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?
Jay says
Hi all,
I’ve had a complicated history with mental health (Bipolar disorder) that got particularly bad in 2015 after a redundancy. Not long after that I fell into the trap of taking out loans, and because of my bipolar I foolishly kept spending and borrowed more. This in turn led to taking out payday loans in 2017 to just “stay afloat” each month.
During 2017-2019, I had six loans from LendingStream, eight from Piggy Bank and five from MyJar, totalling £17,1500 which by the time all have been closed totals £22,405.84, mostly from loans that rolled over several months. On top of this I’ve had bank overdraft fees for almost every month since 2015, which come to £2962.00.
I’ve been lucky to have had much better help with my health lately, and I’ve been working extremely hard to get out of my debt by myself. I feel like I shouldn’t have had the ease of access to borrowing that I did, and been forced to confront my situation properly sooner. I’ve been afraid to try up until now in case of rejection. Is it likely I will have a case for reclaiming charges from the payday lenders bank in this case? It feels so overwhelming to have so many companies to approach at once it’s been making me scared of taking the first steps. Reclaiming anything at this stage would really help be able to overpay my longer term commitments and work towards being free of debt again.
Any advice on what I should do first would be super helpful!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can I ask what your total debt is at the moment – everything, including overdrafts.
“It feels so overwhelming to have so many companies to approach at once it’s been making me scared of taking the first steps.” well actually you only have three. And sending off the affordability complaints is pretty easy. If you already have a good list of your loans and what you paid to each, you can skip the step one and go straight to Step two. Read the template – it’s actually pretty simple and only one sentence – the I hax x loans from you – is diffeent for each lender, so once you have written one, you can just copy it and make a small change for the next two.
If you still owe a lender money, add a sentence asking for an affordable payment arrangments if you are still struggling at the moment.
I know it feels daunting, but don’t worry that you will “get it wrong”. This isn’t really going to happen! A complaint can be really simple – it is your loans that are the important part and the lenders already know all about those.
If you get a rejection or an offer which don’t think sound good, come back here and chat about it? It’s pretty easy to send a complaint to the ombudsman, but no need to worry about that unless it’s needed.
Jay says
Thank you Sara, that’s really reassuring :)
Based on my report via Credit Karma, my current short term debt stands at £42,222 (though it should be slightly less I think). It breaks down to:
* £1886 on a credit card
* £7708, £14309 and £12402 on long term loans
* £794, £594 and £1193 on finance purchases
* £3336 on bank overdraft
The loan repayments by themselves are about £303, £460 and £350 respectively – so you can see where my salary gets eaten up! :( I’m hoping to get enough back to make a dent in the overdraft and finance agreements so I have less overall credit accounts on file. I’m back in a decent job now netting about £3k pcm so – I hope – if I can get my head above the water I can start doing some serious damage to the remaining balances with overpayments.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ok, who are the long term loans from?
Jay says
Shawbrook Bank (the 14k one), Creation Consumer Finance (12k) and one with my bank account at Santander (7k).
Sorry, accidentally posted that as a new comment instead of reply if you want to delete the other!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, so the Shawbrook and creation loans are probably not at a low interest rate? Assuming these are unsecured loans, have you looked at https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/?
Jay says
Hi Sara,
Just to follow up (apologies for the delay!) The Shawbrook loan is at an APR of around 11%, so I don’t know if that’s too high or not?
I’ve also just this moment finished a long phone call with Lending Stream, I saw your other post about how they have removed their email address and decided that since that’s a legal requirement FCA + UK/EU law. They refused to admit they were in breach – no surprise. I let them transfer me to the complaints team who addressed me by name before I’d provided this, so I took them to task over accessing my details to some level without me doing security checks first and having not provided my name. He said his colleague had provided my name when being transferred but I know that’s a lie.
They’ve said I’ll get receipt of my complaint in 24-48 hours, and a final response within 56 days. Is it reasonable to complain to the FCA at this point or do I need to humour their long timeframes?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Shawbrook – it’s not a case of what the interest rate is, so much as whether you could manage the repayments. Obviously there is some linkage – a very high interest loan tends to have larger repayments – but focus on how manageable the repayments were when deciding whether to complain to Shawbrook.
You can’t go to the FCA with a complaint, it has to go to the Financial Ombudsman (FOS). You have to give the lender 8 weeks to investigate first.
Glen says
SNC update, on final day of the 8 weeks:-
1) Redress all the interest that you have paid (£5,925.42), plus statutory 8% interest (£1,131.59). In line with HMRC guidelines we will deduct 20% (£226.32) from your statutory interest and pay this to HMRC, meaning that you will not have to declare this redress in your tax returns.
2) We will then write off any interest on your outstanding balance (£353.37) and deduct your principal outstanding balance (£999.99) from all the interest you have paid.
3) This will allow us to close your account, discharging your liability with SafetyNet Credit, and leaving an amount of £5,830.70 payable directly to you.
4) Any adverse markers in relation to this SafetyNet Credit Account will also be removed
I have settled :) (Obviously)
Many thanks Sara
Jason says
So I’ve had a final response from safety net and they have come to the conclusion that all the borrowing i made was responsible? Even though i was constantly borrowing from them and taking out more and more each month. Should i complain to the FOS and if so what are the success rates with them and Safety net accounts
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How long have you been borrowing from them?
Jason says
Hi sara,
From 12/01/17 – 05/06/18 and borrowed 27 times? Starting at £100 and finishing at £560 each month and sometimes they would take a part payments halfway through the month and then i would have to take it back out on the same day due to having very little funds left in my account?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send the case straight to FOS! That is a lot of borrowing. I hope you have cancelled the CPA to them?
Joe says
I have started my refund path, I have rang my old bank to send all of my staitments through so i can start adding up everything so they cant attempt to alter it, i used your template 1 to start it off and QQ sent me a few questions back ” payslips, bank staitments ect” i told them that any information they need will be on there system and anything they think is necessary I will send to the FOB on there behalf, still awaiting a reply off cash generator, hopefully all will go ahead smoothly! Thank you for this article/website! It is full of useful things and I couldnt have done it without the help provided on here!
