015
7/21/2013 200 319 156.64 9/30/2013 11/30/2013
12/13/2013 850 436.62 207.68 10/9/2014 9/11/2015
They’ve also issued a table with each loan ID giving reason for decision as ‘out of jurisdiction’ on 8 of the 11 loans, upholding the decision 1, and not upheld on 2.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
sorry a few questions. When did the complaint go to QQ? When did it go to FOS? Did you send the complaint to FOS or the claims company? ditto the SAR?
Loan 8 – did you roll this loan? or need a payment arrangement?
Loan 9 – was that QQ or PTP? Did your complaint cover both QQ and PTP
David Sewell says
Thanks Sara – really appreciate your advice on this.
Complaints went to QQ on 01/07/18 (it was acknowledged by QQ on 02/07), and then submitted with the FOS by the claims company for which I don’t have the date, but at a best guess it was towards the end of August 2018. The SAR was for the claims company to see the QQ details, but I’ve never received any notification or acknowledgement from PTP.
Loan 8 was a repayment plan owing to ill health.
Loan 9 was QQ – looking at all the data provided, they haven’t considered anything with PTP, and also haven’t provided the details of any loans with PTP in the SAR – I guess that’s one I’ll have to follow up on.
Mike w says
I’ve just started this process with my wife in regards to 4 loans she had with paydayuk between January and April 2013.
Loan of £400 in January, repaid in February and immediately took out £400, repaid that in march and immediately took out another £400, repaid that in April and yes again immediately borrowed another £400.
The last loan ended up defaulting as it was the final straw at that point .
Ideally she would like the default removed as a resolution. Is that a possibility? If not what resolution should she expect to get?
If it matters she was a student at the time, had a ccj , and a number of unpaid defaults
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What is the default date on the last loan? Has she now repaid the balance?
Mike w says
I’ve dug out the correct details from her emails, and the details are slightly different.
Original loan was in August 2012, she then deferred it every month until final deffer in April 2013, and failed to make the payment in may 2013. Each month she was paying roughly £90 in interest to defer the loan.
The date of default is October 2013, she still has an outstanding balance on it of £360
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So was this the only loan she had from them? Or were there others before it? How much did she borrow for this (last? only?) loan?
Mike w says
This was the only loan, and the value was for £300 or so, She deffered/rolled over payment continuosly for 8 months. Just paying the interest, then carrying over the original balance between August 2012 and April/may 2013
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, then you should write a very specific complaint, not send the standard one. Make it clear there was only one loan, she could never afford to repay it so rolled it 7 or 8 times before she defaulted. Point out she has repaid more than twice as much as she borrowed. Ask them to wipe the remaining balance and remove the default from her credit record.
Jen says
Hi has anyone received a cheque from frp advisory yet for a cheque centre refund, last I heard from them they were waiting on vat repayment that was end November, originally told payment would be end of 2018, thanks
James H says
I’ve had a complaint with PoundstoPocket and QuickQuid which has been with the adjudicator a while now. I’ve chased up and and response I got was “Unfortunately, I did not receive the requested information from the business. As a result, your case has been allocated to a different team within our service.”
Does anyone know what happens next or what the process is?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How long is “a while”? Do you have a list of your loans from them and have you sent FOS your bank statements? Are any of the loans over 6 years old? Are any of them from 2015 or after?
James H says
Hi Sara, I have a full list of loans and sent them and the bank statements to the adjudicator.
I’d waited just over 5 months for an adjudicator to look at it. He informed me that QQ had until December 13th to respond. So I chased when i’d heard more.
Im just interested as to which dept he’s fwd this on to and how long this will take?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
FOS have a lot of problems with QQ at the moment – loans over 6 years, loans from 2015 onwards, long chains of loans, loans with a balloon payment at the end, refusing to take payments and adding defaults, and probably more!
Your case may fall into one of those categories. If it is, it is waiting while FOS tries to get QQ to see sense on the issue which should result in a lot of cases being resolved quickly. This may feel slow but it’s going to be faster overall than sending all these cases to an Ombudsman for an individual decision. Also see https://debtcamel.co.uk/dear-payday-lender-ceo-redress/ – the FCA is also getting cross about payday lender delays.
If you can say more about the sorts of loans in your case and when they were, I could guess which problem is relevant.
JamesH says
I had about 12 loans with QQ and one with poundstopocket. All of these have now been paid off (thanks to refunds from other payday loans!). At the time they were clearly not affordable and I provided the FOS with bank statements clearly showing this. All I know is from what the FOS told me – that QQ/P2P hadnt provided him (the adjudicator) with the information he asked for and so its been sent to another department of the FOS. The adjudicator hasnt responded to my query about this. I’m just worried what happens next?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am sorry but I am asking you what years you took these loans out in. I am not trying to avoid your question – what I say depends on how old the loans are.
Libs says
Very happy to get a good offer from Myjar. It’s going to come in very useful this month. About to send Lendingstream to the ombudsman.
C says
Hi all
Having had my complaint rejected by sunny I have sent the information along with bank statements to the FOS.
Whilst getting this together I noticed that the information sunny provided me was false. I initially took the details on my loans from my credit report and from this it appeared I had around 30 loans to which sunny confirmed this with their response back to me. However from looking at my bank statements from 2014 I took out an additional 20 loans during that year and sunny have listed this as 1… for me that really confirms even more do that their lending was irresponsible and have been so brazen to conceal this. I have highlighted this to the FOS.
What are your thoughts on this Sarah?
I felt my case was strong and still hoping that yhe FOS agree.. 52 loans in 2 years!
Thanks c
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The “additional 20 loans” – could these have been drawing down money for a line of credit that Sunny has provided? If you can login to MyAccount in their website, this should show you the individual loan documentation and details.
If you can’t see from there what happened, I suggest you email them at dataprotection@sunny.co.uk and ask for a copy of all your personal data, including but not limited to all your loan applications, the legal credit agreements, a statement of Account for each loan, a copy of all credit searches or other verification checks they made. Also add a copy of all your phone recordings if you ever spoke to them on the phone. Do this now, so you have the information before your case is looked at by FOS as it may suggest some other points you can make.
