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?
Nicole says
So on Friday I sent a complaint into trusted quid… Regarding unaffordable loans and irresponsible lending . Today I have a email back asking to talk to me regarding this??? Anybody else had this? A company wanting to discuss over phone??? Nicole xx
Ross says
Hi Nicole,
I would be wary of speaking to a company, over the phone, about a complaint, for various reasons. First of all, it’s hard for you to prove to the FOS what was said on the call(s) unless you have recordings of them. The company will, no doubt, record them, but not you (unless you have a call recording device?). I would advise them that any information they require, they can request via email and you will send it back forthwith. At least, with email, you can prove what you’ve sent, said, and when you sent it. Also, there’s a chance they may fluster you, on a phone call, especially if the person calls you manipulates you in to saying things which may not, technically, be absolutely correct. I would stick to your guns, at the same time being polite, saying you only wish to communicate via email, for the reasons I’ve already given. You can talk to them, if you feel confident enough to, but please be mindful of what I’ve said. Good luck!
Nicole says
I just sent back asking what they wish to discuss, then I just said I would rather do it via email so I can keep record of contact regarding complaint! Just thought it strange as hadn’t heard of this before x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think it’s OK to talk, but if they want you to agree to anything, ask them to put it in an email so you can think about it. And if you aren’t sure what they are asking, also ask them to email.
Joanna says
Hi Nicole,
I had similar with Trusted Quid and I know exactly the person who is requesting to speak to you. The conversation is mainly about discouraging you to continue with your complaint.
My complaint went to the FOS, while my complaint was being looked into by my adjudicator, the Operations manager at Trusted Quid kept emailing me to take a quick settlement offer. I declined and I had to tell him to stop emailing and calling!
Once the settlement had been reached and the refund had been transferred to my account, on the same day, at 10.03pm precisely I received a call from him in a very casual tone checking that the money had been received even though we had both acknowledged that the case was settled and the money was received. I told him quite firmly that it is unacceptable for him to call me at that time of night. I ended the call and he then sent me an email straightaway stating that my account was now clear and that they have a special offer on their loans for longstanding customers. I felt really uncomfortable with the late night call. My adjudicator had to call him and tell him to remove my details from their files.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think that is disgraceful behaviour by Trusted Quid. You could consider informing their regulator, the FCA, about how they behaved during your complaint. Email them here: consumer.queries@fca.org.uk. Just say what happened, why you felt you were under pressure etc. This isn’t the start of a formal investigation, you won’t get any compensation, you will just get a “thanks for your information” reply, not questions about it. But this shouldn’t happen and the only way the regulator knows is if people tell them!
Joanna says
Thanks Sara.
I told my adjudicator but I think because he was snowed under with cases, he just told them to remove my details. I will contact the FCA. But just to say, that the Operations manager at Trusted Quid does call you up and try to discourage you from proceeding with your complaint.
Lorr says
Hi PDUK offered me £545 in payment as they deferred one of my loans 3 times, they also offered me £1385 as a good will gesture, i refused this on Friday as I had 13 loans and deferred 15 times, It was sent to the Ombudsman that day, can anyone tell me how long it takes for an adjudicator to pick it up and what the timescale for a decision will be? Also has PDUK every came back to anyone with an increased offer after it has been declined? Thx
Ross says
Hi Lorr,
It would be a bit like saying ‘How long’s a piece of string?’ I’m afraid. As flippant as that may sound, it’s all down to the workload at the FOS, on determining how long it will take for an adjudicator to pick up your case. Payday loan cases are ever increasing, as word gets around that these type of complaints can be made. A lot more cases are being sent to the FOS than say were a year ago. The typical wait for an ombudsman, if you have to refer it from the adjudicator, is now 3-6 months so, in short, it won’t be resolved quickly. You will have to be very patient. Good luck!
Rachel says
Hi lorr I waited 4/5 months for adjudicator had an offer declined it now waiting for ombudsman on week 10 now. Worth sticking it out though if you have a good case
lorr says
Thanks Rachel, I’m surprised they even offered me anything to be honest and certainly not nearly £2000. I can be patient lol. X
Rachel says
Yes I got a decent offer too £3k but want them to look at the older loans so may be in a long wait I’m hopeful though at least I will get something
Scott says
HI Sara,
I received my final response from Wonga today (took 12 weeks from making my complaint).
They have upheld my complaint. However, they are refusing to look at loans over 6 years old and are only offering a refund for 1 loan on 2011 and 7 in 2014. I had a 26 loans between 2011 and 14 (not including top ups) and 11 in 2009 and 10. They are offering me £1010 plus 8% intrest.
Between 2009 and 10 I repaid about £362.05 in intrest (I borrowed 2080 and repaid over 2442.05)
Between 2011 and 14 I reapid £4566.51 in intrest. (I borrowed 18557 and repaid 23123.51)
Is it worth going to the ombudsman?
Thanks Scott
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So they are only offering you less than a quarter of the 2011-14 interest.. that doesn’t sound good to me.
We have never seen a case where the Ombudsman has made an award that is less than a lender has offered. You have borrowed a lot over a long while – this is a very good case.
You may be happy not to bother about the interest on the earlier loans as that isn’t very much. One thing you could do is send the case to the ombudsman and say you are only asking for a refund from 2011 onwards, but you would like your earlier loans taken into account in assessing your case. This may mean that more of your 2011-14 loans are refunded than if they only looked at those.
Mooo says
Payday UK, have been a right pain. I only initially cared about getting these payday loans removed from my credit file. You ask them for a statement of account and they are like you can only have them if you send us £1. This really did annoy me, PDUK should realise that demanding £1 off people for a few bits of paper is not going to put people off going to the FO. this £1 demand made me more determined to go to the FO. Complaint has now gone to the FO and has been with them since October it still has not been looked at by an ajudicator- along the way i have received 2 silly settlement offers from PDUk, now PDUK have offered to refund all interest and charges plus 8% interest. PDUK need to remember to be nice to people or they will dig their heels in.
Phil says
Hello,
I found this website recently after coming upon a company that does ‘all the work’ for you. I thought I could do it myself. I’ve gone with step one for a number of companies (wonga, sunny, poundstopocket, quickquid and PDUK). All have come back with statements excluding wonga at the moment (but I have lodged the formal complaint with wonga as per step 2). And been informed of their 8 weeks to reply.
With PDUK I admit that I owe them a small amount of £300 give or take however they have just replied saying that they had sold the debt on in December 2016. I now have two questions…
1) how does this affect me making a claim?
2) is it normal for them to advise that the debt has been sold three months after when I have claimed missold payday loans?
Advice would be welcomed.
Marie says
I am in a similar situation with PDUK. They have sold that debt on for a similar amount and initially told me that its up to the Debt COllector now. I went back and explained that all previous loans that are settled are their responsibility, and they have been an absolute nightmare with sending me statements, They won’t do it. They have now said I can pay £10.00, but have to send a postal order and a utility bill. Just trying to make things difficult!
They still have to look at all previous settled loans before the one that has been sold on.
Good luck.
Andy says
Update on mine which has just finished.
Waited 5 months for an adjudicator.
Waited 3 days for an adjudicator decision.
Waited 3 days for Sunny to pay out.
Apart from the initial wait it went perfectly, and was found in my favour after Sunny completely rejected initially.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Going straight to Step 2 if you have the info from your bank statements is a great idea.
John says
Hi All,
My Final Adjudicator decision – Wonga – interest and fees on 16 out of 18 Loans. Not sure of the exact amount but its about £6,000. That brings my total from 3 Lenders to approximately £12,000.
I imagine it will be months before an ombudsman gets a chance to see these cases but am delighted with the result.