Iain123 says
Reconsider the bank statements. If they see on the bank statements you were in financial trouble they may settle so you won’t need to go to the FOS, saving 6+ months of delay.
Phil says
I had my first case picked up by the adjudicator 2 weeks ago, they phoned to introduce themselves and voice it over, then sent an email summarising our conversation.
Can anyone shed some light on how long it normally takes with an adjudicator – as in how long it takes for them to conclude their investigation?
Iain123 says
Couple of weeks to two months, sometimes more.
If they decide in your favour there’s no guarantee the payday lender will agree (especially QuickQuid) and they’ll appeal to an Ombudsman. Most do agree so good luck.
Phil says
Thanks Iain.
Adjudicator seemed to have the case info all there when we first spoke, hopefully I get an idea of his findings soon!
I got lucky with this one, it’s with lending stream and I only submitted it in April. So it got picked up quite quickly!
Hoping the 5 others get picked up soon…!
D patel says
Hi could any letters like the ones here be used on banks? I feel the bank didnt do enough checks to ensure i could afford the borrowing which led to overdraft being increased on regular basis and also a few loans being granted?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Bank loans and overdrafts should also be checked for affordability.
For bank loans, there won’t be the same “repeat lending” that makes it easy often to win payday loan affordability complaints, so it’s best to use the letter over on this page for large loans: https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/. You have to show that the bank should have known you cannot afford the monthly loan repayments. If the bank was the one you used for your current account, you may be able to point out they should have known you would be struggling because they could see your bank statements.
For overdrafts, you can argue they should not have kept increasing your credit limit – see letter on this page: https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-catalogue-credit-card/.
If it was the same bank you were taking the loans from that was increasing your overdraft, but both of these comoplaints into a single one and say the bank did not act responsibly by giving you so much credit. It can also help if say you were turned down for a loan by the bank which then increased your credit limit.
These cases are harder to win than payday loans, but they are very case dependent. If you know your bank loaned you much more money than you could repay, make that complaint and take it to the Financial Ombudsman if it is rejected.
Dhivesh Patel says
Thank you yes all credit was with same bank including loans overdraft and credit card and also that same bank account was used at that time as my everyday account so they should have been well aware of my financial position.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That does make your overall case stronger. If more complicated to describe!
A says
I put in complaints with the following,
My jar-only one loan for £350- rejected
Lending stream -7 loans within 2 months for various amounts- rejected
Safety net credit- limit of £700 over a 9 month period- rejected
Wageday- 4 loans over 2 months- rejected presuming due to liquidation
Ferratum- 4 loans offered to waive all interest and deduct from my outstanding loan- I accepted this
I am really disappointed with these outcomes as all the loans were within the same time period and I had other loans/credit cards at the same time as the pay day ones just wondering if it’s worth sending any to fos?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think its worth sending the Lending Stream and Safetynet Credit complaints to FOS. Unless the LS loans were really small, LS should have wondered why you were making so many applications. SNC could see your bank statements, they should have realised their credit was unaffordable.
Were any of your other loans high interest?
A says
Thanks,
Lending stream loans £200, £100, £100,£200,£150,£150,£90, the other loans I had were through the credit union which was for £1500 and an aqua loan for £500 also 2 credit cards with £450 limits which were maxed out at the time.
Darren says
Morning .
Have trawled through this thread and can’t see many success stories with safetynet credit .
From October 2016 until mid 2018 I relied on these people every month .
For the past 18 months or so I admitted defeat and have agreed to payback £18 per month to clear my outstanding debt(currently £250).. £4.5 of this is still interest
I complained 5 weeks ago .. their investigation is still ongoing 🥴
Steven says
Good morning Darren,
I found S.N. the easiest and fastest to respond to my complaint. I simply put, you were linked to my bank account and could see the large amounts of paydays loans coming in, my wages disappearing as soon as they were paid in and yet you continued to lend to myself/ increase credit limit (upto £600) over a 2 n half year period. I got a full interest refund, plus 8% interest after the outstanding 500 was cleared, as well as all traces cleared from my credit file. They had this all wound up in 4 week. Complaint went in on 30/04/19 and Money was with me (£1400) 4 weeks later. I found them the most professional to handle complaint also. Best of luck, Steven.
Darren says
Thanks for this Steven .
5 weeks and counting and no response yet . But you make valid points … they had my account to see I was struggling and kept upping my limit
I’ll let you know the outcome
Glen says
Hi Darren,
It took a small while to get going with SNC compared to some of the others with having to go through some of the dashboard/automated style checks. But other than that, the only stumbling point was that they informed me they would need 9 weeks rather than 8 to investigate (presume theyre very busy). They responded to me on the afternoon of the final day of the 9 weeks (yesterday with offer to close which Sara has provided a link for).
If youre still at 5 week level you will probably find they will go up to the 8 week level to the day so just hang fire for a little while longer
Glen
Phil says
Hi Darren,
As above, SNC we’re also the easiest with me.
They upheld my complaint fully and paid the first out of all complaints.
I saw a comment before whereby those that are successful only post once, those that aren’t tend to post more as the complaint is ongoing and they seek advice, that could be why you’re not seeing SNC comments regarding the success!
Hold out for the 8 weeks, and fingers crossed it comes good for you :-) speaking from experience and having over 10k of debt before going through this process, and now very nearly completely debt free with a lot of complaints still to be reviewed by the FOS I can promise there’s light at the end of the tunnel!
Myles says
Ruth, Can I ask when you received your reply from Sunny? I submitted my complaint to them at exactly the same time, the eight weeks is up on Friday and I haven’t heard anything since the email acknowledging my complaint. I’m just wondering if I should hold off until Friday or give them a ring and ask when I’ll get a response.
Mike says
Hi Myles my reply from sunny took about 9/10 weeks and was successful l.
Paula says
The 8 weeks was up yesterday and I have yet to hear from Satsuma and Payday Express (The Money Shop). I emailed both again yesterday, is it worth chasing or should I go straight to FOS? The Money Shop only emailed me on Friday to say they couldn’t find my details however, my original email was 7 May.
