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?
Baz says
Myjar got in contact with me within 48 hours after adjudicator informed them i accepted full and final settlement to confirm payment details. I have emailed them exactly as they asked. They have stated they will make payment up to 10-15 days and have already removed adverse marks on my credit file.
Is there anyway to speed them up at this stage? Should i call them to comfirm they have received my bank details or do i just sit and wait. Anyone received payment from them recently? What was time frame?
Thanks.
Donna says
Hi
Has anyone one had any luck with Uncle Buck over 6 years the Ombudsman will only look at loans after Dec 2010.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are they saying UB was not covered by them before that date? If they are, go back to them and ask for this to be looked at again. UB was authorised by the OFT before that date and so was covered by FOS.
Donna says
Thank you Sara
I will try again
Donna
Miss Susan Clayton says
Hey my 8 week wait for a reply from Quick Quid passed so then contacted the FOS . Sent final decision letter to them . This was in October 2018 I had a text from FOS saying it could be awhile before an adjudicator gets the complaint rolling. I have heard nothing since. My borrowing was from 2011 – 2017 . I know they were refusing to deal with any loans 6 years previous . Is it worth contacting FOS for an update ? I appreciate they are probably snowed under .
Thanks ( great site by the way )
Sue
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Over 6 year complaints are starting to move… I hope you will hear something soon but it’s not worth chasing FOS.
Can I ask if you have a list of all your loans from QQ?
Miss S Clayton says
Dec2011 £250
Oct2012 £200
Nov2012 £400
Jan2013 £400
Aug2013 £150
Oct2013 £150
Mar2014 £295
Although these were not massive amounts but I was struggling at the time and were using all the other named payday loan companies as well .
Sue
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, so only a couple of those were over 6 years old when you sent the case to FOS? You could suggest that they could be ignored for refunds, but at the moment I really am hoping the whole 6 year issue is going to cease to matter in a few weeks, so perhaps wait a while and see what happens.
Bill says
Hi
Excellent website. Hope you can help.
From September 2015 up to last month I have had 27 payday loans from one lender. From 2017 I have also had a Protected Trust Deed. The Payday Lender is not one of my creditors in that Trust Deed, and has continued to lend me cash. I understand I may have a good case to ask for a refund. My question is: Would any refund received come directly to myself, or would it go to the administrator of my Trust Deed?
Thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I’ll ask a Scottish Advisor to comment.
Bill says
Thanks Sara
Alan McIntosh says
Hi Bill
Legally any compensation should go to the Trustee and the Creditor should send it to them.
I would contact your trustee and say you are thinking of making the claim. They may agree to only take a percentage if you do, on the basis you are doing all the work and they are not prepared to do it.
Bill says
Thank you for your advice Alan
Diddy says
His
I have a question regarding sending the credit report, apologies if it’s a stupid question.
Should I send the whole report or just the entries for a particular lender?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
send the whole thing.
Diddy says
Thanks Sara, will do. Also, when sending bank statements can I “black out” sensitive information like details of other account numbers from family/friends? Don’t want to be giving out details of other accounts which are not my own.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Who are you sending this to – a lender or the Finacial Ombudsman?
Diddy says
Sorry should have said a lender.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then you can black out anything you want – but if it makes the statements unreadable then there isn’t any point in sending them…
Also are you sending paper copies? Don’t send the real thing!
Ian says
Hello, I’m hoping you can help me. I sent a complaint to lending stream after reading this page on the 10th Feb, which was acknowledged and I was given a reference number . They got back to me with a list of all loans taken out with them on the 21st Feb(11 days later). I read on this site that my complaint sparks the clock countdown and that they have 8 weeks to respond, not with just a list of loans but to my complaint. My questions is what happens if they don’t reply to my complaint within the 8 weeks? as of today’s date it is exactly 9 weeks since they acknowledged my complaint. Also, I started paying the debt collection company they sold it to at a rate of £35 per month to avoid a CCJ (Claim Form was issued) :( My Total Debt is £757.80.
Thanks in advance for all of your help
Ian
Sara (Debt Camel) says
At this point you can send the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman. Or you could phone them up,and ask why they haven’t replied.
What happened to the court case?
Ian says
They said that normally the debt has to be paid in full to avoid going to court but as I have an ongoing complaint they will accept a payment plan and we agreed the £35 per month figure ( I kinda feel that they should have stopped all recovery activity until this complaint has been resolved, but I didn’t argue with them and reluctantly agreed to pay the £35 per month to the collection company ). So I have now paid £105 to them and the debt is reducing – I wonder if this is why the lender is dragging their heels in responding to my complaint? Can I cancel the payments to the collection company until the complaint is resolved one way or another? I fear if it takes months and months to sort out that I could have payed hundreds out when I wouldn’t have to have done ? (Ultimate goal is that the balance keeping gets wiped and anything more such as a refund is a bonus?)
Thanks for your help and advice. You do an awesome job with this page.
Ian
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you actually had a Claim Form – see https://debtcamel.co.uk/court-claim-form/? Or just a letter Before Claim/Action – see https://debtcamel.co.uk/letter-before-claim-ccj/? Or just a threatening letter from solicitors? these are 3 very different situations.
“So I have now paid £105 to them and the debt is reducing – I wonder if this is why the lender is dragging their heels in responding to my complaint?” No, LS don’t care if you are paying the debt collector or not – they are often slow and difficult!
Ian says
Apologies it was a letter before claim / action – a ‘Letter of Claim’ I get confused with a CCJ that was granted at court a few months before for a separate debt, to which of course I did receive a claim form. The ‘Letter of Claim’ induced me to try and prevent it going to court and getting a 2nd CCJ , hence the monthly payment plan. I just don’t know if I should continue to pay the debt collection company for an amount that I am disputing and complaining about that I may ultimately get reduced / cleared , when I could be paying off another creditor on my route to becoming debt free. My debts aren’t large anymore, just under £2000 total debt now, just spread over 6-7 creditors (3 of these being LS…owing for 3 separate loans that were active at once)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Good, that makes things easier. If you stop paying the debt collector now, they should not go straight to court because you have an active complaint underway… but it may be a lot simpler to let this one run if the £35 is affordable. Every £35 you pay now should increase the refund you later get.
Ian says
i did wonder if this my get refunded, after all the £35 per month may not seem much, however it could be clearing debts other creditors as i say.
I shall let it ride for a while, its semi affordable…i mean who couldn’t use extra money per month right? but i have also logged a complaint with the FOS as i tried to call LS twice on Friday just gone, got connected twice and then magically got disconnected right before an update on my complaint :( Now i have gone to the FOS, are LS likely to still try and offer a resolution? or will it now be dealt with by the FOS?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If LS were just about to make you an offer they probably still will.
Diddy says
Thanks Sara, am sending the bank statements by pdf (read only) got paper copies from my previous bank and scanned them. Will be sending them off with template 2 so fingers crossed…
Thanks for your help
Nats says
Hi,
Once you’ve accepted a settlement from lending stream does anyone know how long they normally take to pay out?
