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?
G says
Thank you for all your advices! I’ve just sorted my existing loan For £700 with Satsuma when I had only 1 previous loan. They had written off all what was left and it was around £1000. That’s amazing! Without your knowledge I wouldn’t even think I can make it!
Toni says
Hi guys,
Advice please. I have 2 500 loans with Compton finance which as a single mum on benefits I cant afford 60 repayments a week. Also except for the first loan about 4 years ago they have never checked my income. Can I complain do you think? Please help x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Toni,
I replied to your question over on the page for doorstep lending: https://debtcamel.co.uk/refund-doorstep-loans/
I think you should definitely complin and also say you need your repayments to be reduced to an affordable level, eg £5 a week if that is all you can pay.
B says
Unable to log into Satsuma for 3 days now! anyone else having this issue? need to see when my payments are due :(
Andy says
Yes, same here.
B says
Hi Sara,
2 questions if i may….. Satsumas website has been offline now for 3 days, do you think they are going to break all of our hearts and pull a fast one on all the claiments like Wonga, 247, Sunny?
My second question is around sunny! I settled a loan with them nearly 2 months ago and it’s still showing as open! with them being in admistration, will this mean there’s no-one there to update credit records?
L says
Hello B,
I was thinking the same as you in regards to Satsuma however when a complaint is issued it seems to go train through to Provident Financial.
Which is a positive as they’re the loan provider so I think we should be okay with complaints.
It wouldn’t supprise me them going bust. Terrible service
David says
Hi Sara
I have had a number of loans with Car Cash Point, can irresponsible lending be claimed against these loans?.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes template letter over on my page for Large Loan refunds
mdunlopgt2 says
Morning
Whatever is currently going on with Avant Credit’s lending status, they are settling long standing redress. Claim made in Feb 19,rejected outright, sent to FOS in May 19, nothing happening, then they emailed FOS in mid-July offering full refund on both loans! Redress money in account today. Are they ‘cleaning house’ to recommence lending with a clean FCA relationship? They weren’t a bad lender, just wrong for me at the times I used them.
Lynn says
Hi,
Does anyone have any advise on lending stream, I had my complaint rejected all 23 loans ! I went to the fos and they have ruled in my favour that loan 6to23 should not have been given to me. Do lending stream go with the recommendation of the fos or will this most likely to go to the ombudsman?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They accept adjudicator decisions quite often, but not always. Fingers crossed…
ernestkola says
Hi sara .. just a quick question.. am try to download my credit record on trans union ..but can’t get it download .. am using my phone and tablet.. do you know best way to get it done pls?
Jordan says
I’ve had trouble doing that before. I took lots of screen shots and used them instead.
Kyle says
Hi all,
Just looking for a bit of advice. Have a loan with Satsuma for £250 taken out in Sept last year (£41.50 per month – 12 months). Paid on 20th of every month.
Checked account yesterday and it said it was in arrears (money was in my account so couldn’t understand why) so made catch up payment online to get up to date. Few hours later got email from them saying that there had been a problem with CPA but was sorted and would attempt to take the payment (which they did so actually made 2 payments to the loan yesterday).
Today instead of showing £83 (2 further payments of £41.50) to pay it now shows just 1 payment of £41.50 which would be correct.
Called to query and they apologised and said they would refund the payment but i told them just to leave it as i didn’t mind just having 1 payment left to make rather than 2, but also asked for a settlement figure. Worked out i have paid £456.50 on £250 loan already and would be cleatring 2 months earty so figured there wouldn’t be much left to pay. However they only offered me a £5 rebate (would still have to pay £36.50 to clear). Would think paying off after 10 months rather than 12 the saving on interest (almost £250 interest over 12 months) would be more than £5.
Does this seem right? I know its bad the way they work their interest but have had loans with them before and settled early and usually the saving seems a little better especially if so much of the loan has been paid already.
George says
Hi Sara,
I received the DSAR report from Georgebanco and no final response from them as yet, the 8weeks will be completed tomorrow.
Since it’s a guarantor loan do they take longer to get back?
Ted says
Hi,
I’ve submitted three claims to the OS for payday loans taken out in 2013/14. All three companies rejected initial claim (Mr. Lender, 1MonthLoan, Lending Stream) .
I’ve only had contact from the OS over one loan so far (Lending Stream) and they are asking for bank statements and credit file for the period Jan-Jun 2013. Obviously, my credit report will only go 6 years back so apart from the defaulted repayment that took years to pay off that went beyond 2013 there is no relevant info on there. Ditto my bank statements online only go back to July 2013.
The bank statements do show all the payment arrangements being made to endless payday loan companies etc so there is some info I guess but I’m not sure what else I can give the ombudsman as proof?
