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?
Robert says
Hi I’ve got a question’
I’ve had payday loans and bank loans for 4 years and I’ve constantly had 3 or 4 at the same time whilst other things like phone contract store cards bank loans and overdrafts, if I could pay them back but basically had nothing to my self and missed the odd one or two payments do I have a good case I mean I was earning good money but the interest and charges from the bank add up to easy 30 thousand in total maybe more in three years please could someone get back to me on if u could sort of afford it but still paying rediculous interest is that still something u could get back?
Joanna says
Hi Robert
You would need to follow the complaints procedure above. If you’re dissatisfied with the opinion of the payday lender, you could then proceed to the FOS. An adjudicator will assess if each individual loan was affordable not a general view of all of them. So for example, maybe loans 1 & 2 are affordable but not loans 3 to 8. The refund is based on the affordability of each individual loan.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you borrowed a lot from payday lenders over a long period just put in the complaints. You’ve been told several times by different people that your complaints aren’t going to be refused because there is gambling on your statements. It’s really rare for someone who has borrowed a lot for a long while to be told he could have afforded the loans, this isn’t sonething to worry about,
Robert says
So if I was obviously wasting my money every week on gambling should they of looked for signs of that before borrowing me money? And if all my loans were like 195 a month say 7 loans of that would amount to near 1400 monthly I wouldn’t get a refund as 195 a month of each loan isn’t a lot ?
David says
Affordability is based on how much money you have left at the end of the month. So if you have 6 other loans at one time, plus all your regular bills like rent, utilities, transport etc and have no money at the end of the month, that isn’t affordable. If you borrow constantly for years, that shows you depended on them, and they should have looked further at your circumstances. Also if you have lots of loans, and they still approve your application that could show they haven’t checked your credit profile properly.
I had gambling entries on my statements and the adjudicator still upheld(not just the odd bet either). Everyone’s circumstances are different, but the adjudicators are generally fair from my limited experience and all the comments I’ve read. Your best just submitting the complaint following the guides on this site.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What matters is not really the size of the loan but whether the lender should have known you were in trouble, so if you repeatedly borrowed 195 from a lender you can probably get a refund. But it would be harder for a one off loan of 400.
You have asked a lot of rather general questions about how big people’s loans were. You need to stop worrying about this, and about your gambling, and just put in your complaints if you haven’t already done so. If you get a rejection, cone back here and summarise your borrowing from that lender and people will say if they think you should take the case to the FO.
Kenny Glover says
Hi all,
I’ve took a short cut (and just wondering if this is fine?!) by emailing my financial situation and consequences of poor management of money when I fell into this debt spiral from Nov 2010 to Dec 2012 where I took out 35 loans from 3 companies (qq, wonga and PDUK) which started at 200ish and increased to 800ish). Loans were deferred at times, new ones taken out etc, other credit cards defaulted and failed to pay rent (but luckily my brother saved the day). Over the period I loaned over £14000 and paid back £17000. I have done a letter to all three companies individually stating these details and the dates of loans/repayments (only stating who some of the loans were off as I am uncertain as to which company was which due to it being an old bank account).
I have asked them to consult their own statements of my account to cross reference what loans I took out with them and am wondering whether this is an acceptable format or will they tell me I need to cross reference the loans from them myself?
Also, when should I expect to hear back from them? After a quick call to PDUK earlier as I hadn’t had an email back to acknowledge my letter, they said they had done their own refund exercise and said I wasn’t entitled to this as the refund exercise only looked at loans from 2013, whereas mine were from 2010-2012.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Most of your lenders are likely to ignore this. The bad reason for doing it because few of them have staff that deeply consider a complaint – I get the impression that most complaints are only looked at very briefly if at all. For example a lot of firms treat an initial request for account history as the complaint itself!
The rather better reason for them not being very interested in the details of your finances is that is often isn’t very relevant. Unless you borrowed from them in December the fact that you had big problems in November doesn’t make any difference to them. To win an affordability complaint you have to be able to show that you couldn’t afford the repayments AND the lender should have realised this at the time. It sounds as though you concentrated your complaint on the first point.
Connie says
Just thought I’d share this PaydayUK blunder
“Please find attached our final response letter”
No attachment! I’ve told them and let’s see. I don’t expect it to be a refund.
Aaron jackson says
I received a final response from pduk.
It was a big NO. They also had the cheek to tell me the ombudsman will not look in to loans over 6 years.
I replied saying yes they will.
I said I thinks it’s hilarious how PDUK can tell me what the ombudsman will or won’t do. And I am submitting my case tonight. I said it might take several months but next time you hear from me it will be about my refund
Connie says
I got the no a few hours later. Not surprised.
Connie says
Is it common for single loan complaints to be rejected by an adjudicator? Would it be worth going through with the FOS?
In short I used them because my multiple loan companies stopped lending me money.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how long ago were these single loans? What would you credit record have shwn at the time you applied for them – recent defaults, missed payments, CCJs?
Connie says
Summer of 2016 for those two companies. I’d started using payday loans from 2013 or so.
It would have shown missed payments on credit cards, and surely a warning sign as 1 credit card and 1 loan company sent off to a debt collector. At one point just before I reactivated my DMP, my experian score was literally zero.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK then it is worth taking them to the FOS then as at that date they should have checked your credit records. Obviously these arean’t very strong cases, but it was unaffordable lending and the lender should have known if they had looked.
Matthew Gibbs says
Does anyone have any experience with Pounds to Pocket refunds? I understand that they are the same parent company as Quick Quid, but technically as their loan is taken out over a year’s period, does that not make them more of a personal loan lender as opposed to a payday loan lender? I would have thought it to be a harder process to claim refunds from.
Either way I currently have a refund request complaint in the 7th week with them, while they are still, “Investigating,” and, “Gathering information,” so will be going to the FOS shortly anyway.
Joanna says
Hi Matthew
Yes, P2P do instalment loans, the FOS will look at your complaint if P2P reject your complaint or offer you a lower amount. If you scroll through past comment pages on here, you’ll see how others have got on. Sara has attached a link on this website about P2P and QQ that is very good. Have a read and Good Luck
https://debtcamel.co.uk/quickquid-payday-loan-refunds/
martin says
Seem as though cases taking longer from ombudsman than before after adjudicators decesion had few early that took 2 months before final decesion now have 3 that are 3 months and still not taken up yet, i have a question one of these if goes pass march will be over 6 years will that be the six year issue or as claim was made before will that still count. Also thought i say this to people on here getting offers and if they should take them had 2 so for Payday uk offer £150 recieved £700 Lending stream offered £450 recieved £2100 so they is a big difference and worth the wait
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is the date of the complaint that matters for the 6 year rule.
Joanna says
Payday UK have rejected my adjudicator’s findings that they should refund the interest on 5 of the 6 loans that I took with them. It has now gone to the Ombudsmen. This is clearly not about the amount, they were small loans, so the actual interest may be just over £300, but PDUK have rejected it anyway which I find ridiculous.
Aaron jackson says
Look on the bright side, every time PDUK refuses people, they get charged £500!
Just wait untill the company accountant notices all the fees going to the ombudsman
Ce says
Just want to let you know that mr lender has made a offer (good will gesture they called it) today, only emailed them sunday,. Came back yesterday with a full statement of account and to be honest the interest on the loans only added up to £161 in total. Offered 75.00 which is the interest of my last loan and i have accepted as this is the one of the smaller loans i had. Wish they were all like mr lender. (had 2 small loans from mr lender).
Nas says
Hi,
It’s good to hear that Mr Lender got back to you so quick! How soon after your first loan did you take the second one? I’ve also taken two small loans of £200 off Mr Lender and the interest would amount to about £220 or something like that. However, I took a month gap in between the loans so I want to know if it’s worth chasing up or not.
Thank you and goodluck!
tracey jones says
Mr lender cleared my balance of 700. My total interest was only around 800 and it took them 2hrs to deal with. Certainly seem the quickest and most resonable.
Ce says
Hi
I had first loan of 250 cleared that, then same day took out another loan of 750. However the second loan was a installment loan, due to difficulty paying i offered a full and final settlement of 500 which was accepted in nov2016, saving alot of interest. I would defiantly try emailing them they were the best responding to me. 3-5 days money will be in my account. Didnt see the point taking it further for 90.00 tbh good luck
David says
Ive reluctantly emailed the FOS to ignore the few loans I had longer than six years ago, in the hope I at least get my complaint looked at. Its great to hear of success stories of going to the Ombudsman, but apart from an initial generic letter way back last year, Ive heard nothing and when I phoned up they could offer no explanation.
