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?
R says
Got a second final response from MyJar. They’ve upped their offer from ~850 to ~1100, but they are still refusing to uphold my two biggest loans which have a collective £1700 interest (total interest with them about £3000.
They stated “After review of your credit file we can see that from loan 8 onwards your open credit for products such as credit cards and unsecured loans increases from approximately £2,000.00 to over £6,000.00. Based on this our proposal is to uphold loans 8 to 11. As stated in our final response we will also uphold loan 5”
Any recommendations if I should go to FOS or accept? Loans 6 and 7 are the big ones and were taken out the day after repaying the old loan.
Also, how long does FOS normally take to reply? I have had two complaints outstanding for over a month now and have heard nothing at all yet.
E says
R,
I sent mine to the FOS after they offered £300 redress and I had approx 3k interest with them. My case got picked up within a month and received a decision within a week which Myjar agreed with, and then paid out within 3 days of confirming bank details. I received 3.3k!
Ross says
I complained to MYJAR and they offered to uphold loans 9-12 of 1-18. Oddly enough, these were the smallest, with the smallest amount of interest (funny that?). I tried to compromise and said if they were willing to wipe the interest, on the final loan, and pay me a modest refund of £130, I would close the case. The refused and I sent it to the FOS. The adjudicator recommended that they refunded on loans 5-18 and removed all adverse entries on my CR. MYJAR accepted his recommendations and ended up wiping the interest on the final loan, as well as a refund of just under £1400, ten times the amount I initially offered to compromise on. Adjudicator picked up my case in June, after me sending in May, and they have paid out today. All in all, just under 2 months. I would hold out and go to the FOS.
Bill says
Hi Sarah,
Just looking at H&T loans re (Harvey and Thompson) I have a complaint with them since August 2018, I don’t see many complaints against them on your site, although they where comparible to the money shop in years gone by! I did look at their web site to see if they still in business and yes still giving out loans by cheque etc! What intrest me is the comments on their site and other forums is neagative towards them as they have refused countless applications.. for example a lot have been customers who have had several payday loans and have been refused! The customers stating ( I have been a good customer and paid my loan off without any late payments and sometimes paid the loan off early and now they refused me another loan) but aren’t H&T doing the right thing and adhering to the rules of not giving out continuall loans as they will be shot down in future by customers who will want to complain about irresponsible lending! Am not in anyway supporting H&T but I think they are doing the right thing and refusing loans to people who will be on the money go round like I was with them ten years ago.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
H&T are doing the right thing to not give loans they think are unaffordable.
Bill says
It’s Not about being unaffordable Sarah it’s being reliant on them as paying them off you have to borrow again, (paying peter to pay back Paul) I was earning good money but unfortunately was gambling at that time but knew if I spent all my wages I’d have H&T to fall back on, if they stopped lending money at the drop of a hat maybe I would of stopped gambling as much I I did at that time…ten years ago I must say
Bill
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is the regulator’s definition of unaffordable – loans which you have to borrow elsewhere to pay or which leave you so short of money after you pay them that you have to borrow again.
Iain123 says
Just had £5k from H&T. Took 10 months in total and needed an Ombudsman to rule against them. If you have a history with them take it to the FOS.
Bill says
Thanks Ian, I’ve had 4 loans all £750 for each loan paying £24 every week for over 2 years, paid one off than continued forever it seemed like, how many loans did you have if you don’t mind me asking? By the way good payment,
Bill
Iain123 says
Five years worth of rolling it over, around 80-100 per month interest. Occasionally paid it off but soon back at it. I gambled too, if you gambled online it’ll show on statements which looks good at the FOS, no responsible lender should be lending to a gambler. End of the day it doesn’t really matter, they loaned irresponsible and need to pay back all those £24s plus eight percent.
Keep us updated.
D says
Sara I just want to thank you.
Loans 5-28 have been won against lending stream. Adjudicator has decided.
Can’t believe a stumbled on this website by mistake. There must be so many out there who don’t even know they’ve been awarded unaffordable loans.
They have till the 25th of July to accept or reject. But the end of the tunnel can be seen now with lending stream
Absolutely delighted
livia says
Hi Sarah,
I put a complaint to many lenders through debt hackers website on the 16th of May and most of them reply this week with their responses. The ones who has not respond yet is quickquid(had an acknowledgment email on the 17th of May) and Lending stream(not even acknowledge the complaint ). What should I do please? Should I wait a bit longer?
thanks
livia
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Phone lending Stream up and ask if they have your complaint.
Livia says
Thanks Sarah I will . What about quickquid? They communicate with me through the 8 weeks sending email saying still investigate but no final response.
Thanks
Sara says
Can anyone advise.Adjudicator went in my favour against QQ and P2P and they had until the 15th May to respond. I have emailed FOS twice and they said they are still waiting for the response from CashEuroNet. Do I just leave it or can I be doing something to hurry this along?
Iain123 says
What can you do? Interesting that QQ didn’t immediately appeal to an Ombudsman, that’s their usual approach.
Thanks for letting us know.
Sara says
Sorry you have lost me. Do QQ go to the ombudsmen or do I? What should I do. Just wait for the adjudicator to get in touch?
Mike_p says
If either of you disagrees with the adjudicators decisions then it goes to an ombudsman to make a final ruling. I think you’d need to contact your adjudicator about what to do next.
Iain123 says
QQ reject the Adjudicators decision and ask for it to be referred to an Ombudsman. They usually do this within a few days. Re-check the Adjudicators correspondence and see where you stand, two months is very unusual.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
There isn’t anything you can do in practice to hurry QQ along. I suggest you tell the ombudsman that if QQ haven’t replied, you would like the case to go into the queue of an Ombudsman to review it.
A. says
Dont suppose the FOS is any quicker if PDE has agreed all loans were unaffordable. They have came back agreeing that the 3 loans were irresponsible. 1 was rolled over for over a year so I ended up borrowing £1185 from them but paying back £2700. They offered me £100 plus 8% interest.
Holly says
Hi all ,
I’ve been through the complaint then wait 8 weeks cycle and all of my complaints have gone to FOS this was expected. So that’s satsuma, pounds to pocket, my jar, mr lender, lending stream and A claims management company . I just thought I’d share my experience so far..
I sent 3 complaints off to FOS on the following dates 18/06 19/06 and 20/06 all 2019
I have had one picked up by FOS on the 09/07 asking for more details on Satsuma like an acknowledgement email from them
I’ve also had an email today asking for more information but it wasn’t clear on the lender so I called them after work and they said they have satsuma and lending stream and to re send and sent over again acknowledgement emails in a reply to the one they sent me to day .
Also from what I gathered they have new systems using new references so he hasn’t received my third referral but did have the first two I sent over he did also mention the new systems” aren’t as good as they thought they may be “
X
Elaine says
2 positive outcomes today – one from Wizz cash – offer accepted and Uncle Buck partially upheld complaint for one loan.
I rang Lending Stream today as 8 weeks up but they said they have never received my complaint! I sent it via Debthacker website. I will now have to start again and email them directly.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
re lending stream – they are as obstructive as they possibly can be. If you can complete the form on their page https://www.lendingstream.co.uk/contactus/ that is best, if you can’t contact the Ombudsman and say they have ignored your debt hacker submitted complaint and you can’t use the form on their website.
EDIT – I have just seen your later comment saying you have done this!
Rachel says
Does anyone know if sunny usually agree with adjudicator? It has be ruled in my favour that 6-12s loans between feb 2016- october 2017. to be refunded. They have until 25th july to reply, do they usually leave it last min?
