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?
chris says
is trustedquid.co.uk no more or under a different name?
Alastair says
Hi Sara,
I had 60 loans with lending stream spanning just over 7 years following the Wonga saga I have used one of your templates to seek redress. The vast majority of these loans were taken out month after month save for a couple where there was a break of more than 6 months. In addition I had loans with other payday lenders and defaulted a total of 6 times with lending stream. Rather than list all them on here (can if you would prefer) the total amounts are as follows:
Borrowed: 16225.00
Total Paid: 29412.30
Interest: 13187.30
I am now in the final of the 8 weeks and awaiting an offer. But am trying to temper my expectations but also want to know what you would perceive as a reasonable offer from them as to not get fobbed off?!!
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t think you need to list all 60 loans!
Where in the 60 loans were the 6 month payments breaks? eg 6 loans – break – 20 loans – break – 34 loans
Did the amounts tend to be much the same, vary a lot, get bigger?
Alastair says
There was a 10 month gap between loans 10&11 and 7 months between 11&12 before and after that its pretty consistently every month.
The amounts were largely consistent £200-300, with the occasional spike of 400, 500, largest being 655
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then at a guess you might get back 4/5/6-10 and 15-60 by going to FOS.
Alastair says
Quick update. After sending Lending Stream an email to remind them the 8 weeks was up they replied with a final offer. They upheld loans 29-60. £6989.96
Although I may get more by going to the FOS, as mentioned in my previous comments I don’t want to risk them going bust in the meantime and getting nothing ( I received 468.26 of a 10862.56 claim from Wonga)!
Sara I can’t thank you enough, without this site I would have had £0.
Hollie says
Hello
Has anyone had any success with Safety Net? They offered me £33 lol but I have gone to the ombudsman. I have had numerous loans with them when I was unemployed and having to borrow from other payday loans.
JS says
Hi Sara & pple,
I’ve received this email from Myjar, what does this mean? Has anyone else had this? And if so what was their outcome.
We are contacting you to provide you with a progress update on a recent complaint you made to us. Unfortunately, and despite our best efforts, we are not yet in a position to give you a final resolution.
We will be contacting you again shortly and we will either issue our Final Response giving our decision on the outcome of your complaint and the reasons for this or, an explanation of why we have not yet resolved your complaint. At the very latest, we will issue our Final Response within eight weeks from receipt of your initial complaint.
Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
it looks like a standard “It’s [5] weeks and no-one has yet looked at your complaint” email. It’s not good or bad news, it’s just no news.
mich says
have put complaint into satsuma,at present still have 2 outstanding loans,one took out in july last year for £1200 having pay this back at £199.20 a month,took out another in november for £400 have pay back at £50 a month,ive had other loans from them which have to find all details for,they have until 25th march get back to me then my 8 weeks are up,they never asked to see anything show what money i had monthly,if they had would of seen im on dss and pip high rate due my mobility ,struggle pay £250 each month but doing it and never missed a payment,another thing logged onto my account today they said im eligible for another loan say was shocked seeing as put complaint in(just ignored it really dont need another high rate loan),worked out paying £199.20 each month means paid £1190 interest,
mich says
forgot add so do i still have pay the loans when ive took out complaint,£250 is lot per month,know it was mine stupid fault for taking out the loans,still have £996 and £250 left to pay on each loan
Karen says
Thanks for your help Sara,
Should I give them a chance to reply or just file it straight away with FOS?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
they won’t negotiate :(
William Rowan says
Thought of the day…..
With this corana virus i think the payday lenders will be runbbing their hands with antipation of people being laid off, zero hour contracts etc applying for these loans all over again!
Bill
Steve says
Hi Sara
Do you have a contact for someone high up at Likely Loans/Oakbrook as I am trying to put pressure on them an adjudicator has upheld my complaint but they are dragging their feet in replying.
