Did your payday loans cost so much when you repaid one you had to keep on borrowing?
You can get a refund of the interest you paid on unaffordable loans.
It’s easy to ask for a payday loan refund using the free template letters here. The letters work if your payday loans were repaid or you still owe money.
The comments below this article have thousands of stories of the refunds people have got using these letters. It is a great place to ask questions!
Contents
What are “unaffordable” loans?
Was a loan affordable just because you repaid it?
No! If paying a loan left you so broke you had to borrow again – from the same lender or a different one – it was unaffordable!
The regulator says:
“the borrower should be able to make the required repayments without undue difficulty, whilst continuing to meet other debt repayment obligations and reasonable regular outgoings.”
That means a payday loan is only affordable if you repaid it on time and you could still manage to pay your other bills and debts.
Payday loans are meant to solve a short-term problem. If you kept repaying one then getting another loan soon after, the lender should have stopped lending to you.
If the loan was small and it was the first loan or second loan from a lender, the lender may not have realised the loan was unaffordable for you. But it was irresponsible lending to just carry on giving you more loans.
Many lenders ignore obvious signs of problems such as your loans increasing in size, or borrowing again soon after repayment.
How much compensation can you get?
You don’t have to calculate this. Just ask for a refund from the lender and see what you are offered. This is simple and it works well.
The Financial Ombudsman has seen tens of thousands of payday loan affordability complaints.
A typical decision by the Ombudsman is that the payday lender should refund all the interest you paid interest after the third, fourth or fifth loan.
But if your first loan was large, or was rolled over several times you could get a refund from just one loan.
Which lenders can you get refunds from?
You can complain to lenders that are still in business, even if they are no longer lending. These include:
Lending Stream, Cash Converters, CashASAP, Drafty, Dot Dot, Fast Loan Uk, Fernovo, Fund Ourselves, Kabayan, LoanPig, Mr Lender, Moneyboat, MyKredit, My Finance Club, QuidMarket, Savvy, The Money Platform, WageMe, Wizzcash,
See this email list for payday lenders for a longer list and all the contact details to use.
If the lender has gone into administration, including CashForUNow, Piggybank, Ferratum, Oakam, Safetynet Credit, Tappily:
- make a claim to the administrators – there is normally a simple form for you to complete, see the lender’s website for details – but there will be a time limit for doing this.
- you may not get much cash back but this is very easy to do. A balance may be reduced or cleared even if there is no cash to distribute. And if you win the complaint any negative marks on your credit record will be removed.
It is probably too late to make claims to other lenders who gave up years ago, see this list.
For longer-term loans there are better template letters to use on other pages:
- doorstep lenders and guarantor lenders,
- Loans2Go – the worst loans in Britain!
- 118 Money, Likely Loans, Bamboo, car finance, bank loans and other long-term loans.
Do this before, before you send in a complaint
Doing these things now will make your life easier later.
Get a copy of your TransUnion statutory credit report and keep it. After complaints are started, sometimes loans are deleted and you may want the full report if you later have to go to the Ombudsman.
If you still owe money to the lender, read Will an affordability claim hurt my credit record, and other questions. These looks at your options for stopping paying, the effect on your credit record etc.
If the rest of your finances are difficult, look into a Debt Management Plan (DMP) where you make one affordable payment a month to StepChange. This gets you into a safe financial position as these affordability complaints can take a long time to go through at the Ombudsman. Winning a complaint then speeds up the DMP.
Unless you can afford to make this month’s payment without borrowing again, cancel the CPA to the lender at your bank. Otherwise the lender may take the money and you will be in a mess.
If your loan was sold to a debt collector you complain to the original lender. But also tell the debt collector that you are disputing the debt. It is a good idea to carry on making payments to the debt collector if they are affordable.
Start your complaint & get loan details
Find the lender’s email address for complaints from this list.
Put “AFFORDABILITY COMPLAINT” as the subject of your email:
You should never have given me these unaffordable loans. Paying you each month left me with too little money so I had to keep borrowing to get through the next month.
You should have realised from the number of times I borrowed that my debt problems were getting worse. It was not responsible to continue to lend to me. [Add more details eg how often you borrowed or rolled loans if you know them, how the amount borrowed generally went up etc]
[Include/change this if your credit record would have shown big problems:] My credit reports would have shown all my other debts and problems including late payments/defaults /CCJs/debt management.]
I am asking you to refund the interest and any charges I paid, plus statutory interest, and to delete any negative information from my credit record.
[delete this sentence if you know what all your loans were.] I know the difficulties your loans have caused me but I no longer have all the loan details. Please send me a list, showing for each loan when it was taken out, how much interest and charges you added, and what I repaid. This will enable me to assess any refund you offer me.
[delete this sentence if none of your loans were sold.]If a loan was later sold to a debt collector, please inform me of the date of sale and the name of the debt collector.
Some ways to improve this
Add any other points that help you describe what happened to you. You don’t need to list the loans – the lenders knows them.
Some examples:
- “I took out another loan with xxxx to pay you.”
- “Sometimes I borrowed to pay the rent and then had to top-up to get money for food.”
- if you weren’t treated fairly while you were borrowing or when you could not make a payment, add a bit about this.
You can attach bank statements if you like, This is a good idea as these show how unaffordable the loans were for you. If you have gambling showing, this helps your complaint, it doesn’t harm it.
I don’t know if many lenders actually read what you send them. I
it’s easy to make these complaints – you don’t need to calculate what refund you should get or quote laws.
Only one loan?
The template refers to multiple loans because that is what normally happens with payday lenders.
When you only had one loan and it was large, read Refunds from large loans and use the template there.
If you only had one loan and it was small, this is going to be a very difficult complaint to win. If you have borrowed once or twice from 5 leaders, that is much more difficult to win an affordability complaint than having 4 or 5 loans from two lenders.
Waiting for a reply from the lender
This email starts your affordability complaint.
They may send the list of loans first and later respond to your complaint. So don’t be surprised if you get sent info on the loans but nothing about your request for a refund.
When you get your loan information, you can send in more details about your complaint if you want. You don’t have to do this, your complaint has already begun and the lender has to reply.
The lender should reply to your complaint within 8 weeks from when you send the email, not when they acknowledge it. Make a note in your diary for 8 weeks time and chase the lender up if you don’t get a reply.
Don’t be surprised if you have to wait until the end of the 8 weeks to get response – this is common.
Send your bank statements or other information?
Some lenders ask you to send them a copy of your credit record, payslips or bank statements.
Credit record – the lender can check your credit record themselves if they want. But you should download a copy of your credit record asap as the Ombudsman will ask for it. Don’t put this off, the sooner you get a report downloaded, the further back it goes which is good.
Don’t send payslips – they won’t help an affordability complaint and the ombudsman never asks for them.
It is a good idea to send bank statements. But think twice about the cost of copying and postage if there are a lot. Some lenders seem to ignore them if you do send them.
Again this is a good point to get those bank statements even if you do not want to send them as they will help an Ombudsman claim a lot. You can get them going back at least 6 years even if the account has been closed.
Lender says No or makes a poor offer
If the lender rejects your complaint or offers you a small amount, don’t be depressed. You may still have a very good case!
It is easy and free to send your case to the Financial Ombudsman where many thousands of people have won their payday loan complaints, despite being rejected by the lender.
Give up?
Some lenders try to make your case sound bad when it isn’t. People have had large amounts refunded after a complete rejection!
Just ignore any of the following comments, they do not mean you have a weak case:
- they relied on your loan applications and you didn’t give accurate facts – see Lender says I lied for more about this;
- you repaid some loans early – this doesn’t prove the loans were affordable, just that you were trying to save interest;
- your borrowing didn’t go up every time – irrelevant, what matters is that you kept borrowing;
- you had a good enough credit score or they didn’t legally have to check your credit record – if you only had one or two small loans that is true. But if the loans were large or you kept borrowing, they should have looked more closely;
- your loans are over 6 years old – the Ombudsman will look at these even if the lender says they won’t!
A good enough case to go to the Ombudsman?
If you don’t know what to do, ask in the comments below this article. Accepting an offer settles your whole complaint – you can’t change your mind later.
Don’t worry that you will lose a small offer by going to the Ombudsman – this doesn’t happen.
Some points to think about:
- if you are offered a refund on only a few loans, don’t accept it if you think the lender should have realised a lot of the other loans were unaffordable;
- an offer to write off your current balance may sound convenient … but it may be very poor if you should get a refund as well;
- if getting defaults or late payments removed from your credit record is important to you, are you happy with what the lender is proposing to do? Don’t assume your credit record will be cleared if the lender didn’t mention this.
