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?
Carol says
hello, i’ve had a response from Peachy regarding my complaint……do i send them what they are asking for ? many thanks.
Thank you for contacting Peachy Loans.
We are most sorry to learn that you have been dissatisfied with the service we have provided and can confirm that we will be conducting a thorough investigation of your concerns. Once we have completed this, we will write to you again.
To ensure we are able to adequately assess the complaint, we would kindly ask you to provide the following:
• Copies of your bank statements (for the period of your loan/s with us)
• Your payslips (from the time of your loan/s with us)
• Any additional evidence of your financial circumstances at the time.
We will assess the subject matter of the complaint and provide you with our assessment and our decision on it in no later than 8 weeks (by 31/12/2019).
Please find enclosed a copy of our internal Complaints Procedure for your information.
Please take time to read this as it explains how we will deal with your complaint and when we will contact you again.
Additionally, we would like to inform you that we have ceased all recovery activity for 60 days whilst investigating your complaint. Please bear in mind that this means we will not be collecting your upcoming payment automatically and this may result in your account going overdue.
Kerry says
I had 9 loans with Peachy. I did not send them any info across apart from the template letter and they sent me my decision on the final day of the 8 weeks to confirm they were upholding loans 5-9.
April says
I received a response yesterday, it went into my spam folder so I’ve only seen it today.
247 made me a really fair offer and I’ve accepted.
Hopefully they’ll pay out soon!
Em says
Well I got my offer via resolver and it’s a very good one which wipes out my outstanding balance of £590 plus gives me another £500 in my bank. Really happy with the way 247 have dealt with this.
April says
That’s great news! Although they take the full 8 weeks they seem to be making fair offers without making the process difficult like alot of others
SN says
Hi Sara
I have followed your advise (thanks so much) and Drafty have responded today with the below, could you please advise on how to respond? As I believe had they have conducted checks monthly as the claim they would have realised my outgoings were typically 300-500 over my monthly earnings as I snowballed with payday loans which meant I repeatedly borrowed as soon as I paid them to survive, as well as taking out multiple loans which is evident on my credit file. I’m not proud of this, but I am trying to put things right.
They have however come back saying that they verified my income (using a third party?) and that they checked my credit rating was satisfactory and my other credit obligations but I know this would not have been the case
They then said they checked every month, which again they would have realised I was in serious trouble. But they are saying they did not see any financial distress.
“we conclude that all proper and proportionate affordability checks were conducted at both the initiation of the credit agreement as well as on an ongoing basis. “
They never asked for any evidence to prove either my income or expenses, how do I respond here?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You send your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman. Drafty don’t negotiate.
Do you still owe them money? And a lot of other lenders?
SN says
Hi Sara
Yes I still owe them around £1300. I have around 7 other lenders, all of which I have put complaints with and have payment arrangements with.
Drafty have been a nightmare from the outset I called them in March to arrange a payment plan and they automatically sent me to CRS and even they agreed I should only be paying £29 a month, and Drafty have since registered a default on September even though I had evidence of them confirming they wouldn’t – I have challenged this and they explained they registered it due to a “technical fault” but that still doesn’t make what they’ve done okay. Since I’ve now had the final response I will go straight to FOS. Thanks so much.
Il keep you posted on the other complaints, hoping SNC, Myjar, buddy, amigo, peachy, Piggybank, mr lender, H&t and 24/7 uphold them. Been 4 weeks so far and only had 5 acknowledgments and no outcomes
Debbie says
So got a rely from my adjudicator today to say lending stream have to pay back loans 4-12 I’ve accepted what he as said he as also sent of the letter to lending stream so now the wait begins, also is it when (if) lending stream agrees with the adjudicators decision that the 28days start.
Mike_p says
Lending Stream have to respond to the decision first, the adjudicator usually gives them a couple of weeks to respond but they usually drag it out to at least four and ignore you and the adjudicator if you ask about progress. If they make an offer then you need to decide whether to accept it or not, if you accept it then that’s when the 28 days starts. They usually put off paying you as long as they can and sometimes go over it.
Nicki says
Ok so I have now had the following reply from Lending Stream :-
Further to the complaint registered by you, please share any additional information which was not provided at the time of applying for loans with Lending Stream. Please send these details by replying to this email, at the earliest but within the next two weeks.
My complaint is about 32 loans between 2015 & 2018. As I was in a continuous borrowing cycle (& also using various other payday lenders) & also had a debt management plan & by 2017, mortgage & council tax arrears, clearly my credit report should have shown this. I probably ‘under declared’ my outgoings when I made the applications. They must realise that people do this. How should I respond? What are they expecting me to send them? I can’t really send 3 years worth of bank statements!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you reply that should have seen your multiple payday loans, debt management plan and mortgage arrears on your credit records. And the number of loans you had from Lending Stream by itself should have suggested that you had become dependent on their loans so they should either have stopped or asked for verification of all your income and expenses.
