Did your payday loans cost so much when you repaid one you had to keep on borrowing?
You can get a refund of the interest you paid on unaffordable loans.
It’s easy to ask for a payday loan refund using the free template letters here. The letters work if your payday loans were repaid or you still owe money.
The comments below this article have thousands of stories of the refunds people have got using these letters. It is a great place to ask questions!
Contents
What are “unaffordable” loans?
Was a loan affordable just because you repaid it?
No! If paying a loan left you so broke you had to borrow again – from the same lender or a different one – it was unaffordable!
The regulator says:
“the borrower should be able to make the required repayments without undue difficulty, whilst continuing to meet other debt repayment obligations and reasonable regular outgoings.”
That means a payday loan is only affordable if you repaid it on time and you could still manage to pay your other bills and debts.
Payday loans are meant to solve a short-term problem. If you kept repaying one then getting another loan soon after, the lender should have stopped lending to you.
If the loan was small and it was the first loan or second loan from a lender, the lender may not have realised the loan was unaffordable for you. But it was irresponsible lending to just carry on giving you more loans.
Many lenders ignore obvious signs of problems such as your loans increasing in size, or borrowing again soon after repayment.
How much compensation can you get?
You don’t have to calculate this. Just ask for a refund from the lender and see what you are offered. This is simple and it works well.
The Financial Ombudsman has seen tens of thousands of payday loan affordability complaints.
A typical decision by the Ombudsman is that the payday lender should refund all the interest you paid interest after the third, fourth or fifth loan.
But if your first loan was large, or was rolled over several times you could get a refund from just one loan.
Which lenders can you get refunds from?
You can complain to lenders that are still in business, even if they are no longer lending. These include:
Lending Stream, Cash Converters, CashASAP, Drafty, Dot Dot, Fast Loan Uk, Fernovo, Fund Ourselves, Kabayan, LoanPig, Mr Lender, Moneyboat, MyKredit, My Finance Club, QuidMarket, Savvy, The Money Platform, WageMe, Wizzcash,
See this email list for payday lenders for a longer list and all the contact details to use.
If the lender has gone into administration, including CashForUNow, Piggybank, Ferratum, Oakam:
- make a claim to the administrators – there is normally a simple form for you to complete, see the lender’s website for details – but there will be a time limit for doing this.
- you may not get much cash back but this is very easy to do. A balance may be reduced or cleared even if there is no cash to distribute. And if you win the complaint any negative marks on your credit record will be removed.
It is probably too late to make claims to other lenders who gave up years ago, see this list.
For longer-term loans there are better template letters to use on other pages:
- doorstep lenders and guarantor lenders,
- Loans2Go – the worst loans in Britain!
- 118 Money, Everyday lonas, Likely Loans/Finio, Reevo, Bamboo, car finance, bank loans and other long-term loans.
Do this before, before you send in a complaint
Doing these things now will make your life easier later.
Get a copy of your TransUnion statutory credit report and keep it. After complaints are started, sometimes loans are deleted and you may want the full report if you later have to go to the Ombudsman.
If you still owe money to the lender, read Will an affordability claim hurt my credit record, and other questions. These looks at your options for stopping paying, the effect on your credit record etc.
If the rest of your finances are difficult, look into a Debt Management Plan (DMP) where you make one affordable payment a month to StepChange. This gets you into a safe financial position as these affordability complaints can take a long time to go through at the Ombudsman. Winning a complaint then speeds up the DMP.
Unless you can afford to make this month’s payment without borrowing again, cancel the CPA to the lender at your bank. Otherwise the lender may take the money and you will be in a mess.
If your loan was sold to a debt collector you complain to the original lender. But also tell the debt collector that you are disputing the debt. It is a good idea to carry on making payments to the debt collector if they are affordable.
Start your complaint & get loan details
Find the lender’s email address for complaints from this list.
Put “AFFORDABILITY COMPLAINT” as the subject of your email:
You should never have given me these unaffordable loans. Paying you each month left me with too little money so I had to keep borrowing to get through the next month.
You should have realised from the number of times I borrowed that my debt problems were getting worse. It was not responsible to continue to lend to me. [Add more details eg how often you borrowed or rolled loans if you know them, how the amount borrowed generally went up etc]
[Include/change this if your credit record would have shown big problems:] My credit reports would have shown all my other debts and problems including late payments/defaults /CCJs/debt management.]
I am asking you to refund the interest and any charges I paid, plus statutory interest, and to delete any negative information from my credit record.
[delete this sentence if you know what all your loans were.] I know the difficulties your loans have caused me but I no longer have all the loan details. Please send me a list, showing for each loan when it was taken out, how much interest and charges you added, and what I repaid. This will enable me to assess any refund you offer me.
[delete this sentence if none of your loans were sold.]If a loan was later sold to a debt collector, please inform me of the date of sale and the name of the debt collector.
Some ways to improve this
Add any other points that help you describe what happened to you. You don’t need to list the loans – the lenders knows them.
Some examples:
- “I took out another loan with xxxx to pay you.”
- “Sometimes I borrowed to pay the rent and then had to top-up to get money for food.”
- if you weren’t treated fairly while you were borrowing or when you could not make a payment, add a bit about this.
You can attach bank statements if you like, This is a good idea as these show how unaffordable the loans were for you. If you have gambling showing, this helps your complaint, it doesn’t harm it.
I don’t know if many lenders actually read what you send them. I
it’s easy to make these complaints – you don’t need to calculate what refund you should get or quote laws.
Only one loan?
The template refers to multiple loans because that is what normally happens with payday lenders.
When you only had one loan and it was large, read Refunds from large loans and use the template there.
If you only had one loan and it was small, this is going to be a very difficult complaint to win. If you have borrowed once or twice from 5 leaders, that is much more difficult to win an affordability complaint than having 4 or 5 loans from two lenders.
Waiting for a reply from the lender
This email starts your affordability complaint.
They may send the list of loans first and later respond to your complaint. So don’t be surprised if you get sent info on the loans but nothing about your request for a refund.
When you get your loan information, you can send in more details about your complaint if you want. You don’t have to do this, your complaint has already begun and the lender has to reply.
