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?
Hayley says
Hi I had an offer from sunny I accepted it waiting the 5working days no money called them up said it would be the following day still nothing called them back said there was a funding error on their side called the two days after to then be told am not getting the refund as was administrative error on their side can they do that after I accepted the offer ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No they can’t – well if they do you can take the case to the Ombudsman who is likely to agree they haven’t treated you fairly.
How good was their offer – how many loans were they refunding, how many did you have?
Hayley says
I had 8loans they were offering me 6th loan onwards and was happy enough with the offer I even accepted it then they told me 7days later I wasn’t getting it
GM says
MyJar case update:
Sent to MyJar Sin Sep ’18, 32 loans from May ’11 up to Nov ’14, but last 2 had a few months beak between them. They offered just over £100 for one loan, then I tried to negotiate, but they refused so the case was sent to FOS, including bank statements, at the end of Oct ’18.
Today, 22/05/19, Adjudicator emailed me saying it upheld loans 5 to 30, totaling £1.5k interest refund + statutory interest. MyJar has until 04/06 to respond.
Funny how my negotiation offer to MyJar was around £800 plus interest, and now they will end up paying double that!
Sharon Ferguson says
Hi how far back can you go for payday loan refunds ? I have just received a list of mine going back to 2006 can I claim from that date
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can only go to the Ombudsman for loans after April 2007. I haven’t heard of anyone getting a refund from before that date.
Jo says
Hi Sara, so I sent off my complaint back in January finally got the outcome today with the MS . They have agreed with the loans from 2012-2014 but can’t determine the ones between 2010-2012.
They are now asking for bank statements (which I don’t have). I banked with Norwich and Peterborough at the time and they are now closed! Any suggestions on what to do??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You have to choose between accepting their offer and ending the case or sending the whole case to the Financial Ombudsman. How much have they offered for the 12-14 loans? Do you know what the interest on the 10-12 loans added up to?
Turtle00 says
Just a little update from my end. I had 1 loan with Ferratum who responded to my complaint and have removed all interest from my existing loan which leaves me with a small balance to pay meaning I am only paying back the original capital borrowed. I have asked them if they will remove this loan from my credit report once paid so fingers crossed.
Gail says
Hiya I’m complained to lending stream in 2016, stupidly accepted £200 odd for irresponsible lending, I paid £1000s in interest, can I re-complain as in their responses never once did they advise that I could go to financial ombudsman service, surely their meant too? Thanks in advance for your response.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, you can. Send them a complaint saying that you want them to look again at your affordability complaint because you feel they did not give you a fair answer in 2016 and failed to tell you you had the right to take the case to FOS.
Gail says
Thank you Sarah so much for your reply I’ve re-submitted my complaint, they also re-lent to me in 2018-2019 a futhur 5 times and rejected my complaint is it worth pursuing, many thanks your a super star.
johnvan says
I just received a response from Lending Stream rejecting my complaint and advising that proper and proportionate affordability checks were conducted at the time of approval for each of the 13 loans I had between August 2014 and March 2016. They checked via a third party my other credit obligations and these met all reasonable lending criteria. No alarm bells seemed to ring that I had 70 payday loans in the 12 months before I started borrowing from them or another 71 whilst I was borrowing. I also had loans with Amigo and Bamboo for over £5000 and £3500 credit and storecard debt.
These loans totalled £4740 and I repaid this plus £3800 in interest. The expenses which I declared for the first loan are reasonably accurate apart from the credit outgoings but for all subsequent loans they reduced my mortgage by £225, utilities by £50 and dropped transport costs of £50. They are unrealistic.
I will now submit this to the FOS.
Sara thank you for giving me the insight and courage to contest these decisions. I spent many years fearing the phone ring or the postman approach.
Jo says
Oh I thought I if I was accepting it was only for the 3 loans they have agreed on! For the 2012-2014 £364 but the 2010-2012 total nearly £1000 Interest.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well you can ask them if you can accept the 12-14 offer and take the 10-12 to FOS, but they may say No.
Neil says
Hi All,
Just had a phone call from my adjudicator regarding my 51 loan lending stream case . He feels that they should refund interest on loans 4 to 51 .
He feels it is a pretty clear cut case and that ombudsman would agree should it go that far. In fact he said he had a colleague check my case out and that they both feel my case is a very strong one.
Here’s hoping that lending stream agree at adjudicator level and don’t go into administration any time soon.
LS have two weeks to reply.
Agony
Reen says
Hi Neil
Well done for getting that far and succeeding. How long ago did you send it to the FOS and how long after did it get picked up by the adjudicator please. Asking because I have just sent all information required to them and wanted an idea for timescales although they might have changed since. Many thanks
Neil says
Hi Reen,
I sent to FOS end of October early November 2018. It got picked up by an adjudicator about four weeks ago and I got his decision today . So all in all about seven months. I just hope LS agree at this stage and it doesn’t have to go to and Ombudsman.
DanK86 says
Hello,
I recently received a response from piggy bank who have upheld my complaint.
They have agreed to refund me just over £400 plus 8% interest.
Does anyone know how long they take to pay the money into your account.
Thanks in advance
Zoe says
Hello,
Mine went to the FOS and dealt with by an adjudicator and piggy bank agreed with their outcome.
Two weeks later I’d not heard anything so dropped them an email with my bank details. Then follow up call 3 days later.
I received an email later that day confirming the refund had been processed and would be in my account within 3-5 days. It was there within 2.
Unsure if piggy bank have agreed yours directly so they may process quicker. I’d give them a week and then call. They were very helpful when I spoke to them and obviously sped the process up. Hope that helps
Tom says
I have just been contacted by lantern to say my £706 refund from WDA will be going to them, my total outstanding balance towards wda was £0 but my other outstanding balances towards debts with them are £1011. Seems abit harsh really especially as the debts with them are with other payday loan companies in which Im fighting for a refund with also. That refund would of done a massive deal for us at this current time
Colette says
Hello everyone
I have had an outcome from my adjudicator who has recommended to lending stream that they pay me back the interest on loans 4-5 of my 5 loans I took out, this works out at just under £1k with the 8% interest.
I’m currently waiting for LS to respond, the adjudicator has given them till 30th May.
Anyone else had experience of this and what happened next?
Cheers
C
Joseph says
Lending stream took 11 days from me accepting my decision. Good luck!
