Have you had problems with payday loans? 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 here. This works if your payday loans were repaid or you still owe money.
Contents
What are “unaffordable” loans?
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.
A loan is not affordable just because you haven’t missed a payment – if paying a loan left you so broke you had to borrow again – from the same lender or a different one – it was unaffordable!
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. Payday loans are meant for short-term problems.
Many lenders ignore obvious signs of problems such as your loans increasing in size, or your credit record showing increasing debts.
How much compensation can you get?
A typical payday loan decision by the Ombudsman is that the lender should refund all the interest you paid after the third, fourth or fifth loan.
But if your first loan was large, or was rolled over several times, you can get a refund from just one loan.
Which lenders can you get refunds from?
Lenders include:
CashASAP, Drafty, Fast Loan Uk, Fernovo, Fund Ourselves, Kabayan, Lending Stream, LoanPig, Mr Lender, Moneyboat, My Finance Club, QuidMarket, Savvy, TickTock, The Money Platform, WageMe.
See this list for payday lenders for a longer list and their email addresses to use.
You can make claims to lenders who have recently stopped lending. It is probably too late to make claims to other lenders who gave up more than a few years ago.
For larger loans there are better template letters to use on other pages:
- 118 Money, Everyday Loans/Evlo, Likely Loans/Finio, Reevo, Bamboo, Updraft, Lendable, bank loans and other long-term loans.
- Loans2Go – the worst loans in Britain!
- doorstep lenders and guarantor lenders,
Do this before, before you send in a complaint
Doing these things now will make your life easier later.
If 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. Winning a complaint then speeds up the DMP.
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 have to go to the Ombudsman.
Unless you can afford to make this month’s payment without borrowing again, cancel the CPA or the Direct Debit to the lender at your bank. Otherwise the lender may take the money and you will be in a mess.
Start your complaint
It’s easy to make these complaints – you don’t need to calculate what refund you should get or quote laws.
Find the lender’s email address for complaints from this list. If your loan was sold to a debt collector, you complain to the original lender.
Put “AFFORDABILITY COMPLAINT” as the subject of your email:
I am making an affordability complaint about the loans you gave me. You should never have given me these 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 and the rest of my credit record that my debt problems were getting worse. It was not responsible to continue to lend.
My credit reports would have shown all my other debts [include this if it applies: 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.
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.
Some ways to improve this
Add any other points that help you describe what happened to you. 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.”
- “I had a gambling problem and your loans made this worse”.
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 (say £800 or more), 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 difficult complaint to win. If you have borrowed twice from 5 leaders, that is much more difficult to win affordability complaints than having 4 or 5 loans from two lenders.
Sometimes a lender will offer you a small goodwill amount to give up eg £50 or £100 so if you only had one loan and it wasn’t large, that would be a bit of help.
Waiting for a reply from the lender
This email starts your affordability complaint.
The lender should reply to your complaint within 8 weeks. Don’t be surprised if you have to wait until the end of the 8 weeks to get response – this is common.
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.
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. Don’t bother to send payslips.
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 rejects the complaint or makes a poor offer
If the lender says No or offers you a small amount, 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.
Give up?
Some lenders try to make your case sound bad when it isn’t. Ignore any of the following comments, they do not mean you have a weak case:
- they relied on your loan applications – see Lender says I lied for more about this;
- some loans were paid early – this doesn’t prove the loans were affordable, just that you were trying to save interest;
- loan size 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 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.
Some points to think about:
- if you are offered a refund on only a few loans, don’t accept it if you think you should have more refunded;
- an offer to write off your current balance may sound helpful … but it may be very poor if you should get a cash refund as well.
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 – there is a 6-month time limit after a lender rejects your complaint to send the case to the ombudsman. If you aren’t sure, send the case and let them make an independent decision.
How to send a complaint to FOS
Put in a separate complaint about each lender. There is no limit to the number of FOS complaints you can make.
Send the rejections as they come through – don’t wait until all your lenders have replied!
FOS’s “complain online” option is easy and asks for the information to set up your case.
Attach:
- the lender’s reply.
- 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.
- your TransUnion Statutory credit report
- it doesn’t matter if you don’t have the credit agreements, FOS will get them from the lender.
What happens after you have sent a case to FOS
Your case will wait for the lender to send FOS their case file and then be picked up by an investigator/adjudicator who will make a decision on it.
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 have been bankrupt unless your borrowing was all after your bankruptcy – 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 you are in a DRO now, a refund of more than £2,000 may mean your DRO is cancelled! But many payday loan refunds are less than that.
More help
Ask a question in the comments below.
Don’t use a claims management company. They are expensive and often incompetent. FOS says individuals making a complaint have a better success rate than claims firms.
Card & catalogue affordability complaints
Can you get an overdraft refund?
Could a Debt Relief Order help you?
Nicole says
I started the complaint process with 247 money box at lunchtime today asking for a statement off account! I received a email back at 430pm, saying as a good will gesture they were willing to write off my outstanding balance of £543 !
I was constantly repaying, reloaning and rolling loans over, about £1700 interest and charges
Thoughts please??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Based on what you have said, this write off doesn’t sound like a great offer. Yoiu could go back to them and say what you think would be a fair result?
Gordon says
I argued with them and would not change there offer of removing the outstanding balance.
Adjudicator has found in my favor and advised they should refund interest too. They have a week left to reply.
I had 15 loans over 2 year period with rollovers. Expecting to receive around £2000.
Dont just accept the write of and if need be go to FOS.
Miles says
Anyone had a payout from The Money Shop?
Can’t remember reading any on here
Erika says
My husband get back from Money Shop. After 8 weeks was asked for more time, referred to adjudicator, after 2 weeks come with offer return all interest on all 10 loans. Money next working day after husband agreed. I still waiting, as after referring to adjudicator I felt like they forget about me
Peter says
So today I got a response from Wonga after I made a negative review on TrustPilot.. after 11 week… and this response must have been written by a very funny person, because it is really hard to read without laughing out loud… Im quoting their email because I guess it is something we can learn from…. but before that some facts:
1. they have removed every entry from every credit agency, which I still am finding unlawful … I dont think they have right to do so without contacting us… because it makes a bit harder to tell how many wonga loan have been taken out…
2. They sent me SOA however they havent sent me ALL of my loans… I began my spiral with them in 07/2012 but they have only sent loans from 11/2012… and I paid off the last one in 05/2016…. I checked my bankaccount and had 35 incoming payment from Wonga… sometimes weirdly £50 and the next day another £50… I cant remember what was that… maybe topup? Anyway they lend me: £17709 and I paid back: 23045.63 So I have given back £5336.63 in fees and interests…
3. And now they have sent me an email that they havent done anything wrong, BUT since it took them 11 week to answer my complaint they willing to give me £50
Here is the email:
[general stuff]
You may be aware of the announcement from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regarding changes to our lending criteria. The changes mean that we have new ways of testing whether customers can afford the loan they want to take out.
We can see from your records that, following our changes in lending criteria in October 2014, you applied for three loans with us and you were approved. These applications were made after the changes to our lending criteria were applied and therefore met our new affordability criteria.
We have also reviewed your loans prior to the changes we made to our lending criteria in agreement with the FCA.