Paula says
Heard from my adjudicator today re Uncle Buck, they have offered £79 and the adjudicator had recommended £900. I have escalated the complaint so god knows how long I will need to wait now.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry to hear that :(
Leave them a bad review on Trust Pilot: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/unclebuck.co.uk
And why not tell the FCA? They won’t look at your complaint but as UB’s regulator, they may want to be told when a lender is dismissing FOS adjudicator decisions…
I think you could also tell the FCA. The FCA won’t investigate your complaint, that is FOS’s role, but as Sunny’s regulator you let them know of such a very bad decisions. It’s just a simple email to send:
The email should go to consumer.queries@fca.org.uk.
Also cc: it to charley@unclebuck.co.uk and steve@unclebuck.co.uk (compliance and CEO respectively)
Use “Uncle Buck 805144 poor complaint handling” as the email subject line.
Give a couple of lines about your loans – how many, how large, which years. Then say what the adjudicator decided and what UB has offered.
If you thought UB’s original reply was insulting or aggressive, also mention that!
End by saying you know the FCA won’t investigate but you though as UB’s regulator they should be aware of UB’s poor complaint handling.
Debbie says
Sorry mike do they normally make an counter offer so you know? I read they was accepting more decisions from the fos don’t really wanna negotiate with them now not like they negotiate in anyway.
Mike_p says
The decision goes to both you and lending Stream, either of you can disagree if you aren’t happy with it and supply further information to argue points.
Lending Stream seem to be agreeing with the decisions from what I’ve heard on here. With me they made an in line offer, i.e. the offer they made matched what the adjudicator said. The adjudicator decision will usually say which loans to refund on, the interest to apply etc and the offer from Lending Stream will show all the figures they have calculated and give a final figure. Make sure you check it have some people have been discrepancies in the offer they made (mysteriously always too low!)
They are one of the worst lenders to deal with and will make everything as slow and difficult as they can, but lots of people have been paid out by them. It took about 7 months in total for me but I ended up with a nice £1500 refund.
Debbie says
I’m hopeful they will agree then as the adjudicator said to refund 4-12 I don’t know what the interest is on the adjudicators reply it says highest payment doesn’t say how much interest I’ve paid I’ve also never received this from lending stream.
Mike_p says
If you go on your account you can get a list of payments you made towards each loan and work out the interest from that. There is also a statement of account you are meant to be able to download for each loan but it mine doesn’t work for some reason.
Click transaction history on the home page in your account, scroll down the page and there will be a “Transaction History” title. Under that is a drop down menu where you can select a loan number, if you select the loan number you are intersted in then underneath it will show all payments you made to that loan.
Debbie says
Mike you are magic lol thank you so much.
Tom says
Hi Sara ,
Just wanted to thank you for creating this website and everyone that shared there experiences and feedback with us .I have recently submitted a number of complaints and wanted to update you on the first valid response I have received . My claim with SCN was submitted around 3 weeks ago .I have received a redress value of 78% of total paid interest over a lay 18 months .After accepting the redress value I have received an email and monies in my account today .They have dealt with my complaint very efficiently and fairly. Still have 6 other companies to deal with , but without this website and feedback I wouldn’t have considered complaining .Thank you and good luck !
c says
Is there any way to get a summary of lending from Sunny as my bank statements only go back to 2015 but I know I’ve been lending off them for years prior to that? I have submitted a subject access request and affordability complaint to them so am hoping that this will give me the information.
Adam says
C.
Sunny took months to send them details to the FOS but i requested myself of them took 2 weeks. So you can request and they have to give them you, sadly sunny are not great at replying to any form of communication.
From Adam
Chez says
Hi Sara
I received an email today from Uncle Buck not upholding my claim for six loans. In their reply they accused me of application fraud as I did not disclose my DMP. This may be true but had they checked my bank statements they would have seen this and also many gambling transactions. My question is would it be worth going through the Fos or are Uncle Buck in a position to pursue me for a false application. Thankyou
Sara (Debt Camel) says
UB often says this to people. I haven’t seen them – or any other payday lender – actually try this!
Something isn’t “fraud” until you did it deliberately to cause them financial loss, but you actually repaid these loans, didn’t you…
There would have been indications of your DMP on your credit record if they had bothered to look.
If you go to FOS then you are likely to get some of the later loans refunded.
Chez says
Hi
Yes I repaid all of them in full. Thanks for your help.
James says
Hi just like to update on mine, I called satsuma Monday they stayed someone from their FOS team would respond to the FOS adjudicator by the end of this week, I gave them a call today where the member of satsuma FOS team has sent their answer to ‘management’ to sign off … which will hopefully be an agreed reddress with the FOS..& I would be contested early next week… I’m not there but I honestly don’t think I’m being told lies anymore… fingers crossed
SimonN says
A lot on here is understandably negative given the situation but I have to praise Piggy Bank for their handling of my complaint. I now, after redress only owe then the principal of £600 and we have agreed a payment plan I can afford and removal of negative information on my credit record.
