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?
Lianne says
Sunny Update
Original Letter to sunny sent August 2018!
Sunny Rejected so sent to Adjudicator in October 2018, adjudicator agreed loans 3-23 should be upheld and refunded.
Sunny of course disagreed, so sent to Ombudsman in October 2019.
Received a letter on Friday 14th, ombudsman agreed with adjudicator.
I’ve accepted this and now sunny have 4 weeks to get in touch.
Happy with the decision and will be glad when it’s all over.
Thanks Sara for this site and your advice.
Luucy says
Hi
I’ve had a request from FOS asking me to submit my credit report. I’m claiming from Sunny , the affordability of lots of payday loans.
My question is , when I log into my Credit Karma account , it gives a list of “closed accounts” , these are all the Sunny loans that I paid off ! Is it these that the FOS want to see specifically?
Any help would be great. Thankyou
Luucy says
I’m having no luck at all downloading it in something I can print . It comes up all gobbledegook . I’m not tech minded at all so if anyone can go through step by step that would be great.
Thankyou
Sara (Debt Camel) says
One reader has said the Statutory Report is easy to use and download a complete PDF from.
Sandra says
Hi
I had a 6 loans from money box 247,I was just wondering if we can still send in for irresponsible leanding?and if so do you know the email address thank you such a helpful site
E says
Hi Sandra, on their site it states to contact them on customer.services@247moneybox.com for affordability complaints. Their customer service team are still available whilst administrators wind down the business.
John Roberts says
Hi
This might take a bit of explaining, just wondering where I stand.Got a loan out in July for £700 from mymoneypartner. I had other payday loans and credit card maxed up and £1500 still to pay on my Likely Loans. Paid MMP loan off in September and got another loan out for £1200, robbing Peter to pay Paul at the same time.I’m now paying my Likely Loans off with a debt management company at £264 a month. Cant afford to pay my mmp which will get £380 on Friday. I was going to put in a unaffordable loan claim until I’ve just noticed they have now gone into administration. I’ve paid back £1,255 already with another £1140 still to pay. Obviously I will get very little back if I win the claim. I cant afford to pay it so what should do please, thanks in advance…
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You need to contact them at customercare@mymoneypartner.co.uk and explain you can’t pay and ask for an affordable payment arrangement and you want to make an afordability complaint. It may be only your second loan but it’s a very big one!
Altyernatively you can talk to your DMP firm (who is it?) and ask them to add the MMP debt into your DMP. Do you have any other debts which aren’t in your DMP? eg an overdraft? It’s best to put all your debts in and have a clean start so you don’t have to borrow again.
have you put in a complaint to Likely Loans?
Shirley says
Has anyone had any info on Morses I decided to try to get a refund and its only been a fe weeks, they have communicated and sent me loan info for the last six years saying thats all they keep in record. I have sent them credit report and bank statements so we will see. Still have not heard about prov that went in in beg of July last year. But hey ho. Good luck allx
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you sent the Provident case to the Ombudsman?
Shirley says
Hiya Sarah yes but I did it through a company before I saw this website they just rung me up, regret it now but If I get anything back I would be happy. I was horrified at how much had borrowed from provs over 40,000 paid back in total just over four years not counting from 2007 that was just from 2012 -2015. They just kept giving me more cause i always paid.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That’s ok, I just wanted to know the case was with the Ombudsman.
Shirley says
Yes its not even been allocated an a handler yet. But thanks for all your help Sarax
Andy says
Hey, I got a reply from Sunny stating that they aren’t considering my complaint that the 80 loans they gave me over 4 years constitute reckless lending. I’ve forwarded the complaint to the FOS so hopefully they can help. Seems Sunny are putting up a fair bit of resistance to claims against them.
Paul p says
FOR upheld my complaint with sunny by an adjudicator. They still challenged and now in a ombudsmen queue for 6 months waiting final decision. Don’t expect a quick solution
J says
Im currently waiting on my reply from Sunny also, i had constant lending off them one after another for 4 years, interest paid accumulating to over £5k. Lets see what they come back with but i have no doubt theyll put up a fight
Chris says
I had an offer today whilst my claim is in the ombudsman queue – a settlement on about 50% of the loans I am questioning for about 50% of the total amount the FOS say is unreasonable. Seems Sunny are processing these all today!
