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, Safetynet Credit, Tappily:
- 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, Likely Loans, 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 – they won’t help an affordability complaint and the ombudsman never asks for them.
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;
- your 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 installment 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 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 2016, 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 2022 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
- a copy of the credit agreements for the loans if you have them. If you don’t, don’t worry, 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 they 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?
Craig says
Hi Sara,
Just to let you know i have today had an offer from SNC of £1106 which i have gratefully accepted it’s taken exactly 6 weeks very impressed with how they dealt with it and a very big thank you to you for this site without it i wouldn’t have known to reclaim. 1 down 3 to go thank you very much!! :)
Becky says
Has anyone had any luck with Mr Lender? They didn’t uphold my complaint so I took it to the FOS who agree with my complaint & have given Mr Lender until the 11th May to respond? Just wondering whether their response will be delayed as thinking they may use this the current circumstances as an excuse?
Dan says
Hi Sara and gang.
I am happy to say my battle with quidmarket is finally over! The ombudsman have agreed with adjudicator and they have to refund interest on all 3 loans. Quidmarket were obstructive and rude all of the way- probably the worst lender ive dealt with.
How long do quidmarket have to pay out on a final ombudsman decision?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
28 days. well done, must have felt like an epic.
Dan says
Thank u, Sara.
The manager who sent my final reponse was a pain. I did consider complaining about him too but will just be glad to get the refund and put to bed after over a year.
Now i have accepted, do i need to contact quidmarket or will the Ombudsman do that?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
the Ombudsman should but why not tell them as well?
Tom says
Hi Dan
How did you manage to get all three loans refunded please? I had a three loans with quid market which adjudicator said was responsible lending. Any help would be appreciated.
Dan says
Hi Tom,
My loans were very big (£500- £1000) and had a huge number of searches for credit and accounts opening and closing at point of applications. Also a lot of gambling transactions.
I have been trying to get hold of them since Friday to organise the refund, but they are ignoring me for now.
Have you asked for an ombudsman decision?
H says
Hi guys hope all is well !
I’ve received a response from fernavo I’m unsure what to make of it I’ll try and squeeze as much as I can into this thread so they said ,
You too the following loans
19/04/18 £300
01/08/18 £150
19/10/18 £100
23/12/19 £ £200
27/02/20 £300
In total, you had five loans with the company, over a period of 24 months end to end. On each loan, you fully repaid the previous loan before taking a new one.
Your file showed nothing but responsible borrowing. You normally repaid all your credit obligations and showed full awareness of your obligations and capability to repay all loans taken.
However, because you always repaid in time all your loans before the last one, and you have decided to file for an affordability complaint, we are ready to waive the interest on the last loan, if you withdraw your complaint, as a gesture of goodwill we are happy to reduce the open balance to £300.00 instead of £446.88 (based on £300.00 principle). Repaying this amount will close your balance.
To provide you with an incentive to close the account as soon as possible, we are willing to completely delete all your accounts from your credit file, once the last one is repaid.
I don’t know if this is a good offer or not ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you paid anything towards this last loan already?
Holly says
Not at the moment
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then it’s not a bad offer. It’s possible you might get loan 4 refunded if you went to the Ombudsman but you might not.
Karl says
Hi Sara,
I’ve put a few complaints in to FOC I’ve now got a couple of emails with a ref number does that mean it’s getting investigated now or does that just mean in joining the queue?
Thanks
Mike_p says
I’ve been through the FOS a few times. In my cases I had an email with a reference number asking for further details, bank statements etc. A bit later I had another email to say they had all the information they needed and that an adjudicator has started looking at it.
Karl says
Hi Mike
Thanks for your reply, I sent some of these off beginning of April with statements and final responses and seem to be getting a few emails now with reference numbers so hopefully they are getting looked at soon!
J S says
Do businesses who settle claims without FOS involvement still have 28 days to pay out?
My wife and I have a claim with same company. Mine went down the Ombudsman route. Hers never.
She’s been waiting 21 days since agreeing to payout, so was just wondering.
Thanks.
John Smith says
Hi! Sara, thank you as always for this amazing site and all the help it has given.
I have had many successful affordability complaints since the start of the year, but my final 3 that are unresponded reach 8 weeks on Wednesday.
They are – 118 Money, Cash ASAP and Sunny.
It is unlikely all 3 (if any) will reply before the 8 week deadline on Wednesday, so I am preparing the information I need to send to the FOS.
A very basic question (but I want to make sure I get it right):
– How do I contact the FOS? (Is there a specific email / submission area I should use?)
– What information do I need to submit? (Personal info and a summary of borrowing presumably? Do I include bank statements from the period as these will support the fact that they were unaffordable?)
Appreciate your help as always!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
See the “How to send a complaint to FOS” section in the article above – it’s best to use FOS’s online complaint form as that says. You don’t need to send a list of the borrowing, but if you have one, then it’s a good idea. Send the bank statements – if you have already sent them for one complaint you can just say this, you don’t have to send the same statements again.
Jess says
Hi, I’ve had quite a long winded email back from Fernovo not accepting my claim and details different aspects how I always repay debts back which I do to try and get my credit file up. I’m not sure where to go with. How do you refer to financial ombudsmen? I don’t no if to. I had 11 loans since October 18, I usually get loans for 3 months that’s why there isn’t that many.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
that sounds like a lot of 3 month loans – there can’t have been many gaps.
Fernovo will often negotiate if you go back and say what you would be prepared to accept. Do you still owe them anything?
Would you like list the size of your loans on order, so 200, 300, 250, 300 etc?