The lender should reply to your complaint within 8 weeks from when you send the email, not when they acknowledge it. Make a note in your diary for 8 weeks time and chase the lender up if you don’t get a reply.
Don’t be surprised if you have to wait until the end of the 8 weeks to get response – this is common.
Send your bank statements or other information?
Some lenders ask you to send them a copy of your credit record, payslips or bank statements.
Credit record – the lender can check your credit record themselves if they want. But you should download a copy of your credit record asap as the Ombudsman will ask for it. Don’t put this off, the sooner you get a report downloaded, the further back it goes which is good.
Don’t send payslips.
It is a good idea to send bank statements. But think twice about the cost of copying and postage if there are a lot. Some lenders seem to ignore them if you do send them.
Again this is a good point to get those bank statements even if you do not want to send them as they will help an Ombudsman claim a lot. You can get them going back at least 6 years even if the account has been closed.
Lender says No or makes a poor offer
If the lender rejects your complaint or offers you a small amount, don’t be depressed. You may still have a very good case!
It is easy and free to send your case to the Financial Ombudsman where many thousands of people have won their payday loan complaints, despite being rejected by the lender.
Give up?
Some lenders try to make your case sound bad when it isn’t. People have had large amounts refunded after a complete rejection!
Just ignore any of the following comments, they do not mean you have a weak case:
- they relied on your loan applications and you didn’t give accurate facts – see Lender says I lied for more about this;
- you repaid some loans early – this doesn’t prove the loans were affordable, just that you were trying to save interest;
- your borrowing didn’t go up every time – irrelevant, what matters is that you kept borrowing;
- you had a good enough credit score or they didn’t legally have to check your credit record – if you only had one or two small loans that is true. But if the loans were large or you kept borrowing, they should have looked more closely;
- some loans are over 6 years old – the Ombudsman will look at these even if the lender says they won’t!
A good enough case to go to the Ombudsman?
If you don’t know what to do, ask in the comments below this article. Accepting an offer settles your whole complaint – you can’t change your mind later.
Don’t worry that you will lose a small offer by going to the Ombudsman – this doesn’t happen.
Some points to think about:
- if you are offered a refund on only a few loans, don’t accept it if you think the lender should have realised a lot of the other loans were unaffordable;
- an offer to write off your current balance may sound convenient … but it may be very poor if you should get a refund as well;
- if getting defaults or late payments removed from your credit record is important to you, are you happy with what the lender is proposing to do? Don’t assume your credit record will be cleared if the lender didn’t mention this.
One or two loan cases are hard to win at the Ombudsman. It’s probably best to give up on one or two loan cases unless:
- the loan was large. Here is one single loan case that was won even though it was an instalment loan and the borrower had a good income. And another single loan case for a loan of £1,000. You can win cases for smaller amounts if the repayment would have been a large amount of your income; or
- you still owe money.
Don’t delay too long – there is a 6-month time limit after a lender rejects your complaint to send the case to the ombudsman. When you aren’t sure, send the complaint to FOS. This is free and easy to do – let FOS make the decision.
How to send a complaint to FOS
Put in a separate complaint about each lender.
Don’t wait until all your lenders have replied before sending the first one to the Ombudsman!
FOS’s “complain online” option is easy and takes you through your complaint step by step.
You can just copy what you said in your complaint to the lender. You can add more details, for example, if you disagree with what the lender replied to you.
If some of your loans were over 6 years ago, tell the Ombudsman when and how you found out about these complaints. For example:
“I knew the loans were causing me difficulty in 2018, but I thought this was my fault for being bad with money. I didn’t find out that the lender should have checked the loans were affordable until June 2024 when my brother told me about these claims/I saw an advert from a claims company on Facebook/I read an article about these claims” – change this so it is right for your case!
Things to attach:
- the reply you have had from the lender.
- bank statements if you have them. Ideally from 3 months before your first loan until the last loan was repaid or you defaulted on it. This strengthens your case, showing how unaffordable the loans were. You can still get bank statements even if your account is closed – if you don’t have them, start the process of getting them now, don’t wait until FOS asks for them.
- a copy of your TransUnion Statutory credit report
- if you dont have the credit agreements, FOS will get them from the lender.
What happens after you have sent a case to FOS
You will normally be contacted within a couple of weeks and asked for a copy of your credit record and your bank statements if you haven’t sent these. If you have sent these on one complaint, then when you complain about a different lender FOS will use the ones they already have.
After this initial contact, your case will wait for the lender to send FOS your case file and then wait to be picked up by an adjudicator who will make a decision on it.
If you are still making payments to the lender, tell the lender you want to reduce these to an affordable amount. This will make waiting for an Ombudsman decision much less stressful for you.
The Financial Ombudsman has a two-stage process. Most cases are settled by the first “adjudicator” stage but about 10% go to the second “Ombudsman” stage.
A few problem cases
Don’t ask for a refund:
- if you are bankrupt now or have been bankrupt in the past – any refund would go to the Official Receiver.
- if you are in an IVA, as refunds will go to your IVA firm not to you. If your IVA has finished the refund may still be sent to your old IVA firm.
- if you are in a DRO now, getting a refund may mean your DRO is cancelled!
More help
You can ask a question in the comments below – you may get a reply from someone who has been in your exact situation.
Don’t use a claims management company. They are expensive and often incompetent. It’s easy to do this yourself and you can ask questions below and get replies from other readers who have done this.
Card & catalogue affordability complaints
Can you get an overdraft refund?
Could a Debt Relief Order help you?
Carole says
Hi Sara,
Do you know how to contact FLM quick or is they are still a company?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
now known as Amigo! See https://debtcamel.co.uk/how-to-complain-guarantor-loan/ for guarantor loan complaints.
KarenH says
Hi Sara,
I have 2 complaints with the Ombudsman regarding Satsuma & Lending Stream. Ombudsmen have requested bank statements & copy of my credit report. I’ve sent my bank statements with no problem but I’ve spent ages trying to work out how to send credit report & still not succeeded! Please can someone help me. Much appreciated!