Im not sure what to do with my offer as it seems lowball compared to the full figure – I did post about this earlier but the message doesnt seem to be in the thread (odd)
Paul p says
Hi, has anyone had a redress from safety net credit or my jar. Sent the emails last week and have received statements of the accounts. Any idea how long these companies take to respond and if they are awkward
Thanks
Michelle says
Hi Paul, myjar seem to be very good at responding quickly. I had refund within 4 weeks in total very pleasent to deal with I think others have had the same response. Good luck
Karen H says
Hi,
I sent affordability complaint to Myjar 12th Jan & they were very quick in responding with an offer of £2678 on 27th Jan. Their letter said to allow 3 weeks from that date for refund which is today. Another email from them said normally pay out between 10 & 15 working days. I have tried contacting them a couple of times in the past week to see if they were paying out on time but they’re not answering my emails now. If I don’t hear anything by tomorrow might try using Resolver.
mark says
I am also waiting for a refund, only since 13th Feb. They sent me an email today confirming they had received my settlement form.
Sam says
I had my response back on Friday and sent the settlement form back straight away. Some people have said they get their redress amount back within a week. Others like Karen unfortunately haven’t. I keep feeling anxious thinking they will go into admin like Wonga.
The waiting game has started :(
Karen H says
Sam,
I keep thinking they’re stalling because going into admin. Someone posted on here recently that they had been paid in just 3 days. Hopefully it will be this week.
Karen H says
Hi Sam
Myjar have paid me this afternoon at last. I posted a not so good review on trust pilot this morning & got a reply straight away. Said they would refund me within next 2 days, but landed in my bank account this afternoon! Hope you get your refund very soon
Michelle says
Hi Karen why don’t you give them a ring? Make sure they have your correct details and signed acceptance form. Or leave a review on trustpilot they may respond to that
Karen H says
Hi Michelle,
I rang their general number on Friday & asked to be put through to complaints but she told me that complaints dept didn’t have their own line which I thought was a bit weird. She reassured me that they’d received everything necessary & said she’d email complaints asking them to contact me but nothing as yet!
Sam says
I am due a similar amount to you and it would mean the world to me. It’s causing a lot of worry after the Wonga fiasco. Fingers crossed for us both (and for anyone else in these situations).
Tania says
Myjar responded just after two weeks after my complaint and the money was in the bank six days later. Still waiting for a response from Safetynet after five weeks but others have been more lucky.
Rob says
I’m super happy this morning. Just received this from safetynetcredit just a few weeks after putting in a complaint. Thanks Sara for this site.
17 February 2020
Dear,
We are writing in response to your complaint received on the 21 January 2020.
The basis of your complaint is that we should not have lent to you as you could
not afford to repay.
Having investigated your claim fully it is our view that your complaint is has merit.
In circumstances where the Financial Ombudsman Service finds in favour of the
complainant they normally propose that a full redress of interest plus an 8%
statutory interest repayment is made to the customer, with the principal
outstanding balance being deducted from this amount.
Therefore, we propose that we redress all the interest that you have paid
(£685.10), plus statutory 8% interest (£202.01). In line with HMRC guidelines we
will deduct 20% (£40.40) from your statutory interest and pay this to HMRC,
meaning that you will not have to declare this redress in your tax returns.
As you do not have an outstanding balance this will leave an amount of £846.71
payable directly to you. Any adverse markers on your credit file in respect of this
account will be removed.
Mr C says
Hi.
I wonder if I could run my lending past you with Mr Lender. I have had five loans with them since 2016 details below. I wondered if this lending pattern would have grounds for logging a complaint with them? I have an open loan with them and have been in the cycle with them and many other lenders over the years.
Issued 09/07/2016 – Paid 20/12/2016 – £250 Borrowed – Interest paid – £192.67
Issued 05/01/2017- Paid – – 31/07/2017- £660.00 – Interest paid – £619.48
Issued 01/08/2017- Paid off 31/01/2018 – £200.00 – Interest Paid – £185.39
Issued 31/01/2018- Paid Off 29/01/2019 – £1,000.00 – Interest Paid – £982.86
Issued 02/05/2019 – Finishes – 30/04/2020 – Interest – £902.03
Regards
Chris the Fist says
Mr C, I would say so.
Out of all the lenders, Mr Lender sorted my complaint out very quickly, offfering redress and clearing balance.
The offer was probably £1k shy of what I could have got from the FOS, however it was paid to me within 3 days.
Laura says
On 28/01/20 I sent my affordability complaint to Sunny. They acknowledged it on the 31st. Today I received the breakdown of all my loans. I just replied with a thanks and I looked forward to their correspondence regarding my complaint.
Safetynet responded within 2 weeks with an offer which I accepted.
LS, H&T, Mr Lender and Fernovo have acknowledged my complaint and are looking into them.
