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?
VI says
Sara,
I had 1 loan of £1000 from Satsuma. When I did take this loan I had a number of other high-cost loans. Is there any chance to win this case if only one large loan has been taken?
Joseph says
Hi Vi, I won a one complaint loan for £500 against Money Boat. I just arrested, and with a lot of evidence, that at the time they shouldn’t have lent to me. It is harder the fewer loans you have to win, but just really put your point across with backed up evidence (credit report etc)
Kevin D says
Hi Sara, I’m looking for a little advice. I have had 26 unaffordable loans accepted by the Wonga administrators and 16 rejected. I have appealed regarding 14 of the 16 loans using their own criteria which says that unaffordable lending is where you had repeat loans without a break of over 6 months. These 14 fall within their own guidelines for acceptance, however they have rejected the appeal. I now have 21 days to go to court at “possibly” my own expense. The only problem is that I do not know how to do this as i want to pursue things via court. How do I go about this?
Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How much is the calculated refund on the 26 loans?
how much interest did you pay on the 14 loans you feel should have been included?
Kevin D says
Hi Sara, the accepted figure for the 26 accepted loans is £2,936.01. The rejected 14 total at just £172.19, the main issue for me is not the £172.19 but getting those loans deleted from my credit file along with the others. I feel as if they have just rejected them out of hand without using their own criteria to assess them.
Thanks again
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So those loans must either have been tiny or have been repaid very quickly? Were they all together, or interspersed between the loans being refunded?
Kevin D says
Hi Sara, yes the loans were smaller generally and repaid quickly thereby incurring lower interest, However they were interspersed with accepted refunds and other payday loans. I sent them a copy of my credit file and a long letter exacting each scenario but it seems they didnt read it at all. I believe there was irresponsible lending taking place and I gave my reasons why.
Thanks again
Kevin
Kevin D says
Hi Sara, yes they were small and paid off quickly mostly. They were interspersed been refunded loans though but using their own criteria they should have been refunded. Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The Administrators say: “Upon appeal, a manual review would, on submission of appropriate evidence by the relevant claimant, be undertaken. The Joint Administrators believe that this manual review is as close as practicable to the process carried out by the FOS, considering the potential cost and timing implications of an exact replication of the ordinary course administration process.”
I think you should see the brief descriptions of the assessment process as guidelines not fixed criteria. It is possible you would have had these loans deleted from your credit record if the case had been decided by FOS but I wouldn’t descibe this as certain. I suspect you have very little chance oif convincing a judge that these rejected loans were unaffordable.
Matt says
Hi Just check my credit report and found that a default from wage day advanced loan has been removed. I know they went in to administration and I had an going complaint but just wondering is this the likely outcome for all defaults applied with business that go in to administration . I also have a quick quid loan that is in the same position with a default applied .
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
A default will only be removed if the loan is determined by the administrators to be unaffordable. So put in a Claim to the QQ administrators (the page for this won’t be live for a while)
Dean says
Hi Sara, after UB rejected my complaint, I told them I was unhappy and they now have paid me £409.( 3 weeks ago). Looking at my loans do you think that is reasonable redress and if not can I go back to them or FOS with the complaint? Thank you Sara.
Date Loan Taken Loan Type Loan Amount
18/04/2015 Instalment Loan £250.00
30/06/2015 Instalment Loan £825.00
01/10/2015 Instalment Loan £1,000.00
09/01/2016 Instalment Loan £1,000.00
31/03/2016 Instalment Loan £950.00
02/06/2016 Instalment Loan £700.00
01/10/2016 Instalment Loan £750.00
24/06/2017 Instalment Loan £150.00
22/04/2019 Instalment Loan £250.00
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You accepted UBs offer a few weeks ago? In that case there isn’t anything you can do.
Dean says
Yes 3 weeks ago..with everything that went on with Wonga and QQ, I thought may be I should just take the money but in hindsight may be I shouldn’t have because looking at what everyone else is saying on here, looks like I could have got more if I went to the FOS!:(
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry, you can’t now go to FOS.
Steve says
Sorry to say Dean they have literally had your eyes out I would only had a chain of 5 with then and my biggest loan was not £500 and they agreed to pay all the interest on loans 4 &5 plus the 8%. You must paid a lot of interest sadly you would of been looking at a hell of lot more if you had gone to the FOS and they had upheld.
Steve
Stu says
Received a letter from the FOS today saying an ombudsman has reviewed my case and agreed with the adjudicator that the 3rd loan for £800 should not have been given to me. Great result! That was after the adjudicator initially rejected my complaint and I countered with facts and figures from my bank statements. She then looked at my complaint again and changed her view. Roughly was 2 months between adjudicator and ombudsman decision. Should be another £900 pound win and only 1 case left with loans2go.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well persevered with the adjudicator. Who was the lender?
Stu says
Thanks. The lender is Satsuma.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
oh especially good to see Satsuma decisions being upheld as they are being so difficult.
Stu says
Yeah I have read a few stories on this fantastic website. Wasnt entirely confident on this one due to the adjudicator initially rejecting my complaint, but as u said perseverance can sometimes payoff and fairplay to the adjudicator listening to reasoning.
Megan says
Hi
I wonder if anyone could advise me on what to do next. I have submitted several claims to payday loan providers for irresponsible lending. In 2018 I took out several loans with several different pay day loan companies and took out two loan with Satsuma, one in May 2018 and one in August 2018. I still have outstanding balance on my Satsuma loan and can’t afford to make the payments.
I’ve had an email back from Satsuma today advising me they are unable to uphold my complaint as they made checks to assess these were affordable.
Is it worth me taking it to the FO, as I don’t feel these loans were affordable. Any advice would be appreciate, as now I feel if I take it to the FO I will just be advised I could afford it.
Scott says
Hi Megan,
What were the value of your loans with Satsuma and what sort of other borrowings were you taking at the time.
Scott
Megan says
Hi Scott
With Satsuma I took out a £450 loan in May 2018 and an £800 loan in August 2018, I hadn’t repaid my original loan when they let me take the second loan out. I also had pay day loans at this time with Swift Sterling, which I took out in July 2018, I had loan with Ferratum in January 2018 which I then rolled over twice in June and then took out another loan with them in August 2018. I also took out loans with lending stream, once these loans were paid off I was borrowing again with them the next month or looking for loans with other companies. I had a loan that I took out with MyJar in 2017 that ran through to February 2018. I have a logbook loan with Varooma which I took out in February 2018 with monthly payments of £330 and a Bamboo Loan that I took out in June 2018 with monthly payments of £174.
So I had several payday loans running alongside each other – my issue is Satsuma have said they have assessed the affordability on the information I gave them, but I wasn’t totally honest about my ability to be able to pay these loans back because at the time I was in desperate need for cash. They said they also worked out their own affordability checks which implicated my outgoings were more than I suggested and they still find that the payments were affordable.
What would you suggest I do in this situation? Sorry for the essay.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think if Satsuma had looked at your credit record they would have seen all this payday loans and other loans. So they should probably have realised that the second loan at least was not affordable.
It’s obviously not as strong as some cases but it seems to me to be worth asking the ombudsman to look at this. Wanting another loan, almost twice as large before the first one is reapid should have been a warning signal for them to look closely.
Megan says
Thanks Sara.
I do appreciate it isn’t as strong as some cases as you say.
