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?
Lauren says
Hi everyone, how long does a refund take from Lending Stream? I complained directly to them and was offered £5k. I accepted their offer and clicked the link. I thought it said 3-5 working days but didn’t receive an email after I clicked the link. Just wondering how it went for everyone else. Apparently they used to be slow but are much faster nowadays? Thanks
Sharon says
Hi Lauren
I accepted my offer last tues aft about 5pm and it was in my account the thurs midday. I was told 3-5 days so i was very pleased .
Lynne says
I got mine straight away. Mine was only £300 though so not sure if the amount matters?
Lauren says
Thanks everyone. I spoke to someone on the chat and they said the refund had been initiated but they don’t know all timescales as it’s a different department. So have emailed them. Think I saw the 3-5 working days when I clicked the link. So hopefully have it soon!
Nesta says
Hi Lauren, in my experience once you have accepted the lending stream the funds are normally transferred within a few minutes.
It might be worth giving them a call to check.
Nic 51 says
Heard back from Mr Lender they rejected my claim as II had asked for an account statement in 2017. On the basis of some 6 year rule they are not investigating my complaint. 8 weeks it took to respond and tell me that. I feel so deflated and cheated
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send it to the Ombudsman. Just because you asked for an account statement doesn’t mean you were looking at making a complaint.
John says
Hi Sara
Like many above I sent a complaint to safety net only to get a holding letter saying they hadn’t finished the investigation but could offer no timeframe. They sent it on the day of the 8 weeks. I have now sent to ombudsman, typically how long does this process take?
Thanks
John
pol says
Hi John, my previous experience of the ombudsman process was shocking. Took over 2 years to get a final decision and the company went bust so didn’t get any redress whatsoever. Hopefully now though with a lot of lenders going under or in to schemes, their process will be a lot quicker
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It usually takes a few months for your complaint to be picked up by an adjudicator (also called an investigator). How long it takes to come to a decision depends partly on how straightfoprward this is.
Do you have the bank statements for the time you are complaining about? You can make the investigation simpler and quicker by getting the bank statements now, so there isn’t a delay later on. You can get bank statements from closed accounts but this often takes time.
When did you open the SNC account?
Lynne says
I just had a payday loan removed from my credit file but it’s showing as active securities? Anyone know who that is please as I’m guessing they trade under a different name?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
247 Moneybox
Lynne says
Oh ok that’s strange as I paid them off in Oct 2020.
Charlotte S says
Has anyone made a complaint to Mr Lender and not had a response? I made a complaint on 30th April, they acknowledged it and sent me my loan history via post and informed me they would provide a response within 8 weeks. The 8 week deadline is today and I haven’t heard a thing. I have emailed and tried calling but had no luck.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They reply by letter. God knows why.
I suggest you phone them on Monday.
Charlotte S says
Oh ok! That’s helpful to know, hopefully a letter will turn up soon then! Thank you 😊
Kate says
I am in shock right now. I made a claim through the Quick Quid administrators and received around £5k. I wasn’t going to bother complaining to Lending Stream as I didn’t think I would get much out of it. But then after reading this thread I thought why not.. I received a resolution letter just before the 8 weeks deadline offering me £1482 which I was super happy with so accepted straightaway. The money was in my account within 3 working days.. imagine my absolute shock when the refund I have received is £14,820 😳😳😳 this is the correct amount I had just misread the letter.. half of it is made up of interest as it is several years since I did any business with Lending Stream and luckily have not had to use any payday lenders for at least 3 years. If anyone is hesitating I say just put your complaint in. I am going to use some of it to buy a little car for my daughter to learn to drive in and I am so happy I can do this for her after getting debt free. 😊
Joanna Takla says
That’s great, I got approx 7K in May and more than I ever hoped.
Enjoy!
Kelly says
Hi Sara,
I have received an email from My Jar. Are they correct?
Your loan was obtained on 12 Sep 2011 and is out of scope for redress calculations.
Only loans issued from 01 Apr 2014 when the FCA became responsible for the industry is in scope for redress.
Unfortunately, there will be no redress due on your loan.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is a rather strange restriction. FOS allows redress back to April 2007 when the Consumer Credit Act was changed and when FOS started being able to look at complaints about consumer credit.
However Myjar is paying a tiny percentage. You would have got very little even if the loan had been upheld.
Kelly says
Yes that is true. I think it would’ve been about ten or twenty pound.