Nothing at all from Unclebuck or CashFloat.
Timka says
I sent my affordability complaint to Sunny on 27/01/2020 and they have not acknowledged it at all. Should I get worried? I read that they are quite reluctant with these complaints.
I sent it to help@sunny.co.uk as this is the email they have listed for complaints on their website.
Jane Y says
Hi
I sent my complaint to safetynet on29th Jan and had a response on 30th saying it had been passed to the complaints dept. I haven’t heard anything since.
Is this what happened to you?
Thanks
Jane
Glen says
Hi Sara, as part of my claims of irresponsible lending I’ve put one in against Natwest, vis Resolver.
An agent from NW has text me asking me to call him to discuss but I want it done by email only.
Am I doing the right thing? It’s a bit of a punt with this large loan I took out but they refinanced my existing loan and I feel they didn’t do proper checks, I don’t really want to spend time on the phone being interrogated.
Holly says
Hi all . I am trying to set up a payment plan with quid market and they are asking if I have supplied false information, I have as I was desperate but I’m unsure as what to say back , any advice would be great thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Read https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/ – there are many reasons why an application may not have been accurate – desperation being a common one?
Are you making an affordability complaint or just asking for a payment arrangement? Was this your first loan from them?
What are the rest of your finances like?
Chris says
1of2
Hi Sara,
Could I get your advice on this please?
Email from my claim company today
“Please find below an email from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) in relation to your complaint about Sunny, who have since made an offer. The offer is still not in line with the adjudicator’s assessment in that the lender have now upheld loans 14- 27, whilst the adjudicator believed that loans 5- 27 were unfairly lent to yourself.
The total offer is for £1,375.19 and your interest/fees equated to £2,639.11.
As this offer was made whilst your complaint was in the queue to be reviewed by an Ombudsman, your complaint will remain in line for a final review if you are to reject. The Ombudsman decision is legally binding.”
I replied asking what would happen if we decline and wait for final decision.
Chri says
2of2
Their reply:
“In regards to this, the lender have made an offer whilst your complaint is in the queue for an Ombudsman decision; the Ombudsman review does not necessarily mean that they will be chasing for the same amount that the adjudicator believed to be unfair but that they will reassess the complaint to decipher whether or not the lender unjustly lend these loans to you, in their opinion. Oftentimes, the Ombudsman will agree with the adjudicator, although this is not a guarantee or certainty.
The Ombudsman will then make a full decision on this basis, having reviewed all of the information and evidence that they hold regarding your borrowing and come back with a legally binding decision in which both yourself and the lender must agree to!”
I’m now a bit confused – is it now possible that the final review could settle on a figure even less than the offer?
Hope that makes sense.
Thanks
Dunc says
Looking for help surrounding credit scores, is there a reason why my scores vary massively between Clear Score and Credit Karma ? Almost 300 score difference between the 2… Which one of the 2 is more reliable if any ?
JA says
The information provided for creditkarma is by the credit reference agency transunion and clearscore is equifax. You might find one of your lenders have only reported to one of them. They also use a different total when giving a score but I wouldn’t worry about your score much as lenders don’t see it.
Mr Stephen says
I just had a missed call and then a txt from mr lender asking to speak to me about my complaint, anyone else had this? What did they want?
Wendy says
Has anyone had any luck with wizz loans?if so do they normally take ages to answer
John says
Peachy no longer lending according to website….Cash On Go Ltd. is acting as a broker, not a lender
About to go under??
Meliasa says
Very interested in this.
I’ve recently lodged an affordability complaint but still owe them money and am planning to set up a payment plan once I’ve had a little breathing space.
Last week someone said it was just saying that the website was down so interesting to say its now saying its a broker only service.
If it does go into administration where would I stand?
Chris says
Provident fined by 2.8m FCA for Moneybarn and have put aside 30m for paying out to Moneybarn customers. Partly explains why may be dragging heels with Satsuma.
DM says
Just wanted to leave a comment on uncle buck. Only had one loan with them for £300 at the height of my financial issues. Set up a payment arrangement last March and was only paying £16 a month. They rejected my claim on the basis that all my accounts were up to date and had no defaults (as borrowing from other lenders and did not show up on credit file). Had to send them bank statements and they agreed to remove the adverse info from my credit file as I offered to pay in full from my other claims redress claims I have been paid out on. Although my credit file is still poor it has jumped up 20 points on clear score from my other removals this month from last, so worth the email if you are waiting on anyone else to pay out. Response was in 2 weeks from complaining and another 5 days to resolve.