Tia rachel
Mike says
Who’s the adjudicator? I don’t really understand it all. Sunny replied to me after 9 weeks and said they partially uphold my claim and offered me 9.5k to which I accepted. But if it’s an offer is it sunny or Is it an adjudicator? Don’t teally understand what an adjudicator is?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
An adjudicator is the name for the person at the Financial Ombudsman that looks at your case.
Zoe says
Hi Rachel,
They have just agreed mine. They had until the 28th June but went over this by about a week. Although mine was only 11 loans. How quick they actually pay the money ….. who knows
Mike says
It’s 30 days I’m currently about 13 days into mine
Rachel says
Thank you zoe, hopefully you get your refund quick
Charlie says
Regarding Lending Stream I don’t wish to sound negative but out of 4 companies I contacted they have been by far the least interested. After 10 weeks offered a derisory £178.00 with no interest added out of 6 large loans I had with them in under two years so do not expect a positive response as they say they are not a pay day lender but a loan company which is different…. not sure if that is true but that’s their position
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s not true – they are a high cost short term lender. There is no useful distinction between this and a payday lender.
Charlie says
Sara, WOW… thanks for that info, they were basically saying they are different as a lender and therefore I have no claim against them at all (apart from the one they accepted for around £178) although they don’t explain how they arrived at that figure. I replied nearly two weeks ago and said please let me know how you got to that figure and if they had included the interest but no response at all since. Think I will try the Ombudsman then.
SI LAD says
I waited 8 weeks while Ferratum investigated my complaint. They sent me an offer. I accepted and it was in my account later that day. Couldn’t believe it. So if this lender can do it. Why can’t all the others who choose to span it out making it awkward for all.
Ann says
Hi can ask how many loans you had with them and how much they gave you back .Ive been wating 6 weeks I’ve had 7 loans all increasing in amount .
Thanks
Si lad says
Ann.
I had 3 or 4 loans. Total interest was £400. Got an offer of £150 so took it. No chance was I waiting a year for the rest. If I was successful.
That money in my account. Happy Days…!!!! I’m not greedy.
Good luck Ann.
Ann says
Thanks for your reply I’ve had 7 loans in total I’ve still got a balance outstanding last loan was 450 I’ve paid £ 239 my loan before that was £400 paid £635 Back plus other one so fingers crossed I get offered something thank you for you reply .
Oracle85 says
My Complaint with QQ has finally reached an Adjudicator who is very helpful and informative. QQ only provided him with a small % of my loans and now I have sent over the complete files so he said is going to re-assess my complaint. Are QQ being sneaky like this regularly? They provided me with the loan info so unsure why they tried to hide it. In terms of settlement if I owed QQ money and it was sold to a debt collector but then paid off/paid off for a settlement figure to the debt collector what happens in terms of the amount QQ pay me? Is it mine or QQ responsibility to find out what was paid off etc? Only ask as I was dealing with lots of DCA at the time and have a feeling I have paid money they claim I still owe.
Oracle85 says
What is the situation with amounts that were originally owed to a PDL, sold on to a debt collector and then repaid/ partial payment agreed as full and final settlement when you are arranging a settlement figure with the original PDL? IE you owed QQ £1000, you paid debt collector £800 as settlement and now QQ want to deduct £1000 off what they are going to pay me?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
QQ should take into account the 800 you have paid towards the debt. This will typically mean that on this debt you have paid some interest which should be refunded.
Aj says
Hi just to let you all know I had a final response from piggy bank today after 5 weeks and 1 day. I only had 2 loans total interest paid £120. They have agreed to refund me all interest and 8% statutory interest.
Diddy says
Haven’t updated for a while so thought I would share. Can now see the light at the end of the tunnel and cannot thank you all enough for all your help, especially Sara and Iain123.
I decided that I would try for the full amount to be redressed but to settle for a lesser amount I was happy with and my credit file would have any negative information cleared.
Results so far –
MyJar – rejected their measly offer and now with FOS.
Satsuma – after initially having waiting 11 weeks refunded £1752.77 and credit file cleared.
NextCredit – refunded £731.09. Happy with this as it was 2 loans from 2012/13.
TrustedQuid – refunded £832.48 and credit file was cleared.
Cashasap – refunded £813.23 and credit file cleared.
MrLender – rejected their offer and now with adjudicator at FOS
Peachy – rejected their offer and now with adjudicator at FOS
247moneybox – refunded £755.89 and credit file cleared.
Ferratum – refunded £1011.88 and credit file cleared.
Uncle Buck – refunded £892.56 and credit file cleared.
Lending Stream – rejected and now with FOS.
Only 4 to go……thank you again so much, thank god I found this site, it’s been a godsend.
😘 xx
Diddy says
I should have included WDA and Wonga in my post but not holding out much on either 😁
Sian says
Was Satsuma through the FOS? Currently on my 11week mark with them!
Diddy says
No, I told them if I hadnt heard by week 12 it was going straight to FSO regardless of offers. They got back in week 11 with the above offer and a very apologetic email.
Joe says
Context:
I am making complaints to several payday loans companies. QuickQuid have recently responded to say that they are offering £4800 of the £5800 I believe I am owed. For the loans they did not uphold the complaint for they have given no reason, they’ve only given reasons for the upheld loan complaints. Despite me making a separate complaint about Pounds 2 Pockets they have included this in their offer and not upheld either of the loan complaints which I believe totals £2200 on top of the £5800 mentioned above. I have advised them that I’d be happy to accept their offer against the QuickQuid claims (despite some consecutive loans upwards of 4 not being upheld) but not against the Pounds 2 Pockets claims which I would prefer to take to the Ombudsman. They have said it if I accept the offer it is against both QuickQuid and Pounds 2 Pockets and I would therefore waive my right to take further action for either with the Ombudsman going forward.
Question to follow:
Iain123 says
Initial loans interest isn’t refunded, say the first 2-6 loans. Only when it becomes a habit with repeat borrowing and only paying interest do the predatory lending rules kick in.
That’s a surprising offer from QQ, best I’ve seen on here. Did you include any 6+ year old loans and the 8% simple?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you are being offered 4800 out of a maximum 8000. Now you probably wouldn’t get all your loans refunded, that’s really rare, but If your estaimates of 2200 and 5800 are just the interest you paid, then 8% statutory interst would also be added. So although you are being offered a large chuunk of money, it isn’t a great offer. It is very fristrating when a lender doesn’t explain why some loans are included and others aren’t.
It’s your choice if you think it’s good enough to take to get this settled now, or if you want to send the case to the ombudsman.
Joe says
Hi Iain, thanks for your response :) I have included the 8% statutory and the 20% tax deduction. I’ve also rounded the figures to prevent being identified. My oldest loans go back to 2011 (and one in 2010).
Sara, I didn’t include this in my original post due to the length restriction, but THANK YOU. Debt Camel has been absolutely invaluable and it has not only encouraged me to take action but also to be open about my problems with borrowing in the past in the hope that others will be encouraged to also to take action. Thank you.
My questions are as follows:
1. Are CashEuroNet UK LLC allowed to wrap up Pounds to Pockets with QuickQuid because they both operate under CashEuroNet UK LLC?
2. Can anyone tell me how long a complaint with the Ombudsman took to reach resolution in their experience? I’m trying to gauge whether £4800 (inc 8%) now is worth more than a potential and approximate £8000 (inc 8%) later.