I’m almost tempted to go back to QQ and see if their derisory offer still exists, as the Ombudsman doesnt seem to be working for me at all :(
Simon says
Can anyone give me some advice please?
I’ve just had through the ombudsmans provisional decision to uphold my complaint against Lending Stream. This now means that both the adjudicator and ombudsman are upholding my complaint.
Why have Lending Stream and myself been given 2 weeks to respond? What is likely to happen now?
How long before I get my a final binding decision?? Does anyone know.
martin says
i had same just gives both 2 weeks to agree or disagree. Normally agree then gives them another 28 days to pay had same with lending stream they will promise to pay early but trust will go the full term i found
Simon says
Martin,
Thanks I got your reply. I’ll just have to wait. I don’t expect them to pay before day 28 to be honest. Anything else a bonus.
Simon
Matt says
Sent off a number of emails to previous payday companies with various responses.
When other people on here are mentioning an `Adjudicator`, what is there role in this and how are they involved before the loan provider makes an offer?
Michelle says
Hi Matt
Adjudicator is step one of the FOS. If you receive a rejection, final outcome you are not happy with or no response after 8 weeks of raising your complaint you can then raise a complaint with the FOS.
They will ask the payday loan company for their file and they will ask you for bank statements that cover the period of loans, credit files etc.
The case then goes to an adjudicator who will speak to you then make a decision on your case. If you or the business disagree with the adjudicator the case then goes to the Ombudsman which is a longer wait however the Ombudsman decision is legally binding and can not be overturned bu a court or a different ombudsman
nim says
Hi Just a final update from PaydayUK today.
This was ONLY ONE loan and interest of £243. initially rejected, and sent off to FOS and adjudicator upheld the complaint (as I had other payday loans along side at the time) – I thought this would have been brushed off! as it was a small claim. Initially started claim Nov 2016, one of seven to be settled finally. Just got confirmation email and they will deposit within 5 working days total will be £297.
So anyone with one loan, there is hope at the end of the tunnel! I was not going to give up!
Best
Nim
Lb says
Just checked my account. The £7506.05 is in from Lending Stream!! Very happy. Has been 9 months…but well worth the wait.
Tom says
is it just me or is this statement absurd? This is from my final response from Monkey Dosh
“Remember that payday loans, are inherently, a bringing forward of your salary from
a future date to ‘now’. Therefore, affordability is really only on the interest, as the
principal loan amount is repaid from the salary – as per your agreement.”
So they are saying they do not need to assess that the full repayment can me made, only the interest!? Really….
John says
Tom,
Their response makes zero sense and to my mind is plain wrong!
Will leave it to the experts for a better analysis!
John
Tom says
I can’t believe they’ve actually said it! In other words they didn’t care less if I could afford to pay the whole lot back because they were just interested in recurring interest payments to make profits.
Do you think that comment will help me with my FOS complaint?
I’ve submitted it today :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suspect the FOS will probably raise an eyebrow and then ignore it as they get on with their standard checks – was the loan affordable for you? should the lender have realised it was unaffordable.
Kenny Glover says
I’ve looked at my credit report and payments in and out of my account and traced over 30 loans in a 2 year period to PDUK and Wonga.
£2000 ish interest paid to PDUK AND £1000 approx to Wonga. Loans started at around £100 and eventually rose to £800 ish. Loans being taken out shortly after previous one paid off. Emailed both companies with clear list of ins and outs and stating circumstances of financial situations etc.
What I have found instereting and I am questioning here for others to help, is having looked at report, Wonga has removed the loans from my credit report despite them being within 6 years and should show. Why have they removed them? I have had to look at old credit report to find some of these you see. Does this imply any sort of responsibility of irresponsible lending on their part possibly?
Kenny Glover says
To follow up previous one £14000+ loaned in 2010-2012 and £17000+ Repaid…
Michelle says
Hi Kenny
I think Wonga removed reports from experian as I had the same thing however I found all my loans on call credit (Noddle) I used all of the free credit reports for the FOS
Wonga were slow in responding so I checked all my bank statements and submitted my complaint that way which I am glad I did as it took 6 weeks for statements from them. Mine is now in que for an Ombudsman as Wonga took 1 day to reject the adjudicators decision
Good Luck
gillian says
i have had a reply from quick quid they say my loans except for the first two that are older than six years were repayment loans not payday loans that is ten loans i have checked and it shows i was paying then and every time i paid one off i reborrowed on the same day i repaid this was continously for the last 6 years so if a loan was five months repayments after the fifth repayment i borrowed the princible amount again for another 5 months etc etc for 6 years would this count as unaffordable lending with them being repayment loans ty
Emma says
I was wondering if anybody had any experience with Sunny. My adjudicator has ruled in my favour and sent the offer to Sunny. Do they normally agree with the adjudicator or take it to the ombudsman? Also, do they stick to the deadlines? Any help is appreciated. :)
Neil says
Emma – Sunny seem to be one of the smaller lenders, and I certainly haven’t read as much about them on these boards as I have about, say, Wonga or QuickQuid. Also, if you look at the published Ombudsman decisions regarding Elevate (the parent company of Sunny), there are a lot less than the other two I just gave as examples. I figure this evidences two things: firstly, that a lot of complaints get settled without any FOS involvement (and the comments here seem to back this up). Secondly, that they just don’t get that many complaints (in the context of overall payday loan affordability complaints).
I’m interested in any replies you may get, because I have a complaint at Adjudicator stage myself, but going by what I’ve read here, it seems the majority of upheld complaints went to the Ombudsman.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The majority of adjudicator upheld complaints don’t go to the ombudsman level – it only feels like that because the people whose complaints have gone to the ombudsman post a lot more about them, asking how long the queue is, will they get an offer in the meanwhile, what should they say to the Ombudsman,, why has the ombudsman given the lender 2 more weeks to comment etc etc
Emma says
Hi Neil thanks for your reply. Sunny rejected my complaint completely but Ashuducator has ruled in my favour and the refund will write off my outstanding debt with them so hoping it doesn’t get rejected by Sunny.
Neil says
Emma – good luck, whatever happens. Even if this decision is rejected by Sunny, there is a good chance that it’ll be upheld by the Ombudsman, so you’ll be effectively getting extra interest and more money in your pocket when the final, binding decision is made by the Ombudsman!
Please do let us all know how you get on with this one :)
Lb says
Good afternoon all,
This website has been great and I have loved hearing about other people’s successes. and I thought I would share my victories.
My total progress so far has been amazing with huge amounts of refunds received. Most of my complaint were submitted in June ’16. Below is what I have received back so far:
QuickQuid – Decision made by Ombudsman – received £8518.65
Payday Express – Adjudicator level – received £6737.55
Lending Stream – Ombudsman Level received – £7506.05
CFO Lending – Decision made by Ombudsman – £744.39
Wage Day Advance – Ombudsman decision – £166.30
Mr Lender – resolved promptly with company – £450 written off £250 refund
As you can see I have received nearly £24K back. I still have a few outstanding complaints, my largest being with Payday UK. They have not responded to adjudicator and now it is in line for an Ombudsman. This particular case includes loans from over 6 years ago – these have also been upheld. If the Ombudsman agrees with the adjudicator I may end up receiving another £14000!
Keep at it, and be patient. The companies may make you various offers, but these can be misleading. In my opinion it is best to sit it out and wait for the final word from the adjudicator/ Ombudsman. For example initially QuickQuid offered my £150…I received over £8500. They did make multiple offers going up to £5900, however because they kept increasing the offer It made me think that they knew they were in the wrong.
Apologies for long message.
Sarah says
That’s an excellent result – can i just ask about your older loans – did you have many? I’ve been waiting for an ombudsman since November and been with the FOS since June but I keep being told that there is no decision at the moment regarding the 6+3 ruling.
Lb says
From what I understand and the experience I have had. Once your case is allocated to an adjudicator, they will write to the company asking if they can look into older loans. Depending on how the company respond depends how quick the case moves along. With Lending Stream I had 2 loans over 6 years old, with payday UK there are a few loans over 6 years old too. I actually had loans over 6 years with quickquid too, however my case had been completed before we knew the FOS could consider older loans – this could have been an additional £4000 – but I am happy with the result I have had.