David says
Evening all, has anyone received their redress from Lending Stream inside the 28 days they state, or do they make you wait until the last day? Thanks
Mike_p says
Mine was day 26,they normally try and make things as difficult as they can.
Shelley says
Hi, I took out a loan with txt loan in 2011. I then had 33 consecutive loans. Mainly for £100 paying back £117 but 3 with higher amounts.. Towards the end of me taking out these loans it then became MyJar.
I put in an irresponsible lending complaint about 4 weeks ago and have provided them with everything they’ve asked for including bank statements. They say they can’t find a record of me. On my statements it shows all the payments of £100 going in but it doesn’t say who the payment is from, it just says giro and then there’s a reference number but when they payments go out of my bank it says payment to txt loan and then later my jar. They now say they can’t pay me anything as I can’t prove I took out loans from them. But it clearly shows me making all those payments to them. I don’t know what to do. Has anyone else had this? Anyone help will be much appreciated.
Jon H says
I sent a copy of my bank statements and circled the loan amounts in and the payments out. However if you have entries saying either txtloan or MYJAR next to them what more proof do they want??!!!
Beth says
Hi, I got mine on day 24 if that is any help.
John Roberts says
Hi Sara
Sorry for the late response, contacted MMP by email last night and raised a complaint about an unaffordable loan and irresponsible lending. Their replies with ” all file activity has now been ceased”. I think that they have put the account kn hold until they come to a conclusion with the complaint. As I have paid the initial loan off I refuse to pay the interest until they have made a decision with the complaint. If I pay back the interest now and win I will probably get about 5% back in refund because they are in administration
Sorry for misinforming you, it a debt recovery company (cobot) who’s now got my Likely Loans account. Do people win against Likely Loans? Thanks again Sara…
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes people have won complaints against Likley loans. You complain to them, not to Cabot.
Axle says
Hi,
It’s just passed the 8 week mark for my Unaffordability complaint with QuickQuid. Should I expect to receive a response any time soon? Should I wait another week or just send it straight to the FOS? I’m not bothered about any refunds but there’s a default on my credit file which I need to be removed. Fingers crossed 3 consecutive loans, once of which was one of the ones where you pay the interest in the first 2 months and then the rest (£500) in the final instalment. My payment for that was 2 months late, then they still agreed to give me another loan (due to paying off the first one) which then ended up defaulting as I couldn’t afford it at the time.
E says
Quickquid are in administration so FOS won’t be able to help I’m afraid. Could be a while until you hear back
Lynn says
Received my Lending Stream refund day 25 of 28 no email just arrived into bank 11.30 on Friday evening
Soph says
Hi Sara,
Where do I even start with making a payday loan refund complaint with MyJar?
Do you recommend to use Resolver to do this
Or to send them an email?
If you have any tips or guidance that would be greatly appreciated :)
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The article above explains how to claim with a template letter.
Or you can use Resolver – in which case still read the article above as it describes what affordability complaints are.
Ashley says
HI All, i sent above template to safety net & drafty/lending stream on 27/1/20, Got an email acknowledging receipt of email but have heard nothing since. Any idea on timings?
Mark says
Hi,
I have been in the payday loan trap for the past few years and I’m now slowly managing to dig myself out. I have had a few successful affordability complaints with various lenders. I have recently made an affordability complaint to moneyboat but they have got back to me asking for my bank statements and they have said that if I have falsified my expenditures then they can report me to CIFAS for fraud which will stop me getting any credit in the future. Honestly I did enter a lower expenditure due to being desperate at Xmas for money.
Do you recommend that I should still proceed with the complaint or not?
Thanks in advance,
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Moneyboat seem to say this to a lot of people. And so do a few other lenders. So far as I am aware. No-one has had any problems when they carried on with their complaint.
Read https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/ which looks at all the reasons applications may not be accurate – lenders know that, they should have verified your expenses if they looked implausibly low.
chris c says
Finally received my lending refund today of £3800 its been a journey but finally seen some reward after many months of back and forth, I couldn’t believe that they actually paid 2 days early. I have many more cases with various lenders but this is will help pay off some bills and treat the family. Thanks to Sara for giving people a place with such a wealth of knowledge and resources for people to get what they are owed.
neil says
has anybody had any dealings with wageme or cashasap?
Julia b says
Neil I have had dealings with Cashasap and tonight (7 weeks) of waiting they have come back to me, I am happy with there offer and I feel they have been fair.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry some comments on this page have disappeared because of a site problem. I have recovered a few but the rest are not going to return. Please repost!