Thanks for any advice!
frogman says
Hi Sara,
I referred my rejected complaint from Lending Stream and Savvy to FOS about a month ago. Yesterday I received an email from the short term lending department at FOS saying they have requested information from the lenders regarding the case (2 separate emails with reference number for each lender) and said it would be useful if I send them some docs in the interim such as bank statement, credit file etc. They said I should send it in by 3rd of August. Am I just lucky that this is been picked up quickly or is it standard practice? I have never gone this far with FOS on any of my complaint. Any idea of timeframe from now on? Thanks very much
Mike_p says
In my experience they have sent an email asking for the information re relatively quickly, but it’s been another couple of months before and adjudicator was assigned. After that it was another month until the adjudicator made a decision, another month until the lender responded to it and then another month again until my refund was actually paid.
Lending Stream are one of the worst lenders to deal with – they ignored my adjudicator for weeks and weeks when I made a complaint against them.
j s says
I have won my complain against Satsuma on 1 of 3 loans which is the largest loan.
I have an outstanding balance on loans 2 and 3, but the amount i have paid to the largest loan is enough to cover the principal balances of loans 2 &3 so will be due a small amount back from them.
I have a payment arrangement with them due on 1st August.
Do I need to pay next instalment towards them loans putting me further in credit with them, or do I stop paying.
Satsuma haven’t accepted the adjudicators decision yet,l.
Annemarie Martin says
Anyone had this email? Worth looking into. Quidquid, pounds to
Following a court hearing on 9 July 2020, the Joint Administrators of CashEuroNet UK, LLC (which traded at Casheuronetuk.co.uk, Quickquid.co.uk, Onstride.co.uk and Poundstopocket.co.uk) (“CashEuroNet”) wish to make available the following two statutory notices:
1. Notice of extension of administration
2. Notice of intention to declare a dividend
In order for the Joint Administrators to set a final date for those who believe they may be owed money to submit a claim, they must issue a notice of intention to declare a dividend. The notice of intention to declare a dividend in relation to the administration of CashEuroNet can be accessed at the link below:
Notice of intention to declare a dividend
As you will see from the notice, all claims must be submitted by 14 February 2021 or they may not be considered for assessment. It is expected, unless you receive notification to the contrary, that the Joint Administrators will make a payment to creditors with accepted claims within seven months of 14 February 2021 (i.e. by 14 September 2021).
For those claimants who have already submitted a claim, no further action is required from you at this stage and the Joint Administrators will be in touch regarding the assessment of your claim.
James Jonez says
Could I get clarification on the process please?
Referred complaint regarding 7 loans about Sunny, two got upheld. Asked for ombudsman decision for remaining loans.
Was passed to an ombudsman,but have now recieved an email from FOS stating that they cannot take it further due to the administration and now it’s down to the administrators to decide if my complaint should be upheld.
What does that mean for the two initially upheld at FOS?
Could I end up losing both cases? I’m not hoping for much with the redress, it’s more about the negative markers, as the two initially upheld were the only open loans.
Kind Regards,
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It will now be up to the sunny administrators to decide how many loans were unaffordable. BUT this is not likely to be less than Sunny said.
chrisc says
Just seen this on the Provident group trading statement
Satsuma
Lending in Satsuma has been temporarily paused during the Covid-19 crisis whilst the effectiveness of the digital channel, under the current circumstances, is reviewed. All applications are now being referred to Provident. Collections in Satsuma remain robust and are broadly in line with pre-Covid expectations, even after accounting for the impact of some customers choosing to take a payment holiday. Restarting lending in Satsuma remains under constant review.
Might expalin why some were having log in issues earlier this week
Matt S says
Hi all,
Had a complaint in with Loans2Go, 2 loans both paid off early. Loan 1 was for £400, made 4 payments of £91.42 and a settlement payment of £496.51 (total paid £864.19). Loan 2 was for £500, made 6 payments of £114.28 and settlement payment of £528.73 (total paid £1214.41). So total interest paid over both loans of £1178.60.
They have not upheld the complaint but offered a redress of £250 to compensate for any distress caused.
Its another one i just want to get over and done with so i can forget about and don’t know if i want to wait up to a year for an Ombudsman decision.
Would it be worth going back to them explaining how much interest i’ve paid and tell them (for example) that ‘i’m disappointed they have not upheld and am considering taking this to the FOS, however i will settle for £400 (example) and the loans removed in entirety from my credit reports in order to close this now’?
Steve says
Hey everyone,
Don’t know if this is unique to me, but I paid off all debt to Satsuma through a Stepchange DMP early this year. I have a complaint for two loans upheld by an FOS adjudicator and Satsuma/Provident were supposed to have responded to this by end of May this year. I complained to Satsuma via email and received a response from them with a summary of my borrowing, I opened the attachment and a new loan of £140 was showing on my account with them, commencing from that date (July 21st).