Our records show that your loan for the sum of £1,000 dated 8 September 2014 came under the FCA review and this was considered to be affordable on assessment of the borrowing amount against your declared net monthly income.
However, at the time of review, this loan was past the repayment date by 57 days and as per our affordability programme agreed with the FCA we did not charge you interest and fees on the loan and this was written-off by us.
The loan amounts you applied for varied in each application you submitted. For example, you borrowed £1,000 and following repayment of this loan your new loan application 13 days after closing it was for the sum of £250.
Our records show this pattern of borrowing and while, we are not saying you have not borrowed at times within three days of closure or immediately, on the other hand you have not applied until after 34 days and 125 days, also. This does not necessarily suggest sequential borrowing as suggested in your complaint.
[general stuff on interest rates]
Having looked in detail at your complaint and the information we had access to when we made our lending decisions, we have not found any indication that your loans were unaffordable. On that basis, we are unable to uphold your complaint.
However, we do recognise that we have not given you a high level of service when you lodged your complaint and followed this up with us. We would like to offer you £50 compensation to apologise for the trouble and upset the delay in our response and lack of communication has caused you.
FOS?
Sam says
So put around 8 complaints in to various lenders on the 21st June 2016
lending stream and peachy have both rejected outright so sent them both off to the financial ombudsman this evening
elevate are looking into it as are Mr lender
p2p are being somewhat difficult and are asking for dates bank statements and payslips which I have stated they don’t need to look at my complaint as I’ve asked for the soa which has dates on there which they haven’t supplied
wonga has said it needs 8 weeks
also bit annoyed with lending stream and peachy as they are allowed 8 weeks to investigate complaints and it’s only been a maximum of three especially with lending stream as at one point I had four loans on the go at once with them fingers crossed
James says
Please advise QQ sent me two emails at the same time one saying they have launched an investigation into my claim the next saying as I refused to set up a payment plan my debt can be passed to third parties for collection? Can they do this if I have launched a formal complaint?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you ask them not to do this until your complaint has been resolved. If they ignore and you are contacted by the debt collector, tell them the debt is in dispute.
Douglas says
I have had 10 payday loans with WageDayAdvance, finally defaulting on the 10th.
Their response is that they wouldn’t penalise a customer for wishing to re borrow especially if all previous accounts were in good standing.
The correct procedures were followed and my information was assessed using their bespoke scoring system.
All assessments of affordability are based on the premise that the borrower will be able to repay the loan.
However they concede that after loan 6 additional checks should have been carried out due to the pattern of lending.
Any loans previous to loan 7 should not be refunded since they will not penalise a customer who wishes to borrow and have paid back previous loans.
They have upheld the complaint and will refund interest and charges after loan 6 plus 8% interest.
For the 10th loan they are trying to use the refund to settle this although they have admitted that more checks should have been carried out.
I asked for the 10th loan to be written off and removed from my credit files.
Thoughts please…
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The Ombudsman rarely suggests loans are written off – where people have said this has happened, what they usually mean is that refunds on previous loans have been used to repay the outstanding balance, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-write-off/
The question though is whether the 7th loan is the “right” one to start refunding from. If the first few loans were close together, with one being taken out soon after the previous one was repaid then the Ombudsman may decide that the 3rd / 4th / 5th loans were the point that the lender should have stopped lending. If you were borrowing more each time, or rolling loans this would be “earlier”.
If you don’t feel you are being offered a fair amount considering what you borrowed, then you can take the complaint to the FOS.
Agne says
Hello Sara, maybe you can help me please. I got email from wonga, but I’m not sure or I have to agree with that. They’re saying:
”We have investigated this matter in detail and are partially upholding your complaint. We would like to make you an offer for the sum totalling £39.78 on the loans we consider to have been unaffordable in your specific circumstances.
Our records show that we lent you funds from 5 May 2012 until 15 May 2013. During this period you often applied for loans ranging between £50 to £100. There is exception where you have borrowed as little as £30 and on one occasion £300.
Our records show that you applied for loans to be repaid over three to seven days. Where you have occasionally applied to repay over 30 to 45 days, we can see that you have repaid them 13 days and 39 days earlier than the repayment due date.
This does not suggest financial hardship as you have managed to repay the borrowings within far less time than the term borrowed for. The interest you have paid on the borrowings hence is as low as £0.89 and £2.66. In comparison of any bill payments or borrowing with a bank – such as authorised or unauthorised overdraft, it can be reasonably said the charges and fees could have been higher than what you have paid us.
From your transaction history we note that you have not always borrowed back immediately after closing your loan. At times you have applied for a new loan after 16 days and 18 days of repaying your previous loan. In addition, we note that the loans applied for was not always for the same amount or a higher borrowing amount. In fact, it is many a times less than the loan repaid.”
total interest and fees – £32.31
8% interest net – £7.47
total settlement – £39.78
What are you thinking? Because I expected a little bit more. I had 18 wonga loans in total. Thank you :)
P.S. I got from MY JAR £475 in few weeks time :)
Peter says
My problem is with this reasoning that the fact that you paid back earlier doesnt mean that you were easily able to do so… that can mean that you took out another loan which had better or a bit less interest rate and you paid off Wonga… so even if they say ” doesnt suggest” you may be able to prove that you were. For example your were always overdrawn etc etc
Sally says
I have had my final letter from Minicredit regarding my loan.
When I first wrote to them they offered to settle at £122. From £812 on a £100 loan.
I got my final complaint letter offering £145 as full and final. So they have increased the amount! As I had not received a letter I wrote to them telling them I was going to the ombudsman but they are now telling me they sent the letter in June. But I never got it! I applied to the ombudsman yesterday and got a copy of the letter via email today. So confused what to do now as they seem to be increasing it because I have complained.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you aren’t happy with the offer, tell the Ombudsman this.
Phil says
Hi there all. Glad to see some positive outcomes on people’s cases. I have a question.
I sent off to 24/7 moneybox asking for statements of money borrow with dates and interest charged. I received a reply saying, I should have this info as each loan an email was sent. Then without me even logging a complaint they said they have looked into each loan and affordablity checks were don’t and they don’t see any wrong doing. However as goodwill we offer to remove any defaults.
I have since looked through the amounts borrowed and seen that pretty much bar two months I had a loan every month totally interest of £1700 plus a £20 transfer fees for each loan. What’s my best move now as some months I had a total to payback of £580 which was definitely not affordable.
Your help would be great. Please tell me also your experiences with 24/7 moneybox
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You should ask them if this is their Final Response. You could add that you would rather settle this now without going to the Ombudsman and would be happy with a refund of £x, whatever you feel is fair?
FWIW looking at what people have reported here, they seem quick to offer write-offs but not to make refunds.
Bob says
Having a good week so far
Received my final response from Wonga at long last THE Day before the 14 weeks were up !! they have basically decided to refund all my loans apart from the first 3 loans + 8% interest and deducting my outstanding balance to settle that. means I’m getting a payout of around £2,000 into my bank account soon, also means I can cancel my FO claim that I made a week ago once I receive the payment. that’s now 2 down and 2 to go with the 2 with an adjudicator after waiting nearly 2 months.