To point out the obvious, 32 loans in 2 years is already a strong case!
Robert says
Hello, I made a complaint against cash Euronet for 8 loans I took from quickquid & poundstopocket. The company upheld my complaint after 8 weeks for reasons that I didn’t agree with so I took the complaint to the FOS.
I went through everything with one of their operators and after a couple of weeks they agreed with me that there had been irresponsible lending from loans 3-8 and said the company should refund me interest on these loans totalling around £1800. I got this information at the start of November so the operator told me they would get in touch with CashEuronet with their findings.
A couple of days later I got another email saying ‘Casheuronet have responded to our assessment with further arguments that we’re considering. These are generalised points which affect a number of complaints, including yours.’
Since this email I have had no more communication but considering how fast the first part of my complaint went, I’m confused as to why this would take so long and how I would go about getting an update. Also if anyone else had got to this stage of a complaint and had to wait quite a while.
Thanks in advance, Robert
Sara (Debt Camel) says
When did your complaint go to FOS?
Do you have loans that are more than 6 years old? or loans that were taken out in 2015 or later?
Robert says
My complaint went to the FOS on the 13th of September.
All the loans were taken out later than 2015.
Mike says
Mine went to the fo October 2017 and I’m still waiting.
Sy says
Mine went to the FO at the beginning of July, I sent all the requested documentation within a day of it being requested and Im still waiting to hear!! Is there a time limit for the FO to look at a case? Ive chased it a number of times but they just say it’s in the pile waiting to be assigned to an adjudicator!
Marie says
Hi Sara
I’ve been caught in a payday loan cycle with various payday loan companies for some years now.
I am finally starting to get out of debt, and hope I can save for a house by the end of the year.
However, I’m so worried my husband and I will be turned down for a mortgage because of my payday loans. Are pay day loan companies likely to take off the credit search on my credit file if I write a specific complaint, stating I’ve been dependant on them and they have lent irresponsibly to me?
Are they more likely to help if I’m not asking for a refund? I’m beginning to realise the consequences of taking so many loans out and just want to work ok my credit score and future.
Thank you
Marie
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“Are pay day loan companies likely to take off the credit search on my credit file”. credit searches don’t matter. Who has made a credit search isn’t visible to another lender. And it only makes a difference if the searches are recent.
Most mortgage lenders only care about payday loans if they were taken out in the last year. So if you have had a year clear of PDLs AND there weren’t any defaults or late payments earlier AND you go through a good broker, you should be OK for a mortgage.
“Are they more likely to help if I’m not asking for a refund?” No, they are only going to delete defaults or late payments from your credit record if you win an affordability complaint. Not just because you ask. Not to “save money” by agreeing to do that rather than refund you.
I suggest you kick off the affordability complaints against all the lenders you have used – any refunds can go to help your deposit and moving costs! Also read https://debtcamel.co.uk/improve-credit-score-mortgage/ and look closely at your credit records for other problems as well.
kiwi says
Hello! Thank you so much for all informations. I am not english so sometimes maybe I could get something wrong.
We are living in UK for 3 years me and my husband. Payday loans ruined our life here. We have bad credit history, we cannot afford to rent any property and since 2016 I am trying to pay back all loans and credit cards.
We had many loans for about 6000£. Many times we had problem to pay, or we paid but next day we order a credit card so we can live to next pay day.
We are 30 years old just got married 3 years ago we came to UK for better life…We are living in static caravan because I cant afford to rent a one bedroom flat. I cannot even make a family with my husband now. How? In caravan like gypsy? I had dream about mortage but no way with our poor credit history and many repeyment plans with Sunny Wonga Piggi Bank Mr Lender…plus all credit cards…I can’t live like that anymore.
I had no idea in UK there is some possibility to claim all those people who ruined my life! Please could you tell me if for beggining will be enough for us to sent a letter to each company from where we took a loan and wait for their response? Do you think if we are not English maybe better is go to CBA to ask for help? Or use company for claims which I am not sure is best option. It’s just all so complicated for me. I have no energy for that. I barely stand up from my bed each morning.. :(
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The best thing for you to do as you have a lot of current debts is to cancel ALL the repayments DDs or CPAs to the lenders with your bank and contact StepChange, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/help-payday-loan/.
They will help you set up a Debt Management Plan (DMP) so that you can get through without having to borrow any more. Once your finances are stable, you can then start on affordability complaints to the lenders – you can’t do this at the moment because they take to long to sort out, you need that DMP underway.
Any refunds will then help you pay off the DMP a lot quicker!
Don’t go to a claims company – they just send a template email. And you can do that yourself as the template is in the article above! And there is also a link to the email addresses you should use for each lender.
You don’t have to do all your lenders at the same time. Start with one, then do another one. Once you have sent a complaint, you won’t hear anything for 8 weeks, so just do a couple of week and you will soon get through them.
If you don’t understand any replies you get, or you don’t know what to do, come back here and ask.
Kiwi says
Thank you so much for all help!
We are starting this year much better. There is only one 80£ left and we finish with loans. just credit cards left but we pay only minimum each month so I think there is no need for DMP I think it will make my credit history worrest?
So I understand payday help companies helping only in wrting a letter and nothing else. I can write this letter by myself then. Is enough to send only letter no other documents to lender?
Thank you.. I appriciate it!
alvin johnson says
Just the letter to them. the template is on this page. copy and edit for each company and send it to them 1 by one. email is better and faster
Lou7 says
Hi all,
Has anyone got any advice on how long 247 moneybox take to pay out? They have had the acceptance back and my bank details. But was just wondering what the time frame is. Any information would be appreciated
cyrilv says
So… after a modest win against Northway/SwiftSterling and a flea in the ear from Satsuma, third one to declare is Sunny, and it’s not good news – a very polite, detailed and courteous letter but the complaint not upheld. They claim one loan of £600 was taken out – it was in fact one of those “line of credit” jobs to the tune of that amount. They also claim they checked against CallCredit (are they the same company as Noddle?) and found my rating satisfactory enough; they must have set a very low bar because my rating is pretty lousy now and would have been far worse then!