To be honest I don’t think I can be bothered with the hassle.
Thanks for replying!
Adam says
Am I right in thinking that only interest will be refunded? Lending Stream are offering to waive the interest on an outstanding balance I have
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How many loans have you had from them? How many have they said are unaffordable?
Adam says
Just one loan and I only ever made the first repayment. They said they hadn’t found it unaffordable but as a goodwill gesture will remove it from credit file and write off interest.
Seemed like a good offer but just wanted to make sure I was understanding things correctly.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then yes removing the interest is what the Ombudsman would suggest – and unless your loan is large, you may well not win a payday loan complaint at the Ombudsman with just one loan.
. It’s unusual for Lending Stream to offer this as Goodwill gesture, I suggest you take it.
Ernest says
Good afternoon Sara .pls quick question … is that ok to make complain to lending streams 2 time pls? I make the complaint a yr ago… but did not upheld my complaint but l took them to fos but fos did not upheld my complaint aswell.. l took 2 loans £580 in Oct 2019 and £420 in Dec 2019
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No. If you lost the complaint at FIS your only option would be to go to court, for which you would need professional advice eg a solicitor.
Jo says
I’m waiting patiently on provident due to pay out any day anyone else waiting even though it’s not as big as it should be
Ernest says
Good morning Sara . Pls do you have complain email for wagedayadvance ? Or they in administration
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How long ago were the loans?
Ernest says
I dont have the details of the loans any more ..l think l took about 2 ir 3 loans from them 2016 October.l wi write to them to find the details of the loans.. but l don’t have their email… they email have l send them email many time but they do t reply
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is too long ago – that wagedayadvance want into administration in 2019. A new firm with same name has started which is why I asked about the ade as complaints about the new loans can still be made.
Lynne says
Just heard from the ombudsman that they’ve upheld my complaint about Loans2go and so now just see what happens. They’ve got until 15th to respond in case they want to provide further info. I’m pretty pleased as this is the first time I’ve gone to FOS about anyone and given how L2G have treated me it’s no more than they deserve. FOS has asked for refund on fees and intetest and for it to be removed from my credit file. Has anyone else had success with this lot?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes lots of people! See the comments below https://debtcamel.co.uk/worst-loan-in-britain/
Khan khan says
I’ve just revived a reply from
Safety net credit for a redress and they’ve come through after 48 days saying I’m owed 2700 but was hoping someone could tell me how long it normally takes to receive the funds. As they’ve stated upto 14days after banking details have been confirmed
Geraint says
Mine took 13 days to come through to my bank! Although i know some have had it within 48hrs!
Beck says
Just wanted to give you and other people an update and thanks Sara for all the advice…….
Fund Ourselves £300 Aug 21 (loan had already been paid off) £100 goodwill offer
Lending Stream – £720 Sept 21 (Loan had alredy been paid) – ALL interest refunded
Money Platform – £200 Aug 21/ £200 Dec 22 (Loan had already been paid in full) – £100 goodwill offer
Fernovo – £300 Sept 21 – 50% Interest refunded
£150 Feb 22 -remaining balance cleared
Mr Lender – £500 Sept 21 – balance wiped
Dot Dot – £200 Nov 21 (loan has been paid off in full) Complaint rejected, currently with FOS.
One final Barclays Overdraft charges 12 weeks on with Barclays. Overdraft of £2520 been 100% utilised for the past 7 years, no salary even goes into that account. Also with FOS as Barclays has not responded by the 8 weeks.
Liz says
Hello,
Does anyone know how long Piggy Bank will be taking?
They have been in Administration since Dec 2019. That’s like two and a half years.
I keep getting a duplicate response whenever I ask for an update.
Surely they can’t be that long now?
John says
Hi sara is there a easier way to fill in a r40 tax form .?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
it isn’t that hard if you have the information! I’m not sure what an easier way could be.
John says
Hi Sara again. Lol I claimed some ppi back from Lloyds tsb bank about 6 or 7;years ago. Would I be aloud to claim the tax back on the two claims I had with them ? .
Sara (Debt Camel) says
see https://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-payday-refund-get-back-tax/ – you cant go back before the tax year 2016/17
Mike says
Hi John, it’s really easy to do.
