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?
Simon says
Hi there, Just hoping someone might know how things work when using a claims management company. Before I found this site I authorised a company to make a few claims on my behalf, I’ve had my first offer back through them which is an offer to wipe an outstanding debt with Piggy Bank for £204 which would mean I then have to pay them their 36% fee, although the debt would be gone, short term I’d be out of pocket especially as I have a payment plan set up for this particular outstanding loan. My question basically is does anyone know if I have to take the offer or am I within my rights to turn it down and just keep paying the payment plan as I currently am? If I’d found this site earlier I would never have used a claims company in the first place as if you have outstanding balances on loans you end up in a worse situation short term.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How many loans did you have with piggybank? how much interest did you pay?
Did the claims company not explain how the fees would work where you owed a balance?
Simon says
I had 5 loans with Piggy bank although I’m not quite sure exactly how much interest was paid as I can’t see any loan history on their website since they went into administration. I’m assuming the claims company will have that information so I guess I’ll call them in the morning and see what they say. They did say in their email they thought the offer from Piggy Bank was a good offer though. I can’t find anything on the documents they sent me regarding whether or not I have to accept the offer I get or if I can just refuse it if I’m not happy to go ahead with it….was just hoping someone may have been in a similar situation and might know.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You could offer to repay their fees at the same rate you have been repaying Piggybank?
It is worth looking at what you agreed to with the fees. Is the claims firm FCA authorised? If it didn’t say that you could end up owing them money they you can say this was misleading and you would not have agreed to it.
Simon says
I’ve just seen in this claims companies terms and conditions regarding fees that I can set up a payment plan to pay their fee if they only get a reduction on a loan balance rather than a refund. I suppose it’s better than nothing but I wish I’d found this website sooner as the template letter worked perfectly for me when dealing with Myjar. Thanks for all your help and advice Sara.
chris says
Hi I have been in a similar situation with another CMC. I had repaid virtually all the capital for 247 MOneybox but still owed the interest. 247 Moneybox then offered to wipe the outstanding interest. I accepted and was then faced with a bill from the CMC when I am in a DMP. Finding the money to pay the fee was difficult. I complained to the FOS and the complaint was rejected. They said it was clear that I might have to pay the CMC a fee even if I never actually received any money. I’m afraid the FOS is wrong. It wasn’t clear and I am out of pocket. As far as I am concerned, if a CMC can see you are in a DMP, they should not offer to take on a claim if they can reasonably see that the client who is in a DMP might end up not getting money. This company also represents me for QQ – a claim worth £18000. Had the decision from the FOS but then QQ went under. I was gutted but the silver lining was that the CMC was also not going to get a big fat cheque. :)
greg says
I am currently in a DAS with a debt management company in Scotland( I had got myself in a mess and wanted to get things moving as fast as possible to sort my debt) I have been reading through lots of posts and getting lots of good information so thanks. Included in my DAS is a loans 2 go loan that I have looked at the agreement and the fixed interest rate is 205.2% and APR 1243.6% over 78 weeks. I also have a QuickQuid loan that I took out 2 weeks after paying off my 1st loan with them early included both contributing to my debt problem. They are not allowed to contact me but am I able to contact them regarding affordability and ridiculous interest rates complaints or would this affect my DAS?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Loans2Go – yes, you can put in a complaint.
If you win and the interest is removed, my assumption is your DAS will end earlier. I am not a scottish debt expert though.
QQ is in administration. They will be putting up a Claims portal at some point, possibly in the next month. I suggest you check this page https://debtcamel.co.uk/quickquid-casheuronet-administration/ in a few weeks.
Matthew Taylor says
Does anyone have any advise on dealing with Drafty please? i have had my complaint rejected by the company and want to now take it further. I first had a credit line of 500 in mid 2018 and now have 3k and have been rolling over interest/withdrawal for about a year now.
Any advice / wording that would help me with the OM would be highly appreciated.
Matt
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Just send it to the Ombudsman. They should be able to see that you have a long term problem and may not be able to afford the repayments.
Sonya Hawley says
Can someone please help me? be pushing for more? Please see a rather long winded response below –
Your complaint relates to the affordability checks we carried out before lending to you. In your complaint, you have told us that the loans we
Date Issued Date Closed Loan Amount Total Paid
2017-06-20 2017-09-25 £1,650.00 £2,136.23
2017-09-30 2017-12-18 £2,525.00 £2,886.69
2019-03-22 2019-03-24 £1,075.00 £1,088.97
2019-03-27 £1,475.00 £606.35
At the time you applied for your loans, we undertook a number of checks, which included information provided by you in the application, up-to-date credit reference agency information, searches on public databases, fraud checks, credit scoring and information about you from our own records, such as past borrowing and repayment behaviour. Considering the above information enabled us to decide the most appropriate loan options for you.
