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?
C says
So I made a complaint a month ago with piggy bank and they put my account on hold immediately. As it was only one loan I would of thought they would have came to a decision by now but they have informed me I should get response within 8 weeks.
My only worry is here that even tho they have put my account on hold the outstanding balance is due on the 2nd of August £400 which I cannot afford! Will they still attempt to take the payment or not?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They shouldn’t but it’s never wise to rely on this. Phone your bank and cancel the CPA to them.
lo1 says
Dear All
i recently accepted an adjudicator upheld decision regarding loans with Lending Stream (11months from start of complaint to acceptance of adjudicator decision).
They have agreed with the adjudicator.
I have not received written/email confirmation of this-its all been over the phone.
Does anyone have an email contact address for Lending Stream so i can have this offer/acceptance down in writing please?
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I wouldn’t worry about this, FOS will have it in writing.
D says
Hi,
I have received an offer from moneyboat, but I have sent them an email back asking for extra loans to refunded. Does anyone know if moneyboat negotiate or should I just send direct to fos.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No one has commented on this recently, can you come back and report whether you are successful?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Terry, lots of people have been getting this email. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/money-shop-to-close-two-million-customers-will-be-informed/ for details and that is the best place for any questions.
Dale says
Does anyone have Any info how you go about claiming back the tax you pay on the statutory interest added to loan redresses? Do you have to wait until April? What information do you have to provide?
C j bareham says
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/income-tax-claim-for-repayment-of-tax-deducted-from-savings-and-investments-r40
As part of the settlement the lender should have told you how much was raken for tax and should provide you with a certificate if requested.
Iain123 says
R40 from the HMRC website.
You don’t have to wait till April, but your circumstances may change so its advisable.
Takes about eight weeks to get your money.
Gemma Nauman says
I wasn’t aware I could do this until I saw these comments. I’ve been going through paperwork this evening so I can complete the relevant forms and realised that last September 24/7 Moneybox deducted 20% from my entire refund not just the interest element. Any advice where I stand with that and where to go next?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Oh! Not heard of this happening before. I would complain to 247 Moneybox saying they got the calculation wrong and ask them to send t=you the money which should not have been deducted.
Gemma Nauman says
Thanks Sara, I really appreciate the advice – confirms my thought process. Just my luck it’s only happened to me!!
Kat says
Has anyone had a refund from Lending Stream? I have FINALLY received an offer after 15 months and wondered if they are good at sticking to the 28 days waiting period?
ClaireR says
They paid me about 19 days 8nto the 28.
Well done on getting your refund
They seem to pay out in evening. Mine hit my account about 7.30pm
Chris says
How long was it after you got your refund initiated email, ClaireR?
ClaireR says
Hi Chris,
I didn’t get a specific initiated email, but a note in another (i had asked for a breakdown, as I had a balance outstanding)email saying it was with the team on 16th July, Funds hit my bank on 22nd July.
Good luck with yours.
AG1980 says
Hi Kat,
I’ve just received my refund after accepting on 5th July, so approx 17 days or so and I didn’t receive an initiated email, it’s just rocked up in my account this evening.
Well done on the win and hope it comes through for you shortly!
Al
Terry says
how come it took 15 months? Where did it get held up?
My case against LS was picked up last week by an adjudicator after complaining back in April. I had 57 loans with them in a 2 year period.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
there was a long period where no decision seemed to happen at FOS about LS. I am not quite sure why but since the blockage (whatever it was) was removed a lot have been going through.
AG1980 says
HI everyone,
I’ve seen a few queries on how quickly lending stream pay out, to provide background, original offer from LS was £467 against 3/4 loans back in My 2018, case was picked up adjudicator in Jun 2019 and LS accepted adjudicator decision on 4th July which was the final day of the two week ‘think period’. Adjudicator upheld a number 4 loans being irresponsible out 12 (I’d had significant gaps where I didn’t borrow so was happy with this), total amount was 2k in interest and then a further 1k in statutory interest.
From accepting on 5th July, it took LS 17 days to pay the money back to me (woop woop), I did follow up with them via email once and they were fine with it but did reiterate the 28 day wait policy.
Best of luck to everyone waiting on LS decisions and all other complaints.
Al
Chris says
Hi Sara,
Was wondering if you could advise whether you think it is worth sending my complaint against Satsuma to FOS details of 3 loans below:-
29/6/18 £1000 repaid early by taking out another loan paid back £1166
13/8/18 £700 failed to maintain payments and now in a DMP total owed £1394
22/10/18 £700 failed to maintain payments and now in a DMP total owed £1394
I have had my final response confirming they are not upholding my complaint, I have also have a DSAR outstanding with them. Do you think it is worth sending this compliant to the FOS once I have received DSAR info. I was hoping they may agree to remove the interest from the 3rd loan.
On the positive side I had a £3K loan with bamboo that is also in the DMP and they have agreed to remove the interest so I am now only repaying the capital (£5K owed down to £2.1K) which I think is a fantastic result.
Any advice much appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Those are large loans – definitely worth sending to FOS
Adam says
Was hoping for some advice
Have complained to sunny.
I had 29 loans since 2015, currently have 4 outstanding totaling to £2769
the interest paid to date is £7407
the final response was:
Calculate the interest paid by you from your 24th loan onwards;
As you did not repay more than you borrowed, there is no refund due;
As there is a balance outstanding of £2769.57 we agree to write off this amount so you no longer have any liability to us;
Amend your credit file by removing all loans from your 24th loan onwards
Im not sure this is a good enough offer, i want to pay all the debt back as soon as possible but do you think i would do better from the fos or even going back to Sunny asking for more loans to be involved.
would i be right to say i could possibly get somwhere in the region of 7k
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like a very poor offer, you are very likely to get more, possibly a lot more, by going to FOS. Sunny do not negotiate.
Glen says
Hi All,
Anyone had redress from Sunny without FOS?
I am in the 30 day cycle awaiting funds and day 30 is Friday. I was just wondering if anyone has had problems on the 30th day or are they saying things like “its 30 business days” etc?
ManyThanks
Glen
Dan says
Hi Glen,
I received my refund from Sunny on day 31 despite assurances I would have it on day 30. Worth a phone call or a bad trust pilot review to kick them into action sometimes.
Also, it is 30 calendar days, not business days.
Fingers crossed you have it by Friday.
Glen says
Hey Dan,
Thanks for letting me know :)
Will keep an eye out tomorrow morning and then ring up
Cheers pal
Terry nicholls says
How far back will the loan companies pay back monies for unafordable loans, i have had a phine call from mr lender, they are saying they will refund interest on my last loan only, as the previous 5 were paid back on time and were older. I have agreed to settle in respect on the 6th loan only, as this will be more than i will get if they too go into administration.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
2007 … but many of them make a fuss about refunding loans more than 6 years old …
Iain123 says
Slow down. How much is the difference?