Thanks
Steve
Sara (Debt Camel) says
try beth.kelly@oakbrookfinance.com
Kar says
Hi Sara
I also just had a response from Ferratum regarding a goodwill gesture of £400 but there is a sentence included … Please note, that under the terms of our Complaints Procedure this is our final response…. so does this mean there is no point in trying to negotiate. Here are my loans
Start Date Paid Back Date Loan Amount Capital paid Interest Paid
07/08/2017 19/09/2017 100.00 100.00 34.40
08/10/2017 31/10/2017 100.00 100.00 18.40
31/10/2017 29/11/2017 300.00 300.00 69.60
30/11/2017 28/12/2017 400.00 400.00 89.60
28/12/2017 31/01/2018 400.00 400.00 108.80
31/01/2018 23/02/2018 500.00 500.00 92.00
27/02/2018 30/04/2019 500.00 500.00 308.00
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It means they want you to say Yes.
So they are refunding loans 6 & 7. IF you want to ask for a bit more as a compromise, you could say you will accept it if they increase it to £508, ie including loan 5?
Kar says
Ok. They have come back offering £500 and to remove the last two loans – so I am happy with this. Thanks for your help
Marie darling says
Hi Sara I have had a response and offer from lending stream which I have accepted they have said it will be 28 days before they deposit into my account my worry is that if they go into administration in that period will I still get the payment that’s been agreed thanks for any advice on this and all the advice you’ve given so far
Kindest regards Marie d
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No :( if they go into administration before you get your money, you will be an unsecured creditor and will get some percentage back at a lot later date.
But I have no particular reason to think LS are in trouble.
Steve says
Hi Sara,just a quick question you might be able to answer.i have emailed several payday loan lenders with the affordability template you advised.i am waiting for redress from LS(due3rd April),however Mr Lender and Satsuma have acknowledged my complaint but I’ve had no other correspondence from them.the 8 weeks are up on Thursday.
If there is no contact from them both by then,what would your next step be?
Any help is much appreciated
Steve
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Mr lender – ask why no reply.
Satsuma – send straight to FOS.
(Satsuma is often slow and rarely makes good offers so these cases are very likely to have to go to FOS anyway, no reason to delay.
Mr Lender usually replies at the end of the 8 weeks.)
Sara
Raivis Agulis says
Hello, Just wanted to ask what to do in my case if I have long term credit to pay to omincapital finince for my HGV driving courses.
The thing is that I had my practical theory and driving all done and than I had to have a CPCS practical training to get my CPCS card but after I pass my theroy and driving that HGV driving agancy went bankrupt and I didn’t get my last trainings, so after that I was trying to contact them for several months and and no one replyed me but than I get one email to contact those creditors and so I seyed them all whats going on and they aswer was that They can’t do anythig because the credit is given not on my self but insted on my misis father in law and just because it’s third party than it’s means that they can’t help me and I just have to pay all the credit and they can’t really help me. Don’t know what to do.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds unusual and complicated. Can I suggest you talk to National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 about all the details of this and your options.
Keeley says
Hi Sara, can I please ask for some advice?
I put In an affordability claim with Peachy at the beginning of January, I got a response and was told this would be looked into! My account was then frozen till may. But since then I spoke to someone and was told I still needed to pay what I owe just under £500. I told them I wouldn’t be making any payments till my claim was sorted , but they have emailed me again for bank details. I have had several loans over the past 6/7 years if not longer and I’m sure I am owed a lot more than what I owe them? Not sure what to do?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
reply saying you have the right of set-off and you will not be paying them until they have considered your claim.
Sonya Hawley says
Hi Sara
Just wanted to let you know Payplan have removed sunny from my plan so I have stopped paying them. Also I have been signed off sick for 8 weeks following spinal surgery and they’ve dramatically reduced my payments thus leaving me with a bit spare so thanks for the advice
Am still waiting on Sunny to come back to me they have six days before I can escalate
Ross Gunn says
Hi Sarah, I received this email today from sunny. Was just wondering if it is a case worth taking to the ombudsman
We have considered your complaint, together with our own records and regret to inform you that we are not able to uphold your complaint.