Thanks
Nat Garvey says
Hi Nats, can I ask if your complaint was agreed at the adjudicators stage or did you have to go to an ombudsman?
When did you send your complaint in to the Financial Ombudsman Service?
Thanks
Nats says
Hi,
My complaint was agreed at adjudicators stage. I sent it to the FOS July 2018 and it was picked up end of March this Year. x
Nat Garvey says
Wow, I sent my complaint off in September 2018, I guess I’m in for another 2 – 3 months wait then.
Thanks for getting back to me Nats.
Joseph says
Hi Nat,
I just recently had my complaint upheld at the ombudsman about Lending Stream. After accepting their offer at the first stage (adjudicator) they paid they money in 11 days. Hope this helps.
Nat Garvey says
Hi Joseph, congrats on getting a refund back from Lending Stream at the adjudicators stage.
Gordon says
Hi Nat, my complaint has been reviewed by the FOS adjudicator and there has been a referral sent to lending stream to make things right, essentially the FOS have agreed my complaint is upheld however they have given lending stream 2 weeks to come back and if so it will be sent to an Ombudsman if LS don’t agree. How long did lending stream take to come back to you Nat? Thanks
Nats says
Hi Gordon,
Lending stream took the full two weeks to respond to my adjudicator agreeing with them.
Gordon says
Thanks Nat, hopefully LS will accept the Adjudicators points.
Liam Pritchard says
Hi I have emailed the step one template to 14 different lenders I have used and I have had a reply from cashfloat. The first reply was an acknowledgement of the complaint being received and reassurance that it will be investigated thoroughly. About 10 minutes later I received another email saying I should log in to my account to retrieve my personal details. Should I wait to receive another email with the outcome of the investigation or should I log in, retrieve my loan history and forward the step two email? I had 6 loans between 07/17 and 01/18all in succession with a value between £400 and £700.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you should retrieve your personal infomration, so you have all the details. Then you can write the step Two full complaint.
Jo says
Hi Sara, I received a refund from Quickquid last month. Today I checked my credit report and they have made an entry on my credit file under short term loans that I have an ‘open’ account with them! This is damaging as I was clearing my file up and have no short term loans with anyone. I am livid. It will look like I am still borrowing or at risk of borrowing again. I’ve emailed Quickquid demanding they remove this entry as it looks like I’ve borrowed £184 from them but it was a refund! What are they playing at?? I haven’t borrowed from them for 3 years and the account was closed.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is probably an admin error – you have done the right thing by asking them to correct it.
Robert says
Hi guys,
Unfortunately Mr Lender did not agree with the adjudicator findings therefore an ombudsman will have to review my complaint against them.
Has anyone had similar situation? How long does it take for the ombudsman to look into it and make final decision? Is it worth writing additional information for the ombudsman? Thanks
Rob says
Give them a ring and have a chat. They disagreed with my adjudicator findings but it turned out that what they disagreed with was loan 1’s inclusion. I had a practical conversation with them and they made an offer.
The offer was about £300 short of my calculations (including loan 1) but it was still £3,500 so I decided to accept. They paid it within a week.
Robert says
Thanks Rob, will call them to discuss. Cheers!
Baz says
Some good news. I have just received a final decision from the financial ombudsman on loans after 2015 with quickquid. An adjudicator had found in my favor for loans 3-7a. The ombudsman has agreed with the adjudicator and has give qq 4-8 weeks to settle this complaint.
For time scales. I complained in september. Adjudicator made decision early December and was rejected by qq so sent to ombudsman. Ombudsman sent me a letter with their final decision out of the blue last week. Quick turn around compared to some people.
Anyone know of the timeframe i should expect qq to payout on? Will they take the full 8 weeks?
Annie says
Sara, I’ve been waiting on my case to be reviewed by the ombudsman since July last year after they rejected adjudicators decision, I can’t understand how these cases are being picked up! Some seem to be pretty quick and other drag on for such a long time , any idea what’s going on at FOS. Some of my loans are post 2015. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So far as I can tell, FOS has been picking out some over 6 year and post 2015 cases to try to make things clear to QQ. And I think it may be working – I am hopeful that there will be some real progress on a lot of cases over the next month or two!
Ross Lee says
Hi
I’ve just had adjudicator pick my case up for a complaint against Uncle Buck. Does anyone know how long this is likely be until its resolved?
Also does uncle buck generally agree with adjudicator?
Lastly, has anyone had complaints upheld for loans over 6 years with uncle buck?
StevieC says
Mine was picked up 2 months ago. Still no decision as yet.
Nicki says
Just had this email from SNC:
“Thank you for your continued patience while we investigate your complaint that was submitted to us on 18 March 2019.
We will be extending the response time to 13 May 2019, as per the statutory guidelines.
We hope to have the response with you before this date. ”
Is this a good/bad sign in anyone’s experience?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
it’s a standard reply. It doesn’t imply anything about how good or not your case is.
Peter says
I was made an offer by 247 moneybox over 3 weeks ago but nothing paid despite chasing onnthe phone and emails which are just ignored. Any idea when they normally pay? Thanks
Chris says
Hi Peter, I got paid out on Friday by 247 just over one week since accepting their offer.
I chased by phone a couple of times but got nowhere so I sent two emails then on Friday morning sent a final one stating if I did not receive the courtesy of a reply I would withdraw my acceptance and go the the FOS. Funds were in my account by 5pm with an email apologising for the delay.
Worth a try or they will drag it out
James says
Hi Chris, just out of interest was your settlement large? I have agreed a redress of £3,600 + interest and I have been waiting 3 weeks I have sent an email saying I will go to FOS if I don’t get some sort of acknowledgement. Let’s see what happens nothing as of 5.15pm today.
Chris says
Hi James, my payment was for £450 from 247
James forsyth says
I agreed the redress amount with 247 on March 29th still nothing I have sent an email stating the same thing final chance for an update before I go to the FOS.
Ross says
Hi Sara,
I made a complaint to MyJar, just under 4 weeks ago. I received a prompt acknowledgement, along with a request for bank statements. I replied, asking them to investigate with the information that they already held, but would send bank statements to the FOS, if necessary. It’s taken them nearly 3 weeks to acknowledge my further response, which I find a little puzzling, unless they’re snowed under. I’ve been told to expect a final response by 20/05/19. I’ve just reviewed my borrowing and, based on the fact they may reject my case, would you think it’s worth pursuing, based on the following borrowing?
13/02/17 200.00
31/03/17 600.00
11/04/17 300.00
25/05/17 500.00
05/06/17 300.00
21/06/17 300.00
10/07/17 1200.00
13/07/17 250.00
19/07/17 300.00
07/08/17 1000.00
11/08/17 300.00
04/11/17 1500.00
09/11/17 500.00
02/02/18 450.00
12/03/18 1200.00
25/08/18 750.00
10/10/18 725.00
22/10/18 1000.00
Totals 10925.00
They were all instalment loans. Some paid off early, others not.