Dan says
Hi all,
Quick update.
Complaints with Myjar (3 loans, £1.1k interest paid) and Lending Stream (50 loans (£3.75k interest paid) both fully rejected and sent to FOS on 12 June 2019.
Same adjudicator has looked at both, for Myjar, he states that Myjars case file they have offered to refund loans 1&2 (first I’d heard!), so he considered loan 3 only and has told them refund this loan too.
For Lending Stream he has written to them telling them to refund loans 4-50!
Both have until 5th August to respond to Adjudicator.
I am still awaiting FOS to look at my complaints against Poundstopocket, Satsuma & Bamboo.
My questions, do Myjar and LS tend to accept adjudicator decisions?
Beth McLeish says
Blimey, that’s a quick response from adjudicator! Mine got sent to FOS on 15th July 2019, so hopefully should hear something next month.
Dan says
I was surprised to hear so soon myself.
Yes fingers crossed you hear back quickly too.
Mike_p says
That’s very quick. I sent my complaints to the FOS at the beginning of April, the Lending Stream one took 2 months to get an adjudicator with a decision a month aftern that, and the MyJar one is still waiting for an adjudicator. There doesn’t seem to be any pattern as to how they pick them up.
Dan says
I didn’t even know I had an adjudicator assigned! The 2 emails were unexpected to be honest. Hopefully I hear back on the other 3 soon but not expecting anything quickly for the Poundstopocket one!
Kate says
Two good results for me this morning…… Ferratum agreed to add on £100 to the original amount of redress and this was paid within about 5 mins of them confirming the amount.
PiggyBank have agreed they mis-sold my loans and have issued redress of over £1000 which has cleared my balance of £825 plus given me £200. They have also agreed to remove the loans from my credit report……
Now waiting on Bamboo, UK Credit, Avant and Likely Loans to get back to me……..
Sara (Debt Camel) says
2 sorted is good! Make sure you have a saved copy of your credit record before any loans are removed.
Are Bamboo and UK Credit guarantor loans?
Kate says
I have a saved transunion record saved.
The UK Credit was a guarantor but the Bamboo one was given lent to me without a guarantor.
Michael says
Hi All,
I sent two complaints (Sunny & QQ) to the FOS on 03rd June. They where picked up by an adjudicator on 21st & 24th June.
I received the adjudicator decisions, 23rd & 25th July. So in total just over 7 weeks from initial complaints.
Awaiting the lender responses now.
Hopefully a sign the FOS are getting through the cases much quicker recently.
Mike
Bill says
I think the fos have got short arms and just picking up complaints at the top of the barrel, mines been with them since September 18 and heard nothing
PH says
I’m the same Bill – had a case with them since November 2018 and have just got off the phone with them about it. Despite the fact they have all of the information they require, it still hasn’t been allocated an adjudicator. When I asked them why ones that have been submitted after this have already been settled, they were unable to give a reasonable explanation, saying just that they had a backlog of cases that they are trying to work through.
Ljc says
Same as mine July 2018 and then TMS goes into whatever they are doing so can kiss goodbye to a big payout there . Just getting very disheartened with it all . I have no just two QQ and speedloan but who knows how long they will be
Jon Smith says
Yesterday the Financial Ombudsman ruled in my favour. In total I paid out £1,850 for loans 3, 4a and 4b and I paid back to QuickQuid £2,867 – so with that ruling I thought happy days I’m going to get back just over £1,000. WRONG!
I noticed the Financial Ombudsman put something extra saying I must pay a waiver to QuickQuid of £226 and this was to be deducted from any monies I was due to receive. I was fuming!
Financial Ombudsman said the following…
On my loan 4a and 4b which was for £1,050 QuickQuid offered me a settlement figure in 2016. QuickQuid said to me at the time rather than pay the £2,055 balance we’ll do you a deal and if you pay now £1,854 to clear the account we’ll close the account, so I paid it off. I assumed that the settlement was for the £1,050 loan then interest and charges on top at £804 rather than £1005.
What QuickQuid, and I’m guessing other irresponsible lenders are doing, is when making you an offer to settle for a lower amount, the lower amount is actually money taken off the ‘principle’ amount, rather than the charges or interest. Not only have I paid back QuickQuid £1,050 for loan 4a and 4b which was the initial loan amount – they are now getting an extra £201 from me on top! I’d have paid £1,251 for a £1,050 loan.
How can irresponsible lenders profit from irresponsible lending!?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This doesn’t sound right. Set out exactly what you paid to loans 4a and 4b, showing that you have already paid more than the amount borrowed, and show that to the ombudsman and ask them to look again at it.
Adam says
Hi, I recently rung up the FOS to see an update on my complaints (Sunny and LS), submitted in December 2018. They told me the LS one was still to be allocated and that and adjudicator was writing up a letter for the Sunny complaint, today I’ve received an e-mail stating that an adjudicator has been assigned to my LS complaint and feels the majority of loans should be refunded. Just thinking what is going on with my Sunny complaint as to my knowledge had an adjudicator looking into it before the LS one was picked up. Any Ideas?
Mike_p says
There doesn’t seem to be any obvious pattern to how they work. Some people are saying they are still awaiting adjudicators on complaints made last year, but others have made complaints a few months ago and had decisions already.
john says
how long is the wait for the ombudsman to make a ruling after a company refused to reply?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
who is the lender? have they supplied a case file to FOS but just ignored the adjudicator’s decision? Or not co-operated at all?
Sar says
Hi Sara and All
An ajudicator has ruled in my favour for loans 4-22 from Sunny they have till the 6th aug to accept or disagree my question is do Sunny get back to the FOS on time? Do they usually agree with adjudicators findings?
Emily says
Hi Sara,
Would I be able to complain to the company ‘Smart-Pig’ loans for students for affordability and irresponsible lending? I had three loans with them whilst I was a student between 2017-2018 and paid £575 in interest altogether. Each loan I took was £350 and I paid back £175 in interest.
Would this be a good case?
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes you can. Your argument is presumably that the interest added to the first loan left you so short you later had to borrow again. Students are on a restricted income and a lender should assess each loan carefully.
CJ says
Adjudicator picked up Lending Stream beginning of June and still no update. Been with FOS since June last year
John M says
FOS told me my QQ case going to Ombudsman stage now and they wanted to know anything else to add to my case. Adjudicator ruled massively in my favour. Does that mean soon or just in the queue like everything else for QQ? Not had anything else go this far down the line. Thanks in advance for your advice.
