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?
Sanj says
I’m making a complaint to mr lender this is the email I got back:
Thank you for your recent email.
We are writing to ask for confirmation and clarity on the reason for sending this as the detail within the email is confusing.
While the start of the email suggests you are making a complaint there is vague information regarding the reason for your complaint just that you feel they were unaffordable, which is followed by a request for a list of loan(s), dates they were taken and the charges and interest you paid.
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.
We have attached detail of your loans with Mr Lender as requested, if you feel you would like to make a complaint regarding these loans please provide further detail indicating why you feel they were unaffordable
Kind Regards,
Mr Lender
Reply
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Sanj ,
this is a standard and irritating email from this lender.
You don’t have to send them anything more. They have logged your complaint and will respond to you. They quite often make offers, but sometimes they aren’t as good as they should be, so if you get an offer and you aren’t sure, ask in a comment? Mr lender will listen if you go back with an argument as to why they should refund loans 3 and 4 as well as 5,6 and 7 which they have said they will refund.
But if you are waiting for a list of loans, why don’t you reply that when they send you the list of loans you will be able to provide more details?
Sharon says
Has anyone had any luck with Amigo Loans?
Sharon
Claire says
They rejected my complaint so I sent it to the FOS in October 18. I rang for an update a couple of weeks ago and it’s still waiting to be picked up by an adjudicator
Sharon says
Thank you, guess I have a long wait .
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes! This week one reader was removed as a guarantor.
But there aren’t that many cases and there are a lot waiting at the Ombudsman at the moment. I don’t think anyone has had Amigo accept the complaint so they all have to go to FOS.
This isn’t the best page for Amigo complaints – there are different letters depending on whether you are the borrower https://debtcamel.co.uk/how-to-complain-guarantor-loan/ or the guarantor https://debtcamel.co.uk/amigo-complaints-by-guarantor/.
Holly says
Hey ,
I have started cases with quite a few payday lenders now quick quid , my jar , lending stream , satsuma , sunny , pounds to pocket & peachy !!
I’ve probably had Atleast 5 at a time over a few years , does anyone know if generally it does need to get taken to FOS or they would rather settle with you themselves ??
Iain123 says
Every case is different. Just send the templates off to every company you’ve had a payday loan from, get the ball rolling.
Holly says
Thank you will do !!
Amy says
Hello,
Can I have people’s experience with sunny? I sent my complaint 5 weeks ago. They have acknowledged it and will provide a response within 8 weeks.
I had 20 loans with sunny over 16 months. So often more than 1 a month. They ranged from £150 to £850. I still have an outstanding balance to them of £650. Total borrowing over the 16 months was £5400. I often paid the loans back within days/weeks. Do you think there is still a chance I may be due anything from them? I was borrowing from Wonga and a couple others at the same time. I’m now in a debt management plan but I don’t pay anything to Sunny.
Thank you
Joseph says
You might be due something back, but probably not much. Hard to say without seeing how much interest you paid. I was in a similar position as you, I have multiple loans over many years but because I would always pay them off within 3-7 days the interest was never very much.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The total borrowing doesn’t really help, what matters is the amount of interest you paid. Sunny often don’t make good offers, so come back with what they say?
Sarah says
Just to update anyone awaiting refunds from QQ, I’ve heard from the ombudsman today and unfortunately any claims which have been dealt with by an adjudicator, then rejected by QQ, are going to be a few months before they are looked at by an ombudsman. They have stated in their letter that this is due to the increased number of claims coming through. Altogether, my claim has been with the ombudsman for a year.
I’m not having a moan, just wanted to keep everyone posted.
John M says
Hi Sarah,
I spoke with an adjudicator today and they told me the same thing that QQ rejected the adjudicator’s decision and gave more reasons why so this will now go to an Ombudsman. I cannot believe they have been allowed to do this. They are clearly playing the game and not treating complaints fairly. All other companies I have dealt with have given answers, some good, some not so good but if they have been to adjudicator they have agreed with the decision. QQ’s complete unwillingness to consider complaints over 6 years is unfair and is making the job of FOS even more difficult than it already is. Surely time for the government to step in here? They said it was terrible that Wonga customers (of which I am one) will not get what they deserve but they actually have an opportunity to do something with QQ but they are sitting on their hands!
simon says
QQ are being as obstructive as possible with regard to Data Request, loans listed end 2013 to end 2015 ( 29 number )…..sending me e mails saying i have access, but, no access to documents when i log in. No access to the account at all yesterday.
I Might be surprised but feel they will be placed into administration shortly due to volume of pending cases.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I would be very surprised. Their US parent reported record profits this month without any warnings about problems with the UK business.
Matt says
Hi Simon
There seems to be huge amounts of people awaiting large payouts and not many being paid out. I fear the same, like a potential dam bursting but Sara probably knows better than us.
What we do know is these guys are absolutely the worst to deal with and it feels they continue to pray on the vulnerable, almost forcing people’s hand to accept a smaller payout by delaying as much as they can. This tactic alone has probably saved them millions.
Matt says
Further to Sara’s comment, it will be interesting to see their figures when the dam finally breaks and the Ombudsman get them to pay on the loans outside Jurisdiction.
simon says
It’s the long game then. No worries as their’s other fish to fry.
Joseph says
Not to disregard what you all are saying but I found QQ ok. Offered me £600 in my complaint which I refused and took to FOS and then they accepted at adjudicator level and paid out within 2 days for £3.1K
Adam Sheldon-Smillie says
Hi,
I had a loan back in 2011-2012 with payday UK which rolled over 12/13 times and accrued a lot of interest. I have asked for a copy of the statement and they have sent it so i have evidence and i believe a strong case of being sold a loan without being able to afford it however as its been 6-7 years do you believe its worth claiming?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Definitely! You won’t get a refund of all the interest, but may well be offered a refund for the last few rolls – so it’s worth a try.
StevieC says
Hi,
I am looking for some advice. I made a complaint to 247 money box back in July and it was dealt with extremely quickly clearing my remaining balance and removing negative reporting on my credit file. I accepted this as full and final settlement of my complaint. Although 8 months later the balance still remains on my credit file with nothing removed. I made a complaint with the company ongoing for months and today they have contacted me to say they will remove all loans from my credit file as a goodwill gesture which I have refused. They asked me what I felt was acceptable, which I requested £150 compensation as I would have received much more by complaining to the FOS originally. They have not informed me of whether they will offer this. My question is can I take my complaint to the FOS now as the full and final settlement was never adhered to. They seem to think I can’t. I had 12 loans in 12 months paying £100 interest per loan, my remaining balance with them was £496.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
£150 is probably at the high end for this sort of error. I doubt FOS will let you reopen the original complaint, but if 247 don’t offer compensation you can take that to FOS.
StevieC says
I have spent 6 months trying to sort this out with them and credit reference agencies. Constantly 247 have ignored me and the only reason they have called today is that they are at the end of the 8 week complaint period. They have been so unhelpful and have broken numerous promises.