The sections you need to complete for the tax back on your refund are the section about employment income (if you can’t find the information don’t worry)
The interest goes in boxes 3.1-3.3 on the paper form – it’s easiest to work backwards. The full amount of the interest added to your refund goes in 3.3. The tax deducted of that amount goes in 3.2 (should be 20% of the figure in 3.3) and the net amount of interest that was paid to you by your lender as part of the redress goes in 3.1.
As a cross check, 3.1 plus 3.2 should equal 3.3, and 3.2 should be 20% of 3.3
John says
Thanks for your help Mike. It sounds easy mate when you know what your doing. Lol
Mike says
I’ve had to do one 4 years running from the refunds I’ve had! Practice makes perfect
Kate says
Hi
I have received £350 from loans 2 go as a goodwill payment. I’m happy with that so have accepted the offer. I am still waiting on an outcome from Safety Net Credit, they have until tomorrow which is the full 8 weeks. Not holding much hope tbh that they make any offer so could be going to the FOB.
Scott Topey says
Hi there,
I recently made a claim to Moneyboat for unlawful lending. I have had 14 loans from them since 2017 to the tune of £4800. Although all loans were paid off with no problems – I was a repeat lender, sometimes taking a loan out on the same month as I had finished paying the previous. All in all, I think I SHOULD have a strong case that they were lending unlawfully.
Regardless, I have just received a reply from Moneyboat with a threatening undertone asking for bank statements and implying that I may have committed fraud by giving them incorrect details in my application. This isn’t feasible to get bank statements going all the way back to 2017 so wondered what my course of action should be? They say they will be investigating my complaint within the 8 weeks – if I don’t provide them with bank statements, will they automatically throw the complaint out?
Thanks in advance.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Everyone gets that threatening email from Moneyboat. People who ignore it haven’t reported any problems at all – they are just being unpleasant and hoping you will give up.
You can get bank statements back to 2017, even from closed accounts. I suggest you set about doing this now as they will help with a claim at the Ombudsman.
I don’t know if MB will care about them.
Deb says
I have a DMP is it ok to try and claim as you said in the comments above not to if you have DRO. Do the same implications appy to DMP?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No it is great to apply if you are in a DMP. The problems only occur with forms of insolvency, not DMPs.
Megsk says
Hi
So I used your template and sent to Fernovo …thank you
I had following loans –
Taken out -15/07/20 Repaid 09/11/20 – – £200 – Total Repaid £328.06
Taken out -18/12/20 Repaid – 08/03/21- £200 – Total Repaid £400
Taken out -12/06/22 – £150 – Balance Outstanding £177.60
They have sent a long email regards checks etc …final response below do you think i should accept, I don’t understand why if they are in right they are offering to refund £30?
This complaint has not been upheld.
However, because you always repaid in time all your loans before the last one, and you have decided to file for an affordability complaint, we are ready to reduce the interest on the last loan, if you withdraw your complaint, as a gesture of goodwill we are happy to reduce your last payment by £30.00.
To provide you with an incentive to close the account as soon as possible, we are willing to completely delete all your accounts from your credit file, once the last one is repaid.
Thank you for your help :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
These were small loans and there was a big gap between loans 2 and 3. I would be surprised if the Ombudsman upholds any of the loans.
What is your current financial situation like? Are you making other complaints?
Megsk says
Yes made other complaints for payday loans I kept getting…financial situation at present is I’m just getting by
Thank you so much for your help
Nesta says
I’ve finally completed getting refunds from these horrible lenders and tidying up my credit file.
I do however find it worrying that there are firms like:
Moneyboat
Lending Stream
Cash ASAP
Amongst others are still operating.
We now have a real crisis with the cost of living and these sharks prey on the vulnerable in society. I can’t wait for the day they are all in administration and this kind of lending should be made illegal
Ah says
Has anyone received anything from Safetynet after the 8 week period is over? I’m 11 weeks now and still nothing. I’ll have to forward to the ombudsman I think
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send it now!
Eric says
OH MY GOD LENDING STREAM UPHELD MY COMPLAINT AND JUST EMAILED ME AN OFFER OF £3,654.76 AND TO TAKE OFF THE £500.00 LOAN I FAILED TO REPAY FROM MY CREDIT FILE!!! 😱😁
Thank you so much Sara for all your advise and help because you are a angel. 💋
Eric says
Lending Stream just deposited the money into my account today. Sara’s advice really works and I would like to thank her once again. So keep the faith guys because justice can happen. 😎
Lauren says
Hi Sara,
I had a similar response from Fernovo to the lady above. However I had ten loans in total, ranging from £300 to £600. They are only offering £176. The email is similar wording: This complaint has not been upheld.