Jessica says
Hi Sarah
14.10.18 – loan £100 repaid £108.33
06.11.18 – loan £150 repaid £175.90
07.12.18 – loan £250 repaid £291.82
04.02.19 – loan £250 repaid £293.05
10.03.19 – loan £200 repaid £221.78
06.04.19 – Loan £200 repaid £224.75
02.06.19 – Loan £150 repaid £196.26
31.08.19 – loan £150 repaid £196.75
02.01.20 – loan £100 repaid £129.77
31.01.20 – Loan £200 repaid 290.38
Then my current loan of £200 which I haven’t made any loan repayments to as of yet. As a ‘goodwill gesture for always repaying loans back’ they agreed to remove interest from the last loan so pay in full and remove all loans from credit file
I’ve always repaid on time. They also put and underlined ‘ All these facts prove you were not in a spiral of debt, and certainly not due to the loans you received from us.’ as well as other comments. I do agree but I had around 9/10 payday loans from
Satsuma, sunny, uncle buck, moneyboat, cashfloat
£1500 overdraft I live in. £1000 Vanquis aswell as other credit debts. I don’t want to bring this to the ombudsman as it’s not a lot of interest. Can you think of what I can say to go forward?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you reply something like “WhenI kept borrowing from you, you should have looked at my credit record. You would have seen my other debts were getting worse and your debts contributed to this. If I go to the Ombudsman I expect I will get refund from after loan 4, possibly loan 5. A refund from after loan 6 would be £213 which would clear my current debt – so as a compromise I am prepared to accept that, plus loans 6 onwards being removed from my credit record.”
Jess says
Thanks so much I will let you know how I get on. Would you suggest I list my other debts?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, they can see your credit record.
frogman says
Hi Sara,
Please what’s your take on the below, is it worth complaining to Mr Lender on Loan 3 and possibly 2
Loan 1 – Jan 2017, before gambling completely took over. Borrowed £700 and repaid £781 early (I don’t plan to argue this one)
Loan 2 – 21st of Jan 2018 gambling had taken control. Borrowed £1000 and repaid £1067.5 early. It was just a telephone call by an agent to verbally confirm what I put down in application regarding income and expenditure.
Laon 3 – 26th of Feb 2018, at this point, it wasn’t me anymore, bank statement littered with gambling transactions. I managed to pay the first 2 instalments then shortly went into DMP. I have so far paid a total of £777.27 but outstanding balancing still sits at £1222.73.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so loan 3 was also 1000?
frogman says
Yes £1000 as well
Nick L says
Long time reader but first time posting. Just a quick note to say how appreciative of all the help and support offered by this website and by Sara!
I’ve had the first of hopefully many complaints upheld by the Ombudsman, long and short, Elevate credit have made me an offer which I accepted a little over two weeks ago but have not had any correspondence since. Does anyone have an experience or input as to how long it should take for Elevate Credit to contact me and when I should wait to speak with the Ombudsman again.?
Danielle says
Hi Nick, how long did the whole process take? I’m just waiting to hear back if sunny agree with the adjudicator! Gone over 2 week deadline now though.
Many thanks
Joe says
Just wondered if some could help me with a little advice. I’ve had a reply off a lender today regarding my claim for unaffordable/irresponsible lending. And this was in my response.
Should it transpire that information provided by you at the time of application was false or misleading, we may register this attempt to gain redress falsely as a first party fraud with CIFAS the fraud prevention agency. To learn more about fraud and understand your rights please visit cifas.org.uk. Any fraud marker may affect your ability to obtain credit with banks and other lenders in the future.
A fraud agency? Are they just using scare tactics. Just wondered if anyone as experienced this. And what does it mean. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is Money Boat’s standard, unpleasant wording. They are just trying to put you off. I think it is sent to everyone.
Some others lenders do this too.
So far no-one has had problems continuing with their case and sending it to the Ombudsman.
People’s applications are often inaccurate or incomplete, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/.
ciara says
Hello Sara
I only had one loan with moneyboat and they haven’t upheld my complaint – is it worth still passing onto the ombudsman? they also sent me this awful wording!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Forget their wording, no one has had any problems if they send a case to FOS.
But unless the loan was large you are very unlikely to win the complaint at FOS.
ciara says
Thanks Sara :)
Craig says
Hey there
Just a quick one I know we are complaining about loans but has anyone fort bout credit cards or catagoules. If so can anyone help me as thinking try this aswell
Thanks Craig
Sara (Debt Camel) says
See https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-catalogue-credit-card/. These complaints aren’t as easy to win as the monthly payments are owed. Than for payday loans, but Some people are having success by arguing that their credit limits were increased too much when they were already only paying minimum payments and had a poor credit record.
frogman says
I am trying my luck with Marbles. Took out £300 credit card in 2018. I complained about the fact they should have seen from my credit file it was a bad idea to give me the card. In 3/4 months leading to when I applied, my gambling seriously went out of hand and I had loans with almost all the lenders out there, 3 different credit card with huge balances, personal account overdrawn, all sorts. I guess I would have had about £20k+ unsecured lending, yet I got the card. I have paid back £174 through DMP but I am complaining just to clean up my credit file. I have offered to pay the outstanding balance in one go if they uphold.
Same situation with Capital One, They gave me £200 around the same time. I am going after them too.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t think you have much hope with such a low credit limit. these cases are almost always won when the lender has increased the limit too high despite the borrower only making minimum payments.
frogman says
Thanks very much Sara. How’s one supposed to work out refunds on credit cards that limits were increased despite making minimum payment? that definitely happened to me with Barclays and Aqua. I owe them £1200 and £2300 respectively.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Don’t both with trying to do the arithmetic, just complain if your limit was raised too high.
Danielle says
Hi there, has anyone got Paul baldrys email address please?
Rebecca says
pbaldry@elevatecredit.co.uk
Danielle says
Thank you Rebecca!
geri says
I have been hunting for an address to contact cash genie, with them going to administration and “disappeared” and not being able to get in contact with the administrators regarding any potential refund due to excessive charges and interest do I still pay the debt collector as there is potential that I may be due something back? I have managed to email the other ones I had to see what is to happen with potential refunds but this one seems to be more difficult. I don’t want to be paying back any more than I am due, I have no issue with what I have borrowed but I am not willing to pay until I know for certain the amount is a true reflection and not just charges.
Luke says
Hi,
Is Myjar operating ok? (no administration). Anyone had a contact recently?
They upheld my complaint and I sent back the settlement form, but wanted to confirm they received it, but cannot get to them and they don’t reply for more than a week and support phone lines are closed at the moment.
I know they say it takes up to 15 days to refund, but still want to know the form they got is in the right format etc.