Thanks
Paula
Iain123 says
You’ll need a Final Response for any FOS complaint so you may as well wait a while,give it another two months then go to the FOS.
Glen says
Satsuma have been by far the worst of the 10 I have dealt with.
1) Still havent sent my list of loans , charges and interest that I requested on the 1st May. They sent it partially and said they would send me the rest on the 26th May. I ahve chased 6 times since then and still dont have the documentation I originally asked for
2) Emailed me on the 28th May to say they need another 28 days and then again on the 25th June to say they need another 14 days. When I stated that will put them well past their 8 weeks, and that I havent received the documents I requested, they said they didnt actually know when they will have a resolution.
Not sure if being obstructive, or are snowed under or are on the “brink” like some of the others.
Paula says
Thanks. I will hold off a few days and try calling them.
Sam says
Hi Sara,
An adjudicator has partially upheld my complaint, however only last 4 out of 18 loans. Reason being a gap (4 months) in borrowing after first 5 Loans, after this there was 9 more loans then another 6 month gap and further 4 loans.
I pointed out that during these gaps I borrowed from other PDL and longer term loans too. And that the pdl company rejected me occasionally then started supplying more loans within a few weeks.
I’m unsure whether to ask it be reviewed by ombudsman as just more time to wait and I suppose there was 2 Breaks in the borrowing with the company
I’d be interested in your thoughts
Sam
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think that’s worth asking an ombudsman to look at if the adjudicator doesn’t change their mind.
Turtle says
Just spoke to FOS re my complaint about Mr Lender. Adjudicator advised them last week a redress of loans 2-9 (I had 9 loans in total) but apparently they have disputed this and made no offer in the response. Looks like they are dragging this one out all the way to ombudsman level.
Steve says
Just had the FOS call to say my PDUK complaint has been allocated to an ombudsman, she will consider all loans received some of which fall outside the 3/6 rule.
I asked about the threat of administration on Instant Cash Loans she said she was unaware of any such process, if they were heading to administration all FOS cases would be put on hold.
PDUK did make an offer of approx £2k in there final response, I rejected. The adjudicator said this was strange for the company to offer on two loans and not the 4 after that they lent in quick succession.
Very positive call and hopefully a good decision is coming my way!
That’s now 3 complaints made to the FOS in January all with adjudicators.
Keep faith guys!
simon says
Hi Sara
I have received a final response from Lending Stream today, of 17 loans and interest of £2800 they have upheld 1 loan offering £85.
I can see on my loan statements that in the timeframe of the loans I had 15 arrears charges as well as a default charge.
I’m not sure whether to send this straight to the FOS or go back to them first, will they listen to my argument?
Daron says
Send it two fos 85.00 is a silly amount
Paul says
Hi Sara,
I received this from the FOS today with Satsuma response. To say I’m confused is an understatement. Could you or any of your colleagues clarify for me please?
“The business has responded and says that it agrees with the recommendations we set out on 4 June 2019.
After reviewing our findings it agrees that further checks should have been completed for loan 4.
The business will also remove adverse information about that loan from your credit file. The offer is as follows:
– refund of interest and charges: £293.23
– plus 8% simple interest: £26.81
– less 20% statutory tax on the simple interest: £5.37
– less the outstanding principal: £314.67
– net refund to be paid: £0”
The way i have read it, is that no refund is to be paid?
Please help
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That’s the way I read it too… So you just had 4 loans and the last loan wasn’t repaid? How much did you borrow for the last loan? What repayments have you made, to satsuma or to any debt collector?
Liam Pritchard says
I have just received a final response from safety net and they are upholding my complaint! They’ve offered a full redress of all the interest I have paid (£3298.73), plus 8% interest (£468.52). They have deducted the tax and the principal amount of what I currently owe which leaves a redress of £3073.54! Thank you so much Sara for your help. Without this site, not only would I never have known I could complain but I would still be paying them back and struggling month to month.
Paul says
Thanks for responding.
I had 4 loans yes, loans 1-3 the FOS stated they had not seen enough to say it was unfair to borrow, but loan 4 which was exceptionally of greater value shouldn’t have been lent to me. Loan 4 was for £1000, at a cost of £992. All of these loans i hasten to add have all been paid off.
I have since got two further loans though running side by side, loan 5 (£346.32 left to pay) and loan 6 (£249 left to pay).
Are they looking at paying off my balances? I’m so confused.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“Loan 4 was for £1000, at a cost of £992” so you paid £992 interest on loan 4? They should have calculated the refund as that, plus 8% statutory interest (how long ago was loan 4?) and then used that to repay the balances on loans 5 and 6. Which should still have left a remaining amount to be paid to you.
It looks as though the response to the adjudicator may relate to an entirely different case… as the loan 4 amount is way out and there is no reference to loans 5 & 6.
Luke says
I have sent my sunny case to the ombudsman. I received an email from the FOS asking me to send credit report and bank statements. The statements for when the most of loans were taken out are on an old closed account, I don’t even know the account details. Should I just send the statements that I can get hold of (showing loans 2015 onwards) or will they want to see them all?
Iain123 says
I contacted Santander Head Office for older bank statements. They replied saying they would try on a ‘best endeavours’ basis. Tow weeks later I got the statements going back 10 years. So get on to your bank head office with a polite letter including as much information as possible.
If nothing comes of that then obviously just send what you’ve got.
Mary says
I placed a complaint with Money box 247 which I am still to hear back about. The account was “closed” on my credit report but is now showing active, a few weeks after I placed my complaint. Is this normal?
I hadn’t repaid a loan from 2012 which I didn’t realise until I had raised my complaint. I had repaid one from 2015
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The 2012 one has presumably dropped off your credit report. If the 2015 one is now showing as active, you should complain about that – and no, it’s not normal.
Mary says
This is the response I have had
You have borrowed a total of £315.00 from us, and repaid a total of £219.37 to date. This means unfortunately there is no redress we can offer, as the principal balance is yet to be repaid (refunds are calculated from interest and charges paid over the principal amount funded.)