B says
I’m in same boat. Agreed to settle complaint for half the interest providing they removed credit entries. Too them 6 months and I took it to the FOS since their final responce was no longer binding as they hadnt actioned the agreements within it. Adjudicator currently looking into it, but suprise suprise! He can’t get a response from them within the deadlines he keeps setting! Disgusting company
Ally says
Just been offered full refund on my interest and 8% on over payment with Avant credit. Well within the 8 weeks allowed. Excellent work Sara. Can anyone advise how long it takes for funds to be deposited? Says to expect them within 30days.. but I’ve got a holiday coming up soon ;) thanks again Sara.
mark says
got my emails through today from avant having put in a complaint 2 weeks ago.
confirmed they will sending 3300 to my bank – ive already filled in the online form to reclaim tax on the interest payments.
just got to wait for the money to hit my bank account. My email did say this can take up to 30 days,,, i can wait..
had i not stumbled across this site i would have been none the wiser
Many thanks, and good luck to you all
Dr Dre says
Hey
Thats great news. I had the same. From my experience it took them 2 weeks to do the calculation from their uphold decision. Once I received the calculation email, it was paid with in 3 days.
mark says
Thanks, they upheld my complaint on the 16th April, calculation came through today… 3 days would be great
Ally says
Any update mark?
D says
What’s this about claiming tax back on the Interest?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
See https://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-payday-refund-get-back-tax/
D says
Hi Sara
I have already sent complaint letters to some payday loan companies, which the FOS are now currently dealing with. However due to further financial circumstances I have applied for more payday loans from other payday loan companies. I am intending to send them complaint letters today also, but as I still have 3 loans outstanding, I was wondering whether I should not make any further repayments until after my complaint has been dealt with, or should I make an arrangement with them to pay a reduced amount until then? If I made the requested payment, it would leave me short of money for other bills and food for the coming month.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You should not make any payments that will leave you short of money for the rest of the month – you have to get out of the trap of continually repaying and having to borrow again. So cancel the CPAs to the lenders with your bank, put in the complaints and tell the lender you would like an affordable payment arrangement.
BUT you need to think about your bigger position. these complaints can take many months to go through. You need to get all your finances, not just the payday loans, into a sustainable position. I suggest you talk to StepChange about setting up a Debt Management Plan https://www.stepchange.org/how-we-help/debt-management-plan.aspx. This won’t harm your complaints and any refunds can be used to reduce the debts in the DMP so it will finish much quicker.
Vicky says
Hi Sara I complained to my jar & ferratum last year my complaint was rejected but I never sent it too the fos I have just complained again but they said they have already responded to my complaint last year can I still send to fos. Thankyou
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You have 6 months to take a rejection to FOS. After that it is too late. (Unless you have a very good reason such as a major health problem.)
Paul says
Hi Sara,
I have several complaints that the FOS are dealing with on my behalf. They have recently come back to me saying they believe I should not have had the final 50 loans with payday express and have written to them advising the same, they have also advised any amount has interest of 8% to be added over a 10 year period. I understand they now have 2 weeks to respond, do they generally agree with the FOS decision? I also have the same situation with Lending Stream
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They can be slow about accepting but they often do.
R says
Hey all,
Had a great journey with the template & page so Sara, thank you for your help with this one.
Last Friday the FOS responded with a update from LS. They’ve accepted the FOS decision. I had to respond to the FOS to accept which I did. LS said in their response that they would refund in 28 days from they receiving confirmation of my acceptance. Does anyone know how roughly how quick they take to refund?
Thanks
Joseph says
Hi R, LS took 11 days for me after LS received my acceptance. They paid out to me roughly 2 weeks ago, balance cleared and £350 in my bank account :) good luck!
R says
Hey Joseph, nice one with the balance being cleared and £350 back, well done! 11 days right enough is a bit long but understand it’s in the 28 day window I guess. Good luck to you too.
John says
Hi Sara
I have had my final response letter from Money Boat. I only had the one loan with them. I’m just wondering if it is worth taking to FOS.
Loan 1 – £200 taken out June 2018 repaid in Feb 2019 – Total Interest paid – £185.
I paid 2/3 month installments of 65. I then reset my payment arrangment to weekly (found it easier to manage due to other pay day loans I had at the time).
They have provided my income expenditure calculation in their Final Response it is fairly accurate. They have mentioned they have the right to refer it to fraud agencies if the information provided is incorrect.
As I only had one loan do you think its worth taking to FOS. At the time I had multiple pay day loans which they should be able to see from my credit report (i sent them my noddle report).
Many Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ignore their bluster about reporting to fraud agencies.
But it’s pretty rare to win a one loan case unless it is very large, which this isn’t.
John says
Hi Sara
Thanks for your reply.
Thats what I was thinking I’ll send it to FOS worth a shot.
Mr B says
I think the advice given there John was that it was such a low amount and only a single loan you are unlikely to to have this awarded. Why clog up the FOS even more? Up to you though……
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I can’t have been clear… I said it was pretty rare to win this sort of case.
Joseph says
Hi John,
Please take this to FOS!! I recently one a complaint against Money Boat for only 1 loan for £500. They recorded a default on it and I had no other choice to take it to FOS. I outlined everything in an extremely high amount of detail and kept in contact with the FOS every other day as my adjudicator was really cool. But yeah, although chances are slim give it your best shot it worked for me!
Phil says
Piggy bank update.
I had two loans with piggy bank, one for £400 second for £1000.
Detailed affordability complaint was submitted and rejected within 56 days.
I gave Piggy bank the opportunity to review their final response and basically challenged the points they put in it, using the SAR to describe how the information they had for me contradicted what they were saying.
They’ve now come back agreeing to revise their final response and refunding all interest and charges plus statutory aswell as deleting the second loan from my report coming to a refund of £956.88.
I’m sharing this because I’ve raised affordability complaints with 13 lenders. Of which 3 were originally successful 8 rejected and 1 partially upheld. I’ll be honest I was losing faith that perhaps my case wasn’t great and would the ombudsman Agree with the lenders as 5 have now been referred to FOS. In particular the bigger cases of mine with the most interest to be refunded were outright rejected. This result tells me that actually my case is good, and that the lenders are probably hoping I’ll go away! If you’re in a similar position don’t give up, stay in there, it might be a long slog but I know for me this refund will go a long way to now getting me finally completely debt free (it’s been a long 12 months) and believe me you’ll get there too.
Thanks Sara for this website, your help and support. Really can’t stress how much it’s appreciated.
Ade Taylor says
Hi all. Has anyone had much experience with winning redress with sunny ? Ive had a data report i took out 97 loans from 2014 to 2018 with a total of 3500 interest alone paid. Anyone been in a similar situation? Thanks
Lisa says
Hi Ade
I had a response from them at 7 weeks regarding 20 loans over a year. They agreed they shouldn’t have lent any more after loan 10 and are refunding £1200 including simple interest on the rest. I am happy with that just from a single email after finding this great website. They emailed me last Thursday asking for my bank details and say to allow 5 working days for the redress payment to come through. Hope this helps and good luck
Lisa says
Hi Sara I have sent a 2 loan case which Myjar rejected to the fos. At the moment this is being dealt with by a ‘mass claims consultant’ is this where they decide if an adjudicator will look into this?