Jay ant says
Hi Sara
I’ve been in a DMP since 2016. I originally borrowed £23,000 in various loans/CC/pay day loans. I entered into the DMP and what I have now realised is all of the loans put the total amount of interest owed onto their balances. So with likely loans I borrowed £5000 and they say I owed them £8980.00 even though I went into the DMP only 3 months after borrowing the money. Is this legal? I’ve noticed a lot of the companies have done this and after 4 years I’ve only paid off £1000 from the original amount borrowed. But £10,000 in payments. After finding this I want to settle with them all for a figure but I want to see if I will get the interest repaid first. Do you think this is possible while in a DMP?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes that is what typically happens with loans. Unlike credit cards you are liable for the full amount from the start.
After finding this I want to settle with them all for a figure
you want to offer a full & final settlement? where will you get the money from? How much do you still owe in your DMP?
If you think the Likely Loan was unaffordable, then send them an affordability complaint, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/ for details. And the same with other debts in your DMP. This could dramatically reduce the amount you owe in your DMP. And make it easier to repay the rest or settle it.
Chris says
Hi Again!
The Ombudsman gave LS their final decision and my acceptance of the outcome two weeks ago and I’ve not heard a peep from LS yet!
Are they supposed to resolve everything within 28 days, or do I have to wait until they acknowledge the Ombudsman decision to me first? Either way it’s very frustrating!
Ts says
I have just received my cheque from Satsuma which concludes my 18 month turnaround from the payday loan trap.
When I was contacted by the administrators of WageDayAdvance to tell me that they would wipe my debt and I was entitled to redress, I couldn’t believe it. I always knew that you could claim from these companies, but with my good salary and gambling issues (which have now stopped) I thought I had no chance as it was entirely my fault. In the last 18 months I was able to recoup just over £21,000. I am very happy with that figure, but at the same time it shows how much of a hole I was in.
This site has some great info and the comments section really does help in keeping you motivated and hearing other people’s experiences.
Due to the size of the comment I’ll post the companies in the reply section.
Thank you to Sara and everyone who posts!
Ts says
SafetyNetCredit – I used these guys for over 2 years and they could see the issues I was having. Their reply was incorrect, as they stated they would pay me interest from when they raised my limit, which was 20 months of interest, but they said it was 12, after trying to correct them, they were rude and told me that was their final offer. I had an FOS complaint for 12 months, when I chased I was told it would be another 12 months as only a few adjudicators can work on SNC cases. With a lot falling into administration, I went back to SNC and took their offer, which was almost half what I was entitled to (according to their own findings) – £3480 paid
Ferratum – another I would pay back on pay day and take out the max again and again for over 18 months, they offered me £500. Went to FOS and won. – £2582 paid
Satsuma – Only had 4 loans so didn’t think I was in a strong position, they rejected my complaint. Went to the FOS anyway, they said that because of how many loans I had at one time, none of the loans should have been given. – £1588 paid
WageDay – the company that started all of this, £1750 loan was written off and £120 was paid by the administrators. – £1870 gained
Bamboo – I had 2 large loans with Bamboo, they were really good and offered to refund all interest from both loans. £1700, I then only had a hundred or so to pay off the loan. £1700 gained.
Ts says
WizzCash – didn’t expect much from them, as I used them less than other companies, but they replied in 2 weeks with a refund of all interest, great service – £1015 paid.
Sunny – A struggle to get hold of, they rejected my claim even though I would pay all their loans back on payday, and the same day re take out max loan so I only had to pay interest. They disagreed with FOS on some loans, but I accepted their offer – £2278 paid
SwiftSterling – Another one that I really abused by paying off the loan and taking it out the same day for months, they gave me an offer which wasn’t far off what the FOS would have, so I took it, a few weeks later they went into administration. £2116 paid
MyJar – Responded fairly quickly, but rejected my complaint. They agreed with the FOS and a quick payout – £2474 paid
LendingStream – Rejected my complaint also, even though my borrowing history was woeful, agreed with FOS. Took a long time to respond £2413 paid
Steve says
Hi. Last year I made a complaint to Microcredit ltd( Minicredit) through Resolver and it went unanswered so I forwarded it to the Financial Ombudsman, only to be told that the loan company had been in to liquidation. So my case was at a dead end , so I thought, until last week the FO got in touch with me saying they had been contacted by the administrator for Microcredit, to see if they had any further claims against that company. So I was given the email address and sent my complaint to them. I am still waiting for a reply but have my fingers crossed that I can get a resolution. The loan was for £300 back in 2010 and it was sold to Kapama Ltd who sent a statement last year for nearly £900. If it is agreed that they acted irresponsibly in the first place do you think that the loan can still be wiped off? I am not too bothered about compensation just the debt.
If I get a satisfactory resolution then it shows that not all brick walls are a dead end.
James says
Hi Sara,
I went into a DMP in Oct 18 and Satsuma/Provident is one of my creditors. I’ve noticed that, despite agreeing to the terms of my DMP, they have marked my credit file as ‘missed payment’ every month since Oct 18. So I emailed them about it and they came back saying that I would need to make an official complaint to proceed.
I have requested they scrub any trace of their company from my credit file and compensate me with a thinly veiled threat of an affordability complaint to follow up this one.
Today they’ve come back to me with a bizarre email, as follows;
—
Dear James
Thank you for your email and for confirming this for us!
I can totally understand why you would want to raise a complaint. If your credit file is as you have advised, then if I were in your shoes I too would be raising a complaint. Things will of course remain amicable between us. For now, I would like to offer our deepest apologies for reporting incorrectly to our credit file.
Your complaint has been raised. This should be resolved within 56 days. If it is not or you are dissatisfied with the final response, then you are more than welcome to take this to the Ombudsman. What are your thoughts?
—-
I’ve never had an email like that before when making a complaint to a PDL. Is this in a way admitting wrongdoing? Plus to ask me what I think of it at the end, it just seems very… casual?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Weird.
I suppose they may hop to avoid an affordabiltiy complaint by doing this.
but really if you think you have a good affordability complaint you should make it!
Dave L says
Just had a nice surprise today put in a complaint against SafetyNet credit on Monday as realised I had a previous account with themwhich was not included in mg last complaint from 2016. Today I received a response that my complaint was upheld and I’d be getting over £1000 refund Of my interest, 8% interest a year and they’ll take it off my credit file. I don’t think I can complain at that at all.