Iain123 says
My Adjudicator to Ombudsmen ruling took three months. Nothing you can do except wait.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s in a queue. I am hoping this queue may start to move fast if QQ agree to accept a lot of adjudicator decisions they have rejected. I think they are under some pressure from their regulator to do that.
Rachel says
A good win for me today.. i put my complaint into sunny 2018, they rejected. Adjudicator said sunny should refund loans 6-122. They have came back today and accepted. Refund of interest paid: £2433.59
Plus 8% interest: £499
Minus 20% tax: £99.80
Total refund: £2,832.79
In addition the business will amend your credit file as recommended.
Mark says
Well done. How long after the adjudicator recommended Sunny reimburse you did Sunny reply?
Andrew says
Hi,
A few years ago I successfully made a claim from sunny who paid out in full after going to the FOS. I stupidly however took many further loans out with sunny since.
i am now debt free after some tough times, my question is would it be worthwhile making a second complaint against sunny? My gut feeling is no because it was down to my stupidity this time round I was debt free after the first pay out but got myself in trouble again and went back to the payday loans?
Any thoughts on this ?
Regards,
Andrew
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Stupid of you but more fool them for letting you… After a few years gap, then I think it would be ok to lend to you again, but really they should have been on the lookout for the loans increasing in size or just carrying on. I think you should view this as a new claim – you wouldn’t get a refund from the start, but no reason why you shouldn’t after the first few loans.
Kelly says
Hi Sara (Debt Camel)
I have been recently offered a refund from QQ, they combined my P2P and QQ application and made an offer that I don’t agree with, I will be submitting a complaint to the ombudsman. They then sent me a further e-mail stating I had over paid on one of my repayments.
If I accept the refund on the over payment, will they assume that is the acceptance of the offer against my complaint? I am stuck and not sure which way to go. Thanks for your help and advise, it has been invaluable
Joseph says
Hi Kelly, to answer your question, no is the answer. If you’ve made an overpayment then that should have nothing to do with your complaint, it’s a separate issue. You should accept the overpayment refund and continue with your complaint. If in doubt, send a reply stating that you accept the refund of this overpayment but this does not conclude your complaint as both issues are separate and not linked together. Good luck!
Joseph says
Hi Sara, nothing specific but just a question I hope you can answer. I’m guessing most of these company’s use some type of algorithm to accept or decline when you ask for a loan. Why aren’t they wising up to this and change the way the computer says ‘yes or no’?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The simple answer to your question is that people using payday lenders want the money fast and with a minimum of checks. Until the regulators mandate good checks, any lender that introduces them may lose a lot of business.
The cynical answer is that they make money from unaffordable lending as few people actually complain. or win complaints about low numbers of loans.
Mike_p says
I think some of them are starting to verify your incomings/outgoings by using an online service that lets you share your bank statements with them.
When it comes to giving loans I expect they look at it in a hard nosed business manner, i.e. invest £X in giving people loans and it’s still worth it even if Y% of them make complaints. Lending Streams approach seems to be to just make it harder for people to complain!
Lukas says
Hello Sara
I have questions about Lloyds Bank overdraft charges. I’m on 5,000 overdraft from while and this is cost me really a lot money. They are charge me over 150£ each month l, it’s depense how much I used. They are know about me financiall defficult, about pay day loans and other loans. I really struggling every month. For example they are charge 6,98 for every pound . From January this year to the May they are tooked 645pounds interest for overdraft. I spoke with the lady in the bank, I suggest to reduce overdraft to 0 and give me loan Instead, but she said my credit score is to low but I have to pay those interest any way. Can you give my some advice please what I should do can I complain against them ?????
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Has your overdraft limit been increased while you have been in difficulties?
Your payday loan complaints – it sounds as though you have used several lenders for a small number of loans, so you may not get back a large enough refund to pay off much of the overdraft…
who are your other loans from, any big ones?
Do you also have credit card balances? Overall what is your debt, including this overdraft?
JJJ says
I was in the same boat as you – mine has gone to a collection agency and I will arrange to pay back a monthly ammount with no interest to pay – the charges were roughly £5 per day and now I don’t have that
Lukasz says
Hi JJJ
Can you say some more details please ???
Did you put by your self to collection agency or bank did that ???? Did you use Stepchange help ??
Thank you
Dean says
I had a adjudicator desicions for loans 6-46. Sunny camr back with an offer today for loans 25-46. I rejected. Are they likely to come back with a further offer or will this complaint go all the way? Anyone had any dealings with sunny. They missed the first adjudiactor descions and got back mid way through the second final deadline. They seem slow at replies.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They are very slow! Leave them a poor review on Trust pilot https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/sunny.co.uk saying they have ignored your adjuicator’s reasoning and made a very poor offer.
They may come back with a further offer, but I wouldn’t say this is likely. I hope Ombudsman decisions are going to be speeding up a bit, with the loss of all the Money Shop / {Payday Expres / Payday UK cases. And QQ accepting a lot more adjudicator offers.
Dean says
Do you think i was right to reject there offer. I am slightly worried that my offer may now be dismissed by ombusman They said there is around 2-3 months wait for final decisons. The difference between there offer was so poor.
Emily says
Hi,
Can I take a payday loan to the fos if I’ve accepted a reduced balance on the complaint?
Thanks,
Emily
Sara (Debt Camel) says
can you say in detail what happened?
Emily says
I have an account with Tappily (Indigo Michael Limited) I still currently owe £493.44. They upheld my complaint and withdrew like £13 interest which leaves the £493.44 think it was £511.60 before or something like that. I agreed to a reduced amount at the time but thinking about it now I don’t know whether it’s worth taking it to the fos as they agreed with my view? They won’t accept a settlement offer either. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How much interest had you paid before ? why did you accept this? Did their offer say you had the right to go to the Ombudsman?
Do you mean they won’t accept a full and final settlement offer or that they won’t accept reduced monthly payments?
Emily says
I only paid £13.48 interest. I thought it was a good idea at the time. Yes it says I can at the bottom of the letter but says there only doing what the financial ombudsman would do. Yes I’m currently paying £1 a month to them, but they won’t accept a full and final settlement offer. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you only paid £13.48 in interest then they have offered what the Financial Ombudsman would say – it is VERY rare for FOS to say you should not repay the amount you borrowed. Just sit back and pay them a £1 a month for a year or two and then offer a settlement amount.
Lukas says
Yes, they are increase my overdraft already when I was on the minus in my account, had paydays loans and gambling as well which was show on my steatment. I though this will help me but that put me into deep debt.