Thankyou
Lisa
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Every case is looked at by an adjudicator. The person who has contacted you has the job of getting the case ready to be looked at, eg getting the case file from the lender.
Have you been asked for a copy of your noddle report? and your bank statements?
Were the loans large?
Lisa says
Hello Sara yes I have provided all the information requested bank statements and noddle report. They were within a 7 month period the first one was for £1175 and the 2nd for £2060. I’m in a repayment plan for the 2nd loan however they continued to add interest for a year and added £2000 interest to this which will probably take me the rest of my life to repay. They also refused to freeze the interest when I contacted them regarding financial hardship.
Lisa says
Ive also contacted Myjar for a dsar to show which checks they made when giving me these loans which I saw you advise from a previous post
Louise says
Can I have some help please my husband has 9 payday loans and many many more taken out since 2012 onwards, I’ve had quite a few in the past as well but when we checked our noodle credit reports my husband’s only shows 3 payday loans (we know for a fact he has 9 currently in payment plans) and mine shows non prior to 2017 but I have paper work from the company’s that I had loans from, what can we do to get credit reports showing these loans?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
it’s unusual for many recent payday loans to not show on Noddle. Who are the lenders?
But you don’t need them to show to be able to make a complaint – just start the process off and ask the lender to send you a list of your loans. And get your back bank statements – they are a much more reliable source than credit reports.
Louise says
His most recent 1s that he is paying are myjar, cash float, ferrantum, sunny,money boat, Mr lender, cash float, swift,satsuma only 3 of them show on the credit report.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That seems odd – but tell him to put in affordability complaints. Also does he have other debts as well? Because with so many creditors a Debt Management Plan will often work better – see https://www.stepchange.org/how-we-help/debt-management-plan.aspx
Holly says
Hey everyone,
I just for my letter from the FOS they have upheld loans 3 – 11 of my cash euro net ones, they have advised cash euro net have till the 14th may to respond.
Does anyone have any experience with this, do they respond? Just wondered if they were going to be difficult or not.
Thanks in advance :)
Ross says
Hi Holly,
If this is Quick Quid, please don’t hold your breath. They are notoriously bad at agreeing with adjudicators and take it all of the way to the Ombudsman stage (in most cases).
Holly says
Thanks for the reply Ross, yeah it is Quick Quid and P2P, do the Ombudsman ususally agree with the adjudicators?
Diddy says
Hi
A friend has a loan with Mr Lender and is now behind and they are doing nothing short of harrasssing her. She has been off work since the beginning of this year (with depression amongst other health issues) and managed to make payments up until last month. She is trying to live off sick pay, pay her rent and keep up with bills so wanted to set up a plan to make it more manageable. Numerous emails back and forth but they have still continued to call her, text her and email 2-3 times a day. They have also called her work continually despite being told she isn’t there at the moment. Seriously, these guys are making her worse as they won’t lay off.
Anyone else had this problem with this lender?
I have told her all about this page (since I found it) and plan to help her send out affordability complaints (she’s had numerous payday loans over the years). I’ve sent all mine out and will help her do the same.
It’s been nearly 5 weeks since sending my complaints out, heard from most but a coupled haven’t even acknowledged receipt. If they haven’t responded by the 8th week, what should I do?
Ross says
Hi Diddy,
Firstly, companies are expected to acknowledge a complaint within 5 working days. After this, they should provide an update if they can’t resolve the complaint after 4 weeks and a final response at 8 weeks. If they can’t offer a final response, at the 8 week point, they need to advise why and that you have the ability to send the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. If you have had no response, from Mr Lender, then you need to call them, and ask if they have received your complaint. If you have sent all of your complaints, via email, then ensure you keep a record of these, to prove to the FOS that they have not responded to them.
Diddy says
Thank you for clarifying, appreciate it.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Most people living off sick pay can’t make more than token payments to any debts. Are you sure she isn’t paying too much?
Has she told Mr Lender that she is off sick and has mental health issues? She should ask to be handled as a vulnerable customer.
Putting in affordability complaints to mr Lender and any other payday lenders she has used is a good idea, but you may need to provide some support with this as it can seem daunting to someone who isn’t well. Encourage her to just take this steadily, one step at a time, not to worry about the next one and not to expect immediate results.
Diddy says
Thanks for this, I have told her (if she is happy for me to do so) that I would be happy to go through everything to ensure she can afford her priority bills before other lenders and to help with sending in complaints. I hope to start this in the next day or so when she is feeling a bit better. She did tell Mr Lender of her personal circumstances but so far, they have failed to listen (which is shocking).
LC says
So I received this email from QQ yesterday which was a total surprise …I referred my irresponsible lending complaint to FOS last July time as QQ rejected my complaint due to the fact that all were all over 6 years old … I had a balence of £800 outstanding which I paid £1 a month too .
—————————————————————-
We write to you regarding loan ****** which had an outstanding balance at the time that you referred an irresponsible lending complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. As was our policy at the time, once your complaint was referred, we suspended any collection activities whilst we awaited the outcome of the case as we believed this to be in your best interest. As a result, your loan went into arrears and was reported to the credit reference agencies.
We take customer outcomes seriously and would like to apologise for any negative impact that may have resulted from our suspension of collections activities. As a courtesy, we will waive the remaining balance on your loan, which will take up to 48 hours to process. As a result, you owe £0.00 towards this loan. Additionally, we will correct any adverse credit markings reported on your credit report during this time.
Please contact us if you have any additional questions.
—————————————————————-
As far as I’m aware this is still sat in the FOS tray waiting to be assigned to an adjudicator so I’ll call the FOS this morning and see what they say as I wanted the interest I paid returned to me
L.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Two people mentioned having this same email last night on the QuickQuid page: https://debtcamel.co.uk/quickquid-payday-loan-refunds/comment-page-9/#comment-298306.
This is good news – QQ are trying to improve what had previously been a very bad practice of theirs in refusing to allow people to make any payments and also defaulting their credit record. This is not a full & final offer QQ are making – you are not being asked to accept it and withdraw your complaint. Your FOS complaint should continue but think of this write off as being the first bit of any refund you will get.
L says
Fabulous thank you
James says
Adjudicator found in my favour for 18 of 23 loans from Lending stream, their deadline for responding was yesterday. I spoke to lending stream via e-mail a few days ago and they said they would definitely respond by the due date but I feel like they are not going to.
FYI i submitted my complaint to FOS in August last year.
