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?
Rob says
So I’ve just had another of my complaints reviewed by the FOS and thought I’d share.
This was with Safetynet credit who had been really slow to respond to my original complaint (complained in August and they didn’t respond until I left a negative review on Trustpilot in Jan)
Anyway, they responded to the FOS etc and actually made an offer along with passing on the paperwork. They e removed all interest on the default (£400) and will refund interest of £3143 (plus an additional £1k 8% interest). They’ll take £1k off to pay the outstanding default amount and the rest to myself.
They’ll remove all negative credit report items as well.
Think this is brilliant news and makes my total refunds to date £6000 off 2 complaints. I’ve another 3 with the FOS and these are all larger ones. Fingers crossed
Lisa says
My husband had an offer from wageday advance after we escalated to FOS. We decided to accept- turns out FOS noticed the sums don’t add up and we’re due £350 more than we thought! We would never had known!
Kristym86 says
Hi Sara
Need some advice please.
Payday uk have replied with their final response. They are saying that they want to know why I haven’t complained before now and in the specified time frame. Do I just be honest and say I never realised I could?
I’m still waiting for the final response from payday express but as the same company I’m pretty sure this will be the same 🙄
Any advice from anyone would be greatly appreciated
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“Do I just be honest and say I never realised I could?” yes! add some details such as when you found out and how: “I saw a Facebook advert for a claims company in September 2018 and that was the first time I had heard of unaffordable lending”, “My sister sent me a link to an article about refunds in November 2018 – before that I had no idea a lender should have checked I could afford a loan so I didn’t know I could complain.” Just use your own words to describe your case.
Charlotte says
Hi everyone,
New here. Just needed some advice please. I sent off all my complaints to each lender and some replied with a straight no. I then sent them all to the FO, haven’t heard anything from them about my cases. Does anyone know how long roughly the waiting time is for these cases?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I’m saying 4-6 months is typical. A few get picked up sooner. If a case falls into some categories it could be longer. If you can say a bit about who the lenders are, how many loans and when the borrowing is I could guess if it is one of those?
Joe says
Hi, I’m at 6 months now. Called the FOS and the person I spoke said they don’t understand why it hasn’t been picked up yet. I have 65 loans from cash converters, none over 6 years old, 47 of the loans taken out the day the one before was paid back. They received everything from me, and confirmed they have the business file.
Frustrating when I see people at 3/4 months in getting results from the FOS.
Rob says
This frustrated me given some companies responded fairly quickly to the FOS and I’m still waiting.
I spoke to the FOS and they explained some cases get picked up sooner because they’re classed as instalment loans and they don’t have as many complaints against those companies (like Onstride).
There seems to be set teams dealing with companies (so a team dealing with Satsuma and a team dealing with Mr Lender).
If you’ve been waiting longer than 6 months I suggest ringing up the FOS and asking for them to look at why it’s taken so long etc. Sometimes it’s actually the company not being helpful and the FOS just aren’t pressing them as much because they’ve got other cases that are ready
Joe says
Thanks for replying. The FOS confirmed they have all the information they required from Cash converters. It’s just waiting to be assigned. They can’t give me a reason why it’s taking so long.
Mmorgs says
Quickquid have responded finally to my irresponsible lending complaint with a very confusing letter:
This offer represents the interests and fees you have paid us on loans we have upheld, plus 8% simple annual interest on those interests and fees, minus 20% tax withholding (on the 8% simple interest) to be remitted directly to HMRC on your behalf. If you have any outstanding balance with us at this time, we will first apply the redress towards the balance and any remaining redress will be paid to you as a cash refund
● Interest and fees eligible for refund: £ 0
● plus 8% statutory interest £ 0
● less 20% withholding £ 0
● Total Owed to you £ 0
——————————————————————–
● Total Waiver Amount: £ 0
——————————————————————–
● Total Outstanding balance after the redress: £ 378
Annex:
(First loan)
product type:payday
funding date:4/5/2015
principal amt: 200
interest and fees booked: 55
interest and fees paid:22
repayment across loan term: 286
disposable income across loan term: 1650
contractual final payoff date: 5/29/2015
actual final payoff date:
extensions : 0
date of hardship: n/a
I don’t understand, is £378 their offer? They also had two loans in there but did not give me any details about them. Shall I go straight to the Ombudsman?
Mmorgs says
Apologies, the other loans I thought were Decisions saying not upheld. Either way I’m guessing ombudsman now? They made sure it’s as confusing as possible either way.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It looks as though they are making some offer on just one loan so all the rest are being rejected.
I can’t work out what they are offering either! Those figures don’t seem to make sense. The phrase “balance after the redress” refers to the amount you will still owe them…
But if you have other loans (how many?) it probably isn’t worth spending any time trying to get them to explain what this poor offer actually is – straight to the Ombudsman.
Diane says
I sent 3 compliments to FOS back in may 2018 go QQ,PDUK and Payday Ex, dropped the over 6 years for QQ and got payment in December, my adjudicator for payday ex and pduk mentioned my gambling problem and upheld all my loans got paid out in January for pduk and now just waiting for money to go in for payday express in total for al 3 £6000 back, don’t give up guys and don’t worry too much about gambling as it actually went in my favour, good luck
Colin Brown says
How was the QQ one resolved? I have a claim against them currently with FOS since November 18 and as of 9/2/18 still not even picked up yet. Chased them up today and they said massive backlog sorry for the delay.
embob says
hi can anyone please advise. i have a payday loan complaint with the FOS which they are currently looking into my complaint for irresponsible lending but i am in a debt management plan with stepchange and this debt is in my plan.will this affect my chances of getting any joy with my claim ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Your DMP won’t cause a problem at all. If you get a refund including the last defaulted loan, first interst will be removed from the last loan, so you only have to repay what you borrowed. Then any refund from previous loans will be used to pay off what remains of the last loan (if anything). If there is more, it will come to you as a refund.
If you get a lot back and your DMP has been running for a while, you can use the refund to offer full & final settlements on some of your DMP debts. StepChange aren’t very helpful with this, so pop back here if you want to talk about what to do…
embob says
many thanks for your help i am hopeful the fos agree with my claim. i had 28 loans in 4 months with the 1 lender of which the fiirst 24 i paid back before the due date but the last 4 loans i couldn’t afford.
in total i had loans with 10 different payday lenders at the time hence why im on a dmp
Deborah says
Hiya, I’m really if this is a question which has been covered numerous times above but struggling to put in a claim due to mental health issues but can’t not put compliants in other wise will end up bankrupt. In my complaints do you put all details of loans you took out and any others at the same time as that to highlight unaffordability? Thanks x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Deborah, sorry this is feeling difficult, you don’t have to do do everything at once, just get going with one or two and soon you will probably feel like doing the next one or two.
Also if you are under pressure from payday lenders or other creditors at the moment, it’s good to get yourself into a “safe space” as these refunds complaints can take a long while to go though. So I suggest you talk to StepChange, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/help-payday-loan/.
Some people like to put all the details of their other lending into a complaint. But the template letters in the article above are much simpler, only describing your borrowing from the lender you are complaining to, and they work well.
It’s up to you, there is no right or wrong way. You could go for the simple letters and add an extra sentence saying you were also borrowing from X, Y and Z at the same time if you want a half way house.
James says
Hi, I have the following with the FOS, do you think it’s likely they’ll be picked up soon? I asked for an update and they have everything they need for all but no adjudicator assigned.