Jon Doe says
Hi Sara,
Thank you for your help. I have already received redress from SN and have open cases with FOS regarding QQ and PP. I think we are at a turning point regarding payday loans. I recently tried to reopen my SN account and they advised it could not be reopened. There is a reason payday loans are there, for those whose financial situations are not very good. Typically banks wouldnt lend to such people or people have already maxed out loans from banks. Once payday loans only lend to people with good credit which I think is what we are headed for or have very little other loans, those whose credit ratings are not so good will find it almost impossible to obtain credit. Just an interesting observing of what may be to come regarding loans. So yes by all means celebrate your redress but if you dont improve your financial situation because obtain credit in future after all this furore i imagine will be very very hard.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The thing is, the affordability definition is spot on. If you can’t afford to repay credit without getting into more debt, then all an unaffordable loan does is move this month’s problem into a bigger problem next month. Unaffordable credit creates a trap, where high credit lenders – not just payday loans but the other firms such as Provident, Brighthouse, Amigo, 118 Money, everyday loans, the logbook lenders etc – extract their profits every month leaving the borrowers worse off and still desperate.
Holly says
Hi all , as some of my cases are getting to the escalation point to the company’s higher person for want of a better word before it goes to the ombudsman, shall I be asking for a list of previous loans at this point ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Which lenders are these? Did you ask for a list of your loans as part of your complaint?
Holly says
Lending stream peachy my jar and a few other will be escalated soon, and I have asked my jar and now Ferratum.
And no I didn’t as part of my complaint at first
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you may as well wait now and see what response you get. If you aren’t sure if it is enough, reply you would like a list of your loans so you can consider their offer.
MM says
Hello
I made complaint against SATSUMA in Aug 2018, had FIVE loans, 100-400 consequently & many other pdl’s that had me in desp/bad cycle!!
Satsuma rejected! Then I ref to FOS.. & disappointed they also refused MARCH 2019!!
As I feel not fair I suggested private Ombudsman review (May 2019) & I received letter tdy that Ombudsman is not upholding either :(( bcz he did not feel Satsuma had reason to believe finan hardship. 🤷🏽♀️
Any one else have had refund from SATSUMA…or the above is quite common of that company? Know case by case decision etc
Thanks
MM
Sara (Debt Camel) says
When you asked before if you should go to an Ombudsman I replied:
“I am sorry but I don’t think you are going to get anywhere with this complaint. The amounts of interest you paid were mostly tiny:
loan 1 £1, loan 2 £37, loan 3 £18, loan 4 £11, loan 5 zero.
Loan 5 is the only one you would have a chance of a refund on but there Satsuma already removed the interest and let you just repay the loan amount. So effectively they have already refunded the last loan.”
Holly says
Email from mr lender via resolver ;
Thank you for contacting us.
We have received correspondence through an email address that is not linked to a Mr Lender account. We cannot locate an account based on this email address and we have no way of verifying the personal data (if any) in the content.
It appears that this email has been sent through a third-party platform called Resolver. As we have no controls over their software or technology, we are unable to send any personal information through their platform nor will we be able to accept any personal information as we are unsure as to how safe this platform is, whether the data has been sent with the correct authority i.e. by the account holder, whether the data will be stored encrypted and who will have access to it.
We treat our customer data with the utmost of importance, therefore, due to our data protection policies and in order to adhere to GDPR legislation, we would not be able to review or send any information regarding personal customer data to an email address that is not recognised and authorised as being linked to a Mr Lender account.
You can find our FAQ page by clicking here: https://www.mrlender.com/frequently-asked-questions; and also our contact us page can be found by clicking on the following link: https://www.mrlender.com/contact-us.
Is this ok for them to say this shall I email them from my personal email ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ah that’s why you didn’t ask for a list of your loans, if you went through Resolver. My template letters are rather better than Resolver’s!
I suggest you email Mr Lender and say you want them to consider the complaint that you have sent to them via Resolver. You may as well ask for a list of your loans at the same time.
Luke says
I had the same with Mr Lender. Basically copied and pasted the same email over to them from the one listed on my account.
Initially they rejected my complaint and offered me a £50 Amazon voucher as a gesture of good will. 8 emails later and today they sent over just under £500 to me. They are keen to negotiate it seems, but will start proceedings at the very bottom. Stand your ground with them and you should be ok.
Turtle00 says
I had the same experience to this. They started off with the £50 voucher offer, then £800 then finally £1100 a few emails later. The last offer was still considerably less than I think I would get so I have sent it to the FOS.
Nats says
Does anyone know how myjar come up on bank statements? Going back to 2011 and trying to locate the payments.
Thanks in advance
GM says
They come up as TXT Loan:
FASTER PAYMENTS RECEIPT
REF.**************** FROM
TXTLOAN
Brian says
MyJar also one of the absolute worst companies to deal with.
When you call: never a manager available.
When you email: always ignore.
They have refused to look at my bank statements which have like 6 other loans and like £5K of gambling in the 50 days leading up to taking the loan out.
Likewise, they have refused to provide me with a copy of my credit report from when they ran the check against me.
Had no choice but to open up 2 cases against them at the FOS – kind of ridiculous when all I originally wanted was £600, it’s now gone to £1,100 minimum, plus I have a decent shot of winning another £1,000.
The way these companies (especially MyJar) is so bad. Also they are so obstructive – complaints reached by email only…. yeah right….
GM says
Indeed
When I first opened the case with them, they offered a redress on 1 of 32 loans and said that they were affordable as the average gap between loans was 30 days… even though they put into the calculation the last 3 loans which were more than 6 months apart!
i offered a calculation of loans under 6 years of just under £1k + interest, but the adjudicator decided yesterday on a far bigger payout, including loans more than 6 years, totaling over £2k including interest!
Neil says
Hi Sara,
Yesterday an adjudicator found in my favour against Lending Stream and they have two weeks to reply to the adjudicator.
Do you think it is too early to put a review up on trust pilot? . If I was to put a review on trust pilot what would i say at this stage?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
In my opinion, the best use for TP is as a kick if a lender rejects an adjudicator decision or if they don’t reply in time.
Shaun says
Hi Neil,
I had a letter (e-mail)) on Monday saying that it was found in my favour and to out things right all interest and 8% should be refunded on loans 2-25 (I had 25 total).
working it out using the calculator on this site it’s a payment of around £3300.
hopefully LendingStream accept as when I originally asked them they rejected it right out point blank.
Similar boat to you though, hopefully we’d find something out within a similar timeframe. I had original sent this to the FOB End of May last year.
Brian says
Sara – I was given redress in March from 24/7 Moneybox – but they’ve not removed adverse details from my credit file. I think 2 months is long enough.
Having contacted customer service, they told me to email complaints – which I’ve done weekly since my redress with none of the emails opened let a lone responded too (I have a tracker).
Shall I just go to FOS and open a case seeking £200?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If they said they would remove adverse details and haven’t, after 2 months I think going to FOS is a good idea.