Background and summary
By way of background, we
i. you have had 7 Sunny Instalment loans;
ii. you have had break(s) in lending equal to at least 10% of the relationship with us (i.e. if the time between your first loan and last date on which you were charged interest is 2 years you have had breaks in lending equal to approximately 2 months);
iii. The total amount you borrowed was £2800 and the amount you repaid was £3888.54;
iv. taking into account all loans/draws you were charged interest for 12 months or
Thanks
Ross
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you must have shortened that as some of it doesn’t make much sense.
“you have had break(s) in lending equal to at least 10% of the relationship with us (i.e. if the time between your first loan and last date on which you were charged interest is 2 years you have had breaks in lending equal to approximately 2 months);”
This is some bizarre criteria that Sunny have invented. FOS does not use it. I suggest you send the case straight to FOS.
Mr F says
So today I received an email from WDA advising they are accepting my claim and that the ‘administrators have admitted your claim in the Administration for £650.00.
You are therefore a creditor of CTL with an agreed claim against CTL. Dividend payments to creditors are expected to be made on or before 31 May 2020.’
I have an outstanding balance of 454 which I’m on a pp plan with lantern for does the above mean I would get the dividend on 650-454 (196) meaning my debt has gone or is it on the 650 and I keep paying lantern
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you need to ask the administrators.
Aj says
Lending has paid out today. Day 18 of 28. Thank you sara for your help. This site has helped me a lot. If any readers want a quick refund from LS they should call/email them and explain your current suitation for them to put you on the priorty que. but the current processing time is around 20 days
Liz says
Thank you so much Sara for this site, it’s so helpful.
After reading your advice on how to make an affordability complaint I emailed Safety Net on 3/3/2020, they sent me an email on the 5/3/2020 to validate my details. They have emailed me today saying my complaint is valid and refunding me £132. Very quick and straightforward.
Tom says
Hi Sara,
Firstly, amazing what you have done here – so much incredible support!
I have a specific question re: Sunny. They have replied with the below and I am unsure how to reply without saying I falsified information?
———–
I confirm that you obtained a personal loan of £800 on 02/07/2015 payable in 12 monthly instalments of £133.33.
As a responsible lender we conducted a number of checks in order to assess your affordability and creditworthiness. The checks included automated checks run through the Credit reference Agencies’ data. The checks confirmed your identity, residence information, bank account details, income details, credit history, employment information and affordability information.
During the loan application you were asked a number of questions regarding your current financial position and during the recorded call you declared that you were not struggling and had no difficulties to repay your loan. You were also warned that providing false and misleading information will be treated as an act of fraud.
Can you please confirm that you were struggling financially at the time you have applied for this loan and you were unable to repay this loan, and therefore your declarations during the loan application stage were false?
paul says
Made a complaint to LS on 28/02 and got an acknowledgement email of my complaint and it will be 8 weeks to investigate. just wondered as some people on here seem to have had theres dealt with and accepted from similar period if i should be chasing them up or something?
Conor says
Hi Sara/All
Anyone any experience with Cash 4U Now? Had them come back to me with an offer for partial refund. Anyone know how long they typically take to payout once offer is accepted?
Thanks
Conor
JS says
Hi Sara and Everyone on here,
How long does it take for Myjar to pay out once you have sent the settlement form back?
Thanks in advance
Sarah Louise Tansley says
Hi,
I’m waiting for my payment too and it says 3 weeks on the email offer.
Thanks
Paul says
They seem to payout in a Thursday, mine was about 14days I think maybe less
T says
This my sound a bit daft but last Thursday I accepted an offer from sunny which they said will take up to 30 days to receive. But if the country goes on lock down does that mean I won’t get it?
Pee says
No not at all. It just might be delayed slightly. You’ll get your money.
Paul says
Hi All,
I ve had an e-mail with the SAR information from Lending Stream this evening. Does anyone know how far into the process they are to have sent this? Do I need to reply anything to it?
Many Thanks, Paul
James says
How long have people had to wait for their Sunny refund upon acceptance of their final response? Has there been any communication from lenders regarding the Coronavirus?
Sunny gave me their final response today. Of my 58 ‘draws/loans’ they’re refunding the interest on 32-58, + 8% interest, total £2,200. On top of that, they’re wiping off the outstanding balance I have with them through a DMP (£360) and removing 32-58 from my credit file. This will reduce my DMP by 2 months to July 2020. I’ve been on a DMP since October 2018.