Pounds To Pocket submitted 7 months ago
11 loans, none over 6 years.
Lending Stream submitted 6.5 months ago
24 loans, none over 6 years
Thanks
tomprice says
Mine have only just been picked up and they have been with them 8 months
Ryan says
Hi All,
Seeing if Anyone else has had the same problems with QQ/PP and FOB.
Original complaint went In November 2017. QQ/PP rejected so send to FOB and was in my favour for 15 loans of 19. Looking around 12k Intrest. I was in bad way and was boring from 4 lenders at the time.QQ/PP rejected again in March 2018. And now has been with an ombudsan since April 2018. Is this a Normal time scale? None of the loans was over 6yrs when I originally complaint. My QQ account still has £300 owing and I can’t make a payment. So my credit rating is awful because of this. I do keep calling once a month for an update but keep saying it’s waiting on answers from QQ.An Ombudsan has been signed to the case for over 3 months.
On top of the above. Just to say thank you for this site and Sara. I started my complaints with over 10 lenders… back in November 2017 and had over 18k back already. Without this site i would of never of got out of the payday circle. So once again massive thank you.
moon p says
Bearing in mind the above, I am unable to uphold your complaint, as we believe that the aforementioned checks were proportionate and responsible. Initial assessment of your application accounted for some of the adverse information held at the credit reference agencies and as a consequence you were offered a small amount of credit relative to your stated income As a gesture of goodwill, we will repay the difference between what you borrowed (£325) and what you repaid (£463.82) which is £138.82, and will refund this to your chosen bank account. Please can I ask that you provide me with your account number and sort code so I can arrange for the refund to be processed.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Who is the lender? Did you have more than one loan from them?
PS I have changed your name slightly as someone else is currently posting here under the nickname of “moons” and it can get confusing.
alvin johnson says
i am 100% sure this is sunny, i had the same response today after 7 weeks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You may well be right!
It could be a good offer or it could be a very poor offer, depending on how many previous loans there were.
Iain123 says
Hi Sara.
Please help? The Money Shop have broken down my complaints into four sections. They’ve upheld two and made an offer which I’m happy to accept, and they want more information on the other two.
If I accept their offer on the first two will the other two complaints still be active or are they cancelled if I accept the offer?
Thanks.
Mark says
Iain123,
If they require more information to conclude your complaint, it doesn’t really matter at this stage as the complaint will likely have to be settled in it’s entirety. In other words, wait until they conclude the investigation for all four sections and make their offer (final response), then you will have all the information to make an informed decision.
Mark says
PS e.g. If you complain about 10 loans and the lender sends an offer to refund interest/fees on loans 8-10, you can’t accept that offer then take loans 1-7 to the FOS – Unless the lender gives their permission to do so and why would they?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sometimes TMS will agree to you accepting their offer on some loans now, sending them more info on other loans and then being able to take the other loan complaint to FOS if they don’t make a satisfactory offer. But if you want to do this, you need to get them to agree to it specifically – that you can accept the part offer now and still the case for the rest to FOS late. Don’t assume you can do this.
Billy8719 says
Hi all,
I stupidly left the 6 month window pass since my rejection from multiple companies without referring to the FOS. Im not sure why I didn’t pursue this sooner but now the FOS say they are unable to assist me. Is this the end for any potential case or is there any other avenue I can explore?
Regards,
Bill
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is the end of your easy options I am afraid. Your only alternative now is to take the lender to court. It’s not something I would suggest you do without getting some professional advice on your cases. You could see if there is a Law Centre near you that could help?
Leon mckee says
Hi I’ve been trying to claim a refund with payday express/the money shop
I requested my old records and they replied with them via email, I then sent them back with the request of a refund using the template, I hadn’t heard nothing for over 3 months so I emailed them again and they have told me that a FRL was sent out in October the problem is that this isn’t my address anymore so I never received it. Can you please tell me if this letter was likely to be bad news with no offer of a refund or is there a chance they might of offered me something?
With it being a final response I’m presuming it’s bad news
TIA
Sara (Debt Camel) says
A lender has to give a final response to any complaint – that doesn’t necessarily mean it is bad or good news! Have you asked them to resend the responses to your current email address?
You need to follow up on this quickly. You are supposed to go to the ombudsman within 6 months of a final response. You have an excuse for being late, but it will be much better if you can get the answer and make a decision rapidly, within the 6 months, about whether to go to the ombudsman.
Colin says
Hi, I left a comment before regarding The Money shop loans i had from 2008, my payday loans from payday uk are ranging from 2007 to 2013(gap between 2008 and 2013), do you know of anyone getting refunds for loans more than 6 years old? currently they still have not contacted me since sending me my loan history history. I am going to phone them at the end of the week for an update as it has been 15 weeks since my complaint. my other question is, is there much point going to the FOS if my loans are over 6 years old, would it be best to wait for response?
thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They seem to have gone very slow over these 6+ year cases. I suggest you send it to FOS if they don’t give you an offer at the end of the week – don’t let them ask you for more information or otherwise postpone things. At the moment it feels as though people are getting a better response from FOS for over 6 years loans than TMS
Rob says
They didn’t respond to my request for the loan information after several months. It’s onoy since I’ve sent the complaint to the FOS that they’ve actually started doing anything.
I’m actually still waiting to understand how many loans are included in this complaint
GM says
Hi COlin,
I had exactly the same pattern of borrowing as yours in regards to timing and had a very slow response from PDUK. After 14 weeks I sent the complaint to the FOS and when PDUK got wind of it, they stopped looking at the complaint. dont hold your breath, they will stall as much as they can and will totally ignore your emails.
My case with the FOS was opened 3 months ago and i was told that since all the loans were more than 6 years old, they were with a jurisdiction tem to see if they can be considered. samw with QQ and MyJar.
I called the FOS last week for an update and they said that with 6+ years loans, I would nee to wait several months for an outcome about jurisdiction alone.
siobhan says
Hi GM,
This is all very confusing regarding the FOS and loans over 6 years with TMS. My point is why have you been told this when there are very recent posts in this site where people have had no problems getting refunds on cases over 6 years. Why are people not being treated equally by the FOS?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“Why are people not being treated equally by the FOS?”
the answer I think is because different lenders are taking different views AND different cases are at different stages.
Some lenders are not raising objections to loans over 6 years being looked at. Those cases are just treated like any other cases. Where a lender has objected, the cases first has to be reviewed by FOS to see if they will look at it. (In practice, I am not aware of cases that are being rejected at this point at the moment but it is more work for FOS to do this. It is this extra step that I think FOS wants to avoid by getting lenders to accept that it can generally look at these older cases.)
Then when a case has passed this “jurisdiction check” it can then be reviewed as a normal case.
GM says
Hi Siobhan,
The problem is that with the rise of complaints, many lenders are starting to reject more cases for loans that are over 6 years old in the hope that many people will just give up.
I had a complaint with WDA and they initially rejected my case, but once I explained why i was complaining after 6 years, they ended up refunding me. Unfortunately, no long after that, WDA started to stall the complaints with other customers and ended up trying to reach an agreement with the FCA about a redress scheme.