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you had multiple loans running at the same time and probably no period in which you did not owe Myjar money? I think that is a lot of borrowing. If they don’t make you a reasonable offer, take it straight to FOS! Come back if you aren’t sure if the offer is reasonable?
Ross says
Thanks Sara,
The reason why some were paid off early was because I won whilst gambling, and decided to close loans, but it wasn’t long before I was borrowing again, once I ran out of funds. I also had loans with Cashfloat, Fernovo and Piggy Bank. I also had larger loans with Avant Credit & Likely Loans, which would’ve all shown on my CR, along with several credit cards. I’ll let you know what they come back with, before I proceed.
Terry Linford says
Good Evening,
I would like to ask for advice.
Last year Jan-March I had a selection of pay day loans and was struggling to meet the agreed payments. Some were 1 month and others 3-6 month loans. I had also used Wonga on 52 occasions through the previous few years.
The pay day company’s used were-
Satsuma
Myjar
Lending stream
Wonga
Sunny
It can to a point the Payments couldn’t be met due to constant consolidating and we re- mortgages and paid off any outstanding settlements.
I have since used the refund/complaint templates emails to all the company’s and requested interest refunded etc due to irresponsible lending and unaffordable loan.
Myjar and Satuma have now come back to me and upheld the complaints.
Advice and help needed
Terry Linford says
Is it worth emailing them back and request re-consideration for the upheld complaint.
Maybe explain I will refer to Financial Ombudsman
Scott says
Hi Terry,
Do you mean that they “didn’t” uphold your complaints? Or did they uphold them but offered you a small payment compared to what you paid in interest?
Scott
Terry Linford says
To be clear. Both Satsuma and Myjar have stated they are unable to uphold my complaint and this is the final decision.
What’s the next stage?
Email then back asking for reconsideration or go straight to Ombudsman and log the complaint??
I was hoping someone had a follow up email template I can send
Ross says
Hi Terry,
If this is their ‘final’ response, then there’s no point in trying to ask them to reconsider, as this is their final position on how they see your complaint(s). The next stage is to lodge your complaint(s) with the FOS. You will need to open a case for each complaint, as they are all looked at separately. Hope this helps?
Scott says
Hi Terry,
As Ross says, there is no point going back to them. You will need to submit your complaints to the FOS.
You will need to get copies of your bank statements covering the period of your loans. Usually 3 months prior to the loan being taken and a month after clearing it. If you had a lot of borrowing, I would just get the whole lot of statements staring 3 months before the very first loan straight through to the last loan.
You will also need a copy of your credit report, the best way to get this is by signing up to Noddle and downloading it for free.
Do be prepared for a wait whilst the FOS deal with your complaints as there is quite a backlog. My satsuma complaint has been with the FOS since mid September and still waiting to be allocated to an adjudicator.
Scott
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I agree with Scott and Ross. And when you go to the ombudsman, don’t say the lender upheld your complaint – it’s confusing – say they rejected it.
Paul says
Hi Sara
A bit of advice please sent letter template to QQ last week ref the loans given to me and they replied asking for the following information, should I send them the details they have asked for? I would rather not if I do not have to or will this jeopardise my claim?
Info asked for -:
• Bank statements (at the point/s you took out your loan/s with us)
• Payslips (at the point/s you took out your loan/s with us)
• Any additional information relating to your financial circumstances (at the point you took out your loan/s with us)
• What is the date of your first loan?
• How long did it take you to realise that QuickQuid might have been responsible for any financial difficulty you faced?
Regards
Paul
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have they sent you a lit of your loans, or did you not ask for that? What date were your loans?
Paul says
They have not sent me a list as I did not request them as I already had the list from looking through previous bank statements. They issued me 10 loans over a 21 month period totalling £2200. The dates of the issued loans were between August 2014 and
Sara (Debt Camel) says
There is no need to send payslips if you send bank statements.
I don’t know if sending bank statements will make much difference to the chance of your complaint being upheld. It can’t harm it. But you don’t have to if you don’t want to.
I think the last question is only relevant for loans that are over 6 years old, so not for you.
Evie says
Hi, sorry to jump on.
I have had the same response but do not feel comfortable sending bank statements, if it goes to ombudsman I will send them to them when asked… Please could I have some advice of what to email back?
TIA
Regards Evie
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Reply saying just that! There aren’t any special words to use.
Evie says
Thank you Sara
Eric says
Hi, I sent the first template letter to all companies I had loans with around a month ago. A few have gotten back to me and said they will look into my complaint within 8 weeks etc so looking hopeful.
Some(Piggybank, myfinanceclub, smarpig) I haven’t even had an email recieved acknowlegement. Is all I can do wait? Do they have to respond within 8 weeks? Or is that from when they reply to say they are investigating?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The 8 weeks starts from the point you sent your email – firms can’t extend by being slow in acknowledging a complaint.
You could phone them up and ask why you haven’t even had an acknowledgement of your complaint if you want.
Mantas says
Hi. I had few loans (maybe more than that) with lending stream, can i request refund/redress? i really dont know how that works and not sure if i can do it (or who can). If someone could help more would be much appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Mantas – you are in the right place!
As you don’t know how many loans you had from Lending Stream start by sending them the Step One template letter in the article above.
Lending Stream make this a bit difficult. They don’t give an email for complaint, you have to select “make a complaint here https://www.lendingstream.co.uk/contactus-step2/?sel_val=customer and then fill in your name etc and paste the standard template letter into the “Please describe the nature of your complaint” box.
Do you still owe them any money?
Mantas says
Hi Sara. thanks for reply. I dont own them now. So i just checked … 21 loans, total £6590 total paid with interest £11741.66
is it worth filling complaint straight to them or ombudsman? will i get anything back. Loans were taken between 2016-19.
I also have other loans: 247 (still active and thinking to send them a complaint off irresponsing lending, payment due 3rd May, had loans with them pretty much every month), uncle buck,ferratum and some others, wageday sent redress of 1.5k + ~700 written off.
Appreciate for your time Sara.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can’t go straight to the ombudsman – you have to give the lender 8 weeks to sort out your complaint first. That is a LOT of loans – you may well get a good refund but lending Stream can be very difficult so your case may need to go to the ombudsmen.
Start off your other complaints as well – these are not fast so it’s best not to do them one at a time!
If you make the 247 payment on 2 May, will you be all right for the rest of the month? If that would leave you so short you have to borrow again, you need to cancel the CPA to 247 with your bank and tell 247 in your complaint that you also need an affordable payment arrangement.
Chris says
Sara, just received a reply from Myjar 7 weeks since making my affordability complaint.
They have upheld my complaint and offered me £2,904.61 which I have accepted.
I only have LS and Cashfloat at the FOS but all other lenders have accepted my complaints.
I am well and truly out of the payday cycle thanks to your site and advice. Many thanks!