Thanks
Lil says
I haven’t really had a problem. They upheld my complaint on 30th April I sent the settlement form back on the same day. They emailed me on 5th May as they couldn’t verify my bank details I responded the same day and received an email on 11th May apologising for the delay in acknowledging receipt of my bank details but assured me payment would by made within 15 working days of my settlement acceptance, which I make to be 21st May the email I received on Monday said I would receive email confirmation once payment had been made.
My settlement is fairly large so I expect additional authorisation may be required but I have no reason to doubt their timescales.
Chris says
How do Sunny constantly get away with not responding to FOS or not meeting the deadlines deadlines set? Surely the FCA can do something about it? The adjudicator found in my favour and gave them 2 weeks to respond, its been 4 weeks and Sunny haven’t even bothered to respond to them. Now im waiting for my claim to go to the Ombudsman and I’m probably going to have another long wait to hear anything. What happens if they fail to respond to the Ombudsman’s final decision?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
See this reply I gave to someone in a similar situation https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/comment-page-183/#comment-354088
ciaran says
Hi, has anyone been able to contact Lending Stream at all. Iv been trying to speak to someone from January, Iv sent many emails requesting call backs and I have tried to call on many occasions and been told that someone in the complaints department who is dealing with my case will call me back. Now, in the last minth, you cant even get talking to customer service. any help on what to do?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
why do you need to talk to them?
ciaran says
regarding defaults on my account, which I believe should not be there.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you sent them a complaint in writing?
ADC says
Hey, I had word back from FOS that the adjudicator had gone in my favour against Sunny and that the business had til 5th May to respond. It’s now the 12th and I’ve not heard anything back. Should I just wait it out or is there something I should be doing?
Danielle says
I have the exact same response date as you and haven’t heard anything either, I’ve left trust pilot reviews, maybey try leaving one of them, also I have emailed Paul baldry who is high up in sunny, but I don’t think he is responding to emails at the moment.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
See this response for someone in a similar situation: https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/comment-page-183/#comment-354088
Dean says
Hi Sara
I put in an affordability complaint to swiftdl which is a doorstep loan. They replied within a few days saying that because I took 5 loans out with them and paid them back early – that I can’t get a refund?? Should I just take this complaint to the FOS?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes if repaying the loans caused you problems. They are a very small lender, first time anyone has mentioned them.
Leanne says
I had the same, I emailed Sunny and got this reply:
Thank you for your email.
Please be aware, the Financial Ombudsman’s adjudication is not a final decision or legally binding, therefore the outcome can change.
Once the business has provided their response, the Financial Ombudsman will be in contact with you regarding any next steps. Please be aware, due to the current circumstances surrounding COVID-19 there may be a small delay in some cases, however we aim to respond as soon as possible.
Kind regards,
Ciara says
Hi Sara
Looking for some advice.
I had a loan with Payday express (who are now in administration) I had a balance remaining but never heard anything until recently a debt collection company called CRS Solutions has started sending me letters, emails calls requesting £400.00 be repaid. this also has appeared on my credit file now as a default and was never there before ? what can I do In this situation? I currently have a redress complaint under the ICL scheme of arrangement but that could be miles off when I receive a reply regarding redress owed?
also one other on fernovo – slightly kicking myself after reading this thread – last year they lent to me continuously month by month which was unaffordable to me but I would repay and borrow from them again so I wouldn’t be out of pocket. I sent a redress complaint and they said they would not uphold but offered me gesture of good will of £45 and I stupidly accepted and they have paid it. now that I have received the money can I not continue with a complaint to FOS?
Sorry for essay but hope you can help thankyou!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think CRS are debt collectors for Payday Express, they haven’t bought the debt. Is that correct?
If it is, tell CRS that you have a Claim in and do not want to pay the balance as you think it will be covered by set off from your Claim.
Fernovo – no, you can’t change your mind and go to the Ombudsman.
frogman says
CRS are acting for Lending Stream and Uncle Buck as well.
Ade says
Hey Sara,
I’ve just had a reply from Sunny after the initial 8 week period they had my complaint. They have rejected my complaint claim. I have had a large number of loans from sunny over the past 5-6 years.
Do I now just forward the email on to the FO or do I have to raise a new complaint email from scratch with them?
Thanks for your help. P.s, I think you do an absolutely incredible job with this site. It’s amazing how hard you work for it and how attentive you are
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You have to start a complaint at FOS. Use the online FOS complaint form, linked to in “How to send a complaint to FOS” in the article above because they need to know things about you (not necessarily difficult things – like your date of birth and if the complaint is a joint complaint).
RD says
Hi Sara. I sent an affordability complaint to peachy two weeks ago. I’ve just had a reply.
It has recently come to my attention that you may be a creditor of the Company.
The email continues to explain how to claim as a creditor if the debt is below or above £1000.
They have not said how much I am due back, so I do not know what to do.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how many loans did you have from them and how much interest have you paid?
rd says
I had one loan, but my credit file had many defaulted loans on it when i applied for the loan.
I am not sure how much I have paid and I cannot find the original agreement in my emails.
I have asked for them to explain further and a statement of payments.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
then unless the loan was very large you are pretty unlikely to win a claim.
frogman says
26hrs it’s taken Moneyboat to review my complaint. I sent it yesterday. They’ve not upheld my complaint but wiping off £24 balance and removing negative entry on my file. I couldn’t ask for more to be honest. They can keep the interest paid. Borrowed £250 in 2018 and have paid a total of £328.61 via DMP. I have now won 4 out of 4 now, plenty still in the pipe. My experience so far is that it looks like the complaint officers in these lending companies like it when you use a soft voice, not pleading, but putting your points across in a polite manner and highlighting the key points why you think you’ve been mis-sold.
Laura says
So they responded to your complaint in 26 hours of you making the complaint?
ciara says
Hi Sara
I have just had a reply from cashasap on my redress complaint which was on back to back loans from end of 2017 – 2020 (one after another totalling 28 loans)
I have roughly worked out what I am owed and its almost £2,000 ( this is just the interest I have paid) am I also owed 8% on top of that?
they have only partly upheld my complaint on 19 of the 28 loans and not given any info on how they came to their figure of £353.00
am I best to go to them first about a higher offer before going to ombudsmen!?
thankyou!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I have roughly worked out what I am owed and its almost £2,000
That is all the interest you have paid? It would be very rare to get all of that back if you go to the Finacial Ombudsman. But if the there were no gaps in the loans you might get a refind from loan 4,5 or 6…
It doesn’t sound like the interest on 18 of the 28 loans is likely to be as low as £353. Have they listed the loans or said the last 19 loans?