Mark says
Hi all, I just got the email I’ve been dreaming off since may last year later. Pduk are refunding all loans from 2008 plus 8 per cent interest plus £100 for the delay. This was all based on adjudicator decision based on 6 year only and didn’t need adjudicator decision for the over 6 year Pduk just agreed it. With the interest and 30 loans taken roughly £6k. Really happy thanks again sara
Ash says
Hi,
Started my journey with QQ and Wonga back in Nov16. I had 46 loans with Wonga, and they gave me the run around with providing a response. Eventually, they asked for another 6 weeks, however, when the 6 weeks was up, they changed their tune and decided my calculation of 6 weeks was incorrect (it wasn’t…) so I took to the FOS. A week and a half later, Wonga have sent their final response, saying that all loans were affordable and won’t be considering those over 6 years old.
Regarding QQ, they sent their final response on 17 loans, denying irresponsible lending, but offered £46 good will gesture. I obviously declined and went via the FOS. Submitted on 09/01/17, and received a response from the adjudicator on 24/02/17 upholding loans 2-17 to be refunded and 8% interest paid. QQ declined, and offered repayment of £900 on loans 3-5 and to remove from credit file.
I’ve now rejected this and taking it to the ombudsman.
Worried now though, that I may end up with nothing!! The offer of £900 could be withdrawn as I’ve rejected it. Nervous times, but I’m expecting this to take probably until July 2017 at least to be resolved now.
Hold tight people, it’s worth the wait!!
Ross says
Hi Ash,
Sara regularly comments that, by declining an offer from the company, you won’t end up with nothing. At the very worse, the adjudicator and/or ombudsman may say the companies offer is a fair one and advise them to refund what they’ve offered. At the other end of the spectrum, they will uphold in your favour and order the company to repay much more. I don’t think you can ‘lose’ by waiting for a FOS decision and, as you say, it’s just a waiting game. I’m currently waiting on Payday Express & Quick Quid, but I’ll be patient.
Michelle says
Hi Ash
Ross is right so try not to worry, I know its tough as I think we all look at each others outcomes in the hope for some logic or idea how our claim will be treated but honestly there is none.
I had Peachy make me an offer, I rejected went to FOS adjudicator offered more and they pushed it to Ombudsman
Wageday advance told me where to go but Adjudicator partially upheld and they agreed
Wonga I felt was really strong as nearly 50 loans all within 6 years and 30+ were new loans on same day or within 7 days of paying back, Wonga rejected completed, FOS adjudicator upheld in full then Wonga said next day Ombudsman
I even had loan with payday uk upheld this week and even though my case was split due to change of paydayuk ownership it was only 1 loan then 2 loans which some people say are not worth it yet FOS adjudicator upheld both
I think we would all agree it would be nice if these companies just held their hands up or agreed with the adjudicator but sadly they dont so the only positive is that most of us will get the money back and the extra few months it takes is more months for the 8% statutory interest to be added on which is much better than a savings account :)
Ash says
Haha your right Michelle, thanks.
Also thanks Ross, I hadn’t seen it anywhere, so must of missed it.
It really is reassuring seeing so many people going through the same things, but at the same time, it’s worrying isn’t it! That so many people were in similar situations and it took this long to realise.
Ross says
You’re right there Ash. It’s all down to Sara bringing about this fabulous site, which has helped all of us realise we have been ripped off, plain and simple. As we’re only ‘the tip of the iceberg’ I dread to think what it will be like in say 6 months time?
Dan says
Update regarding QQ and Pounds to Pocket. My adjudicator (fantastic by the way) found in my favour with both (QQ 5 loans including 4 top ups and P2P 2 loans).
Today both have gotten back to the adjudicator disagreeing (suprised much). QQ offered to refund the interest on just the last loan and P2P offered….£44
Obviously both of these rejected and now waiting to see what the companies say, but as the adjudicator has said, unless they come up with any further information it’s unlikely the Ombudsman will find any different, so it’s back to the waiting game.
Matt S says
Hi all,
Just a quick query with regards to Opos / Kapama / Minicredit and their default notices. I had a loan for £100 with Minicredit back in 2013 which I went into debt management with. Charges / interest etc were added on and it was bumped up to around £425. When I complained to OPOS last year they advised that they couldn’t do anything about the charges as they were added by Minicredit and I never took it any further. Looking at my credit report I’ve noticed that there is no mention at all of Minicredit but that the first mention of the loan is in May 2015 when Kapama put a default on it. I checked my emails and had a notification that Kapama purchased the account in January 2015 and that if I was in a payment plan then I didn’t have to do anything. Is it fair that they can buy a debt, continue to receive the payments in line with how it had been paid for the previous 18 months and then add a default?
deborah says
Hi Sara,
I sent a complaint into My Jar and this is the response. Do I have a claim or they right? The loans were taken out between Oct & Dec last year and my credit score is 371 and shows countless payday loans and defaults.
Dear Deborah,
We have investigated the circumstances surrounding the complaint that you raised with us on 23/02/2017 and hope that this response resolves the issue to your satisfaction.
We take all nature of complaints very seriously. Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns and please rest assured that this information will be used to try and prevent similar issues arising in the future.
Complaint
Your complaint relates to irresponsible lending.
Decision
It is our view that despite our obvious empathy, we are unable to find that we did anything wrong.
Investigation
At the time you took your first loan with us on 24/10/2016, we undertook a number of checks which included searching on public databases, fraud checks and our own credit scoring. Under the regulations that were in force at that time you requested your loan with us, lenders were required to make checks that were proportionate to the credit being granted. We can confirm that all required checks were performed, including a credit check with Call Credit. Additionally, we used the information gathered from your application. In your application form, you stated that you were in full-time employment, earning £******* net per month. You also stated that you were married, had no dependants and were paying £***** towards housing costs. Your other expenses were noted to be £***** per month. Based on the information that was available for us at the time and the checks we made we had no reason to suspect that our product is not suitable for you.
You have had three loans from us out of which first two were paid back early. Your third and last loan was issued 29/11/2016 for £2,400 and was to be repaid over the course of 12 months as an instalment loan.
Having reviewed the matter, we can confirm that we did perform all the required checks. We believe that we have been providing our service responsibly and based on the information that was available for us at that time we did not have any reason to believe that our product was not suitable for you.
We would also like to note that we have been more than willing to discuss setting up an affordable repayment arrangement for you, or discuss a settlement offer you feel would be manageable, however, we are unable to assist if no contact is made.
Considering the above noted information we are unable to provide the requested refund or to write off the debt as we believe it to be rightfully yours.
Your loan is currently handled by our debt collection partner Secure Recoveries Ltd. Please contact them to arrange a repayment.
Sarah says
They’ve pretty much said the same to me that they aren’t at fault!
Miriam says
I received the same respond. Now with FO.
JRG says
Just to give an update on my current situation from the four payday loan providers I submitted complaints about.
Lending stream offered me 996 within the first 2 weeks of my complaint which I accepted.
Wonga today offered me a settlement of 3706 which I have accepted. This was 12 weeks after my initial complaint. As soon as the fos requested info they sorted my complaint out directly with me.
Moneyshop & payday UK both rejected my complaints so I forwarded to the fos with an adjudicator currently looking at it.
I will give updates with my results from these 2 disgraceful companies when a decision has been made.
Michelle says
Good Afternoon
I have had numerous loans buy Payday UK declined my complaint so went to the FOS, The FOS upheld the complaint completely in my favour and sent the outcome to PayDay Uk by e mail which Payday UK have confirmed they received
The day after Payday UK received the FOS decision they decided to place a default against me – I am just amazed at the cheek of them. I know even if this goes to ombudsman they will have to remove adverse information but still what a bunch of jokers
Ross says
Hi Michelle,
This is appalling behaviour and on what basis did they have the ‘right’ to place a default notice against you? Have you informed your adjudicator of this worrying development? The FOS advise that any adverse information should be ‘removed’ not ADDED!
Michelle says
Hi Ross
I know its so crazy its farcical, Told my adjudicator straight away but apparently they can do this as only Ombudsman is legally binding.
I phoned Payday UK and told them what a joke they are and I would speak to the FOS and FCA about their tactics. I threw in a few comments about FCA 8 Principles, Treating customers fairly and FCA breathing space ( I do some work within FCA guidelines which helps me)
They said they would look into and apply the FCA breathing space now which is even more of a joke as I have e mail records of me asking for this last month
The most funny thing is that the total value of my complaint is approx £600 but when I wrote to Payday UK i even offered to be reasonable and just asked for a £400 refund which would have £250 credit to me and £150 loan cleared.