Sam says
Hi, i have just received an email from CashEuroNet Uk regarding quickquid application notice and witness statements . Anyone know how long the redress complaints may take with QQ? Thanks sam
Sara (Debt Camel) says
There isn’t a need for anyone to respond to the recent email, they are just telling you that QQhas applied to the court for more time to resolve the administration – that was expected.
Questions about the QQ administration are best asked on the main QQ page: https://debtcamel.co.uk/quickquid-casheuronet-administration/
Jay Ant says
I have also noticed on my credit file that 3 of the companies haven’t defaulted my accounts, even though I have been in a DMP for 4 years, is this normal? One of them The money shop has said I have made payments to them the last two months, which is untrue as I paused my plan. Any advice on this? They also haven’t defaulted my account and it says status open.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
see https://debtcamel.co.uk/dmp-credit-rating/
P says
Anyone had any experience with irresponsible lending complaints against 118118 money at all.
Just heard back from adjudicator who ruled in 118118’s favour. Not happy.
I have sent it to FO as that second pair of eyes to look at complaint as I believe it was irresponsible lending considering position I was in at that time.
Was wondering what best angle is to go for to try to swing complaint in my favour as it involves a lot of interest I have paid which I am hoping to get back. A hell of a lot of interest.
Any responses would be appreciated as I helped a lot of people in the past on here. Now I need help. Thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Most 118 discussion is on this other page: https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/
I suggest you read https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/businesses/complaints-deal/consumer-credit/unaffordable-lending and work out from that the points most likely to help your case.
Linda says
I’m waiting for the outcome of a Sunny complaint, their website states “the application process is unavailable at the moment” any sign that they could be in trouble ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Possibly, or they could just be updating the website, or have decided not to lend at all at the moment because of Covid-19.
paul says
Applications are still closed. Really worrying as I’ve got a massive claim with them worth 1000s. I won’t be the other one either. Has anyone spoke to them? They’ve taken live chat down as well!
Dd says
I’m worried too , just offered me a payout
Neil says
I’m in exactly the same boat, terrible sense of dread that I should have accepted the very low offer they made me! 🙄
Nick says
It appears they’ve taken down their twitter too or I can’t find it anymore I’m awaiting the final decision from the ombudsman in the next few days so very anxious now too
Ade says
Me too!!! Mine is with the adjudicator, but I can’t even get an update off them either. I have no idea how my complaint is progressing. And now I’m nervous sunny will go under too and then I’ll get feck all… Grrrr
Nick says
They ignored two deadlines from the adjudicator and then when it was in the queue for the ombudsman they responded to the adjudicator with a really low offer. I had to wait 8 weeks for the case to be passed to an ombudsman
Alan says
I’ve sent my bank details to them and awaiting nearly 3k. I’ve just got a horrendous feeling about it now! There live chat hasn’t been active for weeks so wouldn’t look in to that too much!
River says
Hi
Just jumping on this, as from reading the comments, I am getting slightly worried – I had a final ombudsman decision in my favour 2 weeks ago. I then emailed Sunny every other day and copied in the management asking for the process to be completed. I then received an email on Monday from Paul Baldry stating that they had received the decision and would arrange the redress within 2 weeks. I really hope this is not a bad sign as this is pretty much my final result and it’s a life changing result for me.
Kathryn says
Hi, could someone help me with a safetynet credit complaint? Sent email last Fri. Received letter today (really quick!!) saying out of the £388 debt I only have to pay £197. 85. Does anyone think it is to low or do I must accept it? Thanks!
Tracey says
I have a question…..when regarding mental health issues the ombudsman seem to use ‘ought reasonably been aware of’ an awful lot of times. I get the feeling that this phrase is used as a cop out. Does anyone know a loophole regarding this phrase and mental health issues, as I can not get the fos to understand how serious my mental health was.
gloria says
Hi Sara
Do you have the CDO email address for Oakam Ltd as I had a final decision from FOS on the 26th may in my favour. and i have had no contact from oakam to date and when I called them today customer service can not give me any information and would not let me speak to any that was dealing with my file.
Leanne says
Hi Sara,
I put a complaint in with Uploan (sister company to Peachy) as they loaned me £500 and after my first payment loaned me a further £1550 without any proof of income, bank statements etc.
Uploan rejected my complaint and it went to FOS, but a week later peachy went into administration and FOS said there’s nothing they can do now. What’re my next steps? – I absolutely agree with paying the principal sum, but they’re chasing me for almost £3k! They wont agree a payment plan so im currently paying them £15 a month by bnk transfer.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The Administrators have not yet set out how people will be able to make claims to them for unaffordable lending.
You agree you have to repay them the £1550, and at £15 a month that will take a while. If £15 a month is all you can afford, I suggest you just wait and see what the administrators say next.
Kayleigh says
Hi can somebody please clarify how much I’m getting from my Myjar refund please, this is part of there response…..
Taking the above factors into consideration we have made a decision in your favour, therefore MYJAR will be partially upholding your complaint on the basis that lending to you from loan five may not have been appropriate.
You currently have an outstanding balance in relation to your final loan. We will waive all interest and charges applied to this loan, resulting in the remaining balance relating solely to the principal amount you borrowed (£1,000). From this we will deduct any payments you have made – totalling £1221.20, meaning you then have an outstanding balance of £0.00. Leaving you with a redress payment of £3,721.12.
We will also include an additional 8% statutory interest calculated on the interest and charges that you paid to us. This amount is subject to 20% tax and this has been deducted, leaving a net interest payment of £736.14 due to you. This brings the total refundable amount to £4,457.26. A tax certificate regarding this payment is available should you require one.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They will be paying you £4457.26.
They have deducted £184 for tax – if you are a basic rate taxpayer you can probably reclaim this from HMRC, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-payday-refund-get-back-tax/
Kayleigh says
Thankyou Sara. Also I owe around £350 on my final loan. Has this been written off do you know?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes.
They said “We will waive all interest and charges applied to this loan, resulting in the remaining balance relating solely to the principal amount you borrowed (£1,000). From this we will deduct any payments you have made – totalling £1221.20, meaning you then have an outstanding balance of £0.00. ”
So that means you have paid more to the last loan already than the amount you borrowed, correct?