SteveiC says
Hi,
I had the same issue. I emailed them everyday sending to every possible 247 contact I could find. I also said I would report to the FOS which I did. They eventually came back asking me what I would think is fair compensation. I asked for £100 they offered £50 and removed adverse reporting almost instantly
KK says
I signed up to receive emails from this forum and I am gobsmacked by how many people these companies have failed. I have always felt alone and trapped in my financial position.
Sara, you are doing a fabulous job with your advice.
philip says
After some mixed results – total fail on minicredit, and wonga and wda being accepted but in admin. Finally some clear success, MYJAR have accepted the adjudicators decision to refund all charges and interest after loan no 4 (a couple thousand), all in relation to loans over 6 years old.
They only took 2 working days to respond to the adjudicator as well, so that was pleasant suprise too! Although I apparently may need to wait up a few weeks before they ask me for bank details (but i hoping they will be slightly faster!).
Only 1 complaint left – QQ which is waiting on the FO.
A huge thank-you to this site for giving me the guidance to start this process over a year ago.
GM says
Nice one. Yesterday, my adjudicator also upheld the complaint against MyJar, from loan 4, which older than 6 years, up to loan 30. hopefully they wont take too long in my case too
Holly says
Cab you make an affordability complaint if you only had one loan with a company but had another 3/4 aswell and was unaffordable ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes but 1 loan complaints are hard to win unless the loan is large.
Holly says
It was £700!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That’s pretty large! OK, have a look at the slightly different template over on this page: https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/. That doesn’t have any of the stuff about repeat lending and being trapped in a debt spiral as you only had 1 loan from them. It also starts off by asking for a copy of all your personal information from the lender. That is normally way more detail than you need for a payday loan complaint where there is repeat borrowing, but it can help you argue that this lender (who is it?) saw *this* on your credit record and that they should have realised this loan would be unaffordable.
Holly says
Thank you I will await their reply as I have already complained it is my jar
Jm says
Hello , Just an update for anyone complaining to Safety Net Credit, I heard nothing from them and put a 1 star rating on trust pilot. Two hours later I have a final response letter upholding my complaint.
I had to log onto my safety net account and check the mail as I did not get one to my email.
Beth McLeish says
Hi
I have had a SNC account for about 4 months now, keeps being increased and have to borrow back immediately when it’s paid off, do you think it is worth my putting in an affordability complaint? Any advice would be welcomed. Thanks
Jm says
Hello Beth, I totally think you should complain. They can clearly see a pattern of borrowing and repaying then borrowing again. I was in this cycle a few years ago with them and ended up clearing my balance with a DMP (stepchange).
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I agree Beth should complain. Have you also complained about SNC, Jm?
Jm says
Yes sara , I received a full refund of all interest +8%. Roughly £800 . They were very slow at replying. I put a negative post on trust pilot at 2pm this afternoon and by 430 I had a final response letter.
Brian says
I was rejected out of hand by MyJar on 17th April.
I’ve been messed around by customer service there – they were awful.
I took to emailing their CEO and outlining my bank statements which showed payday loans and gambling in the 50 days prior to taking 1 large £1,500 loan from them. Prior to emailing him, the firm had refused to re-investigate my case with this new information.
Within 24 hours, I have been offered a FULL refund + £200 (requested) compensation due to being messed around so much.
I want this to show people, be polite, be persistent and don’t give up.
Thank you so much for what you do Sara. There is light at the end of the tunnel.
Diddy says
Totally agree. Hope I have a strong case, 26 loans taking them out virtually immediately after they were paid off. Using them to pay off other payday loans and my credit record shows I should never have been given them. Fingers crossed that they rule in my favour but reading other posters, not so sure now. Thought it would be nice to have the email in case I need it but understand what you are saying. Well done, hope I’m just as lucky.
Liam says
I’ve had a final response from moneyboat and they’ve declined my complaint. In their letter, they’ve showed what I put down as my expenditure (which I lied on as I was desperate for the money to pay other loans) and said they increased my expenditure based on my credit report. Surely that shows they knew I had lied? Then they say that it’s an offence to have obtained the funds by deception and they will report me to CIFAS if I admit to it. They finish off by saying “I think it is therefore reasonable to assume that you made the decision to borrow on the basis that this lending was affordable to you. If the lending had not been affordable you could have chosen not to proceed with the application.” Again, I was desperate for the money. If I didn’t need it, I certainly wouldn’t have used payday loans! Is it worth replying and sending my bank statements to show all my other lenders and my gambling habit at the time? Or should I just go to FOS?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how many loans did you have from them?
Liam says
I had 4 loans. First loan was for £250 over 3 installments but I paid it after 19 days then took the second loan the next day for £350. That was a 6 installment loan but again, I paid early after 27 days then took the 3rd loan of £350 the next day. I repaid this after 11 days as a family member had lent money to me to repay it. I found myself in difficulty again and took the final loan of £1500 which was due to be 6 installments but I defaulted then went onto a DMP which I am still paying.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So a fair result would probably be removing the interest from the last loan?
Did you use the same expenditure figures for all your loans?
Liam says
I did for the first 3 loans, they differed slightly on the fourth loan but moneyboat increased my expenses anyway so it seemed like I had £700 disposable. As I say, these weren’t an accurate representation of my actual expenditure as I was desperate for the loans.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
read https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/.
Of course you were desperate, and probably also not being very careful – and lenders know this. But you repaid the first three loans – it seems hard for a lender to suggest intentional fraud when you repaid the debt! Several lenders are aggressive about talking about fraud, but I haven’t seen any lender actually do anything after the bluster. I suppose you could be the first but that huge last loan makes it look like this is a good case to ask FOS to look at.
Ashley says
Hi,
I am have emailed my complaint as I had various payday loans from the money shop from 2011 till 2017. On more than one occasion the lender accepted a wage slip 1 week from a employment agency and they had my bank statement which showed my spending and they could see I spent more than what was put on my application, I feel this is irresponsible lending and the lender should have been concerned about the amount of expenditure I had with the income I was getting, I was 18 and naive.
A speed says
Hi Sarah
I’ve just had a final response from Mr Lender from my 6 loans after 6 weeks.
1) £250 on 22/1/13 settled 14/2/14 interst paid £730.62
2) £250 on 17/10/16 settled 13/1/17 interest £122
3) £500 on 14/1/17 settled 23/6/17 interest 250.94
4) £300 on 24/6/17 settled 23/9/17 interest 196.80.
5) £1000 on 24/9/17 settled 6/4/18 interest 864.68
6) £1500 on 6/4/18 not settled
Lost my job so it got sent to SLL capital and current balance is £2356 which I’m paying £7.50 a week.