As I have had a response from Satsuma saying they will not be taking my case further, do I now immediately escalate it to the FO?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Also put in complaints to Varooma and Bamboo And Myjar is that one loan was large! Template for these one loan cases over here: https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/
Megan says
Hi Sarah
I have put one in for MyJar but they are requesting bank statements and payslips. Do I need to send these over? If not what should I reply.
I currently am still paying off my loan for Varooma – can I put in a claim?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
you don’t have to send bank statements but it helps with a one loan case a lot I think. If you send bank statement there is no need to send payslips!
Yes you can complain while a loan is still be repaid – and with a logbook loan you have to keep paying or they will take your car. So you aren’t any better off immediately by complaining, but obviously would be if you win.
Sianyyy says
Adjudicator still disagrees with my complaint with Satsuma, stating “Given your loan amounts, what was apparent about your circumstances at the time and your history with the lender, I don’t think it would’ve been proportionate to ask you for the amount of information needed to show the lending was unsustainable”. He did state “For the later loans, I think the lender should’ve taken steps to build a more detailed picture of your financial situation. But I haven’t seen anything in the information provided which suggests the lender would’ve known that you wouldn’t have been able to sustainably make the repayments you needed to for these loans.” but despite advising my bank statements and credit file showed numerous loans and reliance on other lenders as well as gambling. Have requested this to be raised with Ombudsman.
What are the chances the Ombudsman would take a different stance – he advises in his email “but unless you have new information, it’s unlikely their decision will be different from mine”.
Thanks
Steve says
Hi Sarah
Had a rejection off Drafty after chasing and chasing for my FRL surprise, surprise it’s a reject is it worth sending them further information or should I just send it straight off to the FOS?
Thanks Steve
Scott says
Hi Steve,
Straight to FOS with this one. They don’t negotiate.
Scott
Steve says
Cheers Scott
Thought that’s would be the case with them being part of the lending stream group.
SN says
Hi Steve
Make sure you ask for a subject access request, I’ve asked for one and there is no evidence to suggest they conduct credit checks or monthly credit checks as per there rejection email! I’ve sent straight off to FOS and hoping it helps prove they don’t conduct the appropriate checks! Also note, if you are on a repayment plan they seem to be sneaky and not issue any statements from that date but still add interest? (Must be illegal right?!)
:) SN
Robert says
Afternoon everyone,
I have had success making an affordability complaint against 247moneybox and they have offered me £750 to which I have accepted. Does anyone know the average times for this company to payout as It didn’t specify in the final response email?.
Many thanks, Robert
Steve says
Hi Robert
I got paid out within 7 days of accepting there offer.
Steve
Emma says
You should receive an email from them confirming your acceptance – it will then state their timeframe for paying out is 7 days from that email. Mine was paid on fourth day
SN says
Hi Robert
Out of interest how long did they take to get back to you?
Thanks S
Emma says
Hi SN, for me they took just over 7 weeks. They were by far the easiest company to deal with and upheld my complaint and paid out within a few days. The whole process took 8 weeks from initial complaint to receiving the redress.
SN says
Hi Emma
Thank you! I’m 6 and a half weeks in, chasing weekly, so hopefully hear back soon!
Livia says
I would like to know as well as I accept 5 days ago and haven’t heard from them. Hope we both get it soon
Nick Merriman says
Hi Livia
I also accepted an offer 5 days ago , could you keep us posted on this please . I will do the same . Thanks
Livia says
Hi Nicki I just received a email from them saying the refund will be in 7 days, I hope they keep to it
Jessica says
Hi, if a complaint is registered with the FOS do I still need to make repayments? Or should this be paused? How can I get the situation paused?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
247 Moneybox has gone into administration this afternoon.
Unless your payment has is already in transit through the banking system, it is probably now not going to get paid.
If it isn’t paid, you become an unsecured creditor of the firm. You will probably only get a small percentage of the offered payout from the Administrators and that may take many months.
Paul Wakeman says
I was lucky enough to receive my redress from them a couple of weeks ago but could I ask what happens now with getting defaults removed from my Credit File. 247 were told to by the Adjudicator and agreed to remove them. With them going in to administration does this mean the Administrators remove it or is there some other method? Thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The Administrators should deal with this. If they don’t, then eventually the credit reference agencies probably will when the company no longer exists.
Paul Wakeman says
Okay. Many Thanks for the quick reply.
Nick Merriman says
Well that’s ruined my weekend !! Agreed a refund of £ 11,278 last week was waiting for payment.
Steve says
They only took 4 days to pay mine out Nick, I hope yours was already in the system before the administration hit.
Steve
Livia says
Hi guys! Does anyone know how long 247 moneybox takes to pay the redress please? TIA
Emma says
After I accepted their offer it took about 4 days for money to appear in bank. They do advise 7 days though. X
Livia says
Thank you very much
Debbie says
Hi all seeing as lending stream have agreed with the adjudicator should I confirm my bank details (they have not changed since my loan) with lending stream as well as the adjudicator just trying to make sure I stay a head of all there “tricks” they like to pull.
Debbie says
It’s ok I’ve sent it I’ve just re read what they sent and it advises to confirm details.
Shaun says
Hello everyone,
I have had some success in obtaining refunds from some lenders but where I have failed is normally when it has been 1 loan only issued to me. However, I am currently in a DMP and 2 of the companies currently being looked (Drafty and Swift Sterling) I am still paying these loans back via this DMP (previous lenders where my case were not upheld were paid in full).
My question is – if the FOS comes back to me and refuses to uphold these 2 claims is there anything I can do to strengthen my case as I would like to ‘at least’ have these entries removed from my credit report even if I don’t receive a refund from them? Just wondering if anyone has been in this situation like me?
Many thanks in advance for any advice you can offer,
Shaun
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If a loan is decided to be affordable there is no reason why the default should be removed from your credit record.
Shaun says
Hi Sara,
Thank you for your reply. Sorry, I probably didn’t word my query too well. I understand that if it was deemed to be affordable I won’t have a case for it to be removed but I was wondering if the FOS first do not uphold the claim I was wondering if people in the same situation as me were able to have the FOS reconsider their decision and how did they go about achieving this?
Many thanks,
Shaun
Sara (Debt Camel) says
you can go back to your adjudicator with further facts and arguments then, if they don’t change their mind, you can ask for a case to go to be looked at by an Ombudsman. But there is no point in going into details here until you have the adjudicator’s decision as that will make it clear what the issues are and then you can decide how to respond.
Rob says
Hi,
I just wanted to thank this website and Sara, I’ve received quite a few responses now, all within the 8 week timeframe.
– Piggybank – offered refund of interest paid on loan – was only 2 small loans so got £67 back.
– MyJar – offered refund of interest on 2nd loan so I went back and said I still believed 1st loan was unaffordable due to DMP etc and sent them bank statements – they came back and changed offer to refund both loans – reducing my balance down from £1000 to £390.
– Likely loans – offered refund of interest paid on loan 1 -reducing current balance from £700 to £350.
– Safetynet Credit – offered refund of interest paid – reducing balance from £798 to £369.
Lending Stream of course rejected my complaint, I had 57 loans and paid around £1700 in interest. I have sent this one to FOS last week and received email yesterday from FOS asking for details, bank statements and credit file etc. Hopefully this one will be relatively quick too.
Everyday loans haven’t even acknowledged my complaint! So I can see this one going straight to FOS after the 8 weeks. This is my biggest too!