George says
Hi Sara
I got a redress which I have the details below however I got a total Redress for 2073.95 after negotiating.
My question is do I need to contact my pay day lender for the breakdown figures for 2073.95 for tax refund?
Loan interest which we agree to refund
£ 1146.64
Plus 8% simple Interest
£ 284.14
Less HMRC Tax at 20 %
£ 56.83
TOTAL REFUND
£ 1373.95
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you got an extra 700? That sounds like a pretty round number so probably the 8% & tax deducted stayed the same, but you need to ask the lender to confirm this.
George says
Yes that’s right, I negotiated because all loans won’t included and it all added to 700 missing from their original offer.
So do I need to email the person that agreed the final figure?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes, just ask if the 8% and the tax deducted remain the same
George says
Thanks Sara will do.
Just one more thing is it better to claim tax refund on separate form since I have another One to claim or to send them one by one?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can put the two on the one tax R40 form by adding up the numbers. One claim per tax year is the easiest way.
James says
Hi Sara,
So I have a debt with provident, not sure if its am old provident loan or satsuma debt, now it is sitting at 5 missed payments on credit file and everymonth they just keep putting it to 5 months missed payment again and have been for 2 years.
I spoke to experian and they said its basically down to provident wither they change it to default or not and it will start the 6 years again.
Is this allowed and is there anything I can do?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You don’t know if you stopped paying Satsuam or Provident 2 years ago?
James says
Sorry I had loans with them both, I am guessing its the satsuma loan, under the name provident. My worry is this could sit on my credit file for 5 years under missed payments then they change it to default, seems unfair.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you can ask for a default to be added back when it got to 5 months. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/debt-default-date/ for how and what to say.
BUT have you looked at making an affordability complaint? Against either Satsuma or provident or both if you have used both? If you win that, you would get all the negative marks removed from your record, so could be good to try that first?
Adrian says
The Telegraph say Sunny are going into administration. That’s that then.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
From the article https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2020/06/27/covid-pressure-pushes-sunny-loans-brink-administration/:
“A spokesman for Elevate Credit International said: “Unfortunately, due to the ongoing economic uncertainty as a result of coronavirus and the continued regulatory pressure on the business, we have had to take the difficult decision to give notice to appoint administrators.”
That isn’t technically administration yet, but it makes it look almost inevitable.
Dd says
Agreed my complaint with them last Monday, theyve closed my account but not got the payout yet, not looking good then
Nick says
Absolutely gutted wish I’d taken the low offer now but I suppose at least they can’t irresponsibly lend to others in the future. Trying to be positive that another of these horrendous companies are ceasing to exist as I would hate for anyone to be in the situation I was in. Also, I don’t have to check my emails a million times a day to see if I’ve had a final decision anymore.
Luucy says
Gutted is an understatement !
Simeon says
Brian,
Had a complaint denied by SNC and sent to ombudsman. Was with them for about 6 ‘months to be honest but they agreed with me and overturned the decision by safety net.
Once safety net agree and then ask you for bank details payment usually made by two weeks
Adam says
I made a payment deferral with Satsuma on both my loans because I literally could not afford to pay them with being furloughed. On the second month they reported straight to my credit file as missed payment and are saying this is the FCA guidelines. Is this fair of them to do this? I am resuming full payments from 01/07 now that I am back to work.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Did you speak to Satsuma on the phone about the deferral? If you did, did they explain your credit record would be affected in the second month?
As a separate matter, do you think the loans are actually affordable now you back at work? read the article above and think if you should make an affordability complint. If you win that, any negative marks are removed from your credit record.
Simon says
Hi Sara,
I’m currently in a DMP and I should be coming into a lump sum of £5k in the next couple of weeks… my DMP amount is in excess of £8k… do you think I would be able to negotiate full and final settlements with my creditors for less than the amount borrowed? E.g. I owe 1 lender £3000 and they are currently getting £75 a month from my DMP, if I offer them a lump sum of £2400 are they likely to accept in the interest of getting their money back quicker or am I being overly optimistic?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How long ago did your DMP start?
Simon says
Hi Sara,
Started in November last year.
Simon
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, then they may be prepared to accept that reduction. After just a couple of moneth they probably wopuldn’t, after 5 years they would probably take less!
But you have put your comment on a page about payday loan refunds, have you made affordabilty complaints?
Lee sharratt says
So another payday lender goes into administration. While the fo have my complaint. Seems to be an occurrence. All good I suppose. But less so with the outcome of my complaint
Ed says
My sunny case was updated last week adjudicator rules 30 loans should not have been lent and the usual refund etc – I really hope these can still be wiped from credit record by the administrators that will be of more benefit to me (although obviously gutted about the refund)
dan says
can someone tell me how to download your credit report from credit karma?
completely baffled
Sara (Debt Camel) says
get your Transunion statutory credit report instead – same data, less pretty, easy to download
https://www.transunionstatreport.co.uk/
Cazza says
Has anyone had any positive response from Satsuma? I had one small loan for £100 last April and then took a larger one for £1900 two months later which I clearly couldn’t afford.
I have sent my credit report and bank statements showing that the month before I had taken out a £5000 loan with Amigo, numerous Lending stream loans and a loan with My Jar but as it was only my second loan I don’t know how they will look at it?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes, some good recent results from Satsuma.
Have you also complained about Lending Stream and Amigo?
Cazza says
Yes Lending Stream went to the FOS and was upheld, Amigo I was amazed at and they agreed and have removed all interest on both original and top up loans.
My Jar paid out on one which I wasn’t expecting.
I also have a complaint outstanding with Onstride which is dragging out because of the administration but is causing me huge issues as they are relentlessly chasing for money.
I am awaiting a response with SNC
Anon says
Hi Sara,
I recently received a refund from SafetyNet Credit, and I’m now worrying that the payment is going to affect my Universal Credit this month. Do you know if it will?
I’ve used the money to pay off other things so I can’t use it to live on! Panic mode on full!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
a refund is not treated as income for Universal credit.
RD says
Hi Sara.