I’ve responded asking what the hell is going on, I’m hoping it’s an error or oversight on their behalf and not something sinister
M says
Hi
I have just received the following email after a few months awaiting back from FOS with Satsuma
I am writing to keep you updated on the complaint you have asked us to look into.
We now have enough information to start looking at the case, however we are still awaiting important information from the business in order to fully assess the complaint.
The time it will now take to reach an outcome on this complaint depends on the issues involved and whether we might need any more information. In the meantime, I would be grateful if you could let me know if anything happens that you think may affect this complaint – or if there is any additional information that you have not already sent us and that you would like me to consider. If you need to contact us please use the above reference number.
I have no experience with a complaint to FOS does this mean I’m close to getting a resolution or will it be another load of months before I hear back
The whole thing is becoming stressful with satsuma pushing for full payment to be made, I have put my account into breathing space so I get bit of time before the chasing starts again
L says
Hello,
Currently have a claim in with the FOS with Satsuma myself.
For the FOS to upheld my claim it took from November until the end of May.
I was in the same boat waiting for Satsuma to send over files for over 6 months.
And now they’re 3 weeks over the date the FOS gave them to reply.
Not holding my breath for a reply anytime soon.
L
Cassie says
Hi Sara
So good new from satsumas loans, I had a loan that was at 1800 (inculded the interest) there are taking the interest off and as a goodwill gesture there wiping the debt. Am happy with that. But it with a debt company. What will happen with it.
Also put one in with l.s there making out that they never give me a loan. There saying I’ve made application but not had a loan, I’ve sent them my criedits agreement emails and also bank statements, I’ve had no reply. One off my loans with l.s is with a debt company…. so I don’t know what to do.
Lee says
Good Morning, I was after some help. I had a large number of loans from Swift Sterling in quick sucession in 2019. I note they are now in administration and the page I need to get into to submit my claim on their website. But I’m unable to login in as they erased my previous account. Is there anything I can do to get my claim submitted to them?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Email customercare@swiftsterling.co.uk and explain that you wish to make a Claim but you are unable to login to the Claims portal. If they don’t resolve this or explain what else you can do within a month, email MMPFinancial@uk.gt.com repeat your problem.
There will always be a way to submit a Claim on paper.
James says
Hi Guys,
Safetynet credit have fully upgraded my complaint but sent this through
Principal Outstanding: £330.00
Interest Outstanding: £105.36
Interest Repaid: £16.13
Statutory 8% Interest: £3.10
HMRC 20%: £0.62
New Outstanding Balance: £311.39
I am struggling to make sence of this, they are removing this from my credit file which is good but should i go to FOC or just accept this?
Jeff says
They have took away the interest and the interest you’ve paid so far and youR left with principle which is just the money you lent
Andy says
Hi , my adjudicator for my satsuma case has said my outcome will be in the next few days ( after months of waiting ) is it worth declining there offer And go straight to the ombudsman Rather than waiting for a reply off satsuma which is months ? I’m thinking it’s better to get a final outcome rather than satsuma Flaff about time wasting ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
you can’t ask for it to go straight to an Ombudsman.
Kelly says
Hello,
The adjudicator upheld my complaint against lending stream over a month ago. Lending stream agreed. However, lending stream are not replying to mine or the adjudicators emails to say I accept the offer and to confirm bank details. I’ve tried phoning but they won’t take my calls and keep telling me to email.
Any ideas how I can get them to acknowledge my acceptance?
Thanks
James says
Go onto leading stream website, login and speak via live chat. There will be a an option of ‘new or existing complaints related query’
B says
Hi All,
Has anyone had any experience dealing with loans2go? took out a loan at the begining of the year (£500) and made payments of £240 odd, 6 weeks after taking out the loan i asked for a settlement figure and despite only having the money for 6 weeks and repaying half of it in 2 payments, they wanted £600 odd to settle it!
Took out another loan for £500 and have now paid them £474 of that money. After beng impacted by covid i contacted them for help as i hadn’t been paid any wages (mistake by employer) and all they did was give me “a few days” to fnd the money and didnt even offer a payment deferral. I ended up taking out a loan with satsuma, just to pay them! sent off a complaint for irresponsible lending and they came back today stating that even though they can see i’m paying out more than i declared, the loan in their view was still affordable and that as a gesture of good will they are prepared to reduce my interest from 1.7k to £857!
i pointed at that they’ve ignored the gambling factor, along with the way they treated me when dealing with covid but am a little confused as to why they wouldn’t just write the balance off given i’ve paid them what i borrowed so they are not losing out in that respect but are willing to half the interest! anyone else had this experience?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry do you still owe them any money?