My only concern at this point is the payout time. They’ve said 14 days from receipt of my bank details. I responded within an hour of their email, so hopefully the ball began rolling today. I just fear the current situation with the Coronavirus could obviously cause some delay.
Louise says
Hi, I have numerous loans but a lot of them are with different companies, can I only make a compliant if it’s with the same company again and again. I would be under the mental health bracket due to recent diagnosis of autism and adhd. I was diagnosed with bipolar 12 years ago and had a record of manic spending due to this a long time ago. These loans are between 2015-2017. Big break between
The companies have known that I went for an Iva then couldn’t pay that as I had to go part time due to physical health of multiple sclerious I couldn’t work as many hours so now part time…
I did have 19k debt now down to £8k
J S says
Is there any way due to COVID19 that timescales for companies to respond to complaints or to respond to decisions made by the Ombudsman may be extended?
I am waiting on H&T getting back to the Ombudsman on whether they agree with theue decision or not.
Obviously this will affect the FOS aswell as the companies involved.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think everything will take a little while to settle down. Not worth trying to guess at the moment.
Jane Y says
Hi All so far I have had some good results but now starting to get unsuccessful results for Peachy, Satsuma and Sunny. Oh well cant win them all!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how many loans did you have from Satsuma and Sunny? Both often reject good complaints…
Ben says
Just to add to my experience with Sunny, I had two very similar situations with Lending Stream and Sunny; 14-16 loans over the same 3 year period, with similar amounts taken out on a regular basis.
Both rejected my complaint. Sunny did offer to write off the £80 I still owed and was paying off through StepChange. I declined the offer, but they still cleared the outstanding debt.
Both were upheld by the adjudicator, with the exception of the first 4-5 loans in each case. Lending Stream paid out within the allocated timeframe. There was no response from Sunny at all and it’s now been with the ombudsman for 5 months.
Jane Y says
Hi Sara
I had 3 with satsuma ( 2 in 2014 and 1 in 2015 still paying off). With Sunny I had 12 loans/rollover. They say they have done an extensive investigation and have rejected my claim. They say the repayments based on data I had provided meant I could I could afford them. For me it was the amount of interest charged for example last loan with Satsuma was £900 on a £1000 loan. This is the loan I’m still paying through my DMP.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you send both those complaints to FOS to look at. The Satsuma loans are large and 12 loans from Sunny suggests they should have stopped and looked more closely at whether they should still be lending to you.
Jane Y says
Hi Sara
Even though they say my net cash left over was enough to cover the monthly payments.
Jane Y
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You know if these loans caused you problems – did the repayments mean you were so short you had to borrow again?
If yes, then the loans were unaffordable and you should send them to FOS.
The uphold rate for payday loan complaints at the ombudsman is well over 50% – all of those people were told by their lender that the lender’s calculations showed they could afford the loans… but the lender’s calculations were wrong.
Jane Y says
Sara looking at the paper work and figures they say I provided it looks like they were affordable. Is it worth sending them anyway.
Jane Y
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Bother what they said, YOU know if you had to take the next Sunny loan because repaying the previous one left you with too little money to live on…
Seriously, you cannot assume that a payday lender has done a fair calculation, or they would not be losing so many cases at FOS. Follow your own instinct, not a standard template a lender has sent out to put you off taking a case to FOS.
Jen says
Just wanted to celebrate some good news. I had an email this evening to say my case with Mr Lender that had gone to an Ombudsman was being upheld. I am absolutely over the moon!
Mr Lender rejected my complaint in July 2019. Went to FOS and an adjudicator upheld my complaint in December 2019. Mr Lender disagreed, so have been waiting for an Ombudsman to make a decision and today is that day!! I am so glad I waited and believed in the system.
I have had success with SafetyNet, Sunny, MyJar and now Mr Lender.
Thank you Sara for all of your help on this site. Without you, I would still be in the vicious circle of debt.