If I win my Quick Quid case I should get a refund of around £3,500 upwards but not holding my breath yet
not expecting to win my peachy loan case worth about £300 but giving it a go anyway as it was the last lender out of all of the loans and meant I was lending from 4 lenders at the same time.
danielle says
Hi Sara
Just to let you know because I know you were wondering…
I have spoken to my adjudicator who has informed me the 8% is added before any deductions :) Which works out at an extra £140 for me.
Brian says
Payday uk are unwilling to let the fos raise complaint as it is outwith the 6 month final response time. It is by far my biggest and strongest case against PDL. I have been upheld in my QQ case. I have tried to contact chief exec of payday uk, but I get no reply.
Any info would be appreciated.I made a complaint in 2014, and received final response in 2014. My complaint was against affordability checks not being carried out before issuing loans. Could I submit a new complaint of loans being unaffordable? My original complaint specifically highlights me complaining about proper checks not being carried out. Or do I just have to accept I have missed my chance?
Is there anything you can recommend I try?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds pretty close to an affordability complaint to me :(
I am assuming they did issue you with a Final Response and tell you you had the right to go to the FOS? If they did, you do need their permission to go to the FOS now.
You can try social media shaming
– TrustPilot reviews: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.paydayuk.co.uk
Brian says
Yeah, I think so too Sara. I didn’t think Fos would uphold to be honest, until I seen the first QQ case on here. It’s well over 3K in interest I would be due, it is a very strong case, and infuriates me they are getting away with the irresponsible lending.
Andrew says
My latest email from payday express. After they went into detail how the loans were affordable, and the numerous credit checks they undertook I decided to ask for reference details of each individual check. This was their response.
“Payday Express does not consider that the loans were unaffordable and we have not got any reference numbers relating to the searches we performed to provide to you. As stated in our previous email we have issued our final response regarding this matter and our position remains unchanged. If you wish to pursue this matter you have the right to refer this to the Financial Ombudsman Service.”
I don’t know how they can state affordability checks and credit searches were made, but then don’t have any hard proof. Anyway, off to the ombudsman I go! At the time of having the loans with them, mY credit file war covered in defaults, late payments and other pay day loans.
JulesU says
Wondering if anyone can shed any light on FOS timescales. My adjudicator has upheld my complaint for reimbursement of interest I paid etc, and emailed QuickQuid yesterday to tell them as such. They have 2 weeks to reply and accept or dispute (which I fully expect them to take). I was just wondering how long it then takes if they dispute it and it has to go to an ombudsman? If anyone has past experience of how long it took once it’s escalated it would be a great help?
Tim says
Hi Jules,
I think I am a couple of weeks ahead of you.
The adjudicator found i my favor and Quick quid were given until the 30/06/16 to agree/disagree.
They then said that they had some new information/document for the adjudicator and were given until 04/07/2016 to provide it. The adjudicator reviewed this and didnt change anything of her findings.
I think they may have been questioning the credit files etc as they then asked the adjudicator if they could have copies of these. The adjudicator provided them with the credit files on 08/07/2016 and gave them until today, 13/07/16 to reply.
As you can see they have managed to drag things out a further 2 weeks from the original date given by the adjudicator. Im really really hoping that today they fold and agree to make the payment, however i fully expect them to either have a new argument or escalate to an ombudsman. Im guessing others can give you a better idea of Ombudsman timescales but from what I can gather, you are looking at another 4-8 weeks for a final decision and then you still have to get payment.
On the plus side you the adjudicator ruled in your favor so you’re on the right track, just stick with it. Hope you get a speedy resolution.
Cheers
Tim
Danielle says
My adjudicator upheld my complaint on Monday and sent it to QuickQuid, also giving them 2 weeks to reply.
From what Tim has said I guess we have a while to wait yet.
If they drag it out with me I will be asking for further compensation. I think its totally unfair how they just ignore the adjudicator/ombudsman and make the complaint process last months when it could easily be resolved in weeks.
Please could you both keep my updated?
Thanks
Kieran says
Hi guys
Good news with regards to my Wonga complaint.
In June I received an offer from Wonga for a refund on 10/43 loans and top ups. I have had the case with an adjudicator for several weeks and got allocated to an ombudsman a week ago whom has promptly dealt with my complaint. The ombudsman came to their initial decision on 11/07 upholding my complaint on all but the first 3 loans. I accepted their findings and today so have Wonga so now I am just waiting for the refund to come through.
Most cases I have seen with repeated lending in extremely short amounts of time are upheld at FOS so if you are offered less than you’d expect from your company then the FOS are acting fairly and taking all details into account (even with the gambling addiction I was dealing with as a result of pay day loans).
All the best and good luck to you guys!
Rosie says
Hi,
Great site for information & advice. Have just got round to e-mailing WageDayAdvance, Wonga & Cash Genie re loans and continuous roll overs.
One question I have is regarding Cashplus – the pre-paid credit card. They gave me what is called Iadvance loans (up to £400) each month over the past 5 years which were then paid back on payday. Although they have now removed the loan facility from my account, can these sort of loans also be queried as they would have been unaffordable as well ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The affordability rules apply to all credit products not just payday loans – but this cashplus facility sounds pretty much like a payday loan! Complain to complaints@apsgroup.com
Morag says
Advice please??
I have an adjudicator looking into one of my cases and , whilst I was gambling!, my partner was also giving me money to get by.
Sometimes I paid back some money other times I didnot.
Would this be classed as extra income?..
She is now asking was he expected to get this back.
Is this a trick question,
Any advice would be helpful
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Adjudicators don’t ask trick questions, they are just trying to get the full picture. I can’t see how money from your partner to bail you out is income. If he transferred £300 to you by standing order every month, I suppose it would be.
I would just tell her what your general agreements was – did he expect to be repaid and sometimes you let him down?
Sam says
Hi Sara,
Thought I’d give you a update in regards to my wonga claim. A quick refresher, wonga did make me a offer but it didn’t include my last loan because it was part of their redress, the last loan was for 1050 but I had paid them back 2400, they wrote off my last monthly payment for this. Their original response was that because that loan was part of the redress scheme they didn’t have to refund me anything on this as per the fca guidelines, their words. However the adjudicator disagreed with this because I had paid back the principal amount. Wonga have now agreed to include this in my refund too, success!!! I’ll get just over 4k, every loan bar the first few.
Just thought I’d give the update and to advise people to not trust what wonga complaints have to say because I almost believed them!!
Thanks again I should have my refund in 3 days !!!
Robert says
I complained about Minicredit loans to Opos Ltd. They said my account was not bought from Minicredit.
What should I do next? Has anyone had similar comments or a payout from them?
Eve says
I’ve spoke with Financial Ombudsman about minicredit as they have sold up and moved on.
There is an address on their website, and the guy in Financial ombudsman told me to write to that address and if I had no reply in 4 weeks to come back to him and he would try help from there.