One or two loan cases are hard to win at the Ombudsman. It’s probably best to give up on one or two loan cases unless:
- the loan was large. Here is one single loan case that was won even though it was an installment loan and the borrower had a good income. And another single loan case for a loan of £1,000. You can win cases for smaller amounts if the repayment would have been a large amount of your income; or
- you still owe money.
Don’t delay too long – there is a 6-month time limit after a lender rejects your complaint to send the case to the ombudsman. When you aren’t sure, send the complaint to FOS. This is easy to do – let FOS make the decision.
How to send a complaint to FOS
Put in a separate complaint about each lender.
Don’t wait until all your lenders have replied before sending the first one to the Ombudsman!
FOS’s “complain online” option is easy and takes you through your complaint step by step.
You can just copy what you said in your complaint to the lender. You can add more details, for example, if you disagree with what the lender replied to you.
If some of your loans were over 6 years ago, tell the Ombudsman when and how you found out about these complaints. For example:
“I knew the loans were causing me difficulty in 2016, but I thought this was my fault for being bad with money. I didn’t find out that the lender should have checked the loans were affordable until June 2022 when my brother told me about these claims/I saw an advert from a claims company on Facebook/I read an article about these claims” – change this so it is right for your case!
Things to attach:
- the reply you have had from the lender.
- bank statements if you have them. Ideally from 3 months before your first loan until the last loan was repaid or you defaulted on it. This strengthens your case, showing how unaffordable the loans were. You can still get bank statements even if your account is closed – if you don’t have them, start the process of getting them now, don’t wait until FOS asks for them.
- a copy of your TransUnion Statutory credit report
- a copy of the credit agreements for the loans if you have them. If you don’t, don’t worry, FOS will get them from the lender.
What happens after you have sent a case to FOS
You will normally be contacted within a couple of weeks and asked for a copy of your credit record and your bank statements if you haven’t sent these. If you have sent these on one complaint, then when you complain about a different lender they will use the ones they already have.
After this initial contact, your case will wait for the lender to send FOS your case file and then wait to be picked up by an adjudicator who will make a decision on it.
If you are still making payments to the lender, tell the lender you want to reduce these to an affordable amount. This will make waiting for an Ombudsman decision much less stressful for you.
The Financial Ombudsman has a two-stage process. Most cases are settled by the first “adjudicator” stage but about 10% go to the second “Ombudsman” stage.
A few problem cases
Don’t ask for a refund:
- if you are bankrupt now or have been bankrupt in the past – any refund would go to the Official Receiver.
- if you are in an IVA, as refunds will go to your IVA firm not to you. If your IVA has finished the refund may still be sent to your old IVA firm.
- if you are in a DRO now, getting a refund may mean your DRO is cancelled!
More help
You can ask a question in the comments below – you may get a reply from someone who has been in your exact situation.
Don’t use a claims management company. They are expensive and often incompetent. It’s easy to do this yourself and you can ask questions below and get replies from other readers who have done this.
Card & catalogue affordability complaints
Can you get an overdraft refund?
Could a Debt Relief Order help you?
Wendy says
Hi,I have sent all my payday lenders emails.
vivus sent me an email after a week upholding all 4 of my loans,I was well happy,they say my refund will be in my back within 7 days.
QQ sent me the questionnaire and now just waiting
payday express hasn’t even bothered to send an email to act knowledge my request, so you think I should send another email to check they have received the first 1?
thanks for help, totally a fab site
Jimmy says
Hi all,
Wonga offered me £2300 this morning (14 weeks 3 days). I accepted this having paid £2400 in total (so a little short but i still feel it’s acceptable).
My adjudicator has only just picked this up so saves her the work too!
Margo says
Just a small advice. don’t be tempted to agree on first offer. PDUK first said 750£. After rejection and involvement of adjudicator he got more then 2200£ . After agreeing money entered acc the same afternoon. Thank you Sara (Debt Camel) Thank you everybody. And good luck.
His provident case was not approved by Ombudsman..thinking what to do next.
And I am waiting for PDUK and Wonga now with adjudicators.
Tim says
Hi All
So i heard back from the Ombudsman today : )
Quick Quid- All interest from the second loan to be repaid with 8% stat interest and removal from credit report. Think this is about £4700, ive accepted and just gotta wait for it now.
Lending Stream- Bit of a weird one, he ruled that loans 9-14 were unaffordable but not before that because of my disposable income declared. Ive challenged this as Lending stream confirmed they performed credit checks so therefore had visibility of 3 other payday lenders being used at the same time and also they inflated my credit scores so they could see i was in financial difficulty regardless of declared income, i dont believe the figures they have stated but i cant disprove it : (
Uncle Buck- Only two loans both the end of 2014, the ombudsman didn’t find in my favor. Much of this is because uncle buck couldnt see two defaults registered in April 2014 on the credit checks they did. I’ve asked to see what agencies they used since i have copies of noddle and experian and they are on each of those.
And for those that wondered how long it took- 3 weeks and 4 days to get an Ombudsman’s decision.
Cheers
Tim
Sarah says
Update – Payday UK have accepted the adjudicators decision and are confirming this in writing today. Refund claim form needs to be returned and then I will have payment within 48 hours.
Success for one – now just waiting for the others
laura says
Hi , a while back I had a letter from payday express saying 2 of the loans I had with them were unaffordable and the interest was refunded direct into my bank account , but that was only for 2 of the many loans , can I still go to the ombudsman about the other loans? or not because they voluntarily paid out of 2 of the loans ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Laura, yes you can, see this article: https://debtcamel.co.uk/wonga-small-refunds/
Rosie says
Hi,
Just had success with Wageday Advance. Final response after 4 weeks. They wouldn’t investigate loans over 6 years ago as they considered these time barred. They have removed outstanding balance, will update my credit file and have already refunded me nearly £7K. Thanks to everyone on this site for the invaluable info.
alan says
CHEQUE CENTRE….Advice to anyone with a claim against them! KEEP AT IT!!!
I started my claim on the 23rd of March by email to cheque centre. they replied the next day.
saying they would look into it, and to give them as much details as I could. I did as requested, and they took almost the while 8 weeks to reply.
They denied irresponsibility, but offered £385 for what they described. as compensation for my loans becoming non short term!
I contacted the F.O.S and was allocated an adjudicator 2 weeks later. on June 23rd my adjudicator called me, to confirm some details.
she was then able to apply for copies of my bank statements on my behalf. these she received on the 2nd of July.
on the 20th July, my adjudicator in formed my, that cheque centre failed to provide the details she asked them for. ie affordability checks.
so, she would have to make her judgement, using the information she had.
she called me last Monday 25th July to say she had found in my favour. and that she had advised Cheque Centre to refund all fees paid plus interest on loans above £200 dating back to March 2010. and they had until the 8th of August to reply.
0n the 1st of August I got a call. Cheque Centre agreed to refund the advised fees and interest. totalling £1855
they did ask for a copy of a bank statement, which took 5 days to come! but I sent that to my adjudicator yesterday. and she sent it straight to Cheque Centre. and this morning I have had £1855.57 paid into my account.
so, for the sake of a few emails, and a bit of a wait (4 month appox) i have the best part of £1500 more than my offer.
I’m more than pleased.
I hope my story and indeed the journey, will give some of you the hope and inspiration to keep at them.
It’s our money, and we deserve it back!!!
good luck everyone.
and thanks for all the info I have gained from you all.
Alan
Ben says
Hi Sara, I have quite a few outstanding complaints (the 8 week point is tomorrow). I have summarised outcomes below but only had a few responses as should get the rest tomorrow;
Mr Lender – turnaround within 48 hours from initial complaint. Rejected complaint but offered to wipe c£300 in interest on current loan as gesture of goodwill. Sent to FOS. I had about 9 loans that half were late in repayment and all done in short space of time so I feel I have a
chance here.
Wagedayadvance- rejected and sent to FOS. Turnaround times about 7 weeks. Felt like a standardised response, again high frequency of borrowing. On most occasion borrowing 60/65% of my net monthly income and more than 100% of disposable income.
Sunny- 7 week turnaround. Upheld my complaint and agreed rolling “overdraft style credit facility” was unnaffordable. Refunded £2094 interest and £350 interest at 8%. Agreed with their response yesterday apparently will get the refund today. Also agreed to wipe from credit profile which is great. Don’t like sunny as a company as it never felt like they wanted to help or discuss a plan when I was struggling, often rude and blunt with me. Complaints process seems to be othsourced to elevate.
Wonga- about 27 loans c£12,500 in credit over 16 month. 8 week point tomorrow . No news yet. The debt was top ups galore and roll overs.