CB says
Satsuma really are unhelpful and useless. Has there been any cases at all of anyone getting anything? Even any offers? Gone through most of these pages and cant actually see anyone being made any offers and theyre one of the biggest lenders.
I wonder if theres a MD or anyone with an email worth trying.
Chris the fist says
I complained to satsuma, heard nothing, got rejected, went to FOS, upheld 7-13, satsuma went quiet, now waiting for ombudsman. People have mentioned on here that they are currently looking at septembers complaints. My initial complaint was September,but now the FOS have agreed I don’t know where that puts me in any kind of queue. Seems they just hope you go away knowing the wait times for FOS and ombudsman
Sara says
Hi, all.
It’s been a while since I posted, I’m trying not to obsess 🙈
So I got in touch with Safetynet Credit today (complained the end of Jan), I recieved my DSAR information via email last week and they’ve now told me that they can confirm my case had been assigned to an agent and that they are still investigating. This was after opening a live chat with them tonight.
However, when I asked them how long it typically stay with the agent before a decision is made, I was given the usual “it can take up to 8 weeks from the start of your complaint” crap again 🙈
Does anyone here know from your experiences? I’m assuming it shouldn’t be too long now, considering that they claim to have so many complaints and work in date order. I’m assuming that it’ll be with an agent for a set amount of time in which they would investigate then make a decision? Would I be right in thinking this?
Thanks in advance!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry, but it is a mistake to expect a reply before the end of 8 weeks. These things can be very random – although many people get good & quick replies from SNC, some don’t and some good claims get rejected. Have you cancelled the CAP so they can’t take any more money?
Ace says
Anyone had an offer from ferratum as a ‘goodwill gesture’ in the same email as they confirm they aren’t upholding your complaint?
About £60 so not much, didn’t have a huge amount of Loans with them though. Need to check the total interest paid. If I accept it, I’m accepting it in full and final settlement…
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes check the interest. Nothing wrong with taking a goodwill gesture but have your eyes wide open, so you don’t regret it later.
Amy says
Had a response from myjar today they are not upholding my complaint & just wondering wether its worth taking to the ombudsman or not? I had 3 loans with them spaced over a year one for £300 one for £350 & one for £900. They emailed me a couple weeks back asking for payslips & bank statements so I provided bank statements which clearly showed 6 other payday lenders taking money from my account at the time of lending from them. Any advice would be appreciated thanks.
N says
Had 4 loans with myjar for similar amounts. Sent the template letter on 28th of January and received an offer of £510 ‘to make things right’ on 3 of the loans. I accepted and am still waiting on confirmation of payment.
JV says
Hi All,
Has anybody actually had an offer from Sunny or Satsuma without having to take it to the FOS? And how long did it take for them to reply once you started your case against them?
Thankyou
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I would say any offers from either lender tend to be very poor. Expect these to have to go to the ombudsman.
S says
Hi Sara,
Could I run this past you please?
Despite the Financial Ombudsman making a final decision and forwarding it to Uncle Buck recommending irresponsible lending on loans 3 and loans 4 I have today received this response.
“We are almost ready to settle your refund however require some additional information from you, please provide a bank statement from 30.04.2012 until the date you made your last repayment to Uncle Buck on loan 4.”
It appears that Uncle Buck don’t hold information going back to 2012; and are now asking me to do the “donkey work” for them. How can they be “almost ready to settle my refund” when they are asking me to provide further figures? This has now dragged on for over 13 months and it seems as if they’re wanting to drag it out further. I appreciate it’s a difficult one to resolve if they don’t have the figures but I’m sorry that’s not my fault – shouldn’t the onus lie with them to resolve this or should I call them and try to come to a compromise.
Appreciate your help Sara Thanks again
Sara (Debt Camel) says
was this response from UB or from FOS?
Are you saying UB do not know what payments you made to loans 3 & 4?
S says
That’s the response from Uncle Buck today – it appears it’s just the repayments to loan 4 that they require further details for. It seems a strange request to make 13 months down the line.
S says
Apologies Sara further to the above I have found a recent email from UB in my spam folder which says :-
“I am working hard to establish the exact redress that is owed to you however we have limited information here at Uncle Buck, I thank you for co-operation in advance.”
So yes they’ve no idea how much I’ve repaid on loan 4 and are now asking me to prove what’s been repaid?
Any advice please Sara. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Gosh.
So practicalities.
Did they ever send you a list of loans with the interest you paid on each?
Do you actually have the relevant bank statements? Was the last loan paid over a long period?