James says
Pretty annoyed on day 22/28 with lending Stream & the payment would get me through the current climate, my complaint was first logged in September 2018 & a slight kick seeing people get payments within 18/20 days… oh well it will come I’m sure!
Keeley says
I was on day 15!!! But when I spoke to them they have put my payment back 3 days so back to day 12!!
Jane Y says
Woo hoo 5k redress received from safety net credit.
Thanks Sara so much for all the helpful advice you have given to so many people.
Jane Y
Adam says
Awesome news Jane, I remember my story being similar to yours and also sent mine in a weeks or so later so fingers crossed for a similar result 😁
Andy says
Chased lending stream last three days and emailed the CEO and was paid £1,147.42 today on day 18. Great news. I’m debt free completely now
Tony B says
Sara,
I know this isnt the relevant page to post on, but i could not find any other page to write on it about.
Given my past with payday loans, a credit card etc i got myself in deep with them. I have now managed to pay all of them off except 2 which i have cases in with atm.
However, i have a default on my credit card (1k) 2 defaults with elevate (who i have since got a claim back with) will elevate remove the default from my credit report? How long will it take to re build my credit. I am in a good position now with debts paid off, i have a good wage and absoloutely nothing to pay for except my phone bill. My past is now stopping me even getting car finance. Which is awful and knowing i could afford these things now i manage my finances properly, want a mortgage in the next year and a car. Heartbreaking knowing the stupid decisions i made in the past are now affecting my future i feel for anyone in the same position.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
will elevate remove the default from my credit report?
yes, if you win a complaint and that loan is decided to be unaffordable.
How long ago was your credit card default? And has that credit card now been cleared?
Sue says
Has 118 118 disappeared? I want to repay my loan early but the APP, Website and phone lines are all offline.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Not that I gave heard… website says come back Monday!
shaun says
Hi there, probably same question most people have asked before but just some advice if possible.
Sunny finally got back to me and have agreed to partially uphold my claim.
66 loans I had and there upholding after the 46th loan onwards, to cut a long story short there offering me £286.
Shall I accept this and be happy or do more digging an hope for more. I am happy getting this but don’t know if sellin myself short. Any advice be appreciated.
Pee says
66 loans is a lot. Straight to Ombudsman service if I was you. Anything after loan 4 is where they should have stopped borrowing to you. Or asking the questions why are you still borrowing.??
You should get a lot more than £284.
They trying to fob you off on the cheap.
It’s up to you.
Ciaran says
They made me a very poor offer initially, I went to the ombudsman and they upheld my complaint in full.
Kat green says
Hi
Any idea how to make sunny respond to the financial onboardsmen they have ignored them for 8 weeks! Seems odd how they can just ignore the onboardsmen any idea how I can push them to respond
Nick says
Unfortunately not, my adjudicator said they are pretty much ignoring all contact from the FOS. It’s frustrating and hopefully they sort it soon. Has yours been put in the queue for an ombudsman?
Marie darling says
Contacted ceo of lending stream Chris debour on Friday got money in the bank today day 12 definitely the way to go just google for email address thanks again for everything this site has been a life saver
Marie
Fliss says
Hi. I know this site has helped so many people and you’ve all heard this before, but I was in such a bad place with these companies. I couldn’t tell anyone because of the shame, even my husband didn’t know, still doesn’t. I only stumbled across this when I googled about the Wonga refund.
I’ve just had my Lending Stream refund this morning, 25/28 so hang in there. I can honestly say I would never have done anything about it, and believe me Lending Stream was the one I went back to over and over again, if I hadn’t come across this site.
These companies should be stopped, I wish I knew how.
Leo says
Hi Sara,
Firstly, thank you for setting up this site. You have helped me tremendously and I’m sure loads of others.
Basically, I wrote into ‘Sunny’ about 8 weeks ago regarding refund for irresponsible lending. They got back to me today to suggest out of my 44 loans with them they will refund between 30-44 (equates to about £1,900 inc 8% stat interest).
I feel I have a strong case to push for more or the full amount going to FOS. Do you think this is wise and would be worth it from your experience?