Lending stream – referred to the ombudsmen. Nightmare complaints process for me, using loads of time wasting tactics, eventually rejected my complaint. It is laughable. It’s a similar story on one occasion, I borrowed £800 which I couldn’t repay so they agreed to delay repayment for one month during that delay I received a text from them to say I could borrow a further £500. I logged in and they lent me a further £500, I was stupid I know but Jesus Christ that’s not good on their part.
Satsuma- awaiting response 8 week tomorrow
Pduk – awaiting response 8 week tomorrow.
I’m making progress thanks to all the people on here. For those considering complaining please don’t let the initial rejections get you down keep fighting and take to the ombudsmen If necceassary. Also make your complaint personal, tell them your story. Use the template letter as foundation but add your on bit.
Will post when I have had other responses.
Ben
K says
Had my first final response today from Pdayday Express (10 weeks 5 days) upholding my complaint on the grounds that they breached the charter by letting me rollover my loan more than 3 times. Offered me £221 which I’m happy with considering I only had 3 loans with them.
Still awaiting suitable responses from Wonga, PDUK & QQ …. Has anyone had a response from PDUK as haven’t heard a peep from them since 4 weeks and that’s now been nearly 11 weeks also.
Nicola says
Just looking for anyone in or who has been in a similar situation to myself.
I first put my complaint to Wonga on Feb 20th. After typical 14 weeks they only upheld my complaint against 3 loans out of 27 ( no reason why they chose these 3 was given-offered £400, thought I paid thousands in interest over 3 years-2009 to 2011).
I sent complaint to FOS end of May to try and get a better/fairer offer but Wonga are not responding or replying to Adjudicator at all, even after several emails to them chasing them and adjudicator giving them more time . They have not even sent my file etc to adjudicator. It has now been a few months and I’m waiting for adjudicator to plan a way forward, if they don’t respond today which is looking unlikely.
has anyone else had an experience like this and the outcome?
fusionx212 says
you can ask for it to go to the ombudsman, you can in fact insist on it.
in regards to the random loans offered, they did the same to me, and asked for it to go to the ombudsman for review, who now has my bank statements too.
you have given more than enough time to them to respond and provide the information..
I suggest having a frank conversation with the adjudicator say as a company wonga have not responded which is usually a 2 week window, it shouldn’t be dragged out for months.
George says
I have just started my complaint procedures with multiple companies. I have received an offer from mr.lender within two days without any real concrete information. They have offered me 25% of the full interest amount.
Is this an indication that they are trying to fob me off quickly?
Should i ask them to reconsider the offer?
Should i just go to the ombudsman?
They have used evidence of phone calls to try and make their case but i feel they have incriminated themselves even more.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How many loans did you have from them over what period? What is the “evidence of phone calls” that they have mentioned?
George says
I had 11 loans with £2600 interest
They asked me if i was in financial difficulty, i said i was a couple of months ago but better off now (6-7 loans in). (I did not actually say i was out of financial difficulty)
They then asked me what the loan was for, i said i had been to germany and had paid off £1200 to mr lender so i needed to reloan. (Having to reloan because of paying off a loan)
Kayls says
Has anyone ever successfully negotiated an offer with a company – specifically Payday UK?
Lilly says
They offered me a refund on one loan, of £266, I emailed them back and went over some things, urged them to reconsider, they resent their final response and doubled their offered to 2 loans and it took it to just under £500 which I then accepted.
Liam says
FIRST SUCCESS! – WONGA.
I started the process of asking for refunds in April and have had my first real success today with Wonga.
I have accepted an offer from Lending Stream but that was only for £500 and took from an outstanding balance.
P2P, Quickquid, Sunny and Mr Lender complaints are currently with our good friends at the FOS.
Quickquid and P2P didn’t reply in the 8 weeks, Mr Lender made a derisory offer and Sunny denied any wrongdoing (despite me taking 6 X £100 topups in the same day due to problem gambling)
After 8 weeks Wonga asked for the standard extra 6 which took them to Friday 05/08 and they didn’t respond in time. As i was furiously entering the complaint details on the FOS website an email from Wonga popped up upholding my complaint on all loans over a certain amount. I’d worked out interest paid at around £1900 and after the magic 8% their offer sat at around £1650 plus a removed default.
I have accepted as I feel it was fair, some loans were small and only for 2-3 days.
I’m absolutely delighted and would never have gone through the process without this site which also prompted me to get a £750 refund from Natwest for charges and interest.
Thanks Sara, I’ll keep you updated on the rest.
Lpjkp says
Anxiously awaiting the outcome of a claim for Quick Quid and Wonga
Wonga- submitted claim approximately 3 weeks ago-have received an acknowledgement and a “sorry it’s taking so long” email-borrowed in excess of £16000 over an 18 month period and paid around £3500 in interest-anxiously awaiting outcome
Quick Quid-currently with FO after initially submitting claim directly to QQ,and rapid refusal stating that we have already complained about it? Borrowed similar amount as Wonga loans over same loan period-only complaint ever made was in 2013 about their inability to show understanding and agree to affordable payment plan when I called to discuss financial difficulties-complained to the ombudsman at the time and QQ reduced outstanding amount by £192- ombudsman is currently deciding if they will consider the claim and I’ve argued that the current claim relates to unaffordable lending over a long period of time-we will see I guess!
Sam says
Had my first success today and boy did it feel good sunny upheld my complaint and is refunding just shy of 420 I only borrowed about 1800 so happy with that
lending stream and peachy already with fos
p2p wonga paydayuk on there way to fos at end of week
also this site made me have a massive shake up of my financial situation I took a good long hard look at my finances and I have started on the road to recovery I’m in the process of starting a dmp and as it stands will be debt free in 5 years I know this is a long time but every month I will be closer to being debt free rather than paying the minimums and interest only.
I love reading people’s success stories it feels like we are winning against the big companies screwing over the little people so thanks to all of you especially Sara as I for one am eternally grateful that you give people like me a voice and the strength to stand up and fight
Mags says
Hi Sara
Uodate – the adjudicator upheld my complaint against Uncle Bucks. I had 2 loans with them – borrowed £200 which I repaid (using another payday loan). The second loan was for £400 which was rolled over three times before the wheels fell off the bus and I contacted Stepchange.
A different adjudicator upheld my complaint against Payday Express. I will get the outstanding loan written off, plus a refund of interest. I am sure I had 2 loans outstanding but the adjudicator assures me that only one will be written off as it’s the only one Payday Express have a record of!
My complaint against PaydayUK will be upheld – but they adjudicator is waiting for them to respond with their offer.
In terms of timescales -the initial complaints were submitted in March…….so it’s not been a quick process!
Good luck with your claims.
A MASSIVE Thank You to Sara for her wonderful website.
Mark says
My payday express offer had been to an adjudicator and had just got to an ombudsmen yesterday payday express came back with an offer – everything refunded except 1st 2 loans, plus 8% – seemed reasonable so accepted. Original complaint was logged on the 1st of Feb.
Gordon says
247 Moneybox (Active Securities Ltd) originally offered to remove the outstanding balance and clear credit history – Tried negotiating but they would not change the offer. Took the adjudicator a few weeks and he upheld, 247 Moneybox obviously were not happy and disagreed so few more weeks and the Ombudsman upheld too, Its a great feeling to win and not be intimated by these sharks. They, 247 Moneybox (Active Securities Ltd) are like children when they do not get there own way! Now i will be giving them a daily courtesy call to chase the money they owe me.
I had around 15 loans with them over 3 years and am expecting around £1000 back, plus credit history removed.
Don’t accept anything less than what you think is right, no matter how attractive it seems. I was happy with credit history cleared but there is no reason to not get everything i am owed.
Next job is to help make others aware of 247 Moneybox’s irresponsible lending – It will be interesting to see on companies house how this has effected the profits.
Good Luck All.
Mark says
Hello Gordon thanks for writing this because I am in exactly the same position. They offered to clear my current loan which I rejected and then in the last 4 weeks not been able to contact them at all. My adjudicator phoned me yesterday to introduce themselves on this case. Whenever I phone 24/7 they say my account manager will phone back, which never happens. I have paid them back about £2,000 in interest I think. 23 loans in 24 months, never checked my situation, just a click of a button to reloan and I defaulted almost every time.
I accept a level of responsibility of course but these guys were very intimidating and not helpful when I was in trouble.