Anyway, summary is as follows;
Loan Number 1
Loan ID 20xxxxxx
Deposit Date/date of loan 31/1/14
Loan Amount £600
Daily Interest rate 0.97%
Amount repaid to date £938.83 (heaven knows where they got that from but I’m not arguing on that one)
Outstanding balance (capital + interest) £0.00 – debt sold
FWIW, the debt was sold to Motormile, who in turn sold it to BPO, who so far have been receiving payments at £7 pcm for the last 14 months.
Now I know this is technically a “one loan” complaint but do you think it’s worthwhile bothering with the Ombudsman here? Also, is it worth trying the “bad review on Trust Pilot” gambit in order to make them change their minds?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Did you borrow the £600 at the start? Or did you later borrow more? How much do your bank statements show you paid Sunny? And then MMF? And BPO to date? How much is the current balance with BPO?
Noddle is a free report on your Callcredit records.
cyrilv says
The original amount was £100, rising to £600 over about four months, in all I drew down more on about 9 separate occasions. According to my bank statements, Sunny received about £323 over that period, with another £30 or so when I was in a DMP. MMF got nothing. BPO gave an opening balance of (I think) £584, of which they have now received £98, so let’s call it £486. I have my Noddle to hand, and according to that the amount was marked as “satisfied” on 1/8/2015.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
On those figures you are only repaying 907 after borrowing 600. Its not a strong case to go to FOS. If you get other payday loan refunds you could offer a full and final settlent to the debt collector – they would probably be happy to take 50% rather than continue with £7 a month.
Catherine says
Hi.
I took my complaint with sunny to the ombudsman and after waiting nearly a year I am very happy with the offer so have accepted on 10.12.18 Does anyone know how long I can expect to wait to receive funds and how they pay them?
Thanks in advance
cheryl says
i have a case with sunny too and i think it will take 12 months
they are difficult people
they have to pay in 28 days
Catherine says
Thankyou. The 28 days is nearly up but not heard from them yet. Fingers crossed it goes through soon.
Good luck with your case.
cheryl says
chase them!
use trust pilot to leave a nasty review, contact fos to complain about non payment, send letters to complain to the the ceo and cc the complaints dept and fos.. it will take about 20 minutes but worth it.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sunny have got very slow. A bad Trust Pilot review does sometimes seem to kick them into action: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/sunny.co.uk.
I would wait until the 28 days is up before complaining to FOS and the CEO.
Catherine says
I have spoken to FOS today just to check date funds should be due and they said to give them a little extra time due to Christmas. I have left a review on trust pilot. Just a waiting game now
LMDay says
Hi Sarah,
I have just started the process of asking several lenders to send me account summaries and statements from my lending. Many of the debts have been sold to debt collectors, some of which I’m paying back, some of which I’m not and who are threatening to take legal action. Is it acceptable for me to email/communicate with those debt collectors and ask them to freeze my account on the basis I am disputing the lending from original lender?
Many thanks for any advice
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You should inform any debt collectors when you start a complaint against the original lender.
Why are you paying some and not others? I am not surprised the ones not being paid are upset! It’s usually* better to carry on with affordable payment arrangements during a complaint – you won’t be worse off by doing this if you win the complaint and if you lose you have repaid more of the debt.
* one exception is Wonga as it is in administration.
darren says
Morning All,
Looking for some advice. I wrote to lending stream July last year and they rejected my claim so I sent to financial omb. They have seen been in contact and last week I received a reply direct from lending stream even though it was FOS that contacted lending stream. They have offered to pay me £740.25 and £311.78 interest saying 6 of 19 loans were unaffordable.
I borrowed 2220 and repaid interest of 2392.22 total of 4612.22.
I borrowed a total of £2220.00 and paid a total of £2392.22 in interest so total repaid £4612.22.
I have emailed FOS to ask for there thoughts but as of yet haven’t heard back.
should I accept or leave with FOS?
darren says
I forgot to mention these loans were between 2011 and 2013:
13/06/2011 170 348.5 178.5
31/10/2011 285 627 342
06/03/2012 215 473 258
08/04/2012 65 104 39
02/05/2012 60 78 18
07/05/2012 65 84 19.5
24/05/2012 115 235.75 120.75
06/06/2012 100 205 105
06/08/2012 155 317.75 162.75
07/09/2012 80 152 72
09/10/2012 80 152 72
31/10/2012 85 174.48 89.48
10/11/2012 65 104 39
09/12/2012 85 173.5 88.5
15/12/2012 75 142.49 67.49
05/02/2013 225 557.5 332.5
04/03/2013 110 272.25 162.25
03/04/2013 50 132 82
25/04/2013 135 278.5 143.5
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It doesn’t look a great offer, does it. Did they say which loans they are refunding? I
darren says
that’s what I thought… just didn’t know whether they would soon go in to administration and id get nothing.
They have said they will refund the following loans:
loan 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11.
they say loan 1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 ,18, 19 were checked correctly
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That’s interesting, so they are refunding some loans that are over 6 years old.
There are no signs that they are about to go into administration, but who knows.
Darren says
Yeh, they seem to have not mentioned that they are over 6 years old. I’ve replied to them and copied in fos advising I reject the offer and wish for fos to continue
CL says
Is it normal for lending stream to not even bother responding to your complaint within the 8 weeks? They’re a nightmare to deal with!
Si Lad says
Yes it’s normal. As they do whatever they want when they want. Regardless of deadlines. I got my money eventually as the ombudsman said they acted irresponsibly. But in conversations with them they were rude, dismissive and unprofessional. Good luck getting your cash. As it is them in the wrong not you. Just remember that.
Grant says
Lending stream are 1 week over the deadline for adjudicator. Put a couple of reviews on trust pilot but seem to be to no avail. Any one know any other ways I can speed them up?
African Queen says
Hello Grant,
The only way I got through was to call Lending Stream directly. I got my money within 3 days.