I think they are going to be a real pain
Louise says
Hi, I’ve had a complaint with paydayuk lodged with FOS. they have not responded at all to the adjudicator, she had my bank statements credit report etc and has come to the conclusion that they are not in the wrong. The final loan from 2012 is with a dmp still. She has basically said that because they were small amounts(!regular 220 loan on average every month for 12months, although first two loans were under 100, remaining 10 was around 220) that despite me repaying and reloaning the same day, doesn’t constitute unaffordability, and no apparent cycle of borrowing?! And also because I paid on time every month, then I could afford it! And that paydayuk did nothing wrong.
She said unless I can find more evidence then the ombudsman would likely rule in the same way.
Anyone else had similar and overturned by ombudsman?
Income approx 1200, outgoings 700. I also had other payday loans at the time, to which she said that these may not have been visible to payday U.K.. On my bank statements though it did show that I was regularly out of money by 2 weeks past payday, sometimes not even that far ahead, which is where the other payday loans came in to top up over the month. What’s not overly helpful is the fact the description for the majority of transactions isn’t on statement!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like a reasonable case to take to the Ombudsman then. It doesn’t much matter what the bank transactions were if it’s clear you were usually out of money half way through the month and reliant on payday loans.
Danni says
Safety net declined my loan was unaffordable, sent all details to the fos. After 6 weeks the adjudicator came back saying he agreed the loan was fair from safety net and affordable. The loan was in my name only but as I have a joint bank account they have stated that they were right to increase my limits based on both incomes? Not sure if that is correct. I have asked for this to be passed to an ombudsman to review. As soon as the payments left my account I was immediately reborrowing. I do not see how this can be deemed affordable and if you take out a loan in your name only (nothing to do with joint) how they can assess increases on both incomes.
Andrew says
Hi i have just looked into trying to get refunds, they were mainly from wonga my loans, i did owe them money but havn’t heard anything for a few years now, but the loans were a 1000+ every month and on pay day pay them off and reply the same day. I’m not banking with the same bank now and cant remember exact dates. Is it worth looking into or will they bring up the money i owe if it wasn’t written of or would i even have a claim if it was written off. I think the last amount was 2000. Any advice would be much appreciated thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They sound like large loans – if they were for many months that is a lot of borrowing and a lot of interest you would have paid. How that would measure against any write off you may have had I have no idea.
Yes you can have a claim even if your last loan was written off. If you look back at today’s comments, Sam has reported about a case against Wonga where she had been given a small write off.
If you owed Wonga 2k, there is a pretty good chance that some or all of it was written off – but it’s not certain.
I’m afraid you are going to have to use your judgment about what to do here – you may think you don’t know enough but you know more than anyone else does!
fusionx212 says
So adjudicator contacted me, to say she has made her final decision and it is in my favour, she said all loans bar the 2nd should of been marked as un-affordable, I can live this, adjudicator said they are waiting for wonga, to respond to her decision so it’s with them.
she advised she is upholdin my complaint against myjar, as well as quick quid,
she said her colleagues have reviewed my complaint and he specialises in PDL’s and is in agreement with her decision.
I promised to stop harassing my adjudicator with emails for this week lol.
Jess says
HI every one
Just wanted some advise I sent my complaints to FOS in march I have an adjudicator who has said she agrees with all my claims, however all the companies have disagreed and am now waiting for them to go to ombudsmen any idea on time frame for this? Also pay day express are trying to deny they are a pay day loan company now! (New tactics? Proof is kind of in the company name lol!) They are trying to say the operate like a credit account and not a loan, however my adjudicator has hinted that she found the lending unaffordable to me as a loan so a credit account won’t make much difference. Anyone have any experience of PDE trying this?
Many thanks
Jess
Matty says
I’ve currently got one for payday express with an adjudictator just waiting for his findings. If they are denying they’re a payday loan company that is utterly ludicrous! Just shows that these companies will do anything to get away with it and the reason they should all be shut down. I’m not hopeful of getting anything back for a long long time if they’ve found a new tactic like this. How can they say they use it as a credit account when they brand themselves at short term lenders and specifically state in contracts etc ‘not a long term solution’ erm…a credit account is not short term!! They’re IDIOTS
David says
Hi Everyone,
Mr Lender didnt agree with my complaint, but as a goodwill gesture wrote off the last payment i had with them so little victories i guess, only had one loan so was a good result.
Satsuma had 3 loans with them, FO yesterday upheld my complaint and they have agreed to pay interest back on loans and take them off credit report.
Cash ASAP also with FO at the minute, same adjudicator so i think that will help, she has been amazing and been in contact every couple of days to update me on everything.
Still waiting on QQ and Wonga, My jar but thanks to this page I am starting to get myself sorted.
Tim says
GAMBLING
I see a lot of posts on here with people worrying about gambling on their bank statements and it is something that is a subject quite close to me. I too have the same issue, however so far i have 3 of 3 decisions from the adjudicator found in my favor. Obviously gambling on bank statements is not ideal however to me it does not detract from the fact that the loans were unaffordable.
I think it helped that I was open with the adjudicator from the start about it, my social flutter became really destructive habit once i was really sucked in by the payday loans. Then the cycle really began- I’d only used pay day loans because I could not get a regular credit so then i obviously could then never get a normal loan to pay all the payday loans off. Therefore being in such an oblivious consumed bubble i would gamble desperately hoping for that ‘one big win’. I never needed that big win before the pay day loans. I was living with a friend so one of 2 things would happen, id live on beans for a month or would not be able to pay the bills to him and ended up owing more (and straining a friendship)…. The payday loans always got paid, they made sure of that.
So here is what I see as the crux- By the time I was at my worst with pay day loans i was paying out over £750 a month just in interest, around half my wages. Even if i was not gambling, is it reasonable to assume I could afford to live off the remainder and pay my bills? No. Even if I could live off the remainder, could i ever afford to pay the loans off? No, the principle was around £3,200. Therefore they are unaffordable.
Every situation is different, the amount earned/owed/gambled etc and Im not saying it wont effect any claims but it doesn’t automatically mean you will have no chance so dont be too dispondent.
To everyone who is in this situation, from experience I hope you have stopped or it is under control and would urge you not to hide it if you haven’t and seek some help. Ive put a few links below if it will help anyone. The hardest thing to do is admit that you have a problem, then you can take steps to resolve it.
http://www.gamcare.org.uk/
http://www.gamblersanonymous.org.uk/
Good luck all, hope you get all your money back.
Cheers
Tim
Matty says
Hi Tim,
Well done on getting it under control I had exactly the same thing for 5 years. Used to have a few quid on the footy at the weekend then as soon as the PDL cycle started it was a 18hr a day thing! Think many people only started gambling heavy once in the cycle as you’re then chasing money. My point is that regardless of how much you borrowed or what it was spend on a pattern of constant repeat borrowing from a short term lender should be flagged at their end. They completely exploit vulnerabilities such as this, without customers like us they would have been out of business before they started! Been out of the cycle for 12 months and life is now for living!
Lisa says
Does anyone know when pay day lenders were required to credit check, or had access to credit scores?