Complainer says
Satsuma are currently working on Septembers complaints. So if sent it after September it will a waiting game
Sam says
My question is this. These companies (especially within the last two years) must certainly know the the amount of cases where they owe customers money for irresponsible lending, regardless if customers had made a claim or not. Are they not legally obliged to address this? Can or do they hide behind the excuse they are unaware until bought to their attention?
Personally I think they are fully aware of every case but it’s a case of hoping the majority of their customers don’t realise and don’t pursue a claim.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The FCA has rules (DISP 1.3.3, 1.3.3B & 1.3.6 in https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/DISP/1/?view=chapter ) which say that a firm should consider the root causes of complaints, whether those causes affect other customers who have not complained yet and whether it should set up a redress program to compensate them.
Obviously most if not all payday lenders and many other high cost credit menders are simply ignoring those rules. Why the FCA lets them do this is a mystery.
Cyndy says
Hi CB, I have an affordability complaint on going through resolver concerning Satsuma who lent me 2000 at a time when I was on a DMP. They sent me an email not withholding but said they would reduce my balance owing by 50 pounds. The complaint is now with FOS
Fliss says
Hi. I’m so glad I stumbled across this site. I have affordability complaints in with various companies and have some questions.
1. I have been offered a refund of interest etc on loan 4 with Uncle Buck. I only had 4 with them and I know it’s been said I probably wont get it for the first couple. Is it worth accepting? All were about £300, and the 3rd was 4 days after paying off the 2nd.
2. Is it worth accepting all offers, as I’m worried about many of them going into administration, which judging by this site and the amount of complaints they’re receiving, im surprised all of them haven’t.
3. If I accept, and get paid, and then they do go into administration, will I receive anything back on the rejected loans?
Thank you
MP says
Had my first reply from PiggyBank, can anyone tell me if this looks right and adds up as maths is not my strong point – obviously!
SUMMARY
Based on my findings and the information above, I can uphold the complaint regarding irresponsible lending and am able to offer some redress in this matter. If you accept in full and final settlement of the complaint, I can refund the interest and charges on both your loans. Please find a breakdown of the redress calculations below:
Loan Reference Interest Statutory Interest Tax Deduction Total
96xxx9 £98.45 £15.75 £3.15 £111.05
10xxxx7 £138.73 £0.00 £0.00 £138.73
TOTAL REDRESS
£249.78
This provides a total redress of £249.78 which will be used to reduce your current balance, leaving a remaining £679.09 left to repay within a comfortable repayment arrangement.
Please confirm if you are happy to accept this offer in full and final settlement of your complaint and if so, I will adjust the balance accordingly and arrange to have the agreed loans removed from your credit file….’
Thank you!
Jane Y says
I am currently in negotiations with Mr Lender. I have asked them to review their offer. The question. I have is that the balance they confirmed I owe agreed to my credit karma report yesterday but this morn the report balance has gone up by around 70 pounds. It is also higher than the balance on my DMP taken in Sept. Has anyone else had this and can advise what to do.
Thanks
Jane Y
Ian says
Had an interesting one with cash4unow.
Got a reply saying I had four loans and they would waive interest etc on loan 4 which would leave me having to pay £58 outstanding. Due to the surge of good results I’ve had using this site I sent back saying that it was going to the FOS.
About twenty mins later got a reply saying that they were keen not to go to the FOS and wanted to to reach a amicable solution. :D :D
So I asked for a refund of charges for loan 3 (inc 8% interest per annum) minus the outstanding balance which would be a refund of roughly £250. Not being greedy, making a point.
5 days later got respose saying they didn’t agrees with my outcome, but as a gesture of goodwill they will go with my proposal! Money being paid out today.
Got a few loans left, main one being lending stream, on week 5 of 8 waiting for them!!
Anon says
Hi, I’ve had a partial acceptance this morning from Myjar, agreeing that loan 3 was unaffordable but not 1 and 2 which means they are taking away interest and charges from loan 3 so £475 left to pay. My question is, if I send this to the FOS and they reject, would Myjar’s first offer still stand? Any advice would be great :) thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how large were each of the loans? Were there any gaps between them?
Anon says
Not very large, the first was for £350, then £450, then £475. The loans were one after the other
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then that offer sounds fair – assuming you haven’t made any payments to the last loan. You are very unlikely to get more by going to FOS. They should ley you repay the 475 in lower monthly payments.
Lianne says
Sunny Redress
Can someone please let me know of their experience with Sunny Elevate.
Ombudsman has agreed with adjudicator and sent letter to sunny.
In the past I have emailed Sunny and received no response, just called and was again fobbed off.
Is there a different email or telephone number other than what is on the website?
How long into the 4 wks did sunny get in touch?