Good Luck x
Grant says
Thank you. Spoke to them and said they sent to ombudsman. Finally looks like the end! Now just need to get them to speed up the payment!
Mike says
Hi Sara
Looking at the FO decisions website, I can see some recent decisions regarding loans after 2015. Am I being too optimistic, or does anyone know if this sticking point has been resolved?
Thanks
Mike
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No information, sorry.
Stuart says
Spoke with the fos today regarding my complaint against Payday UK. They told me they were starting to look into complaints with loans over 6 years and paydayuk had agreed to this. Not sure If this is just in my case or everybody’s. My loans were from 2007 – 2012 and I sent the case to the fos on the 03/04/18
GM says
That’s interesting. i had loans for the same period as yours and they have been dragging for 17 weeks now. PDUk have asked for a reason why I #m only complaining now, so i sent a response 3 weeks ago and still waiting for a reply.
Sent the case to the FOS on the 13th week, but no updates yet.
R says
Hi All
Submitted my complaint against trusted Quid to the FOS in September and i’ve just had an email from them asking me to fill out a form detailing my circumstances at the time of my first loan. Feels like they are now looking into it, how long do you estimate it will be from here?
The other query I have is that if I purey wrote down my outgoings it would look asthough these loans were all affordable, the reason they wasnt was due to Gambling!!! (Now 3 months free of gambling) do you think this would be a reason for not upholding it?
Neil says
The gambling shouldn’t be an issue if you had taken out a lot of loans. I had a couple upheld even though incomings and outgoings looked as if they were affordable, I had a lot of gambling transactions
Tim ber says
All my debts loans and credit cards were down to a gambling addiction. I’ve had 4 complaints upheld now with 3 more to go. Gambling doesn’t mean you won’t get upheld it just means the company’s didn’t do enough checks to see why you was repeat borrowing ect
Caroline says
Can anyone tell me does the Ombudsman often disagree with the view of the adjudicator? This is for Uncle Buck. The adjudicator upheld my complaint but UB challenged it so I asked for it to go to the Ombudsman.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
For payday lenders the most common result (over 50%) is that the Ombudsman agrees.
The next most common is that the Ombudsman makes a change (often small) to the number of loans being refunded. If the adjudicator awarded a refund on loans 5,6,7,9,10 the Ombudsman could change this to 6,7,8,10 or loans 4-10 say. It is rare for the Ombudsman to say no refund when the adjudicator offered one or make a huge change. Normally only happens in cases with a few loans.
If you would like the Ombudsman to think about refunding more loans than the adjudicator said, you should tell the adjudicator that you were happy to accept their decision to get a speedy settlement but as UB have rejected it, you would like the Ombudsman to also look at refunding loans 3 and 8 as you feel they should have been included because of …..
Caroline says
How long does it usually take once transferred from adjudicator to ombudsman?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
About 3-4 months seems common. Some less, some more. Most of the ones that are “stuck” and take much more fall into clear groups eg loans over 6 years old. If your adjudicator hasn’t told you about this, it probably doesn’t apply to you.
Elaine says
Happy new year xx
I have sent my complaints to FOS
1 x Sunny – they sent final response end of November 2018
1 x Paydayuk- no final response and it’s not been looked at and it’s 3months since I sent my complaint
I will keep you posted on my progress xx
Thanks for your help so far xxx
Good luck everyone
John says
Hi can anyone forward me the link to claim back my tax on the payouts, I think it was a max of £200
Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Here is the page: https://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-payday-refund-get-back-tax.
Sneedle29 says
Re: Quick Quid
Hi, I put in a claim against QuickQuid and they responded quickly offering £400 – I had numerous loans with them over the years; should I accept or send to Omb? They’ve given me 28 days to accept and they then will close the matter.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thank you!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
For a lot of loans that doesn’t sound a good offer. Do you know how many loans? How much interest did you pay? Are some of them over 6 years old or after 2015?
Sneedle29 says
Thanks Sara;
There were 10 loans;
3 of which were post 2015
I don’t even understand half of what their annex explanations meant! So confusing!
But I did note there was a hell of a lot of interest each month!
Their offer equals one months interest as an example!
Appreciate the advice.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So they only have been refunding one loan? It’s good to be clear about what they have said, but it sounds like a low ball offer, so you could just send it straight to the Financial Ombudsman. there is no point in trying to negotiate with QQ – they don’t listen.
Peter says
Hi all,
I’m dealing currently with a lot of lenders right now trying to get back on my feet. I’ve got loan settled with ferratum and piggybank, so I have no issues with them anymore. I owed them at the end in total about £1000, but like I said its settled and it was really easy. I’m currently working to solve my loans and get claim from WDA, WONGA, SUNNY, 247MONEYBOX and couple more. However, Im not sure about 118money. I took loan from them in January 18 and so far I’ve paid £776 and I got £1553 left to pay. But when I took it, I had several payday loans already. Is it possible to close the account and complaint about irresponsible lending? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes – for 118 Money see https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/ as the template letter and claims procedure is a bit different for large high cost loans where you only had one or one and a top up.
Dan Canning says
Really starting to lose my rag with Lending Stream. Case went to adjudicator last October and an agreement was signed on 18th October 2018 – I still have no refund as they stated that they were awaiting information from ACI who they had sold the loans to. On 14th Decemeber LS stated that they now had the information was would begin the refund process, after enquiring on Friday as to when I could expect the refund they have today told me that they are still awaiting information from ACI………..
Does anybody have any ideas? Am I likely to ever see my refund?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you told your adjudicator this?
Left a bad review on Trust Pilot https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/lendingstream.co.uk?
Told the FCA what you think of LS’s complaint handling? Email at consumer.queries@fca.org.uk and copy this email to stuart@global-analytics.com and chris.deboer@global-analytics.com. Say you are complaining that Gain Securities (689378) is deliberately delaying paying out the agreed compensation awarded by FOS – give your FOS reference number – you accepted the offer on 18 October and more than 10 weeks later, it still has not been paid.
Debs says
Cash converters had until the 27th December to get back to the adjudicator to agree or disagree with his decision.because they haven’t got back to him he has said it will now go to the ombudsman.can they still get back to the adjudicator between now and when the ombudsman looks at it
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes they can.