Sonya Hawley says
Taking the above factors into consideration we have made a decision in your favour, therefore MYJAR will be partially upholding your complaint on the basis that lending to you loan two may not have been appropriate.
To put things right for you, we propose to refund the interest and charges you paid on the loans highlighted in yellow in the above table, totalling £361.69.You currently have an outstanding balance in relation to loan 2633533 of £1,116.11. From this we will deduct your redress of £361.69 leaving you with a new outstanding balance of £754.42.
We will also remove any negative information reported regarding this loan and arrange to show this loan entry on your credit file as settled and closed. We cannot remove the entry fully as we are obliged to maintain accurate records with the Credit Reference Agencies.
————————————-
Just worked out I paid over £800 in interest, haven’t been offered the 8% and at the time of the first loan I had already taken out loans with Sunny to the tune 0f 6,000
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So there was a big gap betwen loans 2 & 3. What had happened to your other borrowing during this time?
Sonya Hawley says
I had 9 loans with Sunny during that gap to the tune of £3750.
I also took out a loan with Sunny on 30.09.17 for £950 – the same day MyJat loaned me
Went back to them to explain in more detail. Said they would add on the 8% but offer no more…
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I was surprised they hadn’t already included the 8%, they normally do.
So you have to chose between accepting this and going to FOS. Those loans are VERY large. i would be surprised if you don’t get more by going to FOS. But it’s not certain and nor are the timescales, although they generally seem to be getting better.
B says
Hi All,
Does anybody have any emails to contact management at Elevate finance? (Sunny)
Thankyou
Michelle says
Try slindores@elevatecredit.co.uk he is customer relations manager. I also copied pbaldry@elevatecredit.co.uk and sgreever@elevate.com (md) these two didn’t reply but I copied them all in to a polite email asking to look at my case etc and I got resolved very quickly good luck
Ross says
Hi Sonya,
MyJar offered me a partial uphold and (coincidentally) these were all on the lowest loans. They offered to reduce my balance by just under £300. I tried to counter offer, but they were not interested. I sent it to the FOS and they ruled that all loans, after loan 2, should not have been given. MyJar agreed with the adjudicator and refunded over £1300, instead of the loans which they offered to originally refund on, which was about £300. I’d send it to the FOS for sure.
Victoria says
Have just received my final response from Safetynet and they have offered a “complimentary” refund of 150GBP. Had account closed with them over a year ago and in total paid approximately 800GBP interest during 2016/2018. Never went late on payments etc, however at some point did have couple of other payday loans going. Filed complaints last year for Pounds2Pocket and Likely Loans which were not upheld (neither by Ombudsman when complained further). Not sure why I was never really successful, perhaps because of not missing payments
150GBP is not much, but better than nothing and will accept the offer. At this point I’m just happy I will have it all removed from my file, will get a small compensation and happy living a debt free life. Thank you for this website! I learned so much from here and revisiting it regularly just to get financial updates as well as for tips and bits about financing, mortgages, credits etc. Thank you Sara!
NG says
I enquired to Mr Lender today as their 8 weeks from my initial unaffordability complaint was up asking when I would receive my final written response to which they replied that they had sent my final written response letter out today via 2nd class post. When I sent my initial unaffordability complaint I specifically asked for all future correspondence to be emailed to me. Is there anyway I can make them send me the the letter today or do I just have to be patient?
I have had no contact with them so I thinking that their response will be a refusal but I think its a delaying tactic as I am fully confident of winning my case with the FOS.
All help appreciated
Many Thanks
NG
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well if the complaint goes to FOS, I suggest you also complain that you specifically asked for correspondence to be by email and they refused.
Timka says
Today I received the outcome from Sunny. I had 40 loans with them across 3 years – literary non stop and in some month i had to borrow 2-3 times as they allowed up to 3 loans at the same time.
They have not upheld my complaint not even for 1 loan. So upsetting as I remember how difficult it was. I only stopped the cycle when I called them and begged them to close my account.
I will go and complain further but not having any hopes for this one. Really upsetting.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is very poor. I will be surprised if you don’t get a refund from the Ombudsman, but Sunny should not be dragging this out. Send it straight to FOS.
Sonya says
I’m so sorry. I had 47 with sunny and probably in exact same position as you. It’s a horrible mess to get into.