Given my other complaints are dragging on, including 2 to FOS so far, I take this as a win.
R7one says
First bit of success – hopefully.
Spoke to Mr Lender complaints this week and discussed loans.
I probably could have got more if I took it to the FOS, on this occasion I decided to accept their current offer of refunding 2 of the loans as we agreed the others were more than 60 days apart.
Just waiting for them to send funds, which I’m told will take 3 to 5 days.
Elizabeth says
Hi,
Has anyone had any dealings with moneyboat? I put in a complaint regarding the 5 loans I had with them regarding affordability. They came back with a very aggressive letter threatening fraud etc. This was April this year. I sent my complaint to the financial Ombudsman. They have upheld my complaint and have informed moneyboat that loans 4 & 5 should not have been issued and have asked that I be refunded interest charges & 8% interest as well as loan 5 being completely removed from my credit file. They were given 2 weeks to respond. 2 weeks was up yesterday and there has been nothing.
Can they just ignore the ombudsman assessment?
I also complained to Mr Lender they came to an agreement with me and I was refunded £800 once I agreed the redress was transferred same day to my bank account.
Wage day advance am due £1,290 back but as they went into administration don’t know how much of that I will receive. Also the same with the money shop.
Has anyone received their refund from moneyboat?
Thanks
Mike_p says
I’ve never dealt with Moneyboat but it’s quite common for the lenders to be difficult and drag things out. Lending Stream took 4 weeks to responds after my adjudicator gave them two weeks, and ignored both me and her when we asked for updates.
Joe says
Safety net credit overpaid me by 195 and now there asking for it back but a can keep 50 for myself. What do you think I should do as I have spent some of it, Not my fault they overpaid me
Holly says
Maybe explain the situation and work out a monthly agreement to pay them back if you can’t afford it
Nick M says
Hi folks
I have today received confirmation that the fos adjudicator has upheld my complaint against 247moneybox. It is for a large number of loans (58) over a number of years. Does anybody have any experiences (good or bad) dealing with 247 that they would like to share so I have an idea of what to expect from them. Fore warned is fore armed as they say . Many thanks in advance
E says
I emailed a complaint to SNC on 12th September for 2 accounts I hold with them, they responded last week upholding my complaint – when I read it the offer seemed low so I emailed to double check it was for both accounts. They came back apologising stating it was only for one and they would revise the offer but the 8 weeks started again so they have given me a new date for a response of December. I have emailed stating this isn’t good enough – should I sent this straight to FOS as the 8 weeks original deadline is up?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you go back to them and point out as you originally complained about both accounts, you can send the complaint to the ombudsman now, but you are prepared to allow them another week.
E says
Done – thank you Sara.
Mandy says
Yes definitely send straight to FOS they are being very obtrusive right now I got my complaint declined and upheld by FOS they told me refund paid last week this wasn’t paid now told I never sent sort code in time which I did now need to wait again more delay tactics
E says
I’ve given them a week to revise my offer – I’m in no rush with these as I still owe them money and I don’t believe the interest alone will wipe the balance out so the longer it takes the longer they’ll have to wait to get the balance paid off by me x hopefully though you’ll get your funds soon x
E says
It took about a week and several emails for them to confirm they had only taken my newer account into consideration and that they would have to revise the offer and that they had a further 8 weeks to do this.
I did break it down quite obviously in bullet points on original complaint that I had 2 accounts and then they only sent the loan details for the new account so I kept emailing until they finally sent the older account details so they were fully aware that I had 2 accounts so was quite shocked and disappointed they only looked into the one account.
Steve says
Thanks yes I told them I had 2 accounts from the start but same as you I thought the offer was low so when I into my trans credit report and yes only dealt with my new one as well.
E says
Just to let you know Steve that I received a response from them apologising for a typing error on the date and they are aware they are now passed their deadline and thanked me for giving them a couple of extra days
Steve says
Hi E
Have you heard anymore I rang them on Friday yes they had picked up my second account to look at but I have not heard anything further?
Cheers
Steve
E says
Nope nothing. They were supposed to get back to me by Wednesday just gone so I emailed them Thursday and said I was sending it to FOS. No response so I’m going to do my complaint to FOS on Monday
E says
Hi Steve – have you heard anything yet? I left a bad review on trip advisor late last night and had a message this morning from them apologising on the delay and upholding Both my accounts. 1300 debt wiped out with them plus £300 in bank – happy days x
E says
I meant Trustpilot not trip advisor 🤣
Steve says
Hi E
Great news I left a review on trust pilot last night they emailed me to say they are looking and my account and will be dealt with urgently they have also upheld my second account my oringial off was for £964 my revised offer is £1,618.41 taking my total refunds so far to over £4,000 i started my payday loan claims not expecting to get a penny back so over the moon how it’s going. Only had to go to the FOS with 2 so far with 3 left to respond 8 weeks up on Monday.