Each case took 16 weeks from the date of submission to an adjudicator decision.
Keep going folks – hope you all get the result you want.
John
Emma says
Hi Everyone,
I have a couple of questions I was wondering if anyone would be able to answer.
I sent complaint letters to Wage Day Advance, Payday UK, Payday Express, 1st Stop, Uncle Buck, 247 Moneybox & Pounds till Payday on the 13th March. I went straight to complaints as I went through my bank statement and did my own analysis.
I have received an acknowledgement from all except 247 Moneybox & Pounds till Payday. I managed to get hold of someone at 247 Moneybox yesterday who said that they would make sure someone picked up my complaint but my first question is, do I have to wait 8 weeks from when they acknowledge my complaint or can I send this to the FOS 8 weeks after sending my complaint to them?
I have received my final response from 1st Stop who rejected my complaint, so I sent this to FOS. They have come back with a reference number and asked for some additional information and advised they have given 1st Stop till the 6th April to return their information. My second question is will there be a big wait after this point or does this mean someone is already assigned to my case?
My last question is in relation to loans over 6 years old. What are peoples experiences with these being included?
1) Wage Day Advance – Had loans from September 2008 – June 2013
2) Payday UK & Payday Express – Had loans from September 2008 – August 2013
3) Pounds till Payday – Had loans from June 2009 – August 2012 (I know this is based in Malta but has anyone managed to get older loans included?)
I have calculated that I paid over £14k in interest to all these companies and as many other on here have said spiraled very quickly and had to take out other loans to pay the interest on others. Even though I managed to get out of this 3 years ago and only with the help of my parents (very embarrassing) this was a very low & stressful time in my life. I only just found out that these sorts of complaints could be heard and for that I have Sara to thank! Thanks for doing this for all of us and making us aware that we now have a voice!
Kind Regards
Emma
Kee says
1) Wage day advance have refused to look at my loans past 6 years, I’ve asked them to look again, they have refused so I’ve sent to the ombudsman
2) PDUK and PDEX originally refused but have now offered me full refund of interest plus 8%, plus £100 compensation for each company (money shop who are part of the same group have refused anything pre-April 2007)
3) Haven’t had any response from them despite chasing since last September – if anyone could assist with this I would be very grateful
Gary says
Dear Sara complained to wonga in december recieved need more time email and today recieced an offer of £5446 they have looked at 12 of my loans which these were the biggest 1000 plus ones but not entertained the shall we say smaller ones 200 to 600 which there were another 20 of
Charlie says
Id be interested in knowing if anyone has complained against Everyday Loans and would i have a case against them aswell. When i took my first loan out with them they even told me in person (at thier office) that the reason my APR was that high on paying back the loan weekly was because my credit was that bad. They even checked my bank statements and highlighted in pen the payday loans that i had at the time of applying, they checked my credit history and score there and then in the office and after signing the paperwork made me go onto their office computer and payoff my outstanding payday loans so they clearly knew that i used them at the time of the application and funding. I then got a letter about a year after asking if i would care to refinance my loan with them. Once again after going into the office, having a credit check done and once again being made to payoff the outstanding payday loans out of the refinanced loan they once again accepted me for a refinanced loan knowing i was once again using payday loan companies to survive. I informed them i was having problems with affordability and they said all they do was reduce my payments to the lowest possible, that being £46 per week. They are now currently on my Debt Management Plan with StepChange but my current debt to them is sitting at just under £10,000 which is the bulk of my debt.
Kerry says
Great result for me today. After being with the financial ombudsman since end of sept 16 I have now had a nice refund hit my account today the total of £3644 this being all the interest plus 8 percent and 100 for my troubles from all the cheque book loans I had with the money shop from 2008 to 2010. Completely over the moon. Thanks to this site or I would of been none the wiser.
Awaiting now loans with pduk, payday express and quick quid which have been with fos sinc end of October 2016. Very worth the wait and being patient. Have also had refunds from uncle buck lending stream, cash genie, wage day advance Herbert brown and h and t. So happy.
John says
Hi All,
Wonga agreed to pay 14 out of 18 loans instead of the adjudicators decision to pay 16 out of 18. The two they didn’t agree to are so small against the overall total I have accepted. Also get interest and these loans off my credit report!
Wonga also replied to the adjudicator within 24 hours which was a pleasant surprise!
John
Simon says
Good evening all I put a complaint in with wonga Feb 24th, I got my final response today…
Additionally, we will also request for the redressed loans to be removed from your credit record. This may take up to 30 working days to be updated fully on your credit file.
We would like to offer £3666.92 which is an amount equal to the interest and fees on the following loans.
Interest of 8% simple per year has been added to the total redress for each loan from the date the loan was taken out until the date of calculation. Please see the outline below.
total interest and fees
£3,666.92
8% interest net
£1,217.20
compensation
£0.00
total settlement
£4,884.12
tax
8% interest gross
£1,521.49
basic rate tax deduction
£304.30
Thanks to this website a month ago when I found it, I had lots of payday loans at this time, but wonga was the main one…
I am so happy I got this much back.. thanks again
Katie says
Congratulations that’s a great result. Interesting that you put your complaint in on 24th Feb as mine went in on 18th January so it seems they aren’t investigating in date order ….
Hopefully I might hear soon too.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If this is your only refund you may be able to claim back £200 of the tax, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-payday-refund-get-back-tax/.
Mandy says
I have my PayDay UK & Peachy complaint with FOS. My adjudicator has said she should have a decision by the end of next week – that would be a month since I sent it in? Does anyone know the process is like from the point a decision is made? I know it might not go in my favour but I had several pdls on the go at the same time so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. I haven’t seen much in here about Peachy. Anyone had experience with them? Both rejected my complaints then I sent them to FOS.
And isn’t a month very quick to a decision from FOS? I was pretty surprised at that!!
Mark says
Hi all, just wanted to say a huge thank you to the site for the help received in sorting my complaint with both PDUK and PD express. My 8 weeks following first complaint was followed up with a final response in Mid January, denying any wrong doing as expected and rejecting my claim. I sent my details over to the FOS within 24 hours of the responses and my adjudicator had drawn up his findings in early March, having found in my favour for 3 out of 4 loans with each company. They finally responded accepting his decision two weeks ago today (a day after his deadline) and I accepted their offer. I have received my refund this morning (just £1000), it’s exactly 12 weeks since my first complaint. I know it’s a very quick turnaround but just wanted to make sure everyone stuck at it, as it seems as though things are speeding up a little.
Aaron jackson says
Had a big fat NO from wonga today,
I’ve taken out 80 loans between mid 2010 to mid 2013.
Constantly repaying one loan off then instantly taking out another as soon as it was paid off.
Hopefully my adjudicator sees sense!
Cookie says
Hi Aaron, my complaint with Wonga was upheld by them and it seems what they base their decisions on is their criteria for the “financial difficulties” bit. To me it seems if you’ve fell into arrears with any of the loans, had a payment plan or borrowed high amount compared to your income then they generally uphold the complaint (I did fall into arrears with my last loan and had a payment plan set up with them, the later loans were also large compared to my income). What I think they are missing is that constant re-lending is also an obvious indication that you are struggling financially and they should then be looking into your affordability in more detail and re-asses their decision to continue lending. 80 loans is a lot and is you are constantly re-lending then your adjudicator will take this all into account, don’t let their “no” set you back.
Ross says
Well, shocked is an understatement. I’ve just received an email, from Payday Express, advising that my settlement amount will be paid today, which is on just day 8, since I accepted their offer. As others have said, this is a definite improvement on how Instant Cash Loans. normally, string things out. I’m of the opinion that somebody, higher up, has decided to start treating customers fairly, or they’ve been tackled about their poor complaint handling. Either way, I’m happy today (especially by the fact that I will never have to deal with ICL ever again)!