Sarah Louise Tansley says
Hi all,
After complaining to MyJar on 24th January and then coming back to me on 3rd Feb saying they wouldn’t uphold my complaint unless I submitted bank statements from the time period I was borrowing the money and they would look at it again. So I did! Straight away I went online to view my bank statements and I took screenshots of all of the statements required and emailed them to MyJar to look at my complaint again. I emailed last night and asked if my complaint had been forgotten as I’d heard nothing and they replied this morning saying they were sorry for the delay and they’d notify me of a decision by the end of today. At 12, on my break at work, I had an email saying they were upholding my complaint and I would receive £949 including 8% statutory interest! I’m over the moon!! I’m so glad that I found this site else I’d have never even thought about complaining! There’s hope for everyone! I had just 3 loans and they’ve refunded interest on all of them. Thank you to you all!
Timka says
That is also my experience with Bamboo – very professional and refunded interest on all of my loans. I did not get the statutory 8%, did I have to get it?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Most lenders now add statutory interest :(
Mk says
Hi, i’m confused, i got this email today from The Money Shop saying I could claim, but i don’t remember taking a loan from them? Do they another name they might trade under at all? xx
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Payday UK, Payday Express, Express Finance (Bromley), Ladder Loans – any of them ring a bell? They had more brand names…
mk says
ah maybe payday uk, thank you sara
Kath says
No. I just had QQ and provident! Unless I really have blocked out the dark days completely!
I’ve fired off the email and see what happens.
Micheala says
Hi all. I was wondering if I could have some advice. The financial ombudsman service picked up my sunny complaint at the end of January and advised sunny had til 15th of February to respond. They advised they had provided all the information but the adjudicator at the ombudsman service said that they may pass the case to another adjudicator. I’m worried as sunny offered me just near £800 for only loans 90 onwards (I had 110 altogether I think!). I’m starting to worry as I’ve heard nothing from the financial ombudsman service since and am starting to think even though it’s a really low offer, should I just accept it from sunny in fears that they go into administration like many others have?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you left them a bad review on Trust Pilot? https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/sunny.co.uk
You could also email the FCA, Sunny’s regulator, and say how poorly you think they are handling complaints. the FCA won’t look at your individual complaint, but it’s easy to do and hopefully sunny will be embarrassed by it:
If you want to do this, it’s just a simple email to send to consumer.queries@fca.org.uk.
cc the email to rmallinder@elevatecredit.co.uk, sgrice@elevatecredit.co.uk, Pbaldry@elevatecredit.co.uk
also copy it into your FOS adjudicator.
Subject: “Elevate Credit (673771) trading as Sunny not complying with DISP rules”
Give your Sunny reference number, your name and address. And your FOS reference number.
Then give a couple of sentences summarising your borrowing, just what years and how many, how large the loans were, Sunny’s original very poor offer and then the FOS adjudicator decision.
Say Sunny have not responded to the adjudicator decision and it is now more than 3 weeks since the deadline they should have replied by.
Say that this is not fair because Sunny are aware from a lot of previous complaints what a typical Ombudsman decision looks like so they should accept adjudicator decisions in line with the standard FOS decisions as the DISP rules say.
Add that you think they are taking advantage of vulnerable customers who may be forced to accept a low offer as they are in urgent need of the money and this is not treating customers fairly.
Angela says
Hi Sara,
I received a judgment from Wonga and received just over £300. I have also recently received around £1200 from Myjar which I am pleased about, and they were very helpful. I also received about £200 from Ferratum. My 8 weeks are up for Sunny and Satsuma tomorrow.
Sunny have contacted me to offer £900 and a refund on interest for loans 17-21. Obviously, I rejected this because I have been rolling loans with them for a number of years and my interest for those loans has added up to over £4000. I asked them to reconsider before the 31st, at which point I would be escalating to the Financial Ombudsman.
Satsuma contacted me today to offer ‘help’ on my account as I was behind with payments. I told them that I was withholding payments while my complaint was investigated. I also told them that the 8 weeks was up tomorrow, so if I didn’t hear from them I would be going forward with a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman. They tried to tell me that, having contacted me on the 4th of March, they would try to resolve my complaint by the 1st of May, so they had a number of days left to respond. I told her that I found it concerning that she was not respecting the guidance given of 8 weeks, and that I would, indeed, be escalating my complaint if no action is taken by tomorrow. Is there anything else that I need to do or say?
S123 says
Hello all, i have won complaints against Sunny, Leanding stream. However satsuma have not upheld my complaint, i took out 5 loans over 3 years. From £120 to ending up with £1100.
They have now emailed back asking for bank details after i emailed the ceo. Has anyone had any success after this? Emailed over all the bank statements to show all my outgoings and lending whilst they still sent me money.