I am hoping for a resolution asap however although I complained in May, I have realigned my expectations to October / November for some of these cases to be resolved (ie money in bank if successful)
James H says
Hi Gordan, I’m in the same boat as you! Final decision made but 247 moving slowly and ignoring emails. I’ve started daily calls but with no luck… Any suggestions?! How did you get on? Thanks
Nat says
**QUICK QUID UPDATE**
my claim went to the fos in the 21/6 as QQ didn’t agree my loans were in affordable and that that would look at any over 6 years. The adj agreed with me and issued them to remove defaults and give me a refund. I have just had a email that my refund should be in today in he next hour and that the req had been out in to remove the default. Happy days.
Detailed timetable:
I had my final response from QQ 13th June
Put a complaint in to FOS that day.
16th July. Adjudicator rang for Info
21st July was contacted by my adjudicator to tell me quick quick offered to remove my balance I never had to she went back to them
6 th August received a offer
Today I have received my offer in the bank and a email off quick quid to say they have sent the default removal. Pretty quick I would say.
Alan says
I started my refund journey back in Feb pay day uk responded after 8 weeks offering £1300 I was not happy with this as it should be around 4K the adjudicator ruled in my favour to refund all interest and 8% after my first loan he gave payday uk 2 weeks to respond(9thaug) I contacted my adjudicator today who said they still have not responded and has give them another week to reply and then it will go to the ombudsman for a decision
I’m starting to lose faith now does this mean the ombudsman will change the outcome even though pduk not replied? How long does it take for an ombudsman decision? What happens if don’t respond to them ? This has been dragging on since Feb which I think is a disgrace from pduk point of view and they get away operating like this! Is it worth me contacting pduk try get a response?
Sorry for all the questions but appreciate any advice
Alan
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is how the FOS works. If the adjudicator can’t get both sides to accept the adjudicator’s decision, it goes to an Ombudsman.
Sometimes the lender will then come back with an offer (look back a few comments for Mark saying today how Payday Express had done this).
Sometimes the lender never talks to the Ombudsman – in that case the adjudicator’s decision is upheld.
Sometimes the lender springs into life and then the Ombudsman will consider any points they make.
Most people don’t have any problems from this point, it’s just a bit more waiting. Come back if you do have any difficulty!
EDIT – the ombudsman upheld Alan’s case in mid September.
Dominkka says
Hi wanted to ask my adjuster found wage day advance complaint in my favour .. was wondering does anyone have dealt with them how long it takes them to get back to adjuster?
Regards
Thomas says
Here’s the timeline for my WDA complaint:
The adjudicator agreed with my complaint on June 16 and told WDA to refund me.
WDA told my adjudicator they disagreed with the decision on July 5.
The adjudicator reviewed my complaint and told WDA that the decision remains the same on July 13.
WDA decided to agree with the adjudicator on July 20.
Suddenly the refund appeared in my bank account without any advance notice on August 5.
So it can be a bit of a drawn-out process, and sometimes you don’t even get to find out when the lender intends to refund you – the money just appears!
Concerned says
I’ve had emails back from Quickquid and Wonga acknowledging my complaint but not from Sunny. Should I email them again or just wait for the 8 weeks then go to the ombudsman?
I have stopped taking out payday loans from this month but have been left with about £150 and am having to borrow off friends and family and rely on food handouts. Shall I tell the Ombudsman this or will he determine that they are affordable if I can get the loans paid off and survive over time? Basically i’m having to pay people back next month when i’m a little bit better off (although still owe QuickQuid £600 out of my £1650 salary).
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you need to discuss your current financial problems with StepChange – after a few months complaints to the Ombudsman get you some refunds or balances written off, but in the meanwhile you have to live! See https://debtcamel.co.uk/help-payday-loan/ for more details.
Matt P says
Hi…Sara is so right about stepchange. I am in Dire straights financially and have been living off handouts. Stepchange have really helped streamline my debts and deal with my creditors. I have a post-tax wage of £2600…but still need their help. Don’t do what I did and bury your head hoping it will go away by borrowing more…it can get better!! X
Adam says
Hi all
I was hoping someone can help me with obtaining bank statements. I changed banks and have no access to statements nor do i know the account number and sort code, my understanding is the ombudsman will ask for these.
Also so some success with Wonga who after 16 weeks offered to refund interest and fees on all loans except the last one. The last loan wasn’t refunded because it was written off by them a couple of years ago.
Another kinda weird success was with Provident/Lowell. I contacted Provident to ask if i could get the original agreement and statements and was told no we don’t own the debt anymore. So i contacted Lowell who told me they would have to contact provident to get the paper work so out of frustration i put in a complaint with Lowell because i figured they should have the paperwork anyway. 8 weeks later i ring Lowell and ask where the paperwork is and im told that provident have said they don’t have it and lowell will now write off the debt. Turns out Lowell didn’t just write off the provident debt but all debts they held for me. I know people might think its a mistake not to push this but its a huge chunk of my debt (approx 60%) and im happy with the result.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like a complete success from Wonga!
re the old bank account, you may have to put in a Subject Access Request – this will cost £10 and will take 40 days… You could try first phoning them but you may well have problems getting past data protection/security questions. Or tweeting to them if you use twitter – sometimes that can get someone in customer services to pick up your problem.
Tom says
Help!
My adjudicator has decided to not uphold my complaints with Sunny and Pounds to pocket (about 4 loans with both) based on the fact that he thinks I have “worked around the system” so borrowing from one lender to repay another made me look like loans were affordable and made my credit score good (it’s been v low for years!) Iv also have a rejection from an ombudsman for the same reason with 118 118. After sleeping in it Iv decided the two should go to the Ombusdman also based in the fact that over the years I have used 26 loans with PDUK(still with ombudsman) 4 loans a with P2P 4 loans with Sunny and the one with 118. The adjudicator also states they were affordable based on what I told the companies when I took the loans out-I more than likely put in figures that were not accurate just to get the money in desperation!
I think 35 loans overall is not responsible lending from anyone! Surely they would see this on my credit file?
Help needed! What should I say to an ombudsman so they see my point!
laura says
Hi tom have a look at this page https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/ , see if this could help you
fusionx212 says
Hi Tom, you need to emphasise and say to ombudsman that the reason you borrowed the money was to survive, the whole base of your complaint is that it’s irresponsible lending and that your could not afford to pay back the minimum criteria which is set out in the FCA guidelines, which all lenders have to adhere to.
correct them that PDL’S on your credit file impacts your score and how lenders view you. due to the fact you show you are not able to manage your monthly income with out borrowing.
you are with in your right to escalated to the ombudsman as long as you feel you have a solid enough case. i.e defaults late payments and multiple roll overs, you need to also state did sunny and pounds to pocket perform credit checks.
How did they come to the conclusion the product was suitable to you before lending.
Matt S says
Hi all,
Was contacted by my adjudicator yesterday who has ruled in my favour with regards to my complaint against Payday UK. He has suggested that they refund all interest and charges from the 4th rollover of my second loan with them onwards, plus 8%. He investigated this based on the information I had supplied him with as Payday UK did not provide him with any information. He has given them until 25th August to respond.
I queried what would happen if they didn’t respond to him by 25th August and was advised that “At the moment there are a few payday loan companies that are experiencing a huge backlog. This is because there’s been a huge rise in complaints over the past few years. So unfortunately, we don’t always get a response by the set deadline. If this was to happen here, I’d refer your complaint to an ombudsman who’d review your case afresh and issue a final decision – which becomes legally binding on the business.”
In the experience of people who have had rulings go in their favour against Payday UK. Does it normally get settled quickly after an adjudicator has made a decision or should I expect that they wont get any response from Payday UK and for it to go to the Ombudsman after 25th August?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
hi Matt – often PaydayUK/Express don’t reply to adjudicator in time so it gets escalated to the Ombudsman level. But here is a recent example of when there was a good offer before the Ombudman actually started work on the case: https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/comment-page-25/#comment-202053
L Alexander says
I just wanted to say thnk you! I came across your website in March 2016 and copied the template for my Wonga complaint. Today is August 12 (2016) ans I have just received a settlement from them for £899 – and they have agreed to removal all late payments and 1 defualt from my account.
I’m relly grateful! As this will definitely
Help with my current debts… Anybody reading these comments and is thinking of making a claim, do it! Do it now.
S.D says
Do we have any cases so far where an ombudsman overturned an adjudicators findings, I’m at the end of s long complaint where my adjudicator upheld my complaint then changed his mind after looking at further information based on affordability, which I completely disagree with so I asked him to escalate it to the ombudsman.
I have been successful on other complaints with different adjudicators
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Paul commented on 29th July:
“Not sure if anyone remembers but my case was the one where the adjudicator originally ruled against me saying PDUK had done nothing wrong, even though she agreed I had been in financial difficulty when PDUK had continued to lend money to me she advised that it was my responsibility not theirs!