Andrew says
Just got the same email from Payday Uk after day 8 as well.
My adjudicator had given Payday Express until 06/04/17 to respond as well, so hopefully this one won’t be as long drawn out as I first thought.
Nigel says
The Money shop accepted my adjudicators decision on Friday, within the two weeks. Money was paid into my account yesterday. A very quick end to a very long and drawn out compliant started in June last year!
Andrew says
Mine’s just went into my bank now Ross so you might want to have a look at yours!
Ross says
Mine’s in too!
Thanks Andrew ?
Ross says
Hi David,
Payday Express, originally, rejected my complaint, but offered a refund of £346 because they said that they made some ‘procedural errors’. I declined this, and sent to the FOS. They ignored 2 deadlines and I was awaiting an ombudsman decision. Then, out of the blue, they offered £3.000, as a settlement. I calculated the interest (+8%) to be around £4,000, so I said to the adjudicator that I would settle for £3,500. Not expecting them to respond (as in PDEX) or agree, they actually DID! Money was in account yesterday, after 8 days. Much quicker than the PDUK refund, which took 25 out of 28 days :)
Wes says
Just a quick success story, I emailed H&T on the 3rd March, and today have accepted their full and final offer of 489.96.
May not sound a lot but that is exactly the amount I worked out the interest alone to be.
Im pretty happy with that and impressed at how they have handled my complaint.
Just wanted to let you know. So glad I found this website!
Marie says
Not feeling very positive today.
So logged complaints with PDUK, Wonga, Wage Day Advance. WDA came back to me last week with a straight No, and today have received the same from PDUK.
PDUK had been v difficult throughout and wouldn’t supply me with my statements, and have now included the statement with my final response. And have stated in the letter that even though I have not paid the £1 they’ve sent me it anyway. I’ve been asking for the past 8 weeks and the flat out refused to give it to me. Now making it out like they’ve done me a favour haha.
I’ve lodged the WDA complaint with the ombudsman, will do the same with this one. Am now expecting the same response from Wonga
Ross says
Hi Marie,
Don’t be disheartened, this is exactly what the companies want you to be, to the point that you just give up. I’m sure there’ll be good results for you at the ombudsman, it’s just a matter of time. Good luck!
Sarah says
I’ve just received an offer of £2800 from QQ after they first offered £200 I have accepted today as that’s a good offer
Details: I first complained on 16th Jan at week 7 QQ offered me £200 I sent straight to fos, it’s been approx 2 weeks and I had not sent in any bank statements or credit report but an adjudicator rang me today to say they had offered £2800 I am happy as I worked it out to be around £3000 and it’s been a lot quicker than I expected…
I have had £1050 from payday uk already that was paid within 3 days so hoping this is as quick. anyone know how long they are taking to pay out?
Steph says
That’s fantastic. Congratulations! Hope mine goes something like that …. I complained to QQ on 9th Jan, rejection receive at 8 weeks with goodwill gesture of £350 – straight to FOS and have sent them all info … but heard nothing since. It’s been with them for about 3 weeks.
The interest alone with them was £6,300 so fingers crossed I get at least something from it.
Thanks for providing the additional info.
Sarah says
It’s in my bank already!!! Took an hour hope you hear soon xx
Pear says
Hi Sara/everybody
I received my final offer today from myjar and they have agreed to refund interest for the last 11 out of my 14 loans for a value of £970 however there was no mention of the 8% interest and they won’t remove they 11 loans from my credit file. I emailed them back and asked for the 8% interest to be added and the loans removed from credit file but they have said the 8% interest is only a recommendation and that not all cases ruled on by the ombudsman will have this added. Can anyone advise if this would be worth pursuing?
Maureen says
They did exactly the same to me, I went back with a counter offer plus 8% and they refused. I just sent it to the FOS.
C says
I have just received a big fat NO from wageday advance. Had 4 loans from them all rolled over. Just filled out forms for FOS. Will keep you updated.
Really disappointed as I thought they would have offered something… Never mind another one to add to my complaints file. Not sure where they got the figures for income though lol???
C says
Can i ask something….. Had final response from wageday advance as mentioned earlier….. The email that was sent was appalling with sensitive information in it which was quite upsetting tbh. Can i complain to the FOS about this too…..im disgusted at the lack of compassion it was totally uncalled for, they could have worded it, alot sensitivity.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Thats not good :( I don’t want to ask you for details on the internet for obvious reasons… I’ll send you an email so you can forward the WDA reply to me if you would like me to look at it.
Joanna says
I’m really sorry to hear this. I have a complaint with WDA that is with my adjudicator at the moment. They turned me down too. In their long winded final response they reminded me of the state of my mental wellbeing at the time.
Incidentally, at the time, I was juggling 8 different pdl companies and going through a horrific divorce too. They’re nasty people
C says
They are horrible…they have made me so upset x
Joanna says
When I read their letter, I never knew that they could throw your personal health condition back into your face
Head in hands says
Update
I started my complaints between 8th & 24th February
QQ Awaiting final response
Wonga Awaiting final response but lodged with FOS and received acknowledgements asking for further details which I have supplied
PDUK – Refused so submitted to FOS which they have acknowledged and I have supplied further details as requested
PDEXP – Offer of £172, declined and submitted to FOS, acknowledged and further details supplied
LS – originally refused and now offered £1600 declined, already submitted to FOS after initial rejections, supplied additional info to FOS
The FOS have been very efficient in picking up my complaints and acknowledging them, I think they are issued to an investigator to gain all the info for an adjudicator? Can anyone confirm this?
I am lucky that I have managed to get out of the trap of payday loans (still paying 2 off with payment plans) but no longer need to borrow from them to exist. I want to thank Sara and every one else on this site for all their help and info, if it wasn’t for this site I wouldnt know this was even possible to claim. I get married this year and if these claims are all successful it will more than pay for our wedding, honeymoon, the 2 outstanding balances and more! Thank you
Katie says
I’m on week 10 with Wonga. I called them today for an update and they said that’s now it’s with an adjudicator with the FOS they can no longer speak to me about the account ? I have sent all info to a guy at the FOS who I am thinking is an adjudicator. Does that mean that Wonga is no longer investigating and how long now an adjudicator has picked it up so you think I will get a decision ?
Update on Speedloan they offered interest on loans which came to £694 but not the 8% I accepted as it would only be a couple of hundred pounds more and would clog up the queue and I have another 7 with the FOS at the moment so pleased with that. ? Thanks
Aaron jackson says
An adjudicator won’t have picked up your case yet.
The first part of dealing with the FOS is they have a division which gathers all the evidence etc, they make sure all the necessary bank statements etc are provided and everything the adjudicator will want. They also write to the business for there side of the story.
Once they have received all this information etc, they will then pass the case on to an adjudicator for them to decide. Although it will take a while for an adjudicator to pick up your complaint.
I’ve had mine in with the FOS for 4 weeks now regarding wonga. Received there ridiculous final response yesterday. 80 loans I’ve had. They claim I could of afforded all of them. Even though within paying every single one of them off, within 2 minutes I had another Loan “winging its way to my bank account”
Fingers crossed the adjudicator will be aware of this.
Maureen says
The Money Shop sent he their Final Response today, partially upheld and offering £1350 refund of interest from July 2010 to December 2011 so over 6 years too, less £650 owed that is with Debt Collection agency that they will recall, so offering £700. They will not be adding 8%….is this with accepting or sending to FOS? I have always found them a pretty obnoxious company to deal with!