Anything I can do to push them along?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If they haven’t replied in a couple more days, leave them a bad review here: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/lendingstream.co.uk – this sometimes kicks them into action!
dee says
Hi, my 2 year old FOS complaint with QQ finally got moving again in march as the adjudicator upheld some loans over 6 years which was great because it took nearly 2 years to get here.
initially they had until the 9th of April to reply, the asked for an extension. lastnight I got an email from QQ about an outstanding balance on a loan, they are waiving the balance due to the inconvience of the outstanding balance showing negatively on my credit report….this was a gesture of good will which again is great providing I get my interest etc refunded.
spoke to my adjudicator this morning and he told me QQ are still rejecting my loans over 6 years for the same reasons I patiently waited 2 years for the FOS to agree with them to consider these.
does anyone know how long it will take to get the next stage sorted through the FOS?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi dee – no one knows how long this will take. See my comment here to someone else https://debtcamel.co.uk/wp-admin/comment.php?action=editcomment&c=298349 which suggests one thing you could do to apply some indirect pressure on QQ to settle all these cases, not just yours.
GM says
I called the FOS today and I was told that the FOS and QQ are holding a meeting today in order to sort out and find a way forward with all the jurisdiction cases due to the accumulation of complaints received by FOS. the meeting is only about the loans over 6 years old.
On another note, my Myjar complaint has been with the FOS since Oct 18 and is now waiting to be allocated to an adjudicator now that the business has responded and given all the necessary info. Some are over 6 years old, but unfortunately it’s the majority of them.
QQ and PDUK have been with the FOS since november 18 and are still in the jurisdiction department.
Glen says
Hi There,
Very very cool site.
I have many Payday Loans from your list mentioned for several £1000s. This month I have really had to accept I am in a mess and cannot afford to keep up as I can no longer get any more credit in order to “Keep digging the hole” so to speak.
I have created a list of all my Payday creditors, past and current, downloaded and signed up to Noddle and am thinking of requesting the loan statements from them all.
However as it is literally this month end where I have “bit the bullet” I as yet dont have any repayment plans setup with any of them. And unfortunately 2 of the loans are as recent as last month.
Do I setup repayment plans with them first or send the letters now and advise them I cannot make any more payments at this moment in time?
Any advice gratefully received
Glen
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do this all at the same time:
– cancel the CPAs to the lenders with your bank
– send the Step One letter above asking for a list of your loans – this also kicks off the affordability complaint.
– add into the Step One letter an extra sentence saying you would like to set up an affordable payment arrangement.
If you have a lot of other debts as well, it may be better to get a proper Debt Management Plan set up – talk to StepChange https://www.stepchange.org/how-we-help/debt-management-plan.aspx. You can still make affordability complaints when you are in a DMP.
Affordability complaints can take a very long while to resolve, so you need to get yourself into a safe place where you don’t have to borrow any more money while they are going through.
Glen says
Hi Sarah,
Me again, sorry.
I sent the Step 1 to all of the lenders with the extra line that I would like to setup a repayment plan in the interim in order to maintain a payment with them. However I was wondering is it acceptable to ask/expect that interest be frozen or is the payment plan still inclusive of interest anfd charges?
Stupid question I know
Thanks
Glen
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You should definitely ask for interest to be frozen.
But the good news is that the “payday loan cap” imposed by the regulator means they can’t just carry on piling on the interest as the loan will soon hit the cap – the bad old days where a £300 debt could turn into £1800 are no more.
Glen says
Thanks so much for the swift reply Sara.
My predicament is purely caused by the cycle of Payday and High value loans I have got myself stuck in, as they now eat all of my disposable income.
My regular debts are perfectly affordable in a normal circumstances and equate to about 20% of my salary so I am happy to handle those.
I will send the Step 1 letters and with the extra sentence stating repayment plan request as you suggested and feed back in the coming weeks
Thanks again
Glen
Danielle Bird says
Hi, I have received an offer of refund from Next Credit today. The email states the following “You are liable to pay income tax on the 8% interest we have added (£46.79) and are expected to inform HMRC that you have received this sum in interest from us”. Can someone advise if this is something I have to do? And if so, how? I apologise if this sounds stupid but this is all new to me :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
legally you have to inform HMRC if you haven’t paid enough tax. But everyone has a tax free allowance of £200 for savings interest (and this sort of 8% interest added on is treated as savings) so unless you have a lot more interest from your savings you will be well under the 3200 and don’t need to bother.
Sarah says
I have had various loans at the same time but they were all from 2007 -2012 all of which rolled over many times and once paid off then re taken out the next day. i cannot get hold of bank statement dating this far back but the final loans from PDUK/MY JAR/WDA/Lending stream all went on a DMP and they were paid off 2014/2015. i have checked my noodle credit report and there is nothing for these loans but PDUK/My Jar and lending stream as settled but down as a DMP stating when they ended? Is there a chance i can claim due to the age of these? i only found about this as WDA emails stating i am entitled to redress of £2700? and i had more loans with the above companies?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes it is worth making complaints. For WDA just submit the form they sent you – there you will only get a small amount of the 32700 back. For the others, just start off the complaint process in the article above – step one kicks off your complaint and asks for a list of your loans.
It’s good if you have the bank statements but if you borrowed a lot from the same lender, the Financial Ombudsman will look at these older complaints without statements.
Jamie says
Hey,
If you don’t receive an acknowledgement of the complaint within 8 weeks do you put it straight through to FOS?
Regards
Sarah says
Thank you.
WDA – i sent off the claim as per the email but do you know on average what sort of percentage people generally get in these situations?
PDUK/MY JAR/Lending stream – i have sent them the 1st step letter asking for the list of loans and interest paid but not heard anything back? is there a normal time process? does anyone have any dealing with these companies to how they respond or do all complaints get sent to FOS?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
WDA – sorry but “averages” mean nothing in this situation. I can’t guess how many people will never seen WDA’s email as it went to an address that is no longer used or straight into spam.
Nicola Hicks says
Good afternoon, I had 21 loans with loans at home. I sent the complaint email 7 weeks ago, received a reply today. They have upheld 9 of the loans as the other 12 were older than 6 years, they have agreed to refund me £3500 which I’m ecstatic about. Just a quick question can I send the other accounts to fo? Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can’t normally accept an offer on some loans and send the rest of the complaint to FOS – not unless the lender agrees to you doing this.
Bran says
Hello. Over the past few weeks I have sent off an astonishing and embarrassing 17 complaints regarding unaffordability all to different short term/pay day loan companies. I am a bit late to the party and was only prompted by the Wonga administrators reaching out about a possible refund in the future.
I have had a few automated replies and a few personalised ones all giving the ‘4/8 week time frame’. It is however MrLender who got back to me with a quite condescending email to my complaint saying that it was clear my template originated here on debtcamel and they dont understand my issue with the four loans I had with them! I have sent a reply remaining professional but talk about trying to annoy the complainant.
SafetyNet Credit and Sunny are now my two biggest claims, over £3k interest to SNC alone was paid back over two years with me often withdrawing money hours after they took the majority of my wages automatically. That was after increase after increase of my ‘credit line’.
Now just the waiting game. Hopefully they will see that having upto 10 loans outstanding at once in an attempt to pay previous loans meant that in itself they shouldn’t have given me any more money!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
SNC – I hope you have cancelled the CPA to them if you still owe money?