Mike_p says
Safetynet Credit were by far the best one I’ve dealt with. The came back to me in less than 2 weeks offering to refund all interest and were happy to put me on a 10 month plan to repay the rest. On the other hand Lending Stream were by far the worst and did absolutely everything that they possibly could to frustrate the process and drag it out as long as possible. They did agree with the adjudicator though rather than it having to go to ombudsman level and I eventually got a £1400 refund from them, about 7 months after making my first complaint to them.
Shaun says
Hi Rob,
How long did it take for MyJar to come back to you?
Rob says
I complained on 9/10/19 and they came back on 19/11/19 with final response and offered refund of interest on loan 1, I went back to them straight away with further points saying I believed both loans were unaffordable due to me being in DMP etc. I then sent a chase up email last night asking if they’d had a chance to review it further and they came back to me this morning saying they’d reviewed further and agreed with my points and would refund interest on both loans. They’ve been excellent to deal with and very prompt in all fairness.
Max says
Hi there, I’ve recently been given an ombudsman decision that means I’m due £1500 redress from lending stream. They have received the letter of acceptance and have also confirmed my bank details on the 21st of Nov. Been given the “28 days” malarkey. I’ve seen a lot of reviews on trustpilot saying they don’t pay out within the said 28 days and that they are unbelievably unhelpful. Just seeing if anybody has actually been refunded within the 28 days or is every case a pain in the backside? Some reviews say to constantly chase up etc. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks
Mike_p says
Mine was paid on about day 26, others one here have reported anything from 14 days to 32 days.
Chasing probably won’t help – I tried it but they ignore messages you send them and fob you off with a standard script if you try and phone them.
Max says
Thanks mike, can I ask how long ago this was? It seems that the most recent flurry of trustpilot reviews about them not paying up is within the last month. I’m happy to wait the full 28 days (not sure many people will be) just so long as I’m confident it’ll be paid within that. Nothing annoys me more than flat out lying to get the consumer off their backs.
Mike_p says
It was in August, someone has posted on here since then about them taking longer than the 28 days. They seem to push things as far as they possibly can to make the process as difficult as possible for anyone that complains.
Debbie says
I’m same as you max the 28 days takes me till the 23.12 I don’t believe for a min I will get it on or before that day I think they will use all excuses they can BUT I’ve got this far so I live in hope, I’ll let you know when I receive mine.
Paula says
My adjudicator has given Lending Stream until Monday to respond to her recommendations. Are they likely to respond in time? They have acknowledged receipt of her email. Also, are they likely to agree with the findings or counter offer? Thanks!
Mike_p says
They have been agreeing with the adjudicator a lot recently, but expect them to take at least four weeks to respond and then close to the 28 days to pay out.
Paula says
Thanks! Do you mean 4 weeks from the adjudicators recommendation? That was on 18 November. My adjudicator updated me on 21 November to confirm they will respond no later than 2 December? I take it this cannot be trusted?
Paula says
Sorry should have clarified, the business confirmed they will respond no later than 2 December.
Mike_p says
Maybe things have changed recently, but my adjudicator gave them 2 weeks to respond to her decision and it was four weeks until they responded with an offer (in line with what she said). After that I accepted it and confirmed bank details and they took close to the 28 days to pay out.
You can’t trust anything Lending Stream say – there have been lots of comments about them saying things will be done by certain dates which get delayed due to “system errors” etc.
Debbie says
Hi Paula they surprisingly agreed with the adjudicator in my case with in the 2 weeks given but did take the full 2 week, I was very surprised as I had read they where taking longer.
Max says
Hi Debbie, how long did it take them to pay out May I ask?
Paula says
Thanks Debbie, I guess I will just have to wait and see :) Did they pay out within the 28 days?
Debbie says
Hi max and Paula I’m waiting for my money my 28 days will take me till the 23.12.19 so they’ve only recently agreed but they did agree within the 2weeks allowed by the adjudicator, BUT like mike said they have been hard work for other people so I’m not expecting them to pay me on time.
sam says
Hey Paula
I have been waiting for about 5 months and someone has just picked up my case yesterday.
How long did it take for you for them to speak with LS and long for them to get a decision dicussed/made.
Paula says
Hi Sam
I first submitted my complaint to FOS at the beginning of July and this was picked up on 25 October with my adjudicator letting me have her recommendations on 18 November.
sam says
thanka for the reply and info!
i actually submitted all the info they needed last monday (18th) and have’nt heard back so wasnt sure if they had everything they needed.
hopfully i will hear back in the next few weeks from them with some info! i take it after that it can take several weeks for LS to agreee or not too from that.
thanks :)
Emma says
Hi Paula, I’m in third week of waiting for LS to respond to adjudicator- I emailed LS a couple days back and they replied saying they will get back to adjudicator by this Friday (not holding my breath!)
Paula says
I guess no two stories are the same! Playing the waiting game :)
Andy says
Hi my sunny and satsuma loans have both been picked up by Fos how long is it before they give there verdict thanks Andy
JR says
Sunny have came back and partially upheld my complaint but only for 12 loans out off 44 that I believe should be refunded but I am now unsure if I should take the offer of just over 1K or send to the ombudsman as its roughly a third of what I believe I am owed. The issue is what if I reject the offer, wait 5-8 months for the ombudsman but in that time Sunny go into administration like the others? I would be worse off but is the risk for higher reward in several months worth it?
JR says
Wage day advance paying maximum of 5.2 pence to the pound! Unbelievable and lost out with these, Quick Quid and Wonga. Owed almost 10K with these 3 and be lucky to receive £500! I was wondering if I should accept low offer from Sunny or wait it out but 1K is better than pence in the pound should they go into administration.
Dean says
I wonder if Wonga and payday UK will make similar payments, in which case it is appalling how they just get away with it!
Mike_p says
They don’t really get away with anything. They go out of business because they don’t have the money to carry on, and the administrator gives creditors as much as they can from what they are able to recover from debtors.
Adam says
So deadline was today for Satsuma to reply to adjudicator and surprise surprise they didn’t. I emailed my adjudicator and they said to give them another week or so.
Feel like this is what Satsuma do? Just try and drag it out as long as possible?
Holly says
Hi Adam! Satsuma missed 3 deadlines with the adjudicator and since then I have been keeping in touch with satsuma and my case hasn’t even been looked at and is now in the queue for the ombudsman. They are so swamped with complaints not I’m excusing it but what can you do good luck
Adam says
Thanks for the reply Holly,
Aw hope mine doesn’t have to go that far as they all I’ll be getting from them is around 70% of my remaining balance that I have with them cleared and that’s all I want! Here’s to hoping.
Holly says
Me to !! I’ll let you know how I get on or not lol
Aymen says
Hey Sara
I am in process of complaining about sunny the adjudicator picked my case(10 loans) they gave them till 09/12 to respond to refund loans 4 till 10.
Anyway I still outstanding balance with sunny. I received today letter from them saying the put defaults on my credit file because I didn’t pay the outstanding balance.
What I should do ? Do I have to inform the adjudicator about it or contact sunny tell them my case with adjudicator?
I am confuse but advice will be appreciated
Thanks
Lynn says
Just been turned down for a refund from lending stream even though I had taken 33 loans in total from them with at least three maybe four running concurrent each month and then having to borrow again the following month. They came back with the loans were all affordable and would not be refunding. Does anyone think I should take to ombudsman?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Everyone thinks you should go to the Ombudsman! That is a very strong case.