B says
Yes for the second loan. Borrowed £500 b
Have repaid £474 to date and still has 16 months on the agreement at £114 a month.
Since I repaid my 1st loan, and have virtually repaid what I borrowed on my second loan I asked that they just wipe the remaining balance but insted they said they will reduce the remaining interest on it from £1.7k to £857
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then I suggest you say if they don’t wip your loan you are sending the complaint to the Ombudsman.
People often win 1 loan complaints about this lender, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/worst-loan-in-britain/
Matt S says
Well, surprising success with MyJar.
Put in a complaint to them on 9th July (had 7 loans with them over 2 years or so). They came back yesterday upholding 6 of the 7 loans. Full refund of interest plus statutory (little over £1000).
Didn’t expect it to be resolved so quickly!!
James Jonez says
Good Afternoon Sara I hope you are well.
Apologies if this is in the wrong forum but I couldn’t find the right thread and need some advice.
I took out a loan with Satsuma in 04 March 2018 and didn’t make any payment from June 2018 onwards.
I started a DMP on January 2019, and have been making rather smaller payments via them towards the account.
My issue is, Satuma have not issued any form of default on my credit file and have been marking each month on my credit file from June 2018 until today as a missed payment (almost two years worth of missed payment markers).
Am I right in thinking this should have been marked as default back in 2018? I know defaults are bad, but it’s better to have it with my other two defaults (went through a bad time) back in 2018, than continuing missed payment markers every month moving forward?
Also tried affordability complaint and was rejected by FOS.
Please advise on what I should do.
Kind Regards,
Sara (Debt Camel) says
As you went 6 months with no payment at all, a default should have been added then. You can ask them to do this. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/debt-default-date/
How long will it take you to pay off the DMP? What is your current financial situation like?
James Jonez says
My DMP is current due to run for another 4 years but I’m working on cutting costs such as utilities etc to enable me to pay it off quicker.
Kind Regards
L says
Hi All,
Would just like to keep you updated.
The FOS gave Provident (Satsuma) 15 days to reply on the 1st of July.
Reply relieved today saying they agree to uphold 15 of my loans.
Excellent news.
Hope this helps the people with complaints with satsuma complaints.
They have 6 weeks to rectify my credit report and repay my interest and fees.
Katy says
Congratulations- in December FOS gave provident (satsuma) until the end of December to respond to my complaint – still waiting. Was meant to get a response on Monday just past and they have given them more time again as they are having issues due to Covid. Piece of nonsense. Started my complaint over a year ago and still not been looked at properly by an adjudicator 🙈
peach says
Hi everyone,
I’m about to begin the process of making affordability claims, but I’m worried about whether this could make things worse.
Basically, on almost all of them I defaulted two years ago, therefore they’re due to disappear completely from my credit file in 2024.
If I made complaints and they were successful, and removed the defaults, would the actual record of the loan stay on for longer? Basically if they no longer showed at defaulted in 2018, would they show as settled in 2020 instead and therefore disappear 6 years after account is settle instead (2026)?
I’m not 100% sure if I’m making sense but hopefully someone can help me.
I’ve seen some people only get the defaults removed whereas others get the entire record wiped clean of the lender like it never existed.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Who are the lenders?
Peach says
Lending Stream, Sunny and Quick Quid. But speaking hypothetically, if they agreed to remove the defaults but not the record of the loan existing from my file, how would the info change? Would it mean that instead of dropping off four years from the default date, it would be marked as settled in 2020 and therefore not drop off until 2026?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sunny and QuickQuid are now in administration. This means you will get little money back after a long while BUT it is very likely (though not certain) that if you win your complaint the loans that are found to have been unaffordable will be deleted completely – that is what has happened with Wonga and Wageday Advance. So this would mean less defaults and less payday loans :)
LS isn’t. I have never heard of anyone having the problem you mention, that a default has been replaced by a more recent settlement date, I suppose it is possible but no one has mentioned it.
in any case, I think most people would prefer to exchange a default up to 2024 and nothing afterwards for a settled payday loan with no problems showing until 2026. Only mortgage lenders tend to mind much about the odd payday loan and even now most don’t care if the loan is settled more than 2 years before.
Paul says
Hi Sara,
I’ve had a loan with moneyboat for £400.00 I took out approx 4 years ago. However, following loss of my job and I wasnt able to pay the first instalment and they have recently restarted asking for payment.
They’ve said I can pay £215.00 to clear it, which I cant afford as I’m on universal credit at the moment but I’ve offered £4.00 per month which they say they cant accept as an agreement although I can pay the £4.00 into their account.