Sunny – don’t accept a poor offer from them. they seem to have a new automated decision-making process that rejects a lot of loans that FOS would often say should be refunded.
Bran says
Thank you for your quick reply. I should add I am in a DMP now with Step Change and there are outstanding balances with several of the companies I am complaining against. I am hoping to get that overall debt amount down but in the mean time I will continue to let the DMP pay them the set monthly amounts.
The SNC one is the worst. When they sent me my statement showing I was getting charged £9 a day in interest for the best part of a month every month was sickening.
Equally Sunny allowed me to have 5, yes 5 separate loans with them an once. I am ashamed but happy I finnaly got out of the trap in an effort to sort my finances out. I am still young and would love to be able to save towards a house for the future. At the moment that just does not seem even a possibility.
Other companies I have sent off complaints to include:
UncleBuck
MyJar
Drafty
Ferratrum
PaydayUK
Satsuma
Cash4UNow
Speedy Cash
Swift Sterling
MoneyBoat
247Moneybox
Pounds to Pocket.
As I said, a shocking number of lenders!!
Joseph says
You’ve done the hard part by getting the call rolling, so good on ya! I was the same as you, quite young and a long list of payday loans, but now out of that spiral due to compensation from these companies – it’s a long process but stick at it. It’s worth it!!!!
Glen says
Is it possible to cancel CPA for Safetynetcredit?
Their mechanism seems a bit different in that they debit your account when they deem you have enough funds in there for a payment.
Does this count as CPA?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes – just phone your bank and tell them you want it cancelled.
Steve says
Bit of info for you Sara, when I tried to cancel a CPA with my bank (Monzo) they didn’t know what a CPA was and to contact the company themselves! 😱
L says
My bank said the same so I cancelled the bank card and got a new 1 issued
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You could put in a complaint to Monzo – that is very poor. But it’s understandable if you see that as another bit of hassle you don’t need.
Snail says
For anyone wondering about Ariste Holdings (Cash Genie), the refunds are being sent to the bank this week for a cheque run (I spoke to RSM) direct. My initial refund was £94, but I’m likely to get about £3, how depressing. Penny to the pound or something.
Daron says
My claim was for 587.00 all I’m getting is 20.26 don’t know how get away with it thief’s
Glen says
Morning all,
Has anyone had any dealings with Kaparma/Opos? They supposedly “bought” the debts of MiniCredit, however a simple search says theyre one and the same entity.
They became very aggressive and said I owed them £1500 or so from a £300 debt which had grown as they said they had sent doorstep debt collectors/charges etc. I explained that I worked from home at the time and no one had ever came so their charges were unlawful and I would like to proceed to court to have the unneccessary charges removed and fo forward with a repayment plan for the loan alone.
They ceased all communication. Am wondering whether to send them a “Step1”, or maybe just leave well alone?
Just wondering if anyone else had the MiniCredit/Kaparma conundrum in their experience?
Thanks
Glen
phil says
Hi Glen
I went to the FO regarding minicredit, however they were unable to help me as the company had long since gone under. I was in a similar position of my debt increasing from a few hundred to over £1k. However the kicker was that all the fees and interest were incurred under Minicredit prior to the transfer to Opos so there was no available actions that could be taken out against Opos. In the end I just wanted to end the hassle so I paid it. By far the worst company i spoke to regarding former PDL’s.
Paul says
Update on my Sunny complaint:
I had 15 loans with Sunny and I Referred my Sunny complaint to the FOS in October 2018 after Sunny rejected my complaint. The adjudicator found in my favour on loans 5-15 which Sunny disagreed with and provided evidence as to why this was the case. The adjudicator still found in my favour on loans 5-15 and two weeks later, Sunny have now agreed with the adjudicator and will be refunding me £654.13.
Complaints to FOS:
MyJar – settled on all 4 loans totalling £900odd after they’d wiped out the existing balance on a loan with them.
Sunny – settling on loans 5-15
Lending Stream – still waiting to be picked up
PaydayUK – referred to another department apparently as the loans are over 6 years old.
Anybody had their Lending Stream complaints picked up lately by an adjudicator?
Sarah says
How long did it take you to get an agreement with My Jar, did you have to go through FOS?
Paul says
Hi Sarah. They rejected my original complaint which I made directly to them so I referred it to the FOS in October 2018. The adjudicator at the FOS picked up the complaint in mid-end of March. MyJar replied quite quickly to the adjudicator by saying they’d refund loans 2-4 but the adjudicator said they should refund all 4. They agreed to this around 1-2 weeks later and paid me within a week of accepting the outcome. They ended up paying me on the 10th April or around then so it was all relatively quick once the adjudicator picked it up.
Sarah says
Thank you Paul, did they provide you wit a list of loans and interest you paid, in the first instance as i am struggling to get this from them?
Simon says
Hi Sarah, I only received a list of loans and interest paid from MyJar in response to my original Affordability Complaint email along with there full and final response offer which was a refund on 6 loans out of 18 which i accepted. As i wasn’t expecting any refund at all i accepted the offer of £350.00. I have since had other refunds from Peachy and NextCredit and awaiting for other responses. I have used the standard templates from this site which are great – to date i have received refunds on 3 out of 3 complaints sent! :)
Paul says
They didn’t give me a list of loans to begin with but after asking a few times they gave me the list which included dates, original loan amounts, interest due, what I actually paid and when I settled the loans. I then broke down my outgoings, incomings and outstanding balances of other loans at the time I took out the loans and a couple of months after.
If they haven’t given you the list you’ve asked for, it’s definitely worth pestering them for it I think like I did. Even if they reject your complaint, I’d still ask them for the list. Good luck with your complaint!
Glynis says
Hi. An adjudicator picked up my complaint about lending stream yesterday. I put my complaint in last November
Holly says
Hi all ,
Just wanted to update my sunny experience with you I put forward a case with them on the 24th of April .
And revived this email today :
We accept that it may have been prudent for us to review your financial circumstances before granting any further credit as well as review how you were using our product(s) around the time that you had been charged interest for 12 months. According to our records, this was at the time of your 15th loan.
In these circumstances, we agree to partially uphold your complaint from your 15th loan (33467695) onwards.
To put things right, we propose to do the following:
· Calculate the interest paid by you on your draws/loans from your 15th loan onwards (£1704.52);
· Pay interest of 8% (simple) on the above refund amount from the dates of payment to the dates of settlement, which comes to £136.70;
· The total refund is the sum of the above amounts £1841.22;
· Amend your credit file to reflect the above
They have dealt with this quickly for me and I think fairly so don’t give up !
Ade says
Hi Holly and well done on your success. I put in a complaint on the same day as you to sunny. I had 97 loans over 4 years so fingers crossed ill be hearing some good news soon.
Holly says
Fingers crossed ! Don’t let them fob you off :)
A says
Hi all,
I submitted 3 cases to FOS in July 2018 regards Sunny, Lending Stream and Wonga and have today heard back (positively in my favour) on the 1st. Just wanted to offer an update to anyone on a similar timescale! I didn’t pester them weekly, have only called a couple of time since I submitted.