Thanks
Steve
Zoe says
I was just wondering if anyone has had any dealings recently with Satsuma (Provident) they had until the 8th July to reply and didn’t. Then was sent to the ombudsman beginning of August.
To date provident still haven’t replied as far I know 4 months on. Has anyone else had this issue with Satsuma? Or any advice on how long the Ombudsman takes to to review as it’s been with them for 3 months now.
Thanks
Evy says
I had loans 4 loans with satsuma. Adjudicator upheld claim 4 for 1200 and requested that this interest was repaid. Satsuma rejected this and claim went to ombudsman. This took about 8 weeks before ombudsman replied.
Their decision was different from the adjudicator. The ombudsman upheld loans 2 3 and 4 totalling 2000 and have asked that satsuma pays out. They have until 5th dec to get back to them.
Moral support of the story is to say don’t be deflated if company says it has to go to ombudsman as it proved in my favour
Zoe says
I was hoping for a similar result with the ombudsman.
It’s just odd Satsuma don’t appear to have even responded at all in over 4 months – but fingers crossed it’ll work in my favour like yours.
Thanks for responding
Joanne says
Hi Sara,
I had 4 loans with cashfloat last year that kept rolling over and a few with sunny. I’ve just applied for refunds .many years of debt with PDLs and an IVA in the past. Priority bills in arrears too.Does anyone have experience if cashfloat and fairly recent loans ?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Cashfloat are a really small lender. 4 loans is small number unless they were large? A refund on loan 4 may be a reasonable offer.
J_T says
Does anyone know how long Mr Lender take to payout once an offer is accepted? This was done direct with them and not via the FOS.
Thanks
R7one says
Spoke to them on the phone on Wednesday, once I confirmed via email it was in my account Friday after 5pm
Paul says
Hi, I complained about Sunny back in 2016 and they refunded me a few hundred pounds. They said that they would never lend to me again, but they did at the end of last year (£800 was the amount plus a couple of smaller loans) when I was pretty desperate. Do you think that’s considered irresponsible?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
well worth a complaint!
Ann says
Hi I had 11 loans from sunny from 6.1.19 to 24.5.19 they have regected my complaint .ive sent stuff to financial ombudsman total was 1700 borrowed all paid back do I have a good case .
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is a lot of loans, but you need to look at how much interest you paid, rather than the amount you borrowed. i would expect you would get a refund for some of the later loans.
Adam says
Mr Lender have refused to answer anything from the website Debt Hacker. They have stated that they do not have controls over their software and therefore emails are not reaching their servers. I waited 6 weeks and then emailed them directly. They have then sent an email saying that they aknowledge my complaint from today. Should I wait a further 8 weeks and restart the claim or should I just escalate to the ombudsmen when I reach the 8 weeks via the Debt Hacker website?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You have a reasonable chance of an ok offer from Mr Lender – and MrL cab sometimes be persuaded to increase a not good offer – so It may be best to give them the 8 weeks from now.
Sofia says
Hello, its Sofia.
I got my final response from SNC on friday , 6 days short of 8 weeks(surprisingly)
They will return me less then i was expencting saying that i could afford it before but couldnt starting of 10 may, 2018 so its about 700£ less but i accepted the offer because need cash and dont want to wait so long because of 700£
Maybe anyone knows how long it takes them to payout? Confirmed my bank details friday 15.00 ?????
Thanks
Carol says
Hello Sofia how much are they giving you? I also had one from them in may and put the amount up I could borrow which was far to tempting now I’m on a payment plan to pay it back….they should never have given me the amount in the first place of £850 ….
Sofia says
In total i had paid 2660 on interest but have 715 outstanding . So they will give me 1360 and delete the outstanding balance . Not bad at all :)
Carol says
I’m so.glad I found the forum. I feel I’m not alone. My finances spiralled out of control this year. Moral of the story it was easy to get money….after being rejected by card companys etc. So April I applied to Peachy for £300. Then the interest on top, 1 month after Likely Loans £1200 +interest , next month safety next credit £850, same month onstride £500, then 3 loans by Sunny just 2 months ago.
Some of these loan providers should have done me the favour and rejected me,. Infelt if they did proper check they would see I was a regular!. I have emailed some companys with tlan email explaining this.
Has anyone been a situation like myself…..a burst of loans in a short time, this year.
StevieC says
SN, I had my complaint upheld against Drafty earlier this year. To be honest they were by far and away the worst company I have had to deal with. My balance was written off via adjudication and they agreed although I was still chased for the outstanding amount. After 8 weeks their “system errors” were resolved and the balance was removed with an extra £100 compensation for the inconvenience
J_T says
If a lender agrees to remove adverse information from a credit file, is that the same as removing the loans completely? I’m a little confused as a lender has agreed to remove adverse info but should I be pushing for it to be removed altogether?