I want to stop the interest so I was wondering what the best route/template letter to send to achieve this, thanks.
Regards,
Paul
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They must have stopped adding interest by now as it will have hit the “payday loan cap” – you can never be charged more interest than the amount you borrowed.
Was this your first loan from them?
Chris Ellis says
Hi everyone!
I’m looking for advice on what to do.
I had a Complaint filed in July 2019 with Lending stream.
Ombudsman gave their decision after LS ignored the adjudicators decision to uphold my complaint. This was 7 weeks ago now (since the date I contacted the ombudsman to confirm acceptance). Lending stream have not got in touch at all.
– I am getting late payment markers being added to my credit file still every month.
– Outstanding debt has been assigned to a debt collector 90 days ago (redress will cover it and some).
– Debt collector got in touch with me today (after I had already explained to them that the debt should be recalled to LS).
– Debt collector says they can’t do anything as LS have said they are waiting for my bank details.
– I can’t get in touch to give them my bank details and they certainly haven’t asked me for them.
– CCJ is still live which should be removed.
They are impossible to speak to! I’m at my wits end.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
who took you to court for a CCJ?
Chris says
TM Legal Services – but they have said that they will be putting the application in for It to be set aside. It just seems LS are not communicating with anyone about it!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so is this CCJ debt the one that was assigned to a debt collector 90 days ago or is this a different one?
Chris says
This is a different one. CRS is the other one, they haven’t started any precedings they just send me an email/text/call every thirty days asking me to pay and put it on hold when I tell them that the Ombudsman has made a decision that will clear the debt.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, so you aren’t actually getting hassle from either debt collector – CRS aren’t pushing you and TM are going to set aside the CCJ.
Have you tried the live chat on LS website? That has worked for some people.
HJave you told FOS about this?
Chris says
CRS are asking for payment every thirty days – I feel like if they’re e-mailing me and texting me then that’s hassle – and I then have to explain the situation again for them to put the account on hold.
I have tried the live chat quite a lot, but no one seems to be able to help (they say they can only escalate to someone who can help – and I never hear anything). At one point one of the customer service guys managed to get in touch with someone from complaints and they said that they hadn’t received any communication from the FOS and then I ended up forwarding it to them. I was promised that the matter would be resolved within 48 hours and then heard nothing (that was two and a half weeks ago).
I contacted the FOS, but not heard back yet.
Thanks for your help though!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok it’s a bit of hassle but it’s pretty low level. The real problem is to get LS to sort this, not to stop CRS contacting you once a month.
If it’s not sorted (or clearly on the way to it) within the next week, let me know and I will suggest what you can say to the FCA, the regulator, about LS’s complaint handling.
Agniva says
Hello, I strongly believe that I was lent irresponsibly by HSBC and Metro bank. I think so because, when the loan was issued back in 2017, I was literally surviving on payday loans and I had other loans from Metro bank and high Interest loans like Likely loan, 118 money, Zopa etc.
I know I can complain against a payday loan company, but can I complain against a high street bank?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes see https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/ for complaints about large loans such as 118, Likely Loans, Zopa and banks.
Tf says
I have a balance outstanding with Peachy of £168 and I am paying £5 per month, they are going to default in 2 weeks time. Anyone had any luck with making them an offer as full and final settlement ? I have offered them £142 which is all I can raise at the moment to try and stop the default.
Chris says
Hi Sara,
Lending stream just got back to me – refunding me all redress immediately after sending me the reply. And adding £75 for the delay.
Hopefully the CCJ doesn’t take much longer to be removed and CRS will have been notified.
Thank you for the help!
My saga is now finally over.
Andy says
Sent an affordability complaint to Safety.net and they fully upheld my complaint and cancelled all interest.
I had £780 balance but repaid previous loans and took a new one few times so the cancelled interest cleared the existing balance.
They said all records will be removed from my credit file. Do you know how long this might take? I want to check it to see if they really do it.
From the time i sent the first email to the closing of my account it took only 4-5 days. I was really surprised.
Stacey says
By the following month of updating credit files it was removed from mine.
Sam says
I’ve had 5-6 payday loans that were paid of early..
So now refund is due or minimal
Complainet has already been replied and refused to be upheld
Now should I go to obdsuman not for money but just to get it removed of my credit file?,As I’m looking to apply for mortgage soon.
Or should I go back to lender I understand why they have qualms about giving any money but don’t undetand why they may have any about removing it from my file
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Lenders should keep to the standard credit reporting rules – this means reporting what actually happened. They aren’t supposed to delete records just because someone wants a mortgage and threatens to go to the Ombudsman if the debts aren’t deleted… The theory is that all lenders benefit from being able to check an accurate record if someone applies for a loan.