J says
Evening Sara
The lenders are LS, TMS and the old favourites PDE and PDUK and all loans had been paid back until I realised I could complain. Having received a final response back from each of them in the allotted timeframe, LS responds saying out of my 3 small loans from 2014, loan 3 was upheld and would send back my interest (sent to FOS anyway) and got the 8% as well which was £472 paid in Sept ‘18. TMS replies to say that of my 12 loans between 2012-2014 (borderlining 6yrs now) that only the last one “potentially” may have been irresponsible and that I should send in bank statements etc (which I didn’t have) – I submitted this to the FOS in March ‘18 also with an adjudicator picking this up in Jan ‘19 to say they are upholding loans 6-12 and that TMS have until the Mid-Feb to come back on a refund of all interest and charges for these loans (so i’ll wait to see what this brings)
J says
* Finally leading to the Grandads of the game PDE and PDUK, having originally responded in March ‘18 to say that they won’t look at these as they are all over 6yrs old I went straight to the FOS – I couldn’t tell you how many loans I had with them both as tbh they wouldn’t even tell me and it’s been so long. Unfortunately FOS were saying the same thing as they were to everyone else, that they were waiting on a decision as to whether they could look at these older loans. TILL I received an email from an adjudicator in Feb ‘19 to say that they are writing to them both to say that having looked into my case they have decided they CAN look into all of the loans I had borrowed through them. They both now have 2 weeks to respond back with their thoughts and relevant information. Fingers crossed, it’s been a long time waiting and these loans were 2010-13…. I’ll update at the end of the month guys..
Dean says
Hi
Back in August 2018 Sunny did not uphold my complaint so I referred this to the FOS.. so my case has been with the FOS/adjudicator 5-6 months.. the adjudicator have now asked sunny to pay back all interest approx £1700.. does anyone know how long sunny will take from here on?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sunny often accept adjudicator decisions – hope they do with this one.
Neil says
They took till the last day permitted to respond to the adjudicator for me, but accepted his decisions. They then took about the full time to pay out too
Neil
paula says
hi.
i got a adjudicator end of Nov 2018 for my QQ claim, 6 loans between 2013 and 2015 so in the time bracket and iv still not heard a thing.
Is this a normal time length?
thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you asked the adjudicator if they need any more information?
paula cameron says
ye i gave all my wage slips .
Adam says
Hi,
bit off subject but have put a irresponsible compalint against QQ with a request for a repayment plan, they acknowledged my email, never give me a response, sent to FOS, then around 11 weeks after my initial complaint replied saying they take complaints serious and want to see payslips and bank statements, which i wont be sending them as ill only send to FOS, during this whole time they keep sending letters and emails about the balance to which i reply about my situation, but still no response or repayment plan, just wondering has anybody had success with a repayment plan with QQ
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is very much on topic!
So you have cancelled the CPA and offered a repayment plan which they have ignored?
Mark says
Adam,
I had the exact same complaint regarding a lender in 2017. It ended up at the FOS as I was asking for all the interest and charges to be removed from my account for the 7 months that the lender ignored my requests to set up a reduced payment plan of £8 p/m.
The FOS asked me to provide evidence that I had made ‘reasonable steps’, to enter a dialogue to discuss my new financial situation (redundancy), payments.
I sent the FOS the 3 emails that explained my hardship, income/expenditure and offer of payment and the lenders 3 auto acknowledgement responses, along with a statement from the lender confirming that I had been making the £8 p/m payments manually as offered.
I won the case and the adjudicator even said in his telephone call to me, that this was “one of the simplest cases he’d ever had to decide”!
If I were you I’d do the same. If after the second email you still don’t get a response, raise a separate complaint (I wish I’d done mine sooner), so you don’t have so much interest/charges and adverse credit history as I got and make the payments manually if possible.
Hope this helps and good luck!
Mark says
Ps I think I raised the complaint based on FCA Principle 6 – treating customers fairly. – But you should probably check this as my memory isn’t perfect!
Adam says
Thanks Mark, i think ill put in another complain against them then, and i have sara cancelled the cpa and requested a payment plan of 50 a month for the 150 i owe, just dont want them sending it on to a third party collection agency
Steve says
Hi Sara, wasn’t sure where to post this but I’m after some advice on something strange which has happened (and left me slightly worried)…
I paid off a loan in full the other day and the money both left my bank account and cleared the account of the loan (I got email confirmation to say it was settled and nothing more was due).
There is now a refund from the company showing in my bank for the exact same amount but I haven’t heard from the company and on checking my account with them it still says settled. This is a concern as I’ve not realised this has happened and spent some of that money over the weekend meaning I’ve now not got the full amount.
What has happened here? Where do I stand? Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Steve
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Did you have a complaint in about the loan you have settled?
Steve says
No I didn’t. There is no reason that I can see apart from an error on their part.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, well your options are to phone them up and ask them why they have sent you the money or to keep quiet.
If you phone them and they say its an error and they want the money back, t=you can repay what you have and they should be happy for you to make a payment arrangement over a reasonable time for any you have spent as it was their mistake.
If you want to keep quiet, I suggest moving the money into a separate savings account where you won’t be tempted to spend it. Because the odds are they will contact you at some point and ask for it back.
John m says
Anyone know what timescale I’m looking at once an adjudicator has been assigned my complaint before a decision is reached ?
Mark says
John,
Think the current estimates are 2-4 months for the adjudicator decision. Obviously this is heavily dependant on how conscientious the lender is in sending the adjudicator any additional information they request. It appears many lenders ‘drag their heels’.
….that’s what my adjudicator told me last week (they were assigned to my case 20/12).
Joseph says
Sara,
If a company offers your a ‘gesture of goodwill’ regarding your complaint, can you accept and still send to ombudsman? It seems a little confusing when they don’t explicitly state this. QQ have offered me a gesture of goodwill payment but declined my complaint.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No.
Accepting an offer will be in full and final settlement of your complaint with QQ. If you wanted to take the rest of the complaint to FOS, you would have to get QQ to agree you can do this in writing beforehand. And I don’t think they will agree.
Out of curiosity, how bad is the goodwill offer? QQ used to make a lot of these, but I thought they had stopped doing this.
Joseph says
Thanks for your swift reply, out of a total rebate of about £4000 (minus interest) they have offered me £603.44 (one loan upheld)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you mean that you paid 4000 in loan repayments? or that you paid 4000 in interest?
Also is there any clue how they picked the 1 they are offering to refund?
Joseph says
I paid roughly £4000 in interest, so I’m assuming that’s what the total complaint could be worth. They’ve offered 1 loan upheld but gave minimal explanation as to why, almost like they’ve picked at random.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You would also get 8% back on any refunds, so although you wouldn’t be likely to get a “full refund”, it seems likely you may end up with a lot more than they have offered.
Nick says
Hi,
I lodged a complaint with Mr lender and with Sunny
Mr lender sent me an initial reply saying that the first two loans I took out I won’t get any refund for as I paid them all off and they did their checks and it was affordable (even though other payday loans had left me struggling and this is why I took out these ones),l. Response for my third loan was as follows:
We can confirm in total you have paid Mr Lender £187.00 back towards this loan.
Since receiving your complaint, we have been in contact with Lantern Debt Recovery who have confirmed you have an outstanding balance with them of £760.00.
Taking the above into consideration, the correct checks were carried out prior to your loans being issued and forbearance was shown immediately when informing us of the change to your financial circumstances.
I have paid this loan off a few years ago now so was bemused by this. Upon informing them, they responded that they talked to the debt management company again and found that actually I was right so they are willing to pay me 187. Is this acceptable? Should I be pushing for more money from them for all 3 loans?