Currently I have:
5000£ overdraft to pay
2300£ credit card to pay from loyds
500£ satsuma loan finish on December this year.
900£ drafty to pay
Everyday loans 2000£
460£ piggy bank
Santander loan 5000£ which I pay 310 monthly to December 2020.
500£likely loan.
I had before more payday loans which I paid off and complaint but they are reject so I sent to fos.
My monthly income is 2000£
My monthly installments 710£ plus 30£ for credit card and charges for the overdraft.
Overdraft charges killing me because I pay interest but not paid back this money. Can you advice me what can I do with this overdraft charges ???
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK what I suggest you do is three things:
1) get a new basic bank account with someone you don’t owe any money to – Nationwide are good. no overdraft. Move all your banking over there, abandoning the lloyds account
2) put in an affordability complaint to lloyds, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-catalogue-credit-card/, saying they raised your limit to an unaffordable level and should not have done this and they have refused to let you have a low cost way to repay your overdraft
3) put in affordabilty complaints to Satsuma, Drafty, Piggybank using the letter on this page. don’t wait until the loan is repaid.
4) put in an affordabilty complaint to Everyday loans, Likely loans and Santander using the template on this page: https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/. Expect these to have to go to the ombudsman.
5) contact StepChange about a debt management plan (DMP). This will include the Lloyds overdraft. If you win some affordabilty complaints this will speed up your DMP but these complaints can take a long while to get sorted and a DMP gets you into a safe position while this goes through.
Have you stopped gambling? if you haven’t all this is pretty pointless….
Lukasz says
Yes I stopped long time ago. What about my credit rating after all that will be mess up.
What about if I will lose all complaints ????
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can you afford to pay all the minimum payments to your debts AND pay the overdraft fees? Or is all this meaning that you have to borrow again in many months?
Lukas says
I think Santander loan was affordable on the time when I get this loan.My trouble started later. I will complain against other lender but main think is overdraft charges and credit card from the Lloyds. Do you think is sensible to call to them and speak with customer service about that or I should open new account and complaint against them like you advise me ????
Thank you very much you a Star
Lukasz says
Thank you Sara
What about Santander bank I took loan in November 2018 and is finish in December 2020 that was very low interest only about 3,44%. Rest loans very high interest.
To be honest I was thinking about paid back Santander loan and try get mortgage from them in future. If I complain against them that may put me in back position ?????
Thank you for all your help
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You look to be a VERY long way from being able to get a mortgage at the moment. When that point comes, it won’t honestly make much difference if you can’t apply for a mortgage to Santander, will it… plenty more mortgage lenders out there.
The question is whether when you took this loan you could actually afford the c £300 a month repayments – or whether they have caused you hardship and to have to borrow from payday lenders. If the loan was affordable, don’t complain. If it wasn’t, i wouldn’t let worries about a furture mortgage stop you.
Stuart says
Adjudicator got back to me today regarding my satsuma complaint. After initially finding no wrongdoing, I then pointed out all my creditors prior to taking the loan and how it only left me with a disposable income of around £100 and he has revised his decision and said loan 3 should not have been lent to me. Just goes to show u that u dont always accept there findings.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well argued. This isn’t unusual – if you can go back with facts and details, adjudicators are usually happy to listen.
Stuarr says
Thanks. Yeah he actually mentioned in his findings that it was unlikely an ombudsman decision would be any different to his but I thought I would give it a go anyway. Hopefully satsuma accept. More importantly the default will be removed from my credit file.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“he actually mentioned in his findings that it was unlikely an ombudsman decision would be any different to his ” – this is on the bottom of every adjduicator’s decision, they all have to say that.
Dareen says
Final response from safety net credit
Wiping off my balance of £250
Refunding me £1250
Buzzing
Anyone know how quick refund is processed ?
D says
Hi
thats great news Dareen.
Was this at the end of the 8 week review period?
Regards
d
Darren says
Hi yes
The very last day
JA says
I got my refund by the next working day
Darren says
Excellent
Roll on Monday
Thanks for the reply 😊
Steve says
I got my refund from SafetyNet the next working day.
Allan says
Have had an offer from H&T. Anyone have any idea how long they take to pay?
S says
Was the through the FOS? My complaint had been with them since July 2018 and still hasn’t been picked up
Iain123 says
They don’t want to know about 6+ year loans and will appeal to an Ombudsman. If no 6+ year loans they’re pretty good, will make a reasonable offer.
Allan says
Mine loans were over 6 years old. Went to Adjudicator at the FOS who made a decision which they have agreed with. Now just waiting for payment!
Katie says
FINALLY got an offer from lending stream two days ago I’ve accepted as it’s gone on long enough 15months it was in a queue for ombudsman but Lending stream made an offer finally. Contacted them today to change bank details but have to send a statement which I’m happy to do. Was my last complaint so very happy
L says
Well done. I’m waiting on LS getting back to adjudicator. If you dont mind me asking did they respond to you within the 2 weeks? Did you only have to send a statement because your bank details have changed?
Thanks
Mike_p says
L – my adjudicator gave them 2 weeks but I’m still waiting after 3.5. She said she contacted them to ask them about it but they ignored her. I’ve also sent them a couple of messages to chase it up but they have ignored both of those as well.
L says
I thought as much. Wont get my hopes up for a quick response then. Looking at the comments it would seem they do tend to agree with adjudicator which is good.
Mike_p says
Yes there seem to have been some agreements recently. It’s very frusrating that they stall as much as possible, I’m sure they would see things differently if someone missed a loan payment and then ignored all their communication for a month!
Reen says
Hi Katie well done I have been looking out for yur posts! So they offered before the ombudsman saw it? What happened with the CCJ part of it if you dont mind me asking. I am still waiting for my adjudicator to let me know what is happening with mine!
Katie says
Yes they didn’t agree with Adjudicator so went in queue for ombudsman for 6 weeks but before ombudsman could pick it up they made an offer. My adjudicator first agreed with me beginning of April so took a while. There was no ccj ?
Reen says
Oh sorry must have been another post I was following with a CCJ! Nice to know they finally gave you an offer before the ombudsman picked it up, why they coudnt agree in the first place! Did they offer what the adjudicator had agreed in the end?
Katie says
I know exactly but they like to drag things out. Yes they agreed with my adjudicator in the end
Michael says
Hey any one help with this one, have accepted and signed qq on the 1/7/19, I thought that this means they have 28 days in which to pay, so today I get this email
Thank you for your patience regarding this matter. We received notification of your acceptance to our settlement offer. This email is to confirm that £XXXX.Xx has been processed to your bank account ending in XXXX. In relation to your FOS settlement, your account has been anonymized in accordance with GDPR. Therefore, your redress was processed via Electronic Funds Transfer. It is the fastest available method of getting the funds to you. Please note that Electronic Funds Transfer takes up to 7-21 working days for your funds to be available. We apologise for any inconvenience
Any help??