Ross says
Hi Chris,
Well done, on your success. Could I please ask what kind of lending you had with them, and over what periods? I had nearly £11k of lending, with MyJar, over a 2 year period and this was down to an online gambling problem. Thankfully, I registered with Gamstop, in January and I have been ‘clean’ ever since. However, I feel that these companies should not have allowed me to borrow so much, so often and should’ve noticed a pattern in my borrowing and flagged up, their end. I’m 4 weeks in to my complaint, and they have told me to expect a final response by 20/05/19.
Chris says
Hi Ross, I borrowed £3,750 over 4 loans from them and paid back £6,654.61 including interest.
I provided them with copy bank statements which showed gambling and my other payday loans. I also sent a copy of my credit report.
The reply to my complaint mentions the gambling and that I was heavily borrowing.
I would think that you have a very good case.
Cristina says
Good morning, Sara
I received 2 e-mails from My finance club. Next step is to go to Ombudsman? Do I need a letter of deadlock from My finance club? I asked them to put a hold on my account and stop all future payments until my complaint is sorted out but they refused me. If I go to Ombudsman my account will be on hold? Or I should pay? Also, I can’t access my credit report from Nooddle to prove that what they had founded at the moment when I apply for a loan is not complete. I put below e-mail no 2 because first e-mail is too long.
Thank you,
Cristina
E-mail no 2:
Dear Ms,
Your concerns have been fully investigated in respect to the loan that was issued to you on 14th March 2019 and it has been clearly established that My Finance Club did not act irresponsibly either in the assessment or approval of your loan; as such we believe your complaint to be resolved and is not ongoing.
Should you believe you will experience any issues with the repayment of your loan, which is agreed to be repaid in full (expected payment of £521.60) on 21st April 2019, then I would urge you to contact our Customer Service team on 08000882220 who will be in a position to discuss suitable repayment option.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is a final response from MFC, you can send your complaint to FOS now.
If you can’t afford the £521 on April 21st you should cancel the CPA with your bank asap, preferably today. Then contact their customer service team and talk about an affordable repayment. This can be done at the same time as sending your complaint to FOS.
Cristina says
Thank you, Sara!
You’ve been very helpful.
Paul says
Update on all Lending Stream cases at the FOS.
I queried with an adjudicator if he will be picking up my complaint against Lending Stream and he replied with the following:
Lending Stream – Complaints for this company are currently on a brief hold as we have been re-assessing how we look into these complaints as we think a new approach will come to a fairer outcome for the consumer. Again, once this is allocated you will be contacted.
Bill says
Hi Sarah,
I have had 27 loans with (sunny) it’s been with the FOS since September 2018, I still have £576 outstanding to pay on the last loan, they contacted me by phone today offering a reduction of 70% , but have 30 days to pay the reduced debt, I haven’t given them an answer as yet, do I pay the debt or continue to wait on the adjudicator decision? Although no adjudicator has been put on the case but informed will be a matter of days!
In a nutshell will it effect my claim by paying the agreed debt off?
Regards,
Bill
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It shouldn’t affect the FOS decision on your case.
Peter says
Hi I’ve been waiting from 26th march and nothing despite lots of calls and emails
Scott says
Hi Peter,
What have you been waiting on? 26th March 2018 or 2019?
Scott
Peter says
Hi Scott they made me an offer 26th March 2019 but are a nightmare to get hold of on the phone and they just ignore emails
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is your Moneybox 247 complaint?
If it is, send them an email saying if they don’t pay you by the 18th you are sending your complaint to the Ombudsman.
samantha says
So- my long long long sunny complaint has been with the ombudsman for well over a year- I’d even say 2017. after the adjudicator agreeing with sunny.. the ombudsman has given me the provisional decision- and has upheld loans 6- 29! all of large amounts. with all interest, charges and 8% to be paid back to me and deleted off my credit file!! me and sunny have until 23rd to give more info, then they issue the decision.
what are peoples experience with the point I am at now? will they pay out? and when?
thanks,
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is possible for Sunny to try to change the Ombudsman’s mind. But if they don’t, the decision becomes final and Sunny will pay out. Sounds like it may be a lot of money!
C says
Evening all,
What’s people’s waiting experience for ombudsman to pick up from adjudicator decision at the moment.
Mines currently 3 months, is it still 5-6 months.
Thanks
Laura says
I’ve recently had a decision I was 9 months. Seems to depends on lender and wider company discussions
Ross says
Hi everyone,
Has anybody had any experience of dealing with Cashfloat and/or Fernovo? I sent complaints to them and the 4 week period is today. I expected to receive a 4 week ‘holding letter’ explaining that they still needed more time, but nothing at all since the initial acknowledgment emails 4 weeks ago. On logging in to both websites, it’s still inviting me to apply for a new loan, which I find quite bemusing. As much as I wouldn’t even consider reapplying, it makes you wonder what their thinking is? It looks like this may go the whole 8 weeks, then off to the FOS, but just wondered about other people’s experiences with these two? Many thanks.
Susan says
Hello,
First post! I’ve had a settlement and payment from Casheuronet after ombudsman upheld my complaint. They have very very quickly paid me but it was less than I expected. The confirmation email just gave the total of around £5,500 and then interest but to be honest I had thought it was more. How can I check or query this? As I’m sure you are Aware the info they initially sent me a degree in accountancy required!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well done! Out of curiosity, were you getting any loans that were more than 6 years old refunded?
Is it the interest refund you thought should be more, or the 8% statutory interest that was added on?
Susan says
No none over 6 years I had the post 2015 argument though. No the interest was a lot more than I expected but the actual interest I paid was less than I thought but there statement of account was very confusing as quick quid was combined. I had mainly pound to pocket loans and 7 were to be refunded only the QQ one wasn’t
Baz says
Susan. Sorry for hi-jacking your post. I recieved an ombudsman decision on monday against quickquid. Loans after 2015 also. I phoned ombudsman to say i accept and posted the confirmation form first class immediately. What are the steps now, quickquid will email me with confirmation stating what the redress is and then they pay me? You say you got paid very quickly. How quick are you talking? I was told qq have 4-8 weeks to pay. I will let you know if they come back and offer me what i am expecting when i recieve the amount. Mine is less than yours but still a sizeable amount. Thanks.
Susan says
Hi Baz, I phoned to accept but heard nothing from FOS for Three weeks so I actually printed and sent the acceptance letter. That was last Friday I emailed the descision help address on Wednesday and I got a formal response from FOS on Friday saying they had rec/d my acceptance and written to the business. QQ emailed me on Monday to confirm bank details and paid yesterday, so quick! I found the paper copy moved it all along rapidly! Good luck
Baz says
Wow Susan that is a great turnaround. Congrats.
Was your ombudsman decision emailed to you? Mine was posted. I signed and dated the acceptance slip that came with the letter and posted on monday. After my call with fos i received an email stating it was accepted and is now legally binding for me and business and that they have asked the business to contact me directly to finalise the matter.