All the best to you all – hopefully this website helps us all to see the light at the end of a horrible, dark tunnel!
A
M says
Hi Sara/all
My proposed offer to refund has bn finally forwarded by FOS to PAYDAY UK after such a long wait today.
Any idea/expce of how long PDUK normally take with the pay out *once they accept. I’m hoping they do! Thanks
AJF says
Hi
I wonder if anyone can help?
I made an affordability complaint to lending stream as I had 15 loans with them from 2015-18 all varied in amounts & all paid back. At the time I probably had payday loans with every other company I could have as I was just in that awful cycle of borrowing to pay for everyday things as when I got paid it would be gone the same day on loans.
Lending stream have responded by saying that they used 3rd parties to check my wages and credit worthiness & the info I gave them means that I had enough disposable income to pay them back so they have rejected the claim!
Is there anything else I can do because if they did the credit checks they would never have given me them after seeing what a mess my report was!
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send this straight to the Financial Ombudsman. 15 loans is a lot! There is no point in trying to argue with LS.
You could also send LS a request for a copy of all your personal data, including but not limited to any credit record checks they made. Use their contact forms, choosing the one for Data Access. With 15 loans you are going to get a LOT of data sent to you.
This may take weeks, don’t delay sending the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman, put it in now to get in the queue – you can always add more infomration afterwards.
zoe says
Has anyone had any dealings with My Jar and loans older than 6 years, I sent my complaint to my jar 3rd May 2018 its taken nearly a year from my first letter to them (which they rejected in July) to get as far as the adjudicator agreeing that from loans 4 to 21 they were irresponsible and they should refund, they have until 10th may to respond. Has anyone got a refund at the adjudicator stage?
thanks
Sarah says
Hi may, were all 21 of your loans more than 6 years? i have sent all the letters to my jar and requested the list of all and interest ect.. but still not heard anything 8 weeks down the line. mine are all over 6 years but unsure of the amount as from 2007 -2011.
Zoe says
Hi Sarah,
All the loans are over 6 years mine are 2010-2011.
Anonymous says
Hi Sara,
Im hoping you can give me some advice on a Claim I have made with Wage Me. I took out my first loan with them in 2012 and used them continually for 5 years until 2017. I contacted them recently to ask for a statement of all my loans and after looking at this closely, I have taken out over 70 loans in this period and borrowed around 30K, paying back nearly 6K in interest in total. I never missed a payment, and do not owe anything currently. I was in a complete and utter mess during this period, I probably had around 5 or 6 regular lenders and was borrowing month to month from all of them just to stay afloat (I have also put claims in against all other lenders but this was the major one). I am just about coming to the end of all of my payday loans now, and thankfully am in a situation where I will never have to look at one again. Anyway, I have received a response from Wage Me asking me for bank statements, but I stated that I didn’t have them to hand and would send them to the FOS if required. Have you heard of any success rate with this company? From the above information provided, do you think that I have a good case for a claim? This is my first time complaining about anything like this and I am getting a bit stressed out by it all to be honest. Also just wanted to say, This website is a great read and really helpful to people like me who have been trapped for so long by these type of loans!
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is a HUGE number of loans. From what you have said it is a very strong complaint and if Wage Me don’t make you a good offer send it straight to the Financial Ombudsman. If you aren’t sure if the offer is good, come back here and ask.
They are a pretty small lender so you may not get any replies form other people.
Anonymous says
Thank you Sara. I didnt actually realise it was that many until I came across this website and started looking into them all. Looking back, it is ridiculous and quite frightening that I fell into this trap. I have a similar story with Ferratum and My Jar. All have been written to and all have responded stating that they are investigating the complaint. I will keep you informed of any progress I make.
Thanks again for all of the advice on this page, it is great to know that i’m not the only one out there going through this.
Holly says
This page is a god send I wouldn’t have had the confidence to go through it if I didn’t have this page to keep up with !
Chris says
Hi, I chased my adjudicator earlier regarding my complaint with Cashfloat and he advised the following
“Thanks for getting in touch. The service regularly reviews our different methods and processes in investigating complaints to ensure that we arrive at a fair outcome for all of our cases. I was informed that there was a new method being introduced in assessing certain types of complaints, which yours falls under. You may recall that I recently had a week out of the office – on my return I was told to temporarily stop my investigation into certain types of complaints as to continue to assess them in the previous way may result in an unfair outcome and decision. The new assessment method was introduced yesterday and I have recommenced my investigation. I apologise for not informing you of this sooner.”
Anyone know what process has changed?
GM says
Yesterday, when I asked the FOS about my QQ compalints, I was told that the FOS and QQ were having a meeting yesterday in order to agree on a procedure and way forward for all jurisdiction complaints, i.e. over 6 years old. So, I’m not sure if something else was agreed, which would then have an effect on complaints from other lenders.
Nicki says
Hi Sara,
I’m now into the 7th week for complaints against several companies and have not yet heard back from any of them after they acknowledged the complaint. These include: SafetyNet Credit, MyJar, 247MoneyBox, Mr Lender and Piggybank.
Is this normal? Is there anything I can do?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Nothing you can to speed them up. But with so many the cahnces are that some will have to go to the Ombudsman. So stuff you could do now to get ready for that is:
– download a copy of your Noddle credit report
– get your banks statements starting 3 months before your first loan.
Anon says
Hi I had an email from Moneybox 24/7 as I made an unaffordable loans complaints after having 25 loans. I borrowed £5400 and paid back £7300.
They asked me what do I see as a full and final settlement to my complaint.
Is this common as none of the others have asked this.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Only Moneybox 247 asks this!
You could just say you want a full refund, but as most people don’t get all their loans refunded by going to the Financial Ombudsman, you could propose that you would accept a refund on loans 5-25 plus statutory interest say?
Glynis says
Hi. I sent a complaint to the Fos regarding pounds to pocket last November. I had 4 loans with them between April 2016 and May 2018. I still had a balance of £340. Last week my case was picked up by an adjudicator. On Tuesday I received an email from pounds to pocket saying they have waived the balance on my account and removing any negativity from my credit file.
Will all this interfere with my case and stop me receiving any refund from them.
Thanks for all your help.
Dan says
No it wont.I spoke to adjudicator today .believe it’s a standard letter and response .They sent me sane letter .I suspect the predictable layout is more than remaining balance.so it makes sense .they have a massive backlog to clear up .so suggest a bit more waiting but it’s a start .cynically i suspect it’s avoiding final ombudsmen decisions which they would probably lose most .saving £200 a time x the number of cases believed to be seven thousand so I’ve heard .That’s a 140k saving to them but obviously good news for those waiting
St says
Sara
I had loans with peachy years ago. Possibly around the 2010-2012 period.
These were eating my wages each month and then reborrowing.
However I don’t have the same bank account or access to the records nor will noddle go back that far. Is it worth asking about these or will o be snookered?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Definitely worth a complaint. Use the template letters above – the first asks Peachy to send you a list of the loans and the interest paid. And take the case to FOS if they don’t offer a reasonable refund.