Thanks in advance
Timka says
Sarah, may I ask you – how much in detail do I need to go on my complaint when I escalate Sunny to Ombudsman. I have downloaded the credit report and have my ‘basic’complaint text, have also prepared all bank statements.
Would I need to prepare some stats – how much I borrowed, how much I paid?
Or analysis of my statements – for example pointing out to them on Month A I paid Sunny this amount, as you can see the day before I had borrowed this amount from another payday lender” or “I paid sunny this amount on x day and it left me with balance of £10 and I had to borrow from another lender”
or in month x I borrowed from sunny 3 times with just 5-6 days between by loan requests”
Would these kind of statements help them to review my complaint? Or would they just prefer a blank canvas to make their decision?
Many thanks for your help. xx
Laura says
Timka if it helps I won all but one of my cases at the FOS I always kept it very brief, literally just that the loans were unaffordable, you couldn’t live monthly without borrowing more and it sent you into a debt spiral. I always sent my bank statements, loan history from the company and credit reports in when asked and that was it really. The facts and and loan history etc speak for themselves really, good luck
Micheala says
Sorry I meant the financial ombudsman service are the ones not responding to me at the minute. They advised they may hand my case over to someone else but that was 3 weeks ago and I’ve heard nothing since I’m just worried now that even though it was with an adjudicator who has since said it may be passed to someone else to deal with that it’s going to take months and in the meantime fear sunny going into administration and I might as well have accepted the offer even though it’s very low as I just double checked and it was only loan 90 onwards out of 118 loans. Do you know any rough timescales for these with the financial ombudsman when picked up by an adjudicator who has all the information from both myself and sunny? It’s just I had one with lending stream go to them and it was all resolved fairly quickly, within a month of an adjudicator first contacting me but this time I don’t know what is happening. Do you think it’d be worth ringing them tomorrow to see what is happening or if it’s been passed on yet? Sorry if my original message was confusing but at least I have information now if sunny drag their heels when I do get an adjudicator decision. Thanks alot for your help Sara, without this site I would never have started writing to payday lenders and have since had refunds from wonga, lending stream and safetynetcredit.
Micheala says
Just thought I’d update , I rang the financial ombudsman service there now and they said they have spoke to another adjudicator who’s willing to take the case on and she should have a response for me by the end of the week so fingers crossed :D
Abi says
Hi I sent my complaint to amigo and it has been 8 weeks now and I haven’t received a response, I have emailed them asking if they have a response but they have not replied, should I send it straight to FOB? Or wait until they answer? Xx
MnM says
Hi Abi
I would get it to the FOS straight away as it’s quite a wait to get an adjudicator. If Amigo do uphold your complaint then bonus.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I also suggest going to the Ombudsman at 8 weeks if you haven’t had a reply. Although they uphold some complaints, they also seem to be rejecting some strong ones so giving them another month and delaying going to FOS is not a good idea.
PS the best place to talk about guarantor loans is the page for borrowers here: https://debtcamel.co.uk/how-to-complain-guarantor-loan/.
Marie darling says
I haven’t heard from lending stream except for the initial acknowledgment with a list of my loans it’s also been 8wks now would you advise the same please thanks
Marie
Anon says
Into week six, waiting for an initial response from Elevate/Sunny and I thought I’d go through my account and get my actual figures rather than speculating and drop them into a spreadsheet. Part of me was thinking that if they do make an offer, I’ll be better informed to know if they are making a mug out of me. So with 52 continuous loans from late 2014 I’d borrowed as capital,
£13350, paying back as interest £12754.58. Before you even put back on the 8% for the years in ownership, that’s a hideous amount. I think going forward, I might just put my expenses into a spreadsheet. It’ll definitely give myself some future clarity.
Thankfully Sunny is the end of the cycle. It began with Wonga and once they stopped lending, Sunnys’ shiny adverts seemed to be some kind of pseudo-saviour. Just hoping they’ll put their hands up and say, “we messed up and at least offer a decent portion. If not, I know I’ve got a long wait ahead of me with FOS but some kind of end in sight.
On a side note, I’ve really enjoyed the community and there is a positive to talking, never felt so alone then I did with this horrible cycle, even considering horrible thoughts. I’m sure some others would’ve felt weighed down with the negativity. Ends in sight now anyway, thanks for all the advice Sara! Seriously, you’ve been amazing.
Hopefully an offer will be “winging its way to me” shortly (if you know, you know) Peace and love to you all
J says
Stick in, week 7 i got my reply and offer. Good luck and all the best!