3. Is their any possibility I could end up being offered less once the Ombudsman has considered my claim, or is the £4800 essentially locked in since CashEuroNet UK LLC has admitted irresponsible lending up to that value?
4. Sara, when this is all done I’d really like to help others in my current situation. How best?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
1. Yes.
2. Past experience is no guide to what will happen in future. There has been a huge backlog, half of which is caused by over 6 years case where there were no final FOS decisions for years. Decisions are now going through, a lot of them each month and QQ is under pressure from FOS and the FCA to resolve these cases fasted. QQ have dropped their blanket rejections to post 2015 cases and are paying out on some over 6 year loan cases, not forcing them all to an Ombudsman decision. I expect this to speed up further in the next few months.
3. No. Although this is theoretically possible, FIS frequently starts by saying the loans A lender has offered on are these… so FIS is only looking at the loans under dispute, which are these…
4. Three things You could do:
– hang around here for a while helping new people coming on by giving advice,
– like my Facebook page and sometimes share an article (doesn’t have to be about payday loans if you wouldn’t want that on your timeline, with no income here I can’t afford advertising so social Sharing is the best way to reach new people)
– give a small donation to your local Citizens Advice.
Rebecca says
Hi all
Wonder if anyone has had a similar experience. Took a case against QQ to FO. Overall I have had for 16 loans since 2012. on my application I stated I was only questioning affordability of loans post 2013 in order to fall in line with 6 year time limit. QQ have now responded to FO to say the beginning of my loan applications begins in 2012 and therefore I am too late. 4 loan applications occur in 2012 – early 2013 leaving 12 post 2013. FO is asking whether I would like to leave the case in the pile with all the other pre 2013 cases or just adjudicate on loans post the cut off date?
Any advice?
Iain123 says
What cut off date? Regulators have ruled 6+ year loans can be looked at and refunded. Your borrowing with QQ stands alone, whenever it was. Tell them you want it all looked at. QQ don’t settle and would be appealing to an Ombudsman anyway.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So FOS want to know if you are happy for them to only look at the 12 loans that are less than 6 years old at the date you send the case to FOS and not get a refund on the first 4.
Were any of the first 4 loans large or rolled/deferred a lot? If they weren’t, then FOS will often only give a refund from loan 4,5, or 6 anyway, so you aren’t giving up much by dropping them – you can say you don’t want a refund on the first 4 but would like them taken into account, so you could get a refund of most or even all of the remaining 12.
If you do want the earlier loans considered for a refund, the procedure at FOS will be longer as they first have to be looked at by a specialist team that consideres if the older loans can be considered. they usually say yes, but this does prolong things.
Elaine says
I submitted a complaint regarding Lending Stream back in April via Debt Hacker- heard nothing after 8 weeks. I rang them and they said they had never received my complaint email.
Therefore I tried using Resolver and got an email straight away saying that they no longer use that email and to contact customer support.
So I have now tried again via logging in to my account and submitted my complaint thaymt eay and attached my previous complaint.
Just thought I would let others know if they are starting a complaint with them.
Richard Barnett says
Just had payday uk accepted adjudicators decision today and to refund me £4698.32
And he told me not to worry about them going into administration yet it’s just the shops that were going hang in there
Casey says
Hi Sara,
My complaint is still in the ombudsman queue for sunny since February (adjudicator upheld loans 5 to 58) but I have noticed recently sunny have been getting lots more bad reviews on trust pilot. Is there any word that sunny are in real trouble as in the wonga and money shop scenarios ?
Also do you have an approximate timescale for ombudsman? Initially I was told 6 months …
A says
LENDING STREAM
Hi all,
Just wanted to leave an update for those dealing with an LS complaint through FOS for a bit of guidance on time scales.
FOS upheld on loans 6-13 24th May, LS agreed on final day of 2 weeks and I heard back on 19th June, I accepted the offer same day, formal FOS notification of offer acceptance went to LS on 25th June, got an email from LS requesting bank details 5th July, money landed in my account this morning. My complaint first went to FOS in July 2018.
This is the first refund I have actually received, albeit FOS have found in my favour with Myjar (who agreed and I’m awaiting business contacting me now) and Sunny (partially agreed in 13 loans less than adjudicator so it’s with ombudsman now).
Awaiting adjudicator response on another 3 large loan lenders (all between £1k and £2k).
All of my complaints were rejected by the companies and I’ve now had 3 of 3 upheld and awaiting a further 3 so to anyone concerned about not having a good enough case – if you genuinely struggled to pay and had to borrow more then they were indeed unaffordable, get the emails sent off!
A
Andrew says
LS had my bank details since 27th June no money yet
A says
Hi Andrew,
Had they contacted you direct via email? There is a number online you can phone for lending stream complaints, it is a call centre but when you ask direct questions like “did you get my email?”, “have you responded” they are pretty straightforward and will tell you the date and times. Might be worth trying to contact them. I did phone a couple of times when I hadn’t heard anything to make sure that they had received everything.
They do have 28days to process from when you accept their complaint to process any refunds, so they’ve not missed your deadline just yet. Quite a lot of people on here seem to receive their refund around the 21 day mark.
Good luck.
A
ME says
Hi A,
Thank you for the information in relation to Lending Stream. Can I ask how long it took for the adjudicator to make their decision on your complaint from the point that the case was allocated to them? I ask as I am currently awaiting a decision from an adjudicator. I received an email on 13/06/19 to state that they had been allocated my case but no further updates as yet.
Thanks,
ME
Mike_p says
I was allocated an adjudicator at the beginning of June and I had a decision about a month later. The adjudicator was very good – I emailed her with a query and she phoned me up about 1o minutes later to discuss it. I’m still waiting to see what Lending Streams response is.
ME says
Thanks for the update, Mike_p. Fingers crossed I have a positive decision from the adjudicator soon and that Lending Stream are will to accept it without going to the Ombudsman.
Glynis says
Hi. On 30th May LS agreed to refund me £1800. The adjudicator gave them four weeks to contact me which they never did. I E_mailed the adjudicator 10 days ago. Just waiting for LS to reply back to adjudicator. LS are being very difficult.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Leave them a bad review on trustpilot saying they are refusing to communicate with the Finacial Ombudsman : https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/lendingstream.co.uk
A says
Hi ME,
I have not actually received notification of an adjudicator picking up on 2 of the 3 cases that I have a decision on. I went from submitting and recieving a general acknowledgement asking for some further details, then received emails apologising for the fact they hadn’t been picked up yet and then within a couple of months received adjudicator decisions.
I think it just depends on the particular adjudicator wether they are in the habit of contacting complainants or not.
Hope you don’t have long to wait!
ME says
Fingers crossed I don’t. I have emailed my adjudicator yesterday and he responded saying that he had received all of the information to look into my case and that he hops to have a response for me by the end of the week!
Mike says
Does anyone know if I can ask for a refund for my guarantor loan? I’ve had 1 with amigo and one with uk credit?
Thanks
A a ron says
Had 2 with amigo second loan had 4K outstanding they wiped that off and refunded me £650 as that was total interest remaining after they wiped the loan off. My Uk credit complaint is with ombudsman and bamboo as well. Definitely send a complaint if you think they lent irresponsibly.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes you can – see https://debtcamel.co.uk/how-to-complain-guarantor-loan/ for how to dso this as guarantor loans are a bit different.
Also read https://debtcamel.co.uk/amigo-more-refunds-2019/ for some good news about recent adjudicator decisions against Amigo.