Bamboo rejected my complaint for following reasons.
1) Credit report had no adverse info. – Report shows that I had a delinquent status on one of my three credit cards with numerous missed payments and arrears. My remaining two credit cards showed that my balance was over my limit most months and I was paying minimum amount each month. £516 balance/£24 payment and £213 balance/£6 payment.
2) Loan was affordable after comparing my income against Office of National Statistics Data. – They did not include my application I&E in the DSAR, so are they able to take I&E as a statistical average for a loan?
I also have a link to a FOS case where they looked at bank statements and saw that the expenditure was a lot higher, so if loan company had done sufficient checks they would have saw that didn’t have any disposable income. My bank statements were full of gambling and I was left with nothing each week.
It was my first loan but it was for £5000. Do I have enough grounds to send my complaint to FOS?
Thanks
RD says
https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/files/187885/DRN7750382.pdf
Sara (Debt Camel) says
£5000 is a VERY large loan and Bamboo knew from your credit record that you were not in good financial shape. They should have looked closely at your situation. definitely send this to FOS.
Have you asked why they did not include your application I&E in the DSAR?
RD says
All my loans applications were made at this time and they were all £1000+. Am I able to say that they all should have noticed my poor credit card financial situation?
After your comment, I have replied Asking why it was not included in my DSAR.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes.
You may not win all these cases but a single loan that size is well worth taking to FOS. See this other page for large bad credit loans https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/
Stacey says
Bamboo sent me the same rejection letter I told them I’m sending to fos. They said fine they’re confident they did appropriate checks. I sent it to FOS and when FOS picked it up bamboo came back to me say they were in talks with fos but they had a second look and they realised they should’ve looked closer etc etc and releasing my guarantor and the high interest, and I’m paying what’s left back through my dmp. So hang in there
Fliss says
Hi, has anyone had a reply or acknowledgement from 24/7 Moneybox? I know they’re in administration, the advice was to contact them via email on their page. I have done this a couple of time and have received no ‘thank you for your email’, or ‘we have received your email’ etc. I had a hideous amount of loans with them. Should I take this further or will they already have my details?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you phone them on 0207 183 8078 and ask what is happening, to confirm they have your complaint.
Do you still owe them money?
Jess says
Hello,
I got a reply back from Sunny last week not upholding my complaint but agreeing to clear my balance on 4 loans which was around £400 I accepted and they closed my account. Do I need to contact my bank about repayments not going out or will Sunny have done this
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Definitely cancel the CPA to Sunny – why risk them making a mistake?
ME says
Hi Sara,
Just after some advice regarding Sunny payments. I have two outstanding loans and was on a repayment arrangement with them but I had also put in a complaint to them 7 weeks ago. I understand the process with regard to my complaint now administration has been initiated but have never been in this position before with the debt still outstanding.
Do I continue to allow the repayment amounts to be taken from my account (next one due to be taken tomorrow)? Sunny had previously advised that if I failed to make the payments I could face default, something which I am keen to avoid however, I am unsure if the same rules apply once once the administrators take over.
In some ways I want to pay it off as I want to get rid of the debt and know the administrators’ process of dealing with refunds can take quite a while but wanted some advice as to whether or not this may be the best way forward.
Thank you in advance.
ME
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how many loans did you previously have from sunny?
ME says
Hi Sara,
I have had 6 loans in total from them. 4 fully repaid and currently have 2 outstanding that I am in repayment arrangements for with Sunny.
ME
Craig says
Hi Sara,
I have complained to Money Boat about a single loan that I now realise was unaffordable to me. They have replied with 2 days of my complaint to basically say that it was my fault as they based their lending decision on my expenditure figures. They go on to say that I will have committed an offence to supply them with incorrect figures and talk about CIFAs. They then say they adjusted my expenditure up based on a credit search and that the loan was still affordable. At the time of applying my credit file would clearly have shown 2CCJs, water rates arrears and multiple payday loans in default. As part of my complaint I said that I felt the fairest way to resolve was to remove all interest and charges from the loan and set up a repayment plan that was affordable to me. I have submitted a SAR but will have to wait until27/07/20 at the latest. Can they blame me for my figures if I got my figures wrong? Thank you in advance for any help
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how large was the loan?
Craig says
It was for £400 over 6 months
Sara (Debt Camel) says
In that case it is pretty unlikely you would win a complaint at the Ombudsman. 1 loan complaints are only normally won if the loan is very large.
Tom says
Hi there, Provident (more specifically Satsuma) have rejected my complaint. I will send it to the ombudsman as I think it has real merit.
I am complaining about two current loans (that they lent me concurrently) with outstanding balances. Can I insist that they suspend collection activities whilst the complaint is looked at by the ombudsman? I don’t know what my options are here. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can stop paying.
If you do, it will harm your credit record (but that will all be wiped clean if you win your case) and they may add some more interest (but not a lot probably as it will probably hit the legal limit quite soon).
If you can’t afford to keep paying you should definitely stop. If you could afford it it is a herder decision.
Carole says
Is there any information Or success on Wizz cash and cash4u now Complaints? I seem to be having problems getting any information from wizzcash regarding what loans I had.
Neil says
Hi Sara, I (retrospectively very stupidly) turned down a very low offer from Sunny last week, and referred it to the FOS. Is the likelihood I’ll just go into the pile of low end low compensation, 10p in the pound type claimants now?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes.
You would be in exactly the same position probably if you had accepted their low offer as it’s unlikely you would already have been paid.
Simon says
Does anybody have any experience of Moneyboat? I made a complaint due to gambling issues and sent complaint and proof cos bank statements. The disposable income part will be way over with these transactions.
They refused my complaint and said saying I had issues now could mean they report me for fraud?! I’ve passed to FOS and told them what they can do about their fraud threat. They were always horrendous to deal with. No other company has mentioned fraud?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes they say that to everyone – no-one has had a problem after sending the complaint to FOS.
Scott says
Again another Company goes into administration and people are left as unsecured creditors.
The FCA have again let people down with their failure to act quickly enough and step in when companies fail to learn from previous FOS rulings and allow them to continue trading whilst rejecting valid complaints.
All those FOS fees wouldn’t have helped the balance sheet and their finances.