Thanks
Paula says
This may be a silly question – I am now more than 45 days after my redress from Lending Stream however, I haven’t noticed any change on my credit score. How do you know when these have been removed? Thanks!
TinksLeeds says
Lending Stream – my experience:
I began the process last October not expecting anything and they had a slow start to reply but managed to get a full breakdown in Dec (of 44 past loans) whereby they rejected them all on the basis that I ‘told’ them that I could afford it so, therefore, they paid out, they said they ran a credit check for every loan (which on checking my scoring, I know they didn’t) so the claim was not upheld, I passed it to FOS and they have overturned it to the tune of nearly 6k.
Expect a war and peace length response with them washing their hands of you, dig deep and pass it to FOS, because they have dragged their heels, it went in my favour. I should be paid within 28days so victory once again (they have taken 20% tax off but I will be requesting this back along with the Wonga redress amount on the R40 form). That’s my overdraft/credit paid off and another line drawn under the spiral of debt.
Good luck everyone :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The Wonga payout will not have had any tax deducted.
Lynn says
Hi Sara
Just a quick piece of advice.
Moneyboat have just rejected my claim
Took two loans with them, first Feb 2019 for £400 and 2nd July 2019 for £600
They said credit check carried out on each application that help satisfied repayments would be made which they were for both and on time
They also said that they asked for affordability on each loan which I must admit I wasn’t totally honest about. Needed to be sure I would get the loans.
They have said that it is an offence to obtain fund’s by deception and if I want to pursue they would pass on to fraud prevention agency
They have said they have declined later applications – well they would if new legislation came into effect as they carried out further checks and did not meet criteria.
Should I take it to the ombudsman or will I be in trouble for misleading them with the information I originally provided.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You are very unlikely to get into any problems about the alledged fraud – this has often been threatened but never happened in practice.
BUT it’s very difficult to win a two loan case, especially when the application wasn’t accurate. When was the first loan paid off?
Lynn says
It was paid off 31st May
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So there was gap of just over a month between loan 1 & 2. I dont think you are likely to win this at FOS.
Mick says
I put in a complaint against safety net for loans I had in 2015/2016. They were very quick at replying, and today exactly 2 weeks after my initial complaint they have agreed to refund all interest plus 8% and update my credit record. I am actually really happy with how fast they have responded and asked for no extra information. Thanks for Sara for all the advice so far (Also had a wonga redress, although much smaller I’m glad my credit record will be updated! xxx
Neil says
HI Sara
I got an email today from wageme saying that they sent out my final response to Payday refunds (PDR) in July 2018, unfortunately PDR never forwarded me the final response. When I asked wageme for the final response they said
‘You have the right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, free of charge but you must do so within six months of the date of this email/letter.
If you do not refer your complaint in time, the Ombudsman will not have our permission to consider your complaint and so will only be able to do so in very limited circumstances’
Payday Refunds never sent me this final response and have since went out of business, should I still forward my complaint to the FOS?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well you can ask FOS if they will take the case. it is a shame you didn’t follow this up a long time ago.
Alison says
Not sure if anyone can shed some light on this for me but I have emailed Myjar with information going back to 2011-12 but they keep saying they can’t do calculation of interest – they keep saying they want more information, admittedly i have no bank statements but I have the borrowing summary emails, the load paid emails and the thank you email to say payments recieved – I have sent them all to myjar – I also was sent a loan summary going back to 2014 which I pointed out was information from their systems but still they have for the 3rd time said as below:
“Apologies for the inconvenience of this, but we require the email that states the loan agreement, so the email that tells us how much you borrowed, the normal interest and the loan term. With this and the ‘Payment received’ emails we canwork out the correct interest. Unfortunately with the information you have provided we cannot, as we don’t know how much was borrowed so we can’t determine how much interest was paid.”
On top of that all prior loans when they were textloan i believe i sent info in for and they are still saying its not enough?
What do I do?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Don’t the borrowing summary emails have the amount that was borrowed?
Tell them the case goes to the Financial Ombudsman if they don’t want to make you a reasonable offer.
George says
Hi Sara, Not had a lot of responses from companies such as:
Five Lamps
Moneybox 247 (I know are in admin)
Very
Wageday advance
Is it worth giving them a push and can i get the refund on stuff like very? I havent had anything back from them as such?
Thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Wageday Advance are in administration and it is too late to claim.
Very are, well, very difficult! See https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-catalogue-credit-card/ which is the best page for complaints against them.
Five lamps – was the loan from them or conduit? I suggest you phone them up and ask when you will get a reply.