Mariam says
Is it just me or are uncle buck seem to be taking a long time to acknowledge complaints ? Anyone had dealings with them lately ?
M taylor says
I complained to UB and to be fair they rang me to find out more details about my complaint. I spoke in clear and calm manner and negotiated a figure that they then confirmed via email. Money paid within a day or two.
Mel says
Hi Mariam,
I raised an irresponsible lending complaint with Uncle Buck in February 2018 and it is still unresolved. The Adjudicator ruled in my favour last month, however Uncle Buck made a very poor, random offer. (Not based on the Adjudicator’s decision or actual figures). I rejected their offer and it has been passed on to the Ombudsman.
I have also notified the FCA due to Uncle Buck’s business conduct over the last two years. (Not replying within eight weeks when I raised the complaint, ignoring the FOS deadlines etc.).
Best of luck with your case!
Mel
Matthew Taylor says
I’ve just had an offer from peachy today but I thought they had gone into administration? Can someone shed some light on this please
Mel says
They are in administration, so you will now join the list of unsecured creditors and get a share of whatever is left . I am in same boat :(
stevo says
I complained a year ago to them. They are not interested and send everything to Ombudsman. My adjudicator said to refunded loans 3-9…. U.B. ordered loan 8 only so sent to Ombudsman in November… Still waiting to hear. The FOS and or FCA Need to be getting a grip of these companies ASAP!
Mel says
Hi Stevo,
I raised an irresponsible lending complaint with Uncle Buck in February 2018 and it is still unresolved. The Adjudicator ruled in my favour last month, however Uncle Buck made a very poor, random offer. (Not based on the Adjudicator’s decision or actual figures). I rejected their offer and it has been passed on to the Ombudsman too.
I have also notified the FCA due to Uncle Buck’s business conduct over the last two years. (Not replying within eight weeks when I raised the complaint, ignoring the FOS deadlines etc.). I have also reached out to the local MP in Dartford.
Best of luck with your case!
Mel
Elaine Jones says
I have been waiting 5 months for an ombudsman to look at my Moneyboat complaint as they did not agree with adjudicator. I rang yesterday for an update but was told it could be a few more months yet. They said it could be fast tracked if there were good enough reasons eg at risk of losing my house. I said I was struggling even though on a DMP and she said she would ask a manager to see if it could be fast tracked but I doubt my case is strong enough.
Julia says
Hi –
Satsuma have sent me a standard lengthy email following my complaint and have rejected my complaint. Fortunately it was already with the FOS.
I was 3 days late paying the satsuma loan this month and no one chased me at all? This is very strange? Does anyone happen to know if they stop chasing when the complaint is with the FOS? Thank you in advance
MnM says
Hi Julia
I currently have a complaint at the FOS for Satsuma. They rarely chase me for my outstanding account. I’ve not paid it for over a year as I’m awaiting my outcome from the adjudicator.
Good luck with your complaint 🤞
Vee says
Hi Sara
Recevied an email from elevate credit ( Sunny) they said they have asked FOS to pause all decison making regarding complaints to sunny. Do you know anything about this? They said they are waiting on new laws. FOS has upheld my complaint last week, waiting for sunny to provide an offer. Doesnt look like they will be accepting there decision
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I hadn’t heard there is any pause for Sunny (or any other payday lender) cases at the moment.
When FOS does put a hold on cases for a reason, they write and tell customers about it. Could you phone FOS and ask them what this email from Sunny means? It sounds odd.
Sonya Hawley says
Oh god….
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is a very strange report. It doesn’t sound like Sunny going into administration if that’s what you are concerned about.
Andy F says
Well in typical style, 5 days after they go into Administration and 1 day after I escalate this to the ombudsman Peachy respond with the following:
“Based on the above, we are prepared to partially uphold this complaint in regards to loans #4 – #24.
To put things right, we propose to refund the interest and charges you paid on your last 21 loans in the amount of £845.84. Furthermore, we propose to add 8% simple interest per annum to the refund in the amount of £14.83, thus making the total refundable amount to be for £860.67.
In addition, we would remove any information regarding these loans from your credit file.”
I’ve emailed them to accept and i’ve contacted the ombudsman to claw back the escalation as they have now sent an offer. Aside from getting nothing now due to them going into administration at least the loans are removed from my credit file meaning i now only have 4 pay day loans showing on my file in the last 7 years ( after all the Wonga and Peachy ones are removed) instead of about 40+ so some win i guess?
Time to sit in line for my three fiddy in recompense in a years time!
NG says
Hi Sara
I have just received this email from Everyday Loans
Dear Mr XXXX
Unfortunately we are behind with our case schedule. Please allow a further two weeks for us to provide you with our final response.