Debs says
Thank u,I have left a review on trust pilot so hopefully this might spur them on
StevieC says
Hi,
I recently seen a post about Drafty (Gain Credit) asking for any experiences. I complained about this lender in August and today have had a decision from an adjudicator partially upholding my complaint. The complaint was upheld for 19 of the 22 months i used this facility so will be due a refund of a small amount once the balance is cleared.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Thanks – Drafty is a quite a small brand so it’s good to get some more info about cases. I hope Drafty agree with the decision.
Steve says
If I’ve been sent a court summons, does putting in an irresponsible lending complaint pause the recovery action?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well you can try to get the case stayed, but it’s hard, it would have been much easier if you had done this before. You have to defend the court case as well as put in an affordability complaint, by defending the case for as long as possible there is more of a chance your complaint will go through – if a case goes to the ombudsman there is a box you can tick to say a court case is underway.
Complain now to all your original lenders, not just the one for the loan you are being sued for. the more money you can get back from other lenders, the more chance of clearing any CCJ you end up with.
For help with defending the court case, contact National Debtline on 0808 808 4000.
Lau says
I have a complaint with wage day advance. At 8 weeks they asked for another 8 weeks. I sent this to the FO anyway. Today is the 16 week deadline they said they needed and I have just received an email saying they can’t give me a final response but they will speak to the FO if I forward my complaint.
Do they have to give me a final response? Either they think they lent irresponsibly or not surely. They just won’t give a response. Can they do this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well your case is already with FOS, so it doesn’t matter if they don’t respond to you. Very poor customer service of course…
Adam says
I have received a letter today from Satsuma about missed payments and that they are going to default the loan if I don’t take action, the problem is I’m already in a payment plan for my loans with Satsuma and they have been sent away to FOS.
I have been making regular payments on time to these loans according to the payment plan. I have messaged satsuma to see why the reason for this is.
Are they allowed to default these loans even if I am in a payment plan with them and haven’t missed payments to that plan?
N says
Hi Adam,
They did this with me too! I always paid my payment plan to them but they kept sending me these letters I rang them they told me that the letters can’t be stopped but as long as I kept making the payments I would be okay. I did this and they never defaulted my loans just kept adding late payment markers to my credit report but these were wiped when I won my case
Iim says
Hi I have complaints currently in past the 8 week deadline with WDA – they have asked for another 8 weeks on top of the 8. The Money Shop – onto my 12th week & Myjar – also onto my 10th week. Is this normal? When can I expect a response from these people?
Mark says
Lim,
Due to the vast amount of complaints these companies are receiving, it’s now almost ‘the norm’ for them to miss the 8 week deadline.
As the majority of cases end up going to the FOS anyway, you may as well send the complaint to the FOS immediately. Then one of two things will happen:
1) You get the final response letter in the next few days/weeks/months upholding your complaint and offering you what you want – So you just advise the FOS and they will close the complaint.
2) You get the final response letter in the next few days/weeks/months and the lender doesn’t uphold your complaint and offer you what you want – Just send the FOS your final response letter and advise them you are not satisfied and want them to continue with their investigation.
At least you will have saved the few days/weeks/months waiting for the lender as the FOS will likely take 1-3 months until they start dealing with your complaint anyway.
Hope that helps.
Mark
Mark says
“immediately” – 8 weeks after you send the first complaint
Jon says
If I send a case to the ombudsman is it necessary to supply bank statements and credit reports etc. Or can they come to a decision without this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is much easier if you can supply bank statements. (Everyone can supply a Noddle credit report – FOS only asks for your current one, even though that is of little help for case involving loans over 6 years old).
If you can’t, you need to explain why and probably a statement from your bank saying they no longer have the details. In that case FOS will consider your complaint but it is still starting from a disadvantage … if you borrowed repeatedly from the same lender, this may not matter.
The cases where people are most reluctant to supply statements are often those involving gambling – but actually these are the ones where statements are most important. Without them your income may have sounded a lot for the amount you borrowed, it needs the statements to show how unaffordable the loans were.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I have seen too many Ombudsman decisions where the customer would very probably have got a much larger refund if she had supplied bank statements.
eg in one case, the customer only had one top up refunded because at that point even the lender’s own calculation showed the loan was unaffordable:
“Despite repeated requests, Ms T hasn’t provided us with her bank statements or credit record from the time. So I can’t verify what she’s told us about her actual circumstances at the time. And, without this, I can’t safely say what better checks would have found for the top up of loan two, or the initial loan three and its first top up.”
Joseph says
Hi Sara,
So in order to get things back on track I’ve entered a payment agreement with Lending Stream while I wait for other decisions to be made at FOS and then I can pay them all of. The woman told me that going into an agreement will affect my credit score but I did it anyway, is she right? I assume as long as I pay it should be fine surely my credit file wouldn’t state I had to enter a payment agreement?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
She is right – your payment arrangement means you aren’t making the original payments you agreed when you took the loan out and this is what your credit record shows.
But these problem marks on your credit record will be deleted if you win your case.
Dave says
Good evening.
Got 2 contrasting final responses yesterday which I thought maybe of interest (pun definitely intended)
Satsuma-Only 1 loan taken out and paid off on time, they’ve refunded the whole amount of interest plus 8% and said they’ll wipe it from my credit record,the cheque came today.
CashEuroNet – 20 odd loans taken out with them under quickquid and pounds to pocket brands, not upheld a single one!
Mar says
Hi, I was wondering if anyone can help me. so I had 2 loans with swift sterling that have now been sent to debt collectors CRS. I currently have an unaffordability complaint in regarding these loans. I have emailed CRS to advise as I have a complaint in regarding affordability I am not prepared to pay the interest and requested they wait until the complaint is settled to continue to pursue me. They want me to send the complaint and other details regarding the complaint. I’m not sure how I am supposed to deal with these people- should I provide them with the information? I told them to obtain my complaint from their client but they said if I don’t give them details they will basically continue to harass me. I have other affordability complaints in with other companies but ive never had to deal with a debt collector before
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are CRS acting on behalf of Swift Sterling? Or have they bought the debt? How old are these loans?
