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?
Kee says
Question for anyone who had a loan with PDUK or Payday Express and was over 6 years old.
How long did it take you to get a refund and did you get an email with a breakdown first?
I have been in the queue for a couple of weeks (this was after the Ombudsman called me to say PDUK and PDEX had decided to make refunds of full interest and 8%)
Many thanks!
sw says
Hi Kee, PDUK agreed on 16th March, received email on 28th with breakdown, payment in bank on 28th. PDEX agreed on 23rd March, no email or payment yet. All over 6 years old.
Kee says
Ok mine was the 23rd for 2 x Pduk and 1 x pdex. Got an email for one today, no payment yet.
Ro65 says
I sent my signed acceptance of PDUK offer in 22nd March but haven’t heard anything yet.
Jono says
Typically for me I seem to be one of the rare ones who have not even got a token offer from Wonga, they’ve just fobbed me off..full response below. Anyone else had this? So looks like the suffering caused by them will be allowed to stand. Dunno if there is any point going to the FO here..but i’ll give it a go. Anyone know if there is any chance of success?
Here is what i received:
[standard stuff edited out]
In your recent complaint you suggested that you were experiencing financial difficulties and we should not have lent to you. As such we have considered your position at the time and have found no evidence that you:
• fell into arrears with your loans
• advised us you were in financial difficulty,
• borrowed high loan amounts when compared to your stated income.
We are not aware of any other factors that indicated unaffordability.
You have indicated in your complaint that you experienced difficulty repaying one or more of your loans. You did not, however, contact us at the time to let us know about your financial difficulty. Had you done so, we would have been aware of your circumstances and could have put in place a suitable repayment plan or other arrangement.
You have suggested that we acted negligently when providing loans, however, the UK courts will not generally consider a claim of negligence if the event happened more than 6 years ago. The dispute resolution rules set by the Financial Conduct Authority also state that complaints cannot be considered by the Financial Ombudsman Service if the complaint is made about something that happened more than 6 years ago, or if later, more than 3 years from when the customer should have realised there was a problem.
Given the above, we do not consider it appropriate to investigate your complaint about the loans sold more than six years ago. Furthermore, as this complaint relates to loans being unaffordable, we think it should have been clear that the loans sold more than six years ago were unaffordable by the time these loan accounts were closed.
You may be aware of the announcement from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regarding changes to short term lending. The changes mean that we had to place a price cap on the cost of our loans and be more responsible when testing whether customers can afford the loan they want to take out. We can see from your account that you had loan applications after the changes to our lending criteria were applied in November 2014. All your loan applications after this date met our new affordability criteria and so we are satisfied that we lent you responsibly.
Having looked in detail at your complaint and the information we had access to when we made our lending decisions, we have not found any indication that your loans were unaffordable. On that basis, we are unable to uphold your complaint.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Wonga don’t tend to give “token” offers. See this comment yeasterday from someone who went to the FOS after not being offered anything by them https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/comment-page-49/#comment-225135.
So you had loans from more than 6 years ago and also loans after 2014. How many loans did you have altogether? How many were more than 6 years ago? Were there any big gaps between the loans?
Jono says
I had 2 in 2010, 30 in 2011, 25 in 2012, 25 in 2013 and 30 in 2014 (and only 3 of them were in November!!). So it was a long time re-loaning. I also had Quickquid at the same time because i got in so much trouble. It was an utter mess!! Hvaing seen alot of people on here having successful claims i must say i thought i’d be offered something because of the severity of the issues i had.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sounds like a very good complaint. There weren’t many loans before the 6 year point so you may decide you don’t care about them. You could tell the Ombudsman you aren’t asking for a refund for the loans over 6 years old 9dating from when you complained to the lender) but you would like them taken into account in looking at the loans that are within the six years.
Good luck and let us know how it goes!
Aaron jackson says
I had about 25 in 2010 (before 6 year period)
Another 30 in 2011,
Another 20 in 2012,
Another 5 in 2013.
TOTAL 80 loans
I got the exact same rejection letter. On receiving the letter I noticed something!
The bullet points! Havnt you noticed the rejection letters say there is no evidence you,
1) advised us you were in financial difficulty.
2) fell in to arrears etc.
Have you notice the ones that have been accepted have the same bullet points but they also have “taking out loans straight after repayment” and “continuously taking loans out over a period of time”
Those two are the exact things that I did, yet they don’t include them on the email. Yet they put them on for the people they decide to accept.
My complaint has been in 32 days.
Havnt been assigned an adjudicator yet.
But is it worth it?
Of course it is!
Even if I don’t get a penny.
I’ll still sleep better knowing they’ve been hammered £500+ from the ombudsman.
Chris says
Hi, ive accepted my ombudsman decision to up hold my P2P claim and been told to wait to hear from the company, does anyone have experience of this and is it best to sit and wait to hear from them? Ombudsman said within 4 weeks, is this usually the case or have the contacted others sooner/later?
thanks.
Katie says
Hi Sara
Further to my messages re Wonga offer £2992 and lending Stream email offer of £751. I emailed lending Stream back to say thank you for my final offer but I won’t be accepting and will continue with the FOS because they were only considering 10% of my loans and interest. When I rechecked Wonga. They have only considered 30% of my loans and the total interest I paid was actually more than £5000. So taking the the redress into account are only offering 40% of my total interest. Am I likely to get totally rejected at adjudicator stage ? To complete matters I emailed the guy who is dealing with my complaints ( don’t think it’s an adjudicator yet ) to say that I had received this emails and what should I do – he sent back an email this morning to say he had informed both companies that I wanted to reject, which was not what I had said ! Where does that leave me now ? Thank you yet again, really appreciate your advice.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well the LS you do want to reject – it sounds like a very poor offer.
For Wonga if you had paid 5k, that would be reduced to £4100 taking off the redress already paid. And they are offering £2,394. (Ignoring the 8%). That is much less of a good offer. We have never seen a case where the ombudsman awards less than what a lender has offered. The “worst” that happens is the adjudicator says the lender offer seems a fair offer.