Regards
Customer Resolution Team
I have sent them 3 reminder emails over the last 2 months and each time they reminded me they had 8 weeks to respond which I accepted, yesterday their 8 weeks were up and I sent a final email looking a response today and got that reply. Can they do this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can send your case to the financial ombudsman now. I suggest you do.
rachael says
Hi
I have had safety net come back to me and agreed to accept redress. they have offered me more than I thought and wiped off my loan!
Just wondered if anyone knew how long they take to pay up?
frogman says
I got mine accepted today and I replied today accepting their offer. They’ve already written back that refund will be made by Friday 13th latest.
Cj says
I’ve accepted snc offer of just over 4k last week they have said will be in my account by 13.3. By coose of business..
Paul says
Just had some fantastic news from SNC. They have offered to pay back all the interest I have been charged plus the 8%. It totals £1350. I couldn’t be happier and thank you so much Sara. This website should get national recognition.
For anyone wondering I put the complaint in on January 29th. So it was a six week wait. Plus I didn’t even use the fantastic templates Sara provides on here I put together a quick email in my own words so it really is that easy folks.
Jane Y says
Hi
Great news just had response from SNC repaying all interest plus 8% so a nice refund if just over 5k.
Did anyone have tax to pay?
Jane
Mal says
Has anyone received any refunds from Lending Stream earlier than the 28 days after LS accepted the findings from the FOS. Even when you speak to a manager within the complaints team at Lending Stream they have no ability to confirm when the payment will be made and just repeat they will pay within 28 days.
Keeley says
I’m on day 7 of 28 and they can tell me is the payment will be before the 31st . I just worry they will go into administration before this date and I won’t see a penny
Lee sharratt says
Have two cases from loans to go and and cash on the go with the fo. Been 6 and 7 months. Is this the norm you think?
Keeley says
Can I ask some advice, I owe peachy £500 but my account was on hold due to an affordability claim. What should I do? I spoke to them and they have said I still have to pay the remaining balance but this wasn’t the case before they went into administration. I have had over 20 loans in the several years and I’m sure they owe me more than I owe them.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you reply that you have the right of set-off between the redress Peachy owes you for unaffordable lending and the balance you owe Peachy for the last loan and that you will not be making any payments until they have assessed your claim.
Mel says
Hi,
Has anyone received an offer from Uncle Buck at Adjudicator level at the FOS? UB offered £600, however the correct amount is closer to £3K. My case is now with the Ombudsman.
Most of the payday lenders I have dealt with has been nice and paid the redress quickly. Uncle Buck is still disputing my irresponsible lending complaint after more than two years. It has been an appalling process with false accusations, delaying tactics etc. I have brought this horrible business conduct to the FCA’s attention.
Perhaps this awful business conduct is the reason why Uncle Buck is one of the payday lenders still in business?
Marie darling says
After having no response from lending stream and following your advice I sent one last email them giving them the option to refund or as the deadline had passed I would be taking it up with ombudsman today I had an offer of £3700 thanks so much for all your advice and comments on this site your an angel
Susie says
Hi Sara is it possible to post the link for the tax refund article I can’t find it? I’ve been off on maternity leave so it’s the one year I am under tax threshold and had a big QQ refund. Thanks ever so much
Sara (Debt Camel) says
https://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-payday-refund-get-back-tax/
M taylor says
Hi Sara,
Can I ask your opinion pls – I made a complaint to Mr Lender who I currently have a loan with. I’ve had 3 loans with them 500/1000/1000 – they have offered to clear the remaining balance on the last one which is about 750.
Given I’m sure if I took it to fos the first loan prob wouldn’t be considered then we are only talking loan two and three really. The offer on the table is not a million miles off the interest for loan three.
In your personal opinion do you think it’s worth just taking and moving on?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s not a bad offer. The loans are large so it’s possible you might get loan 2 refunded but it’s not in the extremely likely category.
RS says
UB have just called me regarding my affordability compliant which is 6 weeks after my initial email to them. The gentleman was very polite and explained everything every clearly. I was happy to accept their offer which did include the 8% statutory interest. He has advised funds should be with me within 7 days. Once again thank you to Sara, without this website I would not have known that by sending such a simple email could result in refunds.
Mike_p says
Have you checked how the offer compares to the interest you paid? If they are being polite I’d have a suspicion that they are trying to get you to accept an offer that’s lower than the FOS would decide.