If you go to FOS and win, any negative marks would be removed from your credit record. Someone lenders delete the whole loan because it’s just easier. Sometimes FOS says to delete the loan, but this tends to be where there have been a lot of loans, not just 5 or 6.
Sue Delaney says
Can someone please advise? I had a considerable amount of loans with Poubdstilpayday (Northway Financial) Iback between 2009-May2015 I understand it was based in Malta. Do I make a claim in Malta or here in the UK? Kind regards
Sara (Debt Camel) says
you have to complain in Malta and these complaints are now being rejected as too old.
adam says
Hi, i had a several loans with Lending stream, i accepted an offer if redress from them which included removing any negative information from my credit report the refund was paid swiftly, they stated could take 28 days to action then further time from the credit agency, the time scales have well and truly passed. i have contacted them but they seem to be sending me round in circles? what are my options here?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This offer was direct? If it was, tell them you want your credit record sorted in the next month or your complaint goes to the Ombudsman.
Simon says
I’ve been lending continuously with Safety net Credit for the last four years (something I’m not proud of) but thanks to this site I’ve now put in my irresponsible Lending complaint.
They sent me an overly complicated view of my lending and have told me they’ll get back to me.
Any idea roughly how long they’ve been taking to reply and what they’re like to deal with?
Looking over the information they’ve sent me I’ve paid over £4000 in interest to them.
I still owe money to them but needed to break the cycle of repay and reloan.
Dean says
I emailed them a complaint last Monday and they replied and repaid me compensation by the Friday. For a loan back in 2016! They dealt with me very well so did many others to be fair. This site has been wicked thank you so much for helping me as I was a fool when I was younger.
james says
Hi Guys,
I am currently repaying my debts through StepChange. Is it worth me going directly to my lenders to try and get a refund/reduction for irresponsible lending or should I go through stepchange
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You have to go directly to the lenders. StepChange won’t mind this. Where’s debt has been sold to a debt collector, yiu goto the original lender not the current creditor.
Sarah says
Hi Sara,
Do you know anything about web loans ltd. I had multiple loans from easy finance club which was owned by them. I wanted to make an affordability complaint but when I search fro them all I can find are articles about the fca investigations
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So far as I know they ceased trading years ago.
PM says
Getting really frustrated with FOS regarding my Satsuma complaint. It’s been assigned to an adjudicator for 14 weeks and he is still waiting for the case file to be sent across. Every 2 weeks I ask him for an update and it’s always “still nothing”. Is this normal? I fully appreciate that things are still moving slower than normal, but Satsuma are in no rush and my adjudicator makes me feel like I’m being unreasonable by asking for updates. Is anyone else in a similar position? Or has anyone had any recent success via FOS?
Stacey says
Same thing happened with me. I just received an email to state my files had just been received from satsuma so hes now looking it over. Satsuma delays in every possible way and then with covid pushes it even further. Hang in there they have to send the files over unless they want a decision based on one sided evidence
Nick MB says
Satsuma are an utter joke. Adjudicator upheld in my favour and gave Satsuma until 27th July to reply, which they haven’t.
I rang Satsuma on 1st August and advised that if I haven’t had a call back from them by the end of today, then I will be contacting my MP, as their office is just round the corner from me.
I haven’t heard anything yet, and I’m not expecting to. I honestly think they’re just waiting to go bust.
Kat says
Same here been waiting 3months And still no further forward, FOS waiting on satsuma.
Katie says
Hi Sara,
Hope you are well.
I have sent an affordability complaint t o Lending Stream regarding these loans 1. 06/05/2015 borrowed £300 Repaid £594.72. 2. Top up loan 10/07/2015 borrowed £300 Repaid £559.68. 3. Top up loan borrowed £130 Repaid £226.20. 4. Top up loan borrowed £50 Repaided £72. Ended up going into an Payment plan with them & paying it off. Took out final loan 5. 13/04/2018 borrowed £200 Repaided £306.56, again went in to a payment plan with them. All fully paid off now.
They are saying that loans 1-3 were affordable based on the information i gave them & that they should not of given me loan 4 therefore are offering a net refund of £28.31!! I have paid over £700 in interest.
If I kept taking out top up loans surely this showed that they werent affordable. This is apparently the final response letter, what is the best cause of action now?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
when did you finish repaying loan 4?
Katie says
Loans 1-4 were all put together in a payment plan & i finished paying them all at the same time 31/07/2017
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s a bit marginal. There was 9 months between lhe first set being paid off and the last loan. You can argue that LS should have looked more closely given the length of time it took to repay the first set of loans. You could win at the Ombudsman but it’s quite possible that you wouldn’t.