Kenny Glover says
HI
just had a reply from PDUK which I’m a bit disappointed about.
Had 14 loans and 3 deferrals with them over a period of approx 14 months, money increased from £100 per month, to £500+ gradually. At the same time, had loans with Wonga (12 loans ranging from £100 to £700+) in the same time period. At the same time also, I defaulted on a closed bank account, opened up high interest credit cards. Total loaned was approx £14000 and repaid £17000.
After reading up on this site I first complained on 1st March to PDUK and Wonga.
This is the main gist of the reply I have had from PDUK rejecting it:
[I have deleted the standard stuff]
As a new PaydayUK customer you completed your first application for credit on 28 February 2011.
(It then refers to a number of the loan dates and repayment date etc saying…
“In line with the Continuous Payment Authority (CPA) you had consented to under the terms and conditions of your loan agreement your payment of £296.88 was received on the due date and the loan was settled.”
The information provided by you at the time of the applications along with the internal and external checks that were carried out, including a credit check via Experian, indicated the loans were suitable… we note your comments about bank and credit card charges being incurred as a result of repaying your loans with PaydayUK, however at no time did you make us aware of this.
I can conclude that I am unable to uphold your complaint on this occasion and appreciate this is not the
response you were hoping for.
Disappointed as I believed that the increasing loans etc meant that I would be in a position to reclaim.
does this seem like a weak case or not? Should I just send it on anyway then and go from there?
cheers
Kenny
Sara (Debt Camel) says
14 loans, and 3 deferrals with increasing loan amounts sounds a good case to me. I suggest you send it to the FOS!
Gemma says
Hi All, I would be grateful if someone could offer some advice please. I contacted PiggyBank who admitted irresponsible lending but I didn’t agree with their figures so sent to the Ombudsman. Adjudicator has now come back and said no wrong doing on their part, they were all affordable (even though the same adjudicator ruled that loans with other lenders at the same time weren’t affordable). What should I do? Go back and accept original offer from PB if I can or go to Ombudsman – it’s not a huge amount of extra money in it (150) if Ombudsman rules in my favour. I’m concerned that due to adjudicator findings the previous offer will now be off the table
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can try – if they say no, take the case to the Ombudsman. Not sure I would bother for that amount, but it’s up to you.
Lucy says
Hi all me again! First success story for me (hopefully of a few!)
Had my response from Safety Net Credit and the have up held my complaint, are going to refund the interest i paid £1041.87 plus the 8% £51.78 with that refund they will wipe my outstanding balance which is £640 and pay me £453.65.
Im verry happy with this as i would of been happy with just my balanced wiped as i had seen others had only had the balance wiped and nothing paid back to them.
I am still waiting responses on pduk/pdexpress pounds2pocket, 247moneybox,wageday advance and satsuma.
Amigo loans had not upheld my complaint with them so i have sent that to the FO.
Thanks Sara!
Dan says
Refund from QQ just hit my bank and I must admit they have been pretty good.
They were my smallest complaint and wasn’t really expecting anything so very happy with the result.
Hang in there people. This was after they rejected my complaint and offered £100 goodwill gesture. Adjudicator found all 5 loans (and 3 top ups) to be unaffordable. Although QQ disagreed they offered to refund the last loan. I disagreed then they came back with another offer to refund the last 2 loans (including the top ups) which with 8% added amounted to more interest than I paid so accepted yesterday and received the money just now.
Andrew says
Well done Dan.
Can I ask how long t took them to respond to the Adjudicators findings?
My adjudicator sent them their decision on 30/03/17, so just wondering how long of a wait I’m in for?
John says
HI Dan,
Mine wrote to QQ with findings on 22nd March which gives them until tomorrow to respond. No word yet so assuming they do them in date order I imagine you will need to wait the two weeks.
For my other complaints when the adjudicator wrote with findings Lending Stream ignored the two week deadline and took three weeks and Wonga took just 24 hours.
Good Luck,
John
Mr D. Boyle says
I have a CCJ claim from Asset Collections from an old Lending Stream payday loan which I paid back apart from approx £130 . They are now asking £337 including costs . I have 10 days before judgement so as I could not afford the repayments and should of not been lent the money what are my options .
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You need to decide how good an affordability complaint you have against Lending Stream. Read https://debtcamel.co.uk/court-payday-loan-debt/ and get some help urgently with this – see the links at the bottom of that article.
If you had payday loans with other lenders, think about whether you should make an affordability complaint about those. This could give you the money to settle a CCJ you get!
Nesta says
i am having difficulties tracking down Different Money, no response to my email and 8 weeks have lapsed now.
Lucy says
Hi Nesta,
I think Different Money have gone into Administration, i have emailed them a complaint but had no response at all :(
Nigel says
For those asking about Different money. Unfortunately they are in administration now. What is worse is that the administrator dealing with the liquidation of Different money has told the FOS that there will be no money and they wont be paying anyone out for payday loan refunds. This will be something that you may be able to challenge at a later date in court if you so wish to try an peruse it. It seems to have been bad timing as I have after three months had my decision upheld by an Ombudsman and I would have been due a 4 figure sum. So the accepting the decision form that I have returned only yesterday is purely academic.
Laura says
HI Everyone
I seem to have got a very quick and speedy adjudicator – she seems to have already gone through all my documents and is requesting further information from me. The thing is, she seems to be going through my bank statements with a very fine toothcomb and is questioning a lot of things. As well as Payday loans i had borrowed lots of money from friends and my boyfriend, as well as depleting my savings which all show as money IN on my bank statements – would this go against me? Anyone who has already been through the adjudicator process and has experience I’d love to hear your thoughts – thanks!