Mar says
I had two loans both from July 2018, I made the first payment on both but then was unable to pay. I’m not sure if they have bought the debt I’m not sure how to tell- I got an email from swift sterling stating the loans were being transferred to CRS for recovery and they would be in touch, I then got an email from CRS requesting the money
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK as the loans are so recent the chances are CRS are collecting on behalf of SS. I suggest you just forward them a copy of the complaint you sent to SS. It may be simpler to make an arrangement to pay – it won’t harm your chance of winning your complaint and every £10 you pay now will reduce the balance by 310 in the future.
James says
Hi
I borrowed £1000 with Satsuma loans and am struggling to repay. Agreed a repayment of £40 a month as total to repay was £1998 or £222 a month. I have since been approved for a further £1000 loan of which i took out (admittingly I shouldnt to help clear other debts). Can I complain to satsuma loans for irresponsible lending on this second loan? surely I shouldn’t have been pre approved for an additional £1000 when I was on a repayment plan
Thanks for any help you can provide
Sara (Debt Camel) says
” surely I shouldn’t have been pre approved for an additional £1000 when I was on a repayment plan” Quite right, that should never have happened!
But also complain about the first loan as well. You can use the standard template above, but as you only had two loans from satsuma and they were so large, it may be better to use the other template for large bad credit loans here: https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/
Grant says
Sent signed approval of offer back to Lending stream on Friday. I then rang to stress the urgency as did the adjudicator. I’ve spoken with LS today and they have said they have stopped the refund process as it needed a recalculation. Has anyone come across this before?
Daniel Canning says
Had something very similar – just got the recalculation back last night, turns out it is in my favour with an added £50 for the stress etc. This is however 10 weeks after the date the original agreement was signed so they certainly don’t rush.
Grant says
Great. I have a feeling when they next look at it (apparently Friday) they will say the amount has changed again as the existing loan would have increased.
Mark says
Hi thought this info might help someone…….
Last week i received a phone call from a very nice lady at the FOS advising me that she is dealing with my case (Mr Lender) and to clarify a couple of things.
During the conversation I advised her that I also had another 7 complaints regarding ‘irresponsible lending’ for other loan companies. She told me to email her the ref numbers and she would see if she could deal with them too.
Today I received an email from her to say she is now dealing with all my complaints!
Not sure if this is standard FOS practise or not but this must help speed up the process for both the FOS and us as the adjudicator will see the full picture of financial troubles as well as not having to explain the same things to multiple adjudicators.
So, I would advise if you speak to an adjudicator, you do the same in the hope that he/she will take all of your cases on.
I’ll keep you all posted when I start getting FOS updates.
Good luck all!
Casey says
Hi mark,
Something similar happened to me last week too.. I called the FOS for an update as have 2 outstanding complaints from April last year and luckily an adjudicator picked up the phone .. said he would look into his for me and said he would see if he could speed this up as this was already a long time to wait he says. He came back to the phone to say he Will investigate both as the loans overlap with the 2 companies ..one of them is nearly 60 loans in 18 months or so and e other 15 in 4/5 months in same time period so I suppose it might help if they look at 2 together in terms of time for them
He says he will get back to me within 2 weeks so fingers crossed
James says
I have mentioned my other 2 complaints relating to the comments above, hopefully get them handled together!
JD says
After giving the FOS a call to check on the status of my complaints, it looks like one is waiting for an adjudicator to be assigned. Two are still waiting for information from the lenders and the fourth has some loans over 6 years so still in discussion to get consent to consider these.
The last one I was told would possibly takes months and months to move forward, does anyone have any idea on timeline for the other 3?
I sent all my complaints to the ombudsman roughly 3 and a half months ago.. Is this normal these days due to the high amount of complaints being received?
Thanks,
JD
N says
Mine have been with the FOS for over 6 months now and are still just sat waiting for an adjudicator. I think we are in for the long haul
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Most complaints are currently being picked up by an adjudicator between 3 and 5 months after being sent in because of the increased complaint volumes. The missing information – it will depend when that is resolved, see Scott’s comment below that many satsuma complaints may have been held up because of an error by the lender.
JD says
Hi everyone
Just wondering about a course of action here. So I sent an affordability complaint to Peachy almost 10 weeks ago. The responded almost exactly 8 weeks after I sent my complaint, they did not however even bother fulfilling my SAR, until I asked. So they responded by saying they would refund interest on 1 out of 5 loans. I replied asking them to reconsider (as well as asking for the SAR). They then responded saying that they would consider 2 out of 5 loans. These 2 were the biggest out of all 5 and the last 2. They didn’t include statutory interest on these so I asked and they said they would not and that is their final response.
So long story short, I accepted their offer but it has been almost 2 weeks since I accepted and have not received the refund. I’m thinking whether it’s too late to cancel my acceptance and reject the offer to go to the FOS instead. Has anyone ever had experience of this? Is this something I could do?
Thanks,
JD
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How large were each of the loans in order, 1-5 and how long ago were they? what were the gaps between the loans? How large a refund have you been offered?
JD says
Hi Sara
Loans;
1 – £60
2 – £200
3 – £400
4 – £500
5 – £300
So my mistake.. They weren’t the biggest as number 3 was. The gaps between each loan was always less than a week after repayment of the last loan, usually split into 2 or 3 payments. The shortest period was taking a loan 2 days after finishing a payment for the previous one. The refund offered was for approximately £538, the total interest on all loans was £864 across all loans. These took place within the period of 12 months in 2014. As I mentioned, they refused to add statutory interest on to their final offer.
Do you think I can cancel the acceptance and take it to the FOS?
Thanks
Scott says
Hi All,
Just a little heads up for anyone with Satsuma complaints at the FOS or are about to send them off.
Apparently Satsuma have been sending incomplete files to the FOS and the FOS have been unable to deal with the complaint’s.
This error has now been sorted and the correct information is now being sent so the FOS can deal. Down side is that there is now a backlog.