Ele says
Thank you. I have just sent off all of my loans to FOS. The only one I reached a settlement with were ferratum. Quick quid didn’t uphold any and satsuma haven’t even replied and i sent my complaint on 20 April. Sunny offered about 2400 + stat interest – this was on loans 37-42 so not a good offer at all.
Can I just ask as I am a little worried and don’t know if this should mean I should accept Sunnys offer – my financially difficulties were because of a gambling problem. Sunny may not be aware of this but FOS will as I have sent bank statements. Does this mean fos could turn round and say they don’t uphold ANY? or at the very worst do they still have to agree with the offer sunny made as sunny have accepted they shouldn’t have lent loans 37-42.
What I’m basically asking here is at the very worst case scenario will I still get my offer from sunny? Surely I will due to them accepting responsibility. FOS won’t over turn that based on my gambling problem will they?
Thanks so much for this site I cannot believe how much help it has been. Forever grateful
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Although theoretically FOS could say a refund that was lower than a lender has offered, this doesn’t seem to ever happen, except where a lender has made a very small (eg £50) goodwill offer to get someone to go away. Worst case is you will get what Sunny offered – but I will be pretty surprised if you don’t get a lot more…
Nadia says
Hello Sara,
Received my final reply from Sunny this week (8th week of initial complaint).
The complaint has been rejected. I thought I had a strong case I carried out 70 loans with no breaks in borrowing. Paying back a total of £30,052
From sunny…
We are sorry that you feel that you were unable to afford credit and that we should not have provided this to you. However this is not supported by our records, the information you provided to us, or information we obtained from the CRAs at the time we agreed to lend to you
My question is… do I have a strong enough case for the FOS? I feel so upset going through all this.
Basically, sunny feel that I don’t have a claim as they asked me to outline my expenditures and income and the loans were deemed ‘affordable’.
During a lot of this time I was in fact on maternity leave and I did not update my income. I was also suffering with postnatal depression at the time and was ‘desperate’. Although I paid all loans on time, I was needing to borrow again straight away, every month for 4 years! I became reliant on these loans as a couple of days after payday, my account was near empty.
I also had a history of loans with other payday lenders and a high interest loan with 118, I’m not sure why they didn’t recognise this as a red flag on my credit file.
Thank you for all the support on their website
Iain123 says
4 years of repeat borrowing with 70 loans is as cast iron a case as you can get, so get straight to FOS with your complaint. That was a template response from Sunny, a percentage of complainants give up too easily.
I suggest a brief FOS complaint, when they respond with a complaint number you can pile on bank statements and personal details later.
Don’t forget those other payday lenders probably owe you, too.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
and 118 probably as well!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Nadia,
you have a VERY strong complaint. Send it straight to the Ombudsman.
I think you have every right to feel very cross and upset by this. Borrowing every month, 70 loans, no break…
I suggest you also leave Sunny a very poor review on Trust Pilot https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/sunny.co.uk
AND I suggest you tell the regulator, the FCA, what you think of Sunny’s lending and complaint handling. This won’t help your case at all, but it’s a simple email to alert the regulator…
If you want to do this, email consumer.queries@fca.org.uk and copy this to rmallinder@elevatecredit.co.uk who is the contact given for Elevate (who own the Sunny brand) on the FCA website. Subject: Elevate Credit (673771) trading as Sunny.
Give your Sunny reference number, your name and address.
Then summarise your long borrowing from Sunny in a few sentences. This can be what you have written here:
I had 70 loans over 4 years, with no break in borrowing at all. I paid them £30,052 over this time. During a lot of this time I was in fact on maternity leave and I did not update my income Sunny never verified it. I was also suffering with postnatal depression at the time and was desperate. Although I paid all loans on time, I was needing to borrow again straight away, every month for 4 years! I became reliant on these loans as a couple of days after payday, my account was near empty.
I also had a history of loans with other payday lenders and a large high interest loan. Sunny have rejected my affordabilty complaint. I have sent my case to the Financial Ombudsman, and I know the FCA will not look into the details, but I wonder how many other customers, some vulnerable, would be put off by Sunny’s blanket rejection and give up on their complaint?
Ali says
Adjucator has emailed me and has agreed loans 4-31 with Sunny should not have been lent. Really happy ! Hopefully Sunny agree! 10 days into the 28 days waiting for the refund from Satsuma as well, hopefully they contact me soon :-)
someone asked above about gambling transactions being on bank statements and I just wanted to reassure them that the FOS have been super, one mentioned it and the other didn’t, the one that did said basically if Sunny had looked at my statements and done proper checks they would have realised and should not have lent as it was not responsible (my statements were horrific back then with thousands of gambling transactions) so don’t panic and sent it to the FOS :-)
Ele says
Hi that’s great news!! I am in same situation. How long did it take from sending to FOS to them making a decision please?? Sara thanks so much for pointing this comment out to me it’s very reassuring!
Ali says
Hi Ele
Sorry I did not see your question! I sent my complaint over in October 2018, so it’s been quite a wait, the first I knew an adjudicator had picked it up was an email last week to say my complaint had been reviewed and they attached a letter with their findings and said they had already sent it to Sunny and given them 14 days :-)
Darren says
Has anyone had a reply from safetynet credit before the 8 week deadline or are they still responding on the final day?
It seems a lot are being upheld … mine too hopefully
Cj says
Snc replied to me on the very last day of the 8 weeks ..and they didn’t uphold my complaint .even though I was overdrawn by 5k for ten years they still lent to me and kept increasing my credit limit . They said I could easily afford to use them even though over a period of three years not one month went past where k didn’t have to use them as soon as they took their money back I had to re borrow to live..now sent to fos
Emma says
How long does it take for the FOS to get back to you about a complaint? I mean after you initially put one in as acknowledgment?
Iain123 says
About one month. They’ll issue you a reference number which looks like 1234-1234. Keep that number in the subject line for all correspondence, send more bank statements, credit reports or personal information.
C says
Hi,
How long do piggy bank usually take to come back with an decision? It’s been 3 weeks and it was only for 1 loan.
Joe says
I made a complaint on May 17th and had a response with an offer by July 4th. I felt that they handled my case very quickly and fairly.
J T says
hi Sarah,
I have complained to Payday UK via resolver but they keep sending an email saying they need a letter of complaint attached even though i have done this numerous times with all my details, they keep sending the same reply. They are not acknowledging my complaint. Has anyone else experienced this?
Their contact number on their email cuts out and i’m not sure what to do. is there a case to go to the FOS directly in this situation?
Thanks,
J
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes you could go directlt to FOS. But unfortunately for payday Uk complaints this is probably too late. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/money-shop-to-close-two-million-customers-will-be-informed/.
PH says
24/7 Moneybox Update
FOS sided with me back in April, final confirmation sent via FOS last Tuesday (9th July). They had been stringing it out for weeks saying I hadn’t accepted the right amounts and offers etc. I had left them a poor rating via TrustPilot and had hounded them every day via email for responses to my emails to their customer services team, and eventually they responded last week saying that they had received the confirmation from me and would process ASAP, knowing they had until the 6th August to pay. Received refund today of £6,500 as advised by FOS, wiped out existing balance and removed credit markers (will update when I actually see that though!). Result!!!
brendan says
Hi sara
Just heard back from adjudicator MYJAR as disagree with adjudicator decision.Case to be reviewed by an ombudsman How long does it take make a decision? Does the ombudsman normal agree with adjudicator?