R says
Can you say who the lender is? Someone might then have experience of a refund from the company to try to help you?
Michael says
It’s quickquid, or try and delay everything for as long as possible quid as I like to now call them
R says
OK, when I was refunded (by QuickQuid) they called me to confirm bank details. This was about 7 o’clock at night and the funds were in my account by 9 o’clock that same night. They may have changed slightly, but they tend to send them via faster payments, the same as their loans?
Antonia says
Congratulations btw! Did your QQ complaint go through to the Ombudsman stage. How long did it take from there to get the final outcome?
sandra says
I got this email from Quick Quid and the funds were in my account within 2 hours.
Katie says
When qq agreed with mine I called them with correct bank details and they did it straight away
Louise says
Hi all,
I’ve just received a response from Uncle Buck. My loans with them were:
04/04/15 – 14/05/15 – borrowed £225 – interest £68.40
08/06/15 – 03/09/15 – £150 – £74.19
20/11/15 – 18/02/16 – £150 – £79.40
25/05/16 – 04/08/16 – £275 – £91.79
14/09/16 – 28/11/16 – £200 – £70.28
06/07/17 – 28/09/17 – £250 – £105.46
21/10/17 – 26/01/18 – £450 – £259.79
19/02/18 – 25/05/18 – £200 – £81.64
30/05/18 – 28/09/18 – £350 – £225.84
30/11/18 – 07/06/19 – £500 – £499.11
They have offered to refund loans 9 and 10 because:
“Although I am satisfied that your applications underwent sufficient credit and affordability checks, I can see that there was no significant borrowing gap when we funded loan nine and your borrowing increased to £500 on loan ten. I don’t consider we were reasonable to approve these loans without probing your finances further”
Obviously I’m not really satisfied with this. What do FOS consider a significant borrowing gap?
For example, there’s less than a month between loans 6 and 7, and the loan went from £250 to £450, then less than a month again between 7 and 8.
And between loans 4 and 5 there is just over a month.
I had multiple other loans from other lenders at the same time so do you think this is a good case for FOS?
Btw I’ve just accepted a Piggybank redress of £1700, thank you!!
D says
I’m no expert but you’ll probably only be offered refunds from around loans 5 or 6 to 10.
Looking at the values of interest paid I’d maybe be inclined to accept as the FOS may be a long wait for not very much more in way of monies refunded.
That’s just me though.
Good luck
D says
In fact going by the dates I think the best you’ll get there is 6 through to 10
Sara (Debt Camel) says
As you say the gaps between 6,7 and 7,8 are small and 7 was larger than any loan so far. It’s very likely FOS would say refunds 7 and 8 as well. Any earlier ones will depend on just how bad your credit record was getting – assuming you didn’t have any missed payments on the earlier loans with UB, if you did then the refund should probably start earlier.
You could go back to UB and say you will accept their offer if they include 7 and 8?
Emily says
Hi Sara,
Please could you help me calculate the 8% interest on these loans? The interest in total is £675.
11/10/2017 – 02/01/2018 borrowed £350 paid back £575
05/02/2018 – 16/04/2018 borrowed £350 paid back £575
20/04/2018 – 24/08/2018 borrowed £350 paid back £575
Thanks,
Emily
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Without a calculator that looks a bit over £50
Matt says
I am hoping that someone can advise me what to. I made an affordability complaint with THL direct and whilst they did not uphold my complaint they offered me a settlement on my outstanding balance (capital repayment only). The letter I received from them had the usual blurb about complaining to the FOS if I am not happy with their decision. It also said if we do not hear from you (no time frame specified) that they would consider the matter closed and the full amount would become payable.
I received a small bonus this month and so I was in a position to pay the settlement figure and wrote to THL yesterday to confirm this.
However, this morning I received out of the blue a text from a debt company called OPOS limited saying I owe them a debt in respect of THL and that THL has passed the debt to them and it was for the full amount and not the settlement amount offered by THL. I did not receive anything from THL about this and I am absolutely livid. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How long ago was your reply from THL? How many loans did you have from them?
And does the letter from the debt collector say they are collecting the debt on behalf of THL or they have bought the debt from THL?
Matt says
Hi Sara,
I received their response about 8 weeks ago, however I was waiting to make sure I could afford the settlement amount before I accepted it.
I have not heard anything from either THL or OPOS until I got a text this morning so I logged on to the OPOS account with the reference number they sent me.
I believe from the details on the account that OPOS are acting on behalf of THL “our client – THL” but not 100% sure.
I went on to the online chat at OPOS to get some background and they said I can only deal with them and not THL,”?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how many loans did you have from THL before this last loan? How large was the last loan?
Matt says
I had 2 previous loans with them in Nov and dec 2017 and defaulted on a loan from Feb 2018. The principal amount was £400. That is the amount THL offered as a settlement and OPOS are saying they want me to pay £800.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, I suggest you tell OPOS that THL said you could settle the balance for £400 and you have been getting the money to do this, which you now can. Add that if this is refused, you will be sending the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman. But if OPOS say No, I would reply to THL first, saying you want to accept their offer but OPOS won’t consider it.
Debbie says
Hi all, when you sent your complaint to FOS did you get a ref num? Piggy bank have asked for one to put on my account but When I sent my complaint to FOS I just received an email reply but no ref num or anything.
Mike_p says
Debbie – I just looked through my emails and they sent me reference numbers for my complaints. I didn’t get them immediately though, they came a number of weeks after I had submitted the complaint and when they had started asking the business for information.
I don’t think you need to tell Piggy Bank anything though, I just sent the FOS copes of all the communication I’d had with the lender and they just picked it up and gave me a decision a few months later.
Debbie says
Thanks mike was a little worried in case I’d done it wrong just needed reassurance I’ll let piggy bank know when I get one they will get it too sure they must know how it works by now anyway, thanks again all the best in your claims.
Terry nicholls says
I emailed mr lender on the 16th july, had a phone call off them on the 23rd said they would refund the interest on the last of six loans, i said i would accept the offer. Had money in my bank on the 25th,
Rebecca says
hi an adjudicator has ruled in my favour with sunny and they was given two weeks to respond it has now nearly been four weeks. I have left them three or four trust pilot reviews, I got one email and they said it would be looked into. Has anyone waited this long for them to respond and is there any other way of contacting them. I have emailed elevate two weeks ago but there’s no answer on that either. So frustrating!