Thanks
CM says
Hi,
So Uncle Buck agreed to refund loans 11-14 for a total of £1,251.62. Although I didn’t think it was totally fair I agreed. I signed their document and returned it to them. They e-mailed to say it was passed to their Accounts Department and will be refunded in 7 working days. Now today they have called to say the statement they sent me was not correct. Back in 2015 they apparently took a payment in error and refunded straight away. Now they are saying I am only owed just over £800. Any advice on what to do? Can they do that even though I signed the agreement and they said it was being refunded? Should I hold out and go to the Ombudsman? Any help is appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can reply that you accepted their offer of £1251 and if they don’t pay you that amount you will be sending your case to the Ombudsman, who may well award a refund of more than loans 11-14.
Rob says
I’ve just had a response from piggy bank basically saying that I provided information about my outgoings and expenditure and from this i showed I could afford the loans blah blah. Isn’t that something someone who was desperate for money would do? They’ve just fobbed me off with a huge long winded reply saying they’ve done nothing wrong. Any thoughts? Has anyone else dealt with them?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How many loans did you have from them? How large? And what were the gaps between repaying one and getting the next one?
Ts says
Anyone had issues with MyJar payout? Adjudicator ruled in my favour and I am awaiting a 2.5k payout, but they seem to be doing a lot of delaying tactics. Sending a pdf to fill out with bank details which I sent back, they then said they didn’t recognise my email and I had to send a change of email for my account – even though it’s never changed. This morning they said my bank details could not be validated (again, the same account they’ve been paying loans into for years) and I needed to send bank statements to confirm today. I’ve messaged my adjudicator with this information too.
Jo says
Hi, I have just had to go though the same thing!i sent my bank details, they said they couldn’t verify my bank details so I sent a statement and they said they are waiting for a final email from my adjudicator (which had already been sent) which I chased up today for them to resend!I have now had an email to say they have all the info &my refund is with the payments team so I’m hoping it is and it’s not all going to go wrong :(
Ts says
well at least it isn’t radio silence. They came back to me and said between 10-15 business days of acceptance which is fine. If nothing after 28 days I’ll leave a trust pilot review as comments seem to suggest they respond to this.
Jolanta says
Hi,does anyone try send this letters to aqua ,MBNA,118, capitals credits cards lenders?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
See this different article https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-catalogue-credit-card/
Kvs says
Hi guys I complained to safety net credit and amigo 12 days ago, SNC sent me an offer today which was quite fair so I have emailed back and accepted, do people know how long it takes for them to pay out? It only tlk them 15 minutes to pay the original loan out lol.
C says
Sent a subject access request and complaint regarding unaffordable lending to Sunny last Thursday (and S Grice) and have not heard nothing at all.
Is that normal? Thanks
Myles says
Yes most of the time they won’t get back to you until the end of the eights weeks for a complaint.
Dawn says
Hi sara,
Wonder if you can help. Do the same rules apply for credit card debt?
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Same affordability rules, yes. But as the minimum payments are a lot lower, it’s hard to win these cases unless your credit limit had been raised a lot. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-catalogue-credit-card/ for an article about this with a different template letter.
Tan says
Sara,
Can you please advise. My Jar offered me a final response a few months ago, and offered me a partial settlement, which I accepted as I knew I would have to wait 6-8 months at least for FOS deal, this was before Money Shop/Pay Day UK and QQ went into administration, so I knew FOS had their hands full. I accepted their final response offer as I really needed the money at the time and weighing up the wait with FOS, seemed like an ok offer.
My Jar didn’t offer to remove any loans they accepted from credit file but I really would like them too. Is it too late now that I have accepted their final response? This is what they stated, in regards to credit file:
” We will also arrange to show these loan entries on your credit file as settled and closed. We cannot remove the entries fully as we are obliged to maintain accurate records with the Credit Reference Agencies.”
Surely, if other companies like Sunny, Wonga, WDA, and Payday UK are removing bad loans from credit file, why isn’t My Jar applying the same rule in this regard?
Please advise.
Thank you.
Danny says
TS, MyJar rejected my claim back in June, 6 loans, paid around £2700 in interest, I sent it to the FOS, had a response on 25th October that apparently MyJar had made me another offer for loans 5-6 which were the big ones, accepted this and emailed MyJar my new bank details straight away, they said they needed to wait for confirmation of my acceptance from the FOS, £2,034 paid into my account on Thursday last week!