Ciara says
hi Sara
No they haven’t listed them or anything just said this:
We therefore cannot fully uphold your complaint.
Although we cannot fully uphold your complaint we recognise that we could have done more when assessing some of your applications and we would like to close this case in a way that is acceptable to you and recognises the fact that we appreciate you being our customer. We can agree to refund £353.96 which is the interest you paid for 19 loans from us as a full and final settlement of your complaint.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then I suggest you reply asking them which 19 loans they have selected as the interest you paid on the last 19 loans comes to £xxx.
If you would be happy with that number as a refund, say that. If not, is there a number you are prepared to compromise at?
Ciara says
Thanks I will let you know when they reply to me :)
Ciara says
Hi Sara
Got this reply today from them….
“ We have escalated your case and we can improve the settlement terms to a refund of £494.69 which is the full refund of loans 9 to 28.”
They haven’t mentioned the statutory 8% in their calculation or how they have come to their figure. I had to send a list of all the loans and what I paid as they never provided me with this and still havent I’m still not happy with their figure but not sure whether it’s worth going to the ombudsmen or not!? What do you think?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you have a list of your loans and what you have paid? What does it it add up to for loans 9 to 28?
George says
Hi Sara,
Following from my affordability complaints I have response from moneyboat and myjar both refused I’m going to send them to ombudsman so I’m not sure what reports will back my case to show I had loads of payday loans at the same time, so therefor I should not have been given the loans.
I did email them back to reverse their decision but they didn’t budge. Any suggestions please?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How many loans dud you have from each? How large?
George says
Hi please see below
22/01/19 400
15/03/19 350
21/05/19 200 my boat all paid for over 2 months
My jar
22/01/18 250 paid over 3 months
25/04/18 400 paid over 6 months
03/10/18 500 paid over 12 months
07/09/19 175 paid over 3 months
Sara (Debt Camel) says
neither is going to be a particularly easy case to win because the last loan is much smaller than the others and it is the last loan you are most likely to have refunded.
You can attach a copy of your TransUnion Statutory credit report https://www.transunionstatreport.co.uk/CreditReport/AboutYou to a FOS complaint – that is easier to download and usually shows most payday loans.
amy says
Evening all , so my case has been assigned to an adjudicator 5 weeks ago and as expected Amigo have not met the deadline which was yesterday , my adjudicator has said he’ll chase them up again as he has had nothing at all from them , I’ve informed him about the sar disc I have and he has said about forwarding him the information on the disc with password as sending it via post is no good as the office is closed , my question is as anyone had experience with an adjudicator and no response from lenders and what the outcome was and also how do I forward the information on the disc ? Thank you :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You have the adjudicator’s email? Can you just send an email and attach the files from the disk?
Claire says
Hi Sara,
I have recieved a email from the administrators dealing with the peachy administration telling me I have been identified as a creditor.
I put in a complaint about irresponsible lending a month after they collapsed.
The email looks like it gives me a log into the administration documents.
Has anybody else had this with a cash on the go/ peachy claim?.
Thank you
Melissa says
Yes I’ve had that letter and I’m 12 weeks since I put in my complaint (before administration). Still haven’t had a response regarding that and currently owe them money but I’ve said I’m not paying anything until my complaint is resolved which they are OK with.
Amy says
I have his email yes , I’ll give that a try tomorrow :) just can’t believe Amigo are not responding to people . It’s not very professional of them . Thank you 😊
Melissa says
Surprise victory with Satsuma.
Heard lots about how bad they are to deal with. I had just 4 loans with them £150 paid off, £150 paid off, £200 still owed £350 with the interest and £200 still owed the full amount plus further £200 interest so owed them £750 in total. They’ve refunded all interest paid and waived the rest of what I owed as a goodwill gesture so no refund as such buy my account is clear.
Just still waiting on peachy at the moment and I still owe them money but I’m not paying anything yet until I see their response. No point going to FOS with them due to administration even though its about 12 weeks since my complaint, however I’m hoping for them to wipe some of my balance at least.
Anzzzz says
Got a complicated email with a log in and links about being a peachy creditor. What do they need from us ? They went into administration during my FOS complaint. Thanks
SK says
Interesting reading of Administrators’ proposals for Peachy… Especially section 4. Background to the administration.
Oh, and 7.3 Redress claims: “As noted later in section 8.3, it is anticipated that the funds available to satisfy unsecured creditor claims (which would include the majority of redress claims) will be no more than £600,000.”
https://www.peachy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/COG-Proposals-CH-Version.pdf
John Smith says
Hi Sara,
I’ve just successfully had a refund from MyJar 9 days after agreeing with them (5/5 positive cases!) which is amazing. The work you continue to do here is incredible.
A bit of advice on Cash ASAP if possible. They have replied on the final day of my 8 weeks.
They have said that it was fully affordable as I paid some back early so do not agree, but as a valued customer they want to give some back, etc etc.
However, the amount they have offered is £455, with no 8% interest. I have just received my summary of borrowing, and I have 23 loans – excluding the first two loans, there is only one month out of the following 21 loans with longer than 3 weeks between borrowing (most are 1-2 weeks). There is also no trace of how they got to £455 as a figure, it looks totally plucked out of the air.
I have just replied saying I would be happy to settle for the interest on the final 11 loans (£755 out of a total £1100) and the removal of any negative information from my credit file.
In truth, it’s less about the money, more my credit file / the principle as I am *thankfully* back on sound financial footing, but was hoping for your advice if my compromise offer was fair, and the likelihood my case would be successful with FOS?
Thank you a million as always!!
JB says
That’s amazing, glad to hear! I got an email from the adjudicator on the 12th May and received an email from MyJar the next day asking for my bank details!
How long did it take them to pay out from when you sent your bank details over?
