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:
- 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, Everyday lonas, Likely Loans/Finio, Reevo, 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.
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;
- some 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 instalment 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 free and 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 2018, 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 2024 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
- if you dont have the credit agreements, 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 FOS 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?
D says
Anyone here have a case open against zippa loans at FOS stage?
Mines has been there months with only update being they’ve approached zippa and are awaiting them. Getting back to them.
This is my last one so would just like this over and done with to be honest
LC says
I borrowed a total of 40 times from safety net credit from feb to November 2019 totalling £8902 and paid back so far a total of £9914 which £864 still to pay do you think I’ll have a chance if I complain ?
D says
Yes defo complain that’s a huge amount.
I found safety net the best to deal with and I had my refund sorted within 18 days with them
Mr F says
I would definitely complain, and mention in your complaint that they have read access to your account so they should clearly have been able to see your struggles that’s what I said to them and they upheld
Mike_p says
Yes definitely complain – I borrowed with them over a period of 4 months and they responded to my initial complaint in less than two weeks offering to refund all interest.
Have you asked them to put you on a payment plan? I asked them to do that and they froze my account and let me repay it over 10 months.
GH says
Can I please ask? Can I complain to lending stream even if it has gone to a debt collecting company?
Emma says
My account with them was with a debt management company when I claimed. After LS didn’t uphold my complaint it went to FOS who upheld it. The amount wiped out my outstanding balances totalling £600 and gives me £1000 in the bank. So definitely worth complaining.
Stacy says
Hi got my decision from adjudicator for my satsuma loans, 1st was for £300 then few months later £700.
The adjudicator turned down my affordability complaint saying they didn’t need to verify anything I said,nor check my bank statements or credit report,I’m at a lose,I’ve quired her decision for her to come back with the same explanation
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry to hear that. You can ask for it to go to an Ombudsman. I think you should reply that £700 is a very large loan and more than twice as big as your first one so you think it should have caused some checks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Adjudicator always say the Ombudsman will say the same, it’s a standard statement they include.
I think you should reply that £700 is a very large loan and more than twice as big as your first one so you think it should have caused some checks.
Helly says
Hi Sarah, a massive thank you to you and this site. I wouldnt have known any of this is possible…
Wonga – waiting payment
Piggy Bank – i got in there just before administration and was given back £450 and loans 3-11 removed from file
My jar – balance reduced from £900 to £300. I have £200 left to clear.
118118 – all the interest removed from my £2000 loan (which was £880) and loan removed from credit file. This loan is now closed.
Lending Stream – sent to FOS who upheld and im now on the 28 wait. Im guessing a rebate of around £350 and loans 5-12 removed from credit file.
Peachy – reduced balance from £1500 to £100 and removal of a number of loans. This loan is now closed.
Satsuma – with the fos. Fos waiting for them to send my case file. By far and away, Satsuma have been the most difficult. The rest have been quick and i have to say that both my lending stream and satsuma cases were assigned an adjudicator within 4 weeks of me submitting the complaint.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s good to know that cases are now being picked up much quicker.
Do make sure LS delete those loans from your credit record – they have a history of forgetting to do this!
I hope the satsuma result is a good one too.
Cazza says
Can I ask what happens when you pass a case to the FOS, I have passed my Lending Stream case to them which I have been asked to provide two very small details and that’s it? Do they normally require anything from me or do they have access to all the information they require?
Mike_p says
Normally they ask for the details they need, usually back statements and credit report. Then you will get an email from an adjudicator saying they have all they need to look at your case, and a bit later they give you their decision.
ME says
Hi all,
Just thought I’d share the progress of my case with Mr Lender.
I submitted my complaint to them in November 2018, after the 8 weeks they rejected it. I sent it to the FOS in March 2019 and it was picked up by an Adjudicator in June. In August the Adjudicator decided not to uphold my complaint therefore I asked for it to be escalated to an Ombudsman. In November I was contacted by another Adjudicator stating they were part of a team that were tasked with reviewing complaints that were awaiting an Ombudsman to see whether they can be settled sooner. In the same month the second Adjudicator partly upheld my complaint and gave Mr Lender until early December to respond. Mr Lender rejected the decision and requested that it went to an Ombudsman look. Given that I had already requested that an Ombudsman look at this compliant back in August, I asked for the complaint to be put back in the August pile which the Adjudicator agreed to. Today I have received a letter from the Ombudsman agreeing with the second Adjudicator’s decision to partly uphold my complaint which I am obviously happy about. Really hope Mr Lender don’t run into any trouble in the meantime.
But I wanted to highlight that whilst most cases are dealt with great first time by the FOS, in some cases Adjudicators don’t always get the initial assessments of complaints right. I had nothing to lose in requesting it being assessed by an Ombudsman.