Marie says
I am also worried about this. I haven’t been asked for these yet, but am concerned that when I do that they will say that I booked holidays, and went out a lot etc, so would they look at these as affordable and have it go against me?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The FOS doesn’t expect you to live like a hermit. A normal level of expenditure is acceptable and is rarely questioned. But if you were going on holiday a lot, then the Ombudsman may well decide that the loans were affordable.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Money you have borrowed from other lenders or friends/relatives is not income. The reason you are arguing the payday loans are not affordable is exactly because you couldn’t get through the month without borrowing more, so these support your case.
Laura says
Thanks Sara. My adjudicator has asked for some clarification on some payments in and out of my account (eg i recieved the deposit back from a rented property which i then paid out to the other people I lived with) so it seems as though the adjudicator is trying to gather as much information as possible. She is dealing with both of my complaints (QQ and Wonga) simultaneously which is very helpful.
Gordon says
Hi Sara/all,
Firstly thank you for the site it is invaluable and has assisted me with redress against the payday companies.
I Had and accepted an offer from WONGA they had written of a loan of £1800 this included interest, also they had given back £3100 in interest and charges r. This took 3 weeks to pay into my bank I sent them an email regarding the slow payment and copied in the FOS, they paid the next day.
adjudicator has found that all my loans given to me by Payday express and PDUK are irresponsible and I should be repaid the interest also the 8%, they have argued they argued against this and offered me £500 on each I have refused onto the ombudsman it is.
Quickquick (if ever a contradiction it is in their name) pounds to pocket are as expected holding up the process, both they have sent me an email with the usual response and all of the 80 loans I took out with them were lent responsibly (sorry had to stop typing there because of laughing) it has been given to adjudicator, the surprise in this one they argued they are both separate companies but have replied to my complaints about both companies in the one email, they have offered my a goodwill gesture of £200 I had thought about this for a nanosecond and refused.
I still await response from uncle back lending stream Mr Lender my jar I also had loans with microcredit I know they have went bust but I have pursued the company who have bought their debts OPOS, this was recommended by FOS. probably one of the most comforting complaints was against OPOS as they were the bull dogs and bullies barking at my door when I missed payments. it is good to give them some discomfort.
to be truthful there is no hurry I looked into the FOS Web site they have 100,000s of complaints, when I was struggling with debt I wanted everything yesterday, I observe from above that correspondents are desperate for their refunds, if the FOS rushed they may make mistake and with my dealings with them so far they are very helpful I now believe good things come to those who wait.
I have taken another tact I do not hear about very much I have now pursued my bank for irresponsible lending, I had a consolidation loan with them in 2009 debt got deeper took another consolidation loan out with them early 2011 debt got worse they then gave me another consolidation loan in the same year, the letter of refusal from the bank was more amateur than from the PDL people, they made a number of mistakes and didn’t even have the brains to take of tax and national insurance into account off my annual salary, they in the following years then raised my overdraft limit to £5,000 i increased it 3 times in the same day!! they say they are separate parts of the company and the same response as the PDL lenders they took out credit checks, they didn’t notice the 100’s of payday loans the 1000’s of gambling transactions and the bank account was with the same company. in my response from the adjudicator into PDUK and PD express they state that simple credit checks are not enough, the question I am now waiting for, are the banks different.
i hope the above explains the situation i got into with debt and I will always remember I was an irresponsible borrower who’s debt gave him many issues, but I shall also always remember these companies through their greed enabled my problems and deserve all the fines they receive.
once again thank you for this great site and the advice and help keep on fighting be patient and when the opportunity arises chase the debt companies.
David says
Hi all,
I have finally drawn up a schedule of loans/interest with the main lender I used – its more of a time line (as they wouldn’t give me a S.O.A) I thought might help the adjudicator out. The issue I would like some advice on if possible is, although I had a significant amount of loans and borrowed constantly (that much is apparent) in some cases I have repaid the loans early (although I took another loan out straight away – sometimes same day!). If I’m honest, (ashamedly ) I have gambling issues, so sometimes I would win pay them off then realise I didn’t have enough money to get through to pay day and borrow again, sometimes the next loan would be a lesser amount sometimes more.
Its not always the case but I’m about to forward my case to the FOS and im worried now it will be devalued due to making some early payments although I borrowed again straight away 90% of the time.
Another (very naïve) thing to mention is, at the time I actually believed that paying back early would help boost my poor credit rating! I remember reading or hearing it on the radio on one of the adverts for a major PD loan company! -HA!
Been a massive fool but hoping to recover something to break the cycle and clear credit card debt!
By the way Sarah, I read your article on dealing with gambling and your finances and thought it was brilliant – been a massive issue for mine and sadly caused a lot of hurt for my partner too. Thanks so much for all your advice and time and to all the other guys too.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds as though you borrowed a lot from this lender. In that case I wouldn’t expect some early repayments to matter, especially if you borrowed again shortly afterwards.
You refer to “hoping to break the cycle” – are you still gambling and using payday loans?
David says
Hi Sara,
I’ve just managed to quit PDL’s thankfully after 5 years… very saddening looking back on it all. Re the gambling, much better and seeking help.
I’m see previous comments saying the FOS wont judge me for it which is reassuring but just wondered about repaying early (in most cases I took out a new loan either the same day or the next day) – I actually thought that doing this would help boost my credit rating too! :-(
Kam says
Dear Sara/All
I have received a statement of my accounts with MYJAR and it looks like I had with them 28 loans from 08/2011 to 03/2013. In total I have paid them £816 interest. The last loan was for £500 and I couldn’t repay it so it still shows “outstanding”. On 28/03/2013 MYJAR put a note on my credit report saying that my current balance with them is £987. I assume that they have added £487 interest to my last loan.
Should I send them a letter regarding irresponsible lending and also ask them to remove a note from my credit report? On Monday I have sent 10 emails to different payday loans companies asking for a statement of my loans and MYJAR is the first payday company providing me with requested info.
Yesterday 247 Moneybox sent me an email saying:
Happy to provide information requested (though do be aware that all of this information was provided upon the advance of any loan as the loan agreement was sent to you via email – do check your junk or spam for this and also check any other email address’ you may have provided us with.)