Sunny have said they don’t believe that my claim of irresponsible lending was appropriate, and have said I can refer to financial ombudsman if I want to. I may need guidance on this as they have outright refused anything?
I feel way in over my head!
Nick
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Mr Lender – can you give some details for the three loans – how much did you borrow on each of them, how much did you repay? what were the “gaps” between repaying one and taking out the next?
And same for Sunny – how many loans?
Nick says
Sunny was 1 loan of 700, paid on time and in full. I honestly can’t remember off the top of my head for first two mr lender (but I know they increased in size each time), the third loan was 700. I repaid 187 of third loan before needing to get a debt management program sorted. The gaps were minimal and to my knowledge the loans overlapped a little. The first two were repaid in full, all on time
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you tell Mr Lender that you would like full details on all three of your loans before you can consider their offer. Once you know what you borrowed and what you repaid and the gaps you are in a better position to decide what to do. If you borrowed 700 for the last loan but have had it settled for 187 + 760, that doesn’t sound right, you would have paid much more. Ask lantern how much you paid them, or check that from your bank statements?
Sunny – it’s hard to win a one loan case. Unless there is something unusual about it?
Nick says
Hi Sara, thank you. I will reply to Mr lender asking for more info. I understand it would be hard to win a case with one loan with Sunny, my problem was that it was part of a lot of other applications that I had made and to help pay other loans, perpetuating my circle of debt
kevin smith says
Hi, so Adjudicators have seen in my favour for loans 4-16 with lending stream. They have given them until today to reply. Lending stream acknowledged this a week ago however as of an hour ago have not got back to the Adjudicators. Reading on here they seem to be really slow at replying. What’s people experiences , do they tend to agree with the Adjudicators and if so how long is there refund process normally taking
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Leaving them a poor review on Trust Pilot sometimes produces a very good result quickly! https://www.trustpilot.com/review/lendingstream.co.uk
B says
Hi Sara,
Have you heard about 247 Moneybox latest scam? Just been reading through Trust pilot and once you scroll past all the fake reviews (to counteract the negative) they write themselves, nearly every customer has stated they are approved for £500+ loans or whatever they apply for and end up with £80 in ther bank accounts! – How can the FOS turn a blind eye to this? It basically means they earn £20 off of every single customer who applys as obviously the customer goes back saying they didnt want £80 they wanted what they applied for and so they then have to pay back the £80 + interest!
Also a few comments about customers who apply now being scammed by anothet company
Have a read, disgraceful.
Mark says
B,
That’s a terrible practise. Can this lot go any lower?
FYI If anyone falls prey to this scam you have at least 7 (I think it’s actually 14) days to change you mind and return the loan. So just put it in writing (ideally email), that you wish to cancel the loan and return their money and you are entitled to pay it back with no interest/fees.
Hope this helps
Grant says
Lending stream refund came through finally 5 days after the Fos deadline. £3.5k.
Adjudicator has found in my favour for sunny they had till the 31st to reply and still haven’t. Trustpilot review left but still no response. Anyone have any other ideas?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They may look at it at some point. Or you may have to wait for an ombudsman decision.
kevin smith says
How long did LS take to respond to the Adjudicators decision. Day over now with mine and left a review on trust pilot..
Grant says
3 Day over the deadline. If you call lending stream on 0203 365 0138 this sometimes speeds them up.
kevin smith says
Thanks so much for that , called them went on hold and miraculously they came back said sending email in 15 minutes agreeing to pay our 1800 , next is the delays in paying me the money..going to get on to them every day
Jbart says
Hey Kevin. Was this a Drafty loan. Can you tell me about how long it took Ombudsman to make decision. It’s been 10 months of waiting for me.
kevin smith says
Hi was Lending Steam , has taken around 11 months from initial complaint to finally been upheld by the FOS, just got to wait for my money now. Was with FOS for about 6 months
Jen says
Hi all & Sara just a wee update regarding LendingStream, 1st complained jan 18 adjudicator decision aug 18 paid out & told to fix my credit report, they changed my report from defaults to saying I still owed them over £1300 in November 18 after the adjudicator spoke to them. I e.mailed them as loans should have been closed they ignored me I then contacted FCA, Credit reference agency, trust pilot review and adjudicator. Despite all this LS said the loans should be on as open. After the adjudicator contacted them at a higher level they have now fixed my credit report 5/2/19. Please everyone check any outstanding loans are closed on credit report, LS are a nightmare.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
thanks for the warning!
Sarah Reid says
Hi
Having had numerous payday loans with the Money Shop and Payday Express, I have received the following letters from both companies with the same information requests:
“My Decision:
We handle complaints following rules set out by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
One rule is that a customer must complain within 6 years of the problem. Another rule is that if more than 6 have passed, you must complain within 3 years of knowing you could complain about the problem.
I can see that all of the loans that you are complaining about are more than 6 years old. So for me to consider these loans, I need you to tell me why you didn’t complain about these loans until now.
With regards to your claims that you only found out that you could make an irresponsible lending complaint in October 2018, please can you provide more information to help us understand what led you to make your complaint.
Next Steps:
I appreciate that this may not be the response you may have been hoping for but I hope you can see how and why I have come to my decision. If you are not satisfied, you may also ask for an independent review by the Financial Ombudsman Service”
Please can you advise on how I should reply to these letters?
Many thanks for your help.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can just send your case to FOS now.
Or you can reply saying how you found out in October 2018 about affordability complaints. Did you see an advert on Facebook from a Claims Company? Did a friend or relative tell you about them?
You could add that you knew you were in financial trouble in [when you were borrowing] but you thought it was your own fault because you had no idea that a lender had a responsibility to make sure you could afford the repayments.
There are no “wrong” answers here, just give a bit of background saying what actually happened to you.
If you do reply to them, say you will be sending your complaint to FOS in 2 weeks if you don’t get a satisfactory offer.
Sarah Reid says
Thanks Sara ..really helpful. I will keep you posted.
Colin Brown says
Sarah and Sarah,
I got exactly the same letter as you did word for word from them today and just replied to the man saying I only found out I could complain Oct-18 as it wasn’t in the media etc and only found out due to Martin Lewis so they should still consider my complaint as the FOS would, not heard back but it was only today so will keep you posted, let me know how you get on.
Colin Brown says
Hi Sarah and the team!
Where do I stand with this….
I currently have a loan with likely loans, it’s the second loan with them. The first loan still had a balance left to pay when they gave me the option of taking out a new loan which I did so the first loan was closed off and the existing balance and interest etc went over to the new loan. When I took the 2nd loan out effectively no affordability checks were done or bank statements asked for it was done within minutes on the app. I cannot afford the rip off repayments. I was looking at complaining on the lines of irresponsible lending and unnafordable etc but I want to ask you the following questions:-
1) what happens in these instances?
2) if it gets put on hold whilst looked into does adverse information go on my credit file?
The reason I ask point 2 is because next year I am hoping to buy a house so I do not want a credit file with defaults on etc.
Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated!
Colin
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is usually easier to win a complaint about a 2nd loan.
Can you afford the monthly repayments? If not you need to ask for a payment arrangement, which will affect your credit record. BUT if you win you complaint the negative marks will normally be removed.
To be honest, if your credit record is so poor you have to get this sort of loan, and if it is unaffordable for you, it seems pretty unlikely you will be able to get a mortgage next year. Don’t let fantasies of a mortgage stop you taking good steps to improve your financial situation now.