Now they have paid £550 to FOS and I going to report them to FCA
Once I have complaints sorted I am going to start writing reviews saying how bad they are as I note they have a 9.3 / 10 rating on trustpilot so I know if everyone puts on a 1 star review they will hate this
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think a lot of firms would hate to start getting bad reviews on trustpilot, feefo etc ….
Michelle says
Hi Sara
Trustpilot, google and review centre are easy to do as you can create an account through your e mail.
Some companies use Feefo as you have to have a code to leave a review and you are unable to edit a review where you can on other sites
The company I work for use all of these sites and admittedly I believe we used Feefo for the exact reason customers couldn’t edit later or leave a review unless invited to
Joanne says
Just thought I’d let you know my results and timescales for my pay day lenders.
Ferratum: 4 weeks. (Put my payment on hold within 24hours of the complaint) had the final response after 4 weeks to clear my balance.
Mr lender: within a week. Cleared my balance and credit file
Moneybox 247: 3 weeks. Cleared my balance and happy to clear my score
Lending stream: 3 weeks. clearing my balance and credit score.
Wage day advance: 4 weeks and just a straight no to my complaint. I have nothing outstanding to them.
Still waiting on 118 118 and safety net but not feeling hopeful for these two.
I wasn’t really owed much interest so the clearing of all my balances is great for me and the credit score. I can finally get back to normal
Ross says
Hi Joanne,
I complained to Safety Net and they agreed to wipe my balance (over £1300) so don’t give up hope. I had heard that they did this for a lot of customers, who were submitting complaints. I have also heard that companies prefer to wipe a balance rather than issue cash refunds (seems like a little bit of a ‘mini’ victory for them too, but if it lets them feel like that, then so be it?). A point of interest with SNC, their terms, apparently, state that if they were going to increase your limit, you had to have this in writing. It appears that they didn’t do this, as they should’ve, with a lot of people. Mine was increased from an initial limit of £150 to an eventual eye watering £1000 limit, with no notifications. You may be able to nail them on this technicality but, hopefully, they will do the right thing anyway. Good luck!
Joanne says
Hi Ross.
Fingers crossed for SNC then. They said I should have a reply in 4 weeks so hopefully next week they will let me know.
joeyr1969 says
Hi Joanne,
I complained to SNC and they gave me a £3600 pound refund within a month of complaining to them. I had my account with them from August 2014 and they agreed to give me all the interest back from July 2015.
Joe
Ross says
Morning Sara,
Quick question for you please? When the ombudsman upholds a complaint, which the company has rejected (or not responded to), and they are ordered to pay out, who does the calculation(s) and (more importantly) who checks they’re correct? I’ve just been going through my Payday Express statement of account, and I can’t work out, for the life of me, what I should expect back if and when the ombudsman upholds what my adjudicator has already decided (although I’m quietly confident they will). Thanks for any advice you can offer?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The lender does the calculations. Though you may be deeply suspicious, this doesn’t usually seem to be a problem in practice.
I agree the PDEX statement of accounts aren’t easy though if you want to calculate it exactly. If you can cross check them against your bank statements it can help. Work from the actual movements out of your bank accounts for the loans being refunded, ignore everything else and then check against the SoA so you can work out how much of your payment is repaying capital, then the rest is interest or charges which is what you want to record. Put these into a spreadheet with the date and interest/ charges payment you made. Then calculate simple interest on each line, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/interest-payday-loan-refunds/. This gets more complicated if you had a loan with balance outstanding.
Otherwise a simpler way if to add up every credit and debit from the PDEX SoA for the loans being refunded, take the difference for the interest & charges total, and work out a quick and dirty estimate of the 8% interest as that post suggests.
nim says
Hi Ross, you may want to ask the Adjudicator for the business file that PDEX have sent and ask for the statement of account detailing how much interest you paid- I did, and received like 12 pages detailing all the charges etc on all the loans, it’s very helpful.
Best
Nim
Glen says
Anyone accepted an offer off myjar before? How long does payment take? I accepted an offer on Thursday morning and they haven’t responded to any emails since.
Wendy says
Hi glen I accepted an offer from my jar before christmas and I received the refund the exact same day so just keep emailing them as they were very good at handling my case. Sorry I couldnt be of any more help. Wendy
Kevin says
Hi all
I’m looking for a bit of good advice regarding my wonga loan . I have just looked at my credit file and it’s saying I owe wonga 1000, but I can’t understand this as I had a DMP with stepchange and I thought this was settled, so saying I was shocked is an understatement . Anyway I have complained to wonga regarding my 4 loans I had with them , I just want to know if it’s worth continuing to the ombudsman or should I just let it be and leave it, or should I contact stepchange to find out what really went on with this DMP as it seems strange they would leave this much on my account even though the amount I owed was about 1200. All comments welcome.Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Credit records are often unliable as to the amount owed. Ask StepChange about this debt. Also ask Wonga for a Statement of Account. Then wait for their reply to your complaint about the 4 loans and come back here if they reject it.
Don’t accept them offering to wipe your balance if you think it should be a lot lower than 1000!
Kevin says
Thanks Sara the only reason I’m asking this is because another creditor said I owe them and they would wipe my balance if I accepted , and if I didn’t they would chase me up for the balance even though it was through a DMP a few years ago, seemed a bit strange but didn’t want to take the chance.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
huh? A creditor said this to you when you put in a complaint? Who was it?
Kevin says
Guy from valour finance told me they could still send out a bill for this, I asked why I haven’t heard anything for a few years he told me the debt wasn’t a priority.
Aaron jackson says
Just to give everyone an update my complaints are with quickquid, payday UK and wonga.
Quickquid rejected my complaint towards the very end of the 8th week.
Payday uk rejected in the 6th week.
Wonga has just written to me requesting an extra 8 weeks at the end of the 8th week.
All are now with FOS.
Anyone know how long the cases are before an adjudicator looks at these complaints?
gillian says
hi the adjudicater as asked for a credit report i have just checked my report and i have 143 payday loans in the last 6 years as paid will this amount help my claim for a refund from quick quid and lending stream i think this shows i was relying on loans to survive this report also shows my 3 default accounts all starting in 2012 to the total of 7500 pound ty
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It does suggest your were in financial trouble.
Mike says
Sara,
Can a business take recovery action against you while a unaffordable complaint has been started?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They shouldn’t. From the regulator’s rules: “CONC 7.5.3 R 01/04/2014 A firm must not ignore or disregard a customer’s claim that a debt has been settled or is disputed and must not continue to make demands for payment without providing clear justification and/or evidence as to why the customer’s claim is not valid.”
So far this hasn’t proved an issue.
Mike says
So, in theory, once you start your unaffordability complaint, you no longer HAVE to make your contractual payments?
And they couldn’t take recovery action until the complaint was completed, is that correct?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you are still borrowing, this needs to stop. The sensible thing here is to make a repayment arrangement that you can afford. If your complaint succeeds, this just means you will get more money back than if you stopped paying. If your complaint doesn’t succeed, or you only get a partial write off of the balance, then you are then in a better position to pay the rest.
I said they SHOULDN’T take recovery action, not that they COULDN’T. You would have a defence to a court claim for an unfair relationship – this is not a straightforward defence. Or you could try to get a case stayed pending the outcome of the complaint. But it is much simpler to avoid this sort of stuff by offering an affordable payment.
Katie says
Just received my statement of account from Wonga. It’s 7 weeks since my initial complaint of 75 loans over a 4 year period. Does this mean the decision is imminent ? Or is that just wishful thinking ! Also out of interest has anyone received complaint decisions via email at the weekend. Or is it generally office hours ? Thank you
Head in hands says
Hi Katie, I’ve just had mine through in the last hour too. Just enclosing my statements and not mentioning anything else re final response etc
I emailed 8th Feb and they acknowledged receipt 13th Feb. Rather surprised how quickly I’ve received this reading some comments on here.
Katie says
Interesting. I emailed my intital complaint on 17th Jan. I’ll keep you updated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Them sending a SoA seems to be a random event unconnected to when you will get your final response. Yes some lenders have their complaints staff in at the weekends – this isn’t that unusual.
Aaron jackson says
I got my statement of accounts at the end of the 7th week. By the end of the 8th week, they asked for another 8 weeks.