George says
The loan was from Five Lamps but have different names on different things, such as different responses from Conduit and Fivelamps.
I will call them all to see what is happening with everything. If I have not paid the full outstanding amount, would the process be they wipe off the rest of the interest and return any payments made?
Thank you Sara! Hoping to get responses from Sunny and Satsuma soon but nothing as of yet.
George
Iain123 says
If you’ve had a payday loan refund don’t trust them to remove transactions from your credit record, check and chase them up. I’ve had to chase up Elevate/Sunny, today they sent me this….
Thank you for your email, please accept my apologies for the delay in our response. Having reviewed our records, I can see your loans were agreed to be removed from your credit file. I am sorry to hear this was not completed in a timely manner and have investigated further for you. It appears the records of your loans have now been removed on Callcredit, therefore I also trust this is the case in relation to Experian or Equifax. I am pleased this has now been resolved, however please do not hesitate to get back in contact should you experience any further issues. Kind regards.
I checked and dozens of transactions have been removed but some are still there, I use Credit Karma who use Transunion. I’ll be chasing up Elevate for answers and hoping to get them all sorted.
Michelle says
Hi Iain Transunion seem to be slower at updating their reports, have you checked Experian and equifax? My sunny loans were deleted from Experian first then equifax a few weeks later Transunion took a month
Shaun says
Hello everyone,
Just thought I’d share my latest experience about my Drafty (Gain Credit) loan complaint that is currently with the FOS.
I had not heard anything since November 2019 so dropped the FOS an email for an update. They said they could not investigate my complaint as it was already resolved! This was not the case – when I asked the FOS what reference number they gave it turned out that it belonged to my Lending Stream (also Gain Credit) complaint which was closed a long time ago.
So, anyone with a complaint in against Gain Credit please be aware of this. I am furious as I can see this as only one thing – a delaying tactic.
Shaun
John says
Mr Lender have made me an offer but we disagree over a few loans and they don’t seem to be willing to budge on them. What is the risk they will go into administration? Do they respond quickly to FOS rulings if I wait to be able to refer to them?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They used to be happy to negotiate. How many loans did you have and what offer have they made you?
John says
7 loans and offered to refund loans 4, 5 and 7. Loans 4 and 5 low interest so isn’t that big payout. I have argued for loan 6 which I paid interest only for in the first month and then needed a repayment plan for to clear over 4 months. They are saying that loan interest was heavily deducted for the time period I had the loan but it was just frozen not reduced.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So loan 6, how much did you borrow? and how much did you repay?
John says
Borrowed £300 and repaid £416
John says
They informed me I paid £116 in interest on statement but not willing to refund that loan as they said had undertaken credit and affordability checks and as I had longer to repay than original agreement they had already subsidies that loan. This was all verbal nothing in writing apart from statement containing loan details. They was responding quickly until I didn’t accept and now saying they have 8 weeks but will try to respond in writing with final offer sooner.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Also if you turn down their offer, you can go straight to FOS. Have they said you have to wait until the 8 weeks is up?
John says
Nothing in writing just on the phone over but said it was final offer and will respond in writing within the 8 week period which would be another 4 weeks.
Dave says
Hi,
Some advice/help needed please.
I had 6 loans from myjar and on my affordability complaint they have upheld my complaint on loans 4 to 6. I’ve detailed the loans below to show the frequency I was taking the loans. I asked myjar to consider including loan 3 into my redress and received a reply stating that they didn’t agree with me & only agreed on their original response. Do I have a case to take to the FOS?
Loan 1: taken 29/8/17 – amount £1500 – date closed 28/5/18 – total repaid £2593.92
Loan 2: taken 28/5/18 – amount £800 – date closed 30/06/19 – total repaid £991.46
Loan 3: taken 30/6/18 – amount £1650 – date closed 3/11/18 – total repaid £2315.11
Loan 4: taken 30/12/18 – amount £825 – date closed 26/2/19 – total repaid £1119.15
Loan 5: taken 7/3/19 – amount £725 – date closed 27/5/19 – total repaid £833.14
Loan 6: taken 28/5/19 – amount £299 – date closed (still open)
Agreed redress: £425 – £200 from loan 6 = £225
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
i assume the date loan 2 was closed should have been 2018 not 2019?
Ace says
Sara,
Just say thank you for this website and all your hard work and dedication. I just wish I’d been on here sooner for a whole host of reasons. None of which are important when you consider the effort you put in to such important issues.
So just to say thank you for that and please keep doing what you’re doing, it makes a massive difference to a lot of people going through hard times for a whole variety of different reasons.