Many thanks
C says
Hi john did cashasap come back to you? I have had the same problem with them and waiting for their response now!?
George says
May I ask how much your loans were mine won’t upheld paid interest of 1000 for 4 different loanS amounting to 1400!
shaun says
Afternoon! I had a response of lending stream saying they have replied to the adjudicators decision ( not sure if good or bad ) but now nothing from the adjudicator! I’ve emailed and tried to make contact and nothing. Is this another long wait in store I understand there mad busy but a week with the reply off LS and nothing am I being to impatient?
Thank you
JB says
Good to hear you got a response! How long did it take them to respond to the adjudicator?
Shaun says
Hi JB,
It took 6 weeks basically but probably still be waiting now. I went on there live chat and basically said what’s going on been so long. I mentioned the COVID situaation and said I know your busy etc etc. They said please hold! Then said we will reply to it today. Which they did as a email confirmed. Then herd nothing off adjudicator but that’s came through now and hoping it’s all sorted just waiting on payment!
carole says
Hi Sara,
Can you help please.
I received final response from sunny loans today and they have not upheld my complaint, however as a good will gesture they will remove the remaining balance of £155 and remove the defaults from my file. They have not given me no breakdown of the interest i have paid on 9 loans. They said this –
you had 9 Sunny instalment loans;
taking into account all loans you were charged interest for 12 months or less;
the total amount of interest you repaid across all of your Loans was 5 % of the total capital you borrowed, meaning you were charged a relatively low amount of interest compared to the capital borrowed;
there were no significant increases in Sunny Loan amounts granted to you;
your monthly income was verified by CRA data when you first applied to us; and
you were required to use 10% or less of your monthly income to make your contractual repayments to Sunny (even where you were repaying more than one Sunny Loan at the same time).
They sent me a summary of loans i had and it was 13 not 9 on that document, however doesn’t state how much interest.
What shall i do?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ask why their list shows 13 loans but their response has only referred to 9. And for them to send you a list of the interest you paid on each loan so you can consider their offer.
carole says
Thank you, will do that now!
carole says
Hi Sara,
sunny have replied apologising for the admin error saying 9 loans not 13. They have sent a statement saying i paid £78 interest on 13 loans. I don’t believe there figures, they seem so little and low. I logged into my sunny account and they have closed my account and said would remove defaults in 6-8 weeks. There was no question if i wanted to accept the final response, then reply. I am just wondering if i send this to the FOS now and they decide not upheld also, then will sunny reverse what they have done as a good will gesture and i will be due the £155 again?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can you look back at your bank statements to check if the figures they have sent you are right? £78 does sound very little!
carole says
Yes i am going to do that to double check what i paid, however they are still not upholding the complaint. Will sunny overturn the decision of good will gesture if i loose with FOS?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is very unlikely you will lose at FOS – that isn’t something I have seen with people who have been offered a poor offer by Sunny!
Timbouk says
Hi just anyone know if wagedayadvance administrators are still looking to pay out by the end of May? I don’t seem to have any emails from them since November 2019.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
see chat on https://debtcamel.co.uk/wageday-advance-wda-administration-sale-morses-club/
Maria says
I sent them an email last week and got a reply the next day saying that they are aiming for payments to be made by 31st May
We shall see
Akram says
I got a response today letting me know they will pay my redress within 7 days. They are paying 5.68pence to the pound
Craig says
Today has been a good day!!! SNC have paid me out £1106 into my account and i have had an email from Capital One saing they are going to wipe my balance and pay me £180 by way of a cheque, This would never of happened without the help of this site so a very big thank you to Sara for all you do. Only Amigo to go now which is with the ombudsman fingers crossed as this is the big one i want out of the way!!!!
S says
Hi Craig, Glad to hear your news nice one! I appreciate all cases are different but could I ask did you have a tough time with Capital One and how long did they take to resolve your complaint.
Cheers S
Craig says
No problem at all with them i put my complaint in to them on 4th April they told me to expect a cheque within 2 weeks. I have 2 cards with them but they didn’t uphold the 2nd one which I thought was strange as they found the first one unaffordable so I have sent that one to the ombudsman.
S says
Thanks Craig much appreciated.
Carole says
Hi Craig, are you talking about capital one credit card? I didn’t know credit cards could be complained about although my card with them is only £700 but taking ages to clear
Craig says
Give it a try there is a section on this site about it my limit was £500 but now they have wiped it off and nearly £200 on it’s way to me.
Ciara says
Amazing Craig welldone! I had a card with them, vanquis and aqua at the same time all small balances of £200 do you think it’s worth me putting in complaint? I got charged so many fees where I couldn’t pay on time etc and they never stopped me using my card!?
carole says
Thanks Craig.
Sara, can you put me in the right direction for complaining to credit cards please?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Here https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-catalogue-credit-card/ but you are pretty unlikely to win if the balance was only £200.
Chris says
Hi. Has anyone dealt with MyJar recently? Website is down and phone lines aren’t active either. Starting to worry I’ve got another claim where I won’t get paid out
Carole says
Hi Chris,
My jar emailed me yesterday . They didn’t uphold my complaint. Quite nasty and threatening in fact but I sent to FOS. Might be only one loan with them but £250 loan and they want £580 back. Robbery.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This Myjar loan, is it an old one? Or for longer then a year?
Carole says
Mine was taken at the end of August when I had all other credit lenders out and arrangements to pay in place.
Do you think I have no chance with it being such a small loan?
The term was only 6 month but i struggled to pay it
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can you look at the numbers again? It’s not legal for Myjar to want £580 back if you only borrowed £250… (not if the loan is after 2014 and was for a term of less than a year). This would be in breach of the payday laon price cap.
carole says
The correct numbers are – borrowed £275, interest £298.68 – Total to repay = £573.68. 6 X £95 payments
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you are being asked to pay more in interest than you borrowed…
I suggest you email Myjar back and say that the loan appears to be in breach of the payday loan price cap.
Carole says
Really. Wow even after me complaining to them knowing they could be in trouble doing that they still don’t uphold my complaint. I will email them now about that. Nothings ever been mentioned about price cap from them and I just assumed what they were doing was correct.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Just go back to them and see what they say.