P bird says
Sunny has just rejected an adjudicators decision to refund me 22 unaffordable loans… I am now waiting for a ombudsman to pick up the case.. been waiting since September 2018 for this to be picked up….. I was silly to get an CMC before I found this site.. so if everyone reads this PLEASE do it yourself….. my credit file is the most important thing to me now ,the money is a bonus as i never thought I’d get it bk enyway… good luck everyone
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Time to leave them a poor review on Trust Pilot: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/sunny.co.uk. It may not make a difference as they have already rejected yours, but why not tell potential customers what you think of Sunny.
P bird says
Just left one Sara, hopefully people heed my warnings about them!
DD says
Hi all,
Not sure if this has been mentioned before but I received a letter from Mr lender attaching copies of my loans with them and they have also directly quoted this website and said they have seen an influx of customers quoting from a template letter. Clearly they’ve been looking at the site.
Mike_p says
They are obliged to look at any complaint you make, it doesn’t matter if you have used a template to make sure you covered everything correctly. The FOS will look at complaints objectively, they will only rule against a lender if they did something wrong in the first place. The only reason a lender would mention template letters is because they know they have done wrong and want to try and devalue your complaint in the hope that it will put you off taking it to the FOS.
I had a similar response from Uncle Buck whiich I found completely bizarre as the letter they sent was clearly a template itself and contained lots of standard paragraphs.
Chris says
Well, Day 23, still no refund from Lending Stream. Looks like I’m not going to be lucky and will go the whole timeframe. Just want to put this mess behind me. They didn’t acknowledge I’d accepted the offer until Monday 22nd July (I accepted on the 4th). I’ll be fuming if they’ve started the 28 days from then and not the acceptance date….did anyone else get a refund initiated email from them? How long after that did you have the refund? Stressed and frustrated!
Mike_p says
They are terrible for stalling – when you apply “we’ll start streaming the cash to your bank in under 90 seconds” yet it takes 28 days when they have to pay a refund. Some people have suggested phoning them every day to chase it through
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I’m not convinced trying to hassle them does anything more than increase your stress levels.
Paul says
I’m intrigued to know, with it being day 28, have you been paid out?
Chris says
Hi Paul, here’s an update from further down the page on my situation.
“So I just called Lending Stream….the lady on the phone was very nice, so there’s something good about them! So I’ve been told now that the 28 day timeframe started from when I confirmed my bank details on the 15th July and not from 4th July when I accepted. They were supposed to contact me about the bank details but didn’t so I rang them in the end. Wish I’d done that sooner! So it looks like I’m now 15 days in. She’s assured me I will have my refund in the next 13 days and that she’ll expedite it with the Manager because of the confusion. Whether that part will happen I don’t know!
Another twist in the saga!”
So I’m on Day 17 now, nothing yet. But if you reach that stage, call with your bank details immediately after getting their offer and a settlement form sent back. I did ask my adjudicator to let them know my bank details are correct but he didn’t do this, which I’m not happy about. So don’t rely on FOS to do that, ring LS and do it yourself. The clock starts from there.
eddy says
Hi guys,
i had my complaint rejected by mr Lender as there was only 4 loans,
my counter arguement to them is that the loans increased drastically in size from the first loan to the 4th loan. the very first loan i had to rollover with them,
i had to take extra money in loan 3 just to repay loan 2.
and the biggest gap between my borrowing was only 2 days. i was on a debt management plan at the time which put all my other loans into arrears which surely should have flagged up if they did checks.
is it worth taking this further considering there was only 4 loans?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How large were each of the loans? Which loans did you roll and how often?
Eddy says
The first loan was only 150. A few days later they gave me and additional 450. Which I rolled over twice.
Then in order to pay off that loan they gave me another 550. Which repaid the first loan the next day.
I tried to make a repayment plan with them to stop having to rollover. Instead they gave me another loan for 750 to clear loan 3.
The 4 loans were all taken within 4 months. With maximum of 2 days between. Sometimes they gave me more funds before I had cleared the existing loans.
My thought is to ask them for a breakdown showing all rollovers etc. And to refund the last loan.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The last loan has been repaid? If it has, then settling for a refund of interest on that seems like a sensible compromise offer. If you want to the Ombudsman that’s probably what you would get but there is a chance you could get a refund on loans 3 as well. If they say no, send it to FOS!
Eddy says
Last loan is repaid. I’m guessing that most rejection letters are the same. That they don’t see how the loans were unaffordable.taking the top up and rollover into account along with increasing amounts and no break between I’m going to ask them for loan 4 refund and see what they sayv
eddy says
so i emailed Mr lender regarding the baove and stating the rollovers, no break in borrowing etc and prposed that they refund loan 4 interest.
had a response today and they have agreed to refund all of loan 4 interest!
Not a bad result considering the final decision was that they rejected my complaint!
now thats sorted i can move onto my bigger loans, such as myjar and quickwuid!
Thanks Sara
CJK says
Adjudicator picked up Lending Stream beginning of June and still no update. Been with FOS since June last year
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ask your adjudicator if there is any more information you can provide – a polite nudge.
Chaz says
So I thought I would share where I am at to help others on here with some hope. I have had over the past year only, 2 loans from Satsuma, two from Sunny, 3 from 118 loans (over 2 years), 2 from barclays (over 4 years), 1 from hitachi (3 years ago), 3 from lending stream, 3 from myjar, 2 from swiftsterling, 1 from moneyboat, 1 from mr lender, 1 from unclebuck, 2 from 247 moneybox and one from pounds to pocket. I sent letters of complaint or emails to all of them over the last 2 months
I would like to keep you all updated as I go along – I had a terrible 12 months – got into loads of debt and couldn’t fight it until I confessed to a family member who helped me out. Now it is time to fightback, they lent to me when I was in a bad place, many of them gave me instant decisions, no looking at my bank statements, no care about what state I was in financially, I have credit cards and store cards too!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you still owe money to any of these?
Unless the loans were large, you are likely to find it hard to win a complaint about 1 or 2 loans. If the loans were large, have you read https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/ and asked for a SAR? That’s the best approach for large loans where you only had 1 or 2.
Also the order of the loans matters, the first few may have been Ok, the later ones should have seen all the earlier borrowing on you credit record.
Chaz says
118 money – cleared all 3 loans from credit file, reimbursed me all interest + 8% (roughly £700) and wrote off my last loan of £1400 – great success
Satsuma – denied any wrongdoing
Sunny – denied any wrongdoing
Moneyboat – really rude and threatening letter about saying what I put on application for loan was different to what I stated in letter and therefore I was actually breaking the law – Yes I did do this but when you are borrowing money to pay off another loan you literally would do anything! -advice on this needed but as it was only one loan and I paid it off I thought I would just leave it.