They have partially upheld my complaint on loans 5 and 6. They said they can’t investigate loan 1 as it’s older then 6 years old by a few months!
They have said they will reduce my balance to 283.82 with SLL capital and clear any negative info on my credit report when it’s paid. Do you think it’s a fair offer?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s unusual to get the first loan refunded anyway.
How much have you paid to Mr L or to SLL for loan 6? Ignore their calculation about whether you have repaid interest or capital, how much have you paid to it?
A speed says
I had paid £269 before i stopped paying it.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK so it looks as though they have offered you a “full refund” on loans 5 & 6, including statutory interest on loan 5.
It’s a fair offer. If you want to try to push, you could ask for a refund of loan 4 as well – if you took it to FOS it’s possible you might get loan 4 included, but you may not as it was less than loan 3.
You need to ask for the negative marks on your credit record for loan 6 to be deleted if they havne’t mentioned that.
A says
Hi all,
I wanted to offer guidelines to anyone waiting on hearing from FOS on complaints.
Sunny:
complaint submitted July 2018, unsure of adjudicator pick up dates as this wasn’t confirmed at the time but I was okay with that as i would become even more anxious about hearing back!
Adjudicator decision – upheld on loans 6-38 May 2nd
Sunny partially rejected – May 17th
Referred to ombudsman earlier this week.
Lending Stream:
Submitted July 2018
Adjudicator decision – upheld on loans 6-13 today, may 24th.
Awaiting LS response.
I received emails from FOS apologising for the delay in these cases, but I am just grateful they exist at all so can’t be frustrated.
Patience is keys guys, and if you found yourself desperately borrowing on high interest rates just to make loan repayments then it WAS unaffordable.
All the best and thanks to Sara and others who have created a really informative and supporting community on this page.
shaun says
A,
I agree with you – this site has been great with plenty of examples and guidance. I submitted mine May 2018 against LS and an Adjudicator agreeing with me for loans 2-25 and that nothing should have been lent after loan 6 – so hopefully I’ll know something soon, well by the 3rd June which is that date LS were given to respond by.
I’ll post once I know – but just want it to speed up and see what happens.
Stewart sadler says
Hey all, commented a while back but i struggle to keep up with this so i’ll try to be brief. My cases are with the ombudsman about quickquid an p2p(casheuronet) an they have been with them since september last year. I havent heard anything from them, so im wondering is anyone else in the same boat? I know there is a dispute atm between the ombudsman an them, but 9 months seems ages to me to be waiting to even have an adjudicator appointed!
Dan says
Quick quid are notoriously hard to deal with.I had an email start of month saying balance is waived .But as for resolution to complaint im waiting on ombudsman .They seem to dispute everything .I’ve been waiting for ombudsman for 5months .I am not expecting a resolution soon but apparently things are moving quicker these days .so good luck .
S says
Hi Sara,
Can you tell me if you’re aware if anyone has had any redress from Cash Generator – and do you know who they contacted please? It doesn’t seem to get much of a mention.
Thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They are very rarely mentioned at all. I suggested before that you should talk to the Ombudsman about the reply you had from CG.
Si lad says
Has anyone had any dealings with Moorcroft debt collection agency.???? My debt has been sold to them by 118118money.
They are based in Stockport. Just want to know if they reasonable or gunna pressure me???
Sara (Debt Camel) says
all debt collectors are much of a muchness. If you have a complaint in against 118, then tell Moorcroft you are disputing the debt with 118.
Si lad says
I do have a complaint in against 118. In early stages. Thanks for advice.
Nat Garvey says
Hi Sara and everyone else, the FOS have also contacted me and agreed that of my 27 loans, the interest on loans 4 – 27 should be refunded. Lending Stream have until the 5/6/19 to respond. I’ve sent off my complaint to the FOS on 23/9/18.
I guess the FOS have come to some kind of arrangement with these types of loans now, as it was only 3 weeks ago that I received a letter from them, stating that they were still looking in to how to deal with these types of cases where people had continuously borrowed from Lending Stream.
shaun says
I wonder if that is positive that they have been looking into these cases where people have borrowed continuously or if Lending Stream are trying to stop it?
Nat Garvey says
Hi Shaun, it is hard to tell. I am guessing it is a positive as many people have posted this week that they have started to hear back from the FOS regarding Lending Stream. Up until very recently, most of these types of cases with Lending Stream were in a cue (a very long cue to be picked up by an adjudicator). I called last week Thursday and it was still waiting to be assigned, then I received an email on Wednesday with an adjudicator’s outcome.
Did you submit a complaint about Lending Stream as well?
shaun says
Yes, i complained to them Dec 2017 which they rejected, i passed it to the ombudsman on 29 May 2018 and heard back this week.
amy says
Hi i have received a response from ML 8 loans agreed t uphold 2-3 only which i cant understand at all. They gave me a refund amount but no 8% interest? is this correct and is it worth going back to them?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Upholding loans 2 & 3 sounds odd.
Could you list the amounts you borrowed and the interest you paid on each loan? And what were the “gaps” between the loans – the time from repaying loan 1 to taking loan 2, etc?
Amy says
Hi Sara. This is the list of the loans
Date Funds Transferred 27/07/2012
Date Loan Settled in Full 21/06/2013
Capital Borrowed £300.00
Total Interest Paid £1,018.00
Admin Fees Paid £17.00
Date Funds Transferred 25/06/2013
Date Loan Settled in Full 20/12/2013
Capital Borrowed £400.00
Total Interest Paid £748.00
Date Funds Transferred 20/12/213
Date Loan Settled in Full 17/04/2014
Capital Borrowed £350.00
Total Interest Paid £444.00
Date Funds Transferred 26/06/2014
Date Loan Settled in Full 20/02/2015
Capital Borrowed £500.00
Total Interest Paid £457.00
Date Funds Transferred 14/02/2016
Date Loan Settled in Full 18/05/2016
Capital Borrowed £250.00
Total Interest Paid £127.33
Date Funds Transferred 19/08/216
Date Loan Settled in Full 21/02/2017
Capital Borrowed £250.00
Total Interest Paid £218.01
Date Funds Transferred 22/02/2017
Date Loan Settled in Full 21/09/2017
Capital Borrowed £400.00
Total Interest Paid £379.21
Date Funds Transferred 03/12/2017
Date Loan Settled in Full N/A
Current Status SOLD to DCA
Capital Borrowed £1,000.00
Total Capital Paid £166.66
Total Interest Paid £347.46
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Your comment was a bit scrambled so i have reformatted it – can you check thst that is all ok.
The first loan – was it rolled a lot? Or did you have an arrangement to pay? Do you remember why there was an admin fee?