Sarah says
Hi
Has anyone had any dealings with cash converters. I had a final response from them with an offer that I accepted on 31st October2019 I phoned them to check they had received my bank details a few days later and she had to search for them and said that she would pass them onto the finance dept right away but back date it to when they received them so advised me they had 28 days to pay and that would be up on 28 nov but payment usually in bank before then propably 2-3days. Rang them again couple of days later cos I really need the money and they just said they have 28 days and just keep checking my bank. How long has anyone else had to wait for payment from cash converters.
Thanks
NJG says
Mine was 21 days paid last Wednesday. Local CC send of to “Head office” as they don’t actually make the payment. Local CC said a week but when I spoke to the actual team that pay they said 28 days but probably be around three weeks – and it was.
Helen says
Just thought id update a little bit on my cases.
My Jar (whom i owed £980 to) upheld 2 out of 3 loans (2 being fairly big) and my balance is now £250 which is much more manageable. They replied within 5 weeks.
Piggy bank also replied after 6 weeks and upheld loans 3-16, offering back all the interest and 8%. Ive just accepted a £500 redress, which is right according to my calculations. I often paid back early with them and so the interest on loans wasnt huge. Still, £500 is £500.
Satsuma replied within 6 weeks also and outright rejected my complaint (i had loans as big as £2k so interest was huge). Thats gone to the ombusman.
Still waiting on Peachy, 118118, Lending Stream and ofcourse, Wonga. Except for wonga, the others have 1 more week to reply.
My experience so far has been fairly speedy. This site has been amazing, thankyou!!
John says
Dear community.
I received a letter from wonga administrators, that my refund should had been 3200 pounds, but i suppose i will be lucky if a get 320 now.. I also missed to claim 5-7k from QQ as i was trying, for too long to find decent claims company.
I am now trying not to be late with my last lender – Peachy. I used the template letter provided here, and also have added to it that i was taking wonga and QQ loans to pay them.
This is what they have answered:
“we can confirm that we will be conducting a thorough investigation of your concerns. Once we have completed this, we will write to you again.
To ensure we are able to adequately assess the complaint, we would kindly ask you to provide the following:
• Copies of your bank statements (for the period of your loan/s with us)
• Your payslips (from the time of your loan/s with us)
• Any additional evidence of your financial circumstances at the time.
The above will enable us to have a better understanding of your situation at the time and help in the investigation into your complaint.
We will assess the subject matter of the complaint and provide you with our assessment and our decision on it in no later than 8 weeks (by 02/01/2020).” – End of Quote.
So do i really have to send them all the payslips and bank statements? I do have them all, but that is alot, like alot-alot to scan and copy and print.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No you don’t have to send payslips. They are pointless if you are sending bank statements which show your income!
You don’t have to send bank statements either but it may help your case if you do. Though I suspect some lenders don’t bother to read them, they just ask hoping they will put off a few of the people complaining…
You don’t have to print the bank statements, you could send digital versions. And you could just pick a statement every 6 months and send those rather than all of them?
Harry says
Tan, I had this with ferratum and I replied saying something along the lines of “I am trying to resolve this issue as soon as possible and believe I am accepting a far lesser offer than I would get if I was to forward my complaint to the FOS therefore I believe it is fair to ask for loans to be removed from my credit score to compensate this loss”. Ferratum removed all loans from my credit report even ones I wasn’t refunded for so maybe worth a try
Scott says
Hi Harry,
I assume that you responded to Ferratum before accepting their offer?
The problem that you have Tan is that Myjar explained what their settlement offer was and you accepted this.
At this stage the FOS will not look at your complaint unless Myjar failed to mention that you had the right of referral in their final response.
Scott
Shaun says
Hi all,
Has anyone had any success with Swift Sterling (MMP Financial Limited) lately? They were the quickest to response to my initial email and provided with my loan history but have’t heard anything from them since.
Mike_p says
I had a good result with them in August. I had four loans in a row and they said they were unable to uphold my complaint but as a gesture of goodwill they would be willing to write off the last one which was still outstanding. I’d only just taken out the last loan when I complained and they froze it while they investigated, so I effectively got a refund of the interest on loan 3. I doubt I could have got better than that by going to the FOS.
They waited until 10:30pm on the very last day of the 8 weeks before making their offer, but once I replied to accept the loan was closed the same day.
Ts says
also a very good experience. They offered me £2116, with total interest only around £2500 so I took it. Was paid in my account the same day.
Danny says
Shaun
Had a fantastic result with them, took out a £995 loan with them back in November 2018, couldn’t afford the repayments, fast forward to May 2019 i’d paid them £900 but with the missed payments and interest still had an outstanding balance with them of £1,100.
Sent a complaint at the end of May, end of July they wrote back rejecting my claim but as a gesture of goodwill would write off all interest and charges, leaving me with just £95 to pay them that was outstanding on the loan.
Dean says
Sunny update.
Had final decision 3 weeks ago today, emailed them my bank details straight away and have been payed today , 21 days. I had refund in bank minutes before email.