Lending Stream – denied any wrongdoing
Uncle Buck – denied any wrong doing
Mr Lender – still had £274 left to pay on a small loan of £300 but as a gesture of goodwill have offered me the chance to just pay the £163 outstanding to cover the £300 borrowed – do I accept? That loan only a month or so old when I wrote to complain
Swift Sterling – loan was for £1000 – took out in April and started repaying in May, £372 per month – they offered to wipe the interest on it so I only have to pay up to what I borrowed – again do I accept? They said it was a gesture of goodwill.
Chaz says
Myjar – said they did nothing wrong, have offered me the chance to pay whatever I can each month – do I accept this or take it further?
Pounds to pocket (now onstride) – denied any wrongdoing – really confusing email but not upheld my complaint – sent to ombudsmen and already received a response.
Sent complaint to barclays about the second loan as I topped it up via my app on my phone, so easy to do and no questions asked. I received feedback forms about my complaint as it was now ‘closed’ but never actually received anything so have emailed again about this.
Hitachi – not gone to yet but it is on my list.
247 moneybox – not gone to them yet but again is on my list.
I still owe 247, lending stream, swift sterling, uncle buck, barclays, hitachi, bamboo, pounds to pocket, myjar and satsuma. Some small amounts and some larger ones. I am getting there and it is far more manageable and this thread has helped so much already.
JA says
Congrats on your success and good lucky on the other cases.
I’d strongly advise from experience to get the 247 underway as they are very very slow are responding to anything.
Emily says
Hi,
My complaint with Satsuma loans (provident) is currently at the FOS and my adjudicator agreed that loans 4-7 should be upheld. The original deadline for the business to respond was the 25th July, but they didn’t. They have now extended the deadline a further two weeks to the 9th August. If they don’t reply then again, will it go in the queue for the ombudsman? Or will it be quicker because they haven’t replied?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I like the idea of fast tracking the “ignored” cases through to a final decision! But unfortunately it’s not the way FOS works. I’m afraid your complaint will go into the Ombudsman queue. I’m hoping this will be moving faster now Money Shop, Payday Express and Payday UK complaints aren’t being worked on. And if QQ starts accepting adjudicator decisions that will make a big difference.
Emily says
Hi, thank you. I just hope they will respond before this next deadline.
Zoe says
Hi Emily,
I have been waiting nearly 6 weeks for a response from Satsuma.
Although my adjudicator hasn’t heard a thing from them not even a request for more time, on Friday I received a letter from Moorcroft (who Satsuma sold my debt to ) saying Satsuma were making arrangements to buy the debt back.
So although they are taking ages to respond they do appear to be doing something with my case behind the scenes. So don’t be too disheartened with the wait it seems most companies are just very behind processing the adjudicators decisions.
C says
Hello Sara,
I’ve just received my final response from piggy bank saying they are not upholding my complaint as they did not lend irresponsibly. Despite me having a loan showing with amigo £7000, a loan with satsuma showing as £316 and a loan with mr lender showing £690 and a default for £1111. They declined my loan application when I didn’t have the loan with mr lender but when I applied again a month later after getting my mr l loan they accepted me for £800! I have copied an pasted what they have said is it worth taking it to the FOS or not? Thanks
‘Checks to your credit file did confirm some historical adverse information, however, payday loans are available for those who are unable to obtain traditional forms of credit. For this reason, adverse information in the credit file isn’t automatically considered a reason not to lend.
I am satisfied that the checks undertaken for this loan were sufficient. I say this because you had recently started your lending relationship with PiggyBank and in consideration of the available information, in conjunction with the proportionate checks, there wasn’t anything Piggybank should’ve been aware of which meant we needed to start verifying what you were saying. Furthermore, checks on your credit file did not show any recent adverse information to indicate you were facing financial difficulty, nor did it show a dependency on short term loans. Therefore, I cannot agree PiggyBank have acted irresponsibly in granting this loan to you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think £800 is a large loan. Had anything on your credit record improved between applying one month and being refused (how much was that application for?) and applying the next month and being accepted?
C says
Nothing had improved on my credit when I was approved just another debt was added on there which was MR L. So I don’t understand. The application was for a lower amount when I got declined by piggybank the first time. They also said that ‘’You informed us that your credit commitments were £XXX and PiggyBank’s Underwriting Team saw that these were £244.65 at the time of application. This is completely wrong because my amigo loan is £276 a month, the satsuma is £63 & Mr L is always over £100. So how did they come up with £244.65 if they done sufficient checks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you send this to FOS. Do that now and also send Piggybank a request (email to help@piggy-bank.co.uk with a subject line of Subject Access Request) for a copy of all your personal information, that should show you what Piggybank saw.
C says
Do you think i should ask them to reconsider or just go straight to the FOS?. I have until the end of August until I will have to set up a payment plan with them. I will request for the sar now thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well you could go back and ask them to look again, but I would put a strict time limit on it “I will be sending the complaint to FOS in 10 days if you don’t get back to me with an offer to refund the interest I have paid”.
Go into detail about how they declined an application for £x one month than accepted a higher application the next month when your credit record showed you owed more.
C says
Hi Sara,
Sorry it’s me again lol. I’ve asked them to re consider and this is the response I received ‘ ‘Whilst I cannot find any evidence to suggest PiggyBank have lent to you irresponsibly, I am prepared to offer a gesture of goodwill and remove all interest and charges to allow you to solely repay the principal borrowed of £800.00. This totals £234.67 and will be offset against your loan to reduce your current balance from £397.40 to £162.73.’’
This is all they have offered to do, I know if I accept this I will not be able to push it to the FOS at a further stage. So I’m not entirely sure on what to do ?
Kunal Mistry says
Hi all.
Just wanted to know has anyone that has sent there quickquid complaint to the financial ombudsman got any offers or successful responses from them. Sent my case to FO about a year ago, asked them what’s going on and they said:
“However we are considering whether your case, and a number of others, are in fact out of time and this review is taking some time”
Thanks
Be says
I complained to QQ last June, sent it to the FO about 3 months later as they took that long to respond. Was stuck for over a year only, 2 weeks ago was it reviewed by an adjudicator it’s now gone to an ombudsman as QQ didnt agree. I was advised that I may send other info up tp 7th August but sent it all last year. i await my response hoping it will be upheld.