Would be fantastic if qq act in the same manner with me. So i hope to hear from them soon.
Sarah d says
Dear Sara
I have several complaints with the FOS for claims against Payday express, payday uk, the money shop, quickquid and lending stream
Poundstopocket rejected due to time barred
I am in the process of claims with mr lender and money box 247.
Moneybox have asked why I’ve complained and I’ve responded and I’m waiting to hear back from them
I wrote to mr lender and received this response
“We are unsure how you are suggesting these loan(s) were unaffordable if you are unaware of the number of loan(s) you have had with Mr Lender and the value of interest and/or charges paid. We have seen the same email from other customers and have found it to be a template generated off the forum website debtcamel-co-uk/payday-loan-refunds/.
Whilst you are within your right to seek third party advice and make a complaint, with the above in mind, we require further information in order to conduct a full and thorough investigation into any concerns you may have relating to the loan(s) you held with Mr Lender.”
I’ve had 33 loans in total from them!
I don’t know what to do – I’m feeling really low looking at all my debt and loans with these companies from 2009-2018 I had so many loans and have felt such depression
The thought I could claim some of the I interest back is consuming me but I don’t know how to approach all of this
Should I go through a claims company now please?
Thanks to all you warriors
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Don’t go to a Claims Company – they can’t do anything more than you can do yourself and will take a big chunk of the payout.
Payday express, payday uk, the money shop are all one company now. They are very slow but people often get good offers from them in the end.
Lending Stream are also slow!
Mt Lender are quicker and usually easier to deal with after this first rather unhelpful email. Tell Mr Lender that you had 33 loans from them that caused you a lot of financial problems so you are making an affordability complaint about them. You don’t have to go into more details. 33 loans is a LOT and they should come back with an offer. If you aren’t sure if it is good enough (they sometimes try to get away with a low offer at the start!) come back and ask.
Ignore Pounds to Pocket saying your debts were time-barred – they aren’t. Send the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman. That’s easy to do, see the article above. It doesn’t have to be in detail.
It will help if you now get a copy of your credit report as the ombudsman would like to see it. And also try to get your old bank statements – you can do this even from closed bank accounts. You would have to do this even if you went to a Claims company.
B says
Sarah, There’s nothing worse than how you’re feeling! I’ve been there. Please don’t use a claims company, I will look out for any comments by you and try to reply. Every one here is very helpful.
Louise says
Hi has anyone else received the amounts letter re Cheque Centres,giving details on who they are paying.Just wondering if anybody knows how much percent it will be.Thankyou..
B says
Getting really frustrated with FOS. Sent a complaint in last year as a business hadn’t removed credit entries 7 months after agreed would. FOS contact me in Feb asking for additional info, I give it immediately. Then contact me end of Feb asking for more info, I give it. Month goes by without word so email them and both emails go unanswered. Call in and get told the adjudicator will email me update. Adjudicator emails me saying they’ve been on holiday and they will look into case in next few weeks!!! Get another email today saying they’ve requested further information from the business who clearly havent responded to their 1st request!!! This new generic email inbox is about as much use as a chocolate kettle!
Amylou says
I’ve had 2 refunds from wageday advance and pduk
QQ are a nightmare and don’t respond. Mr lender replied and said they aren’t part of any redress scheme so don’t understand why I am complaining. I replied asking if that was there final decision and they said they will look into my complaint. Has anyone has a similar experience with them? Also has any one had any dealings with swift?
Liz says
Hi,
I was given a settlement offer from Sunny and accepted it on Friday.
has anyone had experience of settlement with Sunny, and if so how long did they take to pay out?
Amy says
Hi Liz,
My husband was paid out within 3 days of them making an offer & accepting.
I submitted my complaint to them 5 weeks ago. How long did you wait to receive a response from them and what was your borrowing history like? I’m wondering how likely they are to make me an offer.
Lisa says
Hi Liz I agreed a settlement with them on the 25th April. Still waiting for it to be paid into my account although they did say to allow 5 working days
Ross says
Morning Sara,
Following on from Chris’s success, with MyJar, I’m wondering if I’ve shot my self in the foot by declining to provide bank statements to them? His was upheld after they noticed the gambling transactions on his statements and, based on the fact that I borrowed over 3 times the amount he did, I am wondering if I should try to get these to them before they make a decision. Otherwise, in your opinion, do you think they have sufficient information without these and are they able to access my credit report anyway, via an administration review rather than credit check? Many thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry I can’t really guess what a lender will do in any case, let alone one where gambling may have made it harder to see that the loans were unaffordable. You could try. A lender can access your credit record but not all of them do.
Ross says
Thanks Sara,
Much appreciated, as ever. I’m just thinking they may come back and say something along the lines of ‘As you have declined to provide bank statements, then we have been unable to investigate as thoroughly as we could’ve and are unable to agree to your complaint’. Possibly overthinking this a little bit, but was hoping to avoid the FOS, where possible, as I know how snowed under they are. But, it is what it is and if I have to go down that route, then so be it. Thanks again.
Steve says
Hi, I wondered, can anybody advise me.
My complaints are from 2010 and 2011 and therefore over 6 years ago. My problem is that I closed the bank account I was using at the time, on advice from my DMP company (to avoid the payday loan companies taking out payments using CPA). I had opted for electronic bank statements and therefore do not have paper copies of my statements. My bank was Alliance & Leicester which no longer exists.
The ombudsman is now asking for statements and I’m worried that my claim cannot be investigated fully without these. I cannot put across the sheer extent of my debt problems at the time. My credit file with Noddle also does not go back further than 6 years.
Can you advise how I can go about providing the ombudsman with the information they need? I have asked them the same question and await response.
Thanks for any ideas!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sometimes you may be able get some pieces of evidence about your finances at the time? Payslips or P60s? Details of rent or council tax etc? Did you supply your DMP company with a copy of your bank statement at the time – if you did, they may still have that on file.
If you have been sent statements of your accounts from all the payday lenders, you can use these to create a spreadsheet showing for each month what payday loans you took out and what repayments you made. This can show the extent of your payday loan problems.
Alliance & leister was taken over by Santander – have you asked them if they can get old bank statements?
Louise says
Hi just to let people know it looks like the Quick Quid objection over 6 years old loans are being dealt with.Sent mine in over 18 months ago and had an email from adjudicator yesterday to say they’ve sent a message to Quick Quid to uphold them.Let’s see if they do..
Erica says
Sent my bank statements to The Money Shop on the 1st April, had a phonecall on the 5th asking why I hadn’t complained sooner and gave them my reason. I haven’t heard anything since and its been over 2 weeks from sending my evidence in.
Sophie says
They do seem to take their sweet time. It may just be the volume of complaints they are receiving. It was 4 weeks before I got a response after I explained why I didn’t complain sooner, then they asked for bank statements, which I sent two weeks ago and still haven’t heard back.