Amma says
I was advised that any repayment from the administrators of the Wage Day Advance administration would be paid by end of May 2020. I don’t know how much we are getting but they did say it would be estimated to be about 4p in the pound on their initial calcualtions they sent round before Christmas 2019. I appreciate Coronavirus has changed the landscape a bit, but has anyone else heard anything yet?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
see the comments below https://debtcamel.co.uk/wageday-advance-wda-administration-sale-morses-club/ for the latest chat about this.
J S says
Can I just check something Sara.
I got an email from Curo/WDA in August 2019 saying as of February 2019 i would be due an estimate £280 redress.
Do you know if this amount would be the final amount or subject to 4/5p in the £?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That would be reduced to 4/5p in the pound.
J S says
Thanks. I’ll look forward to my £13/14. Better in my pocket I suppose!😂
Sam says
Hi, I just want to say a massive thankyou! I followed this page, the advice, letters etc to complain to everydayloans about an unaffordable loan they offered me back in May 2017. The initial complaint went past the 8 weeks deadline and they claimed it was due to COVID-19, they also didn’t follow any of the processes as stated on the ICO.
However after sending them a quick email to say I’m forwarding my complaint onto the FOS I received an email to say my complaint has been upheld and due to the interest and charges I am due a refund of £3,600 + the loan to be removed completely from my credit file inc any negative marks.
As I’m currently on a DMP through StepChange the refund will clear the remaining debts and leave me debt free.
I can’t recommend this procedure enough to everyone going through the same. Stick it out because it’s been worth it for me.
Overall it took about 12 weeks a few simple emails.
Marie I says
I have just received confirmation that after only 3 weeks, myjar have upheld my complaint and are funding all interest paid along with the 8%. This is the first of 7 complaints I have made where it has been concluded without the need to involve the FOS. Absolutely brilliant news to end the week with.
George says
Hi Sara
Just had a reply from moneyboat after emailing them to review their decision and they have opted to pay as good will gesture of 80.
according to them for the last loan for 200 of 3 this being the smaller amount Which I struggled to pay at the time was being changed the 7% on the daily bases totalling to 80 from the original 46 interest. Is this a fair offer since they haven’t looked into the 400 and the 350 loans before this one.
It’s worth to mention after I emailed back for a second look I realised it was from a complaint manager.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s hard to win one and two loan cases. If you go to the ombudsman it is possible you could get a refund on the earlier loans but it’s not likely.
Danny says
After an 18 month battle with Sunny, the Ombudsmen this week has came back with a ruling which has upheld my case with Sunny regarding the fact they shouldn’t have loaned to me 12/13 times.
My question is what now? The FOS have received my acceptance of this ruling but do I need to contact Sunny or am I in for a further long wait?
Thanks in advance!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
if this from an adjudicator or from an ombudsman?
Danny says
Ombudsmen. They did agreed with the adjudicator but as Sunny rejected the adjudicator’s finding, I had to go refer it for a final Ombudsmen ruling.
Ciara says
Hi Sara I received this reply from sunny :
“We therefore agree to partially uphold your complaint in relation to Draw/Loan 9.
To put things right, we propose to do the following:
Calculate the interest paid by you from your 9th loan/draw onwards (£120);
Pay interest of 8% (simple) on the above refund amount from the dates of payment to the dates of settlement, which comes to £44;
Total Refund Due: £164
Amend your credit file by removing all loans from your 9th loan/draw onwards “
I then went back to question why I wasn’t at least Refunded from loans 4-9 and they replied today with this:
“I am sorry that we have been unable to reach a mutually acceptable outcome on this occasion. I have looked into the matter further for you and can confirm we are unable to change our previous outcome to you.
Should you remain unhappy, you do have full recourse with the Financial Ombudsman Service.“
Would you suggest I just take what they have offered?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
it sounds a pretty poor offer.
You would be likely to get a larger one by going to the Ombudsman.
There is some risk that they might go into administration, but their American parent’s latest set of accounts only had a couple of mentions about the Sunny, pretty much what they have been saying for 18 months or more.
P says
Hi Ciara
Can I ask you a question regarding this outcome..
Sunny’s final response letter to me only removed my last loan #20
I sent to FOS and an adjudicators investigation recommended loans 05 – 19 should be upheld.
Sunny wrote to adjudicator and said they would refund 11 – 14.
The difference is about £600.
How long did you wait between adjudicator and then being picked up by ombudsman?
Thanks in advance
Ciara says
Hi Sara thanks for your reply do you think it’s risk going to FOS then incase they go into administration in mean time?
1-6 were actually loan draws on a revolving credit facility and then paid that off and was given loan 7 on that day and then 8 and 9 on the same day as paying off previous too!
Thinking I might just accept as it’s better than getting nothing if they go into administration hard to know!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
there is some risk but I can’t say how small or large it is.
Lynn says
Hi
Has anyone been successful with a complaint with ferratum?
JP says
Hi Lynn,
I’m still waiting for an initial response. They have until 2nd June to respond and I currently have c£850 outstanding. Hoping they will be willing to clear a large chunk – Ferratum is the only payday debt I have now.
Regards,
JP
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sometimes Ferratum’s first offer isn’t that good but you may be able to get in improved by including some extra loans. see https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/comment-page-185/#comment-355869
Darren says
Hi yes cant believe my luck put a complaint in responsible lending had loans for consistent period of time interest was £2458 they offered me £1600 an removed all of credit record all within 8 weeks I did try to get a further £200 but they said full an final offer within 2 hours off accepting offervit was in my bank account
Luucy says
Sorry I’m sure this has been answered before but I cant find it.
The adjudicator dealing with my refund for Sunny gave them until 29th April to reply. I have not heard anything.
Is it just a case of sit back and wait ?
Many thanks
Becky says
Hi, I’ve had similar with Mr Lender. They were given until the 8th May to accept or disagree with FOS decision but I have still not heard any more. Have tried to contact the adjudicator to ask what is happening but not had a response.