Mike_p says
Yes definitely take it to the FOS, it seems to be their standard response to reject complaints. I had 16 loans with 6 running at once and they rejected my complaint, but the FOS adjudicator ruled that loans 6-16 were unaffordable and I got a refund of £1400 from them.
They are one of the worst lenders to deal with and delay and frustrate everything as much as they can, but they seem to agree with the adjudictor and a lot of people have got refunds from them.
Lynn says
Thank you so much for your reply. Will send to ombudsman today and keep fingers crossed.
Adam says
Hi, could you help me the figures, i have made a compalint through moneybox 24/7 they have bascially asked me what i would accpet in way of settlement, the totally interest i have paid on 4 loans is £22.40+154.99+54.99+244.40 = £476.78 do i request all of this plus 8% ? any advice would be appreciated
Em says
This is just an automated response. You don’t need to say anything or you can say all interest paid plus the 8%. They are pretty good at dealing with complaints – by far the easiest I’ve dealt with.
Andy says
Same here I just said interest and 8% and that’s what I got by far the best company I’ve dealt with
JA says
You must of been very very lucky if they’ve been easy to deal with. They haven’t responded to my adjudicator in 6 weeks
JR says
I have received email from Lending Stream who have rejected my claim for 7 loans and it had the below extract.
“In addition to the above, we would like you to note that while a business is liable to undertake the checks properly and validate the information received for an application, a customer is obliged to declare all of their payments towards different loans under expenditure.”
Should I send to the FOS as my credit rating was terrible and I had multiple loans with other companies or are they saying it is my fault I did not disclose all of my other loans financial situation the loans were taken out?
Mike_p says
It’s a standard line to try and put you off escalating it. The FOS understands the reasons why people might not mention everything on the form but they put the onus of responsibility on the lender. You can view ombudsman decisions on line – lots of them report inaccuracies in what was put on the the appication form but their response is always along the lines that the lender should have done more to verify what was stated. In my case they said that the pattern of lending alone should have indicated to Lending Stream that they shouldn’t have lent any more to me.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I agree with Mike. Send it to FOS.
Rob says
FOS have asked for a copy of my credit file. How do I get this? Clearscore don’t offer a printable or downloadable version? Any ideas?
Ste says
If you can get on clearscore on a pc/laptop you can save it as a PDF file and attach it to email.
Open up clearscore credit report – right click on page and select print – select print to PDF this will save it on your computer
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Don’t send a Clearscore report! A lot of payday lending doesn’t show up there. Get a Credit Karma report instead.
Sarah says
Hi everyone
I was hoping someone could let me know what I should do next. I’ve received my final response letter from cash converters and accepted their offer. The 28 days for them to payout ends tomorrow (Thursday 28th November ) but still there’s nothing in my bank, I’ve rang them to which they just keep saying the 28 days aren’t up yet. But what happens if the 28 days comes and goes what happens then? And is there anything else I can or should do? Is it normal for this to happen? Thanks.
Iain123 says
Yes, it’s normal due to the volume of complaints. Just keep pushing them.
Sarah says
Thanks for your reply but do you know what I should do next if they don’t pay tomorrow? Can I escalate the case and if so how do I do that. Thanks for any advice, this is my first attempt at getting redress and I’m not sure what I’m doing.
Sarah says
Hi guys
It’s now 28 days and still nothing in my account I’ve phoned them and now they’re saying 48 hours is this all I can do? Just wait for one deadline to go after another? Any advice. Thanks
Richard white says
Hey Sara,i got my sunny response back,after totally proving it was irresponsible lending they REJECTED IT with what looks like to me as a generic template sent out on the last day of the 8 wks! Does somebody have an e mail of somebody in elevate high up please? I have emailed 2,a grice and another and also the bbc watchdog and the fca or fda! I want to take this further before ombudsman.thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you send it to the Ombudsman at the same time as complaining to other people…
Richard white says
Great,will do,thanks,im utterly bemused at how an empty income and affordability,(according to the rejection email) is fine and dandy and all checks were made and affordable despite clear evidence being sent proving that as utter lies! Fuming! Not about money but the total disregard and contempt for those claiming genuine claims against them,disgusting bunch and my rants are going regular on trustpilot,appreciate it sara,keep up the great work! I salute you
Bob says
Hi, just fired off my last 4 complaints. Straight away 3 are asking for the usual bank statements and pay slips. I will only send these to the ombudsman. I’ve already won a lot of cases and these have been deleted off my credit file so if the new claims check this it doesn’t show as my loans that I had. Will they have their own credit report on me at the time of taking the loans out? I’ve asked for sars on the new complaints but nothing received yet
Sara (Debt Camel) says
who are the lenders? how many loans did you have from them?
Bob says
Myjar 2 loans – £2200 and £2000
Peachy 5 loans – all around £600 each
Everyday loans 1 loan £7000
Drafty been at £3300 since jan 17
Bob says
Drafty I pay the minimum around £240 and this frees up £64 every month
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you send Myjar & Everyday Loans your bank statements for the three months before each loan application. It is harder to win one & two loan cases.
Drafty can see your bank account I think, so no point in sending them anything.
Bob says
Ok, thank you
Al says
Hi guys, I wanted to ask for some advice, I never knew I could try to claim back money from payday lenders and only recently found out, I have now sent complaints against Satsuma, Sunny, Peachy, Safety net and PiggyBank. This is due to the fact before I took a single payday loan I was already in debt in the excess of £15000 (from mainstream loans, credit cards and overdraft). Since November 2018 till now I have had 3 loans from satsuma totalling £1500 (some still unpaid), 8 loans from sunny totalling £3100 (some still unpaid), £1600 from peachy, with 3 loans and 3 top ups (some still unpaid) safetynet which has been so much they have taken almost £1400 in just interest and piggybank 2 loans of £800. I feel very sad to se the amounts I have borrowed and my dependancy for this to survive, but I wanted to know was there any chance of getting some money back from these payday lenders? As I believe I was already in so much debt and the fact after they were lending to me all together at similar times. I was also using a lot of the loans and top ups to service existing payday loans. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, many thanks Al
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can you say how much you currently owe to all your debts? Are you buying or renting?
Al says
Hi sara, thanks for replying back, currently I owe around £12000 to credit cards, overdrafts and mainstream loans, I owe around £3700 to payday loans but without interest, so in total around £15700. I am currently living with my parents but I pay a contribution to rent.
Scott says
Hi Al,
I’m reading between the lines and I may be wrong but have you got a gambling problem?
You may get a refund from some of your lenders and if there is still a balance, this refund will be offset against it.
However, if you are struggling to maintain your debts, I would suggest getting in contact with Stepchange to help get you in to a safe position without needing to borrow to maintain your commitments.
If gambling is at the root of your problems then get in contact with Gamcare to help you with your addiction.
There is little point in trying to sort out your current debt if you end up borrowing more in the near future to fund your habit.
Had you not made the complaints already, i would have advised you to sort out the gambling first as if there is a balance due to you, this will probably end up being gambled away.
Scott
al says
Hi Scott,
Thanks for your reply, fortunately I do not have a gambling problem. I am self employed and to maintain living costs and alongside with a long layoff I spiralled out of control, however while now I am in the process of making progress in trying to cut back in my debt, the looming interests and back to back payday loan payments are holding me back. I am left with struggling to pay the loans after I get paid.
Scott says
Hi Al,
Glad to hear you don’t have a problem with gambling and that your debt is due to other factors.