Erica says
Still nothing. They have said though that my bank statements have been reviewed and that it is in the queue for the Analyst. Who knows how long this will be. It has been almost 4 weeks since sending them the information they requested.
Have you heard anything yet?
Lisa adams says
morning
i have e-mailed Mr Lender regarding my loan i used the templateand skaed for the loan statement and they are saying:
We are unsure how you are suggesting these loan(s) were unaffordable if you are unaware of the number of loan(s) you have had with Mr Lender and the value of interest and/or charges paid. We have seen the same email from other customers and have found it to be a template generated off the forum website debtcamel-co-uk/payday-loan-refunds/.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They are just being difficult. They actually will look at your complaint, it is a very poorly worded letter.
I suggest you reply saying you remember the problems their loans caused but not the exact number of loans and the amounts which is why you would like a list of them. Ignore the stuff about template letters – they have sent you a template reply!
Lisa Adams says
Thank you I have sent them an e-mail back so we will watch this space
SDelaney says
Hi just let everyone know Money Shop (Payday Uk) are upholding loans older than 6 years after a brief phone call. I will say though they have been dragging their feet, since January 2019 I have sent them 16 bank statements in total, have received 4 final response letters each of them saying that I need to provide more bank statements for the older loans. Hoping to hear this week, started whole process in September 2018. They respond reasonably well but continuously ask for more information!
James says
Hi Sara,
Please see below, can you advise what do next as they don’t take calls or handle emails well.
I received £1117.29 this morning which is only a small proportion of what was agreed see the original email from them.
We uphold loans 9 – 15 and believe the checks carried out could have gone further. On these loans, you borrowed a total of £3800.00, and repaid a total of £5842.00 – redress is calculated from interest paid over the principal amount, and so redress amount on these loans = £2042.00
We do however uphold loans 32 – 35 – on these loans, you borrowed £2100.00 and repaid £2587.20 – interest paid on these loans comes to £487.20. Following loan 35, there was second gap in lending and so the following 5 loans would be considered as part of a new lending chain which for this reason we do not uphold.
Following this new chain, we are upholding loans 40 – end, as we we could have carried out more checks on these loans. Total amount borrowed on these loans: £4393.00, total amount repaid £5478.74, redress figure: £1085.74.
Total redress we are offering to resolve: £3614.94 + 8% statutory interest (to be calculated).
The loans upheld will also be removed from your credit file. Please confirm this acts as full and final settlement by confirming your full sort code and account number.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
who is the lender? you didn’t owe a balance on the final loan?
James says
Moneybox 247 and no I had no outstanding balance. It looks to me like they have paid loans 40 – end and not the others?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“It looks to me like they have paid loans 40 – end and not the others?” they have only paid c3% interest on the last set of loans if that is what they have done. that is unlikely to be correct – what were the dates of the last loans?
I suggest you email them pointing out the amount you have been paid is a lot less than what you were promised on dd/mm/yy and unless this is corrected by tomorrow you will be sending the whole case to FOS.
Point out you agreed to accept what you felt was a low offer in order to get a speedy resolution, but so far they have dragged out paying it and have given you less than a quarter of what they agreed.
James says
Thanks Sara, really confusing why they have sent that amount. I have sent the email you suggested.
James says
Hi Sara,
This was there response at the close of play yesterday:
Ps still not paid
Dear James,
Thanks for your email.
I can confirm that you are due a higher amount than what was refunded to you today.
Can you please confirm that you have received the amount of £1,117.29?
Will look into this for you with urgency.
Kind regards,
Hannah
Warning: Late repayment can cause you serious money problems. For help, go to moneyadviceservice.org.uk
Trev says
Hi Sara
I had accepted and received a significantly lower payment as final settlement with Mr Lender in Nov 2018.
Then I received a letter recently from Mr Lender stating that “at the time your final response was issued to you, the additional information regarding your right to escalate the complaint to the FOS did not contain the required information relating to the timeframe in which your complaint can be escalated. Although you accepted our offer as a full and final resolution and this complaint has been closed, we have enclosed a copy of your final response letter containing the correct additional information for reference”
Do you think that this is something I could use to re-open the complaint? Just would be happy to hear your opinion.
Thanks
Trev
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes you can use this to reopen the complaint. If you had been told of your right to go to FOS in November, you could have chosen to have done that then, not accepted a poor offer.
How poor was their offer? Can you say how many loans you had and which they refunded? It may be possible to get them to look again at your complaint if you suggest why they should have refunded certain other loans.
Trev says
Hi Sara
Loans were:
£200 – Aug 2012
£500 – May 2013
£500 – April 2014
£450 – Oct 2014
The last three loans were “roll overs”. And I defaulted on the last one but paid eventually to a debt company.
Loan2 (£500) : Rolled over 9 times. Interest paid £942
Loan3 (£500) : Rolled over 4 times. Interest paid £631
Loan4: (£450) Only rolled once as I defaulted and paid to debt company in end. Interest paid £275
Overall £2352.00 interest paid.
I settled for £210.00…which annoys me now. Do you think I have a case?
Thanks
Trev
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think £210 is an extremely poor offer on those loans.
You could go back and say you have looked at this again now you realise you can take the case to FOS and that you think MrL should have not given you loan 3 after loan 2 had been rolled so many time.s. Ask for them to review their offr and say you will accept a refund of interest on loans 2 & 3 plus 8% statutory interest less the £210 they paid you last year.
If you don’t think that is sufficient , you could ask for a a refund of the interest on the last 4 (say) rolls of loan 2 as well. It’s possible FOS maight do that but they may say only refund from loan 3.
Trev says
Thanks Sara!
I will give it a shot and let you know how I get on.
Shaun says
Quick question i complainted to mr lender about my 2 loans i had with them and my loans rolled over many times. I got into financial difficuty and could not pay back the second one. They then sold this to a dca. They said they will partially uphold my complaint and have contwcted the dca they sold the loan to to confirm i have not paid anything towards it. They then said they would buy back the debt off the dca and reduce the balance to a lower sum. Can they re buy the debt back once they have sold it ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“Can they re buy the debt back once they have sold it ?” yes.
How many times did you roll the first loan? How much did you borrow and how much did you repay?
Was the second loan straight after the first one? Was it larger? Do you know the numbers on the second loan – what did you borrow, how much have you repaid so far, what is the balance?
Shaun says
First one was for 300 rolled over for 5 months each month total interest paid 735 second loan was straight after and got 500 and paid back a total of 150 before falling into problems
Nat Garvey says
Here is part of an email that I received today from the FOS about Lending Stream (Gain Credit):
I’m sorry that your complaint is waiting to reach an adjudicator. This is because the number of people bringing complaints to us about high-cost short-term credit has increased. So unfortunately, it’s taking us longer than we’d like to work through these cases.
One situation that we’ve been looking at very carefully is where a payday or instalment loan provider lent repeatedly over a long period of time. As you may be aware, your complaint falls into this category.