Colin says
Hi Sarah,
I can afford the repayments but I think it was irresponsible of them to give me this loan and no checks were done. I’ve read a lot of cases on here where people have had the remainder of the loan written off or the interest/charges been written off so they are just paying back the amount borrowed. Is this not possible for me on the grounds of irresponsible lending? A new loan shouldn’t be promoted to someone that hasn’t even paid back the first loan without checks being done to see if this could be paid back. Aren’t there actions just getting me into more debt problems? No checks were done and I had/have other loan repayments going out of my bank at the same time so wasn’t this irresponsible? If they had asked to see bank statements they would have seen this and realised it was not responsible to lend more money it was just getting me further into debt.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This will not normally work. This is why I call thee complaints “affordability complaints” not “irresponsible lending” complaints.
To win an affordability case at FOS, the loan has to have been unaffordable and there has to be a good reason why the lender should have known this when they gave the loan. If their checks were inadequate but good checks would have suggested the loan was affordable, you aver very unlikely to win your case.
You can try a complaint, you may get lucky and the lender may offer to remove interest. But if you don’t want your credit rating damaged you need to carry on making payments while the complaints goes through.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“If they had asked to see bank statements they would have seen this and realised it was not responsible to lend more money it was just getting me further into debt.” but you say the loan was affordable. So FOS is likely to think there isn’t a problem.
Colin Brown says
Ok thanks for your honesty. By the way you gave me some advice on UB a few months ago and I used your templates etc and got practically everything refunded so I would just like to say a big thanks to you! I used the money to pay off most debts and xmas so thank you! I stumbled on your site by complete accident, the best accident ever! UB by so far and away the most professional to date and would rather resolve the complaint than FOS. The whole pub had a drink 🥃 saluting you the day the money went in, I wish I could post the pic.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Cheers!
Colin Brown says
I can’t say the same for QQ tho, the money shop and wagedayadvance they just done even reply on time
Ben says
Hi Sara,
Total of 54 loans between July 2017 and July 2018 with Sunny.
Have drafted an email, just wondering if there are any results from them as I sent the email with Noddle Credit report showing those 54 payments, some of which started at 100 and went up to 900 etc.
Just keen to understand the process and your experience.
Best,
Ben
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sunny seem to have got worse at making reasonable offers direct – don’t be surprised if you aren’t offered something sensible. they normally reply in the 7th or 8th week. On the bright side that are better at accepting adjudicator decisions at the ombudsman than some lenders.
alvin johnson says
Hello. i have recently received an email from Elevate acting on behalf of (Quid) I have accepted the offer, i also asked for the default taken off on my credit file, which they have accepted to, but strangely they have seen not returned my email after giving them my bank details and asking them when they will deposit, does anyone have their phone number? or any suggestions on how to go about it, its been 4 days now no reply from them
Clive says
Alvin,
I have had exactly the same problem with Elevate (Quid). I agreed settlement value and sent bank details but had no response despite asking for e mail confirmation. I tried ringing ( 02038 298403) but no luck, just voicemail. My contact is [deleted]. Doesn`t seem to be a fraud issue as he does exist at Elevate! May just be a case of so many pay outs that they don`t have time to e mail everyone back?
Let me know any update if you can please.
Thanks
Clive
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I have deleted the name of your contact. Sorry, but my policy is that it’s not fair to name junior members of staff at a firm, as they cannot reply to any criticism.
How long ago was your settlement value agreed?
alvin johnson says
Have the funds be paid to u as promised am still waiting for mine.
Dean says
Hello,
I wanted some advice re some queries i have outatanding with the ombudsman which may be affecting many people none over 6 years old:
1. QQ- Adjudicator agreed with my decision in September , however the ombudsman say they are liaising with lenders on how they treat loans and this is causing a delay. The lenders are not agreeing with the ombudsman and they are waiting an agreement. They have challenge the desicions with another panel at fos.
2. Sunny – Send complaints over 20 loans to ombudsman in May 18, still not picked up to review and read on here many others with complaints later have been picked up? Called fos and they say due to no of loans they are working with Sunny to come to a conclusion on lending terms and frequencies.
3. Zopa – adjudicator agreed p2p loans unaffordable and irresponsible In Novemebr but still no update from ombudsman, how long does this take?
4. Have 3 other payday laons from May still awaiting an adjudicator very frustrating.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
QQ – there are several categories of QQ cases that are going slow for various reasons:
– over 6 years
– loans after 2015
– long chains of loans
– loans which have a balloon payment interest on for first two months then repay interest and capital in the last month.
Sunny
– this sounds like another long chain case. FOS has issued some general guidance on these. See lender A & Lender b decisions here https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical.htm. If Sunny have a lot of these, FOS will be trying to get them to accept most adjudicator decisions and only take the unusual cases to an ombudsman decision.
ZOPA
– haven’t seen enough cases to know what is going on here. Can you come back and say what happens to this one?
Stuart says
Hi
I’ve had the following final response from Payday UK (Part of the moneyshop from the looks of it);
My Decision:
We handle complaints following rules set out by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
One rule is that a customer must complain within 6 years of the problem. Another rule is that if more
than 6 have passed, you must complain within 3 years of knowing you could complain about the
problem.
I can see that all of the loans that you are complaining about are more than 6 years old. So for me to
consider these loans, I need you to tell me why you didn’t complain about these loans until now.
I stated I didn’t complain about these loans earlier as I only knew you could in November 2018. They are now wanting to arrange a time to speak to me over the phone. Has anyone had to do this before?
Already had some success using the advice above so thank you. I’ve had 2 refunds and another 2 cases are currently with the FOS.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes they have asked other people to phone them. they will ask on the phone why you didn’t complain earlier… I suggest you say you have already replied to that and ask to speak to a manager and say if you do not get a satisfactory offer within a week you will be sending the case to the ombudsman, They really seem to be giving people the runaround at the moment.
kevin smith says
So I have signed my agreement and the Adjudicator has sent to LS and compied me into the email including my bank statement as with a different bank now.
This was done at 10am this morning. Called them an hour ago and they say they have not received . Was sent to the complaints email, which I was under the assumption was no longer in use. However LS said it’s the correct email for the FOS to use. Seems odd that the general public can’t use this and need to raise a ticket.
They have advised they have sent the FOS an email asking to re send. I have saved them the trouble and sent to the same email address 50 times. Let’s just see what they do now , I am aware of their reputation hence getting onto them so quickly. I also left them a review on trust pilot of which I am going to update .
Anyone else any tips , I know they have 28 days and fine with that but their reputation for paying out is not good at all.
Thanks
Colin Brown says
If you take your complaint to the FOS do the company your complaining about get charged by them in anyway?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes they do. But trying to argue to a payday lender that they should just pay you a couple of hundred pounds to save the FOS fee doesn’t work…
Joseph says
Why so Sara? I understand that if they can’t agree to every complaint under £500 to save money, but surley this is the cheaper option sometimes.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Because any lender would soon be bust if they did this routinely. And lenders know that a lot of people won’t send claims to FOS, even good ones. And it feels like blackmail – if a lender doesn’t think you have a good claim, why would they give you a couple of hundred pounds to go away?
Mark says
Clive,
£500 per case. If the lender has less than 10 (I think) cases per year referred to the FOS, then it’s free.