Michael says
Hi all,
Hoping for your thoughts please,
Lending Stream have just responded with their final response on the last day of the 8 weeks relating to the following 12 loans,
19/04/2017 – £80 – Interest – £33.6
05/05/2017 – £720 – Interest – £126.72
31/05/2017 – £780 – Interest – £522.84
05/09/2017 – £200 – Interest – £88.64
08/09/2017 – £310 – Interest – £129.94
25/09/2017 – £50 – Interest – £14.4
04/10/2017 – £290 – Interest – £131.77
13/11/2017 – £440 – Interest – £59.84
29/11/2017 – £300 – Interest – £181.92
04/12/2017 – £300 – Interest – £170.88
12/12/2017 – £300 – Interest – £151.68
30/01/2018 – £100 – Interest – £13.6
They ruled all the loans where afforded responsibly, mainly on the grounds that I had exposable income greater than the repayment amounts.
In reality this wasn’t true and a lot of my expenditure was understated to get the loans.
They did over to refund and over payment of £5.76. (had to re read this, surely that’s a joke)
Total interest paid £1625.83
I’m going to send this off to the FOS today, but just wanted an opinion of my chances with this?
Thanks
Mike
Mike_p says
Fairly good I’d say. I had a similar history with LS (16 loans total). I initially got a flat refusal from LS but when I went to the FOS the adjudicator said that loans 6 onwards shouldn’t have been lent and that I should be refunded the interest. They also said that as loans 6 onwards shouldn’t have been lent, any information recorded about them is averse so loans 7 onwards should be completely removed from the credit report. I’m still waiting to see if LS accept the adjudicators decision or not.
I was a bit apprehenssive about the possibility of having to discuss my financial history and situation with them, but in reality there was nothing to it. I sent them my bank statements and credit report, got an email from the adjudicator explaining the process, and my next contact was an email with their decision. They didn’t mention any of my ingoings or outgoings, they just said that the pattern of borrowing alone should have been enough to make them look further.
Dale says
Hi. I formally had 6 loans with myjar back in 2012 they were then called txtloan. I opened a complaint with myjar in April. After months of back and forths of them saying they can’t locate my account, me forwarding on all old emails from them. I had to request my bank to post me my old statements. Which were a state, hammered in other loans and gambling. I went through all the statements and highlighted every transaction with txtloan and did all the workings for them. So after 13 weeks I finally submit what they ask for. Within 10 minutes they hit me back with a declined email as the loans are over 6 years. I am devastated. Does anyone have advice for me?
Iain123 says
At least you’ve got the paperwork for a FOS complaint, which is what was going to happen anyway. Those bank statements will look good at the FOS, so start the process today.
Dale says
Even though the loans are over 6 years do I have a case?
Iain123 says
Yes, absolutely. The regulators have ruled 6+ year loans can be looked at. Get on with your complaint to the FOS.
Spend time going through older posts here, you’ll get loads of help.
Chris says
For anyone dealing with Lending Stream:
If you refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman and get to the stage where the Adjudicator sides with you, Lending Stream agree to refund, and a signed settlement form is sent to them, contact their complaints department the next day on 020 3365 0138.
They are supposed to contact you to confirm bank details but 11 days in and I had no contact. I rung them just now and had it confirmed that the settlement form was returned to them, the bank details are correct and that my refund will be processed up to 28 days from my settlement form being received, which was 4th July, so I’m 11 days into that 28 day period.
I was left in the dark for 11 days not knowing what was going on so I would highly recommend phoning them if you are at this stage and getting confirmation.
Hope this is helpful for people!
Mart W says
That’s not good. I’ve just been told that Lending Stream already have a backlog, about a week from Adjudicator deadline. Was hoping for money this week as deadline on 18th but sounds like I will also have to wait for the refund itself?? Been over a year so far so I guess I can wait.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
you can’t rely on LS accepting the adjudicator decision and even if they do, it can take a few weeks to be paid. If it gets to the adjudicator deadline, leave LS a poor review at https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/lendingstream.co.uk
Nicki says
I also had a settlement with LS agreed through FOS adjudicator. I emailed LS with my bank details due to them being rubbish with all previous commumication. No contact in 2 weeks so rang last night and they said the adjudicator should have told me to send a bank statement with the details for the refund?! Adjudicator had told me that LS were to contact me directly but LS argued against this saying that everything was to be done through FOS and the 28 days would start when they got a bank statement, even though they acknowledged recieving my first email with the details. Anyone else had this as I just thought it bizarre?
Paula says
My complaints have been with FOS for a couple of weeks now. Does it vary how long it takes for an adjudicator to pick these up? Thanks!
Iain123 says
3-6 months. Maybe sooner maybe later
Oracle85 says
Have raised several complaints against instant cash loans after the fos seemed to want to deal with payday express, PDUK and the moneyshop separately. When an adjudicator looks at these will they combine them as one or treat individually? Quickquid and pounds to pocket seem to be treated as one complaint as I have a live case with an adjudicator and they are looking at the loans collectively?
Iain123 says
TMS, PDUK & PDEXPRESS loans will be treated separately. Even within a complaint they will split it, e.g. TMS will split the pre and post 6+year loans and split again for information you can and cannot provide. So your complaint against TMS could be several separate complaints.
Si says
Thanks do you remember what section you had to fill in as they sent mine back in post saying box not completed and when I rang they couldn’t tell me where to put Ppi section
J says
Hi Sara
This on Sky News this evening:
https://news.sky.com/story/money-shop-owner-seeks-creditor-backing-for-18m-payout-pot-11763835
J
Tan says
https://www.ft.com/content/50139102-941b-11e9-b7ea-60e35ef678d2
https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/breaking-payday-lender-money-shop-18297094
They owe me nearly £4 to £5 K at least. That’s not going to happen now I guess. Just great.
Can someone please advise how this impacts on the Payday Uk complaints please? Do they/ are they also going into liquidation? Really confused.
Thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
new article on the Money shop, Payday UK, Payday Express news: https://debtcamel.co.uk/money-shop-to-close-two-million-customers-will-be-informed/
I am doing my best to be clear about what is known, what should be expected and what may happen – I hope we will at least get more clarity tomorrow.
Tan says
Thank you Sara.
You are a Godsend as always.
Tan
A says
I sent a complaint to MyJar about 4 loans which was rejected and it’s now with the fos but when I’ve obtained old bank statements I actually had 8 loans with them. Where do I stand now with my original complaint?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
could some of the extra ones be top-ups?
I suggest you just tell FOS the new loan details.
A says
When I sent the original complaint to MyJar I only used the bank statements I could access online ie. the last 7 years. I later ordered bank statements going back to 2009 which was when I discovered the other 4 loans which were not on my original complaint. The loans were always paid off in full but I had to borrow again from MyJar a few days later along with other payday lenders
Emily says
So I have had my final response from Satsuma re my 3 loans. Ignoring my 1st, 2nd was £1,000 and my 3rd was 5 months later for £650.
In their response they have included ‘safe guard’ amounts. Does anyone know how they calculate or come up with these? For my 2nd loan they calculated my disposable income at £200, and for the 3rd £90. Considering my other debt repayments were significantly higher than even their calculation of my disposable income I feel they should have carried out more checks??
Has anyone had any experience at the ombudsman with anything similar/or have they made points about the ‘safeguard’ amount?
John says
Hi anyone have a link to claim back tax from a redress ?? And any idea how long it will take resolve ??