Thank you,
Leo
Sara (Debt Camel) says
do you know how much interest you paid on all your loans? It sounds like a poor offer.
The risk in going to the Ombudsman is not that FOS will award you less – you won’t get less and will almost certainly get more – but that it may take a long while and there is some chance that sunny will go under. I’m not saying that is particularly likely, just that there must be some chance it could happen.
S says
Hi All,
Who is the CEO of satsuma loans?
And any contact details for them
Thankyou All
Lily says
Thank you Sara for your page. I have just had an email from Safety net, my complaint has been uphold. Refund of £506 coming to me Friday. Just what I needed to hear today. Took just under 6 weeks for them to reply.
Ross Lee says
Hi
Has anyone had any response from Uncle buck in the last 2 days?
Thanks
Ab says
Hi, is there anyone senior at amigo I can email about my complaint? Well into the 12th week now and not had a reply xxx
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You have sent it to FOS, I hope? Is there a particular reason you want to talk to someone senior, some reason why they should pull your complaint out of the pile and handle it now?
What is your guarantor’s situation like?
Jane Y says
Hi All
Anyone waiting on Moneyboat. My 8 weeks is up in a couple of days and not had a response as yet.
Jane Y
Elaine Jones says
My complaint with Moneyboat was upheld by adjudicator but Moneyboat disagreed so went into queue for ombudsman – waited nearly 6 months but today got a final decision and ombudsman also upheld my complaint. I have emailed me with my new bank details and that they have to pay me within 28 days.
Jane Y says
Elaine they came back to me yesterday and did not uphold complaint but as a gesture of good will would write off the 1.3k balance still owed without taking liability. Did you get a response like this and did you try to negotiate with them?
Jane Y
SK says
Re: Lending Stream
I had a affordability complaint with FOS, partially upheld and lender accepted adjudicator decision. I have been paid out today at 12pm on day 22 of 28 days. I did send them a few emails initially to see if I can get the payment quicker as others, however I don’t think it made much difference in my case.
T says
So ive had my final response from 118.
They have decided not to uphold my complaint. I borrowed around 1100 from them, they allowed me
To take out this loan when i was already in serious debt with other companies and my credit was poor. They are saying that they took me through all the nescessary checks to check i was ‘creditworthy’ and says they acted correctly when giving me the loan. Where do i go from here, do i take it to the FOS or will they just say i was taken through the correct checks/ steps, or will they see it in my favour. I would really like to win this case as i have a default on my account because of it, and to me thats the biggest part of winning this case against them. Thankyou
Sara (Debt Camel) says
1 loan payday loan cases are hard to win – but this is not a small payday loan, it was large and 118 should have made proper checks.
You know if the loan was affordable – did making the repayments cause you problems so that you had to borrow more from other lenders, or get behind with bills? If you think the loan was unaffordable, send the complaint to the Ombudsman.
Rocky says
Afternoon everyone hope you’re well.
I have a question about Satsuma. The FOS have advised that Satsuma have agreed to pay me the interest owed on 3 of my loans, and I accepted back in February. The FOS advised me to wait 4 weeks for them to get it touch regarding payment. I haven’t heard from them and now there time is up! Has anyone had the same issue? Who is the best person to contact at Provident to resolve this? Thanks for your help.
Catherine says
Send a email to complaints@provident.co.uk stating reason and provide your FOS reference number and say you was told by the investigator to call to arrange refund directly.I did and cheque arrived 4 days later.
GCO says
I had loans with Peachy and after making an un-affordability claim, they rejected it so I sent it to FOS early February as I believed I had a good case. I just found out this weekend that Peachy (Cash On The Go) went into administration early March. I emailed the FOS as I was yet to hear back and I was told by the FOS that it’s unlikely the FOS will be going forward with my case. As I have already made a complaint against Peachy that was rejected they have refused to look back into my case. Kinda stuck in limbo now.
Sara – is there anything I can do here?