I have been rejected by Txt Loan (now MyJar) who say “While your borrowing frequency did increase in 2012, there were still gaps of up to 52 days at the time and this does not indicate to dependence on short term credit. As we had no access to credit reference data at the time, we could not have been fully aware of any other financial commitments you might have had simultaneously or how such payments would have been made”
I borrowed 10 of the 12 months when I know my Experian score was 367, very poor, but they were small amounts:
07-01-12 – £200.00
15-03-12 – £200.00
10-05-12 – £100.00
13-06-12 – £200.00
10-07-12 – £100.00
08-08-12 – £200.00
08-09-12 – £200.00
27-09-12 – £300.00
18-11-12 – £100.00
03-12-12 – £100.00
I had other loans before these dates but they were far more sporadic.
Do I have a chance with FOS?
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
MyJar weren’t legally obliged to credit check you at that date.
But they can still have been expected to notice when you were borrowing too often. 10 times in a year sounds a lot to me.
You don’t say what your income was at the time. £100 and £200 repayments may not have been a lot if your take home pay was 2k a month, but for many people they would have been really difficult amounts to manage.
Lucy says
Hi just had a final response from QQ exactly 8 weeks today! They decline to acknowledge my loans were unaffordable as there was nothing on my credit report that suggested problems and my wage should of easily covered repayment. They have offered me £350 as a gesture of goodwill. If I got it all back I would be looking at £1500 at least. Is this normal for QQ? Not sure what to do now? Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
QQ often seem to make quite low offers and people get awarded a lot more by the FOS
Chris says
Hi everyone,
I’ve put in my initial complaints after successfully obtaining 2 most of statements of accounts from 5 Payday Lenders. I thankfully had all the emails with the loan agreements stored! (Thank you Gmail).
Uncle Buck have responded requesting I send a copy of my credit file is this a reasonable request? Plus my bank statements which I have available to send. They have also stressed I must respond before the 28th July 2016 can they do this?
Thanks in advance
Chris
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Asking for a copy of your credit file isn’t unreasonable – however it’s important to remember you could have a GREAT affordability complaint even though you have a PERFECT credit record.
Bank statements – not unreasonable though some people don’t see why they should share these with a payday lender. It’s up to you if you want to send these, UB isn’t know for making good offers so you may think they are just trying to put people off.
The idea that you have to respond by a deadline is hilarious. I suppose you could say you will send the statements if they agree to respond within two weeks? Only joking…
You don’t have to send this info at all, let alone within their “deadline”. If you haven’t got it or don’t want to send it, just reply saying you want them to consider the complaint based on the info they already have. Of course the Ombudsman may ask for this other information but you may feel more comfortable sharing it with them.
Sam says
After one good result this week that the adjudicator has upheld my complaint against Wonga for around the amount I wanted. I had another email today that they have upheld my complaint with quick quid bit disappointed that he has only recommended the last few loans be refunded the first 5 loans which had 7 roll overs were affordable. Suppose this will clear my balance and probably refund me in the region of £300-£400 is better than nothing. He also stated he wouldn’t be upholding the 2 loans I had with pounds to pocket as they were instalment loans and it doesn’t matter that they loaned me at the same time as quick quid. Has anyone had any luck with pounds to pocket?
Kris says
Wonder if anybody could maybe put my mind at ease… Adjudicator agreed that majority of my loans with quick quid (loans 8-51) were unaffordable after reviewing my bank statements and credit record, however quick quid disagreed with this decision and only agreed to 9 loans being unaffordable so it has been passed to the ombudsman. However the adjudicator has emailed today to say that the ombudsman is reviewing my complaint, and could I possibly explain to him why I kept taking out loans, what they’re specific purpose was for and could I provide bank statements again? Having already provided a copy of my original complaint letter, bank statements and credit report I’m now starting to stress that the ombudsman is going to disagree completely with the adjudicator. Does anybody know of any cases were this has happened?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If the adjudicator already has copies of your credit report, just ask for these to be passed across.
An Ombudsman looks at a case from scratch – it’s not some quick check the adjudicator wasn’t having an off day. I suggest you reply saying why you originally borrowed from QQ (was there a specific expense? or were you trying to pay off some other debt? or had your income dropped? that sort of thing) and then why you carried on borrowing (usually because if you repaid a loan you couldn’t manage to get through the next month!). Just take this as an opportunity to summarise your borrowing.
Phil says
A quick good news update. I emailed safetynetcredit I had only had a couple of loans with them so wasn’t expecting anything. After 2 days they emailed a final response today and refunded all interest since my account was opened totaling £242. I’m really pleased and would like to thank Sara for all her help on the site. 1 down 11 to go.
G says
Had a really good offer from Wonga to my surprise… Anyone know how long it takes before money is in your account ?
Shell says
Good stuff! I had an offer on Monday, accepted straight away and the money was in my account on Thursday!
Nigel says
Hi Everyone
I want to ask about Littlewoods home shopping. I currently owe them £6500 and had a credit limit of £7200. I am currently in a payment plan for them of £196 a month and on top of the Payday loan stuff is a total struggle. I don’t understand why they ever put my limit up to that amount but it was high for a long time. But then the minimum monthly payment started to come in at £500+ and there was no way I could afford that. So would this work in the same way as a Payday compliant on unaffordable lending and credit?
Plus has anyone got any similar success or failures on getting this wiped out or interest refunded? I would like to know as much as possible before considering a complaint against them.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Two seperate problems here. First the fact that you are struggling – that suggest. Your current payment plan is too high. If you are aged this yourself, I suggest you should call StepChange and talk through your whole situation with them. It may be that you just need to send Littlewoods a new income & expenditure statement and ask to reduce your payments. Or it may be that a more formal debt management plan covering all of your debts is needed. Or some other solution – StepChane can talk through all of these options, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/help-payday-loan/
Second can you make an affordability claim against Littlewoods? Yes, the affordability rules apply to all lenders, not just payday lenders. What matters is not the total credit limit you were given but whether you could afford the minimum mmonthly repayments.
Keith says
Hi all,
I am currently in the process of complaining to 7 lenders (Mr Lender, Wage Day, Uncle Buck, Safety Net, Piggy Bank, 247Money Box and MyCredit.
I have so far had an offer from 2 companies of writing off my balance. I am just wondering how these write offs will appear on my Credit Report? Any information would greatly appreciated.
Also if you had any dealings with any of the above companies, I would really appreciate hearing about your experiences.
Thank you all so much.
Mike says
Hi All,
Ive made a huge mistake and I’m struggling to resolve it now so hoped someone could help. I, like most people have been waiting and waiting for a resolution which I thought I finally got. FO finally got a response from MEM consumer finance which I thought at the time was what I wanted. I requested that all information be removed from my credit file (defaults and all) for three loans. I miss read the email due to the sheer ecstasy of thinking this battle was over only to find out MEM were only removing the last two loans and the first one would stand. I have asked the FO to review the case again as I responded within 20 mins of recieving the offer. She has said the company would not have known for the first loan it was unaffordable and OFT guidelines at the time stated that a credit score check was sufficient which MEM apparently carried out. I have sent her my credit file which shows three defaults and a score of 179 which is lower end of “very poor” and asked for it to be escalated to ombudsman….I feel distraught I accepted the offer in haste like I did. I wouldn’t have agreed if I thiught it wasn’t for all loans to be removed.
Steve says
Hi,
Been following this with interest for the last few months so thought would share my experience so far.