Iain123 says
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/income-tax-claim-for-repayment-of-tax-deducted-from-savings-and-investments-r40
Takes two months.
Elaine says
I submitted R40 form online and received a cheque just over a week later.
Adam says
Hi ive had complaints with Sunny and Lendingstream sent to FOS since December 2018, still waiting to be assigned to an adjudicator. Any tips on finding out how long to be picked up, or even quickening the process?
ClaireR says
Hi Adam,
My Lending stream complaint was sent into FOS around Middle of August 2018.
They FOS upheld in my favour at the end of June this year, and just waiting on the refund to hit my account. So 10 Months.
Sunny complaint was sent December 2018 and still awaiting for it to be assigned.
It is a long wait, but will be worth it, just persevere and be encouraged by the success stories you see on here.
Mike_p says
There seems to be a lot of variation in how they assign them. I submitted my Lending Stream complaint to the FOS in early April, got an adjudicator assigned in early June and had an adjudicator decision in early July.
Adam says
Hi,
Thank you guys for the replies, ive actually just rang the FOS to hear that they are working on my Sunny complaint and will recieve a response soon. As to my lendingstream complaint is still waiting to be picked up. Fingers crossed they see the sunny one in my favour.
ClaireR says
That’s good news Adam, I am waiting on my Sunny one too. Had about 35 loans with them, all one after the other,
really hoping that this one goes my way too, as will probably be a bigger refund than the Lending Stream one.
Fingers crossed for us all
Adam says
Hi Mike,
What was your outcome like with Lendingstream, did they accept adjudicator decision?
Mike_p says
I’m still waiting for their response at the moment.
Andrew says
Anyone had any joy getting paid out earlier than 28 days from LS been told its a very complicated procedure and they need 28 days load of rubbish if you ask me
Mike_p says
It’s blatant delaying tactics – when there’s profit in it for them they can go from never having heard of you to depositing a £500 loan in your account in 10 minutes.
Adam says
Well my lendingstream current balance has been sold on to the CRS, debt collection, so im a little confused as, if i should win, how theyll work out the redress.
SIMON127 says
Expect to wait about 21 days…I have been paid out recently, at least they pay the 8% stat and send you a proper tax certificate….so don’t forget you can claim back up to £200 from HMRC on stat tax deductions per tax year for normal rate tax payers
Adam says
Hi Clare,
How many loans and and whats the refund like, if i may ask?
ClaireR says
Adam, they upheld 22 out of 27 Loans,
My total borrowing on all 27 loans was around £5.5K Interest paid around £2.3K,
My refund is just over £3.1K
Hope that helps
Adam says
oo thats nice, hopefully a speedy payout for ya!
D says
How come your refund was so high? Or where the loans from a few years back?
Mine are from 2017 and 2018
I’m just waiting to hear if they’ve accepted the adjudicator decision which they have until 25th July to respond to.
Congratulations
ClaireR says
D,
My Loans were between 2013-2018 The majority being up to 2016, hence the larger amount of interest refunded.
Good luck with your complaint.
D says
Thanks Clare. Maybe means I’m going to get a bit more than first calculated
Best of luck with any other claims you have
Rachel says
I had my complaint in with sunny from november and that me just got an adjudicator last week. Hopefully not far away for you now
Jessie Jones says
I have been appointed an adjudicator by FOS last week. Does anyone know how long it will take for a decision to be made? Thanks Jessie
Pd says
A couple of weeks for a decision and another two weeks for the lender to respond.
Mike_p says
It seems to vary a lot. I had a decision i after a month with one complaint, another is now two months and I’m still waiting, other people have reported waiting even longer
Dale says
does anyone know if when loans are refunded 8% interest is added to the total amount. Or 8% for every year since each respective loan was taken out?
Is this a mandatory requirement to all upheld loan complaints?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
8% for every year since the repayments were made. The Finacial Ombudsman almost always adds this on. Some lenders don’t offer this if they give you a settlement offer directly, some do.
Hems says
Hi all,
I’ve had a bit of a false start with my case against Lending Stream. I have loans with Lending Stream spanning between 2010 and 2013 and the FOS received my complaint in Feb and by the end of May I decided to follow up with them.
A week later I received a call early June where my adjudicator introduced herself – RESULT!! … skip forward 7 days later and I received another call saying my case needed a specialist and I was going back in the cue. I’d waited so long, so another few weeks wouldn’t hurt, right?
I let another month pass before I call them again to get a better idea of what’s going on. Long story short (and as far as I understood) it turns out that “Gain Credit LLC trading as Lending Stream” and “Lending Stream LLC” have a dispute over who is responsible for my 2010 loans!
I was then told “a senior from the FOS is in direct contact with LLC to resolve the issue”. Not sure where I stand though. In fact the FOS offered to progress my complaint without the 2010 loans to expedite the complaint but I declined on principle.
To make matters worse, when I requested my info (about my loans, interest, payments, dates, deferrals reference numbers etc.) at no point did they (lending strean) make a distinction between “Gain Credit LLC trading as Lending Steam” and “Lending Stream LLC”
Was wondering if anyone has had a similar experience Lending Stream? Any suggestions about how to go forward?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How much interest did you pay on the 2010 loans? and how much on the later loans?
Hems says
In total the interest was £2,105 (12 loans) and the 2010 interest was £275 (2 loans)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
In that case i strongly suggest you tell FOS you are happy not have a refund on the 2010 loans if they are taken into account in determining your oaverall pattern of lending. You will rarely get a refund for the first few loans if they are small so you are giving up little or nothing.
Hems says
im curious, do they determine my lending pattern in isolation? I had loans with Payday UK during the same period (2010-2013). Didn’t need to go through ombudsman as they upheld my complaint with £3.6k redress…. all off the back of your advice and wisdom and for that I’m eternally grateful.
The FOS has my bank statements they should have a pretty good picture of the timeline.
In any case, I’ll touch base with them again to see where they’re at, but its likely I’ll be following you’re advice.
Reen says
Hi Sarah/All does anyone know if the adjudicator finds in my favour and it doesnt go to the ombudsman any outstanding loans/ccjs there are, does the adjudicator ask the company to put them back in to the position they would have been in previously? Reason I am asking is because looking at the decisions on FOS site it has said the Ombdusman tells the company to do so but have not seen anything saying the adjudicator says it. Thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s easier to talk about specifics: what would you like the adjudicator to decide in your case?
Reen says
Hi Sara personally I would have thought the adjudicator looks at the last loans and asks the lender to take back the loan as when it is passed on more charges get added on, but if the adjudicator asks the Lender to reimburse interest (even if not paid to them) then charges have still got to be paid haven’t they? who is in the winning position?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
charges aren’t normally added when a loan is sold – have they been in your case?
Reen says
Hi Sara not sure if you got my reply as my computer crashed. No the Lender never added charges but the 3rd party when it was passed on to issue a CCJ there were about 200 added on for court fees?? so if the lender takes it back are court fees dismissed or it stays with the 3rd party the fees are still there to be paid aren’t they, thats why I asked whats best to do should that situation arise? I am hoping adjudicator is in my favour and I want to be prepared about the best way forward with the outstanding loans/ccj. Also outstanding loan has now 600 interest/charges added on and its nearly 6 years old but now it is at the FOS level I dont want it being passed on even though I had not heard any further about it until I put in my initial complaint last year.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ok, I assume you didn’t defend the CCJ case?
How many loans did you have before the last defaulted one?
What was the original creditor?