It is despicable that they have been allowed to ignore previous decisions and have been allowed to continue trading right up till the last minute and claw in money for directors/shareholders before entering administration.
PPI was considered a great scandal and the FSA was abolished as a result of this and the FCA created.
Continued….
Scott says
No one seems concerned about the payday loan scandal as needless to say PPI affected all walks of life but payday loans only affect the lower earners.
My thoughts go out to all those people that have missed out on refunds from Wonga, QQ, TMS and all the others that went into administration.
Should anyone have any complaint in with any lender and still owe money, i would urge you to stop paying anymore money to them until your complaint is resolved.
Dispute the balance owed and remind the companies of their obligations for disputed debt. It is time we protected ourselves from companies entering administration.
Obviously for complaints with no chance of winning keep paying. (There are some chancers)
I done my journey years ago with the help of this site and I now help as many people as I can and I now think it is time to hold back payments as odds on you will pay more than you will get back.
good luck everyone
Scott
Marius says
Hi everyone!
I’m Marius and I have a loan with Amigo , first it was £5500 like 2 years ago I topped up twice so I went to £8500 with my guarantor.
I pay £414 each month and I still owe them £7200, how is this possible ???
I was looking on my statement and I was charged in a couple months £470 interest and my monthly payment was £414 how is that possible?
I feel like I’m struggling and I cannot see any changes to the amount even if I pay £414 a month, I changed the repayment date a couples of times and I payed like 7 repayments before the top up and now I think after the top up another 12 with this amount £414
Can I get a refund?
And also my guarantor will be affected if I get a refund?
Is a huge APR and I feel like will never end..
Robert says
Hi
I’ve had my adjudicator say that Sunny should pay me loans 2 to 21 but Sunny have offered only 12 to 21. I don’t want to accept this as it is less than half the amount. My adjudicator states in her email:
“If you are not happy with the offer, please let us know why by 10 July 2020 and we’ll continue to investigate.”
What do I need to say for my reason why? Its that I agree with the adjudicator and not Sunny, is that enough?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Bad news, Sunny went into administration yesterday.
Mesilly says
Hi,
I’ve just had my claim against My Jar over ruled by the adjudicator. My Jar now have until the 14th July to respond. My question is, are they bothering to even respond to delay payout, so I will then have to go into a queue for an ombudsman to review, does anyone know?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Your complaint has been upheld?
Myjar accept a lot of adjudicator decisions.
Mesilly says
Yes, upheld sorry. MyJar didn’t uphold my complaint so i sent it to the ombudsman. The adjudicator has upheld my complaint for my second loan so hopefully I will have £1,6K heading my way soon. I just have to wait and see if My Jar responds by the 14th July (which I’m guessing will be to the judicator?). What is the timescales and processes for payments do you know? Do they have so many weeks to pay from the 14th July and will MyJar contact me direct please??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
My jar will go back to the adjudicator and say they accept the decision.
I assume you have already accepted it?
Normally its 28 days from when they accept.
Tom says
Hi all,
I am hoping for some advice about a settlement offer from MyJar please.
I had 2x loans with them, 1x £100 (repaid £132.80 – repaid in full) and 1x £975 (repaid £0 – currently a balance of £1950 with a debt collector, payment plan set up of £25p/m as of last month).
I have made an affordability complaint and they have partially upheld in my favour, and will be completing the following actions:
Waive all interest and charges applied to loan 2, therefore making the balance remaining the original amount of £975.
Remove any negative information from my credit file.
My thoughts are that my bank statements and credit file (supplied as per the advice on this page) show a high level of defaults, missed payments and other payday loans and that if they partially uphold the claim, there must be an element of validity, however, I do not want to miss out on this offer (as it is better than the current position) and then lose at FOS.
I am unsure what is best to do, accept or take to the FOS. Please can I have your advice?
Thanks,
Tom
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sounds like a good offer to me. the first loan was very small, you are VERY unlikely to win on that loan.
What they have offered to do with the second large loan is what FOS would normally say.
It is VERY VERY rare that FOS will say you should not have to repay the amount you borrowed.
Joseph says
Are Satsuma going under? Looks like they’re referring people’s application to another website
Sara (Debt Camel) says
oh interesting!
But they are referring you to Provident which is another part of the same company. This can’t be because they are going bust.
This could just be some temporary Covid-19 thing – all lenders have cut back a lot. I think we will have to wait and see it its still there in a few months to see if Provident are ditching the Satsuma brand name for good.
Claire says
Hi Sara
I am hoping you can help me.
I still have Wonga Loans on my Equifax credit report that should have been removed, so I contacted Grant Thornton and they advised they had be removed from Experian and Transunion but Equifax was delayed and I should contact them directly. I have now contacted Equifax several times stating that they were mis-sold loans and should be removed, attaching the Wonga email with all the loan numbers as well as highlighting them all on the Equifax report. I am having no luck at getting these removed as Equifax just keep replying with the same thing as below:
We understand your concern about your accounts from WDFC Uk Limited T/A Wonga.Com(I) and WDFC Uk Limited T/A Wonga.Com 2 (I) still showing on your credit report. We would like to inform you that your credit agreement information remains on your credit report for six years from the date that the account was settled or defaulted, whichever comes first.
Am I correct that these should be removed immediately as they were mis-sold and the 6 years does not apply? I am really not sure what to do next.
Thanks Claire
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is best asked on the Wonga page https://debtcamel.co.uk/wonga-has-stopped-issuing-loans/
Helen says
Is anyone still awaiting redness from money shop payday Uk I submitted through portal and heard nothing
G says
Hi Sara, I took £700 satsuma loan on 04/2018 and I still have account with them. The total amount to repay was £1200. I started to make payment just few months ago. Can I still make affordability complaint? Also I had one more loan with satsuma before this one, it was smaller.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes you can still complain if you think the loan was unaffordable. 2 loan cases can be hard to win but £700 is a lot so this is worth trying.
You may also want to ask for an affordable payment arrangement now if you are struggling to make the payments.
G says
I’ve just checked my account is says it is in arrears do you think I can win this to be removed from my credit score history also?