Anyway, I insisted that my complaint went to the ombudsman. The ombudsman found in my favour and in his findings said that my remaining debt was to be written off, all charges and interest to be refunded as well as 8% on top.
I received in total just over £3,200 back from PDUK, it just shows that even if the adjudicator doesn’t find in your favour, make sure you insist that your case goes to the ombudsman!”
Tim says
Evening All,
Heard back about a couple of complaints this week.
Payday UK- accepted with the Adjudicators findings and are waiting for the amount to be signed off by Senior Management, just under 3K.
Pounds to Pockets- The adjudicator found that only the last loan was unaffordable due to a drop in wages. I think she has looked at the complaint with the view that Pounds to Pockets are a single entity, however I have asked her to reassess her findings since they are part of casheuro net and the sister company of Quick quid- My lending history is- 5 loans with Quick Quid followed by 3 with Pounds to pockets and then a last one with Pounds to Pockets.
I would have accepted her findings on these loans had they been with any other company however through the complaints process and while borrowing it was clear that they used information from each other. When complaining about quick quid I had replies and correspondence on this from a pounds to pockets email address. When I had loans with quick quid, pounds to pockets would not lend to me using the quick quid loans as reason, proof they used each others information. On first loan with pounds to pockets they gave me a 1200 credit limit, this was clearly based on my lending history with quick quid, first loan with them was 400, second loan 850 and third 1200. My complaint about quick quid was upheld by the ombudsman for all loans so therefore if pounds to pockets used information from quick quid then these too should all be unaffordable- i made 23 consecutive payments to QQ then borrowed from P2P and made 8 consecutive payments the immediate month after. Ive asked her to consider my points and give her rationale if she doesnt agree with them, hopefully she will change her mind. Has anyone else experienced anything similar with these two?
Cheers
Tim
Rachel says
Good news with PDUK? And QQ you would think they would look at them as one company which they are. My claims are both with same adjudicator QQ have admitted they should have noticed repeat lending- 70+ loans/rollovers and p2p back to back over 7 years. However only offered refunds for 3!! Which the adjudicator agreed with? I’ve sent more back up documents and asked for all from 2011 I’ve not even asked for the older ones. Heard nothing this week will chase next week. Still hoping for a pay out before xmas. Tim I would ask for p2p to be looked at again with the points you raised good points too! I’ve been hoping you would do well as your case sounds similar to mine good luck
Robert says
Tim, did you have a lot of loans and rollovers with PDUK? I am waiting for my adjudication to be signed off also but unsure how much they will offer.
Tim says
HI Both,
Sorry for a late reply.
My adjudicator says she will consider the points i raised regarding P2P and get back to me by 16/08/16. Im hoping she agrees with my points, Im going to ask for it to go to an Ombudsman if it is anything less than the interest on all 3 loans and compensation for an incorrectly registered default on my credit score which still has not been removed despite my complaining about it (loan was paid in full on time).
Payday UK- I had 5 loans and a lot of roll overs, the first loan was rolled over 11 times i think. Interest is to be repaid from the 5th payment on the first loan.
Best of luck to you both, i hope you get back everything you are asking for.
Cheers
Tim
aga says
Hi Sara and everyone ,
this is a response from the adjudicator re PdUk , she deals with my PDUk ,PD Express and Money shop but it seems like she deals with each claim separately ; I copied and pasted here so it may help others:
” My opinion
Based on the information I have, I do agree with Mrs Z complaint – I’ll now explain my reasons.
“I can see Mrs Z borrowed three loans. I can see for all three loans, Payday UK were aware of Mrs Z income and a credit check was carried out each time.
On 14 December 2010 Mrs borrowed £300. It seems a credit check was carried out. Also, Payday UK was aware of her income – this was £1480. Mrs was due to repay a total of £375. Although Mrs deferred her loan twice, I can see reasonable checks were carried out to ensure she could afford the loan.
I can see the same checks were carried out for the second loan of £450, borrowed on 6 April 2011. The total repayment was £562.50. Although I can see the loan was affordable at the point of the application, I can see Mrs Z deferred her payment 11 times, which suggests this loan wasn’t affordable. I can’t see that Mrs Z made Payday UK of any financial difficulties, nor can I see that Payday UK did anything to help her pay off the outstanding balance. I do think it would’ve been reasonable for them have discuss a repayment plan.
It seems Mrs Z borrowed a third loan for £320 on 1 March 2012. She was due to repay £400. It seems a credit check was carried out and her income had been amended to £905. I can see Mrs Z deferred her payment five times. I don’t think this loan was affordable because Mrs Z deferred her payment on her previous loan, 11 times.
I can see a default and CCJ on Mrs Z credit file, but these were applied after the last loan. Payday UK would’ve have seen this in their credit checks.
I think it will be fair for Mrs Z to pay the full interest on her second loan, but anything paid over £562.50 should be refunded. Also, I think the interest on the last loan should be refunded plus 8% interest.
If you disagree with any part of what I’ve said, please let me know your reasons.”
I’ll be in touch once I receive a response.
Ross says
how have those with gambling been getting on
adjudicator asked for my bank statements but im embarrassed to give them other as they look a mess and worried they will say i could of afforded the loans
Morag says
Ross,
I was like you and told my adjucticator I had a problem with gambling. My bank statements were also a nightmare. She didn’t seem to mind, she wasn’t judgemental, only wanted to find out if the loans were affordable or not.
There were too many entries on my bank statements to download so the FOS asked for them directly from the bank.
I have had 2 complaints upheld and the were plenty of gambling history on my statements.
Good luck
Bill says
I’ve just got £900 back from Wagedayadvance and my bank statements were peppered with gambling transactions. My adjudicator took that into account as outgoings, in fact. One month my income was about £2000 and I’d gambled £1700 (taken payday loans to bridge the gap) and she said “your outgoings were far more than your income” as she simply added up the incoming salary and outgoing debits, not taking into account the payday loans.
By the way, I didn’t provide bank statements. My adjudicator asked for my sort code and account number and bank name and she contacted my bank and they sent her the statements on the same day she requested them. It was painless.
andy says
I have 2 complaints that have now gone to the Ombudsman 1 With payday uk where the adjudicator found in my favour but payday uk disagreed so it went to the Ombudsman who then wanted to include loans from over 5 years ago and this has been passed to there legal team over 4 weeks ago The second one with Wonga And this is the reply I got back today from the adjudicator.
Wonga replied last night and they disagree with my findings. They offered only to remove the details of the last loan off your credit file. I referred this complaint to an ombudsman for their final decision. I must advise you that Wonga has now raised the jurisdiction issue and that all our loans are outside our jurisdiction because they were taken out more than 6 years ago. Therefore, we will have to wait on the decision from our legal team for both your cases.
I do not know how long this will take (may be a few weeks or even months). Therefore, there is no need for you to chase this up with us. I will contact you as soon as we have communication from our legal team about these cases
Looks like it might be Xmas before this gets sorted by if the legal team agree with the Ombudsman then it will hopefully open the floodgates for loans over the 6 years
ross says
I had offer of 3K with wonga but took it to FOS as they only did 26 of my 69 loans, they say offer stands for 6 months
After looking at my statements I have lot of doubt that the adjudicator will see in my favour, if he doesn’t will I lose that offer from wonga, could he tell them they did everything right even though they have taken accountability for 26 loans they gave me
EDIT – in Novemeber Ross got a refund of over £6,000 from Wonga :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The Adjudicator’s aim is to reach an agreement between the parties. After Wonga have agreed loans were unaffordable, the adjudicator isn’t going to decide they were affordable! If the Adjudicator doesn’t think you should get more, they will suggest you should accept Wonga’s offer.
Liam says
Just a quick Wonga update.
I accepted an offer on Wednesday which I felt was very fair and Thursday I was told it would take a few days to action and then 3-5 working days to process payment.
Money is in my account this morning (Saturday)
I gave them the extra 6 weeks they asked for and it went 5 days over again. I know it’s frustrating waiting, but stick with it.
Bob says
Hey Sara & Everyone
I’m really not having a good time at the moment, just heard back from the Adjudicator last night about my QuickQuid Complaint and it wasn’t good news at all :( I had a flex credit account which started off with a £400 limit, each month they would take their payment and if not the same day within a few days I would withdraw the max available again so was nearly always at my limit, after about 7 months they upped my limit to £1,200 and again to £1,250 and again I was nearly always at the limit and kept withdrawing money when it was available.