As mentioned in my previous reply, get in touch with stepchange to sort your debt into a manageable monthly payment. This will eleviate any pressure to meet your monthly payments in full. The complaints process is not a quick one.
I am not 100% sure how stepchange works with the self-employed and fixed monthly payments but I am sure Sara can advise better.
Have you looked at potential complaints against your mainstream loans and credit card?
Scott
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you talk to StepChange about a debt management plan. See https://www.stepchange.org/how-we-help/debt-management-plan.aspx.
That will get your finances into a safe place, with you only paying one affordable repayment each month. Then any refunds can be used to speed up this DMP.
If you don’t do this, you are likely to find that you have to accept some poor offers from lenders because you need the money right away. When you have a lot of debt it’s very important that you try to get bback as much as possisble,
Al says
Hi guy,
Thanks a lot for your advice and will look into setting up a DMP
Al says
Sorry guy one last question, i have cuurently stopped payments to sunny and safetynet as i can not afford to pay them, is this ok or should i make payments somehow to them, i have already lodged complaints to the mentioned lenders, thanks
Al
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You shouldn’t make payments you can’t afford. the whole point of these affordability complaints is to cut through the cycle of having to keep borrowing again.
Jacqui says
My Jar have offered me £1854 which I’ve accepted
Nick says
MyJar are being really fair to people, it seems. Last week they upheld my complaint and have waived about £2000.
Joanne Woolley says
I complained to my jar for a number of loans before and including 2015 – I don’t have the records. I asked them to send me the details if all loans- were mainly txtloan before they changed to my jar. However they only told me of one loan in 2015 and said … Please be advised that as per the regulations, we keep data up to five years to meet our legal obligations under applicable UK data protection rules and the General Data Protection Regulation, and in accordance with applicable anti-money laundering legislation.
Therefore, the records for loan(s) which were borrowed five or more years ago, may already have been deleted. In that case, the loan(s) should no longer appear on your credit file either.
Does this mean they don’t consider earlier loans? Advice please
NJG says
They said the same to me, they only started redress from 2014 even though I supplied bank statements from 2012. I took their FRL to FOS with details of loans from 2010 and they wrote to My Jar who then agreed redress from 2010
Scott says
Hi Joanne,
Even if Myjar won’t consider the loans, the FOS will.
You will obviously need details of the loans in order to show the FOS what you borrowed and also for you to work out if any offer is reasonable.
In this regard I would advise getting copies of your old bank statements for the period that you were borrowing (you will need these anyway when your complaint goes to the FOS) so you can work out what you borrowed.
If the response from Myjar is a final response, then submit your complaint to the FOS and say you borrowed roughly X amount of times and full details will follow. Then get your statements from your bank.
Scott
Sara (Debt Camel) says
good advice from Scott. You can get bank statements even if the account has been closed.
C says
I had 8 loans from txtloan. They rejected my complaint with a very generic template, some of which wasn’t even relevant to me. I went to the FOS and the adjudicator said I should be refunded the interest on all 8 loans plus statutory interest as none of them were affordable
gillian says
hi I just got email from wageday advance saying my refund would be 1590 pound but will only receive about 5p in the pound I suppose I was lucky than most as in 2018 they refunded me about 2500 without going to the fos but think if they looked into my case properly in 2018 why are they now saying I should have been refunded 1590 more I was very lucky that I found this site late 2017 as I had claims with quick quid ,payday uk and wageday all settled before they went bust ty again sara
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You may have had loans more than 6 years old? They would have rejected for a refund but now the administrators accept they should be refunded.
Chris says
Hi all
I know this has probably been asked but i cant find the specific answer im looking for.
Ive just been offered an amount from 24/7 Moneybox and i want to negotiate with them to uphold an extra 2 loans. Does anyone have any experiance with negotiating with them and if so how long for them to reply from your response asking them to renegotiate?
Im basically fairly happy with the offer but think i can bump it up a little and really need the cash, but i also need it fast and do not want to end up having to go to the fos or long it out!
So if its only going to be a day or 2 for them to reply to me (whether they uphold the extra loans or not) i will negotiate, butif they’re gonna take an extra week or so though then i will just accept!
Any help appreciated and sorry for the long post:)
Thanks in advance
Chris
JA says
Hello Chris, I managed to get more loans added to my refund but it did take a long time to get a response & they calculated and sent me the wrong refund. This was in april and now I’m still waiting on them to reply to my adjudicator after 6 weeks of no response. Make sure you calculate the refund to check yours is correct and that they add the correct statutory interest.
I’d push for extra loans 100% whether or not it takes longer – It’s money your owed and money isn’t easy to come by !
Chris says
Thanks for the response, ill certainly check the maths, at a glance it looks correct.
Unfortunately im not really in a position to go to fos as this is my 1st refund from all my claims, including ppi, and im desperate for cash.
Looks like i may have to just bite the bullet and accept, “only” talking an extra 110-150 (20% tax deducted) but unfortunately i really need it!
Does any one else have any experiance with 247 moneybox regarding negotiation response time?
Need some good news pretty fast!!
Thanks again JA:)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are you still making payments to the lenders you have complained to? If this is the reason you are so desperate for money, you should consiser asking to make lower affordable payments. And negative marks on your credit record will get removed if the last loan is decided to be unaffordable.
Chris says
Thanks Sara, yes ive spoke to companies i owe etc. That’s all in hand, im just pennyless atm and need a quick cash injection and this offer from 24/7 is looking like my quickest option. I’m fairly happy with the offer as when i 1st responded to them at the begining when they asked what would resolve the matter, i said “In the interest of keeping things moving quickly, refunds on loans 4 and onwards and the statutory interest.(depending on amount)”
Its just they have upheld all loans except 1-4 and 9-11 (out of 16 in total)
I see a decent chance of getting loans 4, 9, 10 & 11 upheld with fos but was going to respond to them with something like:
Thank you for investigating my complaint and for acting within the time frames set out.
I have reviewed your offer and after some consideration and looking at the loan amounts and dates, i believe that loans 4, 9, 10 & 11 could be upheld, certainly 10 & 11.
Therefore I politely ask you to uphold loans 10 and 11 and include these in your offer and I would be happy to accept.
Its just i dont want to add too much time to the whole claim when i can see how close i am on this one.
Thought it wise to ask on here for any info b4 making my descision :)
Any thoughts?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That looks like a sensible negotiating letter.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am sorry but 247 Moneybox has gone into administration this afternoon. You will probably only get a small percentage of the offered payout and that may take many months. If you had accepted their offer yesterday it would have made no difference as it would have been unlikely to have been paid out in time.
Do you owe them any money on the last loan?
Chris says
Hi
I did yes, 460 was owed still but the offer i had covered it and left about the same again as final amount! Cant beleive thats another one ive missed out on and was so close too :(
Shaun says
Hi all, MyJar have comeback to me and agreed to refund the interest (plus the 8%) for 20 loans, which comes to £2195.20. They have also agreed to remove info from my credit file. Thanks Sara for your help and support! Fingers crossed I have the same luck with few outstanding.
Lisa says
Hi Shaun, how long did the process take from start to finish with MyJar? I have a current complaint with them.
Shaun says
Hi Lisa, just over 5 weeks. How long have you been waiting?
Steffy says
Hi Lisa
I’m on 6 and a half weeks but haven’t heard anything yet!