Reen says
No I didnt, I was probably scared to if I was found in the wrong and had to pay more fees which I could not afford to pay due to getting in a total financial mess. I had about 20 loans and there was 4 I defaulted on, my financial life was such a mess ever since I started on PDLs but only after being up on my limits with PDE did I start using other loan companies and it just escalated where and who i could borrow from. Also although I worked in legal at the time I never looked at the small print but thanks to your wonderful site and help I now realise I should have done and now feel confident to tackle anything! The lender was LS, who in my opinion were terrible to deal with even then, and when I did tell them I was in a mess did eventually stop the harrassment calls but bombarded me with emails and also got them from the 3rd parties too. One big vicious circle!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, it matters that you didn’t try to defend the case because FOS will not usually consider a complaint which has already been considered and rejected by the court. But in your case you will have got a “default judgment” because you didn’t defend it and so FOS should consider the last loan for affordabilty.
If FOS decides the last loan is unaffordable, you should be put back in the position you would have been if it had not been made, in so far as that is possible without a time machine!
So this means a refund of interest and charges added – which include the legal charges added by the debt collector going to court. the CCJ also needs to be removed. This can be done by you applying to the court for a set aside, which would cost you a fee, so that money should be added to your compensation to allow you to do that. Or the CCJ creditor can apply, which would not cost you anything. If the CCJ creditor was the same as the original lender, that would be the simpler approach, but LS may not be able to make the debt collector do this.
Is your adjudicator aware of the CCJ and additional costs?
Holly says
Hi all got an odd letter from mr lender after complaining.
So they have said I had 3 loans from them borrowing a total of £950 and I have only repaid £848.64 .
I have a current outstanding balance of £631.64 and I have not yet paid the capital lent to me .
They have not upheld my complaint but as a-good will gesture will bring the balance down to the original capital borrowed and I’d only need to re pay £131.36 . they said my last loan was subject to poor proportionate checks in relation to the loan amount and the highest monthly payment
That sounds good to me but Dosent make any sense ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
do you have the figures for the last loan – how much did you borrow? how much have you paid to it?
Holly says
Last loan was for £400 and from my workings out I have paid £327.78 towards it
Sara (Debt Camel) says
were these loans all pre 2015?
Holly says
Hey ,
No after 2015 x
Lisa G says
Just to give everyone an update. I sent my complaints off to the FOS in Oct 2018.
H&T was picked up early this year (Feb I think). Had 4 loans. FOS sided with H&T. I accepted this.
Peachy was picked up in March this year. Had 2 loans. FOS sides with Peachy. I accepted this.
MyJar was picked up in April this year. Had 3 loans. 2 in 2018, one for £425 and the immediate second for £3600. FOS sided with MyJar. I disagreed with this and it’s been passed to the Ombudsman.
Both Payday UK and The Money Shop have been picked up by an adjudicator this month. I’m waiting on decisions but I’ve a feeling I won’t get anything due to their recent announcement. Payday Express would be the same if it gets picked up. All 3 combined total over £8K in interest which is a shame.
I’m still waiting for an adjudicator to pick up my Provident, 118 and Everyday Loan complaints.
Within the last week I’ve had rulings in my favour against QQ and Satsuma. Loans 3-6 for QQ, about £1050 with 8% interest and Satsuma loans 5-9, a possible £3500 with 8% interest.
My question is, how likely are both of these companies to accept the adjudicator decision and pay me, or do both seem to go to the Ombudsman? They have until 23rd & 30th July to respond to adjudicator but I’d happily wait longer if it meant not sitting in a queue for the ombudsman!
Iain123 says
QQ almost always appeal to an Ombudsman.
Lisa G says
That’s for the response Iain123. I’m hoping they agree with the adjudicator, it’s not for a colossal amount. I wonder what makes them accept the few… I digress
Carl says
QQ rejected my adjudicators decision.
Lisa G says
Hi Carl. If you don’t mind me asking, how long did it take them to reject? Was it within the 2 weeks the adjudicator gives them to respond? How much would you have got (approx) if they accepted? How many loans was it for? Are you now waiting for an ombudsman to look at it?
Scott says
Hi Lisa G,
My Satsuma complaint was held in my favor, loans 2-6, they had to respond by 1st July but needed more time.
They came back and agreed with Adjudicator, a bit of a relief as they have been awkward throughout.
Figures didn’t add up though so still ongoing. Check any offer thoroughly before accepting.
Satsuma pay by cheque and take the whole 28 days.
Scott
Lisa G says
Thank you Scott. I really appreciate that detailed answer. I’ll keep my fingers crossed and add up their offer.
Lisa G says
Hi Scott, sorry I’ve just thought of a Q. Did Satsuma contact your adjudicator to request more time? Or did you contact them at all? How much extra time did they need?
Carl says
HI Lisa G,
Can seem to reply to your earlier comment so replying to this one.
QQ rejected on the last day of the 2 weeks given to them, adjudicator said they reject 95% of them so wasnt surprised. Just over £1,000 if they accepted. Paying loans 3-8. Now in queue for ombudsman.
Good Luck!
Scott says
Hi Lisa G,
Sorry didn’t see your comment.
They replied about a week late and this sat at the FOS unactioned, it was only when I was chasing FOS 2 weeks after the deadline that i was informed that they had agreed and the offer amount.
You can’t speak to the FOS team at Provident.
Scott
Richard says
Well I’ve only posted on here once about a year ago saying was it worth to claim against Sunny after having 53 loans and then I did it haha after a long wait had an email from the adjudicator today basically saying that Sunny offered to refund me from loan 46 to 53 this was news to me unless they have offered that to the adjudicator well anyway the adjudicator has has said in the email that was unfair and that Sunny should refund me from loan 5 to loan 53 they have till the 29th July to respond does anyone know if there any quick at responding and if they will finally agree with the adjudicators decision am happy that this is nearly finally done with haha
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sunny do accept a lot od adjudicator decisions.
Richard says
Thanks Sara just hope they respond quick then but the 29th isn’t to long after the wait I’ve had it’s my birthday on the 28th and I was thinking this would be nice to be sorted for it and then boom got that email today so am happy.
Reen says
Hi Sara again just read Adams post previously and his balance has gone to the debt agency but he hasnt got an adjudicator yet whereas mine has, are they actually allowed to do that when a complaint has been made?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes a lender can sell a debt while a complaint is in progress. Personally I don’t think that is a helpful thing to do, but legally they can do do it. What they can’t do is try to enforce the debt by going to court. And nor should the new debt purchaser if they are told about the complaint.
Rhys says
Hi Sara,
I am currently in the process of complaining against 8 separate companies and have just started to receive responses back. One of the companies is MyJar who have rejected my complaint. This is one of the companies where I hadn’t a massive number of loans but these were all whilst I was still 18yo.
Loan 1 – 4/3/16 – £100 over 1 month – repaid early 16/3/16
Loan 2- 16/3/16 – £100 over 1 month – repaid 25/4/16
Loan 3 – 25/4/16 – £100 over 1 month – repaid 24/5/16
Loan 4 – 24/5/16 – £725 over 3 months – repaid with a default 22/8/16
The final loan was repaid using a loan from a family member that I had to obtain as the monthly payments of the 8 separate loans meant I was paying out more than my wages each month. Is it worth me sending this to the ombudsman?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Definitely worth sending to FOS. You may only get a refund for the last loan, but if you get that, the default would also be removed from your credit record.