Wonga – I took out 24 loans between Dec 2010 and March 2014 totalling £4493 worth of interest across all loans. I submitted my complaint on 14th April and despite rollovers and repayment plans and continuous borrowing, Wonga have replied today (13 weeks 1 Day) stating that “Having looked in detail at your complaint and the information we had access to when we made our lending decisions, we have not found any indication that your loans were unaffordable. On that basis, we are unable to uphold this aspect of your complaint”
I referred this to the FOS on 10th June, but is still awaiting to be allocated to an adjudicator!
QuickQuid – Took out 8 loans between 2010-2012, although many rolled over etc. Complained on 31st March, they came back within 7 weeks with Final Offer of recalling and writing off my balance (approx. £755 at the time) but would not be willing to remove any credit file entries so the default would stand. Naturally referred to FOS, and adjudicator got in touch last week and stated that QQ had since changed their offer to refund all interest and charges on loans 5,7&8. He asked for copies of credit file and bank statements from and by the next day had recommended to QQ to refund all interest and charges on loans 3-6 & 8 which equates to £2k plus 8% interest. Loan 7 was excluded as was 3 months between paying off Loan 6 (which was on a repayment plan) and taking out Loan 7 otherwise would have got back another £600 of interest on top! Just waiting for QQ to respond to his recommendation now, but expecting them to dispute it going by what others have said.
MyJar – Had a total of 54loans over 4 years resulting in paying just over £4k interest on all loans. Complained 4th April, didn’t hear for 8 weeks so chased them up. They claimed they sent final offer on 27th April but I never got it but the offer was for £1021 plus interest. I submitted a counter offer but never heard anything back so referred to FOS on 6th June but still currently waiting to be allocated to an adjudicator.
Also got complaints in against PDUK and 1monthloan but neither supplied an Statements of Account despite numerous requests so I submitted generic complaints. PDUK is awaiting allocation at FOS as a Final Response came through pretty quickly and 1monthloan have another 3 weeks to respond.
David says
Sunny have rejected my complaint but offered to refund all interest as a good will gesture (£504.00). I emailed my bank details go them today. Does anyone know how long it may be before I see the money in my account? Are we talking a few days or a few weeks?
My journey started last November in making the initial complaints to the companies and I’m relieved that all but 1 are finalised. If you suffer with anxiety (like I do), the whole process is utterly exhausting. The refunds obviously make it worthwhile though despite the frustrations you face along the way.
Bob says
It took mine 2 to 3 working days max to be in my account from accepting.
Does anyone know how long wonga take from the day they email you to confirm they have cleared an outstanding balance and the payment is bring processed and will be 3 to 5 working days? Wondering if it can be quicker or not
Suzi says
Hi David
I felt exactly the same as you , but please do not give up
MY RESULTS SO FAR
H&T – got £983 no FOS needed took a matter of days to sort out – money same day
Money Shop – 1st complained Nov 15 went to FOS – just last week got £1,286.50 … RESULT
QQ gone to FOSas QQ disagreed – I’m asking for a reund of charges etc on a £700 I still have £512 O/S whatever i get they can take off the loans , I will offer a F&F settlement
Wonga – they wrote off my balance a while back I’m asking for interest & charges plus removal from credit files. If they wrote off more than interest & charges I will just get removal from credit files. Just sent to FOS after 8 weeks with Wonga who wanted 6 more weeks …JOKE !!!
MY LESSON HAS BEEN LEARNED …DO NOT TOUCH ANOTHER PAY DAY LOAN. MAKES MY LIFE A LOT EASIER !!!
Jimmy says
Hi all,
I have had mixed results to date.
Peachy – rejected and complained to FOS on 26/4. Adjudicator has been very thorough; looking at statements from both of my bank accounts, credit reports. They found in favour of me on 1/7/2016 for refund on interest & charges on loan 3 of 3 (which is the best I could hope for). Peachy got back on 14/7/2016 rejecting. It’s now due to go to the ombudsman. Disappointing.
I am yet to be assigned an adjudicator for QQ, Wonga, Uncle Buck and PDUK (been waiting on all 3-5weeks to date)
Cash Genie – no response to any email. I called customer services who assured me i would get a response by friday. I then got a response apologising for the late reply (only 11 weeks!). I have already put my complaint to the FOS but i don’t have any data on loans had or total interest paid. Very poor service from Cash Genie. If anyone has any better way of contacting (email address to use)?
Mark says
Havent been on for a week,been away with the family on a break.
Came in to a letter from the Ombudsman agreeing with everything my adjudicator stated-the loans were deemed unaffordable from the 2nd loan onwards,QQ didnt carry out proper checks as I was rolling over and becoming reliant on payday loans.The upshot is-refund of all interest and charges from 2nd loan onwards as well as interest and charges from the flex account,statutory 8% added and removal of all loans from my credit file.
I and QQ have a month to agree or disagree wit hthese findings-I’ll be contacting my adjudicator on Monday to say that I accept and then just a case of awaiting QQ paying out…..
Tom says
I have been following for a while so thought I would share my experience so far. I initially complained to PDUK in January regarding affordability checks on 26 loans, I didn’t hear back other than the standard acknowledgment. After 8 weeks it was referred to the FOS who again didn’t receive any of the information they requested so my adjudicator made there decision based on the fact they were not contesting the complaint-still nothing so it is waiting to go to the Ombusdman. Since then I have made complaints to Pounds to pocket, Sunny and 118. All are now with an adjudicator who has sadly not upheld my 118 complaint based on the fact they called me and made everything clear. I don’t think it was taken into account I have had 35 other PDL with the various lenders so I’m hoping the Ombusdman will see this. I was in a spiral of debt and desperate for the money, the outgoings I provided were not a true reflection of the trouble I am in. I so hope they all come in with positive outcomes despite the long wait! I will update once I hear something. This website has been a great source of information and shows there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Andrea says
Not at all amused with the FOS. The adjudicator who had my Sunny case (I already locked horns with her over MyJar) has basically said Sunny did not behave unreasonably clearing my bank account out on Xmas Eve after I told them I was very mentally unwell and provided a letter from a consultant psychiatrist confirming this. They had also agreed to a payment plan and went ahead and took the full payment as well as wanting the payment plan amount! She actually said she ‘understood my frustrations’ (clearly not) but doesn’t believe Sunny had acted unfairly!
I sent back a very annoyed email saying I was staggered at her view point and I want an Ombudsman to look at it as I feel like she has not been subjective and doesn’t fully appreciate the seriousness of the complaint. She hasn’t replied to my last email but can I a) put in a complaint about her and b) if she refuses to escalate my case to an Ombudsman (which I’m about 99.5% certain she will do) how I can go over her head?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
She can’t refuse to escalate a case to the Ombudsman.
Yes you can put in a complaint about the adjudicator. This should NOT be done just because you don’t like their decision, in that case you should appeal it to the Ombudsman. But if you feel the adjudicator hasn’t read some of your evidence or not listened to you or there is something else wrong with the process, then you should phone the Ombudsman and ask to speak to the team manager and explain why you are not happy. In this case it sounds as though she hasn’t taken sufficient note of the mental health evidence you provided?