We are happy as a gesture of goodwill to resolve today by removing all reporting made to credit reference agencies.
We are aware that there are many forums and templated letters available on the internet to exploit any previous credit commitments under the wholly subjective banner of affordability. To compare our actions with the reported behavior of other lenders is inappropriate. We are confident that the required assessments were carried out prior to the advance of all loans. We are able to substantiate fully the information on which lending decisions were based.
Should I continue with my complaint with them? I had about 60 loans with them paying £1000s in interest.
Many thanks for any advice.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest just complaining to Myjar, that norte will be removed if the last loan is founbd to be unaffordable.
I doubt whether 247 moneybox has looked at yiour case in detail, they are just hoping you will go away if they offer to delete your credit records – which won’t cost them any money at all! 60 loans from them sounds like a very good complaint, I suggest you reply asking if that is their final response as you will be going to the ombudsman if they do not refund you the large amount of interest you have paid.
C says
I had the exact same email from moneybox 247. (apart from offering to wipe my balance of 396.00 as a gesture of goodwill which i declined),as of yet I am still waiting for my statement of account, the 8 weeks is up 23rd april. I have had loads of loans with these so will prob be sending of to fos if i get my statement from them .
Adam says
I have the same issue with My Jar, my last loan was £500 and now stands at £900+ as I couldn’t afford to repay. I have put in my complaint for a refund and also asked that the last loan be written off and removed from my credit file. The have said they will respond by 18th April. So I will keep the site updated!!
Good Luck Kam.
Alan says
Paydayv UK agreed with FOS and are to refund me all interest back. Can anyone tell me how quickly to expect the funds in my account through your own experience in dealing with this company
sw says
It seems to vary between 8 days and 25 days, I don’t think there are any hard and fast rules…..they do say they will payout in date order. They do have 28 days. My PDUK was 12 days, PDEX still to pay, now 12 days.
Debbi says
I approached 1mth loan re affordability claim they came back and said they felt they did everything right, but as a gesture of good will would refund £80.89.
Loan was £300 and they said I had paid £380.89.
However on the statement they sent it said I had paid £680.89 when I quieried this they then replied and said they had made an error and had added £260 when I had paid £60, and I had in total paid £380.89 so would refund the £80.89 plus £20 making it a £100.89 refund ( I’m not sure how taking £200 off £680 now makes £380! )
I emailed them back and quieried this again as I have a debt for them on my DMP being paid to MMF and have so far paid £265 with £26 outstanding.
They then emailed back and apologised saying they did not know I had been paying MMF ( I have emails from them in 2012 advising me it was assigned to MMF)
They said I had paid MMF £234 and so I had paid a total of £615.00 and they would refund £315 ( nothing extra this time as gesture of goodwill)
I have replied asking for the £265 I have actually paid MMF, compensation for the harassment I got from MMF ( constant texts and emails and threats of ’embarrassing home visits’ calls to work and telling my colleagues who they were) interest on the money paid in error to MMF, and the balance owed to MMF written off and my credit file updated and this debt taken off it.
Do you think I should take this to the FO, I have all emails going back to 2012 when I entered the DMP with emails going back and forth telling me 1mth loan had sent it to MMF then saying it was an error and they hadn’t and then later saying it was, at one point another DCA was involved ( clarity?)
Every email they send me has a different amount on it – they don’t seem to have a clue! Their own sims don’t add up!
I have asked them to come back to me with the figures clarified and a final offer before I consider the FO.
Phil says
Morning all.
Has anyone else received this from Wonga? I only complained three weeks ago yet these are the only ones keeping me ‘updated’
Your complaint is still being considered
Our Reference: *********
Dear ********
Unfortunately, our investigation is taking longer than expected, and we can’t yet offer you a resolution to your complaint. We appreciate your patience and apologise for any inconvenience that this delay may cause. We do our best to resolve complaints in the order that we receive them. We are currently experiencing high volumes of complaints and so if we cannot respond within 8 weeks, we will contact you to explain the delay and outline when you can expect to receive a response. If you are unhappy with the progress of your complaint at that stage, you can refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Kind regards, Customer Care 0207138 8330 Wonga.com
Wonga.com is a trading style of WDFC UK Limited. Registered in England and Wales.
Registered Number: 6374235. Registered Address: 88 Crawford Street, London, W1H 2EJ.
Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under registration number 671454.
You can contact us in relation to all queries at customercare@wonga.com.
Sharon says
Yes I got it Monday, my complaint went in 28th Feb
Dave says
UPDATE:
Sunny (my only success to date) – paid out over £2200 at week 8 of my complaint. Part was to settle an existing loan which was the very last one I needed to pay off so now totally PDL free after years of misery and received over £1800 in my bank account. The complaint was never submitted to the FO. Thank you for all the help and advice on here.
Lending Stream, Quickquid and Payday UK – Final response offers of £300 from LS, £400 from QQ and £160 from PDUK were all rejected and complaints passed on to the FO. Dates submitted to the FO were as follows:
!st March – Lending Stream
9th March – QuickQuid
15th March – PDUK
I thought that in 4/5 weeks that my LS complaint my have been picked up by an adjudicator, but not yet. I have submitted everything they have requested and they have confirmed that they have received everything they need from the company in question.
Please can anyone give any advice as to how long they have had to wait recently for an adjudicator?
This are my first experiences with the FO and the time frames seem very random with some people suggesting they had theirs picked up after a couple of days. Thanks.
Neil says
Dave – I suspect (but have no hard evidence to prove) that there are different teams at the FOS who specialise in one or more lender/s, or possibly one or more type of product/s. I think this why certain complaints (for example, anything like a rolling credit facility) take a lot longer than others to be picked up.
Don’t forget, the FOS are also incredibly busy right now – there is a lot of traffic coming this way from MoneySavingExpert and more and more complaints are going in. Whilst this is good news, it does mean that wait times will start to increase.