The problem is that I was self employed and kept borrowing money from the business and paying it back several times each month, I also had some of my disabled wife’s benefits and tax credits paid into my account as she couldn’t get a bank account at the time so its made my income look a lot higher than it actually was, think I had put 3,600 a month (higher than it should have been to get the loan) and quickquid had used my statement to work out that I had 5,300 a month. but we were basically living off benefits at the time and my self assessment showed that I made a loss and had £0 income for a couple of years as my shop was basically loosing money which I finally shut down at start of 2015 (best thing ever if I’m honest) I just feel strongly that they should never have upped my credit limit to £1,200 especially as I was asking nearly every month for it to increase from £400 and my usage of the account being near the limit all the time. I guess what hasn’t helped is that I made extra payments some times as I was trying to keep the interest low but this has gone against me as well :(
would really appreciate some help as I already assumed I’ve lost but don’t want to give up quite yet as I’m sure I have a case somewhere in all of this. I mean a flexible repayment loan fair enough was affordable, but a loan that keeps letting you reborrow at these high rates and no checks each time you withdrew surely was only a product to maximise their profits and then they suddenly withdraw this type of loan at the end of 2014 at the same time sunny did the same. surely these loans cant have been legal in someway ?? they were designed to keep customers in debt at a very high interest rate.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes these products were designed to maximise the amount of interest you paid but that doesn’t mean they were illegal at the time. They were withdrawn when it was clear the regulatory regime was going to be changing. It’s going to be tough for you to try to argue this type of loan was illegal per se… Instead you need to be concentrating on (a) why it was unaffordable for you and (b) why QQ should have known this.
If the adjudicator is looking at your bank account and deciding the loans were affordable, your wife’s income shouldn’t be taken into account unless all your wife’s expenses were also going through that account.
You need to work out what the minimum repayments were to the flex account each months – this is the amount you have to show was unaffordable.
“I guess what hasn’t helped is that I made extra payments some times as I was trying to keep the interest low but this has gone against me as well :(” it shouldn’t go against you. What matters is that your pattern of borrowing shows you couldn’t get through the next month without borrowing more, showing a clear dependency on these loans.
If you were constantly at the maximum amount for the account for 7 months this suggests to me that it was irresponsible of QQ to increase your credit limit at all – let alone by such a large amount!
I’m not sure if you have a final decision yet from the adjudicator? If no, then go back and ask them to look again and list the points you don’t think have been properly taken into account. If you have had a final decision and you want it to go to the Ombudsman level, then write out a very clear summary of your case, telling your story
DL says
I sent an SAR to the Money Shop but, after months of stringing out my complaint, they have absolutely refused to provide any details of my account as they say they don’t have to for an account which has been settled. They offered to refund me £10 as a final settlement, the £10 I had paid for the SAR. I therefore do not have details of the loans I took out and they are point blank refusing to provide them. They claim they practiced good lending and it was my responsibility to manage my account, even though I told them at the time that I was struggling. My monthly phone call from them consisted of ‘It’s the money shop, do you want to extend?’. I was in a terrible spiral of debt, thankfully now behind me. I cannot tell you how many sleepless nights I had.
Marie says
Hi to DL (comment on 13 August),
Reference your SAR to money shop, it is my belief that they have no right to refuse you your own personal details under the data protection act. I am just about to make a request under DPA and if they refuse I will be reporting them to the Information Commissioners Office who will investigate if they are obliged to provide you with the information and take quite direct action if they don’t which can be in the form of a very hefty fine. Go straight to the ICO if you have proof that they will not grant your request, costs nothing and it may sort the whole thing out. Your call but I would also inform TMS when you have done it as it may prompt them into some positive action on your behalf. I didn’t have their full attention until recently when I advised them I would be submitting a request which I intend to do next week.
Sara (debt camel) I am sure will correct me if I am wrong on this.
Absolutely wonderful site this, keep going everyone.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
DL took this problem to the ICO who said Money Shop were wrong. Money shop have now sent DL the list of loans :)
Nat says
Had a letter today from cash converters they upheld my complaint offering me £1250 that’s interest +8% I have have rang up to accept the only thing is I need to go into store to collect my cheuqe. Feel a bit embarrassed. :s
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I expect you will get over it :)
Nat says
I’ll try lol X
This site is great thank you for all your help Sara . Two more and thats me all done. If payday uk remove this default this us been life changing for me and my family X
Vic Smith says
Hiya.
Same here,Cash Converters are repaying me £280 and 8% interest.
I rung up to accept to,and I gave them my bank details,and they are going put the money straight into my account.
Vic
fusionx212 says
Ombudsman has made a decision in my favour all loans from the second was unaffordable. Very pleased with this result wonga was my biggest and I worked out nearly 4k interest on 15k borrowed wonga have till the 12th September to pay me. Got to sign and scan my acceptance and it’s all settled just waiting on my jar little woods . Very Barclay’s and HSBC complaints now. It appears I have been successful in all my complaints so far sunny peachy quick quid, santander, wonga. Just over 6k reclaimed from 6 months of letter writing
gee says
Hi,
How were you successful with sunny? My adjudicator today refused my complaint as they offer repayment over 6 months. But they lent me £6k over a year, as I borrow and repaid each month in combination to pay my wonga loans which were 5k over the year. The adjudicator said that sunny can’t see my wonga loans on my credit search either. Can’t believe they are getting away with this tbh.
fusionx212 says
Hi gee, you need to explain to your adjudicator that although they were flexible credit. Sunny as a lender they should of seen from your borrowing and financial statements that you were clearly dependant on pdls for your necessity and priority bills. Prove this with credit reports showing late payments defaults and repeat borrowing. You can escalate to the ombudsman and insist they look at your complaint on the points I’ve made above. There needs be a clear indication of dependency on loans from pdls and your ability to pay back to minimum payments.
Nigel says
Hi all
A bit of an update since I last commented.
Had two more successes H&T refunded me £500 for Cheque cashing in store.
CFO lending after initially stating they did not do anything wrong came back after the final response with an offer of £300.
Both of these were accepted. My total is now over £13,000 in refunds that I have received since May.
Today is the final day for EPDL, Money Shop, Payday Express, Uncle Buck. 8 weeks are up.
Money shop have already advised this morning they have huge backlogs and will advise ASAP.
Nothing yet from FOS on my QQ complaint. I had it allocated, but I have not had any requests for anything yet.
Tim says
Hi All
So really disappointed today.
Initially my adjudicator ruled only the 3rd of 3 loans was unaffordable with Pounds to Pockets which I challenged stating numerous points regarding my quick quid account and P2P using that make their lending decisions and therefore they should have seen i could not afford further pay day loans and was stuck dependent on them.
The adjudicator replied and did not change their mind, they acknowledged that although they share databases they must be treated as individual entities. They also stated that at the time of my first loan application all of my defaults were over a year old but by the time of the third loan there was sufficient other lending on my credit report that that they should have seen this. It was also stated that these were installment loans therefore much more affordable than the Quick Quid ones.
Ive asked them to look again as per the below since I find this totally conflicting-
*P2P can use information from their sister company to make lending decisions but cannot be held accountable for doing this as are a separate entity?
*My financial position was as bad at the time of first application compared to the third. When I applied for the first loan I had one default over a year old but also one that was only 9 months old (not over a year as stated). Further at the time of application I had 3 active payday loans showing on my credit file and arrears on a separate credit line. I also had numerous closed pay day loans. This was visible to P2P on my credit report at the time of application for the first loan- 2 defaults (one current), one account in arrears, and 3 other live pay day loans.
*Lastly although the loans were installments, the way the interest was amortized and so front heavy i actually paid an average of £145 per month interest on top of the principle payments so interest was only £20 per month less than i paid to quick quid- not that much more affordable.
Apologies for the long rant im just a bit lost with their reasoning and feel no matter how much i disprove the points made the decision will not be changed. I fully expected this to go to the Ombudsman as it is Pounds to Pockets but I did hope I would have the adjudicator on my side of thinking.
Cheers
Tim
Sam says
Hi Tim,
My adjudicator found my Sunny complaint to be in their favour also.
I have emailed her back as a lot of her email content was lies and she said she believed that they did nothing wrong lending, despite the fact I was maxxed out with QQ and Wonga. She also said my defaults were 4 years old when actually my last default was only 6 months old when I was borrowing from Sunny.
My other complaints have been found in my favour but QQ and Wonga did not agree so they are with the ombudsman.
Still waiting to here back from my adjudicator with the final decision after sending through more info!
Mark says
After 11 weeks and 3 days, Wonga have just settled with me!
£1700 plus 8% interest = £2300
Thank you so much Sara.
My refunds now total £8,000 with 5 companies to go and all three of DFG group to go!