RS says
Yes, they are refunding all the interest paid plus the 8% on all the loans I thought should be considered. I was pleasantly surprised :)
Stewart says
Hi Sara,
Today I had a final offer from peachy, they offered the last 3 loans of 7, total £492 including interest and credit file cleared. Given it’s been reported that they are going into administration, should I ask them to reconsider a couple of other loans? Will their status mean perhaps I could lose the offer?
Best wishes,
Stewart
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Now they are in administration I doubt they will be at all interested in negotiating. It doesnt sound like a bad offer.
Also you are likely to only receive a fraction of the amount, what percentage won’t be known for a long while.
Luucy says
Hi Sara
Just wondered if you knew anything more about Sunny putting a pause on affordability complaints as per message I read yesterday?
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That odd email from Sunny referred to them asking FOS for a pause. I can’t imagine why FOS would do that at a lender’s request. if anyone get an email like this from Sunny, i suggest you phone FOS up and ask them what it means. So far as I know FOS complaint handling is continuing as normal.
Anon says
Hi all, well I am absolutely thrilled. I have had my final response from SNC, my first successful claim! They are wiping my existing balance of £850 and refunding me £503. Could not be happier with this outcome after struggling for so long, it finally feels something good has happened. I just wanted to let those of you know who are waiting for correspondence from SNC, they DID NOT send me an email and I have been checking my Spam and email inbox daily. I randomly logged into my SNC account as I wanted to calculate how much interest I may be due, and I had a message from them in there on my dashboard (nothing to my personal email) from 09/03, so it may be worth those of you who haven’t heard anything to check there before chasing. Thanks Sara! Where would I be without this site.
SAM says
Hi. Lending stream emailed me yesterday saying they have sent their response to the adjudicators decision (yesterday was their deadline) but havent sent me a copy of their response. I followed up with the adjudicator yesterday by email but havent heard anything back. How long does the adjudicator usually take to give the decision back to you? Im anxious as i want things to progress as quickly as possible, considering the risk that they could go bust any time. Thanks
E says
I’ve had a successful redress letter from SNC today. 3 weeks after my complaint was logged. It’s only for £280 as I only had a few payments from them but clears my balance with them! Another one off the list! Thanks again Sara for this fab website! I can honestly see the light at the end of the tunnel!
Tony says
Three weeks today for me also, still waiting on a final response. I have been borrowing from May 2018 and really hoping for some light at what seems like a never ending tunnel.
Hazel says
I was wondering if someone was able to help I complained to safety credit net and had a reply extremely quick with my redress amount, does anyone know if it’s like Wonga and will receive part of what they state ?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Safetynet Credit are NOT in administration, you should receive the full amount.
Jane says
Myjar rejected my complaint for irresponsible lending. I had 4 loans from them over a period of 12 months. First 2 were £150, loans 3 and 4 were £425. I sent to Ombudsman on 31.01.20. Adjudicator has emailed today saying he has partially upheld my complaint and asked them to refund interest on loans 2 and 3. Just waiting now to see if they agree. Quite impressed at the time it’s taken. Just hope they agree.
Vic1502 says
I’ve just had a reply from SNC, 6 weeks after initial complaint to say they are going to refund me £1,562. I replied today and then called to confirm and was told payment will be in my account my end of day 13.03.
So pleased with this. Thanks Sara, it took me 4 mins to copy and paste the template email, so that’s a pretty good return for something I’d never have known about without this website!
Catherine says
Well Satsuma failed to respond to adjudicator by deadline yesterday,she has chased again and if they don’t respond in 1 week she is going to prepare case for a Ombudsman review.She said that the FOS are well aware of the businesses issues at meeting the timescales FOS set.
They should be fined by FCA if you ask me.
Turtlr says
Same here. Been waiting over a month when they were asked to reply within 2 weeks of adjud response. Shambles of a company.
A says
Hi can I ask please what’s the difference between an adjudicator and going to the ombudsman? Xx
MnM says
Hi A
Your complaint at FOS is initially assigned to an Adjudicator who makes their decision. If the company disagrees then it is referred to the ombudsman who makes the final decision. They normally rule in favour of the adjudicator. There are many more adjudicators than ombudsmen.
Hope that helps
Danielle says
Hi there,
I already have a payment arrangement with SNC, can I make a complaint about irresponsible lending whilst in this arrangement as I’m scared they may get rid of the arrangement
Also how can I download my credit file onto my phone through a website?
Many thanks
Rach says
Hi Danielle,
I borrowed the full amount of my limit of £850 from SNC in one go – I had no choice as needed it to pay monthly bills seems they were taking payment in full every month! I then sent my irresponsible lending complaint to them (on 26th Feb) I asked them to freeze any interest and stop the automatic payments from my bank whilst my complaint was investigated – they confirmed the same day that they would do this – and the have – so just awaiting reply about my complaint now. Good luck with yours.