In my own personal experience – one complaint made at the back end of last year took about a fortnight to be picked up, another got picked up in February this year.
Try not to let it take up too much head space – if the FOS need anything else, they’ll get in touch. I know it’s easier said than done, but once you’ve submitted your bank statements and credit report to the them, there’s not much else you can do. I have taken to sending a polite reminder to my Adjudicator every couple of months, just to make sure things are bubbling away nicely :)
Jake says
Hi peeps,
I submitted a complaint to PayDayUK on 15th July 2016, gone through the whole process to an adjudicator who has upheld my complaint on 13 out of the 14 loans, plus deferrals I took. I am expecting compensation of around £7k-£9k.
Payday rejected the adjudicators decision and has instead offered me £1,980, (they have been offering me increasing amounts since the initial response after 8 weeks starting at £800). I have asked my adjudicator to forward my complaint to the Ombudsman which has happened this week, I have been informed it could take up to 12 weeks but they are looking at them in date order. Does anyone know the usual process time before the Ombudsman as I have been sitting on this complaint for 8 months now, am I likely to be at the front of the queue? Just trying to work out how much longer this is going to go on for, I feel close to a pay out but miles away at the same time.
Many thanks,
Vicky says
Hi I currently have loans with sunny, satsuma, mr lender, lending stream & piggy bank I am struggling so much to pay them off as I am currently on maternity leave so I am getting paid £540 a month + £80 child benefit. My partner doesn’t know my current situation! I currently have 4 loans with lending stream as I am having to borrow to repay the loans do you have any advice
Laura says
Hi Vicky
Please contact all these lenders today and let them know you’re struggling to pay back. They are obliged to assist you in making more affordable repayments – the sooner you contact them the sooner you can stop borrowing more and more. Good luck – and remember there is away out of the pay day loan nightmare and everyone on this page is super supportive :)
Katrina says
Update on my Lending Stream Compliant. After the Adjudicator ruling in my favour LS have disagreed on 2 of the 6 loans he recommended they pay back. They have chosen the 2 bigger loans to disagree with no explanation. I also wanted to warn you all to make sure you check the offers LS give you before you take to the FO. They offered me interest and charges back on 4 loans and said this came to £550. After getting my statement of account from the adjudicator I worked out what the interest on these loans were and their offer was out by nearly £400! They were obviously trying to pull a fast one so double check everything!
I have declined their offer so looks like I am getting into the ombudsmen queue. Not in a rush for the money so will just look at this as a nice bonus when it eventually arrives
Andrew says
Hi Katrina,
When did your adjudicator come to their decision about Lending Stream?
My adjudicator gave them 2 weeks to respond and they haven’t bothered. Tomorrow will be 3 weeks.
Just trying to gauge when I’ll get a response from them.
Thanks
Katrina says
I got the decision about 4 weeks ago, the adjudicator gave them 2 weeks to reply but I only managed to speak to the adjudicator to get this further information today. I have been chasing him for 2 weeks with emails and calls but nothing back at all, managed to get hold of him today when he told me LS had responded. If I had not called him I am not sure when I would have got the info so maybe give them a call?
From FO Submission to decision was around 4 weeks so not too bad.
Good Luck!
martin says
i was offered £350 by lending stream went all the way to ombudsman and was awarded £2050 so it worth rejecting that first offer
steve says
Has anyone just received an email from CFO lending informing you that they are now in administration, I have and just been told my claim is £40 but i wont get it, i dont understand, i no its only £40
andy says
Just had a email to say that CFO are in administration With a offer of £40 under the redress scheme?
steve says
But dosnt it say that they cant pay that £40
Astrid says
it does say they cannot pay, they owe me £994 as redress and just over £5000 in unaffordable lending claim which they could not transfer.
simon says
I have just had two emails from them as well, they promised me the redress last week in writing now the administrators are saying they wont be able to pay it! Any one now if theirs anything we can do to claim it as I have it in writing that they will pay me it?
Astrid says
CFO lending has just went into administration owing me nearly £6000
Louise says
Anyone who has claims with CFO or are waiting for an update regarding redress, they today went into administration! Had an email through to tell me. Apparently my redress is £980 but unlikely to get a penny!!
Rick says
I received a similar email.
They also offered me £40.00
“…Unfortunately, we do not currently envisage that there will be sufficient funds to enable the payment of a dividend in respect of your claim in these proceedings. We would, however, urge you to periodically review our website for updates in case that position changes.”
Does this mean that they have gotten away with it?
Chris says
I had the same email today. After a year waiting on my complaint, firstly with the company, then the adjudicator and finally the F.O, with the F.O coming out in my favour to the tune, I believed to be approx £6700 plus interest, the email says they owe £5k but like everyone above, probably won’t get anything, even though they agreed but couldn’t do anything about it until later. It feels like a real kick in the teeth and I think they knew about it, especially after arguing against me for so long until they suddenly rolled over and accepted everything against them! Yes we’ll plead guilty but it won’t matter as we have a get out of jail card tucked away!
So annoyed right now. I thought if the F.O ruled there was a government fund for such an occasion. Does anyone know likewise?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The FSCS can be used in some circumstances – you could try talking to the FOS about this? Even if it is possible, it may have to wait until the administrators have would the compnay up which you be a long while.
Chris says
I have forwarded my email to the FOS and also looked into the fscs but agree it could take a long time if it does eventually get wound up.
I could have taken an offer back last year but didn’t think it fair so thought the FOS route the right route. I still think I’ve done the right thing, hopefully there will be some compensation in due time.
Gutted right at the moment though. If there is any update then I’ll post it.
Thanks.
Vickie says
Feel a bit the same, although my refund is not as much as yours being just short of £2,000 after the 8% interest etc was applied. Then of course told had to wait 12 weeks for a refund, which turned into 14, then 16 and now lo and behold they’ve gone into administration. I suppose the writing was on the wall when made to wait for 12 weeks, especially as others on here have had refunds in their banks within days. Seems very unfair to me, although apparently if you have a claim on under £1000 you have a chance of getting something back from them.