Pee says
Yep sure is. Sunny notorious for using maximum time allowed. Not afraid to go over the limit as well. Hopefully you get a response soon.
carole says
Hi Sara,
” of my payday lenders have not upheld my complaints, however they have said as a good will gesture they will clear accounts (1 was £155 & other was £115) as a good will gesture and remove adverse credit from my file in 6-8 weeks time. What i wanted to ask was now that they have done that and i accepted does that mean i cannot forward to FOS. I have since gone to check the interest i paid on them and its hundreds. Can i still pass to FOS even though i have accepted they close accounts as good will gesture?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No you can’t change your mind :(
carole says
Oh well that will teach me to look properly. On one of the loans (sunny) it does not say please reply to accept, it has just gone ahead and closed accounts and removed the £155 owed. Can i send that one to FOS as i didn’t actually get the choice to accept or decline?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
if you never accepted it AND the response was in the last 6 months, you can go to the Ombudsman.
Anne says
I am looking for some advice. I submitted an irresponsible lending complaint to 118 money, they have responded advising that this has not been with held. The loan amount was for £3500, i have to repay £6148 over 24 months. I have 5 other big bank loans and 3 credit cards at maximum capacity. I was struggling to meet repayments prior to covid19 however this has exacerbated the difficulties further. They have granted a one month payment freeze however this will not resolve the issue long term. I have sent a complaint to FOS. How long do i expect to wait for a response? Is this a worthwhile complaint?
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
it sounds as though you have a lot of borrowing outstanding. Do you know what all the debts add up to?
How has Coronavirus affected your finances?
Anne says
I feel that i am able to meet the bank loans as they are of low interest. It is the two credit cards from debenhams and Aqua that have a credit limit of £900 each and also the 118 loan that im struggling to cope with. I have submitted an irresponsible lending claim to both, they did not respond within the 8 weeks so i sent it to FOS. My income has decreased as a result of coronavirus.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, but “5 big bank loans” suggests that you have bigger difficulties. Can I suggest you talk to StepChange about a debt management plan for all your debts? See https://www.stepchange.org/how-we-help/debt-management-plan.aspx.
This isn’t instead of making affordability complaints, but it gets you in a safe financial position. If you then win the affordability complaints, then your DMP speeds up a lot!
A lot of 118 complaints are won at the ombudsman, so if you think they should have realised the loan would be unaffordable for you, send your complaint to FOS.
Pee says
Be aware tho that 118118 money will do everything in their power to delay your complaint from progressing at Ombudsman level. Use of specialist team so you quite simply have to queue again once you are about to get a resolution from ombudsman. And of course them not sticking to the deadlines they have been given. Are two delay tactics right there.
If have had a lot of complaints with various lenders. Lending stream, Moneyboat and now 118118 money by far the worst to deal with. Good luck whatever you choose to do.
Anne says
Thank you for your response. Can i ask how long should expect to wait before hearing from FOS?
Anne says
Thank you for your advice, i will look into step change now. I appreciate you help. Should i keep trying to make minimum payments in the credit cards while the complaint is with FOS? What happens if i dont do this? As for 118 money what action could they take if i have made a complaint to FOS? Could they take court action?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That’s why I think you should talk to StepChange. If they suggest a DMP it will apply to all your debts, including the 118 loan and the credit cards.
Lenders shouldn’t go to court if you have a FOS case in progress.
And also it’s rare for a lender to go to court when you are in a DMP.
GH says
Hi I made a complaint about irresponsible lending to cashfloat. I had 4 loans (£400 , £500, £500 and £400) in a 12 month period. I sent a email and their response was they aren’t upholding it. They have offerd me £50 as a goodwill gesture. The total interest i paid was £539.
Question should I accept the £50 or go to the ombudsman knowing it will take a long time and taking the risk that a lot of payday lenders are going into administration?
TIA
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Did you clear the loans early so there were gaps between them? because that looks like a low amount of interest on 4 loans.
What were the gaps between the loans – the time from repying the first loan to taking the second, from repaying the second to taking the third, and from repaying the third to taking the 4th.
GH says
I would clear them early. These sums were from my borrowing summary. Do you think I should accept the £50 as isn’t a huge amount and obviously wouldn’t get the full interest, as from previous experience 1st loan isn’t always paid anyway.
1st 06/06/19 – 27/06/19
2nd 30/06/19 – 30/09/19
3rd 30/09/19 – 02/12/19
4th 12/01/20 – 06/03/20
Sara (Debt Camel) says
oh so there weren’t any gaps, you actually took 4 loans in a 7 month period. That is a much stronger case.
If you went to the Ombudsman my guess is that the most likely result would be you would get loan 4 refunded. Do you know what interst you paid on that loan?
It is possible you could get loans 3 & 4 refunded. Also possible but less likely are to get loans 2,3 and 4 refunded, or to not get anything.
You could go back to Cashfloat and say as a compromise and in the interest of getting this settled quickly you would be prepared to get loan 4 refunded, which would be £108 (or whatever).
GH says
So I emailed Cashfloat saying I feel like I have a vaild claim and to get the matter resolved quickly I would accept £100 ( total interest was £539 over 4 loans, wouldn’t have got all that anyway) . They have agreed to to my request .
Paul says
Hi Sara
I received this email today from SNC with regards to my irresponsible lending claim I submitted just under 4 weeks ago. I am inclined to reject this offer as I know I have paid out almost £6000 in interest on loans from SNC over 3 years but I am concerned that rejecting this offer could risk me getting nothing back from them. What do you suggest I do in this case?
Thanks
Paul
This email is in relation to your complaint.
We have now investigated this matter, however before we issue you with a formal final response we wanted to put our offer to you directly.
Our offer is to close down your account and refund you ?2000.00, this amount is payable directly to you. In addition to this we will delete all entries in relation to SafetyNet from your credit file.
Our offer to settle your complaint has been based on the following:
Where we find some of our decisions may not have been in our customer?s best interests and may have caused a degree of detriment, we partially uphold the complaint and provide an offer to fully settle the complaint. This is what has been in done in your case.
Please confirm whether you accept the offer proposed above and we will send you out a final response letter.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s a tough one because they are offering a sizeable amount of money. If it was £300 you would probably tell them where they could put their offer… If it was £4500 you would probably think it was fair.
I have no particular reason to think SNC is in trouble. They are settling a lot of cases here but I am not even sure they are on the many Claims Companies target lists, although that could change.