However, to put things right, we are happy to write off your remaining balance in full. In addition to this, we can also remove all negative reporting from your credit file.
Chris says
Hi Sara
Just after a quick bit of advice, I have a compliant with Payday Express, the 8 weeks is now up from my original compliant. They have not responded to any of my emails to date other than the original acknowledgement and sending me my loan details. I would much prefer to come to a resolution with them without sending to the ombudsman, and have sent another email asking them to advise if they are still looking into my compliant and when I can expect a final answer to my compliant. My question is can I kick off the compliant with the ombudsman now the 8 weeks is up and then still accept an offer from payday express should one come through, or is it a case of once you have started with the ombudsman you have to stay the course with them. Hope that sort of makes some sort of sense. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
In theory yes you can. But sometimes when FOS tells a lender they have the case, the lender then stops working on it.
Ross says
For those with complaints, with PiggyBank, and concerned about the message on their website, please see below;
https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/9427015/piggybank-banned-from-handing-out-payday-loans-amid-watchdog-crackdown/
So not necessarily going under, but under investigation by the FCA.
Ross says
Quick question please, regarding MYJAR accepting the adjudicators decision. I confirmed, with my adjudicator, on Monday that I accepted their offer (as it was in line with his findings/recommendations). He said he had written to the business, that same day, advising this. He said he had asked the business to contact me, directly, to arrange the next steps. I also sent him back the MYJAR bank details form. I’ve heard nothing since, no response to any emails and when I log in to my account, it’s still active, showing a repayment plan for the final loan (a repayment plan I never asked for, but MYJAR did it anyway). I know, and accept, that they have up to 28 days to process any refund but I would expect, at the very least, for the account to have been closed down by now? Has anyone else had any experiences with MYJAR, post accepting an offer via the FOS? Many thanks.
Joe says
Hi Sara.
My complaint got complicated a couple of weeks ago due to the franchise going into liquidation.
The liquidators told the FOS that the franchise should have enough assets to cover the next years financial commitments.
My adjudicator found in my favour yesterday for 62 of the 67 loans I had and has wrote to the liquidators.
Do you know if the company have to follow the instructions, or could they just ignore it, allow the liquidation to complete and I get nothing?
They are trading for now as they have a significant amount of assets from pawned items, and I just wanted to know if they can ignore the FOS.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
For anyone else reading this, this is a cash converters franchise.
It depends on the details of the liquidation. With this FOS decision, you should be accepted as an unsecured creditor. If the administrators are paying out in full, then you will get all the money. If there isn’t enough money for that, you will get the same proportion as other unsecured creditors. If the administrators have already distributed the money 9which sounds unlikely) you may get nothing.
Administrators are professionals, they don’t care who gets the money, it’s their job to make sure it is distributed according to the rules.
If you haven’t yet talked to them, you need to do this as soon as possible. start by saying you are a creditor, not that you have a complaint.
Joe says
Thank you.
Sorry I didn’t put Cash converters in the post.
Just to confirm, I can contact the administrators myself?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes you can – and I think you should.
Calum says
Piggybank refused to look at my complaint abd said it was affordable. I still had an outstanding balance owing. Thanks to Ross for the link! Sent it straight across to them this morning and recieve a reply within an hour. As a gesture of goodwill we will write off existing balance of £275 and remove all adverse findings on my credit file. Very happy with that!
Ross says
That’s great Callum! Very pleased for you 👏👏👏
Kate says
I escalated my complaint to the next level with Piggybank this morning. Still have an outstanding balance of approx £700 and paying £16 monthly towards it. I have had several loans with them so asking for interest back to clear balance and remove adverse marks on credit file. I got a reply within minutes of escalation saying they were working through the complaints and should have an answer soon. Hoping to get a good result without going to the FOS…….
Mark says
Hi Sara (Debt Camel)
I took your advice and went back to MyJar.
Initially they refused point black to include loans 8 & 9, but then i emailed Adam Trout (Compliance) and cc in Ellis Sher (CEO).
Within a week they had responded and i’ve just been given an offer yesterday of
£3.1k for the PayDay loans which i had from them!
So the first 4 small loans no refund but loans 7-9 all interest paid back and the 8% interest and then last 10th loan was not included.
In all VERY HAPPY, saved a lot of time and effort just but going back and asking the right people to look at the case.
Another happy customer with over £10.5k now in the Bank from interest paid back from QQ, Peachy & MyJar
Thanks again for all your help.
Michael says
Hi Sara,
Hoping for a little advice please.
I have received an offer from my jar (6 weeks after complaining) relating to the following 19 loans.
They have offered the interest paid plus 8% for loans 5 – 9 only. Total offered £154.36
I had multiple payday loans/credit cards/over drafts all active during these periods (all backed up on bank statements which I sent to them)
1 10/03/2015 100 Interest Paid – 13.6
2 09/04/2015 100 Interest Paid – 12
3 07/05/2015 400 Interest Paid – 70.4
4 27/05/2015 100 Interest Paid – 3.2
5 15/08/2015 100 Interest Paid – 10.4
6 14/09/2015 250 Interest Paid – 22
7 12/10/2015 300 Interest Paid – 43.2
8 03/11/2015 200 Interest Paid – 38.4
9 07/12/2015 125 Interest Paid – 11
10 08/01/2016 150 Interest Paid – 15.92
11 08/02/2016 250 Interest Paid – 36
12 08/04/2016 150 Interest Paid – 25.2
13 05/05/2016 300 Interest Paid – 52.8
14 06/06/2016 250 Interest Paid – 36
15 05/12/2016 300 Interest Paid – 38.25
16 03/01/2017 450 Interest Paid – 76.38
17 02/02/2017 350 Interest Paid – 37.32
18 03/03/2017 200 Interest Paid – 72.57
19 03/07/2017 1100 Interest Paid – 678.61
Total interest across all is £1293.25
I repaid all loans either early or on time.
Their response looks like a typical template response, but the main reasons for only looking at these loans is because of the time gaps between the loans.
How am I likely to fair with the FOS?
Do My Jar take counter offers in your experience?