Chris says
Hello,
Had loans with quickquid and pounds to pocket. They appear to have gone under onstride, do I contact onstride or the original lenders?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Onstride has gone under too – all brands of the same company. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/quickquid-casheuronet-administration/ for news about the administration and how you will be able to put a claim in.
JR says
Just received refund in bank of £1500 from Peachy on the last day of 2 week period they said they would pay out as I accepted their offer without going to FOS, I did not send bank statements or payslips. Happy Christmas!
I have also accepted offer of £1200 from Sunny, although I believe this is a low offer it will be paid in 30 days and they have said it will be in my bank before 24th December. Happier Christmas!
My question is now I have accepted the offer, when Sunny go into Administration (not if but when as it is inevitable) will the administrators consider the loans still showing on my credit score for redress that Sunny did not uphold as irresponsible lending? I know it could only be 5 Pence in the pound and the reason I have accepted low offer as I missed out on thousands with Wonga and QQ but just looking for clarification on how its works
Andy says
How do you know sunny will be going into administration ??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
he is guessing!
JR says
It is a guess as Sara said but its an educated guess and not pulled out of the air. My post was not to put people off but simply information on my situation and the reason I accepted a lower offer than I would possibly receive if it went to the FOS. Information from CMC who are witnessing a large increase suggests that more and more valid claims are being rejected. Add to this on average it is taking 2 – 3 weeks for FOS to reply to claims submitted via the portal requesting additional information to review. It is then taking on average 6-8 weeks (best case scenario) for adjudicator to review and suggest correct redress which then gives Sunny a couple of weeks to disagree with, this is happening on most cases so you then have to wait for Ombudsman’s decision. This will take another 6-8 weeks at best. Sunny will announce Q4 and final 2019 financial results in February and this is my estimate of when they will pull the plug, if not before.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
FWIW Sunny’s parent Elevate has an interesting decision to make. With Wonga, The Money Shop, Payday UK, Payday Express, QuickQuid, On Stride all now gone, it should be much easier for a payday lender to pick up more business and they will be able to be fussy and turn down more marginal applications. That should make for a hugely profitable business – lower advertising/cost of acquisition cost, lower default rate, lower number of complaints about new loans. They have to weigh this against the cost of paying refunds. Last man standing in the market makes a fortune…
JR says
I agree Sarah but the whole system is broken with pay day lenders simply lending to people without correct credit worthiness checks and systems in place, this has created the whole redress system causing Wonga, QuickQuid etc to go bust. Once this is all sorted out the people who require funds and apply for loans will simply be rejected therefor less people obtaining loans and less profit for Elevate operating as Sunny in the UK. If they do not remedy the process the complaints will be a constant cycle. A lot of people who use pay day lenders will have to look elsewhere but unfortunately high street banks will be unable to assist as most people who turn to this sort of high interest lending are desperate and have been refused funds from more reputable companies with lower APR. I expect a rise in DMP, IVA and bankruptcy on the horizon. Last man standing will only make a fortune if they can lend responsibly and not what these legal loan sharks rely on to make there money with high APR. Anyone who could obtain a high street bank loan would go that route and not use these companies. Its sad but the more desperate people always pay the most.
Nats says
Does anyone have any experience with piggybank? Just wondering what they’re like at handling complaints…
Andy says
I had 34 loans they accepted 23 of them I accepted payed out within 7 days
Nats says
Oh that’s good. How long did they tale to respond to your complaint? full 8 weeks? Thanks in advance!
SN says
They were good with mine, I had one left outstanding and they wrote off all the interest, leaving me with the principal of £600 to pay. We have agreed a payment schedule I can afford and I managed to get them to agree to remove adverse information from my credit report. No money back but it’s a start of me getting back on track and improve my dire credit score!
Steffy says
Hi!
They took 6 and a half weeks to get back to me and upheld 6/8 loans so my total redress is £992 which isn’t too bad! Now to wait and see how long till the payment comes back. Thinking about it now I should have challenged one they rejected as in the email they said they knew it wasn’t affordable…(weird) but didn’t want to cause any delays for payout
Good luck!
Nats says
Oh great! well done! x
Sharper says
Just to give everyone a timescale with Satsuma.
The adjudicator picked up and partially upheld my complaint at the end of August. Satsuma continuously missed the deadlines so I requested for it be passed to the ombudsman. I rang Satsuma a couple of times to attempt to push them along and they finally agreed with adjudicators decision yesterday.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Good news!
Turtle says
WDA Email this week;
You are therefore a creditor of CTL with an agreed claim against CTL. Payments to creditors are expected to be made in early 2020, on or before 31 May 2020. However please note that CTL will not be able to pay your claim in full: we estimate that a dividend of between 4.5 and 5.2 pence in the pound will be payable to creditors, and we will confirm the precise amount that you will receive when the dividend is paid to you.
I have contacted KPMG for over 6 months trying to get a detailed list on loans and interest paid as my redress is less than it should be imo. Anyway, I’ve had no answers whatsoever from KPMG. Abysmal service.
M says
Similar situation. Adjudicator partially upheld my complaint on 2 out of 3 loans back in August and a number of deadlines to respond were missed so it ended up being sent to the Ombudsman queue. The business have now agreed with the adjudicators decision so another complaint has reached a happy, albeit lengthy, conclusion.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
which lender was this?
Laura says
Hello,
How do you know if you were taxed on the refund? I have a refund from sunny and no mention of tax and one from quickquid where it was mentioned. I’m on maternity so under tax threshold can that be claimed back? I’ve read the page but bit confused
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can ask Sunny if they deducted tax. If your email from QuickQuid mentioned a deduction for tax, you can reclaim that.
Dean says
Hi all,
Update on Satsuma for all those asking on here:
II eventually got a resolution to my my complaint 12 weekday after putting it in and literally 2 days after submitting it to the FOS(haven’ Even had a reply from them yet other than generic response).
Satsuma upheld my complaint, removed rest of my last loan, and I received a cheque from them today for over 2k, couldn’t be happier!
Wouldn’t have known to complain if it wasn’t for this blog by Sara so than you again so much and guys don’t give up!
Also got redress from Sunny who partially upheld my complaint and paid back just over £1600 which I accepted although potentially could have received more if it went to FOS but happy with what I got from them tbh.’
Awaiting FOS decision on LS but like most on here, missed out with Wonga, wage day advance, payday UK and QQ because of them going into Admin and that’s why I had made the decision to accept a very low redress payment from UB of just over £400, but overall happy as received more than £4000 in redress payments which I would never have known about if it wasn’t for Sara and her blog.
Ann says
Hi a bit of advice Please.I had 11 loans from sunny in 20 weeks total of £679 in interest I’ve paid I borrowed 1700 it’s been to adjudicator and he says loan 4 to 11 to be refunded Sunny got back to him and offered loans 7 to 11 a total of £203 I’m not happy with this do you think i should go to ombudsman or what should I do and is I taking months a wee bit of advice please xx
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how much interest did you pay on loans 4,5 and 6?
Ann says
Hi thanks it around £100 in total not a lot but a lot to me right now
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you can take £203 now or wait possibly a couple of months to see if the ombudsman agrees with the adjudicator (they do in 90% of cases!) and you get the extra money. It’s a difficult choice.