ME
Paul Wakeman says
So what was already a good week has just got better. Had my complaint upheld by Loans At Home. I had 8 loans from them between Apr 17-Jul 19 (the last ever payday loan I intend on having) for varying amounts but they are paying me a redress of £2,102.67, writing off my outstanding balance of £2,044 and my credit file will be adjusted. Submitted my Complaint on 22 Nov 19 and this is only the 2nd one where I haven’t had to go to FOS.
Mat says
I had about 8 loans with lending stream which has been upheld and due a refund from them. They also said that they will adjust my credit file but as the loans were in 2012 will this have any impact.
R says
Hi does anyone know if LS are agreeing with the adjudicator within the 2 weeks or dragging it out as long as possible?? Any most recent updates? Thanks
Sally says
Could anyone give me any advice on catalogue credit accounts? E.G very/little woods/jd willaims
All irresponsible lenders, increasing credit limits when only ever making the minimum payment then when the minimum payment becomes unaffordable they are not interested in helping just red stamp your credit file and send it off to a debt collector. Surely they can be held responsible for these complaints like payday loans?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Indeed! See https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-catalogue-credit-card/ for how to complain. As you suggest,increasing credit limits is a key factor. These complaints are as easy to win as payday loan cases and can be very slow but sone people are starting to get big wins.
Andy says
With regards to 247Moneybox and QuickQuid is it likely they’ll have a claims portal like Wageday Advance and Wonga did?
Just going by what it says at the top of the page: “247 Moneybox, Piggybank, Swift Sterling are in administration. Send a complaint to the administrators, see the lenders’ websites. You may not get much back but this is very easy to do, just send a short email saying you were given unaffordable loans;” it doesn’t appear to mention anything about a claims portal being available anytime soon?
It could just be that you’re unsure when it’ll be available because no announcement was made by either company or they won’t have a claims portal at all. Just seems strange because WDA and Wonga didn’t take that long with a claims portal whereas 247 and QQ are.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The QQ administrators have said that is what they will do.
Wonga went into administration in August 18 and their claims portal went live in May 19… WDA was unusually fast because they had already developed the assessment software before they went under so the administrators effectively just had to switch it on.
Paul says
Is it worth claiming against MYJAR for a gambling problem rather than affordability. At one point I had 6 active loans within 2 months . Had they insisted on seeing bank statements they would have seen this..or more to the point I wouldn’t have pursued ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, put in a simple affordability complaint, and add a sentence saying that if you had checked my bank statements you would have seen my gambling problem. Attach bank statements.
Andy says
Hi Sara,
I’ve started my claim with Peachy over 2 1/2 years i had taken out 22 loans increasing in value from £120 to £300 with a total loan value of £3970 with £847.44 paid in interest. They have responded wanting:
• 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.
I’m not prepared to send them my payslips as this has nothing to do with them and I’m questioning sending them 2 1/2 years of bank statements as my sentiment is they didn’t need this information to give me an unaffordable loan and help trap me in the pay day loan cycle. They should surely see what my financial commitments were on the credit check. I’ve also raised with them that they sent emails saying i can view a summary of the last 12 months loans on the website but this cannot be found anywhere and isnt in the help or FAQ which has helped hide the extent of the problem.
If i advise I’m not happy to send them either of these, will this harm my case? What would you advise?
JGR says
I did not send payslips to peachy and they upheld my complaint directly, I simply added the below statement when they sent there automated response asking for more details.
Unfortunately I will not be sending my bank statements to peachy as part of this complaint, my bank have supplied copies but they contain sensitive and very personal information. Everything you require should be available when the checks to credit score were carried out upon application and Copies will be available for the FOS to review if required to reach out to the FOS.
Nathan says
Don’t be afraid to complain to loan companies about irresponsible lending. I made complaints against six payday loan companies and won five of them. The final one is currently with the Financial Ombudsman.
mdunlopgt2 says
I submitted a complaint to MyJar in early December, which they have just accepted. it was 4 loans over a 6 month period, the last of which was rolled into a DMP. Their statement in the complaint resolution email:
“We then looked at your overall borrowing history and credit report. We can see from loan one onwards, it appears that a pattern or chain of lending may have occurred, combined with other factors such as late repayments, early repayments and short periods between closing a loan and then taking out another (although this is not an exhaustive list).
Our Decision
Taking the above factors into consideration we have made a decision in your favour, therefore MYJAR will be upholding your complaint on the basis that lending to you from loan one may not have been appropriate.”