Thanks
Mike
Ross says
MYJAR are open to counter-offers but don’t always accept them. They rejected mine and are now having to pay out 10 times what I asked for, after going to the FOS.
Pete H says
Anyone had any dealings with 24/7 Moneybox regarding redress? They haven’t acknowledged receipt of my acceptance (FOS sent my acceptance to them on the 21st June, giving them until 19th July to pay) but just wondering if people have seen them usually take the full 28 days to pay or whether it typically lands sooner?
Peter says
Myjar were superb with me. I took out 11 loans with them and paid just over £1000 interest. They got back to me within the time frame, and made an offer to refund loans 4-11 which meant a redress of almost £700. The money was in my bank 2 days after I accepted.
I was very surprised, I didnt expect it to be that easy. I have 3 other cases going on at the moment and they are all dragging on. Well done My Jar! Credit where it is due.
Michael says
Hi Sara,
I have received a final response from Nova Loans (Cash4UNow) today, 6 weeks after complaining.
I had the following loans,
08/06/2018 – £200 – interest £36.00
29/06/2018 – £400 – interest £86.40
07/08/2018 – £500 – interest £206.63
They conclude they acted responsibly on all 3 loans, but as compensation (for me feeling I had to complain) have offered £50 and removal of loan 3 from my credit report.
Not sure if I would get more through the FOS as its only 3 loans, and I’m not sure the wait would be worth any potential increase in that offer.
Mike
Joseph says
FOS tend to only uphold loans 3/4 onwards, so you might not get this same offer. I think removal of all information from credit file and £50 is a fair offer considering you only paid just over £300. I personally would take it as a minor win.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
you can never guarantee to win a three loan case, but these were all straight after each other and the amounts were going up, so there is a reasonable case for a refund of the the last loan.
Mike says
Hi Sara,
I have been offered 9.5k from sunny and I have accepted but do I have to pay tax on that as it says nowere in the offer email about it?
Thanks
Mike
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You only have to pay tax on the “8% extra” that was added, not the refund of the interest and charges you paid.
Paula says
Looking for a bit of advice on Mr Lender. I sent them my bank statements to try and negotiate. They have offered me a refund of £71 which is the interest on one of the loans I had plus a £25 Amazon voucher. The loans I had are as follows:
2016 – 11 April £100, 5 May £200, 26 September £200 2017 – 7 February £200 and 27 October £500. So not that many loans but on top of A LOT of other payday loans. Should I accept?
Dale says
Hello, around about 4 weeks ago I accepted an offer of £454 from mr lender this was for interest on one loan. I had 9 in total and they partially upheld my claim on loan 7 but claimed all the others were lent responsibly, in a panic I accepted and have received funds however I have since come across this website who say mr lender do accept a reasoned argument, is it too late to maybe challenge and ask for more? Also they refused to add the 8% on top stating that they only have to pay this if the FOS uphold the claim not the lender direct.
2nd question has anyone ever borrowed with txtloan (now myjar) and had myjar claim they cannot locate your account? Is this just a tactic they impose to bat you off. I could do with some advice off someone on how to deal with them.
PF says
Hi Dale, sorry I can’t help with the first point but I am going through the same with Myjar about my txtloans. I have had a couple of back and forths on email with them and basically, they have given their final response as they cannot locate my account – so I have sent a separate request for all the details they hold by way of a DSAR – I already have my bank statements showing multiple loans, so will prepare my case for the FOS and let it proceed that way.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Obviously you should have challenged Mt Lender or taken the case to the Ombudsman at the time. I am assuming the response from Mr Lender told you you had the right to go to the Financial Ombudsman? If it didn’t, you could go back to Mr Lender and say you accepted their poor offer because you were desperate and didn’t know what alterntive you had. Ask them to look at it again because their email did not say you could go to FOS if you were unhappy with their offer.
When you say you were in a panic, was this because you were desperate for some cash? Was there a particular urgent bill you were having trouble paying?
Dale says
Within their final response offer they did attach a guide with the FOS, I accepted their offer because they said it was their final offer and I thought that if I rejected and challenged for more they might withdraw their offer. What would you recommend I say to them?
Ade says
Moneybox247 now 4 days late paying refund into my account. Cant speak to anyone and wont answer emails. I allowed the 28 days they asked. Anyone else had any issues ?
Pete H says
That’s not reassuring – I had an accepted redress via the FOS that is due on July 19th – the Ombudsman said that if they don’t pay in the 28 days as instructed, then give the Ombudsman a nudge and they can make them pay – did you go via FOS??
Ade says
No settled direct. Right pain they are
M says
For what it’s worth i had a similar complaint against Nova Loans (Cash4UNow) regarding 4 loans spread out from from 22/07/2017 to 21/07/2018. They rejected my complaint but I took it to FoS and got £1,160.46 back on 3 out of the 4 loans after the FoS Adjudicator found in my favor. I would go via FOS, it will take a while but the end result will be better don’t let the fact that Nova Loans (Cash4UNow) have sent a long detailed letter explaining why you don’t have a case put you off.
M says
Following various complaints submitted to FoS, have had some success with a couple (still waiting on: MoneyBoat, Sunny, Quick Quid, Payday Uk, Lending Stream)
– My Jar refunded £816.72 (paying out on 1 out of 2 loans)
– Novaloans (Cash4Loans) refunded £1160.46 (paying out on 3 out of 4 loans)
The FoS adjudicator has found in my favor in regards to Uncle Buck and asked them to pay out on all 8 loans, waiting for them to confirm they agree with the FoS findings. The Ombudsman declined the case against Lending Stream, but so far a good set of results (to go with some previous wins against Avant Credit, Capital One, Barclaycard, Piggybank and 247Moneybox). A huge thanks to Sara for this site and all her advice.
Sam says
Hi Sara,
QQ have not agreed with the adjudicator to uphold my complaint. It’s now being assessed by an ombudsman. Initial QQ said I complained too late – adjudicator said they didn’t agree with that as there was mo evidence i would’ve known could.
Now they appear to state that because I worked in a bank I should have been aware I could complain. To be fair, I had no idea I could complain about PDL’s, hadn’t even considered it until recently.