Louise says
Little update, 247 money box and quick quid finally with an ombudsman almost 6 weeks in, no idea how long it will take now but hopefully, they will agree with adjudicator.
Payday U.K never responded, adjudicator said they acted fairly, despite having nothing from them to go on. I’ve asked her to escalate to ombudsman as I don’t actually feel she ‘got’ my complaint. Reading her review of case, there’s a few discrepancies in there.
Fingers crossed for a quick outcome.
Ashley says
Hey everyone,
Seems so many of us got sucked into the trap of payday loans! I wasn’t even aware of this process of getting refunds for affordability claims, by luck i received a letter in the post from Payday UK offering me a refund as they had done there own internal reviews on loans and found i had been giving loans without proper consideration of my personal circumstances. Since then i have sent letters to Wonga, Sunny, LendingStream, QQ and SwiftSterling. Sunny paid me back £2,500 within 5 weeks of sending my complaint, and all bar SwiftSterling have responded to say i will have a response within 8 weeks. With QQ alone i had over 50 loans between 2009-2014 and the majority of them were just to roll over onto the next pay day. My credit score was as low as it could get and these companies still continued to give me more and more.
I’m hoping they all refund me what i’m entitled too, i’ve been debt free since the new year and this is helping me aim towards a mortgage. Never will i get myself into the rot i had with these payday companies it nearly brought my world tumbling down.
Peter says
dont forget to send a claim to payday uk as well… they paid me around £300 by their own investigation however I sent them a claim and they paid another ~£450…
Alex says
Hi, I’ve got claims going with several payday loan companies. Payday uk replied with their final repose with am expected no to my claim on 5th and I was about to pass to fos. On 13th I got a letter saying they were refunding 485 as my loans were looked at again under their new lending practices and if my account was still in use I didn’t have to do anything. Surely there letters contradict each other and strengthen my claim? Should I just let them paw the money into my account and say nothing and still proceed to fos? Also they said they hadn’t looked at loans starting in 2008 to 2010 but whilst I don’t expect them to be refunded surely they should be taken into account as I was lending for 7 years every pay day with them?
Mags says
Dear Sara and all Debt Camel followers
I thought I would let you know how my case with Wonga went.
I had a series of loans in 2012/2013 – all repaid and reloaned on the same day or very shortly afterwards. My lending habit with Wonga ended when Wonga refused a loan.
I didn’t think it was possible to reclaim any money back until i found this site. However my complaint was upheld and inreceived the money on Friday.
Thank you so much for this site and your support. I am very happy!
Mags
Tim says
Apologies for whats more of a rant/vent than anything.
After lots of delaying tactics by quick quid and uncle buck- not sticking to time frames, disagreeing with the adjudicators findings, providing new evidence and when the adjudicator said that their decision remained the same… Both went silent so its gone to an Ombudsman. I really hope that these get some sort of compensation added, mostly to try and deter them from doing this to others.
Lending stream replied to the adjudicators decision 2 weeks late. They advised that they would settle on 5 loans- the adjudicator advised for 10 (3rd onwards) however they would not remove record of two outstanding loans from my credit file which both have defaults so it’s really important they are removed. I called them and advised I would compromise for 7 loans and the removal of the two outstanding ones which they said no to. Tried to be fair and meet in the middle so it is off to the ombudsman again.
Thats 3 from 3 now where the adjudicator found in my favor and have gone to an ombudsman.
I have 3 more complaints with the FOS waiting for adjudication, PDUK, P2P and Money shop. Really expecting these to drag out too : (
Hope everyone has been a bit more successful : )
Matt says
Hi all, just looking for some advise regarding Safety Net?
Quick run down of my complaint, basically over last 16 months or so I’ve borrowed £7700 (plus another £840 that’s still outstanding), repaid £9345. Been £4000 overdrawn since they first accepted me, most months running over that, they’ve gradually increased my credit limit from £250 to £840. Bank charges most months plus other debt repayments and a shocking credit record and score. Most months when I check on their website my expenditure is exceeding my income. Also been on vastly reduced wages for past 6 months.
Now anyone that knows of Safety Net will know they can see into your bank account so will know of all of the above.
Put in my complaint with regards to unaffordability and they responded on Friday after 4 weeks.
This is their response –
“We are writing to you regarding your email, received the 17th June, in which you raise concerns about the credit provided to you in February 2015, with particular reference to affordability decisions.
Having reviewed the complaint and understanding the situation that you find yourself in, as a gesture of goodwill, we are willing to write off the remaining balance owed of £1108.80 in its entirety. This means that repaying the outstanding balance will be waived and the account closed, drawing a conclusion to the matter. This will be marked as partially settled on your credit file.
We hope that you will find this response satisfactory, in order that we may write off the balance please can you send us your consent to our offer. If you do not provide consent the balance will remain on your account.”
Its the shortest response to any complaint I’ve put in and the only one that hasn’t gone into any detail with regards to the complaint, and they don’t at any point admit or deny responsibility.
Is it worth progressing this to the Ombudsman? Or do you think I should just accept what they are offering?
Peter says
I would do that, since “partially settled” should not be on your credit file… if they are willing to write off over £1K it is defo will be ok for the FOS…
Kate says
Morning Sara
The ombudsman has this morning ruled in my favor regarding my complaint with PDUK .. This has been in the system since 24th Jan and with the FOS since 14th March .. They have delayed and delayed and offered less than a quarter of the final ammount 3 weeks ago!! Prob hoping I’d accept out of desperation.
Stick with it everyone this is my 3rd victory against the vultures that are pay day lenders
X
Erika says
Hi guys!!!!
With perfect news from OAKAM. Today they agree with adjudicator and write off my last loan, said after few days send calculation of paid interest (around 2000 pound) so I think I am first person who “made” Oakam :) Thanks for this site and people who hard working to help us.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Excellent – you are indeed the first person to report here that a complaint against Oakam has been up held :)
Katy says
Hi Sara & Everyone
I thought I would update everyone on where I am at the moment with my complaints:
Mr Lender – didn’t uphold my complaint but as a gesture of goodwill refunded me just over £300. I accepted this as I only had a small loan with them.
One Month Loan (Elevate) – upheld my complaint and refunded all interest paid less the sum I borrowed which again was just over £200. Received just over £700 back.
H&T Pawnbrokers (used for cheque cashing) didn’t uphold my complaint. Have submitted to FOS two weeks ago.
Uncle Buck -didn’t uphold my complaint. Submitted to FOS three weeks ago – no update from FOS as yet.
Payday UK – didn’t uphold my complaint. Submitted to FOS last week.
Payday Express – no Final Response as yet? Got an email from them advising that they were still investigating my complaint but as 8 weeks had passed and they couldn’t advise as to when I would receive a response I could refer the matter to the FOS. I have therefore submitted my claim last week to FOS.
Wonga – eight weeks are due up this week. Will chase them up this week. If it is going to be another six weeks before I get a response I am just going to start the process with the FOS. This is a big one for me as I paid over £11,500 in interest so willing to sit this one out.
Cheque Centre/Loan Store – upheld my complaint but their system only shows that I had loans from mid-2011 and 2012. I have bank statements which show I had loans with them and which I continually rolled over from 2009 – 2012. I have sent them copies of my bank statements requesting that they take these loans into account and reconsider their offer.