Thats a lot of borowing – go to FOS if you diont think the offer is good
Diddy says
So the first of my complaints came back from Mr Lender saying their final decision is that “as a gesture of goodwill”, they would right off my loan currently £450 and would pay nothing else as I could afford it (according to them). As they didn’t ask for bank statements and said they did a credit check, I didn’t have a case. They said they would send a statement of my account but haven’t so I have gone back to ask for one to see if it is a fair offer. I have 7 loans with them, all sizeable so amounts so was hoping for a better response.
Will see what the statement says when they forward it and may come back for some advice, if that’s ok.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Definitely come back if you aren’t sure – Mr L do listen to reasoned arguments.
And think how generous this “write off” offer actually is. Look at the amount you borrowed on the last loan and the amount (if any) you have paid to it so far.
Simon says
Hi everyone Just a question on the 8 week timeframe, is it 8 weeks from your initial contact i.e. 1st email sent asking for loan details?
Diddy says
That’s the date I’m working on, my deadline for all of them is this week and I’ve only heard from one so far before the deadline.
Simon says
Most of mine are in week seven and also only heard from one.
Iain123 says
With the exception of TMS & PDUK I suggest going to the FOS immediately, sooner you get the ball rolling and get a FOS complaint number, the better.
‘Instant Cash Loans’ companies are the fairest I dealt with, they paid in full within 6 months. This may have changed, though.
Diddy says
Hi Sara
Well my statement arrived this morning after emailing Mr Lender last night, impressive! On the statement it says they credit checked and did affordability checks …. not so sure they did!
06/13 to 02/14 £400 interest £240
11/15 to 01/16 £300 interest £136
02/16 to 04/16 £400 interest £161.20
05/16 to 10/16 £600 interest £464.80
10/16 to 07/17 £1250 interest £1021.88
08/18 to now £1100 interest £852.64 (still owe £532.51)
Their final offer was to wipe out current balance. I know the 2013 one isn’t worth pursuing as it’s too old but do you think I have a case with the others?
Thanks
Iain123 says
Absolutely, that’s repeat borrowing which the regulators have ruled on. Don’t settle, unless you really need to. Hold out for every penny and take them to the FOS.
Diddy says
How should I go about it as they said it’s their final offer. Should I use 2nd template? Any advice is appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can you say exactly how much you have paid to the last loan? Ignore how Mr L dives this between capital and interest, you borrowed £1100, what have you paid to this?
Diddy says
Hi Sara
So far paid back £1333.46 (only 4 payments left I think). For the larger one in 2016/17 paid a lot in interest and can look back st old statements if this helps. Do you think it’s worthwhile taking this further or accept their offer to clear the balance of £532.51? If it’s worthwhile, how do I go about it as it’s their final offer?
Thanks for replying at the weekend, you should be putting your feet up with a glass of wine 😀
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I have a glass of wine :)
So you have repaid more than you borrowed. If the last loan is the only one in a refund, then you should get £233 back – this “write off” is a not a reasonable offer.
There was a large gap between loan 1 & 2, so let’s ignore loan 1.
But loans 3,4,5 were all taken out the next month after the previous one was repaid. Then there was a year gap? (just checking there wasn’t a typo here)
And loans 3,4,5 were all bigger than the previous loan – loan 5 being a lot bigger. That suggests your situation was getting worse, not better. And that the loand from mr L weren’t helping.
I think you should ask for a refund of loans 5 & 6.
If you don’t think that’s enough, also ask for a refund on loan 4. which was double loan 2.
Diddy says
Not the only one with 🍷 😀.
Not a typo, I did have a gap but used other lenders during this time. I’ll go with what you suggest, you know what your talking about and I trust your judgement, what should I do now? Should I email them giving them a counteroffer every though they said their decision was final? Should I use template 2? Would appreciate your advice as this is the first one to get back to me (the rest should be hopefully this week (8 week deadline) so if I know what to you with this one, I can handle the rest without bothering you.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I would use any bits of template 2 you think help your argument and say what you think an acceptable offer will be. Don’t uuse the full step two template which asks for a refund of the lot – you are into negotiation here.
Mr L is the only lender that does this a lot, so yhis probably won’t help with any of the others!. With the others the main reason for drafting a step two letter now is as the basis of sending a complaint to the Ombudsman.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
PS this isn’t a science – there is always a bit of a random element as to which exact loan the Ombudsman would start the refund from, and FOS will be able to see your bank statements. I am making a guess as to what is likely.
Iain123 says
It’s worthwhile taking it further unless you really need to settle. You’ll get a better deal in the long term, especially as you still owe them
Diddy says
Thanks Ian123. I’m drafting my email to send tomorrow and will send it off to see what they say. Would like to get it settled quickly but if they reject then will go to FOS with everything. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻🤞🏻
Angela says
I accepted PDUK offer of a refund and 8% simple interest in April. This has still to be paid to me. My question is is the amount of interest paid to me the amount on the offer letter or calculated up to the day payment is processed. Thanks
MM says
I had issues with PDUK payment: took soo long!
But keep calling your fos adju & PDUK & urge to prioritise!
My constant patience & Persistence ‘paid’ off…literally!!
Gd luck!
GM says
Should be up out the time you accepted the offer. If they haven’t paid you after all this time (the regulatory 28 days) then the interest should be higher. Also, try sending an email to: foscorrespondence@themoneyshop.co.uk
If it doesn’t work, complain to the FOS
Iain123 says
The 8 week deadline is being stretched due to the volume of complaints. Patience is needed in all this. Eg, TMS took another 8 weeks and then another month before paying me, and that’s quite quick compared to others.
Iain123 says
How I complained to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
I went to their website, clicked on the complaint section and downloaded the 5 page complaint form, its blue and white. I typed in all the relevant information keeping it brief, and printed it off. I signed and dated the declaration on page 4. (page 5 is just helpful info). Filling the form in took about 10 minutes. I requested any future correspondence via email.
I then posted this to the London, E14 address. Within a few weeks they responded, acknowledging my complaint, assigning the vital 8 digit complaint number which looks like
1234-1234.
That’s how I got the ball rolling.
Paul says
Good morning, I contacted those payday companies I used (in desperation & under difficult circumstances during those dark years) from 2011 to 2015. Payday U.K. & QuickQuid were the biggest culprits; I had to rollover or renew all of my loans every month for years and had payment difficulties at least twice with each, resolved by testy negotiation. The affordability checks made at the time made things look just about manageable, though it did not feel that way. All were eventually settled but those were bad times. Having a good income just couldn’t keep up with life. So I contacted them both in April. They have forwarded me my loan info and I totalled up the interest from those years of loans. The Payday UK one adds up to £10,000+ in interest alone, the QuickQuid one will likely be more. Hard to believe huh. So, as I look at that figure and knowing how, well, merciless (for want of a better word) they were with me before, I’m not going to see that kind of refund or anything close am I? If I see any small proportion it’s going to be in at least a year’s time as well I expect. Their 8 weeks is up soon but surely this is gonna be quite a fight with limited success potential? What do you think? Thanks for reading (and as it’s Sunday I would not expect to hear from anyone for a good few days, enjoy the bank holiday folks!).