I didn’t even work at a bank at the time of the loans. I have been asked to go into details about my job…. I am happy to provide what information is requested, but not sure it is relevant if i didn’t know about affordability complaints until recently – Or should I add no further information other than what was discussed with adjudicator (who has been fantastic btw)
This is so frustrating and I would appreciate your thoughts
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you have been asked for information about your job, you need to provide it. just because someone work3ed in a bank doesn’t mean they knew anything about lending decisions or complaints.
I think this is a disgusting attempt by QQ to try to wriggle out of paying some loans.
Luke Lloyd says
Hi,
Just looking for any info/whether there’s any thought on my case if I sent to FOS. I took out 38 loans during my 4 years time with Lending Stream, total loan amounts add up to over £6000, including interest would be £10,000+. They rejected my complaint stating I repaid on time, but ignored the issue of constant re-reading to keep upto date with our loans etc.
Would I have a case sending this to FOS?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
you have a VERY good case. Send it to FOS immediately.
Louise says
Hi,
I’m about halfway through the 8 week period for most of my complaints and starting to think about preparing for FOS.
Do I need to get paper bank statements or would FOS accept PDF versions?
I’ll need about 5 years in total to cover all my loans which halifax are going to charge me for if I need paper statements
Sara (Debt Camel) says
FOS is very happy with PDFs
Mary says
Hi everyone, put my complaint in to sunny last night, got my offer this afternoon!
Iain123 says
Slow down! They usually make derisory offers, hoping we’ll quietly go away.
Share some dates and numbers.
Mary says
I had 33 loans since 2015. Total repaid 11000. They have offered me 3600, I think I will go to FOS. Thoughts?
However we note that you did fall behind in your repayments at some stage by more than 7 days (albeit if you re-borrowed after that you must have never fallen behind by more than 45 days otherwise you would have been permanently restricted from any future borrowing) and it may have been prudent for us to contact you at the point at which you had held a HCSTC balance for 18 months. According to our records, this was at the time of your 12th loan.
In these circumstances, we agree to partially uphold your complaint in relation to the credit we granted after this point in time.
To put things right, we propose to do the following:
Calculate the interest paid by you from your 12th loan onwards;
We will deduct any capital outstanding on your account (£0.00) from the interest amount above to calculate any refund due (£3247.36);
Pay interest of 8% (simple) on the above refund amount from the dates of payment to the dates of settlement, which comes to £395.38, therefore the total refund due to you is £3642.74;
Amend your credit file by removing all loans from your 12th loan onwards
Iain123 says
Waiting months for an extra £1k+ isn’t worth it, in my opinion. I’d take that, put it to bed and move on.
Mary says
Thanks, Iain. I accepted earlier once I realised how little more I would possibly get for the months it would take. Thanks again!
Iain123 says
Most of them take more than eight weeks as they’re snowed under with complaints. You’ll need a Final Response for the FOS complaints.
No harm in preparing FOS complaints, though. When the FOS acknowledge your complaint you can then email pdf statements. Just keep the initial four page FOS simple, you can pile information on later when you get a eight digit reference number.
If you tell your bank the statements are for an affordability complaint they usually waive charges.
Please read through the archives here, you’ll get an idea which lenders don’t play fair
Louise says
Thanks both for your help!
Myles says
I had 28 loans with Sunny since late 2014. They’ve offered to refund me £794 i.e. the interest from loan 25 onward as I’d had enough at this stage and asked to pay them back £100 a month towards any existing loans. I’ve paid them back over £15,000 and £7000 of that is interest. They’ve stated it’s due to the gaps in borrowing but this is because I would take out the maximum number I could, pay them off and then take out new loans.
I think I should take it to the FOS as I think they’re lowballing. What do you think Sara?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sounds like one for FOS to me too :(
Louis says
I have had a complaint upheld by safetynet credit for 847.43. Does anybody know how long they take to payout once complaint has been upheld.
Thanks Sara this website has helped me a lot
Chris says
Had a positive result from SNC and they paid me a week later. Tend to be pretty good.
Angela says
I have a complaint currently in it’s 3rd week with SNC. I had 234 loans with them in total starting from March 2015 and over £5000 in interest paid. I await their response….
Darren says
Angela .. I’m into my 6th week of waiting now 😥
Holly says
That’s great ! We’re they easy to deal with I am coming to the end of my complaint I’m hoping it goes well
David Hunter says
Hi I made a complaint to snc. I stated that you could see my bank statements and seen the number of payday loans, credit card payments I made but still continued to lend to me. I didn’t mention gambling which has been a problem for a number of years.. would you think it would be beneficial to send another email mentioning this. I also received an offer from sunny on Monday and I have sent 4 emails to them to see if they would reconsider to include more loans but I have not had a reply which is shocking. Does anyone know if I’m wasting my time or if they will negotiate
Chris says
Similar position with SNC to you. Didn’t mention the gambling- it was pretty obvious!. They took 8 weeks to respond but received an offer of £660 which was then paid within 7 days. My experience of SNC was a good one.
Katherine says
Hi
Does anyone know roughly how long it takes the FOS to review complains?
I have the following complains with them
Mr Lender sent 20/03/2019
Payday UK 20/03/2019
Payday express sent 05/03/19
QQ Sent 01/03/2019
Txt loan/My Jar sent 12/02/2019
Other than acknowledging receiving my complaints the only feed back I have had is on the Mr Lender complaint on 23/05 they advised ‘I’m getting in touch to let you know that I’ve now got all the information I need to start looking into your complaint. As soon as I’ve assessed this, I’ll let you know.’
Thanks
Ali says
Satsuma agreed with adjudicator ! Loans 2-9. Outstanding balance cleared £1890 but £1500 of that was interest) and a cheque payment of £1150 to be received in 4 weeks and info deleted from credit file. This was my last one with an outstanding balance so I am so happy! Spiral over :-) only complaints left are Sunny that’s been with FOS since October and not picked up yet and Wonga which I am not really expecting much from. Happy happy happy! Thanks Sara!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Good to see that balance gone and your credit record sorted.