It’s worth trying to get your bank statements from the closed account – many people have managed this. It can make a FOS case easier, but if you borrowed for month after month, then you can win a case at FOS without the statements if the bank tells you it cannot send them
S says
Thanks sara
chris says
hi guys can anyone help on wage day advance. i had two loans in two months, i complain and they rejected in Nov 18, but on my current loan they have removed any interest on it and agreed a repayment plan with me. i complained about all my other payday loans and accounts to the FOS, had about £1k of interest removed, and £500 from qq interest top be refunded, ( now gone to final ombudsman) i forgot to complain to the FOS, now they have gone bust and my loan has been sold to a debt firm, can i still complain to the FOS?
I have paid around £330 interest on the two loans. can i still send to FOS, with them going bust? and already rejecting my complaint,
what can i do?
on another note an adjudicator is finally looking into my complaint against lending stream.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No you can’t send any WDA case to FOS. They won’t take it because they are not legally allowed to look at a complaint when the firm is in administration.
BUT you can submit a Claim to the WDA administrators. Would you like to give some numbers here:
Loan 1 – how much borrowed, how much interest paid, date repaid?
Loan 2 date borrowed, how much borrowed, have you made ANY payment to WDA before administration to this loan? what has your balance been reduced to before being sold to Lantern?
chris says
hi sara
loan 1 £780 and i repaid £998.95
loan 2 was £550 and ive repaid £282.49, i know my balance before it was transferred was around £440,
the removed the interest after i repaid my 1st installment, .
im going to ring lantern on my lunch to find out what my balance is.
i would be very grateful if you could send me the details for wda administrators so i can complain again.
many thanks
Kirsten says
Hello All and Sara,
Thanks to this site, I recently put forth a complaint with QQ. It came as no great surprise they have not upheld my complaint. Do you think it’s worth me taking to the Financial Ombudsman? I’ve pasted the response below:
Summary of Lending History
# of Total Loans 16
Payday 15
OEC 0
P2P 1
On Stride (under CEU)
On Stride (under ENC)
# of Loans Funded >6 Years Ago 0
However they have failed to include the interest I have paid on these loans? So the data they have sent me back is incomplete.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can I ask a question about what you were sent?
Was there another line under the line which said # of Loans Funded >6 Years Ago 0 which said something like
# of Loans Funded Post 2015 ?
16 loans is a lot – you should definitely send this case to the Ombudsman.
Were any of your loans after 2015?
Were any of your loans 3 month loans with a much larger payment in the third month?
And do go back to them and say they have not sent you a statement of account for all your loans – you want to know for each loan:
– the date takes,
– the amount borrowed
– the date repaid
– the amount of interest paid
– whether any extra charges were added.
but you don’t have to delay sending the complaint to FOS to get this infomration.
Joseph says
When did you take the loans out? Are they over 6 years old? I would send an email back to QQ asking them for a data request for all your loans highlighting that they didn’t include the interest. Or a quicker way would be to call them and ask them, although sometimes they can be reluctant if you have a lot of loans as this takes ages. But first things first get that complaint submitted to FOS as you’re in for a wait so no point in delaying. Good luck! (Complaint submitted December > Refused in December > Upheld by FOS in March > QQ accepted adjudicators decision > £3.1K won paid in April)
Erica says
Getting a bit frustrated now with The Money Shop.
It has been over 12 weeks now, I sent further evidence off at week 8. I have just spoken to them and they are waiting for further information from Head Office. When I asked what further information this was, they stated that they need confirmation of my circumstances at time of the loans being taken out. This was because with each of the loans I had, they made me continually go into my overdraft of a very large amount and I was not employed at the time.
The wait continues…
Elizabeth says
Hello, I’m looking at making an affordability compliant against Auto Money I took out loans between 2013- 2016. The amount I have paid is almost £3000 but initial loan amount was £400. How do I go about making a complaint against them
Sara (Debt Camel) says
A logbook loan – horrifically expensive. I suggest you use the procedure and template letter described here https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/ and get your complaint straight to FOS if the reject it or at 8 weeks – you want the first loan to be within 6 year when you go to FOS if possible, so don’t let them delay things.
If the first loan will already be over 6 years, still take the complaint to FOS, it’s just easier if it in.
JOJO says
Hi Sarah
I had a complaint upheld by Sunny, they agreed to write off the balance owing circa £1100, and remove the loans from credit file.
Since accepting no feedback, the loans are still showing on my credit files showing AP (4 loans). Since the complaint was upheld (January 19) despite emailing them multi times to see when they are going to wipe off no feedback whatsoever. Any advice? Is there another avenue ican go down to get them to do what they proposed? Or is this another FOS report do you think?
thanks in advance.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Email them and say unless this is fixed within two weeks you will be going to FIOS and asking for compensation for this hassle.
Also leave them a bad review on Trust Pilot https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/sunny.co.uk – that may kick them into doing something.
Ally says
Sara, do companies only remove negative info from your credit file or can they remove the fact that the loans ever existed? I paid mine on time always but so no negative info etc but would be lovely for them to not be on my file at all? Haha
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Unless you have loans in the last year AND are planning a mortgage application immediately, settled payday loans that were repaid on time don’t ham your credit record, indeed they may actually increase your credit score. Some lenders just delete them all as it’s simpler, other s just delete any negative information.
mar says
Hi, im desperate for some help. I had a loan with a company called the one stop money shop for £1,000. I haven’t made a payment since November, I told them I was in financial difficulty and all they responded was ‘noted’, they have been awful to deal with. I offered to pay £200 to them on Monday as they threatened court, I sent them the money Tuesday but they haven’t received it yet- in my understanding this can take up to 5 working days. I have had a court claim email to me from them this afternoon, I don’t know what to do am so worried they are going to take me to court.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
” I have had a court claim email ” do you mean an email saying they will take you to court?
Did you have loans from them before this one? Have you had loans from other payday lenders? Do you have other debts you can’t pay at the moment?
Frank says
Hi
Many thanks to you Sara and everyone els!
Piggy Bank got back to me today and have upheld in my favour. :) They have asked for my bank details which I have emailed over.
Has anyone had any experience on how long they take to pay out ?
Thanks
Lorraine says
Hi Frank
First, well done :-) My claim was upheld with these and it was in my account within 5 days – happy spending :-)
Frank says
Hi Lorraine
Thank you for your reply.
They have included in their calculation interest paid + 8% statutory interest.
They have not mention the HMRC 20 percent deduction. I take we pay that ourselves ?
Was this the case with your refund ?
Thanks
Lorraine says
Hi Frank,
No they didn’t mention this in my refund, I think there is a criteria first for you to qualify this? There is a link on this page about this too. I’m not going to claim it – my refund wasn’t a huge amount, I still have other lenders complaints going through that are much larger, so i’ll await to see about claiming the tax on those.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If a lender doesn’t deduct tax, you may still have to pay this. Include the refunds where tax was not deducted on the R40 form when you claim back some tax that was deducted.