However, because you repaid all your loans, and you have decided to file for an affordability complaint, if you withdraw your complaint, as a gesture of goodwill we are happy to refund the interest paid on the last loan. This would be a total refund of £176. We will also erase all your loans from your credit file.
What do you think? Worth going to ombudsman or offer is reasonable?
Lauren
Sara (Debt Camel) says
10 loans is a much stronger complaints. Over how long a period? Did they tend to increase in size? Were there any big gaps of several months between replaying one and taking the next?
Lauren says
I always paid on time. As soon as it was paid off I would borrow another loan. I also sometimes amended it so I didn’t have to pay that month and extended the terms. Did that twice. The loans varied and did increase in time from £300 to £600. They said I had a good credit rating however I have a default on my record and several other pay day loans. Is it worth responding and sending my Transunion to prove credit rating bad or is it best to send straight to ombudsman? My credit karma score is 438! (Bad I know!)
Just going through process of getting refunds and managing to clear it all off. I also have a SafetyNet I need to complain about because I’ve had that for £1000 in consistent debt for two years (approx £270 per month on interest and never clearing balance).
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you should send the Fernovo complaint stright to the Ombudsmans.
For Safetynet Credit you can use the template in the article above. That too sounds like a strong complaint. SNC have got slow recently – send that straight to the Ombudsman at 8 weeks if they haven’t responded. Also think about removing the authority for them to access your bank account if you cant afford to repay them without borrowing again.
Beck Mash says
I emailed Fernovo when they rejected my complaint. Told them a lot of other payday loans upheld my complaints and if they came back with an offer I would stop the FOS complaint. They came back with an offer, i went back with a counter offer and they agreed!
Jayne says
Has anyone had any recent success with safety net credit? I sent them an affordability complaint and they said they would reply within 8 x weeks. Then after 8 x weeks they messaged to say they still hadn’t made a decision it’s now been about 16/18 weeks since initial complaint I contacted them again and they still said they haven’t made a decision and have now idea how long before they do?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
no idea – send it to the Ombudsman straight away.
Leigh says
I got same response from SafetyNet a day before 8 weeks were up (mid June). I contacted ombudsman immediately and they replied with acknowledgement advising they would be in touch which they did and requested information on 27th June which I provided so am now just awaiting a decision if complaint will be upheld.
Mr HJB says
Hi Sarah, hope all is well. Just looking for some clarification on an adjudicator decision which states the lender should do the following:
A) Remove all the unpaid interest, fees and charges from the credit facility from 11 July 2019 onwards.
B) Treat all payments Mr B has made towards her facility since 11 July 2019 as though they had been repayments of outstanding principal.
C) If at any point Mr B would have been in credit on the credit facility after considering the above, you will need to refund any overpayments with 8% simple interest* calculated on these payments, from the date they would have arisen, to the date the refund is made.
D) If there is an outstanding principal balance, then you can use any refunds calculated as part of “C” to repay this. If a balance remains after this then you should try to agree an affordable repayment plan with Mr B
E) You should remove any adverse payment information recorded on Mr B’s credit file from 11 July 2019 onward.
The credit limit as of 11 July 2019 was £600.00. The balance is currently £0.00. Am I right in thinking that every single payment I have made to them since 11 July 2019 will be added together (£2200) and then £600 subtracted from that leaving £1600 + 8% Tax = £1,728 is the amount ill be refunded?
Do the redraws of the credit facility have any effect? (Drafty Credit)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Am I right in thinking that every single payment I have made to them since 11 July 2019 will be added together (£2200)
yes
and then £600 subtracted from that
No – every withdrawal from the facility will be added together. That £600 was the limit isn’t relevant.
+ 8%
No – the 8% is an annual charge – it will depend on the date that you would have moved into credit in the facility. If that was 2 years ago, 16% interest would be added. If that was 6 months ago, then 4% interest will be added.
Do the redraws of the credit facility have any effect?
If by that you mean the amount you wthdraw, yes, these are added up to find how much interest you were charged.
HB says
Hi Sarah,
So since 11th July 2019 I have redrawn £700 and made a total of £2200 in repayments so total refund figure will be £1628 as opposed to £1728 (based on 8% int figure)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What was the balance on 11 July 2019? Since then you have only borrowed 700?