I had 17 loans from July 2010 to December 2011, so 8 were over 6 years. They supplied excerpts from their staff who served me who checked my bank statements at the time and on occasion have commented on numerous payday lenders showing but still lent to me as they said I had income to cover them. I just can’t weigh up whether to accept or hold out for the interest hopefully if I sent to FOS.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well at a guess the extra interest in the 9 loans would be a bit less than £600. But if it goes to the Ombudsman you should also ask for the loans over 6 years to be refunded, so that could be quite a bit more.
Maureen says
Thanks Sara. I’ll put it in the Ombudsman queue with the others, I’m in no rush.
Dave says
First success with Sunny. Over £2000 refunded been awarded at week 8 without the FO. Provided bank details but not sent today. Does anyone know how long this normally takes to be processed? Thanks so much for all the support on here. Wouldn’t have been possible without you all.
Andy says
I won against Sunny via the adjudicator. Took about 3/4 days between me accepting and them paying.
Zoe says
Well, Sunny have got back to me, in response to my email of Complaint dated 21/02/2017. I am still waiting to hear back from QuickQuid.
I understand I have got a pretty standard response. I will now be taking this to the Ombudsman. Sunny have said they made all appropriate checks before lending to me. However at the time of taking out my 1st loan with them on – my credit file already showed 22 previous loans taken out with QuickQuid & also a Default registered on it for a catalogue account I had been unable to pay.
I know its embarrassing to be in debt and borrow from these types of Companies, however, having found this site, I do feel that had Sunny made the appropriate checks they clam to have made, they should have declined me. Instead, they lent to me on 14 occasions, the interest & 8% calculate to be £1920. All loans to Sunny & QQ were repaid on time and I have been debt free for the past 8 months now. It is a great feeling!
The letter I had from them is as below:
Dear Mrs xxxxxx
I write further to our email dated 25 February 2017, thank you for your patience whilst I have been investigating your complaint.
My understanding of your complaint is that you feel that we did not carry out appropriate checks to ensure you could afford your Sunny loan and that we are guilty of lending irresponsibly. Please let me know if I have missed any points or misunderstood anything.
To investigate your complaint I have reviewed the account opening procedures in place at the time. Having done so, I am able to inform you that we conducted creditworthiness checks, we assessed your ability to afford the repayments which would fall due under the proposed agreement and we considered how you were managing other debts at that time. Based upon these checks it was considered responsible to advance credit to you.
Given the information available to me, I am unable to uphold your complaint. We believe that the aforementioned checks were proportionate and responsible. Initial assessment of your application accounted for some of the adverse information held at the credit reference agencies and as a consequence you were offered a small amount of credit relative to your stated income.
Neil says
Zoe – I had the exact same response (identical wording, pretty much). I’d suggest you take your complaint to the FOS.
David says
Well today I have sent all my emails off to the ombudsman about irresponsible lending… my jar 1000 pound in 4 loans in February. .. Mr lender 250 pound loan in February 247 money box total of 3 loans in Jan/Feb .. 24/7 moneybox reply with a gusset of good will we will remove us from ur credit file NO GOOD I said .. payday express 500pound loan in February. . Wage advanced 150 February h&t 300 in Feb … if all of these companies had of done there checks correctly they would of seen all of my borrowing not one of these company’s asked for my payslip or bank statement. .. can any tell me how long will I have to wait to hear back off the ombudsman thanks
Stefan says
Hi Sara,
I just receive a long email from Wonga. Can you please explain what does it mean? They rejected my complain and have chosen one loan random and they didn’t say anything about amount or other stuff? ,,Your loan agreement xxxxx has already been assessed under our affordability forbearance programme. As a result your interest and fees were written off, so you only had to pay back the money you borrowed without any further charges.” This loan was with £600 and the interest was £25 so I don’t see why they didn’t choose a bigger loan with more than £1.000 from that 60 loans that I had with them.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
60 loans? Send it straight to the Financial Ombudsman!
Stefan says
Thanks for reply Sara.
Now because Wonga rejected my complain, should I complain to all payday lenders? I have now more than 12 loans on default. Should I complain even I had only one loan and straight away defaulted? Because I used the money to pay other loans. For example Uncle buck gave me money when I had 10 active payday loans and it was clear I won’t be able to pay them back, and even worst 24/7moneybox and Moneyboat gave me loans a few months later when my debts were around 30k.
Should I complain all the payday lenders first or to go to Ombundsman? Do I have any chance with Unclebuck or Moneyboat because they gave me only one loan and I used the money to pay other loans because I was caught in the debt spiral.
Thanks
Stefan
Sara (Debt Camel) says
All complaints against payday lenders are compeltely seperate. the fact you are going to the Ombudsman with your Wonga claim doesn’t affect what you should do with the others.
It’s pretty hard to win 1 loan cases. But if it was in the last few years AND your credit record would have been very poor and shown lots of other payday lending, you can try. Just don’t get your hopes up.
JORDAN says
Around 2 years ago before I even knew about this website, I complained to a payday lending company about unaffordable lending and was given £250 compensation. I was chuffed and accepted it. However, after seeing this website I look into it and I had around 30 loans, each one taken out instantly after the last was paid back. I reckon I paid around £4000 in interest.
Can I make a new complaint or is it too late to do that because I was naive and accepted £250.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you had just complained about 1 loan, it’s possible you could ask for refunds for the others. BUT you probably agreed to accept £250 as a full and final settlement, in which case you can’t go back and ask for more.
Rich says
Has anyone else having problems with CFO, they seem to be holding out paying what they owe. I was told today I will get an update on whats happening on the 10 Apr.
Peter says
I accepted a refund offer 13th december. Im still waiting. I had the same update this morning.
I have previously contacted the FOS and they say they are aware of this and monitoring the situation.
I think even ombudsman decisions are awaiting payment.
Peter says
I accepted a refund offer 13th december. Im still waiting. I had the same update this morning.
I have previously contacted the FOS and they say they are aware of this and monitoring the situation.
I think even ombudsman decisions are awaiting payment.
Vickie says
I accepted a refund offer from CFO on 26th November and was told I would need to wait 12 weeks for it to hit my bank, then a further two weeks and now it’s 10th April before they can provide an update. I’ve contacted the FOS but I’m starting to wonder if I will ever see this money.
David says
Wonga have finally sent me through my statement(s) of accounts….. 6 weeks after my initial request, some 50-60 odd individual statement of account pages without any summary. I’m keen to see how much I paid in charges and interest so will be a busy boy knocking up a summary sheet :-(
The strange thing is of the info they have sent me, they break down the itemised loans, dates, duration, loan amount, fees and interest etc …but it doesn’t always add up – for example one loan was for £340.00 for a 35 day duration , the total repaid was £350.88 – so £10.88 interest for a 35 day loan of £340?!…. there is more examples of this.
Its frustrating whether this is a game they are playing (surely not!) or some sort of error because I deleted most of my records due to my partner going mad at me etc so now al very difficult to determine exactly how much I was charged or even borrowed over all!
Has anyone else experienced a similar issue? Not sure why they couldn’t just forward me an over all, factual statement…. only QQ have (surprisingly so far) out of the 7 lenders I used and asked 8 weeks ago!
Stefan says
Hi David,
I’ve noticed the same on my wonga statements. Only 4k interests in 60 loans. Pretty odd.
Mitchy says
Hello!
Just an update, 2 complaints registered against Wonga and QQ in July 2016. Been with the FOS ever since.
QQ is “on hold with a different department” for some unknown reason
However, with my Wonga complaint, the Adjudicator had recommended for my complaint to be partially upheld and Wonga to repay £1500. Wonga have now accepted her findings so should be with me shortly.
Does anyone know how long Wonga usually take to pay?