Hi says
Hi sara just wanted to thank you got your knowledge back at the end of January when all the wonga stuff was going on I came across your site. Reading through soon of your info I copied the templates and send them to some of my payday loan companies I have used. Yesterday I had a reply from Ferratum saying they don’t I hold my complaint but as good will gesture they will waive my loan of £800 and refund me 250. It went in my bank the same day
J S says
I had some good news today with regards to H&T. My case had been sitting with Ombudsman since January 2019.
I took out 11 loans, top ups, etc with H&T between 2008 and 2011.
Ombudsman has asked h&T to refund loans 6 to 11 plus 8 % interest. I dont actually know what their officer will be at the moment, but I believe the interest on these loans to be about £1400/1500.
Has anyone else had success from h&t and if so are they okay when it comes to accepting adjudicator decisions and paying out reasonably quickly?
Cheers
Pete says
I had a refund from them 3 loans..
500
300
700 but was a top up on previous loan so showed as 1200
Got a refund of over 1500 paid very promptly had final response letter sent back via email and was paid the same day
Tammy says
How long does it take for Oakam to refund after accepting adjudicator decision?
John Wilson says
Hi Tammy
Did Oakham accept at adjudicator level? Mine is in the que for ombudsmans how many loans did you have.
Tammy says
Hi John,
Yes Oakam accepted the adjudicator decision and just waiting for Oakam to refund back 3 loans
Jane says
Just looking for other people’s experience of Myjar. Adjudicator has partially upheld my complaint. Are they likely to accept this or do they generally push for it to go to an Ombudsman?
Nick says
I have just had an offer of myjar today I have accepted does anyone know how long they usually take to payout?
Em says
I had an offer from myjar on 26th feb and was paid into my account yesterday.
Alexa says
Just wanted to say thank you-I found this site through the Wonga redress/administration process, and decided to put in complaints to other lenders at the same time, using Resolver. I just got news from Sunny that I’m getting paid £2800 redress within 30 days and they will wipe the loans from my credit file. I don’t think I would be getting this money if it wasn’t for the advice from this site, thanks again!
Holly says
Hi guys hope you are all well , I just wanted to make people aware that I’ve received an email today from lending stream asking if I authorise this claims management company called charter house claims to work on my behalf for a claim . I have already settled with LS I have never heard of them or had any dealings with them and they are also saying they have a sunny claim of mine to which is also settled and has been for ages
Sara (Debt Camel) says
oh :(
Well tell LS and Sunny that you have never heard of them and your claim against them has been settled.
You could also send a complaint to Charterhouse!
diddy says
I originally contacted Charterhouse regarding a few payday loans (before I found this site). They are absolutely useless, did nothing for me. They took weeks to respond to email etc so after I found this site, contacted them and told them i no longer required their service.
Thank goodness I found this site 🙏🏻🙏🏻
Holly says
I will do , how would they have got my details from a third party some how ? And what would the grounds be using my details when I haven’t told them to ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I have no idea! This shouldn’t have happened. You could also ask them if they have sent claims to any other lenders…
Anon says
Hi all
I received my final response from SNC today – unfortunately they did not uphold my complaint. A little disheartening, they have said that they could see payments going into my account from another bank account, which was my own where other payday loans were paid into which I then transferred into my bank account they had access too. I had my credit limit upped from £280 to £690 and constantly borrowed the full amount each month.
I just wonder if I refer it to the FOS they will agree that they have lended responsibly. Surely when they upped my credit limit they would have been monitoring my financial situation, I’m not too sure really.
I hope everyone else has better luck than me!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send it straight to FOS. They won’t have a problem seeing your picture across different bank accounts. Constantly being at your increased borrowing limit should have told SNC you were in trouble.
I hope you have cancelled the CPA with your bank.
Dennis says
I got my complaint back from SNC and they offered just to wipe what I owe them but didn’t mention all the interest I have paid over the last year what should I do. Thanks in advice for your help.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How much do you owe? How much interest have you paid?
Dennis says
I owe them 424 pounds. I roughly paid about 1200 interest
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is a hard decision. You may not get all the interest back if you go to FOS. So you have to choose between a bird in the hand now and two (or possible three) birds in the bush after some delays.
Gary o says
Hi Sara could you please advise me I have just received a offer from safety net they are offering to wipe my debt and pay me 1300 this is my interest +8% but only from the period march 2019 till Jan this year but I have been with them since 2015 .
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That doesn’t sound a good offer unless your credit limit was pretty low before March 2019?