My complaint has been with FOS since September and still not allocated. They have advised a good few weeks yet until it is.
Scott
Neil says
My one from satsuma has just been sorted today with the FOS saying they should refund the interest from 2 out of my 3 loans. I sent my compliant in to the FOS the end of April, beginning of may
Katie says
Mines been with FOS since beginning of May for the last one of 5 loans, Satsuma had agreed with 3 of them but I wanted the last one looked at. It got picked up on Monday this week and the adjudicator got back to me the next day agreeing with me!
Anita says
Does anyone had a success with FOS for the loans older than 6 years?
My jar questioning time limit with FOS
Sara (Debt Camel) says
FOS has decided that in general it can look at payday loans that are more than 6 years old, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/fos-time-limits-payday-loan-refunds/.
A lender can object but unless there is something specific in your case which means there is a reason the general approach should not apply to you, I would expect FOS to look at your older Myjar loans.
People are getting refunds awarded by FOS for these cases but where the lender queries it the cases can be very slow.
Anita says
Thank you so much for your explanation. Fingers crossed then.
Andrew says
Hi All
Would like to say thank you first of all for all the helpful advice on this site. I have submitted letters to all of my lenders and starting to receive response back.
One of my smaller lenders is Lending Stream and they have made the following offer:
I had three loans with them two in July 2012 (2nd and 12th July) for £315 and £80 and one in January 2013 for £200.
They have offered to refund the interest and charges on the second loan in July 2012 which equates to around £160.
I think this seems fair but before accepting was hoping to get others views?
Many thanks
Andrew
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If it seems fair to you, that is the most important thing! But they do seem to have chosen to refund the smallest of your loans. Do you know when you repaid loans 1 & 2?
Andrew says
Good point – perhaps I should push back.
What would my next step be? Natwest have removed my online banking so I will need to go to the bank to obtain statements.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have LS sent you the details of the loans? You need to know what interest you paid on loans 1 & 3. And what the gap is between loans 1&2 being repaid and loan 3 taken out. If there is a large gap this may not be worth pursuing and the offer may be reasonable.
brendan says
Hi all
Would like to say thank you first of all for all the helpful advice on this site. i’ve had 12 loans between 2017- 2018.
Myjar
1 750 2 1000 3 550 4 1500 5 2000
Lending stream
1 450 2 800 3 1250
Satsuma
1 1000 2 100
Ferratum
1 400
Safetynet Credit
1 220
I’m in arrears:
Myjar 2000, Lending stream 1250, Satsuma 1000 and 100, Ferratum 400.
I’ve paid the other loans on time but took out other loan help pay for other loans. When i took the loans out they did not want to see a bank statement or pay slip. On 2 Jan 2019 sent them email complaints about loans Satuma email me back said will not uphold the complaints that now got FOS be told to wait up to 6 months.
Just would like to know did i have case for there complaints on irresponsible leading.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Myjar and Lending Stream should have noticed that you were borrowing more and needing larger loans – a sign you were in trouble and they should have looked more closely at your situation. Satsuma’s first loan was large so they should have looked closely at that. And all the lenders for the later loans should have seen the loans from the other payday lenders if they had checked your credit records.
So yes, I think you have good cases there for irresponsible lending.
1 loan cases are hard to win. As you only had 1 loan from Ferratum, if that was early in 2017 the case probably isn’t strong, but if it was later in your borrowing then you should certainly take it to the Ombudsman if Ferratum don’t offer to remove interest so you only repay what you borrowed.
1 loan from SafetyNet credit – their loans are a bit odd, did you have borrowing from them for many months?
For the lenders where you still owe a balance, have you cancelled the CPA to the lender with your bank? You need to get into a safe position where you don’t have to borrow any more.
Was there a reason you borrowed so much at the start?
brendan says
HI
Ferratum loans i took out oct 2018 400 my credit score would have said just start to go in to arrears
safetynet credit took out 200 in now 2018 then they add 20 pound more. the first loans i took out with my myjar and leading stream was late 2017 but the other loans from march 2018 to nov 2018.
the reason was illness the nhs would not pay for my treatment i had to go private.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK so both the ferratum & SafetyNet Credit loans were late in the borrowing, so they should have seen all the other payday loans you had.
I hope you are feeling better now.
brendan says
Satsuma 1000 loan i email they on 2 Jan 2019 got email back 5 Jan 2019 it said they will not upheld complaint irresponsible lending how can they do it that quick is that normal to get respond back that fast all i they try hope that i will let it go?it now with FOS.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s quick because they didn’t spend any time thinking about it! Many people would give up as it’s only 1 loan, but one of the loans is BIG and you still owe a balance so this is well worth sending to the ombudsman.
Nancy says
Hi,
I had a complaint with lending stream rejected in July and sent it straight to FOS. So it’s now been with them 6 months ish and still hasn’t been picked up by an adjudicator. Any idea on wait times at the moment?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Should be soon! Have you asked FOS if they have all the information they need from Lending Stream?
Nancy says
No I haven’t. I presumed they didn’t ask for the info until someone had been assigned. I’ll do that now.
Also has anyone had dealings with quid market at FOS stage. Are they difficult or do they tend to play by the rules?
Thanks in advance!
Casey says
Hi Nancy,
The last two I have outstanding Mines have just been assigned an adjudicator and I submitted in April 18 one of which is Lending Stream.
Hopefully not much longer for you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Your case won’t have gone into the queue for an ombudsman unless LS has provided its case file to FOS.
Quid market are very small so there haven’t been many comments about them.
Mimi says
We have just had a final response from one of the bigger lenders, agreeing to pay us back just shy of 5k and removal of any negative credit scoring comments. We are now wondering if it’s worth contacting every creditor we had around that time, attaching the letter from the loan co as proof and asking them to remove negative info from our credit history. The loan company have basically admitted to making it nearly impossible for us so it’s proof that any defaults were unavoidable. Is this possible? If so we would be in a relatively good position as we just paid off our debt, are due the refund and have a decent steady income!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sounds like a good result – who was the lender? I am asking because other readers love to hear these success stories!