Katie says
Just received an offer from Sunny at week 7 for £1.2K which I’m happy with as paid £1.5K interest. Anyone know how long they take to pay out ?
Thanks
Jamie says
Hi Katie
Did you get your summary of account first before they replied to your complaint?
Katie says
No never received it. I went through my bank statements (6 years) with a fine tooth comb. That’s why I knew exactly what I’d paid. In fact I’ve done that with all 15 lenders that I’ve complained about. Some of them either don’t send statements or conveniently forget some …
Adamw says
Hi all, looking for some help! I made a complaint with wagedayadvance. I initially had 2 repayments left of £130 but informed them I couldn’t make the repayment and could I postpone it 1 week! Anyway they never responded and then they added on the charges and additional interest of £300. I received a response claiming they are upholding the £550 that I owe and that I am liable to pay it. Should I refer this to the ombudsman? Basically what I am asking is what happens if the ombudsman falls in favour of WDA ? Will I only be liable for the £535 or can they then add on more additional interest etc? I’ve had many loans with wda in the past and defaulted on one a couple of years ago, yet there is no mention of this in their response and they claim they lended responsibly.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you had many loans in the past with WDA, you need to be making a general affordability complaint about them all. Ignore their assertion that they lent reponsibly and let the Ombudsman decide.
I can’t tell from the figures you have given, but there is a cap on the amount of interest a payday lender is allowed to add on and it sounds as though your loan must be close to or at that cap already, so it won’t carry on piling up.
Lucy says
Hey!
Satsuma has sent me their final response letter.
I had 4 loans 1 on 3/9/15 2nd on 22/2/2016 3rd on 23/06/16 and 4th on 23/9/16.
They are saying the first 2 were lent responsibly and the last 2 weren’t so they will wipe the balance and wipe them from my credit file.
Im not happy with this as they seen to have missed i had at least 7 payday loans very late outstanding, 1 default and a loan from amigo.
Can i object to their final response letter or do i have to go straight to the fos?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can go back to them and argue – I’m not sure if you will get very far but why not try?
Lucy says
I have sent an email arguing it. I have argued that they should of spotted i was borrowing more as soon as they offered it me, plus the outstanding balances and defaults on credit cards and other payday loans.
Thanks i will update if they reply xx
Joanna says
Hi Sara and everyone,
Can you help with my WDA query?
I put in a complaint to the FOS about WDA and it was with my adjudicator in November 2016. It was then forwarded to another department at the FOS to investigate the complaint. The reason that the loan has been transferred is because it was a small loan but the interest was spread over 18 months so that they could drain more money from you. WDA no longer provide these types of 18 month loans and the FOS have a specialist team who are investigating how to proceed with these loans.
Has anyone else had one of these loans? How was the matter settled?
Colin says
I just wanted to say a big thank you to this page. I have been following closely to everyones stories. I put a complaint in to wonga on 15th of Jan this year and waited feeling hopefull. I heard back yesterday that they had looked into all my loans and deemed them to be unaffordable and upheld my complaint. Could not of done it without the help on this page. They offered 3,600 including the 8% so pretty happy and accepted. Now just to play the waiting game for it to be in my account. Thanks again.
Vicky says
Can you only put a complaint in once the loan has been paid off.. that’s great news to hear for you
Colin says
Hi Vicky Sara from Debt Camel has said in the past that if you still have a loan then you are less likely to get a decent result or they would pay the loan off if they see fit. I think that is right anyway.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No this iosn’t right. If you still owe some money, you may get less of a refund but the amount you owe will be reduced or written off in addition. If you owe some moiney this is just as good a result.
Say you owe £150 remaining on a loan. If you pay that off before making a complaint it will cost you £150 … and you would get an extra £150 back – that’s not a gain!
There are some detailed examples here https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-write-off/
Steph says
Hi Colin, all the loans? Or just some?
I’ve had a response from Wonga today…. they’ve partially upheld my complaint but only for loans up to 2014, despite me having them in 2015/16/17….
thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sounds like a case to send to the Ombudsman, unless the later loans were a lot smaller or something?
Steph says
I’ve had a look at the list of loans I compiled …. looks like Wonga has missed of at least £2k’s worth of loans (in interest alone) in their offer to me… need to have a serious think.
Does anyone have experience with rejecting their offer and then going to adjudicator? Any ideas on timeframes?
Katie says
Hi Steph
So you got your final response. I decided not to accept mine as when I looked closely like you they’ve missed off about 2K. My Wonga complaint has not been picked up by an adjudicator yet been with the FOS about 3 weeks.
Maggie says
Hi. Accepted an offer from lending stream (no FOS involvement) does anybody know how long they take to pay?
simon says
Hi Maggie,
I had accepted there offer and it took nearly 2 weeks for them to pay it, keep sending them emails every couple of days asking were it is I did that and I thing they got annoyed with me so paid it.
PM says
So, today’s the day then for the Cash Genie refunds – let’s see if they’re true to their word.
First step today is that they notify us of the cheque value and stick it in the post.
Here’s hoping all
regards
PM
Maureen says
I’m not going to hold my breath but hey if it does then it’s a bonus!
Linda says
Got mine this morning they haven’t took the tax off the interest but I will sort that with the tax office.
Michelle says
The way the e mail read was that cheques would be sent in the post today and that they would calculate the interest on the payment run day.
I never received any e mail stating they would advise the interest amount just that it would be added.
I saw a few people on here get cheques a month ago so it appears they are sending money out
Maureen says
I got my cheque today too!
Katie says
Hi Sara
I accepted my refund from Sunny yesterday and today it is in my account as well as emails saying that my 3 remaining loans are paid off. The thing is I was expecting £1.2k as £200 was going to pay off the loans but they’ve paid me 1.4k and paid off the loans so that’s £200 more. Do I need to inform them ? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“Bank Error In your Favour” as it says on the Monopoly card… It’s up to you if you want to tell them.