HB says
Balance would have been c£600 as I would repay interest/minimum repayment and redraw straight away hence only having reborrowed £700 since July 2019 as that was all that was available to me
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so I am persisting as this seems unusual. After July 2019, if you repaid the minimum, you did not then reborrow that amount?
HB says
– So my typical repayment was £50 which was minimum payment, this cleared the interest for that month and then left c£20 available for redraw which I did every month
Yes added all redraws since july 11 2019 and they total £700.00
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, then your total refund figure will be £1628 as you say. Plus 8%.
Simon Tippett says
Hi Sara,
Firstly thank you for this site. I used your template to make an affordability complaint against Lending Stream, they have agreed and refunded me £600. I defaulted on the payments for the last two loans and ended up with a CCJ in 2018. The email says they will correct my credit file, does this mean the CCJ will be set aside, or do I have to make an application to the court to have it removed? or am I just stuck with it. Any advise would be great and thanks again for the great work you do. Simon
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Go back to LS and say you would the CCJ to be set aside.
Kelly says
Does anyone know what happaned to one month loan? I had several loans with them years back but I cannot find anything about them online
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That was a brand name of Sunny. Now dissolved, it is too late to make a claim.
Claire says
Hi, I’ve just had an email from my jar asking to confirm bank details acc number / sort code and address now not sure why but it doesn’t seem genuine has anyone else had same email?
Thanks
K says
I had the same and so I sent all my details and then they write back saying I was not due any redress ! Which annoyed me as now they have all my details.
Ryan says
Does anyone know the latest with piggy bank and my jar, I can’t find any details on their website on when they expect to pay out or how much?
Annemarie Jeannette says
It says on the website everyone should receive money by the 15th of July.
ryan says
Is that for myjar?
Annemarie Jeannette says
Yes it says the 15th of July for myjar.the money is going to be appittance though .so I wouldn’t get too excited .I think it’s 1p in the pound 😔
Steve says
Yeah, what is happening with Piggybank?? Little or scant information at best. The administrators have been at it for years now. What little is left after the creditors have been paid off will surely be gobbled up with their costs. They know exactly what they are doing!
Kelly says
I’m waiting for Piggy bank too. Contacted them a few times, get the same duplicate email response. Ridiculous how long it’s been taking.
Colin Brown says
Hi Sarah,
I hope you are well.
How would I get a tax certificate for my QQ redress?
Many thanks
Colin
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So far as I know, no tax was deducted from what you were paid
Annemarie Jeannette says
Yes it says the 15th of July for myjar.the money is going to be appittance though .so I wouldn’t get too excited .I think it’s 1p in the pound 😔
Lynne says
Well today’s the deadline for loans2go if they wanted to go back to the adjudicator with ‘new information’ about my loans. Not sure what happens next?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
probably the adjudicator will give them another couple of weeks…
Pol says
Hi Sara,
I’ve had a complaint to safety net upheld, they’ve sent me calculations of my redress, I was just wondering what I need to do to claim the 20% tax back please?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
See https://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-payday-refund-get-back-tax/
Max says
Hi Sara,
After a 10-month wait in the FOS queue, my complaint against Drafty was adjudicated on within 24 hours of being picked up.
The provisional decision is below (minus identifying details) and relates to a £1,900 credit limit that was raised from £1,500 in late 2019 after the line’s launch in early 2019 with a £1,000 credit line.
I’m disappointed the whole complaint wasn’t upheld given the shocking state of my finances at the time and am now considering my next step. Drafty partially upheld it from mid-2020, which I rejected.
I’d be grateful if you confirm I’m reading the decision right, in that NO interest should have been charged on the WHOLE account from December 2019. I’ve paid about £2,700 in interest since then.
I just want to be clear that the adjudicator has instructed them to charge interest on the WHOLE balance, and not just the £400 difference between the penultimate and ultimate credit limit hike. I’ve not come across “forbearance” in my previous cases.
“Drafty should have treated Max with forbearance, stopped any interest from accruing and allowed him to repay what he owed within a reasonable period. As Drafty didn’t do this, this was detrimental to Max; Drafty should repay any interest applied from December 2019.
How to put things right: Remove all the unpaid interest, fees and charges from from December 2019. Treat all payments made since December 2019 as though they had been repayments of outstanding principal.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Forbearance is regulator-speak for stopping charging interest to help a customer in difficulty.