Ann says
Hi Sara
Ok thanks bearing In mind I had defaults on my credit file plus lots of gambling transactions on my bank statement I had another 3 payday loans With other companies when they issued 456 plus I just don’t know
Could the ombudsman offer more than the adjudicator does that happen very often?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes that can happen. The ombudsman can come up with a slightly different award, saying 3-11 or 5-11. What the ombudsman usually does in this sort of case is say “Sunny has agreed to refund 7-11, so that is decided and I will look at loans 1-6.”
To be clear:
– you are likely to get more if you wait for an ombudsman decision. How much more is uncertain but you won’t get less than Sunny have offered.
– I can’t say how long this will take. Timescales had got very long but now seem faster so I said a couple of months. It could be more or less.
– the advantage of taking the current offer is that you get the money now and it is all sorted.
– there is a chance that Sunny will go under at some point and then you would get less if your case was still waiting for an Ombudsman. I’m not saying that is likely, I can’t guess.
Ann says
Ok thank so much I put a comment on trust pilot and sent manager a email I’m not sure what to do £204 is £204 and better than nothing and it would come in handy right now I will have a think today and email adjudicator Back Do think they can go bust Thank you so much for your help
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes it’s possible. I’m not saying it’s likely, I simply don’t know.
Ann says
Thanks I’ve just sent email to accept this offer due to what has happened today with money box 24/7 £204 is better than nothing x
H says
Still waiting on avant getting back to me on redress figures. I’ve been waiting a week. Anyone else have experience with this?
Jamie says
Hi all, my adjudicator has given Safety Net Credit two weeks to respond to them, they have said SNC should give me a refund. Has anyone had any experience with them following the adjudicator stage? Do the reply quick? Do they tend to agree with the judgement?
Cheers
Dave says
Good afternoon, can I ask when you put in your complaint about SafetyNet to FOS? I submitted mine in January and keep getting told it’s waiting for an Adjudicator because it’s different from a ‘normal’ payday loan.
Steve says
Hi E
I just checked my online banking it’s literally just gone into my account so hopefully yours should of too. Having way more success than I thought I would I have only had to send 3 to the FOS, likely loans, Ferratum and drafty. Had some refunds a lot more than I expected already had back close to £5000. My biggest chain is with Ferratum very confident the FOS will find in my favour.
Steve
E says
Mine went in about half an hour after my last post. Just Lending Stream left and then that’s all mine done
Sarah says
Mine has just gone into my account too thanks for all the advice from everyone and especially sara who started all this as I didn’t know you could even claim this money back. Good luck to all who are still waiting.
darren maj says
Piggybank have agreed to pay my loan + interest back £406 total after they agreed i was a victim of irresponsible lending. Happy Days
Sara (Debt Camel) says
BAD NEWS FOR ANYONE WITH 247 Moneybox LOANS
They went into administration this afternoon.
Unless your payment has is already in transit through the banking system, it is probably now not going to get paid.
Anyone with a complaint at FOS is now not going to get that decided as the complaint will be returned to the administrators to settle.
If anyone has a complaint and still owes a balance on their last loan, reply to this comment – it is possible you may be best off by not maying the balance.
Livia says
Oh my god I can’t believe the just sent me an email yesterday saying they would pay my refund with 7 days . I can’t believe just lost £700.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
There are no announcements from the administrators yet, but I am going on what has happened in other administrations.
SN says
I have a complaint with them and the 8 weeks is up a week on Wednesday :( hope for the best!
Laura says
Hi
What if you had a precious complaint denied by the company? I missed out on escalating to the FOS as I had so many other complaints going on and lost track? Will the administrators look in to previously rejected complaints?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That may happen. It will be up to the administrators how that assess any claims made.
Joseph says
They’re dropping like flies, it’s great!! But I do feel for people owed money, feels like an easy way out
JA says
Well I do feel very sorry for anyone who hadn’t received there redress. This explains why they’ve not replied to my adjudicator for weeks about the incorrect amount paid to me.
Chris says
There’s a surprise. 8 days ago I accepted their offer of £4960. Phoned them this morning and was told my payment is being processed. Obviously a lie to get me off the phone and I’ll never see it. That’s me owed £23000 between Wonga, Quick Quid & 247 Moneybox 😔
Chris S says
Feel for ya mate, i keep missing out too! Let us know if you receive your money or not, hopefully its in tranait, fingers crossed pal.
H says
I had accepted an offer at the beginning of the week. To be fair th redress was not enough to cover the defaulted balance but they offered to clear outstanding balance as a goodwill gesture. I accepted this on wednesday and on checking the account balance this morning the loan balance had been cleared. Fingers crossed the monies in transit will make it to tour accounts. I’m pleased now I didn’t escalate for more redress as it looks like i no longer am left with this loan.
I contacted AC this morning as I have still not received figures for redress, they told me I would recieve the figures and money due within 30 days from 22/11. I’m now hoping this comes in quick before AC go down the pan too. A fair bit of money I’d lose out on
Alyss says
Hi Sarah,
I have two claims 1 with uncle buck and one with cashasap. The FOS adjudicator has agreed with me and loans 4-17 shouldn’t have been given and to refund me the usual but they had till the 27th NOV and I’ve heard nothing what do I do and of they agree how long does it take to payout my claim??
Uncle buck is with the FOS they asked for bank statements and a credit report that was a on the 10th Nov and have not heard anything since so was wondering how long it takes them to make a decision??
Any help would be much appreciated
Mary says
I’ve read this on the 247moneybox website:
Those customers with complaints (whether on grounds of affordability or other) should continue to approach the Company in administration. Any such claim will be treated as an unsecured creditor claim.
What does this mean for me? I submitted a claim and was awaiting a final response.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Until the administrators give more details, I am guessing based on what has happened when other payday lenders go under.
So I expect:
– no more work will be done on your complaint, you won’t get a reply by 8 weeks and you can’t send it to to the Financial Ombudsman at 8 weeks.
– instead it is likely to be treated as a Claim to the administrators.
– I don’t know how the administrators will assess this Claim. But you should expect that if they agree with it your will only get a SMALL PERCENTAGE of the refund amount you would normally have received as there won’t be enough money to pay everyone in full.
Do you still owe them money on your last loan or has it been repaid?
Chris says
Hey guys I had about 30 PDLs over 22 months. From sunny/myjar. Totalling about 10-11k. If they refuse my complaint I am concerned that the fco will also refuse If I hand over bank statements as I used portions of the money to repay other loans but also to feed my gambling habit (over a year clean now). Any advice on if I am out of luck trying.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send your complaints in now! After you had borrowed a few times a Lender should have looked closely when you kept making more applications. If they had done this they would have seen your gambling problems and stopped lending. So gambling helps your case when you have borrowed repeatedly from the same lender.
Iain123 says
The Financial Ombudsman Service won’t refuse, you have a great case. No responsible lender will loan to a gambler. Congrats on one year clean.
Chris says
Thank you Sara and Iain123 I really gives me hope. It wasn’t easy to break the cycle. no one was more disgusted with me than myself. I will keep you guys updated if I get a reply. Thank you again
Lisa G says
An update on my Satsuma case. After Satsuma pretty much ignored my adjudicator decision (they had until 30/07 to reply), my case was sent to the ombudsman queue on 4/11.
I called the FOS yesterday and they informed me that the day before (28/11) the ombudsman ruled the same as the adjudicator and wrote to Satsuma at 14:30 that afternoon. I was told my case with the ombudsman has now been closed. I’m yet to receive the email, it might come as a letter, so I’ll wait a week and chase it. I called Satsuma to see if they’d received the ombudsman decision and they said it can take up to a week to be linked with my complaint / account.