Do you mean you want to ask credit cards and non payday lenders to remove defaults because of the payday lending problem? Sorry, that won’t happen unless you can win an affordability complaint with the other lenders.
Mimi says
It was payday UK. Ok I think Im going to attempt that. We had a really tough few years because of this. We also had cash converters loans too, they have refused to pay back so we’ve taken it to ombudsman. We were a pretty severe case I think because we took multiple loans monthly over years until we were basically paying everything out.
alana says
Hi,
Not sure if this is a silly question or not, but not really sure how it works.
If the adjudicator ruled in your favour for the amount of £1245.55 (which includes £364.50 8% interest) in October, but it was then forwarded to another adjudicator, and then upheld again in my favour from ombudsman on 1st of January, will the interest go up again because its been another two months or is the total in October fixed?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The interest should now be recalculated :)
James lewis says
Hey guys,
Has anybody got any feedback on lending complaints with moneybost or cash4unow?
Kaz says
Yeah I complained to them they disagreed,they are horrible company, I have passed to FCA ,hopefully it will go in my favour
Jade says
Hello,
I wonder if anyone can advise me on whether to apply for a refund from Sunny/Elevate Credit Lending Stream? About 12 months ago, I wrote to both of them regarding my financial difficulties and they both agreed to freeze the interest and I am now making small payments per month to pay it off.
If I complain and ask for a refund, will they retract the reduced repayment plan and unfreeze the interest? I don’t want to put myself in a worse situation than I am already.
Many thanks,
Jade
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, they won’t do that. lenders are not allowed to be vindictive because you make a complaint. In your complaint to Sunny and Lending Stream I suggest you add a final line saying you are happy to continue making the agreed monthly payment while your complaint is resolved.
Craig Wallace says
Jade…. Sunny paid out for me very quickly with no quibbling. Over £2000 If I remember correctly
Jade says
Oh that’s good to know – thank you!
Paul says
After receiving decisions from some payday loan companies not in my favour after the 8 week period, I referred 5-6 claims to FOS 3 months ago. Around a week after referring these cases, I was sent emails and letters asking me to send them all the details including all the credit reports, bank statements etc which I did straight away. Since then, I haven’t heard a thing and this was 3 months ago. Is this normal and should I email the FOS asking for an update or just sit tight and wait for some news?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is taking 4-5 months on average at the moment for payday loan affordability cases to be picked up by an adjudicator. A few shorter, some longer, any for over 6 year loans may be much longer. I don’t think it’s worth asking for an update in under 5 months.
As soon as one is picked up, you can ask if they can also look at your other cases.
Mmorgs says
I’m just currently trying to get information about my loans from Safetynetcredit – they are taking their time and I’m starting to think they won’t respond within the 6 week time frame.
I haven’t actually got the information on all the loans yet, so would I get be entitled to go to the ombudsman? (When 6 weeks for the information has passed)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, you can’t go to FOS until 8 weeks has passed.
Do you still owe SNC money? If so I hope you have cancelled your CPA with your bank to them.
Mmorgs says
I still owe them £600ish, which I borrowed around £300) at a time where I had several defaults and many missed payments. So after 8 weeks of no response for my enquiry about my loans I go to the ombudsman?
I cancelled something regarding them within my direct debits a long while ago, the account has been with their company Indigo Michael Ltd since late 15. I just rang my bank and they told me a list of direct debits and I ensured neither safetynet or indigo Michael Ltd was in there.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, but your complaint to the Ombudsman needs to be about the non affordability of the loans, not the fact they haven’t sent the details – that is just an add on extra bit.
When complaining about SNC, you should make the point that they had access to your bank statements, so they should have seen the financial mess you were in.
Michael Morgan says
Excellent. If I’m successful, do you believe I’ll have the whole thing refunded or just the interest? My credit rating must have been exceptionally poor at the time, and I had been clearly living out of a large student overdraft for many years at the point I got the loan. (Also at least 3 recent defaults and many missed payments as said)
They increased it by like 50% also from missed payments.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Just the interest and any added charges.
James says
Some mixed news. While I have an adjudicator for Mr Lender complaint, as complaints re. Wageday Advance and PD UK have raised ‘objections’ as some of the loans >6yrs. :( Seems very subjective when it would be ‘reasonable’ to know about the opportunity to make an affordability complaint in the context of public awareness. So the adjudicator for Mr Lender complaint tells me to expect to wait “at least several months” before the other two complaints are allocated. Disappointing but not necessarily surprising re. others’ stories. Initially went to FOS late-Oct/early-Nov 2018.
matt says
Hi Sara
I am just wondering how long it takes for an Ombudsman to pick up a complaint after a business disagrees with the Adjudicator? My QQ complaint was escalated on 12/12/18, I am guessing quite a long wait from here?
Baggy70 says
I’m in the same position as you but have been waiting since October to get an Ombudsmen allocated!
Annie says
I’ve been waiting since the 20th of July for an ombudsman to pick up my case after QQ disagreed with the adjudicator, spoke to the FOS yesterday and have been told due to the backlog in will be at least another couple of months. So I would settle in for a long wait unless your extremely lucky.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
can you say something about your loans from QQ – different cases may be held up for different reasons.
matt says
Nothing unusual about mine. Dropped the over 6 year ones and nothing after 2015. A lot of borrowing and roll overs. Interest totalling £6k. QQ offered Adjudicator £1800, so I escalated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
In that case probably 2-4 months.
Emily says
My complaint has been escalated to to ombudsman from the 3rd of Sept. Still haven’t heard anything yet but all of my loans are later than 2015 – the adjudicator ruled that i shouldn’t have been given any of the loans I took out with them so I’m hoping this can be settled soon!
Kaz says
I originally referred a few of mine over in April 2018, these were rejected and I asked for them to be referred to an Ombudsman. I’ve had responses they are looking at a different view on my cases and again still haven’t had a response from them.
I chase them every month and always the same response, they are waiting to be reallocated. Hopefully this gets resolved soon! It will be a year in April….