Iain123 says
You’ll get all that interest back, and more. Eight percent simple more. Rolling over and renewing loans is classed as unaffordable by the regulators and you’re entitled to it all back. Congratulations. As some of them are 6+ years you’ll need to explain why you’re claiming, just be honest here, the regulator allows you to claim anyway. Read through the archive here for more information.
PDUK paid me in February, my initial claim started in September, so be patient, they were the easiest to deal with.
You’re looking at £14k by Christmas with them (if nothing has changed). They may offer you just interest frim the loans within 6 years. I suggest holding out for the lot, unless you need the money.
QQ are a different story, they reject claims and delay, delay. My complaint is with the FOS. I suggest that you get the ball rolling with a complaint.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well you may not get ALL the interest back. But on what you have said, you have two potentially very large complaints so send them in as soon as possible.
Paul says
Thanks Iain and Sara, genuinely good of you both to have a look at this. It sounds straightforward enough (though QuickQuid were always going to make it difficult) & with the consistent years of rollovers, back to back, it looks like a strong case on paper I think. I’m probably pessimistic from my previous dealings with companies like these, and the 6 year thing might limit some progress. I put my initial complaints in at the start of April ‘19, they both have just under two weeks to send me a final response when I guess it’ll be FOS time, so I better gather up those many, many bank statements, make my case and then count the months. It’s worth it, especially if it’s anywhere approaching Iain’s approximation. Thanks again for the appraisal guys, very helpful.
Iain123 says
I was pessimistic, too, until large sums starting hitting my bank from Instant Cash Loans, the parent company of PDUK.
What proved crucial to me was sourcing old bank statements. High Street staff said these could only go back seven years. A polite written request to Santander Head Office got me another three years worth of statements. These proved I was in financial chaos and should never have been loaned to.
If you hit any brick walls, come here, someone will show you the way through.
Also, PDUK took an additional eight weeks to respond, due to volume of complaints. This has probably got worse so be patient in all this.
Paul says
Hello again Sara and Iain, you have both been such a terrific help and so I hope it is at least somewhat useful for you to know that QuickQuid emailed me on the very last day of the 8 week wait to offer the full refund as requested, as long as I do not take the matter further. It could help in shoring up other people’s hopes on here perhaps. I am just waiting on Payday UK’s response now. All the best guys!
Paul says
Is it possible to get a refund for 1 loan which has been sent to a debt specialist company ?
the lender is 118 118 money, loan amount £3000, credit rating below average / poor
loan was sold to azzurro associates / moorcroft debt recovery with the outstanding amount at £3218.01
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You send send your complaint to 118 – They are the ones that gave you the unaffordable loan. If they tell you to talk to the debt collector, ask if that is their final response as you will be sending the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman.
Also inform the debt collector you are disputing the debt with 118. It’s best to make an affordable repayment arrangement with them – if yiu win the case all interest should be removed but you may still owe some money. Don’t be pushed to pay more than yiu can afford.
The best template complaint for these single, large loan cases is over on this page: https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/
Dan says
Hi Sara and all, update on my journey.
My complaint with Piggy bank has been upheld. I only took one loan of £400 out and repaid it early.
Their response was reading like they were not going to uphold, saying my income and expenditure showed I could afford, the fact I paid it early etc. Then one line near the bottom states they seen my history of pay day loans on credit report and this should have prompted further questions.
A full refund of £275 plus interest £24! Result.
I had a rejection from Bamboo too this week re £1500 loan. They maintain I declared £2500 net income and £200 rent only. They estimated my expenses and credit expenses using some sort of database and deemed I had £900 disposable income meaning the loan was affordable.
However I still maintain I didn’t declare my income as stated, which is actually £2500 gross. My details were passed to Bamboo from Zopa who had rejected me the same day. My zopa record shows my annual gross income as £30000 with £200 rent. I have made a data request to zopa asking for details they passed to Bamboo, and will counter Bamboo using this info.
I seriously think they based my application on the info received from Zopa who are shown as the loan broker on SAR, and that they’ve incorrectly taken the income figure provided by them as net instead of gross.
I’m awaiting a further 8 responses from other lenders I’ve made complaints to, all in week 7/8.
D says
Hi Sara
I had 9 loans with Mr L.
However I’m.desputing 6 of them and hope you or other readers can help me. My statement is as follows;
Loan amount –
£200 int paid 24.76 dates 14/10/16 to 5/12/16
£200 int paid £37.00 dates – 8/1/17 to 2/2/17
£300 int paid £23.09 dates – 18/4/17 to 11/5/17
£380 int paid £140. Dates – 13/5/17 to 4/7/17
£200 int paid £19.44 dates – 6/7/17 to 19/7/17
£1200 int paid £1030 dates – 17/11/17 to 4/9/18
Now as anyone who has seen me post before will know I had Safety net credit (they’ve settled with me), loans 2 Go, lending stream, 118 all running at the same time.as these loans with Mr lender.
I believe I have a strong case but can anyone advise of they reject would these loans be worth chasing at the FOS?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The interest on the first ones is small. But the last loan was a huge amount more. I think you should go to FOS if that one is not refunded.
Also email Mr Lender now at complaints@mrlender.co.uk with SUBJECT ACCESS REQUEST in the subject line and say you would like a copy of all your personal information held by them, including but not limited to any credit record or other verification checks they made and a copy of any phone recordings (if you ever phoned them?). The information there may help you to challenge whether they should have given you that last loan.
Mark Busuttil says
I have received a response from Payday UK rejecting my complaint as last loan was taken in 2009. It says that basically loans over 6 years old are not considered by them and states that I should have complained within 3 years of knowing I could complain.
I didn’t know I could until a few months ago so can I take this complaint to the FOS and if so how do I go about this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes you can – the article above explains how to sen a complaint to FOS.
MM says
Hi has anyone had any POSITIVE feed bk from QQUID?? I’m awaiting complaint raised JUL 2018… went to FOS who agreed 6yr loans can b refunded; yet QQ have still refused due to time frame (April 2019)
Anyone knw what Likely to hppn? My adju said she is still in discussions …🤷🏽♀️
Thanks!