Sarah says
Finally filled in my settlement form with Payday UK … Refund of £2900 a lot more than I expected … My adjudicator was fantastic just awaiting the result for QuickQuid now
Sam says
A good day for me today my adjudicator was back off holiday and has had replies off both Wonga and quick quid accepting his findings. I have sent over my bank details so it’s just a waiting game for the money to hit my bank now. I have been awarded £2337 so over £500 more than Wonga originally offered and £1061 from quickquid I will only get £417 after the amount I still owe is deducted but my defaults are being removed which is the main thing.
Does anyone know how long it usually takes to receive payment from Wonga and quick quid when agreeing through the ombudsman?
Sam says
I’ve just checked and its cleared into my account already so next day cash for me no too bad!
Ruth says
I’ve taken out several payday loans dating back to 2011, I’m still paying for them through step change. Looking at what I’ve paid back so far is on some, more than double if not triple what the original loan was. Is it worth me trying to claim?
Bill says
100% worth it yes! I am doing the same through Payplan and got about £4500 knocked off my total balances owing by complaining and going to the Ombudsman in some cases.
Overall I’ve had over £12k of refunds and write offs from all these lenders:
£4800 Wonga
£1800 QuickQuid
£1600 Payday UK
£1700 Pounds2pocket
£898 Wagedayadvance
£600 Myjar
£366 Vivus
£300 Quid.co.uk
£250 Payday Express
Took me over a year but my advice is persevere and you should have some good success.
Andrew says
Hi, had a respond from Wonga stating they will refund £400 ( interest worked out £1390) but they did write of the £1000 balance a couple of years ago. Should I accept this?
I made payments to it for around 2 years, borrowing around £4000 and paying around £1390 in interest over this period. They cleared the balance, after they were ordered to do by the FCA I believe. Balance was £1000 I think. Because they cleared this balance, does this mean that I can only request the additional £390 interest, which they have done effectively?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You need to separate out this last debt that you defaulted on from the previous debts. For the previous debts how much did you borrow and how much did you repay – the difference is the interest that you paid. Then for the last debt, how much did you borrow and how much have you paid to the debt?
This may sound complicated but it’s the only way to work out if the offer is reasonable or not.
Matt S says
Hi all, just looking for some advise.
I have complaints in with the FOS against Payday UK and Payday Express. Both owned by the same company.
Quick rundown, Payday UK. Had 3 loans beginning March 2012. First paid off in full, Second rolled over 11 times, Third rolled over once before entering debt management June 2013. Adjudicator has ruled that the continuing rolling over of the second loan was unreasonable and that I should get refund on all interest and charges from 4th rollover on 2nd loan dated 20th August 2012 onwards plus 8% etc.
Payday Express, took first loan with them November 2012 (in midst of continually rolling over with PDUK), rolled this over 3 times before taking second loan and top up and rolling these over once before entering debt management. Adjudicator has ruled on this that couldn’t see any reason not to issue first loan and rollovers based on credit report but 2nd loan, top ups and rollovers were unreasonable and unaffordable and interest etc to be refunded on these.
My only issue is that if he has decided that Payday UK were unreasonable to continue lending after August 2012 would I have a case for saying that all loans including the first loan from Payday Express were unaffordable as my first loan with them was taken after this date. Surely they would have looked at my lending record with their sister company as well as doing any credit checks etc. and would have know that at the time of applying for my first loan with Payday Express I had a loan with Payday UK that had been rolled over 6/7 times and was obviously having difficulties repaying.
I did mention this in my original complaint to the FOS however it hasn’t been mentioned in the adjudicators decision. Would it be worth bringing it up again or should I just accept what he has proposed?
Matt S says
In answer to my own question, my adjudicator has advised that Payday Express and Payday UK weren’t taken over by the same owners until 2015 and as such they would not have been able to look at my lending history with each other before approving my loans back in 2012.
Mark says
Following my Wonga victory yesterday of £2300, my adjudicator has today found in my favour for PDUK to the tune of £3,200
Since discovering this website that takes me to £11,000
THANK YOU SARA!
martin hood says
hey just update on mine
Wonga settled £800 within 5 weeks
My Jar settled £350 about 3 mths neither of these went to FOS
have quick quid , swift stearling and lending stream at adjudicator just supplied bank statements which must admit was frightening as to what i was doing with payday loans at the time.
WDA and payday express still awaiting response and big issues with Kampa hope to sort them soon ,
Sam says
I’m so confused I have obviously agreed a settlement with quickquid but my pounds to pocket complaint didn’t get upheld however I logged onto my online account today for pounds to pocket and instead of it saying I still owed £400 it said zero. I had sent them a strong worded email the other day as in their original offer without FO involvement they offered to partially settle my account but never gave me a figure, am I just being hopeful thinking they might have just wiped the balance? I have paid back more than the original loan already.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The other alternative is that some of your QQ settlement has been used to clear the P2P balance. I think you have to phone up and ask what is going on.
Wendy says
Hi I had an Intresting thing with lending stream,I had about 23 loans with them,they first said they wouldn’t uphold any of my loans,so I sent them an email saying I will be getting in touch with fos,within 48hrs I get another email saying they will up hold 1 loan for £311 plus my 8%,so I was going to accept it until I spoke to L.S they said if I accept it the whole case would be closed and I couldn’t go to FOS about any of my other loans,anyone else had problems like this with L.S?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Wendy – this is normal – they are offering to refund the one loan in settlement of your whole unaffordable lending complaint. So if you accept, you can’t make another complaint about the other loans.
If you had 23 loans refunding just one doesn’t sound like a great offer!
Jonny says
Just heard Sunny have accepted adjudicator decision. Think that will be just over a thousand with the 8%. Well pleased was straightforward. Pduk which ismy big one gets to 8 weeks next week.
James28 says
Afternoon All
What a great site this is, I stumbled across this many months ago and every time I come on and read the stories I don’t feel so alone. Since April/ May I have processed my 3 complaints (Lending Stream, Quick Quid & Sunny).
Sunny: Response within 8 weeks and a refund of £2040. Loans removed from credit file. Overall Sunny (Elevate) were good to deal with and the refund was processed within 48 hours of their final response.
Lending Stream: Response within 8 weeks and they offered a very low amount – I refused. These seem to be the tactics they are using. This was referred to the FOS and the adjudicator feels 11 of the 14 loans should be refunded. Currently awaiting Lending Streams response.
Quick Quid: Response within 8 weeks and no offer for the 9 loans taken out with them. Referred to the FOS and my adjudicator has agreed 6 of the 9 loans should be refunded. Currently awaiting Quick Quids response.
Overall my adjudicator has been great and fair in his findings. I imagine there is a little way to go yet, but it seems like there is light at the end of the tunnel. What I would say is, keep going with your complaints and do not give up. Challenge where fair and be persistent. It will take time, however, will be be worth it.
At first I was nervous to even think about complaining as I thought I wouldn’t get anywhere. I’ve already clawed back over £2000 which has helped tremendously. If you are reading these comments (just like I was months back) and you don’t think you’ll get anywhere. Just try. Give it a go, you have nothing to lose!
Ian says
Great News James, From the adjudicator picking up your case to presenting his findings how long did you have to wait?
Peter says
Update from me:
So I only went to FOS with Wonga’s offer, because they were really in a funny mood when they had offered me £50 because of the delay of their response, but nothing for the twenty something loan over 4 years… So it made me angry and I went to the FOS. The Adjudicator called me today, that Wonga already offered around £2400 … I accepted it and I’ve been told I will get it in 4 weeks.. so the Adjudicator only asked them to explain their part but they have offered a refund instead…
I only have WageDayAdvance back, they have time till 2nd September…
Katy says
Good Evening Everyone
Just a quick update on my situation:
Cheque Centre – after a bit of negotiation with them, I received a refund of £2,500. Happy with this outcome -‘didn’t uphold any of my loans with them prior to the six years but felt that I wouldn’t get much more if I referred it to FOS.
Uncle Buck – they rejected my original complaint. I referred it to the FOS but before I was allocated an adjudicator, my complaint was revisited by UB when they were reviewing my file to send to FOS. Consequently I received a call from UB stating that they had reviewed my case and wished to offer me a refund of all interest and fees + 8% interest amounting to over £5,000 as long as I withdrew my case with the FOS. I accepted their offer as I wouldn’t have got any more with the FOS.
Wonga – I submitted my claim to them at the beginning of May. At 8 weeks I got the usual email from Wonga requesting an additional six weeks. I opted at that point to submit my claim to the FOS. As yet I haven’t been allocated an Adjudicator. However, late today I received an email from Wonga offering me a refund of nearly £10,000! They won’t consider my loans prior to May 2010 (I started my loans with them in 2008). My dilemma is should I accept their offer, as it may be that the FOS won’t consider my loans prior to 2010 anyway, and may take many months for a decision. Any advice as to whether I should accept their offer given the amount they are offering me, or can I accept the offer and ask the FOS to look at the loans prior to May 2010 only? Any advice please?