Thank you Sara for your constant hard work and effort to help us guys out.
Ross says
Hi Mitchy,
If your QQ complaint is on hold, then I suspect some of your loans are over 6 years old. There’s quite a few of us in this situation. QQ won’t grant the FOS permission to look at loans over 6 years old, but the FOS are trying to come to an agreement with QQ. Just a waiting game now.
Mitchy says
Cheers Ross.
Have you been waiting long? Did they provide you with this or just a wait it out and see scenario? I’d be intrigued to know whether they have already assessed the complaint and just waiting for this 6 year situation to be resolved, or whether they will only begin to assess the complaint after.
:)
Ross says
Hi Mitchy,
My complaint has been stalled since October 2016. Some others have been waiting a LOT longer! They won’t assess any cases until the 6 year situation is resolved. If Quick Quid just gave them the authority to deal with this, then it would all be sorted pretty quickly. I made my adjudicator aware that I was only aware of the chance to complain after stumbling across this excellent website last year, so it would’ve been impossible to have complained before this. They’ve noted this on my file but all we can do now is wait…..
sw says
I have had the no from QQ, they won’t look at my older than 6 year loans. It was with the adjudicator for ages, since about middle of 2016. They do not agree with what the adjudicator has suggested about looking at loans older than 6 years. So now it has been sent to the Ombudsman to make a decision. Think I may be one of the first to have this response.
Kyle says
I have Received notice from wonga even though I had to trigger my complaint to the Financial Obundsman. What they’ve offered is detailed below. Their is a statement that explains what tax etc will be deducted. Can anyone tell me the price that I’d get back?
Interest of 8% simple per year has been added to the total redress for each loan from the date the loan was taken out until the date of calculation. Please see the outline below.
total interest and fees
£1,705.88
8% interest net
£373.42
total settlement
£2,079.30
tax
8% interest gross
£466.77
basic rate tax deduction
£93.35
***Compensatory interest is subject to income tax at the basic rate under UK tax legislation and, therefore, tax will be deducted at the basic rate of 20% from any payments made to you. If you do not pay tax, you may be able to reclaim some or all of this tax reduction from HM Revenue and Customs.***
Also, I’m aware not to jump at the first offer they give you, although this seems close to the figure I initially calculated if be due.
Would I be best holding off on the ruling from the obudsman?
Thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They are offering you £2,079.30 having deducted £93.35 tax. Note that you can probably claim back up to £200 a year of tax deducted like this from HMRC, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-payday-refund-get-back-tax/.
If this is close to the figure you think is correct, why wouldn’t you accept it?
Kyle says
Thanks for that, very helpful.
I’m going to have to double check all my statements. They stated that they didn’t feel liable for a few loans I took it.
Based on my calculations I was expecting on or around 2200k but that was without the 8% interest add on. Don’t get me wrong I’m more than delighted with this & more happy with getting a list of loans off my credit statement.
I just don’t want to jump the gun & find out that I could’ve actually got a substantial bit more without realising.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is a very good approach to take :)
Jo says
Result!
118 118 have decided to wipe over £5000 worth of interest from my loan. Giving me one payment to make and I’m done :) I haven’t really received any money back from lenders due to outstanding loans but they are now all wiped off and I am debt free.
Thanks for this site :)
debbie says
Advice / thoughts needed please. Just had a final offer from lending stream they are only willing to write off the outstanding £112. I had 5 loans with them from 2011 – 2014 but also had 27 other payday loans covering the same time span with at least one wonga loan in a default, credit card default and overdraft default. The total interest paid is £600 I’m not if I should accept the offer as it was only 5 loans with them. If I do send it to FO do I have to start a new complaint or can I ask my current adjudicator to take this on?
details: The loans with ending stream had big gaps between them but I was borrowing from other lenders at the same time. The first loan was in Aug 2011 for £355 at the same time I had borrowed from Wonga in June, again in July £400 which was rolled and increased to £570 and then again in Sept borrowed £100. I had a payday UK loan in May for £160 which was rolled to June then another that was taken in July for £360.
The second loan was not taken out until Feb 2013 £220 but also had A payday loan from Jan that I’d rolled to Feb, taken another loan in Mar (I don’t know how much these were as amounts are not on my credit file and waiting for bank statements) I took another loan with Payday in May which was rolled to the beginning of June, I don’t know how much it was but I paid back £810 . The third loan for lending stream was in June 2013 for £615 at this time I also had a payday loan taken in June for which I paid back £1052 at the end of July.
The final of the two Lending stream loans were taken in April 2014 £150 at this point I had a £1300 overdraft that had go into default in March and a payment arrangement with Vanquis for a £5000 debt. The last loan was June 2014 for £910 when I had by then taken out a £5000 loan with Amigo.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well it’s not going to be an easy case because of the gaps, but those are some large payday loans that would have been showing and also the defaults. So it may be worth taking to the Ombudsman.
If you decide to, you send in a new complaint to the FOA and then ask you current adjudicator if they can pick it up. If they can’t, they will still pass on your bank statements and credit record so you don’t have to send those in again.
The large Amigo loan – was that affordable or have you got into further trouble since?
Wiggles says
Just had an update on my Wonga case, from the adj. They are offering £3,620.55 because “there were seven loans where you repaid more than 40% of your monthly salary. Because of this they’d like to offer a refund of the interest and charges applied to these loans.” however they are still not budging on the older loans from post 2010 but the FO are still looking in to if they can consider it. I worked out that total i paid £5,239.70 and not sure if Wonga are just trying to hold off etc. would the offer still stand if i asked them to keep looking in to it?
dale harper says
Hi i am wondering I have loans with loans2go piggyback.
247moneybox. Trusted Quid.
My jar. And a couple others I’m currently in a debt management plan.
I have had a gambling problem for few years but due to not being able to pay the loans I borrowed more and gambled more and now feel like utter rubbish because I’m in a debt management plan and wont be out of it for 6 years.
What advice do u have ?
Can I claim back?
Is it right that they didn’t ask for bank statements because if they had I would never have been accepted for the loans due to gambling websites and casino etc etc plus all other loans?
Plus also I was in that much of a tight situation at times when they asked for expenditure list sometimes would tell them less so I got accepted will this affect anything or should they have done more in depth checks? ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Did you borrow a lot from any of these lenders? Because if you did, you can argue that the fact you kept borrowing should have alerted them to the fact you were in difficulty. It’s fine that they didn’t ask for bank statements at the begining, but if you kept rolling or repaying and reborrowing, they should then have looked into your case more closely.
dale harper says
Yes quite alot I mean I owe £8000.
Okay so do you think I have a chance to get anythin back ??
I have emailed pduk and they say they have no obligation to give me details has I don’t have an open account with them right now what do u suggest for this ??
But I did borrow a lot of times from these
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s worth complaining to any lender you used a lot. It’s probably not worth complaining to any lender you only used a couple of times if you think you may have underestimated your expenditure.
re PDUK, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-wont-send-loan-details/
Glen says
Hi again everyone. Today I received my email from PDUK saying I’m going to be paid out within 5 working days after I accepted their offer on the 21st. They agreed to adjudicators decision!
Do they actually stick to this 5 working days time limit or do they go over? Thanks in advance.
sw says
Hi Glen, mine was in the same day :) mine was ajudicators decision too, no ombudsman.
They allow 5 days for some banks. If your bank has faster payments then it should be quicker.
nattalie says
Just accepted offer from wonga via my adjudicator. Sent my acceptance form back.
Thanks all
Nas says
Hi Guys!