I’ve read of several forums they are currently taking 11-12 weeks to deal with these complaints. Although it’s likely to get longer and longer the more complaints that come in.
Send it off to the FOS at 8 weeks then atleast if they give you a poor offer your already in the que.
Zoe says
Hello everyone
Has anyone had any dealings with PayDay UK and PayDay Express, both have come back and rejected my complaints.
Here is an extract from PayDay Express response. ( The PayDay UK response was virtually identical this except that was 2 loans, two tops and 6 defferals ). I have referred both onto the FO anyway last week for the loans less than 6 years but was hoping all loans would be looked at but am not hopeful based on the below:
“My Assessment: Our records show that lending with PaydayUK commenced in July 2009 and; therefore, the first loan and twelve deferrals will not be included in our review under the Limitations Act 1980 as financial institutions are not required to keep records for more than six years. Furthermore, the Financial Ombudsman Service guidance on the matter states: ‘The complaints-handling rules set time limits for consumers to refer complaints to the ombudsman. After these time limits have expired, the business can choose to object to the ombudsman looking at the complaint on the grounds that it is “time-barred”.’ ’
Kindest regards
Zoe
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ignore what they have said – pass all your loans to the FOS. The FOS is looking at older loans. The point to make to the FOS is that you have only recently found out you could reclaim, so say how and when you found out. Did you see a link posted in a Facebook group? Or did a friend tell you about it? Or did you see a thread on MoneySavingExpert’s forum? It doesn’t matter what the anwser is, just say how you heard about an affordability complaint for the first time. I bet it was within the last 18 months…
Zoe says
Thanks very much Sara :-) , fingers crossed. I will post an update when i hear back from the FO.
Yes, it was in November when i first heard about being able to make a complaint of this nature. In the past I became so reliant on payday loans and it was virtually impossible to get out of it at the time. I finally went into a DMP in 2013 for 2.5 years to help me regain control of my finances. But based on this and the amount of payday loans I had month after month, I have sent in several complaints, this is my progress so far…..
Wonga – sent in complaint direct, awaiting final response
Sunny – sent in complaint direct, awaiting final response
247 Money Box – sent in complaint direct, awaiting final response
Sunny – sent in complaint direct, awaiting final response
Lending Stream – sent in complaint direct and they partially upheld on 4 loans out of 10, refunded £480
Northway Financial – sent in complaint direct , partially upheld and refunded £1600 ( 50% of interest)
Pixie Loans – sent in complaint direct , partially upheld and refunded £380
Cash Genie – sent in complaint direct, complaint upheld and refund offered £580 plus interest ( awaiting payout still, email from cash genie saying I was in a queue)
The Money Shop – sent in complaint direct, complaint not upheld so referred to FO last week
PayDay UK – sent in complaint direct, complaint not upheld so referred to FO last week
PayDay express – sent in complaint direct, complaint not upheld so referred to FO last week
Kind thanks
Zoe
Robert says
Hi Zoe
Did you send your complaint in to Northway or did you ask for Statement of loans first?
What email address did you send it to them?
Robert
Zoe says
Hi Robert
I sent in an email complaint to direct to Northway with my own full summary of borrowing and repayments that I gathered from my bank statements. It took a while for them to get back to me ( emailed 20th November, acknowledge mid Dec, and I got a offer of £1600 in Feb). I also had to send numerous chaser emails after the 8 weeks was up. I used complaints@northwayfinancial.com. In their final response, they did not accept unaffordable lending as such, and stated the £1600 was offered as goodwill. Having read some of threads on here about Northway, I decided that 50% of what I paid in interest was probably going to be as good as offer i was going to get from them. It was paid out the next day.
Hope this helps
Regards
Zoe
Ross says
Hi Zoe,
Payday Express, and Payday UK, are both part of the same company and, it appears, not very good at complaint handling. My complaints were both rejected by Payday Express and Payday UK (unsurprisingly). However, both of my complaints were upheld by my adjudicator. Payday UK, eventually, agreed to his findings and paid out. However, Payday Express (conveniently) have ignored his decision, and 2 deadlines, given. This is probably more to do with the fact that what they will have to, eventually, pay out is 5 times the amount Payday UK had to (and we’re not talking small change here, either!). They also choose to frustrate customers further, by delaying pay-outs right up until the last minute before you can return to the ombudsman to complain. They really are the worst company, and that’s saying something!
Aaron jackson says
Does anyone know How long it takes for an adjudicator to look at your complaint from when you first submit it to the FOS?
I have
*3 cases in with the FOS regarding payday loans.
*1 case sent to the FOS regarding extra charges a debt collection company has charged me. (Lowell) (original default was for £400 but soon as the debt was sold to
Lowell this automatically increased to £800. I believe his is unfair and irresponsibly taking advantage of somebody in financial hardship.
*1 more case likely to be sent to the FOS regarding interest on a vanquis credit card.
Neil says
Aaron – from my own limited experience, the wait times seem to be increasing. A complaint I submitted at the end of December got allocated to an Adjudicator in early February, with a resolution nowhere near. Expect to wait around 4 weeks for the complaint to be picked up, and then another 4 for a decision. These are just approximate times – but don’t hold your breath for an outcome any time within the first 2-3 months. The FOS are snowed under, I think!
David says
If your loans are within the last 6 years its quicker. 2 of mine have been picked up within a month of escalation.
Wonga have settled with adjudicator(complaint originally made on December 10th). Referred to FOS on 1-Feb as i hadn’t had a response from them after 8 weeks. Out of the blue i got a email on 3-March with a F&F quoting the FOS Complaint number and a FOS staff CC’d in with nearly all interest refunded. They admitted many of the loans were bigger than my stated income, so maybe that made it a easier decision.(i had no contact from FOS or Adjudicator, i just assume they’ve been in touch with wonga for the delay??)
QQ. Went to FOS on 23-Jan, got a response a week later with a reference number. Adjudicator contacted me on 17-Feb and advised QQ to refund all interest on loans in last 6 years(i told him to ignore over 6 years). that was on 23-Feb. they have until 7-Mar to respond.
I logged one other within 6 year complaint after these 2, and admittedly I’ve heard nothing after 5 weeks.I think its a bit up and down, and maybe they have more staff going through the companies with more complaints? I have 1 other that is going back to 2008, and the company are refusing to look at those loans so its gone to a “jurisdiction” team. I imagine that will be a long wait. From my own experience and what i’ve read, i think the biggest sticking point for the companies disputing these complaints is the 6 year rule.
Sma says
Sarah, can u give me some advice. 6 weeks ago I took out loans with safety net credit and likely loans, I was desperate for immediate cash to pay off some very urgent debts to family. I am now trying hard to organise my finances and have paid the first instalments of these loans, however I will struggle with these repayments from now on. My credit score was and is shockingly bad yet I was still approved for these loans, I am not trying to avoid the debt however I’d like your advice on how to perhaps arrange a payment plan with them until I am back on my feet?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Sma, if your credit score is shockingly bad, my guess is you have other debts as well? The best thing to do is talk to StepChange . Often in these circumstances a debt management plan can stabilise your situation. StepChange can set up a DMP if this is right, or talk about your other options.
Steve says
Please can someone provide me with some advice/guidance please. I’ve just received my first offer from a lender (Mr Lender) of £90. Does this seem reasonable? Should I accept? They have stated they have done nothing wrong but are offering this as a goodwill gesture. I had 4 loans with them between 18/4/12 and 27/12/16. These started at £200 and went to £400, I paid £180 in interest over these loans. As this is my first offer I’m unsure of how to look st it so any responses would be appreciated.
Ross says
Hi Steve,
As you only had 4 loans, the ombudsman would probably choose to disregard the first couple of loans, which means that you could be offered just what Mr Lender has offered, with a few pence interest if the ombudsman rules in your favour. Were the loans all close together, or spaced apart? (Bearing in mind you say these were taken between April – December). The ombudsman may see the initial, smaller, loans as being affordable, whilst saying that the company may have been required to carry out checks for the larger amounts. I think it’s really your choice on this one, as only you know if this seems reasonable to you, based on the interest you paid?
Steve says
Thanks for the reply Ross. The first couple were a month apart but the latter two there was a year between them. I only paid £30 interest on the final 2 loans so I think based on that I will accept the £90. I just thought from them offering something they were maybe admitting guilt. But thanks for the comments.