Peachy, WDA, PDUK, H&T, Payday Express all with FOS – awaiting been allocated an adjudicator for them all.
Thanks to Sara and everyone for their advice – it’s much appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well it’s a nice dilemma to have! Can you quantify it? How much interest did you pay Wonga on the earlier loans? If the early loans started small and it’s the later ones that are larger the interest may be small compared to what you are already being offered. On the other hand the 8% statutory interest adds up on old loans?
Also were the earlier loans as unaffordable as the later ones? You clearly had more payday loans later on so were in more difficulties. It can also be hard to produce evidence about your credit record etc going back over 6 years.
Do you think you are being offered a fair amount? This is a very personal decision. Some people feel that getting say 75% back of the max is reasonable because they did want the loans at the time. Others feel their lives were ruined for years and they want every penny they can get.
How much of the 10k on offer is a refund and how much is 8% interest? If say 7k is a refund, then you could think of the other 3k as being a refund on your earlier loans? This idea may appeal or appall, it’s very personal.
You could phone the Ombudsman and ask if you can accept the offer but complain about the later loans?
Katy says
Hi Sara
Thank you for your advice. I did contact the FOS as you suggested today. They advised that they couldn’t consider the loans pre May 2010 on their own and would have to consider them as the one complaint. I have thought about this all day and feel that the offer from Wonga is more or less what I was expecting. In any event, if I waited for the FOS to investigate which may take several months, I may still not receive any more because of the six year rule. I have therefore decided to accept Wonga’s offer as when I add on the £600 they are taxing off for tax their offer was over £10,600 which I think is a very successful outcome. Not sure how long I will have to wait to receive my funds, but I’ll keep you posted.
Thanks once again for all your help – this site is great.
fusionx212 says
Wow Katy, that’s a hell of a lot of interest you must of paid to multiple companies. I’ve seen people going to the fos for the loans prior to 2010 and having their complaints being placed on hold until the FOS legal teams make a decision on whether they can lawfully challenge these. (Some of these can be month more of waiting)
Sara’s advice is pretty solid.
do you have an idea of how much you borrowed from all the pdl’s combined?
Katy says
Hi fusionx212
Thanks for your post. Yes – it’s frightening how many PDLs I had at one time and how much I paid in interest – I would be too frightened to add up how much but put it this way it’s only the tip of the iceberg what I have received to date. I am expecting in due course, a lot more interest back from multiple PDL lenders.
You see above my response to Sara about Wonga – I think this is the best plan given the large amount of refund they are offering me.
I’ll keep you updated on my other PDL complaints.
Katy
Claire C says
Hi Everyone
I had an offer from WDA yesterday, refund on everything from second loan onwards, plus the 8%. Very happy with that and I have confirmed that I accept their offer. This was just 4 weeks from me submitting my complaint! :-)
My question is, how long have people waited for funds to hit their account following acceptance of an offer from WDA? I did ask the question when I responded to them yesterday, but haven’t heard anything so worried it will now go quiet and I will be waiting forever for the funds!
I am also in correspondence with Lending Stream, who have so far offered silly amounts which I have declined.
Cash Genie settled mine (everything from second loan plus 8% interest) a few weeks back, just 2 weeks from submitting my claim! :-)
In addition, I have complaints currently with Quick Quid, Wonga, EPDL, Payday Express. QQ and Wonga are by far the biggest (claims in excess of £7k without the stat interest!!).
This site has been so, so helpful. Thank you Sara!
Margo says
It took WDA 4 days to pay the money in to my account because of bank holiday.
My husband got money same day. Good luck.
DL says
Hi my refund direct from WDA was the day after
fusionx212 says
Wonga have finally accepted the ombudsmans decision a grand total of £4700. all entries to be removed payment to clear within the next few days
Very pleased with this.
Adjudicator ruled in my favour with myjar as they stated they used a smart credit tool to review my finances which i picked apart because I had £3500 overdraft maxed out 1500 credit cards maxed out sunny loans taking 400 a month.
so there argument saying they reviewed me correctly is baloney – adjudicator saw this anyways.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Wonga – excellent – that is a good increase on their offer to the adjudicator of 2,470! Well done for persevering, it must have been tempting to pocket that offer.
MyJar – fingers crossed they accept the adjudicator’s decision.
K says
Finally got a response from Wonga at 15 and a half weeks upholding my complaint. But only on refunding on 12 loans out of 41 and I do not see any rhyme or reason as to why these ones were picked. They have offered £1655 which is fair , but I think I can get more … Just not sure whether I have the energy left to play the long game & go to FOS!
Vera says
Hi k
You are missing out on trebling that figure. You will kick yourself later if you accept that amount, don’t waste anymore time send it to the FOS. I know it’s a hard slog but will be worthwhile in the end.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s a shame you didn’t go to the FOS at 8 weeks! 12 loans out of 41 at random – another one of Wonga’s odd offers.
See Fusion’s comments above today – he has just received £4700 from the ombudsman after Wonga offered a random £2470.
K says
Thanks for your encouragement – I think I might have to just play the long game! Suppose I’ve nothing to lose…. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll still get the £1655!
Douglas says
Success,
My adjudicator has ruled partially in my favour with QQ. Suggestion is refund of all interest and charges from loans 5 to 7 with 8% interest (these were taken out in 2011) and use to pay the defaulted loan off. All 3 to be removed from my credit files.
QQ response 21st July
Assigned adjudicator on 8th August
Decision 19th August
Ajudicator sent letter to QQ today. They have until the 2nd of September to respond, hopefully they agree!
Great site, thanks for the advice.
bow says
Yes exactly the same as me , they have until the 30th August so I’ll keep you informed.
Has anyone had experience of Quickquid paying out on Adjudicator’s Decision or are they digging their heels in and disagreeing with everyone which then takes time to go to Ombudsmen
Steve says
Despite the experience of others, I actually found QQ to be quite quick once my complaint got to the FOS. They accepted and paid out on the adjudicators decision within 10 days.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Some people are experiencing very long delays, with QQ either deciding to fight the proceedings for as long as possible or just being so badly organised they never respond to the Adjudicator so the case ends up with the Ombudsman.
But as Steve (above) says, some people have QQ accept an adjudicator offer. These are “less visible” on here because it’s just one comment. The people that have a lot of trouble of course carry on commenting for much longer. So it may seem that everyone had huge problems with QQ. It’s not everyone but it is an unacceptably large number!
Nat says
Mine was all done in a month the agreed with the adj and them was paid a week later. X
Claire says
So the financial ombudsman has seen in favour of me against a complaint against Uncle Buck but the lender are disputing the claim so let’s see what happens but could anybody explain to me how the refund amount is calculated?
I have had a previous refund from Peachy finance. I had taken out loans totalling £1,500 (obviously I paid back a lot more than this) and received £1,646 for a refund of interest and charges on all four loans with 8% simple interest added from Peachy.
With Uncle Buck, since 30 September 2014, I had taken loans out totalling £4,770 (again obviously I paid back a lot more than this) but the financial ombudsman is guessing that I would expect a refund of approximately £1,800 (this is refund on interest and charges but no 8% simple interest)
I wondered why, for such a huge difference in the amount of lending (£1,500 versus £4,770), the amount of refund would be very similar?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s not really possible to generalise here. For example if you had 4 Peachy loans totally £1500 but they were each rolled twice, this would actually be the same as having 12 loans totally £4,500.
Do you have a list of the UB loans – how much you borrowed and how much you repaid each month? If you do, then add up what you borrowed, add up what you repaid, then the difference between these figures is what you paid in interest and charges.
Is this decision from your adjudicator? If so fingers crossed UB accepts it and doesn’t drag it out to the Ombudsman stage.
Mags says
Hi Sara
I’ve had a response from the adjudicator regarding my complaint against Payday UK.
Payday UK have sent through figures for a refund. I do not agree with these as they have only included the loans from 2013 and refunds of the payments I have made via Stepchange, They have said that they will write off the existing balance of the loan (about £200).
Whilst things are going in the right direction, I have asked the adjudicator to query why the loans from 2011 onwards were not considered and why there are gaps in the refund schedule from where I have made payments.
Is this a sensible course of action to take?
Thanks
Mags
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Absolutely right – first of all a polite query. If this doesn’t get a good result, you can say you aren’t accepting the offer (it’s not going to disappear, this is now the “floor”, the lowest amount you might get) and would like the adjudicator to consider all your loans.