So I got a final response from WageDayAdvance yesterday (regarding my 13 consecutive loans last year), 4 weeks after my initial complaint. I was completely turned down and offered absolutely nothing and the reasons were:
They carried out affordability checks and relied upon the customers honesty and also, apparently I was offered interest free loans 6 or 7 times in order to help me get out of a loan spiral. My point is, most people tend to exaggerate their affordability in desperate times in order to get the loan especially considering the fact that I wasn’t asked of any proof of income or outcome. I listed the correct income but didn’t include outstanding loans and didn’t mention that I was experiencing financial difficulties at the time. This should’ve been evident from the continuous loans though! Also, with regards to the interest free loans that they supposedly offered, there was never an option to actually ‘apply’ for an interest free loan. I was told on a couple of occasions that my next loan would be interest free, however it’s clearly visible from my account statements that I was still paying back the interest charged amount. Slightly frustrating but let’s see what happens.
I’ve emailed my case across to the FO so hopefully someone will be in touch soon.
Laura says
Hi all,
I used this page to send a letter of complaint to a payday loan provider – Mr Lender – and have just received an email reply stating that although they don’t think there is a case for them to answer, they are will to offer me £100 as a gesture of goodwill (equal to 50% of the interest I paid on one of 3 loans with them). Should I accept?
The details of their letter outline that at the time of taking out the loan, I had to confirm my income/expenditure on the telephone, rather than just online. However, the figures I gave obviously weren’t accurate as taking out the loan took up the remainder of my disposable income. I had to borrow money from a family member to pay off the loan because I worried about the mounting interest costs.
I know people have said before that a company will usually send a first letter in the hope that you will go away but I’m worried that taking this further will be unsuccessful.
The loans were not rolled, they were new loans each time. But the amounts were increasing.Three months between each.
Thanks a lot, Laura.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So borrow in April, repay May, next loan August? I think you would find it hard to win a 3 loan case like that unless the loans were very large compared to your income.
Nesta says
Hi Guys,
Been a while since i posted on here, since my early success with Mr Lender things have gone quiet. However my adjudicator today made a decision on my loans with Sunny. She has instructed them to refund me charges and the 8% interest on 27 of my 33 loans.
This email was sent out this afternoon, she’s made it clear unless they have any new information then it is likely the Ombudsman will disagree with her decision.
Just a case of waiting now till they respond i think they have 2 weeks to reply.
Anyone know what Sunny (Elevate) are like do they flat out reject the adjudicators decision or will they agree?
Once again thanks to Sara for this wonderful site and all you awesome people who have helped me get these complaints submitted. Still a few more to go.
tracey says
Wee update on my journey:
Mr lender- settled in 2days for close to full refund in the form of a balance write off.
Quickquid- offered £100 goodwill but I rejected that and it’s been picked up by an adjudicator last week.
Wonga- had a 4 week email, said they would get back to me ASAP, nothing since.
Paydayuk- probably as big a claim as wonga, they refused to accept any wrong doing and I sent to adjudicator level mid week, yet to hear anything though. Crazy as I have missed payments now and have an outstanding balance, you’d think that’d tell them there was an issue lending to me in the first place.
Myjar- only had two loans with them, the rejected pretty quick, interest would be roughly £100 so I feel this isn’t a strong case and I’m not going to waste ombudsman’s time. Although defaults, several loans and some outstanding when these were taken out.
Tsb- contacted bank to claim some of my fees back. They explained that it doesn’t work like that, however she did refund the last 6 months of fees.
I do have two credit cards, one with aqua (£450)and one with Tsb (£1500) and a maxed out £2000 overdraft from being a student. Don’t really know if there’s anything I can do with those though.
Pimmie says
So I put complaints to PDUK, WDA, Cheque Centres and Wonga on 8th Feb. At week 6 I got an offer of £751 from WDA when I paid about £3,800 in interest so sent to FOS. Cheque Centre older than 6 years so they just said no chance in the form of a four page letter ? – also sent to FOS as interest totals £8k. Wonga got one more week to respond and yesterday received offer from PDUK for £1500 which we accepted as I think interest was about £2500 – nice wee payment towards the summer holiday! Keep at it folks ??
Sarah says
I accepted an offer from wonga yesterday of £5500 I expected around £3000 so very happy but since I sent the acceptance form back I’ve heard nothing anyone have any experience with accepting wongas offer and how long they take? Thankyou
Simon says
Thank you for confirming that you wish to accept our offer as outlined in our Final Response, in full and final settlement of your complaint.
We have started processing your settlement and we aim to finalise this within 3 – 5 working days.
I got that a day after. On the 29th But I did phone them…
Rosie says
Hey all, I have just sent the initial email to the 6 payday loans I had some going back to 2010. However, I just wanted to check I had a wonga loan for about £700 and a fews years ago the wiped off the loan as they stated they shouldn’t have lent this to me…is it too late to complain to them? Also with some payday companies that have gone bust is there nothing that can be done against them? I had a loan with FLMquick who I think were brought out by amigo loans now…it is worth complaint to amigo? Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Wonga – had you borrowed a lot from them before the loan they wrote off? How much was the loan when they wrote it off?
Bust lenders – could you name them?
FLMQuick – I don’t know. It will depend on the details of the relationship between the companies. I suggest putting in a complaint to nick.beal@rgroup.co.uk (that is the address on the FCA register for FLMQuick) and copy it to nick.beal@amigoloans.net. If you only had 1 loan then this may not be worth the hassle as it’s rare to win a one loan case even when the lender is still going!
Rosie says
Hi sara,
With wonga I did have lots of loans with them previously I borrowed around £3898 and paid back £4606 from Jan 11 to Aug 11 and they wrote off about £700 which I think was what was left.
There was one for cash genie and I do remember them sending me about £150 but cannot find any details for them.
With regards to FLMQuick I think I had a small loan around £200 or so but was paying back about £25 for over a year I think ?
Thanks for you help
Rosie.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
if you paid about £700 in interest then had £700 written off there probably isn’t much point in complaining!
Cash genie are in administration – and you are unlikely to get a refund for only one loan.
It’s going to be hard to show that monthly payments of £25 were unaffordable.
Sorry none of these sound promising to me!
Rosie says
Hi Sara,
To be honest I didn’t think I would get much from cash genie as they have gone into administration and that wasn’t one of biggest loans I had and with wonga as they wrote off what was owed I thought that might be the case. But I had payday loans with:
Wageday – borrowed £535…paid back £3536
Moneybox247 – borrowed £1490…paid back £2206
Poundstillpayday(although know this might be difficult as fos don’t deal with them as they are not uk reg or something) – borrowed £3620…paid back £5748
Capital finance – borrowed £400…paid back £3128 and had smaller loans with payday express, quidmarket, FLMquick and cash genie all at the same time back on 2010 and it shows on my statements that I am literally paying each of them off with my salary and then reborrowing which went on for over a year do you think these are more promising ?
Thanks again for you help
Rosie
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“Wageday – borrowed £535…paid back £3536” – is there a typo here? It sounds unlikely
“Moneybox247 – borrowed £1490…paid back £2206” – probably a good case. What matters more is the number of loans over a short period.
“Poundstillpayday(although know this might be difficult as fos don’t deal with them as they are not uk reg or something) – borrowed £3620…paid back £5748” – def harder as the UK Financial Ombudsman can’t help, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/swift-sterling-pounds-till-payday/ and all further comments about these over on that post please.
“Capital finance – borrowed £400…paid back £3128” – again this sounds unlikely, you need to check the figures.
Rosie says
Yes, it looks like on my bank statements I have paid £137 every month for a year and as I have had other payday loans I couldn’t afford to clear what was owed.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is worth compaling about!