From dean
Sofia says
Hey! Maybe someone knows
I send bank details to SNC on friday, today they finally closed my account but i havent received money yet. Does it come certains times of the day or how it works? Because thy replied to me yesterday that closing account and sending me my redress will kinda happen same time or not really?
Siobhan says
Good news, had a final response from Safety Net, complaint upheld and I’ve accepted the offer. Just Amigo and Provident to go 😄
Elle says
Shock, sunny had until today to respond to the adjudicator who has ruled in my favour for loans 5-43 yet they have not responded to her. Why are there no consequences in place for these companies missing a deadline? Yet if we missed one we wouldn’t be able to reopen a complaint or anything! It’s one rule for us and another for them and it’s totallt unfair! All the adjudicator will do is send another email that they will not respond to yet again and we carry on in the cycle. It’s so unfair. The alternative being it’s passed to the ombudsman and guess what – I have to get in another que! So frustrated with this :(
Sara (Debt Camel) says
leave them a bad review on Trust Pilot – that sometimes works: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/sunny.co.uk
NJG says
Also good news today – My Jar agreed to refund loans 5 – 36, net refund £2925,91, had email from the adjudicator this afternoon.
Thats my last with FOS, they pushed through my claim to Cash Converters in October and I received £2944 last week from them.
What is truly frightening is that I have now received payouts from 11 companies, My Jar will be the 12th. In total the sum – including stat interest – is £29825. I sat down to try and work out how much I actually borrowed from 2009 to 2015 but literally couldnt face it as the amounts are just so high – i got the capital to over £50k when I gave up. I was penniless but borrowed so much and caused myself so much grief, fear, pain and angst.
I still have QQ, Wonga, SpeedyCash, WDA and ICL claims in the portals, but like the rest will get the very small amounts and there were another 7 companies that I used that have gone bust. I know I shoulder responsibility in this but it also goes to show just how much money could be borrowed on one salary.
NJG says
So I think my journey has nearly ended, I would not have had one penny of this without you Sara, and can not thank you enough for this site. Like many others I will donate to my local CAB as a way of saying Thank You. I started 2/19 to claim.
I hope any one reading this and using this site knows they are not alone, and although none of this redress removes the nightmare I was in it does hopefully end a chapter in my life that I wish no one else has to endure, the hell of the payday loan trap. Sadly all this came too late for my husband who passed away in June, ironically I received agreement to pay from ICL on the day he died. Thanks to life insurance I am now mortgage free and debt free due to redress, the joy of having a wage that doesn’t pay debts before I can spend money is something I truly didnt’t think I would see again.
Good luck all and God speed xx
Carol says
So glad things worked out for you. Sorry to hear of your husband passing x
Matt Carle says
Does anyone have any experience of complaining and looking for a refund from SafetyNet Credit? I sent them a complain email through Resolver on 5th November and was under the impressions they should have emailed back to say they are investigating the matter but over 7 days later and I haven’t heard anything. Any advice would be appreciated!
Adam says
I have finally received contact from my adjudicator regarding my loans with Satsuma around 1 year later. Out of 3 loans they agreed 2 were lent irresponsibly and now just awaiting reply from Satsuma on what they have to say.
Not going to be any money back as I still owe them but it will mean interest removed and hopefully credit history removed or something. It’s a step in the right direction. Finally.
Thanks for all your help on this website.
John says
Sarah, Thank you very much for reply,
I would like to clarify, when sending them bank statements, can i just send show them only the income? I’m not hiding nothing, but i just think, there is no need for them to see what groceries i was buying and as well, there will be too many transactions for all the years.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, if you don’t send them all, they will wonder what is on the bits you aren’t sending. Just send a couple if statements if you want. Or don’t send anything, but there us no point in sending bits.
Carol says
so i signed up to Check my file which covers the 3 main credit checkers. using this i was able to input the dates, screenshot for proof into each complaint, and it clearly shows that after using one creditor, doing minimum payments, exceeding the limit and some instances to default, i would try another lender to pay the previous one, same again.
my complaints are to Barclaycard £3000 when limit was increased from £1,500 this shows on crdit report when i became into financial difficulty with them and other creditors. 2 capital one cards (4 months aparts) minimum payments of first card, exceeded limited, opened 2nd one, minimum payments, exceeded both at £1000 each. NEXT account limit was set to £5,000, i became defaulted just after Barclaycard , i used £3,950 and they had still not checked or reduced my limit throughout any of it. just after next i was successful with a very account ?! an Outfit Card , 7 paydays loans in an 8 month period. (Peachy, Safetynet credit, Sunny x3, Onstride, Likelyloans)
i had a shopping addiction, i bought things it made me feel better, i was diagnosed clinically depressed at the time. even if i don’t get great outcomes, i feel better for it and letting them know they added to my problems!. thanks for creating this page Sara, i feel i’m not alone when i read the comments on here.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
for credit cards and catalogues, this other page https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-catalogue-credit-card/ looks at how you can complain your credit limit was increased too high.