We’re progressing these complaints, but it may take some more time before we’re able to give you your answer. I appreciate your continued patience while the complaint is still with us.
—————
Just for reference, I submitted my complaint to the FOS in September 2018.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You have what FOS refers to as a “long chain” case. FOS is trying to persuade various lenders to settle these cases more quickly.
Nat Garvey says
Thanks Sara. I had 27 loans from them over 2 and a half years. I Borrowed £6K and paid back £9K.
J says
Hi Sara,
I wondered if you had any advice regarding situations where you reject the decision made by the Ombudsman? A decision not upholding my case was made, despite the company I borrowed from never providing evidence of any checks they did in order to prove they were sufficient (Drafty, Gain Credit LLC).
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If this is an Ombudsman level decision, to take this further you have to go to court. And I think you would need to get some professional advice on that. From a solicitor or from a local Law Centre if there is one near you.
J says
Hi Sara,
Yes it’s an Ombudsman level decision.
Lukas says
Hello Sara
Hi Sara
I have 3 loans from P2P, now On stride financial, first start on 11.04.2017: Loan amount 600 paid off in 7 months with charge of credit: 435.12.
Second took out straight after paid off first. Start from 11.10.2017: Top up amount 561 paid off in 8 months witch charge off credit : 422.90.
Finally third one took out at 20.06.2018: Loan amount 500 for 10 months paid off with charge of credit 370.09.
Of course between these loans I had other pay days loans.
Paying total interest fee 1228.11 just for On Stride.
Can you tell me which template letters I should use ??? For pay day loans on large high cost loans ???
Thank
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I would follow the normal payday loan template with three loans. If you had any other borrowing from QuickQuid that will all be part of the same complaint.
You could also ask OS (email them at GDPR@onstride.co.uk for this) for a copy of all your personal data, including all credit record and other checks they did. That will show up what other borrowing OS could see when you applied for each of your loans.
Lukasz says
I request for these information through my account on On Stride website. They are have 30days for send this to me.
I think I had only P2P and On Stride from QuickQuid.
Where can I check which loans company are from QuickQuid as well ??
Thank you Sara
Sara (Debt Camel) says
QuickQuid’s sister brands are Pounds till Payday and On Stride. I don’t think there are any others in the same group.
JC says
Hi all.
Does anyone have any experience’s dealing with Ferratum? I sent them the email yesterday requesting my loans and interest paid using Sara’s template. Just wondering what theyre like for providing these and generally dealing with the complaint?
I’ve read some bits online about them that are not too promising as they seem to have a really good reputation.
I’ve borrowed from them pretty much every month for the last 19 months, my credit rating is so poor i get refused for loans pretty much everywhere yet they continue to lend to me with no problems, seems as though theyre not even checking?
Any help or information would be great.
Thanks
J
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“they seem to have a really good reputation.” not sure where you are getting that from! They aren’t bad to deal with usually, not unpleasant, but they can sometimes make low offers on good cases that will get a lot more at the Ombudsman, so if you aren’t sure your offer is good enough come back and talk before accepting?
JC says
Hi Sara,
Thanks for the reply. I just meant generally comparing them on all of the review sites they have really good scores up against pretty much every other payday loan company, whether this makes any difference i have no idea. Also checking them up on ombudsman decisions i found less than 15 cases in a year time frame gone to the ombudsman, where as there are pages and pages on other PDL companies.
Its early yet im hoping they get back soon with my list of loans and interest paid but so i can get the complaint rolling properly but ill be here for youre advice.
Thank you :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I should ignore review sites completely. And at the Ombudsman only cases that go to the second level are published. 90% are sttled at the adjudicator level. Ferratum are also a small lender which is why they aren’t mentioned much here.
Ally says
This was my response after I told them to up their offer. Bearing in mind it was a small player in my loan cycle and only 3 loans. Always nice to push their offer up.
Good afternoon,
As we have issued our final response increasing the goodwill gesture is not something we would normally do. Ferratum do not feel we lent irresponsibly and the offer made is not acceptance of alleged irresponsible lending.
In this instance, to bring the matter to a close we can increase the goodwill gesture to £175.00 and will also waive the current balance.
If this is not acceptable we will withdraw this offer and have provided details of the Financial Ombudsman Service in our original email.
I am sorry if we are unable to come to an acceptable resolution today.
Kind regards,
Julie
Zoe says
Hello,
I made a complaint against Lending Stream back in September 2018 for irresponsible lending for 19 loans in just over a year.
The complaint has been waiting to be assigned to an adjudicator since June.
Lending Stream are fully aware of my complaint. However in the time since the complaint was made they have passed the debt to a collection agency. Who after I advised I had a complaint with the ombudsman returned the debt to lending stream.
They now 4 months on from this and 8 months on from my original complaint have defaulted the 5 payments that I had to stop paying due to racking up near on £2500 in payday monthly payments.
No other company has done this to my credit file and I’ve not see anyone mention this on here. Can they do this? My other accounts state under query.
Steve says
LS passed mine into a debt collection company too, however I wrote to them and they’ve put a hold on any further action while they speak to LS.
LS haven’t defaulted the loan yet, but I wouldn’t put it by them to do so!
Zoe says
Hi Steve,
The debt collection agency were really helpful.
I just dealt with them gave them my FOS complaint number and they sorted it out with Lending Stream really quickly.
Good luck!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
With 19 loans in just over a year it is very likely that the last loans will be considered unaffordable. So all negative marks will be removed from your credit record at that point. It’s annoying, but that’s Lending Stream for you. You could always leave them a bad review on Trust Pilot saying what you think of their complaints handling. https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/lendingstream.co.uk
Zoe says
Thank you.
They are an awful company and I know the FOS have a big back log of their complaints so don’t want to hassle them. Guess it’s just waiting the long game and hoping they don’t follow Wonga and Wageday.
Louise says
hi im wondering if any one can help me I had payday loans with minicredit going back to 2012 I got into difficulties and they charged me £100 a month fees but then sold my debt to opus can I still complain and if so what do I say to opus because they were not the 1s who initially gave me the loan? I went from borrowing £200 to owing £801 (I still have the original monthly letters from mini credit advising the £100 fee every month) the letters say I choose not to settle the loan amounts but I phoned them every month trying to set up a payment arrangement (I had lots of payday loans at the time) but they always refused to accept my offers?
any help would be greatly appreciated
Louise
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You could offer to settle the debt with opus for the original amount you borrowed. If they refuse, talk to the Financial Ombudsman.
But you best hope may be to get refunds for loans with other lenders – they may give you the money to pay this last one off.
Joseph says
Quick Quid refund has just hit my bank account! Only took 2 days after accepting offer. £3,218.81! Whole process is worth it guys, keep fighting !!
Elle says
Wow fantastic news. I am just about to start the process would it be possible for you to share more information about your loans/amounts? I have had 3 with them but I had loans with almost every other payday loan provider too! I was wondering whether it was worth pursuing with quid quick but seems so!!