Pear says
Hi Sara
Quick question, I had an offer from myjar for refund of interest and charges on all but my first 3 loans but without the 8% interest. I asked them for this but they said they would not add it. I was going to accept anyway instead of adding to the ombudsman workload but they won’t remove the unaffordable loans from my credit file, all the loans are showing settled on time except one which says evidence of late repayments back in 2014. Is it worth my while going to ombudsman to get these removed or will it even affect my credit score?
Thanks in advance.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The loans that were repaid on time don’t harm your credit score at all. One loan with late repayments will be hurting your score, but this gets less as time goes on. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/credit-score-change/ which gives some indications of amounts.
What is the rest of your credit record like? If it is great, then getting this one problem debt removed would help. If there are a lot of other problems on your history then getting this one loan deleted probably wouldn’t make much difference. It may be a hard decision for you.
Pear says
Hi Sara
Thanks for the reply, there are several of these on my credit file from other payday lenders as well as a default from lending stream which I am trying to get removed. I am not interested in taking anything on credit for the next few years so it probably isn’t worth taking to the FOS. Thank you for your help.
Matt S says
Hi all, just looking for some opinions.
About a month ago I asked on here if it was worth making a complaint to Nationwide with regards to irresponsible / unaffordable lending of an overdraft facility. Basic rundown of my situation is that 2012/2013 my gambling addiction started. Led to me taking out numerous payday loans which led to eventually in June 2013 me having to enter into debt management. The addiction was still there so was still continuing to borrow from anyone that would still lend to me. I had never been offered or accepted for any credit facilities in 10 years+ with Nationwide up to this point. In April 2014 I logged in to my online banking and there was an offer to apply for an overdraft facility. I applied not expecting to be accepted and to my surprise was accepted for a limit of £1000. Within 6 weeks I’d been able to increase this to £4000 and had spent almost £4000 on gambling over this period.
I was advised that it was worth making a complaint and that if they refused to take it to the Ombudsman.
Anyway, I made my complaint and within about 2 weeks they came back refusing it. Claiming that at the time they took into account how I managed my account with them and a credit check from Experian, but that if I could provide them with a copy of my credit report covering the time in question they would re-assess it. I had a copy of an Experian report from when I took a trial out last year, although it doesn’t show any defaults it has 2 mentions from 2013 of being in debt management. I sent them this along with a copy of my Noddle report which showed 4 defaults which were registered in 2013. They came back advising that it hadn’t changed their opinion and re-iterating that they also took into account how I managed my account. I have since looked at my 3 statements prior to receiving the overdraft and over that 3 months there was 185 gambling transactions, 32 payday loan transactions, 3 guarantor loan payments and 3 payments to a debt management company. I cant see how taking all this into account they could feel that I was managing my account well enough to provide me with a £4000 overdraft.
Anyway taking into account that they used Experian to credit check me and there are actually no defaults registered with Experian do you think its still worth taking this to the Ombudsman?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You case would obviously be stronger if there had been defaults, but with debts showing as in debt management and your request to increase a limit from £1000 to £4000 within 6 weeks, I think they should have looked closer at your actual account, when they would have seen the gambling.
I think it’s worth taking to the FOS, but the decision is yours.
Eddie says
I have almost identical story as yours but no defaults or late payments and in early 2013 I requested an increase on overdraft which was denied. However 6 months later I was granted an increase from £350 periodically to nearly 3,5k within th next 6 months. Nothing changed with gambling and payday loans during that year and well after, only my salary increased during that time. So I complained to bank (Lloyds) 2 months ago that this increase was not affordable, they denied it, took it to FOS and adjudicator ruled in my favour last week. Point was very simple – the bank knew I was in financial difficulty when they denied my increase. Adjudicator found that after the initial denial of increase bank should have seen I have not changed my gambling habits so overdraft increase was not affordable. All interest and fees since early 2013 will be refunded.
From your story it seems worthy to take it to FOS
Katrina says
Hi, any advice please?
I had an adjudicator partially uphold my claim with lending stream and they gave them until the 23rd March to agree or disagree, since then I have heard nothing. I emailed my Adjudicator direct to ask of he had heard by the deadline, no reply so a week later with still no communication I called him and he was in a meeting, I was told can take up to 48 hours for a call back but shouldn’t take this long, that was 5 days ago. I know they are busy and I do not want to hound them, just want to find out what is going on as the deadline passed nearly 2 weeks ago now.
Thanks
Joanna says
I am in a similar situation with Lending Stream. My adjudicator has contacted them several times. He reached a decision regarding my complaint some time ago and they never responded. He contacted them once again and they claimed that he never communicated with them regarding the final decision. He then gave them more time to respond, but they still haven’t got back to him. I personally believe that they are inundated with complaints and correspondence from the FOS. My adjudicator is trying to hold off from putting my complaint into the Ombudsmen queue since it is quite long and instead is trying to exhaust all options with Lending stream.
Simon says
My Wonga refund of 4880 was in my bank today, thanks again for this site….
details: from wonga after 4 weeks they said they needed more time… a week later they come back to me with that offer… they paid back all the interest and then the 8%
Sarah says
I accepted my wonga offer on Thursday of £5500 still waiting for confirmation email
clive says
Hi, I had a reply back from Uncle Buck rejecting my complaint. I had eight consecutive loans with them from 2014 – 2016. Most of these were installment loans over 3 months each. They claim because they were 3-month loans it does count as consecutive borrowing as I could only borrow once every 3 months and not every month. I tried pointing out that although they were 3 month loans I had borrowed again immediately after each was paid. Over a total period of 737 days there were only 29 days i didn’t have an active loan with them. But they aren’t having any of it!! Does the FOS consider installment loans in the same way as 1 month loans?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes lots of people have had refunds for installment loans from the FOS. If you couldn’t afford the monthly repayments without hardship and borrowing more elsewhere then they were unaffordable. Borrowing over a long period suggests that UB should have stopped and asked themselves if you were dependent on these loans. I suggest you send them to the FOS.
Neil says
Brief update on my Sunny complaint – submitted to FOS at end of December, picked up by an Adjudicator on 2nd Feb – chased it up as two months had passed with no contact, and now being told it’s being investigated by a “specialist team” and that it will be some time longer before any decision is reached. No loans over 6 years – these are all 3-4 years old.
Nick says
Hi
Was this an instalment loan, i.e a running credit type, I had one which they investigated and they had asked if it was ok to investigate them, I submitted it mid Jan and had a response from the adjudicator 2 weeks ago asking to refund all interest paid.
The lady from the FOS was very helpful and explained a lot about what had been going on with these type loans and that they had only just agreed to investigate these ones.
The date for them to reply by is 4th April, so what is of worth is that on the bottom of the investigation report it says, “if no response is received by this date then it may be passed to an ombudsman who will make a final decision on it” none of my others have had this line added to them so maybe they are taking a slightly different stance now with some of the investigations!
Neil says
Yep – installment loan type – although strangely I could have up to three active “loans” at any one time, each with drawdowns up to a certain amount. It is probably fairly complex in terms of how that side of things worked out; from my point of view borrowing just over £6k and repaying just over £8k in an 11-month period seems pretty cut and dried to me ;-)
Joking aside, I think Sunny did operate some different types of products which changed over time. So I don’t know where mine falls into this – certainly not expecting a speedy conclusion to all this.
Katie says
Sara,
I’ve received my final response from Wonga today.
Two questions please. Firstly it included this
total interest and fees
£2,394.03
8% interest net
£598.44
total settlement
£2,992.47
tax
8% interest gross
£748.05
basic rate tax deduction
£149.61
Does that mean if I accepted I would receive £2992?
Also they have only mentioned about 50% of my loans. It is already in the queue for the FOS since mid March. Do you think I should take the offer. I’d worked out from bank statements that I’d paid approx £4000 in interest but £900 had been redressed back in 2014. Is this a reasonsble offer in your opinion ?