Terry nicholls says
The last loan I had with swift sterling, I failed to pay, I was having loans to pay loans, they sold the debt to a dca, they took it to court, I put in a defence and won the case, the debt was wipe, would it be pushing it if I put in an unaffordabilty complaint, for the other loans I had. the loans were between sept 2011 and april 2012
Sara (Debt Camel) says
As your loans were pre 2016, they were taken out with a lender based in Malta, not the UK. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/swift-sterling-pounds-till-payday/ for how to make a complaint againt them as you cannot go to the Financial Ombudsman … but as a matter of practicality, the age of your loans is going to make this difficult and you may well think that winning your court case against was the best you could do.
Terry nicholls says
That is what i was thinking, the amout of the lone was a lot more than the interest that I “might” get back.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you had your revenge :)
Jen says
Hello, thanks to your website advice and templates. I wrote to quick quid at the end of May using the templates and by the end of June I had a refund of over £7000 in my bank account! Amazing! Thank you!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
nice one!
Sian says
Hi all,
I complained to Myjar about several loans I took with them over the years one being a 24month loan that I am currently still owing a balance on. In the final response they stated “Loan 4 is a 24-month product which we have not included in our investigation as it is not a high cost short term credit (HCSTC) product”. They did not uphold my complaint for the other loans but gave no reason as to background checks or anything done on the longer loan? Surely if I am complaining about affordability they need to consider all aspects of my account and all borrowing conducted regardless of whether it is a long term or short term loan?
Thanks
Sian
Dale says
I battled with myjar, provide them with bank statements to prove the unaffordability on the loans. They will reconsider, but will play hardball.
Gemma says
Same happened to me had various 12 month loans, the last a 24month loan They didn’t uphold my complaint. Went to Ombudsman, they upheld my complaint. My Jar agreed with them. The outstanding balance has been cleared and I’ve also been refunded interest on previous loans
Darren says
Safetynet credit say I have to wait till next Friday before my refund will be actioned .
Although most people say they got it the next working day
Tick tock ☹️
Mandy says
How long did you wait until you received your final response?? Also did they make you pay a minimum payment on your balance each month when your complaint is investigated?
Tom p says
Chris – Sorry to say that they will take the 28 days from the acknowledgment date, so i would envisage your in for a long wait again. LS are by far the worst of all the PDL companies
Chris says
Hi Tom, thanks for the info.
Day 25 and still nothing. I’ve prepared myself for it. Absolute joke. The guy I spoke to on the phone at LS a few weeks back said it would be 28 days from the 4th July but I knew I couldn’t believe anything they said. My Adjudicator doesn’t seem to want to know either now it’s in LS’s hands, never get a reply. Very stressful and frustrating.
Haven’t really got a choice now but to sit and wait. :(
Chris says
Hi Tom, thanks for the info. I’ve prepared myself for that. Absolute joke. I spoke to someone at LS a few weeks back and got told it would be 28 days from July 4th but knew not to take their word. My Adjudicator doesn’t seem to want to know either now it’s in LS’s hands, never get a response.
Very stressful and frustrating. :(
Mike_p says
Is the 28 days something that the adjudicator stipulates or is it something that Lending Stream have come up with?
R says
Hi Mike,
The 28 days is allowed by the FOS for a company to oat redress within. Most companies pay well before this point but other companies seek to take advantage of this timeframe to just frustrate the process I think.
Joseph says
Just a heads up for everyone.. Lending Stream didn’t remove the loans from my credit history and after waiting 2 months I told my adjudicator, he wrote an email to them stating was unacceptable (blah blah) and they’ve apologised and given me £100 compensation! If they don’t do it in the 45 days tell you adjudicators guys!
James says
I’ve had a couple of cases this week that have been ruled on by the adjudicator but ignored or disgreed with my the company (Valour Finance and Active Securities). These have now gone into the queue for the the Ombudsman to look at.
I know its impossible to give an exact time, but in terms of going from an ignored adjudicator decision to the ombudsman what is the queue roughly? Is it likelyto be another year (as it was in the queue to the adjudicator) or only a couple of weeks?! Just a rough estimate would be massivley appreciated!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
2-6 months is typical. Faster and slower happens sometimes.
jamesh says
Thanks :-)
Oracle 85 says
Adjudicator found in my favour loans 2-6 after QQ initially only said I had 2 loans with them. I provided FOS with QQ statements and bank statements which did the trick. All loans over 6 years old and for increasing amounts. Rang FOS today for update one week after adjudicator decision and QQ rejected the decision so now in queue for ombudsmen and a wait of 1-12 months. Hoping they dont go bust before I get refunded already lost out with wonga, WDA and money shop! On a positive note did win 600 from 1 month loan so thanks for brilliant website Sara!
Iain123 says
Adjudicator to Ombudsmen took three months for my QQ complaint.
ClaireR says
Things definitely moving in regards to QQ/P2P, Just had a call from Adjudicator who has picked up my case.
My loans with QQ go back to 2011-2013 with 15 loans in that time, and one with P2P in the middle of all those.
He advised it may take up to 90 days to get back to me, but fingers crossed.
My complaint was sent to FOS in August Last year.
Good luck to all.
daveyd says
My QQ.. Sent July 2017
QQ Rejected through adjudicator decision April 2019
Upto 12 months for ombudsman Ive been told
Farce
Loans taken out 2011-2013
Mike says
Hello,
I have just received a reply fro the financial ombudsman rejecting my claim as it falls outside the time limits to make a a claim against the payday company. I tock out the payday loan about 13 years ago, but did not try and claim for this till last year. Is there anything I can do?
Kind Regards
Mike
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can’t claim for a loan before April 2007. before that date FOS couldn’t look at loan related complaints. No way round this cut-off point, sorry.
Iain123 says
Sunny complaint?
Sunny’s parent company, Elevate, report their quarterly results tonight at 10pm, after the US markets close.
Let’s hope profits are up they don’t mention their UK arm.
Joseph says
Hi Sara, what do you make on Sunny’s quarterly results? Are the still going strong or do they look to be in trouble?
Iain123 says
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190729005669/en/Elevate-Credit-Announces-Quarter-2019-Results
No mention of the UK branch, business is profitable, so no worries about going into administration.
Stu says
Hi all, QQ rejected the Adjudicator decision so looks like it’s going to ombudsman for a 6-12 month wait.
On the upside 247 moneybox upheld my complaint today which I have accepted, does anybody know how long they take to pay out?
Steve says
I got my refund from 247 Moneybox within 7 days of acceptance, I found them quick to payout.
Stu says
Brilliant, cheers mate 👍
be says
why so long for ombudsman? Mine just gone and the said i have till 7th aug to send any other docs to support before they review.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
6-12 months sounds like a worst case to me. It may well be quicker.
Stu says
That’s what I was told when called them, like Sara said it’s probably worst case. I have waited over a year for adjudicator decision so another 6 months won’t matter, its worth about 6k so happy to wait.