The amount of redress is relatively small, I didn’t pay a huge amount of interest until the last loan. Prior to initiating complaint, i owed £800. After complaint, with interest from outstanding loan removed and redress applied, I owe only £140
I might have done this via a CMC a year ago, but didn’t as this site gave me the confidence in the process to do ti myself, so thanks for all the valuable advice in here
Lisa says
Has anyone had any success with Mr Lender and know how long they take to make a refund payment. They have told me they have 4 weeks from FOS but wondering if they wait till the last day.
Mr PDL says
Yep, mine was 1 day under 4 weeks
Hats says
Hi,
I’ve had several successes so thank for all the help so far. Unfortunately was too late with my Piggy bank complaint and although it was accepted obviously won’t see much redress now.
Just a quick question, I had one loan with Mr Lender. Is it worth complaining about this even though it was only one? My credit file was littered with defaults so they shouldn’t have leant to me.
Thanks in advance for the advice
JGR says
Update regarding Lending Stream complaint.
Initially it was rejected for all loans I had taken out so I sent to the FOS at the beginning of December.
This was picked up by adjudicator 16th December and the decision that my compliant should be upheld provided 2nd January giving lending Stream 14 days to respond to FOS.
Email today saying Lending Stream agree with Adjudicator and to confirm bank details and redress will be paid in 28 days.
It appears Lending Stream complaints are being handled by a different group to those such as Sunny etc. and are being processed quickly at the moment. Still awaiting FOS to pick up Sunny complaint but hopefully this is next to be picked up so I can close out these issues.
Hope that helps and everyone gets what is rightfully there’s in the coming weeks/months!
Dan says
I called sunny up to confirm my bank details on Friday 3pm. They said it would be 30 days for my refund and no sooner.
I left them a bad review on trustpilot and emailed Paul Balrdy expressing my dissatisfaction about the length of time. Sunny replied on TP saying sorry and to my astonishment the refund is in my account- 3 days later!!
I dont know if emailing P baldry helped but its there!!
hats says
Is it worth claiming back for one off loans? My credit file was a state so they should not have lent however as they had not previously lent to me aside from the one time is it hard to have success under these circumstances? It’s Mr Lender I am referring to. I also have a similar situation with Peachy so just wondering if it’s worth trying.
Thanks
Mike_p says
For the sake of one email it’s worth a try, but you are unlikely to get it upheld by the FOS.
I had two loans with Mr Lender about two years apart and they offered to write off the last two payments of my outstanding loan. The two FOS cases I’ve had have both said the first loan was reasonable.
Shaz says
Official response about CashEuroNet (QuickQuid) from ombudsman.
“As you may know, Casheuronet went into administration on Friday 25 October 2019. Chris Laverty, Trevor O’Sullivan and Andrew Charters of Grant Thornton UK LLP were appointed as joint administrators (the joint administrators) to wind down the business.
Unfortunately, when a business goes into administration we are required to stop considering complaints against it.
It’s now for the joint administrators to decide whether complaints about Casheuronet will be upheld – and whether the people complaining will become “creditors”. The joint administrators will also decide how much money any creditors will receive.
What does this mean for your complaint?
This means we can’t take your complaint about Casheuronet any further forward ourselves.
The joint administrators have now taken over Casheuronet’s business affairs. So we’ve let them know that you had an open complaint with us, so they can include you in the administration process – and let you know whether your complaint has been upheld and whether you’re a creditor.”
a says
anyone had dealings with cash4unow?
emailed the normal will try and respond in 4 weeks and if we cant fca guild lines 8 weeks blah blah.
has anyone has any success with them or are the complaints normally rejected and go to FOS?
chris c says
I have drawn great inspiration from this site and thank all that contribute to it, It was the collapse of wonga and the subsequent administrators contacting me about possible redress that started my claiming journey however it is this blog that keeps me going and the selfless work of Sara answering questions and offering opinion which made me think perhaps nearly losing my home and wondering what we were gonna eat for tea at night a few years was not really an ok situation and although thankfully I am more or less solvent thanks to working like a machine for a couple of years, Recently I have started to try and get some money back, Wonga was £1118 so not much after we,ll see my other half was £4780 so could be worse we had £12000 over a few years with the Maltese swift sterling so no money there unfortunately. I have claimed against LS, Sunny , Avant , next credit and provident. My Missus thought i was mad but today i have had my first bit of really good news I had a lending stream complaint for 23 loans over 4 years they rejected it all say they did all the checks etc so I went to the fos and the adjudicator has got back today and asked them to refund loans 4 to 23 plus 8% so i feel my journey has been worth my time and its quite empowering tbh. waiting on all the others except next credit who i had 3 loans with in 2014 they paid out very quickly with no hassle so props to them.