Teedee says
I just wanted to share my experience so far. I have had many payday loans over the years, usually fairly small amounts. I have put in complaints to most of them now inclusive SNC, myJar, Vivus, uncle Buck and lending stream to name but a few. So far I have had standard responses that my complaints are not upheld, so i’ve escalated to Financial Ombudsman. However, yesterday I appear to have had a small success with SNC. They have upheld my complaint and have agreed to remove all interest charged, use the amount owing to me to pay off the debt I still owe them, and are going to pay me £581 of what is left over. along with removing negative information from my credit report. I am more than happy with that so have accepted the offer, where they have confirmed they money should be in my account by tomorrow.
Thanks Sara for the advice on here, its been really helpful, if I get nowhere with the other companies I’m actually really pleased, I’ve received some recognition for the poor circumstances I was in at the time.
Steve says
Hi Sara
Can I ask your opinion I had a reject of uncle buck then sent in more information here my loans below I have asked as I think the offer is low. Had other providers uphold 2 out a chain of 3 all my loans where instalment loans. There offer is only interest on loan 4 and no 8%.
29/09/2017 – 04/01/2018 – borrowed £300 – interest £133.65
05/01/2018 – 23/03/2018 – borrowed £350 – interest £135.00
14/05/2018 – 05/11/2018 – borrowed £500 – interest £365.46
23/11/2018 – 23/05/2019 – borrowed £500 – interest £480.42
25/06/2019 – 23/10/2019 – borrowed £250 – interest £159.07
Thanks
Steve
BL says
Hi Everyone, any update on MyJar payments? I was wondering if anyone had anything paid out as yet? I got an acknowledgement that they have processed my settlement on 12th November, but then saying payment in 10-15 working days? Hoping this is soon because could really do with the money! Thanks
Steve says
I submitted my acceptance form to the on the 07/11/2019 and still yet to receive my refund.
BL says
Check your bank, just got mine :-)
Steve says
An update Sarah I went back to them and they have agreed to add in loan 4 do you think this is fair? Loan 5 as well I asked if they would do anything with 3 but they would not budge I got them to add the 8% so I accepted the offer as I think there is only 3 the FOS may of given me brings my upholds to 5 once safety recalc my offer. 3 with FOS and 5 awaiting decisions. I started this not expecting anything and had £2,200 back hoping for £1,800 off safety. This sight has been so helpful Sarah
Thanks Steve
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think 4 & 5 plus 8% is reasonable offer. Your probably wouldn’t have got more by going to the Ombudsman.
Rob says
Hi Sara, MyJar have come back to me with a final response, my first loan was 500, paying back almost 1000 including the interest, my second loan with them was 1000, my complaint about them being unaffordable was due to me borrowing from several payday lenders at the time of both loans and not being able to survive without lending month on month, I was also in a debt management plan during the time which I have been in since 2016, I went back to them and said this and they’ve asked for proof of my debt management plan so they can reassess. What proof should I send them?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
do you have any emails or letters from your DMP firm?
Emily says
Hi everyone, just an update on my Satsuma complaint. I’ve received my refund offer today following from the ombudsman decision, and I have accepted. Was told I will receive a cheque within four weeks. Does anyone have any experiences of how long from acceptance, you received the cheque? I’d be very grateful. Thanks in advance x
Jacqui says
Good morning Sarah
It’s been awhile I made a number of claims in regarding to Pay Day Loans and all were either declined or the company’s have closed down…
My Jar declined my claim in a rather brutal way and called me a liar and that it was my own fault. So I took my complaint to FCA and finally got a response from FCA who have written to My Jar stating that 10 of the 14 loans showed irresponsible lending practices.
We are waiting for My Jars reply…
It’s been a long time I started this process is May
Regards
Jacqui
Myles says
Good news on my Sunny complaint. Initially I was offered £700 after submitting a complaint to Sunny May. I submitted to the FOS as they said there was gaps in lending and there wasn’t. After QQ going into administration, I didn’t want the same to happen and didn’t want to wait any longer. I emailed the chief legal officer and the complaints manager in Sunny with BBC watch dog cc’d and attached a calendar showing that there wasn’t a single day for 4 years that I didn’t have an active loan. After a week, I was offered £5000 and it was my account the day after accepting. My pay day loan nightmare is finally over. Don’t give up guys.
JA says
Hello All ,
Just thought i’d give you my experience with a few payday loan companies that didn’t uphold due to only having 2 loans with them.
Unclebuck didn’t uphold – FOS Upheld 2/2 loans as if unclebuck checked my credit file they would see I had many outstanding loans.
Moneyboat didn’t uphold – FOS Upheld 2/2 loans, same reason as unclebuck.
Even if you only had a couple loans it doesn’t mean they have lent responsibly.
GL All