Yes you are right that all interest and charges since Dec 19 are being refunded.
Liam says
Hi Sara, I’ve been waiting for 13 weeks for a final response to a affordability complaint I made to safteynet, at 8 weeks they messaged saying they’re still looking into it, Emailed them at the 10 weeks for an update, They said they can’t give me a timescale on when my complaint will be resolved but are treating as a priority, just wondering is it normal for no FR by now, any advice would be helpful, Sorry so long.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send it to the Ombudsman now.
Neil says
I sent mine to the ombudsman a week after they never gave me a answer received a reply from them thought the ombudsman upholding my complaint 4 weeks later
Max says
Many thanks, as always, Sara.
In that case, I’ll likely accept the provisional decision as want this matter put to bed once and for all, although Drafty may yet drag it out, of course. I’ll update this thread either way as and when.
Assuming it is resolved, that just leaves me with one outstanding FOS complaint out of more than a dozen: versus Halifax for hikes to overdraft limits a decade ago.
Adjudicator agreed they could go back that far, but Halifax disagreed and it’s been with an Ombudsman for several months now.
I’m hoping even if they don’t allow the case to go back that far, they’ll at least agree to go back six years from the date of my complaint as that £2,000 facility is supposed to be subject to annual review.
Max
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If Drafty drag this to the Ombudsman, then tell your adjudicator you only accepted in the interest of quick settlement and now you would like the ombudsman to look at the full complaint.
Max says
Hi Sara,
Just to close this chapter, Drafty didn’t accept the adjudicator’s decision in full, saying they would not refund interest since late 2019 on the half of the balance I was using prior to the final credit limit interest.
As such, their settlement offer was at least a good £600 below the outcome I’d hoped for. Ninety nine times out of a 100 I would have rejected and gone up a level, but the saga’s been going on almost a year now and I can’t afford to have the monthly payments on my bank statements as currently trying to buy my first house and the broker said it wasn’t ideal having them on there.
End of the day, the settlement is still five times what they offered me directly last autumn prior to FOS escalation. I note from the final Ombudsman decisions (not adjudicator level) on the FOS website that cases involving the actual granting of Drafty credit lines are rejected almost uniformly; on that basis a payout closer to £4,000 was never going to happen.
They’ve now got a month to cough up £1,500 and wipe out £1,000 outstanding balance. Not the ideal result, but a fairly decent one.
Max
Max says
Hi Sara,
Just a footnote on this in case it helps anyone in future.
Account was closed within 24 hours of me emailing the adjudicator my acceptance of the offer, while a four-figure refund via BACS arrived within a week.
Max
Pol says
Hi, anyone else having issues logging into safetynet?
Lynne says
It says the website is currently being upgraded
Amy says
I’ve just had an email to say they have temporarily stopped all lending.Bricking it now as my redress is due within the week
sam says
Has anyone had an email from H&T offering redress.
Just wondered how long it takes to receive payment from them
Thanks!
twotwo says
Hi Sam,
I did – filled in the form. Apparently we will get it within 28 days. Do let me know when your receive yours
Thanks
Tony says
I received an email with an offer of £72, I’ve filled in the details form and it said it could take upto 60 days, hope it’s sooner
sam says
hey, got mine today
only took 4-5 days to come in
Robert says
Hi Sara,
Just wanted to say a massive Thank you!!!
Lending Stream have offered me a refund of £3176 and Loans 2 Go have closed my account… all thanks to the advice you provide!
Finally feel like I am getting myself back on track… I wouldnt have known where to start without coming across this site :)
Pol says
Hi everyone, just had an email from safety net, they’re temporarily stopping lending. They’ve put this down to the cost of living crisis. Hope our refunds aren’t harmed in any way because of this
Sara (Debt Camel) says
See https://debtcamel.co.uk/safetynet-credit-stops-lending-fca-restrictions/ – which looks at the new restrictions on SNC and the way they paused lending for a few days while they changed their systems.
John says
Has anyone heard from or received money from myjar? It’s the 15th and nothing here
Mike says
MyJar!
Called it a couple of days ago, no sign of any payment or communication!
About the 4th one of these now that put dates up with no intention of sticking to them
Kerry says
No nothing for me either .
Helen says
Hi, I just emailed myjar, automated reply saying that they intend to process payments today and should be in your bank account by Monday.