Ross says
Accepted MYJAR resolution, via FOS, on Monday and the adjudicator advised the business to contact me direct. No response to any emails to MYJAR, until this morning, when they said they were awaiting confirmation from FOS. Then, another email, a couple of minutes later apologising as they had then located the acceptance and that I should received the payment within 10 working days. I have asked them to confirm that the 10 working days doesn’t start from today, as it’s not my fault they misplaced the acceptance?
AH says
Hi, they are really good at paying. They said 10
Days for me and I got it in 6 days. This was during a bank holiday weekend also!
They do require the front page for a bank statement on refunds over £1000. I had to send this over to them.
Mike_p says
I just thought I’d post an update on how I got on with my LendingStream complaint. I had 16 loans with them and the adudicator has said they should refund all interest on loans 6 onwards. They also said that as they shouldn’t have given me the loans, any information recorded about them is averse, so loans 7 onwards should be completely wiped from my credit file. To give others an idea of timescales this is how long is took:
24th January – First complaint
28th February – Complete rejection from Lending Stream
4th April – Complaint made to FOS
5th July – Adjudicator response
I’m now waiting for Lending Streams response.
Ah says
Hi,
Lending stream are very slow! They agreed with the adjudicator to refund all 22 loans, but got back to the adjudicator 4 days past there 14 day deadline. I have now been waiting 13 days since the fos have sent my acceptance. They have https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZM5Ywwa4XA&feature=share confirmed by bank that they are going to send the money to.
Sian says
Hi all,
Satsuma were supposed to provide a response on the 24 June they then requested 14 more days which would mean Monday would be the final date.
They now have emailed requesting another 14days! This is absurd I have sent to the FOS but they are seriously dragging there heels! 12 weeks this would take them to just to investigate the complaint!
Ridiculous!
GM says
So, finally today I got a call and an email from the adjudicator that has picked up my PDUK case, which has been with the FOS since the end of November 2018.
Given the current state of the company and the huge delays in dealing with the complaints, i can see this will take a few more months until it get sorted.
All loans were taken between 2008-2012, so lets hope for a positive outcome.
trouble is, part of that loan period was when I had an account with lloyds, closed in 2012, and they said they don’t give out statements for accounts closed more than 5 years ago. i did mention this to adjudicator.
Tracy says
Hi, I have had a lot of loans from Lending Stream and made a claim against them for lending when they should not have due to affordability. They have now decided to offer me 0.18 pence in compensation!! They also referred to third party sources to confirm my income as £1250 per month (yes I did put that but was unemployed at the time for several months, so how could they get this confirmed?) I know I did not put the right information in, but desperate measures… Anyone else had this problem??
Is it really worth me going to the Ombudsman which I am prepared to do but have concerns about not giving LS the truth.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Amazingly this is not the lowest offer anyone has reported from Lending Stream. David reported getting one for 17p – he later had his case upheld by FOS and got a refund of £600. https://debtcamel.co.uk/lending-stream-complaints/comment-page-2/#comment-289325
If you only had 1 loan and your income was wrong, it’s much harder to win a complaint. But if you had a lot of loans, then Lending Stream should have realised after the first few that there may be something wrong and done more detailed affordabilty checking. For example they could have asked for payslips or bank statements.
So this is absolutely worth sending to the Financial Ombudsman. Also read https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/
Tracy says
Hi
thanks for the support and advice! I was a little taken aback by their response especially when between 3rd September 2013 and 2nd December 2018, I had had thirty-eight loans with them. I had read that they were likely to refute my claim but the offer of 18 pence was an insult! I will definitely be going to the FOS! Thanks again.
mar says
Afternoon,
Im after some advice.
I have a ccj from a company called The one stop money shop. I took out a loan with them for £1,000 made a few payments before falling seriously behind and now I owe them £1,603. I stupidly never replied to the ccj & buried my head in the sand. I had until 28th june to pay this but I haven’t because I have nothing to give. Today ive received an email stating they have issued a warrant of control. ive emailed them back asking if I can set something up & they have said they have told the bailiffs to hold off for 7 days and asked me to ring them. I suffer really badly with anxiety & mental health issues which ive told them before so I just want to speak with them via email. What kind of payment plan would they usually look to accept?
I put a complaint in with them also about a month ago which is ongoing for unaffordable lending.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Is it the lender who has got the CCJ? or was it sold to a debt collector?
Did you just take one loan from them? £1000 is a large loan – they should have checked carefully that it was affordable. Can you say something about your finances when you applied for the loan.
And can you say something about finances now – are you working, do you have other loans or priority bills 9rent, council tax, utilities) that you are behind with?
You say you told them before that you suffer badly with anxiety and other mental health issues – when was this?
Sorry about all the questions!
Mar says
Thanks for replying Sara. It was never sold on to a debt collector it was still with the lender.
When ib applied for the loan I actually already had 8 payday loans some of which I was behind on & 3 credit cards which were maxed out as well as a 2k overdraft. The loan was definitely not affordable.
My finances now are slightly better, I am working full time. currently I have 2 payday loans which im actually in default with & my 3 cards I am managing to make the payments on.
I told them about these issues about 6 months ago when I started to fall behind on the loans & I even told them about the amount of debt I was in- they’ve not been pleasant to deal with to be honest they don’t really seem to be bothered.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is not a lender I have come across before – I shall now put them in the “not nice” category :(
So you only had one loan from them. But it was very large, so they should have checked affordability properly.
And you told them about your mental health problems – lenders are supposed to treat all borrowers who get into difficulty sympathetically, but in your case it sound as though they even ignore your health issues.
The reason I have asked these questions is because it sounds as though you have a good reason to make an afordability complaint. As you only had one large loan, I suggest you use the template letter on this page https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/. That letter starts by asking for a copy of all your personal information, including a copy of all phone calls you had with them.
You should ask for the interest to be removed from what you owe and for them to accept an affordable repayment. Also say that you think they treated you poorly when you were in arrears even though you told them you had mental health problems. Ask them to put a halt to any bailiff action as you are disputing the amount that is owed.