MM
GM says
Judging by everyone else’s experience, you’ll be waiting until the end of this year for an Ombundsman decision
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t think past timescales are of any relevance here. This isn’t a normal situation where complaints proceed through predictably.
Mr PDL says
Hi All,
I have a long and extensive pay day loan history that runs over a number of years. I took loans out with multiple providers and ‘rotated’ the loans I took out, as opposed to using one or two specific providers.
Many of my affordability complaints are being rejected and suspect it is because of this – they do not seem to be taking into account all of the other loans I had open in the run up to taking out additional loans with them. Does anyone have a view on how the FOS would review the complaint. Would they look at my entire financial situation in the run up and duration of the loans taken, or just focus on the number of loans I had with that provider in isolation?
As ever thanks to all and Sara for the continued support
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s not just lender by lender, in this sort of case it is loan by loan. It depends exactly what each lender could see at the point when you applied for *this* loan.
In general, people who have done this only tend to get the later loans refunded, especially if there were no defaults on your credit record. If you were rotating back to a lender for a 5th or 6th time AND the amounts were going up then you may well win the later loans. But if you just borrowed a small amount three times with long gaps between them, then it’s unlikely FOS will think the lender should have had to look in detail.
James says
So I took out 8 loans with Mr. Lender over a period of 21 months, however, every loan (apart from the first one), was taken out within quick succession of the settlement of the loan prior to it – ranging between 2 days and 3 weeks.
The loans started out at £200 and ended up being for £1000, after which, I had to go to a family member to ask for help to get out of the cycle.
I understand that I will not get redress on loan 1 (probably loan 2 also) but the rest of them were clear indications of using a payday loan as a long term solution – clearly not what it is intended for – which Mr. Lender did not see any problem with or question me on. By may calculations, I’m owed something like £2.5k in redress (interest, interest on interest per year and admin fees). They have offered me £750 (no statutory interest or admin fees included – what is the point of the word “statutory” if they do not include this???), which I’m not accepting. I’ve written back to them giving my reasons behind declining the offer, why I believe it should be more, breakdown of loans made and a deadline of 2 weeks to come back with an improved offer. I’ve also sent the complaint to the ombudsman to get the ball rolling on that side should they not improve their initial offer.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Which of the 8 loans have they offered to refund? Did you have administration fees charged? Were those because of late payments? That is a good reason for them to have refused the next loan.
Do you still owe money on the last one?
It may have been a mistake to send the case to FOS – Mr Lender do listen to a reasoned argument. Now it is with FOS there is little incentive for them to bother – they will be charged the FOS fee even if you withdraw your case.
Lisa says
Hi i have been sent this but note sure what it meas will i have £1313.9 or £0 back
Interest and fees eligible for refund: £1061.6
● plus 8% statutory interest £467.3
● less 20% withholding £93.45
● Total Owed to you £1435.45
—————————————————————–
● Total Waiver Amount: £121.55
● Total Refund Amount £1313.9
—————————————————————–
● Total Outstanding balance after the redress: £0
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The calculated refund is 1435 after statutory interest and less tax.
£121 is being used to clear the balance you owe them.
The rest of it, £1313, should be paid to you.
Is this a good offer do you think? who is the lender?
Lisa says
Thank you. What does the bottom bit mean redress? The company was pounds to pocket
Sara (Debt Camel) says
redress is another word for compensation or refund. So the last line is saying that after this you won’t owe any money.
Do you know how much interest you have paid overall? Have they excluded any loans because they are over 6 years old, or taken out after 2015?
James says
I see. If that is the case, I’ll leave it with the ombudsman anyway, as I’m confident on them seeing in my favour.
LOAN 1; Date transferred: 18/10/2013, Settled: 11/11/2013, Loan amount: £250, Interest: £87.50, Admin fees: £17
LOAN 2: Date transferred: 20/01/2014, Settled: 03/02/2014, Loan amount: £200, Interest: £60, Admin fees: £17
LOAN 3: Date transferred: 17/02/2014, Settled: 23/05/2014, Loan amount: £650, Interest: £406.25, Admin fees: £31
LOAN 4: Date transferred: 01/06/2014, Settled: 18/08/2014, Loan amount: £500, Interest: £420, Admin fees: £31
LOAN 5: Date transferred: 13/09/2014, Settled: 08/12/2014, Loan amount: £750, Interest: £450, Admin fees: £17
LOAN 6: Date transferred: 17/12/2014, Settled: 31/03/2015, Loan amount: £1000, Interest: £595.68, Admin fees: £15
LOAN 7: Date transferred: 02/04/2015, Settled: 14/09/2015, Loan amount: £900, Interest £688.80
LOAN 8: Date transferred: 02/10/2015, Settled: 07/12/2015, Loan amount: £150, Interest: £63.60
None of the loans were paid late, but were rolled over numerous times. I was never refused a loan with these guys – in fact, they are offering me £1500 on their website now! They are offering me redress on loans 7 and 8.
As you can see, the amounts escalated up to the final loan where I had enough of being trapped in the circle so reached out to my family who helped me massively.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well you won’t get a refund from loan 2. It is less than loan 1 and loan 1 wasn’t rolled.
My best guess (without sight of your bank statements or credit record) is a refund from loan 4 or 5.
Myles says
Does anyone know when Sunny typically reply to complaints? Is it generally nearer the end of the 8 week period or can they sometimes respond before that.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are you still paying them or other payday lenders? You need to cancel the CPA payments so you can be more relaxed about how long it takes. Sunny very often make poor offers at the moment, so you don’t want to have to accept this because you are desperate, but be able to send it to FOS to get a proper refund.
Anon says
I am on my 6th week with no reply. I had 25 loans in 2016 them.
Myles says
Thanks! I think I remember reading on here that they typically respond in the 6th or seventh week with rejections sometimes coming sooner.
John Stockwell says
They will look at how many loans you’ve had .Probably offer a very low figure .Probably for one or two loans .Give you usual spiel about how rigorous they looked at your expenditure .Tell you that you paid them all on time or before .Give you that reply about three in the morning in the final week.They will not negotiate and if you try they Will just repeat .Lets face it potentially 20plus loans with sunny probably 4figures .Get ready for probably long wait at Fos .They do invariably agree with adjudicator so its a waiting game .They hope you blink first . Mine (38) in 18 months just got picked up after 10months but its taking time (3weeks so far) but bear with it.
Ade says
Im on week 7 with sunny today. Heard nothing. Going through my statements. I had 89 payments into my back from them. Constantly stuck in a rut for 4 years . Will keep you updated !!