Mike says
Hi Sara,
Hope you are well – I posted a few weeks ago about a lender (Satsuma) providing me stupidly 3 separate loans over the space of 6 months that I am currently still paying. I have received a response off them with the complaint not upheld with there reasons behind it.
n order to determine whether we lent irresponsibly, I have reviewed these applications in detail to understand what you told us at the time of applying for credit. This is part of the email as below:
Please be aware, you have a responsibility to provide true and accurate information on the application for credit. Any omissions could result in an application being treated as fraudulent.
How does this stand? I had to put some low costs in because I would never have received the money but was desperate. I’m pretty sure my credit report/score was low at the time of these loan requests/acceptance.
Should I still take it to FOS?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Read https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/. Putting in expenses that were low is VERY common. I have not come across anyone that has had any problems with Satsuma despite these unpleasant sounding responses. I think they are just trying to put you off and that you should go to FOS and let them consider your complaint.
PS can you afford the repayments? If not, you need to ask for an affordable repayment plan, FOS cases can take many months to go through. You have to get safe from having to borrow more or you will never get out of the debt spiral.
Clive Edwards says
re Sunny refund:
I sent an e mail to customerrelations@elevatecredit.co.uk and got a fairly quick response just saying the money would be in my account in 5 working days. I sent my details on Monday……..
Alvin Johnson says
i did have the same reply, after i wrote it here, maybe they monitor this page, they have said they will pay in the money so am waiting will keep you updated
Erica says
Hi everyone
I have just started step 1 with the Money Shop.
I’m pretty sure from 2006, for a few years or so, I used the payday loan (pre-dated cheque) system.
I can remember cashing in probably around £500 worth of cheques on a monthly basis – all which took me into my arranged overdraft.
Not sure if I will be able to get anything back at all but I have nothing to lose.
Will keep you updated :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can probably only get a refund from April 2007 – good luck!
Erica says
Just got all my loans through and they run from September 2017 so looks like I am ok to go ahead! Just about to start step 2.
Will keep you updated again :)
Colin Brown says
After 8 weeks I got a response from Moneyshop today saying they needed another 56 days to consider my application. Is this allowed? These relate to loans with Payday UK many years ago?
What would you advise as my next move?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s annoying. You can send the case now to FOS if you want. If a lot of the loans are over 6 years old, this may be a good move as at the moment people don’t seem to be getting good offers from PDUK for these older loans, so you may as well get yourself to FOS as soon as possible.
Sheena anderson says
Hi Sara
So I had 8 loans with payday express, I complained initially in March 2018, in May 2018 they agreed loan 8 was irresponsible so paid out for that loan. I then decided at beginning of July to refer the other loans to ombudsman. I had an email on 8th February 2019 to say adjudicator agreed that all loans were irresponsibly lent and payday express have 14 days to respond to them. They stated all interest default charges etc were to be refunded to me along with 8% interest. These loans were rolled over more than 30 times. My question to everyone is, have you been In this situation and did payday express agree with the adjudicator or is it likely to have to go to the ombudsman
Many thanks
Sheena
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Payday Express usually accept adjudicator decisions – I hope they do so in your case.
CarrieN says
Hi Sheena
Was just reading your post and noticed that you had been paid out on one loan and took the rest to fos. Is it ok to do this? I was wanting to do this with QQ.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can’t do this unless the lender agrees in advance. QQ won’t. PDUK and PDE often do.
Chris Cain says
Hi,
I was hoping you could help. I have just managed to obtain bank statements from an old account (2009/2010) to submit in support of irresponsible lending complaints with the money shop, payday uk and WDA.
On review of the statements there a lot of payments from/to “WIZARD NETWORK.COUK” which I suspect is a payday lender but can’t recall who nor find who this may of been when searching the internet…..any ideas?
Thanks
Chris
Chris Cain says
No ideas anyone?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry never heard of it.
Michael Morgan says
I’ve just got a good response from SafetyNet Credit which I currently have a £600 balance with from late 2015:
“In circumstances where the Financial Ombudsman Service finds in favour of the complainant they normally propose that a full redress of interest plus an 8% statutory interest repayment is made to the customer, with the principal outstanding balance being deducted from this amount. Therefore, we propose that we redress all the interest that you have paid (£1095.48), plus statutory 8% interest (£220.25). In line with HMRC guidelines we will deduct 20% (£44.05) from your statutory interest and pay this to HMRC, meaning that you will not have to declare this redress in your tax returns. We will then write off any interest on your outstanding balance (£150.40) and deduct your principal outstanding balance (£470.00) from all the interest you have paid. This will allow us to close your account, discharging your liability with SafetyNet Credit, and leaving an amount of £801.68 payable directly to you. If no correspondence is received, no action will be taken, and your full Outstanding balance of £620.40 will remain payable. ”
Does this basically mean they are writing off the loan and £800 is payable to me? The terms they’ve used have confused me.
Rob says
Yes it does mate, I’ve just had something similar from them myself (£3200 interest plus £1200 8%- minus tax on 8% and outstanding balance leaving £3200 to return to me).
I’ve been told by SNC that it will take about 5 days to return this to me plus remove all negative aspects on credit report
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, they are writing off your balance and will pay you £801.
Unless you think you have paid more interest overall than £1095, this is a good result!
Except… they don’t mention removing any default from your credit record. If there is one (check now if you are not sure!) ask them to also do this.
If you are a basic rate taxpayer or don’t pay tax you may be able to reclaim the £44 they mention back from HMRC, it depends what other refunds you may get this tax year, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-payday-refund-get-back-tax/.
brendan guntrip says
Hi i have ferratum loan 400 pound i complain about irresponsible leading to ferratum i got final respond email backfrom ferratum said as gesture of goodwill loan will be interest free all got to do payback what you borrow.
Now i found out sent to debt collect agent DRS they said i got to pay all back with interest are they allow to do this?
Scott says
Hi Brendan,
Did you reply to Ferratum and accept their goodwill gesture? Did you make arrangements to repay your principal balance?
A goodwill gesture can be withdrawn if not accepted and if you never contacted Ferratum to discuss your outstanding balance then that is probably why it has been passed to a debt collector.
When did Ferratum make the offer?
Scott
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This was only a few weeks ago that they made their offer? Did it say “if you settle the balance immediately” or anything like that?
brendan says
Hi i got the email from ferratum on 31 jan i email them back on 7 feb saying i accept.
As a gesture of goodwill and in full and final resolution to your complaint we can accept back the original £400.00 you borrowed meaning the loan has been interest free since October 2018. As you have paid £50.00 we require a further £350.00 and this can bee paid as part of an affordable payment plan. Once this is paid we will waive the remaining balance and advise the credit reference agencies that the loan has been paid in full. Please let me know if you shall be doing this so that I can schedule the relevant adjustment.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well that is quite clear – and no they can’t change their minds!
I wonder if they had already passed it to the debt collector by the time you replied? I’m not saying you delayed too long, just think this may have been an error, not deliberate.
I suggest you phone Ferratum up (not the debt collector) and say what has happened, that you want the debt called back from the debt collector and you want to set up a repayment plan for the balance less the interest as they proposed. Offer what you think is a reasonable amount. Say if they don’t agree you will be sending the complaint to FOS.
brendan says
Hi sara good advice there was know time frame on email say when to agree. Ferratum have shot them selves in foot by saying they got it wrong. But then did not tell debt collection that all interest had to be take off now i got to pay 700 pound back. I will phone ferratum tomorrow ask to take the debt back in house then setup payment plan if not i will send to FOS.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“now i got to pay 700 pound back” no you don’t have to, the interest MUST be removed or you go to the Ombudsman.