Peachy who didn’t uphold my complaint – gone to the FOS
Wageday Advance. WDA partially upheld my complaint but not on all loans. As I continuously rolled over loans I asked them to reconsider their offer but refused. Submitted to FOS two weeks ago.
Cash Genie – no response whatsoever. Didn’t send a SOA so I submitted a formal complaint. Eight weeks is up this week.
I will keep you all updated on my progress.
Miss J says
Hi Sara & everyone,
Just thought I’d update you on the progress with my loans complaints. I submitted the complaints in order of greatest to smallest: Wonga (47 loans in 32 months), Sunny (10 loans in 6 months), Quick Quid (9 loans in 8 months), and Lending Stream (3 loans in 2 months) – all of the loans were taken out between May 2013 and December 2015.
So I only sent the emails off to Lending Stream and Quick Quid yesterday (17/07), the other two emails were sent on 11/07. I received confirmation of receipt emails from Wonga and Sunny last week. To my surprise, I’ve already had a response back from Lending Stream (see below) telling me they won’t be honouring my request for a refund, and I wondered what to do next – should I contact the Ombudsman?
Thank you in advance for any advice…
On reviewing your accounts, we note that your loans were approved based on the following facts:
•You were full-time employed during the loan applications
•Your monthly income was £1400.0 and above at the time of application
•Your Experian score was 742, this was factored into our proprietary underwriting and deemed acceptable
Duane says
Mine was 742 !!!! When actually it was more like 200. I emailed them to say I had proof my credit score was no where near what quoted and asked them for a appropriate settlement inside 4 days. They responded inside 2 with a counter other ( very small difference) which I accepted. Keep pushing
Bob says
Yes just received my refund from wonga!!! :)
They made an offer to me on Wednesday morning which was everything bar the first 3 loans plus 8% interest so I accepted straight away and payment of 2k has come into my account this afternoon. I waited 13 weeks and 6 days for their final response and was worth the wait. Most of my loans were 1k each time apart from first few. I didn’t go to the Fo either.
So now I’m 2 down as settled with sunny and wonga and now 2 to go qq and peachy which both are currently with an adjudicator so a waiting game now
Can finally pay off some debts now
Danielle says
Hi everyone,
So QuickQuid have until the 25th July to respond to the adjudicator who ruled in my favour.
Whats likely to happen now? Will QuickQuid respond at all? I’m fully expecting this to go to the Ombudsman, just wondering about timescales. If they dont respond does it get automatically forwarded to the ombudsman, can QuickQuid ask for more time? They certainly like to drag things out, nearly 4 months now since original complaint.
zowie says
Hi my adjudicator gave them an extra 3 weeks to respond after the date he initially wanted them to respond by. Took 5 weeks from adjudicator upholding my complaint for wonga to agree with adjudicator. Has taken a week exactly from me accepting to getting the refund in my account. Whole process nearly 6 months from original complaint.
Danielle says
Hi Zowie,
Thanks. Wow an extra 3 weeks? Surely that shouldn’t be allowed? 6 months to finally resolve a complaint!!!
I’m just hoping they dont wait and wait to just disagree, the sooner they disagree the sooner it goes to the Ombudsman, Unless by some miracle they agree with adjudicators findings (Ha! as if)
James says
Please advise q q sent me this today It is one of QuickQuid’s goals to offer assistance to customers who may be experiencing financial difficulty.
However, our procedure does not place your account on hold for irresponsible lending. We have not agreed to an amicable arrangement; therefore, without a repayment arrangement collection activity will proceed. We will attempt to contact you regarding your past due balance, post default interest will accrue, and potentially lead to a default being registered against your credit. After an extended period of time and your loan is unpaid your account will be eligible for transferal to a third party collection agency.
If you have any queries, our Final Resolution Department is here to help.
Kind Regards,
Sallie Anne
what do I respond I have already given them a financial statement and explained I have no idea how much I can pay as I owe other companies money as well I’m waiting for response of my claim to them and others
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The best thing to do is to contact StepChange and ask about a temporary DMP whilst you wait for replies to your complaints. these can take months… See https://debtcamel.co.uk/help-payday-loan/.
This isn’t going to harm your complaints. If you make some payments to these debts whilst the complaints are going through and your complaints are upheld, you will just get more refunded.
Lilly says
With a few companies, you are able to negotiate with their final response and up their amount. I did this with MYJAR, PDUK and 247Moneybox and got all of my offers doubled +. Do you think Wonga is a company who you can do this with? Their final offer was poor. I paid over £3300 in interest alone, and my loans included 5 repayment arrangements due to financial difficulties. They have offered me £903, which included £50 compensation, and the 8% interest on 7 loans. I feel I deserve more. My complaint is with the FOS, but i wondered if you would get far with Wonga if you went back to them, or if it best to just leave it?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
A couple of people have been tried and been told their “final response” is not negotiable. If you had 5 separate repayment arrangements this sounds as though it may be a good case!
Shaun says
Hi guys,
So I’ll give you a run down of my situation, I’ve had a grand total of 46 loans from Wonga between the periods of August 2010 – April 2016. These amounts varied BUT I was in the end having to pay back the loans and reapply for them less than fortnight later on most occasions due to needing to replace that money I’d paid back. I don’t know the exact figures as only used a free credit reporter but could see the dates is borrowed from them!
So I complained to Wonga last week and followed up a couple days later asking for an update as I’d seen on here people had received better results when they kept chasing! They responded with the usual email saying they’d investigate it as had to pass it on to a specialist handler and gave me a case number.
My question is, do you guys think I have a case here?
Many thanks in advance!!
Jamie says
Hi all,
Update so far, none of the Payday Lenders have upheld my complaints, they are all now with the FOS, I have an adjudicator working on 2 of them hopefully she will get the 3rd one too, just makes explaining a little bit easier.
QQ – 23 Loans in 24 months
Wonga – 15 Loans in 19 months
PayDayUK – 8 loans in 10 months
All these loans were taken over the same years 2012-2013
Hopefully these will be upheld by the FOS, can’t understand how 46 Loans in 2 years in affordable, and how none of the lenders noticed that I was constantly re-borrowing, they all still say on all of their website payday loans are for short term borrowing, so I struggle to understand how none of them have upheld my complaint.
Every single lender has said that my Credit was good, however I have my credit reports from that period and my credit was shocking, late payments, defaults and a score of 389.
Fingers crossed
Duane says
Wonga update. At 8 weeks ( cc Tara the CEO) which is probably why I got a response on the day I asked for.
Long letter upholding my complaint on 3 of my 27 loans!!!! Apparently as I paid the rest on time they are not classing those as unaffordable although the 3 were nearly at the beginning of the loans, loans were over a 22 months for total borrowing time and increasing.
Offered 358, rejected. It’s worth 2k at least. Straight off to FOS. So frustrating.
fusionx212 says
Ombudsman, has finally issued her statement for wonga today after chasing for the last few weeks, she said all were unaffordable from the 2nd loan, so I am happy with this. she has given them to the 26th to respond hopefully it’ll be a quick turn around from wonga… here’s to hoping..