KellyE says
Hi Sara
I had complained to LS after 4 loans with them and on the excellent advice via this forum, as per everyone else, LS rejected 4/5 and was willing to pay redress on one loan (4 only), despite the loans increasing each time, a total of 1,500.00 paid in full with interest of 654.00. They offered me 141.00. I complained to FOS and received a response from the adjudicator today (13/01/20) asking if I wanted to accept the offer of 141.00, is this a normal part of the FOS process?
When I initially complained to FOS I explained I felt at the very least loans 2 to 4 should be considered for redress. As my case appears to have been picked up quite quickly by FOS (I sent my complaint to FOS in October 2019), do you think it would be worth my while to request they investigate further, I had sent all my paperwork to FOS with my initial complaint and the offer from LS?
At the time of my lending with LS, I was also lending from QQ/P2P/Amigo/PDUK/Wonga and these would have been on my credit record, yet LS are claiming I was able to afford the loans and payments. I may have stated I could afford the payments but that is because I needed the money at the time to make my monthly bills. Any advice you can give would be appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How much did you borrow in order for the 4 loans? Did any overlap? or was there any gaps on more than a months when you didnt owe LS anything?
Have you complained to Amigo?
KellyE says
Apologies it was a total of 5 loans, not 4.
Total borrowed from LS was 1500.00, a couple of gaps after between loans 2 and 3, loan 2; 3 & 5 repayments were made over 4-6 months on each loan as these were larger than one, on the final repayment of each loan, another was requested by me.
Loan 1: £100 5th May 2011, repayment completed 27th Sept 2011
Lona 2: £450 26th Nov 2011, payment completed 7th March 2012
Loan 3: £495 19th Oct 2012, payments completed 28th Feb 2013
Loan 4: £50 8th March 2013, repayment 26 March 2013
Loan 5: £470 26th March 2013, repayments completed April 2013. – refund of £141 offered
all others rejected on the basis that I stated I had 500+ disposable income.
Do you think it’s worth pursuing?
I have put in a complaint about Amigo, although I don’t hold out much hope because they claim to have no record of me or my loan, I sent my account details and bank statements to FOS.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s not a very strong complaint. The first loan was small, there was a six month gap after the 2nd loan, the 4 loan was small. You can ask the adjudicator to look at it but you may not get more.
Kevin says
Hi
I have an adjudicator uphold my complaint with Sunny.
Sunny now have two weeks to reply.
Is there anyway i can fast track this ? I read somewhere if you email a certain email payouts are very quick. But I can’t remember where the post is.
Or shall i wait for them to accept or decline the adjudicators decision?
Kind Regards
Kevin
Emma says
I think if there was a way to fast track it then everyone would be doing that. Everyone is in the same boat so I suggest sitting back and waiting for the decision to be made. It’s out of your hands.
Lynn Blaney says
Can anyone advise if they have had any successful outcomes with catalogue refunds. I have just contacted Very regarding irresponsible lending and for putting me under financial strain by increasing my credit limit to a high amount. Of course rather foolishly I took advantage of this and was unable to keep up with the repayments including late fees and missed payment fees and now as a result has gone to collection agency and default entered on my credit report. Haven’t heard back from them as yet but wondering if any successful outcomes have been offered. Thanks
Carol says
I have also done one with very
I hear they are more difficult and normally dont uphold. But just take it all the way x
Paul Wakeman says
I’ve currently got complaints against Very, Simply Be and JD Williams for myself and my Partner being looked at. Business Files have been requested by the FOS so just waiting now
vicky w says
Hi
I have complained to myjar, but because it was over 5 years ago they are saying their records are now deleted. I should be able to get some info on the loans from my old bank statements. Can I still pursue a complaint that is over 5 years?
Thanks
Vicky
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes you can if you have proof of the loans from emails or your bank statements
Fran says
Hello
Sorry, I’m sure this has been asked a thousand times. How long does it usually take for an adjudicator to pick up your complaint?
Thanks so much
Fran
Dean says
It is dependent on each case I think, I had one with LS where I sent my complaint to FOS end of November, it was picked up by adjucator on 10th December, he delivered his outcome on 18th Dec and LS agreed with his outcome on 30th December. Now awaiting redress payment from them
Charlie says
Hey guys
Received my first response of a few back from Safety Net Credit…
Theyve agreed a full redress of interest etc, thus removing my whole account balance (£922) and leaving me with £208 to come back my way.
This seems like a good offer doesnt it? I was thinking would they consider paying my balance and setting up a payment plan but that would be silly wouldnt it, i could just do with abit more money at the moment.
Thanks ever so much for all your help on this site! Fingers crossed 24/7 moneybox and satsuma respond asap.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
247 Moneybox is now in administration. you aren’t going to get a speedy response from them. Do you currently owe them any money? How many loans did you have with them?
And Satsuma are one of the slowest of the slow… again, do you owe them any money? how many loans did you have from them?