Ross says
You’re welcome,
I don’t believe you would get much more, if anything, by going to the FOS. Mr Lender do appear to be one of the ‘better’ PDL companies, when it comes to dealing with complaints. Offering a goodwill gesture is no admission of guilt but it’s just what it says, a ‘goodwill gesture’. If a complaint is referred to the FOS, the business is charged £550 for it to be investigated. I’m not saying that Mr Lender has made this gesture to avoid this but it could be them just trying to meet you halfway without the need to involve the FOS? They were very good with me, reducing an outstanding balance down from over £1800 to £400 (using all of the interest paid, on previous loans to bring down the balance) and then applying a further discount, as I cleared the balance in one payment, not two, meaning I paid £326 in the end. They were also very polite, and uncondescending, in their responses. I think you’d be wise to take their offer.
Debbie says
Could someone advise me on the next step please. I have put a complaint into Mr Lender and also requested a statement of account. They have now responded and sent the statement but say that I should deal with Motormile Finance UK Ltd s they have sold the debt to them. I thought I had to deal with the original lender, am I wrong?
One thing that looks very confusing is that on the statement of account the interest and charges were £94 but on the statement from motor mile there are additional cost of £284.25
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You are right that it is the original lender that you make an affordability complaint to. Just ignore them telling you to talk to MMF and send you full complaint to them.
Also write to MMF and say you are disputing the debt with Mr Lender and ask them to put a hold on any enforcement action. Just ignore added charges on the last loan at the moment.
Robert says
I’ve been asked for a credit score from March 2015 when I took a loan how do I find out my credit score from then? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can’t. But if you get a copy of your credit record, you can highlight the things that would have happened before / whilst you were borrowing – late payments, defaults etc
Maureen says
As part of my settlement they wrote off the debt that was outstanding to Motormile. I assume as they had sold the debt to them that Mr Lender would have had to settle it, so in my case it cost them £418!
Very quick to come to a conclusion, within 2 weeks from my original complaint and very happy with the response as only had two loans, few rollovers and one defaulted.
Tony says
Well had my final response from payday uk didn’t know how many loans I had as they wouldn’t release info but going by there response it was 2 loans 1 of which was rolled over 11 times.
I’ve now sent both complaints to the ombudsman via the website.
Wonga had there 8 weeks asked for another 6 weeks and after many calls said it will definitely be within an extra 2 more weeks.
Matthew Gibbs says
Does anyone have any experience with obtaining a credit report from Noddle. I can access the report for free, but I can’t find a link to export a full report to an email/PDF doc.
It’s split into various different sub pages within the site, which unless I was to take various screenshots of report, I can’t see it being sufficient for the Ombudsman in terms of legitimacy.
Nick says
You need to do noodle on a computer, you can’t do it via mobile if your doing it that way.
It’s pretty easy when you look at it that way.
Nick
Matthew Gibbs says
Ahhh, on a computer. That’s where I’ve been going wrong then. Been viewing it on my phone haha. Cheers both.
nim says
Hi Matthew, you need to ‘print to pdf ‘option , then it will let you save a copy to your computer.
Best
Nim
Andrew says
I struggled too, the only way I could access the PDF print option was via google chrome.
Andrew
Sarah says
I am not very good with computers so hoping to go into bank tomorrow to ask them for a copy of statements from 2011-2014 when I had the loans. Quick quid offered me a good will offer of £200 today when it should be more like £3000 I now need to go to the financial ombudsman can I post them my statements rather than email?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, the FO won’t mind physical statements.
I suggest you put in your complaint to the Ombudsman online at https://help.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/help now, don’t wait for the bank statements. It takes you through the complaint, asking questions and is pretty friendly. When you are contacted by an adjudicator in a few weeks you can ask how to send the statements in.
Kerry says
With regards to loans over 6 years is it that the financial ombudsman are in the process of seeing if they can be looked into or are they now saying they can be looked into. I have 4 complaints with them all with loans that are before and after the 6 years. Been with the ombudsman since September have sent credit report and bank statements to adudicator but she says they are still seeing if they can be looked into or not so very confused
Ross says
I was of the opinion that with reference to loans older than 6 years old, part of it was down to the fact of when you realised you could complain? I made my adjudicator aware, for my Quick Quid complaint, that I’d only realised, in the past 6 months, I could complain and it would’ve been technically impossible to have complained before, given the fact that I wasn’t aware, prior to this, that I could complain. The longer this issue lingers on, the more the backlog is going to build and it will take the FOS a great deal of time to resolve all outstanding complaints. I think they need to make a decision, either way, and stick by it. Whether it goes in the consumers favour, or the companies, at least we all would know where we stand. Whilst mine has only been with the ombudsman since October last year, I know others have been (patiently) waiting a LOT longer.
Kerry says
Thanks for reply I did say that to my adudicator that is the case I only realised I could complane in July time last year and that’s when I first sent off my complaints to the companies. Had I of known what they did was wrong before that I would of complained much sooner. I knew at the time I had these loans that I was struggling and they was unaffordable but I didn’t know it was because they had done wrong I thought it was my own stupid fault at the time,
Sara (Debt Camel) says
My understanding is that have decided in general they can look at older loans, but
a) they have to ask each customer when they found out they could complaint and then tell the lender they will be looking at the older loans and give the lender a chance to object
b) as the lenders mostly aren’t agreeing, they are taking some of the early cases they started this with through to the Ombudsman level. They want these to have been sorted before they start sening lots more of the older complaints through.
There isn’t anything you can do except wait.
Kerry says
Thanks for reply I’m willing to wait as long as it takes completely understand they will be getting more and more of these complaints coming through. Got nothing to loose waiting and seeing what comes of it all. Had some success off myjar lending stream uncle buck. 247 money box. Herbert and brown and h and t. It’s worth the wait.
Rebecca says
Hi, I have recently been made aware of being able to complain and try get a refund. I have used various pdl in the past, however I am a little unsure of what the first thing I need to do is. I have looked on paydayuk and paydayexpress website and I have come across a section called refund exercise with CET@dfconline.com to email. Do I need to do this or is this something completely different? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is something completely different – Payday UK has gicven out a few refunds, mostly small on a few loans to some people. If you haven’t been contacted by them, you aren’t getting one of those. If you were sent a refund automatically, you can still put in an affordability complaint.
Read the article above. If you have a list of your loans from a lender, you can go straight to the Step two letter. If not, begin at Step one.
Rebecca says
I contacted payday uk and payday express regarding a statement of account and they emailed back saying this:
Many thanks for your recent contact.
This account currently has no sums due or payable. Therefore, we have no current obligation to provide a statement of account under Section 77 of the Consumer Credit Act as per Subsection (3) of Section 77 which states that the requirement under “Subsection (1) does not apply to – (a) an agreement under which no sum is, or will or may become payable by the debtor.”
What does this mean and what is my next step? Thanks
Rebecca says
Can anyone shed some light on this and what I need to do? I have also been sent 5 statements from quickquid, so do I need to email them back about a complaint now? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
For Payday UK & Express, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-wont-send-loan-details/.
Now QQ have sent you the details, have a go at at a Stage Two complaint letter, using the tmplate above.
Kat says
Put my complaint in with the FO regarding Lending Stream on 09/02, had a phone call today from adjudicator to discuss my case so looks like the wait time at the moment is around 4 weeks for a case to be allocated. He also informed me that if he finds in favour of LS then they have the right to revoke the £550 offer they had already given. I am hoping as they have already admitted fault to some level with this offer that wont be the case.
Also have Wageday, PayDay UK and Quick Quid with FO awaiting allocation, still waiting on a final response from Payday Express. Thought I would receive a Final Response from them at the same time as PDUK as all other emails have been sent in two’s but they have 1 more week to respond. Not expecting anything but a no so will likely be another one for the FO!
Nigel says
Looks like I’ve got a breakthrough with Moneybox 24/7. My adjudicator has told them its all loans back to 2008. So that is 8 years
I will update as soon as I hear more.
Katie says
Hello received final decision from P2P today. They have offered me a goodwill gesture of £100. I had two installment loans and 2 top ups paying a total of £7375.41 interest was £3080. They seem to be a bit grey in the area of whether they did a credit check as they say that I fit their model etc. If they had done they would have seen a CCJ defaults and DMP and low credit score. Shall I forward to the FOS ? Many thanks
Matthew Gibbs says
If you don’t mind me asking, how long did it take tou to get your final decision from p2p? I will be at week 8 this coming Monday, and apart from my statement of account, have had no contact apart from them saying they are still looking into it.