V says
Oh really I emailed them yesterday and had no reply again! Does it say how much in the pound the payment is? I bet we all get peanuts 🙈
Helen says
It said, they won’t know until they are making the payments, guessing that is is to stop people emailing for updates, they probably do know how much.
Donna says
2p in the £
Sandra says
Hello,
I did not know you could claim from safety net. I have just checked and paid roughly £2500 since 2016.
How long did it take safety net and did you go through ombudsman?
Thank you
Pol says
Hi Sandra, safety net upheld my complaint after 8 weeks, just waiting on payment now
Joanna says
Hi
I’m waiting had my list of borrowing and a vheck in email saying they have to 9 Sept but may be sooner.
I had 5 years with them and my list is long and eventually a balance of 1.3K defauited went to 3rd party and I have been paying off.
What was your offer?
Thanks
When I look at what I paid back including interest over 5 years…it is astronomical. I am wondering what they will offer if upheld.
Charlotte says
I made a complaint to SNC on 30th April (11 weeks ago), I still haven’t received a response despite calling and emailing several times. They just respond with an apology saying they will respond when they can. How long has everyone else’s response taken to receive? I have also referred to the FOS when 8 weeks had passed.
Pol says
Hi Charlotte, I complained in May and received final response exactly 8 weeks later upholding my complaint
Dawn says
My jar redress has gone into my bank account this morning. Peanuts so don’t expect a lot. As they say it money I didn’t have yesterday.
V says
Just checked my bank this morning and had a payment of £18.77p from my jar. This is absolutely shocking!! No email correspondence either to go with it. The claim they had accepted was for £722.00 they did say to only expect 1 or 2p in the pound 😔
Amy says
Got my jar refund £16 not alit but something
Richard says
I received mine today £7.94
Mike says
It’s around 2.75p in the pound, slightly more than they projected but still sod all. I might go and spend my £7 on a pack of Lurpak!
Robert McC says
I had 9 loans with MyJar with different redress values (£212.54, £55.10, £26.63, £281.67, £11.59, £8.67, £30.21, £39.52 and £273.03) which totaled £938.96. Based on the refund of £22.61 which I received, it looks like they paid me around 2.4p in the pound.
Dominic says
I wonder if this is a record low amount amongst Debt Camel users:
MyJar redress received for EIGHT PENCE. Original claim value was £3.29.
Can anybody go lower? 🤣
Lisa G says
Hi Sara. I had a loan with MyJar… I borrowed £3000, over £6000 to repay with interest.
I sent an irresponsible lending complaint to the FOS, for this loan they upheld my complaint at Ombudsman level.
Interest was removed. Since, I’ve managed to get the balance down to less than £500.
The debt was sold to ACI. I’ve increased my payments and the balance will be cleared in the next 2 months.
This last week I received a letter from ACI to say they were happy to remain with my payment plan but they would be adding a default notice to my credit file.
Can they do this? The Ombudsman decision said “remove all adverse entries about loan 3 (this loan) from XX credit file”. Does that include not putting any more adverse entries on in the future?
I’ve emailed ACI and sent the Ombudsman decision, I’d just like to have an expert opinion incase I have to go into battle with them. Thanks!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can they do this?
There is no very detailed list of rules about what should happen after someone has won an affordability complaint.
but I don’t think it is reasonable for them to do this, so if they persist, put in a complaint to ACI and send it to the ombudsman.
David says
Hi
Has anyone made a complaint against Fernovo? Do they settle complaints on time, do they make decent offers etc? There never seems to be much posted about them. They have sent a letter out of the blue stating that they have looked at 2 loans I had with them and they were unaffordable and they want to refund me £106 in total. I have to fill a form in and send it back. I hadn’t made a complaint but I have now as I have had 12 loans with them
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They are not a large lender so they aren’t much mentioned.
Were there large gaps between the 12 loans? time between repaying one and taking the next out?
Christina Wynne says
Myjar told me I was getting £21.20 redress. I got £4.41 into my bank today 🤷♀️🤷♀️
Robert McC says
I received £21.62 yesterday from MyJar which is what I expected based on them paying 2p in the pound
David says
Hi Sara
No, they were continuous I was meaning to make a complaint and they reminded me with the letter. 12 loans back to back all £200, virtually all applied for within a few days of paying off the previous one, sometimes the next day. Just wondered if they were likely to settle up before I send it to ombudsman. Not sure why they only think 2 of the loans are unaffordable
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Those loans are pretty small but I would be surprised if FOS did not decide that more than 2 were unaffordable. Possibly 6-12. Possibly more. You could offer to settle quickly on the last 6 loans being refunded.