Anon says
I had a loan last year with Bamboo and mistakenly put a net pay of £8000 instead of £1800. I had my SAR and the only info they had was £8000 net pay and £400 rent. My credit report had 100 payday loans up to May 2018 when I applied (last one was July 18)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you can reasonably argue that was a typo on your part and that Bamboo should have realised it must be wrong given the number of payday loans you had, or you had a serious gambling or drugs addiction. They should not have assumed it meant the loan was affordable.
Freya says
I’m also being ignored by Quick Quid. Have received a response to my Freedom of Information request to Uncle Buck asking for payslips, bank statements etc. Thing is, I was always honest about how much I was earning and my outgoings for utilities etc when I applied for loans with them, but I wasn’t always completely truthful about the other payday loans commitments I had. I’m out of the pay day loan nightmare cycle now (thank goodness) but I think I may not be able to get interest back because of this.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is normally only a problem if you only had a few loans from a lender. If you borrowed from the same lender repeatedly, the lender should have realised there was a problem. Also it’s very common to miss off payday loans as the expenses details you were asked for were often described as something like “credit commitments” which many people thought referred to regular monthly amounts asuch as long term loans and credit cards, not the one off payday loan amounts. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/
Dave says
Hi all, I had a positive adjudicator decision back over a month ago for a claim against Quick Quid – they didn’t bother to reply to their decision so it’s gone up to the Ombudsman.
Any idea how long this is likely to take?
Also, the outstanding balance was sold on several years ago and will be cleared by any refund due so I’m wondering:
Who pays the new creditor, me or Quick Quid?
If the original debt is statute barred, can the outstanding balance reduce the refund due?
I hope that makes sense!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You could consider telling the FCA what you think of QQ just ignoring the adjudicator decision, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/quickquid-payday-loan-refunds/comment-page-9/#comment-297776.
QQ will sort out the debt which was sold. Yes they will use your refund to do this, even though the debt is statute barred it still legally exists.
MelD says
Good Morning Sara,
Sent my case off the ombudsman and received and email asking for me to resend the final Decision letter from EL as the image I sent them they could not read and couldn’t look into my complaint further until I provided them the information, as I took a picture of the letter the quality wasn’t good. Anyway I have resent another image of the letter a few weeks ago and not heard anything back?
Also EL still showing up on my credit score as an open loan, when the company said it will be closed and they wrote off the final balance as a “goodwill gesture” will this just take time to update online? It’s has been 5 weeks or so.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You could phone the Ombudsman and ask if they now have everything they need? They only really need to know that EL have given you a final decision, not read all the details, as EL will supply a copy of it. FOS is just trying to weed out the people who have complained to it who have not yet had a final decision.
I would wait another couple of weeks and then tell EL your credit record has still not been corrected.
Diddy says
Had my final response from Peachy this morning. I had 24 loans with them from 2011 to now (still have an outstanding balance of £1364.33 which includes the interest and late fees as the original amount was £1100). I have paid back £600.12 to this, mostly interest. Most of the loans were small £100 with the exception of the final 3-4 loans where the borrowing increased.
They have upheld loans 4-19 and 21-22 and offered a total amount of £1,214.41. They have said they will take this amount, offset it against the current loan and as a gesture of goodwill, write of the difference of £149.92. They will also remove negative information from my credit file. They say the offer is valid for 6 months and only if I don’t escalate it to the FOS. They also send a whole load of the terms of conditions stuff, etc.
Whilst I’m happy to have it resolved, I’m not happy that they are taking the refund and offsetting it against the current loan that still includes the interest. Do you think it’s worth going back to them to negotiate or does it seem a fair offer? I sent them bank statements to prove my case and the fact they are upholding a llot of them shows the difficulty I was in.
On one hand, I’m happy to get rid of it,,,,on the other, the refund would have been nice and help other bills.
Help 😭
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How large were loans 21,22 and 23?
What were the gaps between the last few loans – the time from repaying loan 22 to taking loan 23, from repaying loan 23 to taking loan 24?
The last loan – you borrowed 1100 – you have paid c.£600 – is that right?
Diddy says
Hi Sara
The last an as for 1100 and I’ve made 2 payments totalling 600 (most of which is interest).
Loan 21 (£500) and 22 (£300)were taken out within a month of each other. Loans 1 – 22 were all between 2011-2014.
From 2018 Loan 23 (£1000) repaid 28 Dec loan 24 (£1100) taken out 31 Dec within 2 days).
Between 2015 and 2017 used other lenders as I was rejected by them for a loan.
I suppose I ought to be grateful they are refunding the old loans but was hoping they would include the last one at least….would it be cheeky to ask they would reconsider moving the interest from the last loan? As they stated this is their final offer, not sure if they would ☹️
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK so it is the big gap between 22 and 23 that is causing the problem. BUT loan 23 was twice as large as the biggest loans you had had before. That should have caused them to look closely at it, even though there was a big gap. I assume you think loan 23 wasn’t affordable?
Peachy will sometimes negotiate. If you want this settled quickly, you could say:
– that you think you may get loans 23 and 24 included if you go to FOS despite the long gap as they are so much larger and your credit record showed such a lot of other payday loans
– if Peachy haven’t added statutory interest (have they? they often don’t) that would be another few hundred on the earlier loans
– but in the interest of a speedy settlement you will be happy if they just include loan 24 in the refund.
GM says
MyJar Update:
They accepted the adjudicators decision, within a week, to upheld loans 5 to 30 (out of a total of 32 loans) totaling £2.2k in refunds with interest included and tax deducted.
Well happy with that as heir initial offer was only £100 for 1 loan and rejected my negotiation offer of around £1k… haha they lost!
Originally complained to MyJar on 07/09/18, sent to FOS on 29/10/18 and accepted today! 9 months in total, 7 with the FOS.
Now, just waiting for the payout, which I’m not sure how long it will take, but I hope it will be no later than the end of July.
Thanks very much Sarah for this wonderful website. Now just waiting for PDUK and QQ, (both sent to FOS on 29/11/18) which I know it will take ages to get sorted.
AH says
I got mine in 7 days from MyJar once accepted with Fos. They asked for the cover page of a bank statement ‘ONLY’ for security on pyments over £1000 to make sure they are going to the correct account.
GM says
Well, on the same day I got the reply from the FOS saying that MyJar accepted the adjudicators decision, I emailed the FOS accepting the decision and also sent MyJar a message via Resolver (where the 1st complaint was started).
Couple of days later MyJar messaged me via Resolver saying that they still hadn’t received my acceptance email from the FOS, but because i outlined all the details the decision on the previous message, they said they would authorize the payment as soon as I sent them a bank statement cover page with the account details. The lady even asked me to send it before 10 am today in order for the payment to be included in this week’s pay run, which is great!