Katie says
Hi Matthew. I sent my complaint in via email on the 17th Jan. Hope you hear soon.
Matthew Gibbs says
Just checked back through my emails and found I was out a few days. I inititally complained on the 11th of Jan, meaning the 8 weeks is up tommorow! Hopefully I will hear from them soon then going of your initial complaint date. Email will be going off to the FOS when I’m on my break at 12:01 on this nightshify anyway hehe.
Glen says
Just had an offer from WageDayAdvance advance which I accepted. All interest and charges refunded from loan 3 onwards, I have accepted the amount of £2241.39 from them as the total interest I actually paid to them only totalled around £500 more than the offer. Brilliant result in my opinion.
Katie says
If you don’t mind me asking Glen, what was the date of your complaint ?
Glen says
Bit of a grey area, they dismissed my first complaint in early January because of the way it was worded. So I suppose my official complaint went in around 3 weeks ago!
Pimmie says
Urgh – I got an offer today – initially emailed 4 weeks ago – had 23 loans, they offered me £751 – I actually paid just under £4000 in interest so have sent it straight to FO. So it’s going to be a wait & see! But by reading comments on here WDA will leave it to go the whole way. What’s the average length of time it takes when it gets to FO? Cheers!
Michelle says
Hi Pimmie
Each case is different, wageday advance completely rejected my complaint so sent to FOS, adjudicator partially upheld and they agreed. I had 16 loans and adjudicator upheld after 4th loan.
It’s tough as you can never tell, some people get a low offer send to FOS adjudicator rules in favour then company push to ombudsman.
Good luck
Pimmie says
Thanks Michelle! Keeping fingers crossed. Waiting to hear what Cheque Centre have to say too – over £7000 interest on that one.
P
Connie says
I’ve got an email from my adjudicator supporting my complaint against lending stream, and asking for refunds on 5/7 loans.
The email states theyve got 2 weeks to respond to his findings, what’s the odds they’ll respond in that time?
Wiggles says
they wont, at least they didnt to me, its now waiting for an ombudsman
Sarah l says
They didn’t respond to my adjudicator so mines in queue for ombudsman ?
Ce says
Hi
Rang wageday advance today, (email sent 26th feb) said they hadn’t received it? Sending statement of account within 10 days hopefully. Payday uk very unhelpful, will not waiver the 1.00 to get my statement, totally refused. Satsuma loans.. Unhelpful to start, then said they would send out statement today via email, unfortunately no email. Looked Through satsuma previous borrowing… Had 3 loans one for 300 one for 600 ( both paid) and one for 900. I still owe over 1000 on the 900 loan having paid over 700 already. 247 moneybox was also unhelpful, said to wait. Qq came back today to acknowledge my complaint.
CE says
Had a goodwill offer from 247moneybox to wipe my debt of 397.00 out. No statement of account sent over. Not going to accept as had 7 loans with them.
Matthew Gibbs says
So currently I have a few complaints I’m followint up.
PDUK gave me my final decision, a big fat no last week, which I have referred to the Ombudsman, and got a speedy reply stating I was now awaiting an adjudicator.
Pounds to pocket’s 8 weeks ran out this morning, even though they have sent me my Statement of account, their communication since then has been otherwise poor, so I have reffered it to the FOS this morning.
Wonga were rather speedy in sending me my statement of account, although their communication with me since then has also been poor. Although I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, after hearing about the backlog they have. Although their 8 weeks expires on Monday, so I will be sending that to the FOS then too.
Lending Stream I only applied to on Sunday just gone, although I must say I was impressed with a speedy reply from them to update me etc. Although that may be a standard automated mail.
Apart from that, I’m also trying my luck (I haven’t seen the topic discussed on this page) with Moneyway in regards to a car finance agreement my partner stopped paying for when we split up that I took out for her (I know i’m stupid for doing for that, but we were together 9 years), which was originally applied for, and startingly passed credit checks at the latter part of my payday loan struggles, so we’ll see how that one pans out, but I’ll keep you all updated. That’s currently in the 7th week since I contacted them, but they have been in contact to say they are looking into it.
Glen says
Hello, further to my good news on accepting an offer from WDA, has anyone accepted an offer from these before? If so, what timescale am I looking at? They have said they will issue the redress “efficiently” but this could mean anything. Anyone got any experience on payouts from WDA? Any help would be appreciated.
Ross says
Hi Glen,
They’re very good in my experience. All sorted within a couple of days of acceptance.
Glen says
Thanks a lot. They’ve said 3-5 working days, very reasonable.
Georgina says
Uncle buck have replied to me they are asking me to send in bank statements for the dates I had the loans and also I copy of my credit report for this time. I dont have either :( I could possibly get the bank statements from 3 years ago I think but I dont know about my credit report.
Do they normally ask to see these.
Thanks in Advance
Steve says
Uncle Buck have just asked me for the following:
– A copy of your credit file;
– A copy of your bank statements for the account details we hold on file, for the period during which you applied for the loans and re-paid them
Similar to Georgina, I may struggle to get these. Is this normal procedure? Do I need to supply them? If not, what response do I give?
Thanks,
Steve
Neil says
Georgina – from what I’ve read here, UB are one of a small group of lenders who ask for this information. I couldn’t say whether or not it will help your complaint, but you definitely do not need to supply this to them if you don’t want to – you can ask them to consider your complaint on the basis of the information you provided and that they currently hold on you, and that you will supply the documentation to the Financial Ombudsman should you need to take your complaint further.
Do be aware though that if you complain to the FOS, you really will need to supply your bank statements and credit report. The bank statements can be obtained from the FOS provided it’s an old account (if you still use the account, they can’t obtain them I believe). The credit report is free – Noddle, ClearScore and MoneySavingExpert Credit Club will give you free access to your CallCredit, Equifax and Experian reports, respectively.
Matthew Gibbs says
Need some help with Pounds to Pocket. Only just during the early hours of this morning did I fill out the referral for the FOS, so was quite suprised to get a final decision today.
Now in this decision, I have besn offered a goodwill festure of £200. I’m a bit undecided as to whether I shoule accept this, or go ahead and refer to FOS. Ideally I would like to refer of course, but their final decision has somewat derailed me slightly.
Here are some extracts –
1) They claim that at the time I becams a customer, the OFT were the ones who set out rules for unsecured lending/short term loans, “however, the OFT made no such statement for unsecured credit such as the credit we provided you.”
2) They are claiming that my credit score throughout my time period as a customer was 0.0859 and as that is substantially higher than the minimum approval score of 0.02 then affordability checks ran correctly as per internal policy.
3) They are claiming as I was earning £1975 a month from my employer, I should have been able to afford repayments, of course they are not considering any other debt etc I already held here from other places, and are only concerned with the fact of £200 a month is a lot less than £1975, regardless of other bills/debts/living costs.
4) They claim that I clearly wasn’t dependant on loans as I stated in my complaint, as I only took 2 installment loans from them, and the amount I took decreased (due to.re-finance loans that is though) not increased. However my complaint detailed that I took various loans, payday etc, robbing peter to pay paul. Not just with them, Also the 2 loans is a nonsense figure. I can see on my Statement of account at least 5 times when a loan principal has been sent to me, although this could be several re-finances.
Their final point was that at no point did I contact them and inform them about hardship. Tbis is nonsense in itself as I remember an occasion where I spoke to what seemed to be an advisor in an American callcentre, that I was experiencing difficulty, and he took my through a re-finance loan instead, as apparently that was the most they could do.
Now they’ve made 0 mention to the fact the wrote off balance on my.account a little over a year ago, which suprises me. So what I’m looking for help is 1) do I have a case for.the FOS referral? and 2) is a £200 goodwill gesture the best I’m going.to get?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you look over here https://debtcamel.co.uk/quickquid-payday-loan-refunds/ at the recent comments I think you may recognise a lot of the wording that you were sent in the one that Kyle reported on. This is a template fill in the gaps reply from QQ.
The part about the OFT should be ignored – it is somewhere between misleading and wrong.
Their quoted credit score means nothing to you, I suggest you ignore this number. What matters is what your credt record would have showed when you were borrowing from them, not this number.
Of course they are ignoring your other debts, they are trying to get you to give up and go away, not make a fair assessment of your situation.
Their loan counting often seeems, um, odd. It could be refinances. Have you had a staement of account from them? If not you should ask for one.