My question is; has anyone else has dealings like this with Satsuma? How long did you wait for them to contact you? Or did you contact them? Do they pay by cheque like provident? Or is it a bank transfer? And lastly, do they wait 28 days or is it quicker?
My provident complaint (after adjudicator decision but no response from Provident) has been in the ombudsman queue since 25/11. I called provident and was told it was with a case handler and they have been told by FOS to respond by 09/12 and they are on track for that, which was news to me, but I’m happy with that.
Cazza says
Has anyone had any success with Lending Stream without having to contact the FOS
Joseph says
Very unlikely from what I’ve seen on here over the months, it’s like they have an ‘wait-8-weeks-then-auto-reject’ machine
Mike_p says
I don’t remember anyone reporting getting an offer from them without contacting the FOS. My rejection letter read very much like an auto generated response.
Iain123 says
PAID OUT BY SUNNY, AT LAST!!!
Here’s the breakdown…
Sept 2018. Used the template here to complain about my borrowing from 2013.
Oct 2018. Sunny rejected my complaint.
Oct 2018. Complained to FOS enclosing bank statements and final response from Sunny.
7th Oct 2019. Chased FOS for update.
8th Oct 2019. FOS Adjudicator response finding for me against Sunny. (obviously not a coincidence, I shouldn’t have let my complaint sit with the FOS for one year without pressing them).
11th Nov 2019. Sunny responded through my Adjudicator offering from loan 7-50. I rejected this as I despise these payday loan bastards and want every penny, on principle – accepting they may go into administration. Also learned there had been some back and forth between my Adjudicator and Sunny around settlement.
13th Nov 2019. Sunny increased offer, from loan 2, around 20% extra. I accepted. Adjudicator gave them 4 weeks to settle.
29th Nov 2019. Money in bank. Nothing to sign or request for bank details. All over.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well done!
Amy says
Wish they’d get a move on with mine, accepted an offer and now on day 21 so they have 9 days to pay me. Not sure what to do if they go over the promised 30 days
Carol says
Is it the interest you get back plus 8% ? Many thanks
Scott says
Hi Carol,
Yes it’s the interest you have paid plus 8% simple interest per year on that.
For example if you had paid £100 in November 17, you would get £100 plus £8 for each year since you paid it – so £100 plus £8 plus £8 = £116
Scott
Michael84 says
Hi,
I have a default on my credit file for £1001 from payday express dated 20th June 2014. It’s preventing me from getting a mortgage.
At the time I was rolling the loans in order to make it to the next month and 100% didn’t meet affordability criteria.
I understand they now gone bust so repayment on interest is out of the window, but is there a way of removing the default from my credit file?
Thanks
Michael
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You will need to send in a Claim in. If the loans are decided to be unaffordable the default will be removed. this may take a while… It will drop off anyway by next June.
Paul Wakeman says
Need some advice please. Have just got home and have received a letter from Loans At Home with regards to my complaint. They are asking for my bank statements from Nov 17-Mar 19 so they can get a better understanding of my financial situation! With my original complaint I sent a copy of my Credit File which shows numerous PDLs, Judgment Debts and Defaults! FOS already have my statements for the period mentioned due to other complaints. These statements show numerous payments to creditors at the time including Lending Stream, 247 MoneyBox, PiggyBank, Amigo, BrightHouse as well as others. My question here is should I send them or just go back to them and tell them my financial situation is pretty obvious just from looking at my Credit File! Thanks.
Lisa G says
Personally I’d say if you have them, send them. They might give you a sensible offer of redress without having to queue for the FOS, which for some of mine submitted in Oct 2018 are still waiting to be / have only just been looked at.
But that’s just my personal opinion.
Paul Wakeman says
Am that used to sending complaints off to the FOS I didn’t even think about being made an offer 😂 Thanks for the advice though, will send it all off tomorrow.
Litahash says
Hi, I have started a complaint to Lending Stream. They have sent through my loan details for the last 2 years, they have not stated whether they uphold my complaint or not – what do I say to them now? Thanks
Scott says
Hi Litahash,
What did you say to them in your original letter and when did you write to them? If it was the first template letter above, send second letter.
They have 8 weeks to give a final decision to your complaint. Go through your list of loans and calculate what you have paid in interest so you know whether any offer is reasonable or not.
Previous comments suggest that you will more or likely end up having to take your complaint to the FOS. Do this as soon as you either have a final response or 8 weeks have passed since you first complained.
Good luck
Scott
Emma says
Hi Sara.
Have 247 moneybox gone into administration? Was just about to send them a complaint email!
Thanks,
Emma
Scott says
Hi Emma,
They went into administration on 29/11
The administrators should still accept complaints and if they agree the loans were unaffordable then you will become an unsecured creditor.
Any refund will be a small percentage of what you could have got.
Scott
Emma says
Thanks Scott.
Not expecting much anyway so will now just wait and see if they contact me. Thank you!
P says
Best news I’ve heard today – this company was totally unscrupulous back in the early 2010’s in dealing with customers. Then when forced in to complying with regulatory changes that FCA introduced their customer service for years struggled to cope with lack of leadership. Redress payments etc were always sporadic
sam says
Hey all!
whats the chances lending stream will be going out of business next?
I have a complaint against them which the fos has just picked up and now worrying after business by business they are all going!
would anyone know?
thanks
sam
E says
I hope not! My adjudicator ruled in my favour and I’ve been waiting 4 weeks now for Lending Stream to agree or disagree with the decision.
sam says
how long did it take for the adjudicator to pick up your case, reply and then make a decision?
Emma says
Hi sam, sent my complaint to FOS 14th sept, heard that it had been assigned 25th oct and decision reached a week later. Lending stream are dragging it out now though
Sam says
yours only took a week to reach a decision, that’s quick! mines been with the fos for 3 weeks already with no reply
Nick says
Hi Sara
I have just received my decision from Sunny (3 days before 8 week deadline). They have rejected my complaint, but ‘as a gesture of goodwill’ have agreed to write off the remaining balance of approx £570 on my account. (I have had 49 loans from them & apparently repaid a total of £14K since 2014 (scary figure!).
As I have had a decision in pretty much the same circumstances upheld by MyJar, and also have had redress agreed by the Administrators of Wonga & Wage Day Advance, I am still sure that I have a justifiable complaint, & now intend to send my case to the FOS.
What I’m wondering is, as they have stated that they are going to write off the remaining balance, and they do NOT state that this is conditional upon me not taking my claim any further (they have not asked me to reply or accept their ‘offer’ or sign a settlement document), should wait until I can see that they’ve written off the balance, or should I send it to the FOS straight away?
I’ve also noticed on here a few people have contacted the MD of Sunny/Elevate Credit before sending to the FOS, and have had the original rejection overturned. Is this worth doing or do you think that it may result in the small balance NOT being waived as agreed?
Iain123 says
‘Goodwill’. Ha! How much of the £14K was interest? If it was a couple of thousand then £570 isn’t worth it. If they go into administration they’ll wipe the 570 anyway. May as well go to the Financial Ombudsman with your complaint, you have nothing to lose.
Nick says
Yes, I worked out that around £3K was interest! Agree, nothing to lose by going to the FOS & just keeping my fingers crossed that they don’t go into Admin. To be honest I wish that I’d complained sooner – it was only my Wonga redress (got granted over £2K but well aware that I won’t get a fraction of that) which made me realise that I have a valid case.