If you have to go to the ombudsman, what you argue is “I was offered this, I agreed and they haven’t done it.” Not how good your affordability complaint was. If they had offered to come and paint your house purple and they haven’t done it, you should be demanding they turn up with paint pots.
B says
Thanks was hoping this was the case! Thanks for bringing all these issues to light, web site is fantastic
Jo says
Hi Sara, regarding making complaints to Payday lenders – is it better to send an email or a letter? I’ve read through the advice pages on here and seen the list of email addresses for Payday contacts but just want to check if people are getting replies to their emails. I’ve got quite a lengthy process to start so don’t want to spend ages doing emails if they can easily be ignored. Thanks, Jo
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Email is best because it’s free, instant, you keep a copy and you have a proof that you sent it.
Colin says
Hi,
Does anyone have any positive experiences with QQ or PDUK complaints over 6 years ago loans to the FOS? If so please elaborate?
Lisa says
Yes I had one loan with pduk in 2010 rolled 6 times. Recieved interest plus 8%. I could prove my circumstances at the time. Quickquid is taking a long time as they won’t look into it.
Georgea says
Hello everyone. Has anyone had any refunds from 118 money? I put in a complaint yesterday regarding irresponsible lending and I used to the template off this site. I borrowed 1k and they are charging me 99% Apr over 1 year. Throughout the course of my loan they have hounded me daily to borrow more and more money despite me asking to be removed from text and email updates (I have proof of this) I only have 3 payments left until the loan is cleared off. At the time they lent to me I had defaults on my water which was on my credit file. I was on a debt plan with Lowell for 4 accounts. I had 2 credit cards aswell as car finance and an overdraft on my current account. I recently had a small success with my jar I accepted an offer of £200 which I now regret as I diddnt know I could go to the ombudsmen for more. I had 8 payday loans from them for 8 months straight.
If anyone could give me any experiences they have had with 118 that would be much appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Georgea,
they are dreadful, aren’t they :( yes people are getting refunds, but expect this to have to go to the Ombudsman. Also ask them for compensation for continuing to try to get you to borrow more!
There is another page that covers getting refunds from this sort of large bad credit loan: https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/. It’s OK if you have used the template letter on this page, no harm done, but the other page looks at some of the detailed points you may want to make to the Ombudsman.
Mark says
Georgea,
I had success from 118 118 money in Sep18. Offered full refund of interest/charges and to remove (£3k) loan from credit record. Didn’t need to go to FOS. Although there appears no rhyme/reason which complaints lenders accept and which ones they reject, so just be patient as your case sounds better than mine (I was a gambling addict)
Georgea Emmett says
Thank you for your reply. I hope you are in a better position now with your gambling. I am waiting on a response still. Even after I put my complaint in they are still hounding me to borrow more they keep increasing the amount I can borrow but funnily enough the Apr has miraculously dropped from 99% to 39%. Needless to say I am not taking up their offers I just think they have some nerve. How long did it take for them to respond to you and what information did they ask you for? Thanks x
Annie says
Hi there,
Just wondering if it’s worth sending a claim to payday Express… I took out a loan for £500 in early 2011, the loan was deferred every month at a charge of £100 per month for 12 months before I borrowed money from a family member to pay it off. Some of the months pde deferred my loan automatically due to “previous conduct” and a few months I asked to pay money towards the balance of the loan but this was ignored and just the deferral amount taken.
Thanks!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is definitely worth a complaint! It will be slow as the lon is more than six years old, but just start the complaint and send it to the Financial Ombudsman at 8 weeks. Also add a paragraph to the standard step 2 template letter (you can skip step 1 as you clearly remember what happened) saying how they wouldn’t let you pay amounts towards the balance.
Lee says
Just had some good news regarding my complaint to PaydayUK. Ended up going to the FOS and they agreed with me. All loans less than 6 years.
I’ve sent my bank details and signed an agreement that I agree to the refund. Just wondering how long it takes for them to pay out? FOS have said to contact them if they haven’t paid within 28 days. Thanks
Colin says
Well in!
How long was your complaint with FOS before you got the decision? as I’m about to raise a complaint with them about PDUK
Lee says
I sent my complaint to FOS at the start of August and the decision was in January, so 5 months. They were brilliant. Good luck.
Colin Brown says
This is the current state of play with my claim against them…..
1) sent my initial claim in and on Friday they came back to me after 8 weeks saying they need another 8 weeks.
Part of me wants to wait for their reply but part of me thinks it will either be a poor offer or they will decline so Sarah on here reckons go strait to the FOS.
Just wondered at what stage you went to FOS?
Lee says
I went after 8 weeks, I would go if I was you.
B says
I have had some success thanks to this site and received a refund of £574 from Sunny so much appreciated. I have cases (mainly over 6 years) logged against WDA, Pounds to Pocket, Quickquid, Lending Stream, Moneyshop, Payday Express/PDUK and cashfloat. Are all of these cases still on hold Sara and is there any chance of a resolution soon? They were sent to FOS in October/November is it worth chasing?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, most cases are taking 4-6 months to be picked up at the moment.
Of those lenders, QQ is likely to be very slow with over 6 year loans. the others may be slower but won’t be “on hold”. Wageday Advance however has big problems – it’s not clear what will happen to them.
Colin Brown says
Just to help you both…. FOS haven’t even picked up my case yet and it’s 3 months, the truth is you could be waiting 6 months or you could be waiting 16 months, it really is pot luck. “A contact” has told me there is no specific order or queue of when the cases get picked up. The FOS are under huge pressure and have targets to meet so will do the “easier” ones first, any big ones or QQ over 6 years ones they are left until last.
Colin Brown says
And who can really blame them tbh. Imagine in your job if you could get your emails clear for the day come leaving time and have the massive query one left of deal with one massive query all day and then get into work next day to have 158 emails. I know it’s poo but that’s what happens until eventually gets dealt with.
Colin Brown says
Once you have done all you can just check your emails and post but try to forget about it otherwise it will drive you mad. Just see it as a nice bonus when it comes in.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This isn’t what is happening. In some situations certain types of case are on hold trying to get a general solution to that type of problem with that lender. It isn’t because they are “harder”, just that is the most efficient way of trying to resolve some problems that affect hundreds or thousands of cases, rather than FOS having to make an individual decision on each case.
C says
Evening all.
Whats peoples experiences of the time it takes for the ombudsman to pick up a case once sent on from the adjudicator.
It’s for QQ and all under 6 years and before 2015?
Cheers
Colin Brown says
I’d say see the past comments on here and you have your answers mate
C says
Thanks colin,
Haven’t seen you on until recently. How’s your claims going?
Have you many?
matt says
Hi C
In the same boat. Mine went from Adjudicator to Ombudsman 12/12/18. Nothing happened yet. Another waiting game.
Paul says
Hi Sara,
I had numerous payday loans dating back to 2007, I have contacted the money shop who have agreed to pay the interest on 25 loans at £560 but have however questioned another 46 loans requesting bank statements. The problem I have is that the bank account at the time has been closed for over 7 years and I am struggling to get the statements. I don’t understand why they agreed to refund interest for some loans but not others? Do I have to write these loans off with statements or would the FOS deal with my complaint without them. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
FOS prefer you to have statements but will work on a case if you can’t get them. So I suggest you send the case to FOS.
Iain123 says
Hi Paul.
My experience is just be honest about what happened during your borrowing.