Charlie says
Oh bugger. Yes i currently have an outstanding balance with them. Ive cancelled my CPA however! Same as Satsuma as well.
Ive had over 10 loans with Satsuma, as i have done with 24/7 money box as well. Is it worth giving them a follow up email or anything?
Kerry says
Thank you so much for this website if I hadn’t of come across it when I did I don’t know if I would even be here as the stress of pay day loans at a young age was becoming unbearable.
I started my complaint process around February last year to a few of my lenders (I found this less overwhelming to only do 2-3 at a time) they all came back and shut my complaint down and stupidly I left it until the almost 6 month mark until I picked it up again.
In September I really got the ball rolling and sent my complaints that I needed too off to the Ombudsman and came on here and really read through everything before complaining to the rest. My outcomes were as follows:
Safety net – cleared my balance of £900 and refunded me £750
sunny – cleared my balance off £1000 and closed my account
Amigo- removed my guarantor and refunded £2400 worth off interest (this came off my capital loan) and I am now repaying through step change
My jar – refused my complaint but the FOS held it up and asked them to refund me so my balance was cleared and I am now waiting on £170
Lending steam – same as above with a £190 refund coming
QQ – unfortunately I was too late but this is being paid with an affordable amount through Step Change
Don’t give up! The forms are long and draining but they are worth it!
Sarah says
Hello,
So I made a complaint to Sunny about irresponsible lending, originally back in February 2019. On 4th December 2019 I got a response from my adjudicator, he upheld my complaint and asked Sunny to refund 6 out of 7 loans. He gave Sunny until 16th December 2019 to respond. As of now, 14th January, I haven’t heard anything. Is this normal? Should I email the adjudicator and ask for an update? I’m a little concerned I might have missed an email from them, or is it normal for Sunny not to respond within the time frame?
Many thanks for all the great advice on this site. I wouldn’t have known where to start without the template letters.
Dani says
I would say yes follow it up with your adjudicator, I would of emailed them on the 17th of december if that was me.. Always keep them updated so they can deal with it sooner rather than later
Pee says
If Moneybox247 are in administration. Does that mean I still have to pay my repayments as per my repayment plan??
Can anyone advise???
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How many loans did you have from them before this last one still owed?
Pee says
Sara it was a lot. About 15 or so. Do i have an option??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
one option is to email them a complaint now at customer.services@247moneybox.com, just say how many loans you had and ask for a refund of the interest as the lending was unaffordable. Add that you will not be making any further payments to your current loan with them until they have assessed your complaint as you have been told you will have the right of set off between redress for unaffordable lending and the balance owed.
And cancel the CPA with your bank so they cant take any more money.
I can’t predict how much hassle you might get from the administrators if you do this.
George says
Hope someone can help me.
I have sent off the templates to all the lenders : Amigo, Sunny, Satsuma, Drafty, Very, 118. (You can see obviously I am bad with money)
I will await the responses now but was just wondering what will happen or what to expect really? Amigo is for 9000, currently sat at around 13,000 outstanding even 2 years later of huge payments. 118118 is at 1900 which is now frozen, Very and Drafty both at 1200 currently frozen, Satsuma at 1200 Currently frozen and Sunny at 600 currently frozen. I have made numerous payments to these and they have been extended etc for more money.
Can anyone help by telling me what to expect for the results of these? Drowned in debt and hoping that I can squash these debts and work towards getting these paid off.
Thanks in advance.
George says
Yes I did use the template. Amigo is obviously the biggest worry as was paying 370 a month for almost a year and a half and all that happens is the debt goes up…
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You need to keep paying Amigo while the complaint goes through or they will go after your guarantor. You can reduce payments to the rest to a more affordable lebel.
Chris says
Hello,
So I’ve had a complaint against Mr lender for irresponsible lending. Today I received a letter saying my complaint was not upheld, they did all checks they were supposed to etc. My basis of the complaint from irresponsible lending as I had 4 loans, the first three were £200 and paid off, but they were about a week after finishing I took the next, my final one was for £1000.
I paid one month’s installment then fell behind and they sold it to a debt company called sll. I’ve been paying £5 a month to them.
Now they’ve ended the letter saying its not upheld, but as a gesture of goodwill they will pull the debt back from sll and only pay the capital which was like £862. Now as they’ve offered this I’m leaning more to it was irresponsible and I should take it FOS, what are peoples thoughts?
Bearing in mind, my credit file has 4 defaults already registered albeit about 4 years old.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds a fair offer to me. You may very well only win the last loan if you go to FOS as the first three loans were small. And a “refund” means having the interest removed so you only repay the balance, which is what I think Mr lender is offering here.