David L says
Unfortunately I am in completely the same predicament my complaint was escalated to the ombudsman in April, every update is they are waiting on information from Satsuma / Provident. It does get to the point where you wonder how much time they are allowed before enough is enough.
Becky says
Hi how do I do the complete i owe 2295.20 to provident I just wondering how to I get the interest off
Matt S says
Does anyone know if its still possible to complain to Vivus? I know they closed in 2017 so probably a long shot.
Darren says
Hi Sarah
Firstly thank you so much for this site! I’ve already had a refund from safety net from using your advice. I also put in an affordability complaint to lending stream, they initially rejected this so it went to the FOS. FOS took a few months to come back after waiting for case files to be sent but they finally came back on 8th July to say an offer had been made and they thought it was fair. I too, thought the offer was fair so I agreed. The FOS told me they would tell lending stream I had agreed and they would be in touch to confirm my bank details. Lending stream actually contacted my via email on 1st July, before the FOS to ask me to confirm my bank details if a settlement was to be processed. I confirmed straight away and they said once the FOS has confirmed, I would receive the refund no later than 28 days.
It will be 28 days 5th August from the 8th July and I’ve not received anything.
I’m just wanting to know if the 28 days pass and I still don’t receive anything, should I go back to the FOS?
Thanks
JA says
Defo contact your adjudicator again if they’ve not paid you in the days agreed
JP says
Hi All,
I have finally been assigned an adjudicator for my LS complaint… my adjudicator has reviewed the file and written to Lending Stream expecting a response by 14th Aug… in anyone experience, have LS replied within the timescales?
i read that Lending Stream are notorious for delaying thing…
thanks,
JP
Michael says
You’ll be lucky to get sorted by Christmas! if they have a 28 day window to reply, you’ll get the response on the 28th day so it will be a few back and forths with every stage being 28 days.
Stu says
Hi Sara. I have just logged into my Clearscore account and to my surprise it said 4 New unsecured loans are being added from Elevate. I have never had a loan from them for 3 or 4 years. I have been trying to improve my credit score but will this not affect it in a negative way?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
this is happening to a lot of people, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/sunny-now-in-administration/. If the loans were all settled on time it’s unlikely to have affected your credit score.
B snc says
Hi im just after some advice please
I was late on the wonga train and ended up with a 36 pound settlement. Now trying to get somewhere with Safety Net Credit.
I complained to them as id gone through bank records and it showed 186 deposits from them over 12 months. Sometimes 2 or 3 on the same day. Worked out 1700 in interest paid.
They came back saying they carey out checks etc etc and it was all deemed affordable as i had a monthly disposable income of 600 lets say which then rose to 900 a few months later. However im in the same job, with same wage so my disposable has never changed at all.
Sent it to the ombudsman in late april and 3 months later its not even been assaigned.
Upon ringing theyve said as its not a traditional payday loan it requires a specialist in that field to look at it. And so its a waiting game. However now im worries SNC will go bust before i can get a ruling and be paid out :/. Anything i can do to hurry the process somewhat?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Not really. It’s a shame you didn’t start this earlier when you submitted the claim to Wonga.
I assume you don’t owe them any money still?
B snc says
Hi thanks for your reply
No i owed them 500 in final instance and was paying 30 a month for 3 months as was low on cash. And then took out a 4k loan to consolodate all my loans. Sunny, wonga, 118118, capital one and aqua. Now just one monthly payment so less fees and charges.
Ive paid them in full and the fact ive begged from Ste to pay Paul as it where to keep the account from defaulting seems to be against me as ive never fell into default with them as trying to tidy my credit file.
NT says
Hi Sara
I have an affordability complaint logged with Drafty, but they are not responding to calls or emails. My complaint was logged on 14 June 2020 with 1 email confirming receipt only after I chased for this. What I wanted to know was are Draft the same as Lending Stream?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes they are – it is now over 8 weeks so I suggest you send it to the Ombudsman now.
Mandy says
Can anyone help? I complained to Lending Stream about affordability on my loan and received a reply saying it was upheld with an offer I was asked to reply via email if I wished to accept which I did however I’ve heard nothing to suggest they’ve even received my acceptance and 4 unanswered emails to them asking if they’ve received it later and not able to get hold of them via phone I’m losing hope? Has anyone else had this problem if so what did you do? The 10th August is there 28 day cut off by when I should receive my pay out
Many thanks
Mandy
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Some people have had success through the live chat.
Tony says
Hi guys had call of adjudicator this morning. he has agreed that LL should have upheld 1st loan as well. Hopefully they will agree with him and that will be over 1k repayment ro me. Fingers crossed.