Mike says
Hi all, sunny offered me £9,547.04 on the 28th of June and I accepted then rang them and the guaranteed me it would be in my account 28th July. I then rang again yesterday and they said it was going to be 8th of August. To which I complained until they agreed to stick with the original 28th July. They finally agreed anyway they have just sent me it now. What a result!!!
ClaireR says
That’s amazing, Great result Mike.
Glen says
Hi All,
Having terrible problems getting response from 247 Moneybox.
They offered me redress on the 26th of June and asked for my bank details. I disputed their offer and counter-offered.
I have not heard from them since (which is now 3 weeks) and cannot even get them to reply.
Has anyone else stopped hearing from them, or advise how is best to deal with them? Or is it a case of them not negotiating and straight to the FOS?
I had 37 loans with them totalling £24000 and repaying £28500 over just over 3 years so would like to sort it one way or the other.
G
Sara (Debt Camel) says
what did they offer? Have you phoned them up?
Nat Garvey says
One year ago, I stumbled upon this site whilst searching for information on Google about full and final settlements. When I started reading the comments, I didn’t actually believe it they were real as there are so many websites that… well, you get what I am trying to say. I refreshed my screen and noticed that the comments had been updated. I then decided to go right back to the first comment and read every single one. I think decided to put my own claims in on the 31/7/18.
Wonga – August 2018 – refunded £900+ without going to the FOS and loan were wiped off my credit file. Loans were settled in 2015.
Savvy – August 2018, rejected my complaint. November 2018, FOS upheld my complaint but Savvy disagreed. March 2019, Ombudsman ruled in my favour – refunded £650 and loan was wiped off my credit file. Loan is now settled.
Satsuma Loans – August 2018, rejected my complaint. February 2019, FOS upheld my complaint – refunded £700+ and loan history was changed from negative to positive and marked as settled.
Nat Garvey says
118 Money – September 20198, they upheld my complaint, refunded £1730 and removed the loan from my credit file. Only £300 left to pay
Littlewoods – August 2018, they rejected my complaint. January 2019, FOS ruled in may favour and refunded £70 and removed several late payment markers.
Vanquis – September 2018, rejected my complaint. March 2019, FOS rejected my complaint, Complaint is now with an Ombudsman and has been for the past 2 months… I did receive £700+ as an interest refund in November 2018 which many of their customers have received. I have 2 more complaints with them, one is about my late payments on my credit file and the other based on the following: “Is it Vanquis’ policy to keep charging interest to their customers (me) who they know are experiencing financial difficulties and/or who are in a debt management plan?”
My Vanquis card was £1900, and is now settled as of April 2019.
Nat Garvey says
JD Williams – August 2018, rejected my complaint and sold it to DCA. DCA offered a 50% reduction and marked account as settled – saved £400.
Avant Credit – August 2018, rejected my complaint. December 2018, FOS rejected. April 2019, Ombudsman rejected my complaint.
OnStride Financial – August 2018, rejected my complaint. November 2018, FOS rejected. February 2019, Ombudsman rejected my complaint. In March 2019, I submitted a new complaint (this wasn’t another affordability complaint) and asked the following:
“Is it OnStride’s policy to keep charging interest to their customers (me) who they know are experiencing financial difficulties and/or who are in a debt management plan?”
They then came back with a refund of £290. I asked them why they had decided to do this and they said it was a gesture of goodwill. I asked for a breakdown of how they came to this figure and they told me that the matter was closed. This has now gone to the FOS. The loan was £1500 and is now settled as of May 2019.
Nat Garvey says
Sunny – August 2018, rejected my complaint. March 2019, FOS ruled that 2 out of 3 loans were unaffordable – refund of £400+ and loan history was supposed to be changed from negative to positive but this has not been done yet… I have started leaving reviews on Trust Pilot (tagging my older reviews on to my new ones). You can see an example of my review here – My screen name is Mr K:
Nat Garvey says
Lending Stream (Gain Credit) – September 2018, rejected my complaint. June 2019, FOS ruled that 23 out of 27 loans were unaffordable. Received a refund of £2800+ and the last loan was settled in 2016.
Peachy Loans – August 2018, rejected my complaint, March 2019, FOS rejected my complaint. Left numerous negative reviews on Trust Pilot and they agreed to remove the default and deleted the loan from my credit history. I always tag on my previous reviews underneath my new reviews so that they take up the most space on the page. Here is an example of my review – my screen name is Mr K:
Holly says
Hi all how long do safety net credit take to pay out once accepted usually ??
Michael says
Hi Holly,
I received mine the day after I accepted.
Mike
Holly says
Lovely thank you
Did they say you needed to pay a small outstanding balance as well ??
Chris says
I received mine within 7 days. They tend to get on with it – one of the better ones.
Kirsty Williams says
I emailed safteynet credit on the 20th of May with my complaint and I still haven’t heard back. Do you know long do they normally take to respond?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So it’s been 8 weeks, I suggest you phone them and ask when you will get a response.
Paula says
Satsuma now past 10 weeks and asking for more time. Am I better just going straight to FOS now?
Scott says
Hi Paula,
When my complaint was submitted to FOS, i waited over 8 months for it to be picked up by an Adjudicator.
I would submit my complaint now and get in the queue.
If Satsuma come back with a good offer (not very likely in my experience) you can withdraw your complaint, if they don’t you are already in the queue.
Scott
Paula says
Thanks Scott.
Sarah says
Hi Sara
A adjudicator has ruled in my favour of loans 4-5 from Uncle Buck they said Uncle Buck doesn’t agree and gave points as to why so my adjudicator got back to them after looking over there points saying it still doesn’t change her decision and gave Uncle Buck till the 16th July to get back to her which they haven’t so now it’s going to a ombudsman to decide I think it’s really bad they haven’t replied my question is shall I leave a bad review on trust pilot? And also how long is the wait in the ombudsman queue?
StevieC says
Hi Sarah,
I am in the exact same position. My complaint was with FOS for a year before the adjudicator made a decision. Uncle buck missed the deadline to respond by 2 weeks and after I left a bad review on Trustpilot within an hour they had rejected the adjudicators view and sent it to the ombudsman.
Emma says
Hi I took 17 loans from sunny, max 4 at any one time from October 2016 to February 2018
re borrowed as soon as paid off. 1800 ish interest.
they have offered partial uphold of complaint for last few loans only as I defaulted (offer aroud 550)
they clearly highlighted in the email, if there was further information, I should send it to them ??
at the time I was a gambling addict and mental health issues (bipolar)
I did not tell them this during my complaint at any stage (not sure i should of)
if they had seen my bank statements they would have not even offered loan 1
should i recontact as suggested and offer evidence of this in hope of a re-offer? (sensitive info)
or go to the FO?
Emma says
P.s meant to add I have been gamble free since January 2018 using Gamstop
and I had 5 other loans at the time of borrowing from Sunny
Iain123 says
Congratulations on being gambling free.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sunny won’t reconsider – send this to the Financial Ombudsman who is very good at dealing with cases involving a lot of borrowing and gambling.
Chris Sanders says
HI Sara,
Its been 10 weeks since I sent a complaint to Mr Lender, they acknowledged on the same day but haven’t issued anything since.
Are they legally required to respond within 8 weeks? Should I now go straight to the FOS. I have emailed them asking the current status of my complaint but not sure how long to wait for a response.
Kind Regards
Chris
C says
They have 8 weeks maximum and then you need to go straight to the FOS. They are very poor when it comes to complaints but good luck.