Crissy says
Hi
Had anybody any luck claiming against safety net credit ? I started borrowing with them in 2016 and I have just added up all interest to date on credit limit of a 1000 pound to over 4500 pound ? I was in a total mess with payday loans at the time ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Lots of people have won these cases, they are some of the easiest to win as the lender can see from your bank account what a mess you are in. Do you still owe them any money?
Bob says
Hi, I put in a complaint to Drafty and they rejected it within 5 weeks. So I sent more information about my outgoings and serious debt at the time and they’ve replied basically the same answer. But they’ve put this in their response:
“ However, we would like to mention that we never intend to misrepresent or follow misleading practices towards our customers whenever they require our assistance. Considering we have already provided you with the finest resolution post considering your medical condition and the information available to us for the complaint raised, our final response remains the same.”
I’ve never mentioned anything about a medical condition?? Are they just firing off generic emails and adding bits in ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send it straight to the Ombudsman. And also reply saying you don’t have a medical condition and they appear to have sent you a reply intended for someone else.
Daz says
Advice needed please.
I have used Safety Net Credit for the last 30 months every month, my credit limit was £1000 and I have worked out I have paid over £4000 in interest in this time.
I currently owe them £1047 and have put a complaint in and stopped paying and interest is frozen.
I’m currently in a DMP and as they have access to my bank account they would see that the biggest outgoing from my account was gambling transactions.
Currently seeking help for the gambling.
Do you think I stand a chance of winning my case?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes it sounds like a very good case, not just to get the balance cleared but to get money back to help you clear other debts.
To point out the obvious, unless you have stopped gambling and stay that way, any compensation is going to end up with the bookies very quickly… see these claims as your one chance to improve your finances, don’t waste it!
Do you have any other high cost credit in or out of your DMP?
Kate says
Hi guys, looking for some advice! Please
I took out a loan with LS for £1090 and the repayments were £331 for 6 months paying back £1900.
I failed on some payments and in total paid £800 back.
I still owe £1300 and set up a repayment plan of £250 for 6 months
This works I out I’m paying back £2300 in total.
Can they to do this? £400 more interest!? When they know already I was struggling.
I’m not too sure what I can do or even I’f I can do anything. I know I was the one who agreed to it in the first place so I just feel a bit helpless.
Any advice would be great :)
Scott says
Hi Kate,
From my calculation of your figures, you are paying back £2100, (£800 already paid and £1300 still to pay)
Total payable is capped at twice what you borrowed, so that would be £2180 in your case.
Scott
a says
Hi All,
so SNC has come back to me and said i will get my final response before my next payment is due which is the 24th jan but the 8 week timeline is 30th so on week six and hoping for the best.
quick question my uncle buck case has been with a adjudicator since the 4th DEC i have chased early Jan and they said they are still investigating and will get back to me shortly however that was 2 weeks ago and its been 8 weeks since my case was picked up has anyone else has this? should i chase again or wait a couple more weeks? also my satsuma case is still with the fos has been since may 2019!!!! does anyone know how long this was take to get picked up?
JA says
Unclebuck were very slow at responding to my adjudicator so this might be the case with yours aswell. Mines now in a queue for an ombudsman unfortunatly.
stevo says
UB seem to be sending everything to ombudsman, surely the ombudsman must loook at this, realize they are playing games/ stalling for time and make them deal with the obvious cases rather than dragging it all out. My adj said redress on loans 3-9, UB came back and offered redress souly on loan 8…. Lol… Sent it to ombudsman in December and like everyone else, now on for the long wait.
mar says
this is the same for me also, case has been waiting for an ombudsmen to review since early september
SS says
Hello all
Thank you so much for this forum its been a life saver. So far I have had refunds from 118 money, ferratum and Satsuma totalling £2.5k which has gone a huge way to paying off my debts.
Lending Stream have agreed to the adjudicator to refund me another £1,300. I am currently on day 10 and I could really do with the cash. Are they always slow to pay? Anyone get paid before the 28 days? Anything I can do to speed things along?
Thanks again!
Mike_p says
They are often slow to pay, my refund was paid on day 26. There’s nothing you can do to speed it up really – if you ask them for updates or they just ignore you until they’ve paid and then reply to say they’ve done it.
Neil says
Hi SS,
Can i just how long it took to get your refund Satsuma once they mad an offer?
Thanks
SS says
Actually not too long. They went just under 2 weeks over the time given by the adjudicator to come back on his decision so made me an offer on 16th Dec. Paid out by cheque in the post which I got on 30th December – so 2 weeks from accepting to having the cheque in my hand, which considering Christmas post was also a factor was great. I think I may be one of the lucky ones though…
Rob says
Hello Everyone & Sara,
Just out of vague Curiosity, will the 24/7 Moneybox Administrators being doing a mis-sale review similar to Wonga & WDA? I’m not perticullary bothered if they do or not, but it seems like every other “Payday/Short Term” Loan company is doing one.