AJ says
Hi Frank,
How long after complaining did piggy bank get back to you?
Thanks
Evie says
Hi Sara,
Please could I have some advice:
I have had 5 loans with Mr. Lender (and several loans with other payday companies at the same time). I put in an affordability complaint with them and have had their final response. They are saying I only had 4 loans which is wrong and I have proof!
I have a loan with them at the moment and have always made the repayments but have borrowed elsewhere to do so and there has never been more than a month between paying the mr lander loan off and borrowing again.
The current loan was originally £1000 and I have paid a total of £1297.24 to them for this. Over the course of 18 months I have paid a total of £1149.70 in interest.
They are saying they were affordable but as a gesture of good will they will wipe the outstanding balance completely.
My question is, should I say no and take it to the FOS? Or should I just accept it?
Thank you!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Mr Lender actually listen if you go back and make a reasoned case.
How much did you borrow for each of your loans?
how much interest did you pay on each of the first 4?
what were the gaps between the laons – the time from repaying 1 to taking 2, from loan 2 to loan 3 etc?
Evie says
Hi Sara
I emailed them like you said and they are now offering £249 which is the interest paid so far on the current loan. I paid £852 interest over the first 3 loans which were for £200, then £400, then £500.
each of the four loans were taken out the exact same day the last was paid off
What should my next steps be please?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK so you are £249 better off by sending an email :)
You have an excellent case the last loan should never have been given (twice the previous one) which is basically what they have now offered…. except you say you have paid £1297.24 to them for this? Are you sure about that? So that is £297.24 interest you have paid on the last loan not £249.
You go back and say you have actually paid £1297 and would be happy to settle for a refund of £297.
Unless you think you should also get a refund on the 3rd loan. As the loans went up 200,400,500 and taken the same day, you could argue they should not have given you the third loan either. Had you credit record got worse – more borrowing? new defaults) between applying for loan 1 and applying for loan 3? that would help your argument.
It’s not a bad offer at the moment. whether you think it’s worth pushing harder – or going to FOS – is your decision. FOS may agree witht he current offer .
Lukasz says
Hello Sara
I recived final response from Peachy about my complaint and they are said : Because you still have oustanding balance.
However, we do wish to resolve this case amicably and therefore, as a gesture of goodwill, we will be more than willing to offer you an affordable repayment plan for the outstanding balance of £600.65.
Should you wish to do so, we kindly ask you to contact our Collections Department via email on
collections@peachy.co.uk or by calling on 0800 0124 616.
Please confirm if you would like to accept our offer as the full and final settlement of the
complaint and that this will resolve your complaint to your satisfaction.
This is nothing, they are rejeced my complain.
What I should do know ???
Set up affordable payment plan ???
Send complain to FOS ???
Thank you for answear
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how many loans did you with peachy?
If it is less than 6, could you say how much you borrowed for each of them?
Do you know how much interest you paid on the previous loans?
And for the last loan, have you made any payments?
Lukasz says
Yes Sara
My first loan was for 170 and interest charge was 79.30. my second loan of 450 for 6 installment, after paid first installment I top up and 200 was added to the balance, after next 3 payments I too up again for 130 was added to my account I had 6 installments and paid 2 and after that I send my complain to them and they are stop taking any payments till final response. I have told them I had many other loans because of this top ups. I complaint against other company as well. What I should do know ?? They are unable to uphold my complaint and offer me affordable repayment plan for outstanding 600.65. They are ask for confirm if I would like accept them offer as the full and final settlement of the complaint and that this will resolve my complaint to my satisfaction
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so how much have you paid to this second loan across the different installment repayments?
Lukasz says
Second loan originally 450, twice top up so 780 in full I’ve paid back, 917.66. and still have 600 outstanding. 4 installments around 150.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you could go back and say that as the second loan was so much bigger than the first, they should not have let you have all the top ups.
Point out you have borrowed £780 for the second loan klus top ups and so far repaid £917. Suggest that a fair offer would be for them to reduce the outstanding balance to £150. or you will be taking the case to the Financial Ombudsman.
(That £150 is a bit of guess that it would mean you paid the interest on the £450 but not the top ups.)
Lukas says
Hello Sara
I wrote my letter to Peachy according your instructions and they are reply to me:
Please be advised that even though it is our view that our decision was fair and proportionate and that we are unable to offer any redress then as a gesture of goodwill, we propose to reduce the outstanding balance of your loan to £150.00.
Please be so kind as to confirm whether you agree with our proposed resolution. This offer is made in full and final settlement of your complaint and acceptance by you will indicate your agreement to this condition.
This is mean they are reduce outstanding balance from 600 to 150 ???
Should I ask for remove any negative history from my credit report ???
Thank you for your advice
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, so you just have to repay 150..
I don’t know what they will say if you go back again and ask for negative history to be deleted. They have offeredthe reduction as a goodwill gesture not because they agree it was unaffordable.
Chrid Mcfall says
Hi has anyone had problems with lending stream there 8 weeks was up today but they have asked for a extra week because there still investigating my case which was 35 loans over 2 years.With them having a extra week is that a good sign that there working out how much I’m due?? Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
it probably means they haven’t looked at it yet :(
martin says
Hi just a quick question. Iv’e started the process of using your template to reclaim interest on loans and wondered if this included ppi or if this request had to be made separately for each payday lender? thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
payday lenders never charge PPI
Simon Johnson says
I’m sending mine to FOS…complained 22/01 emails bounced back…used their online form & they’ve chosen to ignore complaint completely….interest is about £4800 !
Sara (Debt Camel) says
who is the lender?
Simon says
Lending Stream
Evy says
Hi my complaint has just been picked up by an adjudicator for Quick Quid. Does anyone know how long this part of the process roughly takes please?
Maddie says
Mine took nearly a year, just received my results yesterday!
M says
Hi Maddie,
I am still awaiting response from fos-to-QQ! Over one year !
As QQ refused to uphold fos’s Decision… ;(
lucky u!
Any contacts u used to help speed up? Wd b grateful if cd share.
Thanks
LDJ says
Hi,
Started my complaints back in May 2018, after receiving responses in August 2018 I sent them off to the Fos. Received letters about 2 weeks ago saying cases were in the priority category but FOS had back log.
Received an email yesterday 3/5/19 from adjudicator regarding Quick Quid. My complaint has been upheld and interest on the top up from loan 1 and loans 3 to 11 need to be refunded and 8% added. Quick Quid has until 17/5/19 to reply. Could receive as much as £2500 so extremely happy.
Still have Sunny and Wonga on the go but if it wasn’t for this site and Sara I would have nothing. Thank you!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
QQ may say No and insist that this goes to an Ombudsman. If this happens, read https://debtcamel.co.uk/quickquid-payday-loan-refunds/comment-page-9/#comment-297776 where I suggest one thing you can do that won’t help your case directly but may help to get things moving at QQ.
LDJ says
Thanks Sara.
Hopefully QQ will agree but fully aware that they could reject it.
Will keep you posted.