The point that you had told them about your financial problems and they only offered to refinance, not freeze interest is one that you should highglight to the FOS.
We have never seen anyone ogiven a goodwill offer from QQ who hasn’t got more – usually a LOT more, by going to the Ombudsman.
Katie says
Matthew that is pretty much word for word what I received in my email yesterday with the exception of the fact my goodwill gesture was £100 not £200. I’m not going to accept mine.
Matthew Gibbs says
Thank you both. You’ve both re-assured me that I’m better off holding out for the FOS.
Yes had a statement of account from them Sara. It states on there that I had 5 cash advances from them, whether they were initial loans or re-finances though is unclear.
Although with P2Pocket if memory serves me right, every re-finance is essentially a new loan, which pays off your old loan and then pays you the difference. Not necessarily a top up of an existin loan.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The best thing is to check your bank statements. Credits from them = new loans. Payments from you = interest being paid to roll-over an existing loan.
Dan says
Hi Matthew
I had 2 loans with P2P and they flat out rejected my complaint, and the wording in their email was exactly the same.
My adjudicator has since upheld my complaint in full and said they should refund interest on both loans. Obviously depends on your circumstances but if you feel you can show the repayments were unaffordable it would be well worth going to FOS.
Matthew Gibbs says
Well my bank statements & credit rrports around that same time will highlight various loans from Payday UK, Wonga, that’s without car finance, insurance, mobike phone contracts, before we even mention essentials such as rent, so hopefully I’ve got a good case.
Even before I applied to P2P my credit report wouks have shown monthly payday loan rollovers, missed payments and defaults so hopefully it will go in my favour.
How long did it take you from FOS application to adjudicator decision Dan?
Dan says
Applied to FOS around 1st December and received the adjudicator decision around 16th February. The company were given 2 weeks to come back to the adjudicator which they disagreed and offered a minimal amount last week. I have disagreed to which they then had a further week to make any further comment before it is passed on to an Ombudsman.
Steven says
Update on my complaints –
Wonga- offered £2500 rejected now with an adjudicator
Quickquid – low offer at adjudicator stage now waiting being allocated an ombudsman
CFO – accepted their initial offer of £1300 was told I would be paid in 6-8 weeks now on week 9 and still not been paid. Does anyone know if I can escalate this somehow?
[EDITED – No – CFO went into administration 4th April 2017.]
MyJar – Being handled by an adjudicator who gave them until today to respond but as of yet no response from them.
PaydayUK – still awaiting final response only 4 weeks in
247moneybox – still awaiting final response
Settled with another couple before going to adjudicator which in hindsight I regret as I probably could of got more.
Nigel says
So now have response from adjudicator on Moneyshop. Refund on all loans from 2010 onward to 2013. Some of the cheques were rolled over at least 12 times. Think its gong to be around £4,300 plus the 8%
So here is a complete list of where I am in the order of things and where I have settled and how. So Far I have claimed back £35,000. It will rise considerably yet I feel. Also it should be noted that for me – Wonga, PaydayUK, Lending stream and Mr Lender would have been massive payouts if I had gone to the FOS and I learned a lesson early on that stick to your guns and don’t accept the offers. Wonga offer was £3,900, but I now know I would probably have got back around £10,000 if I had of gone to the FOS
Cashfloat – Waiting for Ombudsman
Ecashwindow (EPDL) – Waiting for Ombudsman
100pounds.co.uk – Waiting On Ombudsman
Different Money – Waiting on Ombudsman
Credio (cashbridge) – Waiting on Ombudsman
Monkey Dosh – Waiting on Ombudsman
Moneybox 24/7 – Complaint accepted with Adjudicator for 6+3 ruling.
Pounds till payday – Maltese FOS waiting to hear back
Payday express – Settled by Ombudsman
Quick Quid – Settled by Ombudsman
Moneyboat – Settled By Me
Pixie – Settled by Me
SafetynetCredit – Settled by me
Sunny – Settled by me
Wageday Advance – Settled by Adjudicator
Safeloans – Settled by Me
Wonga – Settled by Me
H&T – Settled by me
Speedloan – Settled by Me
PaydayUK – Settled by me
Lending Stream – Settled by Me
Mr Lender – Settled by me
Next Credit – Settled by me
Piggybank – Settled by me
Peachy – Settled By Adjudicator
Toothfairy – Settled by Ombudsman
Myjar – Settled by me
Uncle Buck – Settled by me
Cash Genie – Settled by Adjudicator
CFO – Settled by me
Pear says
Hope you don’t mind me asking but with lending stream did you make a counter offer or accept their first offer? I had an offer for £152 which I have declined and said it should be more like £1500 + 8% interest. Don’t know what to expect back.
Sarah says
I’ve just had an offer from payday uk of £1056 not decided if I am going to accept yet but has anyone accepted an offer from them? How long do they take to pay out? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How much interest did you pay them over the years? We have seen too many people here come back and say they accepted an offer they now regret … so it’s worth checking how reasonable it is.
Ally says
Hi Sara
I had a funny one with Myjar after I had accepted their offer a man called me to ask if I was sure I wanted to accept it cos if I did I would never be able to borrow from them again!!! ;0) Guess what I said lol
Sara (Debt Camel) says
… nope, no idea, can’t guess… :)
Danny says
**Lending Stream**
I have complained to lending stream on Jan 20th 2017 regarding 11 loans over the past year, I still owe on 4 of them but only minimal amounts, I have today received an email:
This is in regards to your recent correspondences. We apologize for the delayed response and the inconvenience caused.
We understand that you are distressed with the payment reminders, while we we in the middle of investigating your concern regarding the affordability checks conducted, while approving your loans.
We have reviewed your accounts and would like to share our findings. We would like to inform that you had borrowed eleven loans from Lending Stream, out of which, seven loans have been closed successfully and four loans 3057860, 3066542, 3223946 and 3227202 are still outstanding.
Affordability Checks:
We confirm that an affordability analysis is conducted for all customers (existing or new) and on each loan application. Our advanced analytics and underwriting processes review the information provided by the customer, all public information, and details held by Credit Reference Agencies before making a decision.
• Your Experian score was 563 or above. This was factored into our proprietary underwriting and deemed acceptable
• At the time of each application, you were employed full time
• Your monthly income at the time of applications was £1560.00 or above
• We could observe a sufficient disposable income, which denoted that repayments towards the loans could have been made without any financial difficulties
• You were approved only for the amount you were eligible for
• All your closed loans were paid off on or before their final repayment date
Credit file/Data Validation:
We expect our customers to include any current obligations due to be paid while filling the expenditure details to ensure a fair assessment of their disposable income and ability to make repayments. The data shared in your applications indicated that your monthly income well exceeded your expenses and that repayments towards the loans could have been made without any financial difficulties.
Our constant message to customers whose circumstances change, or who experience hardship, is to speak to us and we will work something out together. Upon reviewing your accounts, we found that when we were informed about your financial difficulty, the required assistance was offered.
In lieu of the overall situation, we believe that Lending Stream has behaved responsibly in approving your loans and has dealt with them fairly.
With the above being said, we could also note that you have incurred late payment fee and charges towards your accounts due to the missed payments, while you were waiting for our response.
Hence, we are ready to waive off all the charges amounting £67.04 towards all the four accounts
half of the things in this email is absolute s**t – I have not had a score of over 500 for the past 2 years as I’ve been struggling and borrowing from all different lenders, to which I have also complained. I have sent a response to say I will not be accepting the offer of £67.04, in my original complaint I did ask for my accounts to be frozen inc any interest and charges to which they didn’t and so my balances have now risen again. not sure what to do from here.
sorry for the long comment, any advice would be great
Thanks people
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sounds like a case to send to the Ombudsman.
Lee Page says
I’ve just received 45 statements from Wonga today with all the amounts I’ve repaid going back too 2009 what’s the next process in making a complaint and getting refunds back ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Write the Step Two detauiled complaint letter, there is a template in the article above, but you don’t have to follow this if it doesn’t feel right for your case.
Lee Page says
Ok thank you Sara this will help hopefully, I’m not the best in writing letters, but I need to get this sorted as in 2009 I was getting payday loans from wonga and paying back and getting another loan to live and that happened each month, until about 2 years ago I went into a stepchange debt management plan, but I worked out earlier what I repaid from 2009 and it was a lot of money so that’s why I want to get this sorted