Many thanks!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
if you win an affordability complaint (and I said this was well worth trying, that doesn’t mean you are odds on to win it) then any negative marks on your credit record are deleted.
Gerda says
Hi Sara, hope you can help me with this.
I had a loan from swift sterling back in 2018 original amount was £700 I wasn’t paying it and they passed me to creditor paycrs. I’m paying now through creditors for a while and I still have outstanding balance of £916.58 do you think I still can make affordability claim for it? As I’m paying £14.79 a month and also I have other loans to pay. And if yes, is the first step I need to contact Swift Sterling directly and straight after inform creditor that I made affordability claim, after all done is any chance that creditor will start CCJs on me? Also I tried to log in to Swift Sterling but seems my account was deleted.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How much have you paid to the debt so far, to SS or the debt collector?
Gerda says
Around £353 since 01.2019.
Thank you
Mark says
Just looking for a answer really…I had multiple loans with payday uk, Quick quid, Pounds to pocket, Wonga and Sunny over the years and put in complaints through a claims company in Aug 2018. I have up to now recieved nothing back. Does nearly 2 years sound like a long time to be waiting? I only found this site after and have seen over time that alot of peoples claims have been in the region of 8 weeks before a payout. Many thanks if if anybody could answer my question.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
One of the problems of using a claims company is the often abysmal communication.
You need to ask them what is happening.
Wonga payouts were in February. If the CC didn’t put your claim into wonga or to Payday Uk it’s now too late
Mark says
Ok thanks. I just feel that if everything was done back in 2018 when I first approached the company, I should of recieved something because alot of the payday loan companies were still in buisness back then. But with them now all going bust I shall receive basically nothing.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I agree. But I don’t know if a complaint was made on your behalf and rejected, in which case you should be advised whether it was worth taking to the Ombudsman, or the claims company never entered your complaint, in which case you should be asking them for compensation.
G says
Hi Sara, hope you can help me with this. Thank you in advance.
I had 5 Ferratum loans now all have been paid off. Amount wasn’t really big up to £200, but the last one I took 06/2018 and I wasn’t paying so they passed me to creditor and I paid last payment of my balance on 08/2019 through creditor. Do you think I can still make a affordability claim?
Thank you!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes you can – it’s obviously not the strongest of claims, but it’s not unreasonable with 5 loans.
If you would be happy with this, you could amend the standard template to say you only want a refund on the last loan and the negative mark removed from your credit record.
G says
Hi Sara,
One of last questions is about uncle buck. I had one loan before and when I took second one on 31.05.2018 original amount was £300 after I missed payment on 27.06.2018 it was already £578.90 then I started to make payments by £45 each month for 3 months. And then I missed one payment and they passed me to creditor with a balance of £443.90 and I’m still paying until now. Now left to pay £71.18.
Can I make affordability claim for this one?
Thank you very much!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how large was the first loan from UB?
G says
It was around £160
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You would be very unlikely win an affordability complaint with just those two loans, they are too small.
steve says
i sent a complaints email to Mr lender in May , I havent heard anything back from them at all – Not even aknowledging
Is this normal ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Did the email bounce back as undelivered? Have you tried phoning them and asking if they have your complaint?
steve says
I used the email from your website , i have emailed them again but to no response
Sara (Debt Camel) says
phone them up and ask what is happening to your complaint!
RD says
HI Sara.
I sent a complaint to cash on go/peachy, which they rejected. I believe that they are wrong. 4/10 loans upheld my complaints. (still waiting for remaining 5).
With your advice I emailed the administrators with an upheld FOS case (12/6/20), but I’ve not heard anything back at all.
What should I do?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ask why they haven’t responded?
There are no set rules about what to do in this set of situation.
Franki says
Hi Sara
I would firstly like to thank you again for your website. Your information has been so invaluable to me I am so grateful. Anyway.. one of my refund requests with lending stream has been denied. They sold the loan to a debt management company lantern whilst the complaint was going on – is this okay to happen?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes they can sell any debt they want.
How many loans did you have from lending stream before this last defaulted one?
Franki says
I had 4/5 altogether
Sara (Debt Camel) says
then that complaint is worth sending to the Finacial Ombudsman to look at.
Lucia says
Hi,
I had loans with cash generator few years ago. Did anyone ever tried to claim unaffordability with them? And if so, is it worth to claim back as it was more than 6 years ago. They stopped lending in 2015. Thanks.
James Stevens says
Does anyone know what is going on with Piggbank loans and 247 moneybox? PiggyBank went into administration in December and I received an email of a proposed redress in January but that’s been it, and no update. I understand it’s been difficult times but that’s pretty long
James says
Hi All,
Has anyone had any correspondence from Lending Stream in the past couple of weeks? I put in a complaint at the start of March which they acknowledged, then midway through I received notice that it may take longer (16 weeks)
I am now on 19+ weeks and they are not even acknowledging my emails anymore. I will be forwarding to Ombudsman but concerned that they seem to be completely blanking my attempts to get any info
Michael says
I put my complaint into Lending Stream and about 6th week I got the email saying that due to Covid there is another 8 weeks added on. I said I didn’t recognize the additional 8 weeks, I am not 100% sure if FOS have given their blessing for them to extend 8 weeks. When I hit my 8th week I just went to FOS, seems to be the best approach for LS is to stall and delay as much as possible. From experience if they are given a date to response by that is 4 weeks in advance, they will reply on that deadline date.
FOS picked it up when I submitted it, they didn’t state anything about the additional 8 weeks that LS claim
Chris says
I haven’t heard from them since they first spoke to the Adjudicator. Since then it’s gone to the Ombudsman and I’ve still hear nothing from LS (it’s been three weeks since the Ombudsman ruled in favour of the adjudicator). They are poop!
Tom says
They want 16 weeks to decide on the complaint but this is not legal.
You can forward to the FOS after 8 weeks as normal.
Tom
Cazza says
SNC have just upheld my complaint after just under a week, all interest has been removed along with interest already previously paid, reducing my balance from £1174 to just over £400 which is amazing.
They have actually been a great company to deal with, last week they took a large amount of money from my account which my son had transferred to pay for his car insurance. They refunded the money the next day and then dealt with this complaint swiftly / very professional in this area.