If they refuse, ask if that is their final decision as you will be sending the case to FOS. Don’t let them tell you FOS will not look at the complaint because there is a CCJ – as you did not defend the case in court (your mental health problems may have made that seem impossible) FOS can decide to look at this.
If bailiffs turn up, do not open the door to them. They have no right of entry unless you invite them in (like vampires!) Do you own a car parked outside?
Matt says
Good afternoon,
I have made an affordability and irresponsible lending complaint to a payday loan company (MyJar) and they have now acknowledged my complaint. However, they are asking that I send them bank statements and payslips (as the times I took out the loans with them). Surely they should have asked for these at the times of my various applications and top-ups? Is this something I should send them or is it a way they will try to say that the information I provided was untrue (as I would often make estimations). With the re-borrowing I don’t even recall I had to fill anything else in. And thoughts or advice will be greatly appreciated. Many thanks, Matt.
Ah says
Just tell then to use the information they have but you are happy to send it to the financial Ombustman service.
J says
Hi Sara
A result at last on my Lending Stream complaint. 17 loans between 2010 and 2015 and all rejected in their final decision, although they did kindly offer a repayment plan for an outstanding balance of £5.86 …….
Adjudicator found in my favour and LS have agreed to repay loans 8-17 (the initial loans were small and over two years)
Refund amount £5,800 including interest.
Once again thank your the invaluable advice and support this forum offers – couldn’t have done this without it
For all those waiting on LS complaints pending, hang in there & best of luck.
J
AH says
Hi J,
Congratulations on your successful claim Lending Stream!! They rejected all mine directly when I complained but the adjudicator ruled in my favour for them to repay lines 1 – 22!!! I’m just wondering if they have been in contact with you about the refund as they agreed with the adjudicator for me on the 27th of June and I have not had a single bit of communication from them. The adjudicator said they have ‘28 days’ not ‘28 working days.
I’m not desperate for the money but they are second from last lender then I will have had my money back from every payday loan lender. Uncle Buck declined the adjudicator and it’s with the Ombustman now, I had 19 loans with the and the adjudicator said loans 3 – 19 where unaffordable.
It has only been Quick Quid and Uncle Buck who have rejected the adjudicator everyone else agreed. I will be so glad for them all to be over and I will never have a payday loan again!
Again congratulations 🥳
ClaureR says
Hi.
my signed acceptance was sent back to Lending stream on 3rd July. I also emailed them on 4th giving them my bank details. I then rang them today as not had any correspondence back from them. They confirmed bank details and said payment would be 28 days from today. I asked why it’s not 28 days from them recieving my acceptance, to be honest the answer was along the lines of “no it’s 28 days from confirming bank details” although I had done that on 4th.
If I were you I would definitely ring them too.
Mike says
Hi dan/ash
Have either of you been payed out. I have been looking at sunnys trust pilot and there’s is loads of people staying that they are way past there 30 day mark and still no payment and constant lies from customer services. Some even saying they don’t think sunny are ever going to pay.
Sara
Once they make the offer and you accept is there still a way they can’t pay you or do they have to eventually pay. Just not on the stated date.
Ash says
Hi Mike, they paid me today surprisingly they told me when I rung them earlier it would most likely be Monday, fingers crossed you guys get it soon as well!
my case was directly with sunny not through the FOS I just kept pestering them, to be honest I was surprised to receive it considering they told me it would probably not be in till Monday
Mike says
That’s good then. Mines same directly with sunny but it’s for 9.5k hopefully there’s no problems
Pete says
I’ve just had adjudicator go in my favour, out of 31 loans 22 should not of been lent.. ranged from £150-£800.. was a small gap that he said was lent properly.. just wondering how many you had. Many thanks. Great site Sara
Mike_p says
It took me a while to get my Sunny payout but it came through in the end (this was a case without the FOS involved). I had an email from someone there with an offer which I replied to saying I would accept (including my bank details). I didn’t hear anything from them at all after that despite emailing every week asking for an update for a month or so. After that I started getting “recipient not recognised” replies to emais that I sent. I was a bit fed up by that point so I sent an email to every address for them I could find saying I had prepared a complaint to the FOS and would submt it in a weeks time if I didn’t hear anything. I got a reply the same day and the money was in my account the next morning.
Dan says
Hi Mike,
I got paid on day 31, only after calling them again. Also Sunny contacted me re my trust pilot review then money was in bank an hour later.
A H says
When I had my Sunny complaint I was waiting a while. I left trust pilots and emails for weeks. Eventually I had a idea to message them on Facebook. A few hours later I had a email from them telling me the refund should be in my bank in a few hours. I looked straight away and it was there.
Crissy says
I have a few complaints in against payday lenders since January this year. The money shop was finally picked up about 4 weeks ago and adjudicator upheld my complaint the money shop have until this Thursday to respond ? Does anybody know if they do act on time or drag their feet ? My biggest claim is against amigo loans and this has been in since August last year ? I am really glad found this website and know it’s not just me who got in a mess!
Carl Bareham says
I have finally heard from the FOS about some complaints that I have. They found in my favour for the majority of the issues raised and I am due a refund of around £2K and interest of around £1K. This interest will have tax deducted from it.
I will not actually see a penny of this money though as it being paid into my IVA and will settle my other debts.
My question of is would this all need to be declared to DWP and would it effect my Universal Credit?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You are in an IVA on Universal Credit? How long until it ends? How much are you paying a month and how are you managing it?
C j bareham says
I was in the IVA before Universal Credit. My marriage ended and we have made a payment since April. Still working closely with IVA practioner as our repayments were £110 a month with 33 to go. The amount confirmed in settlement would equal the amount due so they are looming to convene a creditors meeting to settle the IVA. If not agreed then I would have to look at a DRO after the debts seperated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So far as i know, any PPI refunds are treated as capital by UC – so they may take you over the 6k limit where your UC payments start to be reduced. i would expect payday loan refunds to be handled the same way. But unless you are getting over 6k, I don’t think you have anything to worry about, and even if you are, the money is going to your debts into your bank account.
I hope your IVA is varied so it treated as completed. If not, then you should look at a DRO.