David says
Thanks Sara
I will send an email to them with an offer
Eric says
Myjar redress payment of £16.14p, £8.35p and £7.12p into my bank today. 🧐
Becky says
Hi I made a complaint to moneyboat which they have refused so I am going to pursue with the financial obudsman but they basically threatened me in the final response letter. See below:
It is worth noting that it would be considered an offence to have obtained funds by deception. If after this response you are suggesting that the information you provided did not accurately reflect your circumstances at the time of the sale, then I need to advise you that we reserve the right to pass details of your application on to fraud prevention agencies. (Note that as a result, this information would be utilised by other financial providers for their consideration in future dealings with you.)
Is this true? As far as I was aware my outgoings were correct I didn’t include other payday loans because they didn’t specifically ask about them and wasn’t a category for them.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They make these threats to everyone. They just hope a lot of people will be put off. So far no one has reported any problems when they send a complaint to the Ombudsman.
DG says
I made a complaint to the Ombudsman regarding Moneyboat. The Ombudsman found in my favour and issued a redress and gave Moneyboat 4 weeks to get in touch with me. It’s been months and Moneyboat are ignoring the Ombudsman and I with respect to the payment. Is there anything I’m able to do?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Was this an adjudicator decision or a Final Decision from an Ombudsman?
DG says
It was a final decision. The Ombudsman said it’s legally binding but not much they can do if the company doesn’t get back in touch.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
if it has been more than 2 months read https://debtcamel.co.uk/enforce-financial-ombudsman-decision/
Jane S says
Hello,
I am in the same situation I have received a response from moneyboat stating that if I gave misleading or incorrect information at the time of application that it’ll be treated at fraud – it was 2 years ago so I have no idea what information I would have put in so not sure if it’s risky to continue with the complaint incase it falls back on me…. Or even if I did give false info is it still there responsibility to review my credit score etc?
Not sure if I should continue the complaint or withdraw.
How have you got on with your application ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
MB say this to everyone. They have not looked at your situation and thought there was a problem with your application.
No-one has reported any problems with this if they have sent the complaint to the Ombudsman – it has never been mentioned again. They just seem to be being unpleasant and hoping this threat will make many people drop a complaint.
Fraud requires a deliberate intent to deceive. Not getting some figures a bit wrong. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/. So for example in 2020, a judge reviewed about ten applications where there were significant errors in the income or expenses and decided that in almost all of them it was just because the person applying for the payday loan had completed the application too quickly or the application had not asked for sufficient detail. The one exception was where someone had invented a job and an employer that they did not have.
James says
Hi,
Has anyone come across a company called fund ourselves? It is peer to peer lending, 100% interest, it took me ages to get my defaults gone and due to credit card issues I had to take 4 loans with this company.
So the newest loan is 1500 with 3000 to pay at either 500 a month or pay in full with 0.8% interest per month, I am going to struggle to pay in full this month.
Just looking for help, I don’t want it to go to default and waste file again but going to struggle to pay amount in full. If I make a complaint, does that stop interest and payment in meantime or do I have to continue paying until my complaint is sorted?
Any help on what way to proceed would be appreciated.
James says
0.8 interest per day not per month sorry
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok that is the standard payday lender interest rate.
how large were your other loans from them?
James says
Hi Sara,
I had 2 x 800 loans and a 1500 loan out with this one, I paid them all in full when I had money then so probably paid close to 1000 in interest, all the loans were taken and paid off in the space of 2 months.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry I missed your reply.
Those are large loans and if you took the case to the Ombudsman you could potentially get a refund on all three, not just the last one. Depending on your finances of course.
If you make a complaint this does not stop interest and payments. As you can’t aford to pay, if you stop payments, then your credit record will be harmed but the negative marks will removed if you win the case about the last loan. Which is also the largest so the one you are most likely to win.
Unless your credit record is great (which seems unlikely or you wouldn’t be borrowing at such horrible rates of interest), you may decide it’s best to stop paying. Borrowing to make repayments is a disaster, your end up in debt cycle that just gets worse.
If yopu have other problem debts, then, especially with bills increasing, it may be sensible to talk to StepChange about a SDebt Management Plan. That would put you in a safe position while this (and any other?) complaint goes through.