Dena says
Fantastic news. I have made a complaint to them also, they have emailed me back asking for
• Bank statements (at the point/s you took out your loan/s with us)
• Payslips (at the point/s you took out your loan/s with us)
• Any additional information relating to your financial circumstances (at the point you took out your loan/s with us)
• What is the date of your first loan?
• How long did it take you to realise that QuickQuid might have been responsible for any financial difficulty you faced?
Did you have to provide this information, if you can help me in any way, that would be much appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
you don’t have to provide any of that. If you provide bank statements, then payslips are pointless. They know when you took the loans, i have no idea why they ask you except to make this sound difficult.
EXCEPT if you had loans that were more than 6 years old, it is a good idea to answer the last question. Just say when and how you found out what an affordability complaint was. Did you get an email from Wonga or Wageday Advance? See an advert ion facebook? be told by a friend? there are no wrong answers, just say what happened to you.
Dena says
Thank you I will try this. No not had an email from Wonga or Wageday.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ah I wasn’t asking, I was just saying that may have been the cause of you finding out what an affordability complaint was, so you could tell that to QQ if it happened to you.
Joseph says
Hi I have only just seen this. I had 9 loans with QQ and then 2 with P2P. Loans 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 8 & 9 all upheld and both P2P ones as well. My amounts ranged a lot but they grew steadily from £100 up to £1910 on the last one (crazy). Dena, I didn’t send any bank statements, I read Sara said they don’t need them so I just responded saying I wont be sending them but I will if FOS ask – they ignored this email and then responded to my original complaint. Good luck everyone !
Emma says
Hi,
After some advice please. I, in 2013 took out payday loans with P2P and Lending Stream. Was paid into a bank account I no longer use as that also fell into debt so I have no records from this whatsoever. I cannot find anything from Lending Stream either. The P2P was passed on to debt collector and I have recently finished paying this off. I do have an email trail from Civil Service Benevolent fund who helped me out at a low point. That would be all the evidence I have. Is it worth putting a email in? My credit score is now quite good as I have paid things off and manage to get credit. So don’t know if it’s worth the time and hassle? Thanks!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You don’t have to provide evidence of the loans – the lender will have to give you all the details.
Some of these loans are just over 6 years old – these cases tend to be slower but they are being won. However it’s good to have as many loans under 6 years as possible so don’t delay! I suggest you send off the Step one template email to P2P today. LS don’t let people complain by email – fill in LS’s online form (https://www.lendingstream.co.uk/contactus-step2/?sel_val=customer). Come back here if you have problems
You can get bank statements from closed accounts. suggest you ask for these now. It may take some time but even if you don’t remember you account number, you should still be able to get these going back at least 6 years.
Is it worth it? I would say so. It’s a few emails now and then checking for any replies. I don’t know what you paid in interest but you could easily get hundreds of pounds back. Unless you are a millionaire, that would be useful!
Also it is no less time and hassle to use a claims company. If the lender pays out straight away after a simple email, you would kick yourself for paying a claims company 25% of that or more for sending the same email you could. And if it has to go to the ombudsman, a claims company gets in the way if the Ombudsman needs to ask you a question (the questions often have very simple answers but only you know them, not the claims company!)
Liam says
Hi Sara I have sent the step one template to 14 different lenders on 13/4 and have had some acknowledgement replies and a couple have sent my loan history which I have followed up with step two. I’m currently on a DMP with PayPlan which includes some of these lenders so I’m just wondering if you know how my claim for redress will affect this? Should I inform PayPlan that I am currently trying to claim redress or should I leave it and just continue with my normal payments to them?
Thank you for this site by the way, I would never have known I had a chance of redress, never mind how to go about claiming it
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The complaints shouldn’t affect your DMP. You don’t need to tell PayPlan – though if you come up to an annual review you could mention this just so they know what you are doing. It’s best to continue with the normal payments.
KM says
Hi Sarah,
TMS have made me an offer of £6300 for loans taken out between 2008 and 2012 and 1 loan taken in 2013. They originally only offered to refund the loan from 2013, for which the offer was £111, telling me that the other loans were over 6 years old so they would not look at them. I rejected this offer and wrote back telling them why I hadn’t complained until recently (illness). They then wrote back accepting my reasons and offering a further £6200 which is after tax and including the 8% interest. They have said they will look at some older loans from 2007 if I send them bank statements and a copy of my credit report which I am willing to do. However, upon checking the loan statement they sent me I have noticed that I started borrowing from them in 2006. When I called them to ask why they haven’t taken these loans into consideration they said something about not having to look at them due to a ruling by FSA I think. Do you know if this is correct?
I originally complained to them in October 2018 thinking that I borrowed from them between 2008 and 2013. I didn’t realize I started borrowing as early as 2006 so didn’t include 2006-2007 in my complaint. I wondered if it was possible to put in a separate complaint about the loans for 2006 as I didn’t include them in my original complaint or is this not possible now I have accepted their offers?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The Ombudsman cannot legally look at loans before April 2007. There is no way to argue for earlier loans to be considered.
£6300 – well done! You can claim up to £200 of the tax deducted back, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-payday-refund-get-back-tax/.
KM says
Thanks for your advice on this matter and just in general.
Finding your website is how I discovered that I could make a claim.
Bill says
Hi km, don’t mind me asking did you go through the fos? And how many loans did you take out with the money shop?
Thanks, bill
KM says
Hi Bill,
No I didn’t have to go to the fos. Just dealt with TMS direct. For the period 2008-2012 they have considered 72 loans. I used the cheque cashing service and rolled over many times. In 2013 I took at out just one loan.
KM
Jacquih says
My son has had quite a few QQ loans, all paid back. Most he had to get extensions and top ups to pay other bills. Can he claim if theyre all paid back? Also does it have to be one claim per loan or can he put it all together in one letter? Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes he can – he needs to send one single complaint covering all his loans. use the template letter in the article above
Jacqui says
Thank you so much for your help.
Chris says
Just received an email from Myjar to advise refund has been processed to my bank account and should be with me within 5 working days.
Does it take this long or has anyone received the funds quicker after getting this email?
Ross says
Hi Chris,
In all honesty, where most lenders send loans via faster payments, they will send refunds via BACS. I’m not sure if it’s cheaper, or they just want to be awkward, but I’ve had this before (one payday refund was sent by CHEQUE!?!?). With it being a 4 day Bank Holiday weekend, I wouldn’t pin your hopes on seeing it before Tuesday/Wednesday at the earliest. Not trying to dampen your hopes, just being honest.
Baz says
Chris, myjar agreed with adjudicator for me. I sent them bank details 8 days ago. How long did it take you from confirming bank details to getting the email stating that they had processed payment?
Tony says
Hi, just a quick one.
If I have had redress on a loan taken out in 2012, which was sold on in 2015 to a debt collection agency, should I be refunded stat interest from the date of the loan or the point when the initial balance (excluding interest) was repaid?