Nigel says
Different money further update. I had this from my adjudicator yesterday.
I understand a colleague of mine emailed you yesterday with information about how to enforce the final decision in court. The liquidator has been in contact with yesterday to let me know that they will be accepting the final decision to allow them to add you to the list of creditors. So there is now no need for a court judgement.
The liquidator has asked me for your address as they will need to write to you with a claim form if they are able to pay a dividend, they will also send you an annual report for the liquidation.
Nick says
I already accepted an offer from my jar.. i realise now it’s far less than what i could have got.. can i ask them for the full interest i paid ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No :(
Glen says
Anyone heard anything from cash genie regarding the cheques due to be posted today?
PM says
Glen
Like I said above no response from them or Beth Ward- or any email confirming final cheque value
Given up on this now tbh
Regards
PM
Debbi says
Has Cash Genie gone into liquidation? I requested statements 8 weeks ago had an email to say they would request them and nothing since.
I had this on an email they sent me
Kind regards
Beth Ward
Cash Genie
Trading name of Ariste Holding Ltd in liquidation
Linda says
Got my cheque from RSM this morning for full amount.
Sarah says
Me too… already in the bank
Steph says
Anyone know how long Wonga usually take to pay you once you except their offer directly with them?
Thanks
Katie says
Hi Steph. So you decided to accept their offer? I’m still in two minds. If you don’t mind me asking what made you decide to go for it ? Thanks Katie x
Steph says
Hi Katie, I decided to accept as it was £400 less than the total interest I’ve ever paid to wonga in my history of borrowing from them.
Although I could have pursued and probably obtained more from the ombudsman, I need the money now and this will enable me to pursue my other claims fully – quick Quid is by far the largest and I could get £8k plus from that one, so decided it was the best route.
How are you getting on? X
Katie says
That makes sense. Has your QQ claim been picked up by an adjudicator yet ?
So far I’ve had
Mr Lender £295
The Money Shop £2997
Albermarle £700
Sunny £1400
Still waiting to hear from moneyboat uncle buck and piggy bank
Satsuma Peachy QQ P2P WDA Myjar and Lending Stream with FOS
Offer of £3000 from Wonga but only half the loans.
Really pleased with the progress. Wonga was one of my largest with P2P QQ and Lending Stream all with approx £5000 in interest. So glad I found this website on New Year’s Day. What about you, any other successes ?
Steph says
Apparently my QQ claim has been picked up by an adjudicator, but I haven’t yet spoken to them or heard any more.
I hope I do ok with that one as it’s the largest – £6,500ish in interest alone so I needed the Wonga money to settle a few things and pursue that one.
Have also submitted Sunny to the FOS, that’s only about £1,200. Also claimed to Satsuma but no response from them yet – about £300.
Sounds like you’ve had a pretty good outcome from yours. Congratulations!
Good start to the year isn’t it. I’m very very grateful for it. Has literally rescued me. X
John says
They paid me 3 days after I accepted the offer – Good Luck!
Mustard says
My money was in my bank within 3 days. ?
John says
Letter from the Ombudsman today – Upheld Adjudicators decision against Lending Stream – Approx £1600 coming my way – Delighted!
Dan says
Hi All,
First of all, I’d like to say that the information on this site and you’re comments are invaluable help.
Like many of you, I got into the dreaded spiral of PDL debts and finally woke up to the fact I needed to sort myself out.
I’ve had many, many PDL over the last 5 or 6 years and, currently, have outstanding loans with Lending Stream, Mr Lender, Sunny and Satsuma.
I’ve sent complaints in too all now with the details I can gather (I have most of the history and the amount borrowed over the last 5 years is scary! Worked it out that I’d borrowed about £18k plus interest of about £14k).
Mr Lender (£4k borrowed) replied almost instantly to my complaint and offered as a gesture of goodwill, to wipe my balance (£500), close my account and end the matter. I have rejected this – if they’re will willing to do this then surely that’s an automatic admission of guilt of their part? Anyone else think I’ve done the right thing?
Michelle says
Hi Dan
Mr lender offered me £2000 and to wipe my balance before Christmas, I thought it was a poor offer so sent to FOS. Adjudicator upheld in full so mr lender made a partial offer of £6k to me plus clearing my loan. I have sent to ombudsman now as offer is still £1700 short of what adjudicator said
Good luck
Dan says
To be honest, I’m wondering if I have done the right thing by rejecting the offer of wiping the balance – extra money in the bank each month is worth a lot right now. However, if they offered that right off the bat, do you think it’s an immediate admission of guilt by Mr Lender? That’s my thinking anyway….
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you have the details of your borowing from Mr Lender?
Seperate out the last loan where this is a balance. For the previous loans you repaid: how many were there? how much interest did you pay?
For the last loan, what did you borrow? how much have you paid to it? what is the current balance?
Dan says
Hi Sara,
I have most of the information – I am waiting for a statement of account so I can fill in the blanks (there are loans which I have confirmation emails from but don’t contain any details of amounts).
However, from the information I do have:
Number of Loans (excl. open one) = 7
Total Borrowed = £3400
Interest Paid = £2475
Current amount owed at this moment in time is £541 (from a £900 loan + £533 interest = £1433 of which I have paid £890 back).
What do you think?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you have paid back £890 of a £900 loan then if the Ombudsman decides this is unaffordable it would normally be reduced to £10 owing. So the offer to wipe out the last balance isn’t as generous as it might appear! It means you would get back in full any refunds on the earlier loans, not have them used to repay the £541 outstanding.
Unless there were a lot of gaps between your loans I would have thought this is a good case to take to the Ombudsman.
Ro65 says
Anyone had any luck with Cheque centre? Waiting on a decision from the adjudicator since the start of October as most of my loans are older than 6 yrs old. Got an offer from cheque centre of £800 in September but if found in my favour it’ll be £8k+.