P.S. Sara you have the patients of a saint, I’ve been reading the Wonga Chat and I would have lost my mind by now if I was monitoring that chat session.
Thanks
Rob
Louise says
Hi. Amigo loans have closed my complaint because it has been over 6 years since I applied for it, it was settled over 3 years ago. They emailed saying they have no record of me or my loan. I have a statement from them though when I paid the loan off.
What do you advise? At the time of applying I was on a zero hour contract!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can definitely go to FOS as you have all the details of the loan on the statement.
Michelle says
Hi everyone I’ve finally managed to resolve claim with sunny and now waiting on the refund. Just wondered do they pay anytime of the day, do you get an email first? I expect them to drag it out as long as possible though
Ciaran says
Hi Michelle, I currently have a case with the FOS regarding Sunny. Did they accept the adjudicators decision in your case?
Dean says
Sunny paid mine on day 28! No email notification, the payment was made into my account.
sam says
Hi Sara
i have dealt all my complaints via email and emails with the FOS.
LS emailed me back after myself chasing saying they have gone back to my adudicator and they need to confirm if i accept their offer or not.
but i need the FOS to reply to myself and them.
It is okay to call my ombudsman and chase them, or best to just wait?
Beth McLeish says
Hi Sam
My LS complaint has been dealt with by a CMC, however I have phoned FOS on numerous occasions for updates etc. They will be speak to you. Beware though, Lending Stream are extremely sneaky and will swear that they haven’t received a response from the FOS, even though it has been sent, and they will not start the 28 days of the payment time until they have received it. I ended up on the phone to LS to make them double check their inbox to confirm receipt, as 3 hours after FOS had sent it, they claimed they hadn’t received it! They won’t even let you forward it on to them, just deliberate delaying tactics! Unfortunately you have to be VERY persistent, but it will pay off.
MnM says
Hi Sara
I have a complaint in currently with Payday Express. I understand that we won’t be getting any updates until later in the year. However they have sold my debt on to a debt recovery. Where do I stand with this? I have emailed the debt company explaining that I have a complaint with them but they sent another message today and not even acknowledged my email. Should I set up a payment plan and pay it? I have had no letters, email, communication from PD Express to say they was going to do this.
TIA
Emily says
Hi,
Please could you help me work out the simple 8% interest on my refund? Total interest was £525.
The dates were:
1. 11/10/2017- 02/01/2018 borrowed £350 and paid back £525 (£175 interest)
2. 05/02/2018- 16/04/2018 borrowed £350 and paid back £525 (£175 interest)
3. 20/04/2018- 24/08/2018 borrowed £350 and paid back £525 (£175 interest)
Tia x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
£60? what does the lender say?
sam says
Hi Sara
im not stupid but working out the 8% on all my 36 LS loans on loads of different dates is giving me a headache.
would someone like LS get it right and no need to check?
a says
well you just do the 175 Interest and work out 8% on that. which is about £14 and then per year so top loan will be 2 lots of 8% and the other 2 will be 1 lot of 8% and work it out from there.
Rob says
Hi Sara,
Just after some advice please.
I have over the last few years rid myself of the payday loan nightmare thanks largely to your help on here. However i have been trying to help a friend of mine possible start claiming refunds himself for payday loans he has had and currently has. He has told me he is currently in a DMP with step change and has one outstanding loan with Peachy which is not included in his DMP. He has said he is not sure if he can complain about Peachy as he has continued to lend from them while he has a DMP. He has had about 18 months borrowing from Peachy and has been topping up and re-borrowing – the usual signs. He has said that Peachy did not once ask for any proof of bank statements or payslips etc and originally approved him for £200 and now he has borrowed upto £700 over 9 months.
Does he have a case to complain to peachy saying he is in a DMP and they didnt ask for any proof of income etc? or will they turn round and say he has lied on his application? I wasnt sure where to go with this particular lender.
Thank you
Rob
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes he can complain – as ever he may not get a refund for the first few loans but as he continued to borrow, they should have looked at his credit record and bank statements and seen what was happening. He should also probably contact stepChange and ask for the current loan with them to be added to his DMP… along with any other debts he has built up. They won’t love this, but they know it happens and are often prepared to help out once. he can tell them he is making an affordability complaint.
Nick says
Hi Sara,
I have drafted a letter of unaffordability complaint to payday lenders and hoped you could take a look and tell me if you would add anything in or take anything out in your opinion. I just wanted to tell my side of the story or do you think it is worth keeping it simple amd blunt with these companies?
I will send it in a couple of messages as it won’t fit as one whole.