It’s hard to say anything about wiat times at FOS at the moment. Coronavirus may be resulting in more complaints but several lenders have gone under since Xmas (Peachy, BrightHouse) and at least one big lender appears to be settling hundreds of FOS complaint this month (Provident) which all frees up FOS resources for other lenders.
Here is a recent report of a FOS SNC case https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/comment-page-188/#comment-359264.
You could go back and offer to settle for say £3000 if that would make enough of a difference for you? Not many reports of people trying to negotiate with them.
Paul says
Thanks Sara.
I have rejected the offer and asked SNC to refund me all interest charges made from 2018 to 2020 which comes to £4600. I thought it was worth a try?
Ts says
Hi Paul,
I had the same issue. They offered me £3800 and I believe that they should have been closer to £6500. I rejected and waited about 12 months with the FOS. I chased and chased, in the end, the FOS said that they only have a very limited number of people who can look into this complaint and SNC isn’t a standard pay day loan, its more complex.
FOS basically told me that there are people in the queue that have been waiting for 20 months, as other companies are folding, I decided that £3800 meant enough to me to go back to SNC and accept it. You have to do what is right for you.
Thanks
Ciara says
Hi Sara
I have received an email from provident the last 2 weeks saying they haven’t finalised the response to my claim yet (its now 9 weeks since I put my complaint in) should I wait or just go directly to FOS!?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
unless they said it would be done in the next week or two, I suggest sending it to FOS now.
Ciara says
Ok thanks – my complaint is about them lending 2 loans to me at the same time – do you think that would be upheld?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Is this Provident doorstep lending or Satsuma?
How large were the loans and had you borrowed from them before?
Andy says
Hi Sara. I got a reply from my adjudicator at FOS today regarding my complaint about Sunny. They have offered to repay interest from loans 39-64 to the sum of £1300 but FOS had recommended they repay from loans 2-64. Part of me wants to accept purely to avoid another 4p in the pound pay out if these guys go into administration. Is there any indication of that happening?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is a dreadful offer.
I listened to Sunny’s US parent’s investor earnings call a couple of weeks ago. There wasn’t a lot said about Sunny, just the same grumble that Sunny needs to get affordability complaints sorted out with the FCA that they have been saying for well over a year. And a remark about how profitable the UK business is as there is little competition from other lenders. So no indication they are just about to throw in the towel, but of course it can’t be ruled out.
This is what I said to another reader in the same position a few weeks ago: https://debtcamel.co.uk/sunny-payday-loan-regulation-unclear/comment-page-1/#comment-361252
Andy says
I have complained to FCA regarding their tardiness in responding to the Ombudsman already and left Trust Pilot review stating that also. Is it worth another complaint to FCA regarding their poor offer? Had it been from loans 10-64 I would have taken it but as you say Sara I thought that was a shocking offer.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Definitely. It now shows they aren’t just being slow but are basically ignoring the Ombudman making a decision in line with standard practice.
Andy says
No worries Sara, new mail sent to FCA and all elevate emails I have plus New 1 star review on Trust Pilot. As always thanks for your advice on these matters, this website is excellent.
Andy says
Got a reply on my Trust Pilot review of Sunny less than 24 hours after posting about their offer to refund less than half what the FOS suggested. These guys are a joke like.
“Sorry to hear you are unhappy with the way in which we have processed your complaint. We work closely with the FOS to resolve all customer complaints . We are also committed to treating customers fairly and adhering to all regulations and guidance set out by the FCA.
Thank you
The Sunny Team”
carole says
Hi Sara,
Having read these comments about safety net I have realised my safety money they returned for interest is hundreds out. I think i was just so happy to get rid of them, i was too quick to not check. Can i contact them about this once i get the exact figures from my bank statements or not now?
Also can i ask what happens if Amigo or payday loans agree to refund me say 2 out of my 4 loans interest. Can i accept that and then forward others to FOS or is it all or nothing? Accept or decline?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you mean Safetynet credit offered a refund of £x, not being specific about which loans, and you now realise you could have got a lot more?
Or that they offered a refund on loans 10-18 (or whatever) and you now think there was more interest paid on their loans than their calculations?
Amigo – I suggest you wait and see what they say. You can waste a lot of time and energy working out what offers would be acceptable, it’s not worth the effort until you have an offer.
carole says
yes safetynet sent an amount of £500 and something due back to me on a revolving credit limit i had which included the 8% from the start of opening account until now. I stupidly did not work this out and just said yes and close account without checking. I have now realised i paid so much more money in interest.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So they said they were refunding you all the interest you paid? And you now think they calculated it wrong?
Carole says
Yes I think it’s wrong calculation. They said upheld and refunding all plus 8%
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then go back to them and say you were happy with their offer to refund all the interest, but looking at your bank statements you think they have calculated it incorrectly.
carole says
Ok, thank you i will do this now.
Ash says
Hi guys, I got an response from the financial ombudsman today, and he’s agreed to upheld my complaint from loan 6-33 against sunny. Does anyone know how long it usually takes them to pay out?
Thanks
carole says
How long did it take you Ash to get this?
Ash says
Hi Carole, can’t be 100% sure without going through all my emails and checking. Il see if I can have a better look later, but my estimation is around 8-10 months.
Nick says
Hi Ash is that 8-10 months since you started your complaint or 8-10 months specifically between adjudicator and waiting for the ombudsman? I escalated mine to the ombudsman after sunny rejected my adjudicator decision but it’s only been 8 weeks and really didn’t think I’d have to wait another 10 months. Thanks
Ash says
This was while waiting for the ombudsman, Sunny didn’t accept what the adjudicators decision was, so went to ombudsman. Believe they have a massive backlog and running on a force smaller than normal, But dunno it took ages!
Summer says
Just in update guys had a loan with satsuma for £800 in July 2019 struggled to pay it but I think I paid off around £400 over the last 10 months because of the high interest there was still £1100 outstanding. I sent a complaint using Sara’s template for affordability back in April. I have just received an email from them and they have written off the outstanding balance as a gesture of goodwill. So guys there is hope and thanks so much Sara you are literally a life saver X