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes, they are offering you £2992. (You may also be able to claim back some / all of the £149 tax they are deducting, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-payday-refund-get-back-tax/ but that doesn’t really change the decision you have to make.)
The maths is always a bit more complicated when there has been some redress.
The “£900 redress”, assuming this was one defaulted loan, how much did you borrow? Did you make any repayments to it?
When you say you paid about £4000 in interest, does this include any payments to this defaulted loan?
Katie says
Hi Sara
Yes the £4000 includes my payments to the redress. The redress loan was for £1000. I had made one payment on my repayment plan when they then wrote it off due to the new fca rules.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK. Well the FOS has never said how it calculates redress in this sort of case. I think a sensible way to look at it is to think of the £900 written off as the first installment of your redress, so any money you might get overall would be reduced by the fact you have already had this.
So that reduces the £4000 you might get back to £3100. And they are offering £2,394. (Ignoring the 8%).
It’s not a bad offer. You could well get more by going to the FOS, but you may not get all the rest if the FOS thought the first few loans, or some smaller loans were affordable.
It’s up to you if you think this feels “fair” in the end. It is much the same as if they had offered you £3000 but no 8% extra and many people are happy to settle with a lender for that… but some people feel their lives were wrecked by these lenders and they want to try to get every bit back they can.
Katie says
Thank you Sara. That’s very much I was thinking it’s not a bad offer. I will go over my bank statements again just to make sense of it.
John says
HI Sara,
Just checked my bank account this afternoon and there are thousands of pounds from Wonga that were not there yesterday!
THANK YOU – Without You it would not have happened!
Complained in October to Wonga. Complained to FOS on 3rd December. Took 16 weeks to get adjudicator decision which Wonga agreed to and paid out pretty quick after that.
Wonga’s offer? Nothing! Adjudicator decision? Pretty much everything!
John
Laura says
Hi Everyone – just an update.
QQ and Wonga 8 weeks were up on 28th March. Nothing heard back from Wonga and if you’ve not already read, QQ offered me £17.92 on £1161.93 worth of interest… laughable I know.
I was contacted by the FOS last week for some further information and was then contacted by an adjudicator this afternoon who asked for bank statements which i provided – I know i was frittering my money away but I also know they show i was recieving money from friends and family to help me out which i hope could strengthen my case. I was pretty impressed with how quickly i was assigned an adjudicator as I have seen people on here with pretty long waits.
Will give further updates when I get them – fingers crossed :)
Joe says
Hey guys. Was wondering if Im able to claim back money on loans that got sold to a debt collector. Had a reply from Mr lender saying they wouldn’t as I didn’t pay any money to them. But I still had to pay around £400 interest. If it went to the Fos will they take that loan into account? Cheers
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can you summarise how many loans you had from Mr Lender? How many did you default on?
joe says
Had 3 loans in total but rolled over countless times. Interest comes to 850 without the last loan but with it comes to 1300. they have offered me 300 but was just wondering if im able to get the interest back on the last. I didnt pay anything to mr lender but i paid it off with the debt company. Can i take it into account or will i not be able to recieve that back?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t remember seeing a decision in this sort of case.
I suggest sending all the loans to the FOS. If your adjudicator says to complain to the debt company for the last one, then do that. I would be interested if you could report back on what happens!
Jon says
Hi folks,
Just wanted to say hello and let you all know how good it is to see so many redress success stories! It’s also refreshing to see the non-judgemental responses from others that have been trapped by these loans, the ridiculous interest rates and the non-stop marketing (emails) keeping their products in your thoughts.
I have a case in against Wonga from my initial complaint raised on February 14th. I received my statement of account, but it missed 9 of my highest value loans off (they were the last 9 loans I took, so not cherry picked in a deceitful way). So double check everything to build as strong a case as possible.
I had over £20,000 of loans in 27 months….. Although that period of my life is over, hiding the repayment struggles from my OH and laying awake at night worrying is etched into my memory.
I wish you all the very best and hope that you never end up down that road again!
Jon.
Katie says
I also received a response from lending Stream to my email tonight. About 3 weeks ago they wrote to me to say they didn’t they had lent irresponsibly so I replied back asking if it was their final response. The email stated that they had reviewed it and felt that although they hadn’t done anything wrong, they were prepared to offer me £751 for six loans as they were taken out in quick succession and additionally 8% interest on that. But I had at least 50 loans with them paying more than £5000 interest. Some months I had 6 loans with them alone in addition to other lenders. So I have thanked them for their final response and have said I will continue with the FOS. Anyone else had similiar from lending stream ?
Katrina says
I had similar with LS, Complained and they offered me £50, told them I didn’t accept and was this their final offer, they replied with an increased offer for £550 and said this was their final response. I declined and sent to the FOS. Within 4 weeks Adjudicator partially upheld my complaint and I should be due about £1300. Still waiting to see if LS agree or disagree with decision.
Joel says
I started taking payday loans out a good 4 years ago. Currently i have upto 8/9 PDL, same with the past.
I don’t have all the emails from when they approved my loans.
My bank statements will show I have been using them to gamble or to pay off other loans.
Twice I have cleared all the PDL from family which caused a lot of stress.
They have still been lending to me all this time, right now I am struggling to pay off again as the loans were unaffordable and kept reloaning.
Shall I write to them to stop all future payments and to file a complaint as per guide from debtcamel?
Any help would be much appreciated.
THanks
Joel
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Your first thought should be to stop the gambling. And your next priority is to get your current debts on hold so you don’t need to borrow any more.
See https://debtcamel.co.uk/gambling/ and also https://debtcamel.co.uk/help-payday-loan/.
Then I suggest waiting wait a few months before starting the complaints, so you know everything is stable. If you start the complaints now, you are going to be tempted to take the first not dreadful offer from a lender just to get some cash to survive with. get your fiannces sorted first and you can decline the poor offers and take them to the Ombudsman.
Craig says
I have been following this website for around 8 months now, and I have to say – it is brilliant!
I had loans with different lenders – wonga, payday uk, quick quid, swift sterling and money shop.
All lenders initially rejected my complaint (or they offered very little amounts as goodwill gestures). Over the past few months I got a decision from my adjudicator regarding wonga and she said that most of my loans were unaffordable – Wonga disagreed but made a counter offer of just £200 less and I got £4000 back.
Money shop dragged their heels at every corner – they did not send me anything and didn’t reply to my adjudictor for ages when requested information (months actually!!). When my adjudicator finally got all the info she required she recommended that money shop refund the majority of my loans. And to my astonishment – Money shop agreed and paid the refund within 3 days. Another £2900 secured.
My claim from PDU is still being assessed as it goes back further than 6 years. Don’t know how long this one will take or the outcome but I am hopeful after my refunds from Wonga and Money shop.
I had 9 loans with Quick Quid and I am awaiting my case being looked at by an ombudsman after they rejected the adjudictors decision to refund 8 of my loans.
My advice is to keep going with your cases, they will take a long time but the FOS do a great job – its just a shame they are so snowed under. And use this excellent website for help and advice, there is probably nothing that could come up that hasn’t been covered on here.
Cheers,
Craig
Tom says
Hi
I have a complaint in with quickquid via the ombudsman and my adjudicator recommended that they refund me for various loans. Quickquid have come back and said they don’t agree with her decisions and that they will refund me for only a few loans. Totalling £324. She said that I can have an ombudsman to look at it and that quickquid may possibly offer me an another amount but that this would mean I would likely have to have my complaint forwarded to an ombudsman for a final decision.
What would you advise? Could the ombudsman choose not to have them refund me and I could have £324 lowered?