Thanks in advance
Josh says
Anyone have any experience with following up with Sunny after they disagreed with the Adjudicators decision, upholding 1 of 18 loans over a 14 month period. Total repayments almost £5k.
I have been told today it could be up to 9 months for an Ombudsman to pick the case back up.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you added up how much interest you paid? Knowing the total repayments doesn’t really give you much clue about possible refunds.
I don’t think previous experience means much as so much has changed in the last year. If you want a complete guess, I wouldn’t be surprised if Sunny decides at some point it has to fall into line and accept FOS decisions. I think you are being quoted a “worst case” by FOS at 9 months. But perhaps I am being too optimistic.
Michelle says
Hi josh my experience has been quite good. Originally had no offer went to fos and they didn’t agree with adjudicator, so I managed to negotiate an amount I was willing to accept with Sunny accepted on Tuesday in my account today. As Sara said you need to look at the interest you paid. I had a figure in mind that I was happy to accept, depends if you are willing to wait longer? There’s no harm in asking them To consider a different offer.
Josh says
I paid £1500 interest as I often took out further loans with Sunny and lending stream to pay off older ones.
LS agreed with the adjudicators view and refunded 11 of 16 that were around the same period.
Sunny has offered to refund £100.
I remember reading comments a few months ago saying it may be worth emailing the MD for elevate and see if he will get Someone to look into my complaint. Have little idea what to put in the email though.
Michael says
Hello,
I paid my safety net credit account off in July
I put a complaint in around 6 weeks ago
Just checked my credit file and it’s now showing on there as an open account.
Anyone had this before or no why?
a says
Hi Michael,
i had two account with SNC and they re opened my old account on my credit file 1 week after submitting my complaint. no need to worry i think they have reopened it to take a look at your account and investigate your complaint. im on week 7 now for SNC awaiting response.
Mat says
Just a quick update. Day 27 of waiting for lending stream refund and called today. Update was to say they would pay on Monday but refund was made 20 mins after call. I would recommend if you are over 3 weeks to get in touch with them.
CM says
I have 3 loans with Lending stream for 780 that they gave me in the space of a month.
The monthly repayments are 240 over the next 6 month.
I won’t be able to afford these repayments.
I am goin to contact LS. Has anyone been able to negotiate repayment plans with LS?
Take away the interest payments??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Put in an affordability complaint using the template in the article above if you think these (and previous?) loans were unaffordable.
Include a sentence saying you want to make a lower affordable payment arrangement. And cancel the CPA with your bank so they can’t just take the money and leave you short – you are not “asking” them to be able to pay less, you are “telling” them.
Peter says
Hi Sara, Just wanted some advice on a case i currently have with the FOS please.
I had around 45 loans from Ferratum over a 4 year period and paid them almost £4000 in interest. Complained to them in April last year and was offered £500 which i refused. Went to FOS in July. This was picked up in September by the first adjudicator. Over the next 2 months I was asking for updates and adjudicator said that he was waiting on the case file from the business. Anyway, mid November, I receive an email from another adjudicator saying they are taking over my case. The first guy just vanished.. :) (I think he probably found a new job) Anyway, then the new adjudicator then goes on holiday for two weeks. Another email on 12th December from a 3rd adjudicator saying they are now taking over my case. Not sure what happened to person number 2!
I have emailed the new adjudicator 4 or 5 times and rang twice (left voicemail) but no reply. I am really in the dark as to what is happening here. Also with the claim being a large one, I am concerned about Ferratum going bump in the meantime.
My questions: If a business is deliberately being obstructive and not sending in case files, is there anything the FOS can do? And also, do you have any thoughts about what I can do, to try and speed up the adjudicator into making a decision? I know they are under pressure and do a great job, but I really feel like this one is dragging out.
Thanks!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you should ring the general FOS number 0800 023 4567 and say you want to complain that you aren’t getting any replies from your adjudicator. At the moment you don’t know if Ferratum have supplied the case file or not.
Em says
Any one else religiously read the Ombudsman decisions for cases from the same lender as their own outstanding ones?
I’ve been following the Sunny decisions for a while now (Submitted my complaint in Jun 2018!! 44 loans total) and I’ve noticed that Sunny seem to have upped their ‘push back’ at Ombudsman level recently. Most notably the below two arguments seem to be cropping up on a few decisions:
(‘It’ refers to Sunny)
In the absence of indications of financial hardship, it doesn’t think that it should
change its approach to assessing applications after a certain number of loans.
There’s no good reason to give more importance to the number of loans a customer
has with them than with other lenders.
No idea what this means (if they’re pushing back for more lenient regulation are they planning on continuing to trade in the UK? Or is this a last ditch attempt to try and recoup costs before they withdraw – all speculation!)
Anyway, just thought it was interesting to note!