Amy says
Hi Sara,
Sorry for asking again but just wondered any thoughts about how successful installment loan cases have been? Just this has been one of the last ongoing so need to make a decision as to whether I put it all to bed now :)
Was a loan for £1250 for 12 months which I managed to settle half way through only by taking out a secured loan as at that time still had around £9000 in payday loans outstanding! I made a complaint probably clutching a bit at the suggestion my credit history should have shown the mess I was in, which the lender duly declined and the adjudicator has also not upheld this one.
One thing that had came out from lender’s response was I reported my debt payments as being around £300 but the underwriter calculated this at £878 with the higher figure used to assess the application, and the other information I’d given about the situation would seem a bit spurious and not clear.
I can’t recall now being questioned about this as was in 2013 but wondered if not whether this should have prompted some challenge or further checks? And guess I was wondering if I may have had grounds to go back to adj. and query what information the business had about my borrowing and if discrepancy was queried?
Many thanks in advance :)
Amy
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Lots of instalment loans cases have been won. How large were your payday loans at the start of the instalment loan?
Cassie C says
I have just received a final response letter from Safety Net Credit in regards to my complaint.. there response was
“ Having investigated your claim fully it is our view that your complaint has some merit to which we’d like to propose the following to resolve the situation:
As your outstanding balance is clear, we would like to offer a one off ex gratia payment for the amount of £461.92 which will be payable directly to you.”
I currently have a payment arrangement in place with them and the balance of this is £461.92 so assuming whatever they pay me out will clear the balance I owe? Instead of me actually receiving any refund of the interest?
The total interest I paid is approx £1600 should I take this case to the FOS?
Any advice would be appreciated
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds as though you have received a rather confused reply!
If you think it would be enough, you could reply that you will be happy to accept £461.92 paid to you if your balance is cleared.
Cassie C says
I took your advice and this was the final response
“Unfortunately, there was a discrepancy in the final response letter that you were sent.
Our offer was to write off your outstanding balance of £461.92 and not refund this amount back to you.
We are confident that this offer is fair and justified, however we understand the confusion that has been caused by this matter.
Although we will not be refunding you the £461.92 as you first thought, we are happy to refund you £100.00 for the inconvenience/distress that may have been caused by us sending you a final response letter with misleading information.”
Not sure what I should do now?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well you could accept their £100 or send the case to FOS. If you have paid 1600 of interest, £100 back doesn’t sound like a great offer.
I suppose you could reply that you think a write off plus £100 is a poor offer and you will be sending the complaint to FOS if they do not improve it.
Turtle says
Is anyone else having problems with Provident (Satsuma) getting back to the FOS? My adjudicator ruled in my favour, wrote to Provident and asked them to reply by 12th Feb. it’s now 6 weeks on from the 12th Feb and they still haven’t replied to the FOS. I am aware they have a backlog of complaints to deal with but it looks like they are not bothering replying anymore.
SK says
Hi. I recently had a complaint with FOS which was partially upheld on 25 Feb. Satsuma had two weeks to respond by 10 Mar, they didn’t respond within the timeframe but my adjudicator reached out again to the company and informed me of delays. They responded on 20 Mar and accepted the offer. I’m hoping to receive cheque soon. Hope this helps. Thanks
Finally debt free says
Light at the end of the tunnel.
Sunny came back to me with an offer that seemed very fair, one day short of the 8week period from the initial complaint. Now just up to two weeks for payment. Good luck to everyone else in their quest and Sara, a million thank you s for this site. Without your guidance, this would’ve have happened. You are the real MVP
Rachael says
Has anyone heard anything from Lending Stream? Just wondering with someone saying the offices were closed yesterday
Tania says
No, I got and accepted an offer of £732 on Saturday and asked for email receipt of my acceptance. They are not really an essential business in the circumstances, I guess.
Lilly says
Hi Sara. MYJAR didn’t upheld my complaint and I passed to FOS middle of February and was picked up last week, today they email me and asked me for some details. I have passed details back on but how long does this take roughly? 2 loans 1st 400 2nd 500, had 4 over payday loans on the go, 1 amigo loan, 3 credit cards and almost all on default.
In a lot better position now thanks to your site. 2 have already upheld which I had at same time of MJAR, what’s the likely hood of FOS upholding my complaint? Thanks.