Gina says
Hi, I’ve just been reading on claiming tax back on redress payments. I’ve checked emails from the companies ive had redress from but they never sent a tax certificate. Do I need this to claim the tax or just a breakdown to know how much tax was paid?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
no, you don’t need “a certificate”, just the breakdown.
NAG says
Hi Sara, I’ve just had a final response from a lender. In my complaint, I stated that I understated my expenses etc… And didn’t include payday loans etc… As per some of the example letters on debt camel.
They said the following in their response and I’m now terrified –
“Please be advised that obtaining money by deception is an Offence, and we are currently seeking advice as to what further action we should be taking in this matter.”
Can you advise please? Should I respond or send to FOS. Clearly they have rejected my complaint.
Thank you
NAG says
I took one loan against my car that ended up being repossessed by them. The response they have sent was so very aggressive and scary and I’m now not sure what to do. They are saying that they weren’t registered with the FCA then but they are now. I took the loan in 2014 and they were horrible and aggressive all the way through and now continue to be the same. Would you recommend sending to FOS? Can they really get me in trouble? Essentially I was gambling a lot and didn’t include all of this or other debts on my application. They also said my credit at the time was average and that they didn’t have to do a check but they did.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I understand that you don’t want to give details but this sounds complicated and you need to talk it through with someone in confidence. That person is not me. I suggest you phone National Debtline on 0808 808 4000.
ernestkola says
HI SARA .. PLS just a quick question. l took only for 1 loan cash 4 u now ..in 2018 . I send affordability and redress complaint almost 8 weeks .. l got reply just now offer me £75 and removed the loan from my credit file. They do agree wrong to fund me loan.. because there some evidence of reliance on short term credit .. on my credit file. However my income and expenditure analysis showed my disposable income to manage my required payments.. pls advised me on this .because is only one loan very hard to win .what do you think pls
£500 loan
Total interest paid £82.47
Total charge for credit £380.55
Total interest saved.£298.08
Loan from 23/03/17 to 18 / 08/17
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so you only paid £82 in interest as you settled it early and they are offering you £75? Isn’t that an easy decision to accept?
Andy says
Hi , the adjudicator has got back to me regarding my outcome with satsuma , weirdly he has suggested they refund loans 1 and 3-18 , not sure why 1 has been suggested and not 2 but hopefully get a reply from satsuma . He has given then till the 19th to reply . Also when they sent me files of my loans I had with them it only stated I had 14 loans with them but somehow the adjudicator has said they gave me 18 ?
Nick MB says
I spoke to Satsuma about my case yesterday, as they were due to respond to my Adjudicator by 27/07/20, and they advised it will be several more weeks before they respond.
I also asked if they were going to cease trading, and the man advised that they’re not allowed to comment.
I would set realistic expectations of a month before you hear anything.
Holly D says
Hi to anyone struggling with LS.
Here is a brief timeline of the progress of my affordability claim against LS.
30.01.20 Raised affordability claim against LS
09.03.20 Claim NOT upheld by LS
21.03.20 Claim referred to FOS
16.04.20 FOS ask for file from LS
01.05.20 Case allocated to an FOS adjudicator
09.06.20 FOS still experiencing delays with LS
11.06.20 FOS finally have all the info.they need
24.06.20 FOS find in my favour, loans 4 -15 inclusive should not have been given. Findings notified to LS
06.07.20 E mail from LS asking for my bank details
09.07.20 LS agree with FOS findings
05.08.20 FULL REDRESS IN MY BANK ACCOUNT!!
So, do not give up, it just takes time and steady nerves.
Many thanks to Sara, without this site none of this would have happened.
Now for another long wait with SATSUMA !!!
JP says
Hi Holly,
Really insightful thank you and gives me reassurances!
FOS have sent LS their initial findings on 4th Aug and have given until the 18th Aug for a response. I phoned the FOS yesterday and an adjudicator said they are currently allowing the firms an extra week or so to get an initial response given the times we are currently working in.
Hopefully I’ll also get a response within the 2 weeks like yourself. Seems like from the stage I’m at now, it could be resolved within 6 weeks going off your timeline but not expecting this to be the case.
I’m due a refund on loans 6-34 which is an substantial amount so fingers crossed that LS don’t go bust like a number of other lenders.
Who would have thought Sunny was gonna go and that all happened out of the blue.
Thanks,
JP
ernestkola says
Not settle early from 23/03/17 to 18 / 08/17 … 6month to pay it all. .. l think total paid £380.55 on top of the loan …
Charge for credit.£380.55
Loan.£500
Sara (Debt Camel) says
well you could ask them what they mean by
“Total interest paid £82.47
Total charge for credit £380.55”
But for one loan you are unlikely to win this at FOS so their goodwill offer may well be the best you can get.
ernestkola says
I will just take the £75 ..thanks so much sara