Also, I’ve heard people say they’re able to get older bank statements, you just need to get the right department/people at head office.
Chris says
Hi,
I have been contacted by FOS with a complaint i made regarding QQ. Stating that QQ has accepted them looking into 8 of my loans with them but have objected on any loans longer than the last 6 years. It is currently in the jurisdiction department of FOS.
I gather it will take a lot longer now to process my complaint. Would it be worth while contacting QQ stating I would be open to an offer to save time as I do think I have enough evidence that shows irresponsible lending on their account.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How many loans did you have that were more than 6 years old?
Iain123 says
Update.
Called The Money Shop today for an update on my pending settlement. Gave up after 30 minutes waiting. Make sure to have time if you call them.
Called WDA for an update on my claim. They said I should get my Final Response by the end of February. That’ll be five months since my initial complaint. He told me in one month they got 5000 complaints and they’re just snowed under and it takes time.
Karen says
Hi Sara
I put in a complaint to Provident on affordability loans I rang them and they told me they sent letter out witch I did not get so they sent me a email the date on the letter was out of date to take it to the FOS….
So I sent another complaint to Provident saying this and to look at it again as they told me they sent the first letter out they cant reopen it is this right can Provident not reopen the case or can they reopen it to get fresh response
Thank You
Sara (Debt Camel) says
When did you complain to provident? What is the date on the letter you did not get?
You asked this before a couple of weeks ago with dates. I replied then saying:
“No, sorry You have 6 months from getting a Final Response from a lender, you can only go to FOS after that if you have had a very good reason eg you were very ill. And a lender will just reject a second complaint.”
But are you saying you never got provident’s response? You never chased it up in 6 months?
Karen says
Hi
I got a response from FOS with money shop my dead line was the 8th February 2019 for money shop to get back to FOS how long do you have to wait after the dead line
Thank You
C says
Hi Karen.
Sorry, confused, Did you get a response from tms via the adjudicator or they’ve missed their deadline
Kirsty says
Hi,
I really am a novice to all of this but have put in a few complaints yesterday RE loans which I feel were irresponsibly issued to me. One of the lenders has responded today asking me to send bank statements, payslips and any other evidence. I just want to check if this is standard and if it is correct for me to send these to progress the case?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Several lenders ask for this. It’s up to you if you want to send them… many lenders who ask for them all at the start don’t actually seem to look at them! Think twice about wasting money on postage and never send originals in case they get lost!
If you don’t want to send them, just reply that you want them to consider your complaint as it stands and you will forward any other evidence to the ombudsman if you are asked for it.
If you have bank statements there is no need to send payslips.
Bill says
Hi Sarah, don’t think anybody has asked this question? If all the payday lenders from today did all the final checks, re: responsible lending and affordability, there’ll be no other complaints from borrowers? Obviously before today they are are still receiving complaints from last year, so really these lenders haven’t learnt from past mistakes…..Ps am not saying everyone is perfect, but surely these companies must have learnt their lessons?
Bill
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Lending today is less dreadful than it was before 2015. And I hope many lenders have actually improved in the last couple of years, learning from their previous mistakes. But I still see way too many people here who have borrowed in the last year who should clearly not have been lent money. For a lender to switch to more responsible lending, they have to start rejecting more applications. In the long term if they do this, they should get a lower default rate as well as fewer complaints upheld, so they may be lending less but it should be more profitable.
Robin says
Hey DC,
I am having a nightmare with Elevate/Sunny, I’m a final year student who has an income (part-time work) that covers my essential costs plus my bills (3 Cr Cards – Cp1, Barclaycard and Lloyds). I have an outstanding loan amount with Sunny which I was rolling over for 5+ months and I paid them 3-4x more than the principle loan amount, and now they want all the interest and I cannot keep up with the re-payments, I can once I graduate, hell, I can pay it off in one paycheck. Sunny will not negotiate. I complained three times to the FO. Worse still, SUNNY have the loans split into 3 rather than consolidating into 1 and so the negative effect on my CRA is 3x worse, I already have 3rd month missed payment because I’m waiting for the FOS, what should I do?
I want to avoid a DF at all costs, I offered to enter a re-payment plan but they were not interested. On some CRAs the PDLs do not show up, please help! I paid them 4 times more than what I took out and they’re still after my cash.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
– It sounds as though these loans are recent? Can you list the loans you took? Date takes, how much you borrowed, how much you have repaid, balance still owed or date repaid.
– read the article above – you may have good affordability complaints. If you win one, any negative information – payment arrangements of defaults are deleted from your credit record.
– Loans will show as 1 loan if you “rolled one” by only paying the interest one month. Show as 2 loans where you “rolled one” by repaying it and then getting a new loan for the same amount very quickly. The loan numbers from Sunny should show where one loan is rolled – the number stays the same.
– The loans should show as separate loans on your credit record, this isn’t a single account you have with Sunny. But it should be a single complaint to FOS.
– many payday lenders only report to CallCredit – so show on Noddle – not Experian and Equifax. this is normal
– Are you saying you have offered a repayment plan and they have refused to take any money?
Kristym86 says
Hi Sara I need your help!!
So paydayuk have said
‘’When you first approached us for credit on 23 July 2010 you asked for a loan of £180.00. You confirmed your net monthly income was £1,300.00. The total amount repayable on this loan was £225.00 and this appeared to be affordable for you based on the information you declared.
The loan repayment was low value and appeared to be affordable based on the information you declared. There didn’t appear to be any particular issues with other lenders that concern me and I don’t think you were reliant on borrowing from us at this time times.
You continued to borrow from us, receiving four further loans between 4 April 2011 and 13 March 2012. Having looked at our records, I believe we should’ve asked more questions and done more checks at the time we lent these four loans to you. Unfortunately, I have been unable to reach a decision as to what we should have done with the information I have available to me. However, if you are able to provide the documentation I require as laid out in the table below, I will be happy to look at your four loans between 4 April 2011 and 13 March 2012 again, providing you with my final response to your complaint.
They have requested May 2011,jan feb 2012 bank statements and a credit report.
I almost feel that they have admitted they are in the wrong but now asking for bank statements! Do I have to supply them? How do I go back to that to make it in my favour? X
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well if you don’t supply the bank statements, they won’t make an offer on these loans and you have to go to FOS. If you do, they may. They ask a lot of people for bank statements and they make an offer afterwards a reasonable amount of time.
Kristym86 says
Thanks.
I went on to my bank account Santander to obtain the statements but as they are more than 7 years old they wouldn’t let me search.
I presume I can contact the bank to get them?
As for my credit report…it says I have to pay £2 but not sure where this is. I have my credit report from Noddle can I use that? X
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What says you have to pay £2? That charge went out May last year!
When getting bank statements, ask for them to start 3 months before the first loan, just in case your complaint has to go to FOS. Be persistent with the bank, some people have had success by going to a branch, some by sending a Subject Access Request (but do specify what statements you want on a SAR, not all of them!) under the bank’s Privacy policy.
Dave says
Good afternoon, what would you class as a reasonable amount of time? I sent them my bank statements as requested on 23/01/19 and put on they have 2 weeks to respond before I send to fos but I would be happy to wait for them to respond with an amicable solution.
Would you give them a bit more time?
Thanks again for a brilliant website.
Karen says
Hi
I got a response from the adjudicator from the FOS and money shop had till the 8th February 2019 to respond to the FOS my deadline has passed how log do i to wait after the deadline
Thank You