Don’t see an awful lot written on here about Cheque centre.
Maureen says
I got not a very nice final response from them advising not upholding my complaint, sent to FOS mid March so see what happens. To be honest, they’ve shot themselves in the foot in their Final Respobse, they stated my salary at its highest was £2017.34 with £1200 out goings, excluding any debt. As I continuously borrowed £1000 with interest on top, if I only had their debt I wouldn’t even be able to afford the capital and interest without borrowing elsewhere! Let’s see what happens. If upheld I’ll be looking at around 6k from them. Hope you get the outcome you hope for.
Wendy says
Hi I have just received an email from
W onga about my personal data may have been compromised…..how dangerous is that? But worried… .
Nicole says
I’ve just received tonight a email from Wongas saying some of my details may ha been compromised! Anybody else had this? I’m very very worried ! Thanks Nicole xx
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is worrying! I’ve just written a new article about this https://debtcamel.co.uk/wonga-customers-details-stolen/.
I really hope it doesn’t affect anyone here, but these barstewards don’t steal data for the fun of it…
Wendy says
How serious is that Sara? Is it worth getting my debit card cancelled? And also what about bank sort codes and account numbers…what can hackers do with that.. I’m really naive :(
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If it was me I would just be checking my accounts (bank accounts, credit card accounts) a couple of times a week for the next month, then drop down to monthly. You are looking for anything you don’t recognise. See anything and call the bank, telling them you had your Wonga details stolen.
If any money is taken, it should be sorted out pretty soon, I am guessing that you would just have to sign something from the bank saying it wasn’t you.
The most important thing is making people aware of the problem so they can look for problems. Lots of people may not read emails from Wonga anymore if they haven’t borrowed for a while. The emails may even go into their spam folder.
Nicole says
Me too Wendy!!! Eeeeeeeck
Wendy says
Really worried too Nicole :(
Steve p says
I had loans running with 3 payday lenders,I applied to lending stream and was given a loan of £510 over six months,I made the last payment last week,I was wondering what is the likelihood of me winning a irresponsible lending dispute when I only ever had 1 loans with them?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
1 loan cases are harder but not impossible. Can you show that you couldn’t afford the monthly repayments? And that Lending Stream should have known this before they lent to you?
Danielle says
The ombudsmen held in my favour for wageday and lending stream. How long does this company have to refund me?
Leah says
7 days after a I raised my complaint 247 responded stating they have done nothing wrong but would write off my outstanding balance of just over 400 as a goodwill. I rejected this and responded to the points they raised. Then heard nothing until I chased them up and they responded with the below. They mention no defaults 12 months prior which is false and it’s clear on my credit report there were 2 different companies I had defaults with they still show on my credit report.
Don’t think my case will go anywhere but my point of irresponsible lending was that I borrowed constantly on a monthly basis from about 7+ lenders. Had 2 credit cards but there were no monthly credit commitments as I was only paying some others I was just rolling over or not paying.
—————————————————————————
Regardless, we assess the data in the credit report using a scorecard developed by an external consultancy and is continually enhanced in-house.
The threshold of this scorecard is 219 (that is, the lowest score considered as acceptable for these types of loans). Your minimum score throughout our relationship was 278, and your maximum score was 311 – to exceed this threshold by this margin demonstrates a strong credit report for these types of loans.
2016-05-03 06:14:42 1572112 AFFORDABILITY 1615 110 242 0 40 40 20
netpay = £1615.00
Mortgage/rent = £110.00
Credit commitments = £242.00
Utilities/bills = £0.00
Travel = £40.00
Food = £40.00
Other outgoings = £20.00
Free cashflow: £1163.00
Loan amount advanced: £500
As you can see the free cashflow amount you declared here was more than enough to cover the loan repayment due.
We lend based on a proportion of a customers net income, in this case the loan advanced was approximately 30% of that figure. Across your relationship with us, the loan amounts advanced ranged from 5% to 30% of your declared net income.
Accordingly we believe our decision to lend was responsible taking into account the information available to us. To help with our investigation, please confirm if the information you provided to us at this stage was false and/or inaccurate.
Leah says
The expenditure form was auto completed and no I didn’t amend it as I needed the money to live and pay some of the loans to stop action.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You borrowed 17 times from them , Unless there were very large gaps between a lot of the loans that a good basis for a case to take to the FOS.
I don’t know if that data is what you remember providing. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/ which looks at when the a lender has some inaccurate information. As that says, the lender may have been OK to reply on it the first few times, but after that they should have wondered why you kept needing to borrow from them and looked closer. At that point they might have decided that £40 for food £20 for other outgoings £0 for bills (?no mobile) all seemed highly unlikely…
Leah says
I had this response from my jar, I know I wouldn’t have just said I paid rent.
I have forwarded it on to use Ombudsman but now need to complete their complaint form as I can’t do it on my phone as the date on there online form won’t save. I am waiting for it to be sent in the post.
——————————
[I have delted standard stuff and personal names]
You took out 15 separate loans with us between 7 December 2013 and 28 October 2014. All of these loans were scheduled to be repaid in a single instalment within a period of less than 30 days.
You stated that you were in full-time employment with [employer], earning £1,500 net per month, against which you listed monthly payments of £200 towards housing. You also stated that you were single and had no dependants living with you. This left you with a net disposable income of £1,300, which was more than enough to repay the loan instalments.
We note that when you contacted us to defer your repayment dates, the dates were adjusted accordingly and you did not indicate that you were experiencing financial difficulties.
In light of the above, despite our obvious sympathy, we are unable to uphold your complaint.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you had 15 loans and defferred some of them in a period of less than a year? That sounds like a good case to take to the Ombudsman.
Ash says
Good Morning All,
Just wanted to say a massive thanks to this website and everyone posting here, I put in my complaint 11 weeks ago. Passed to the FOS 3 weeks ago following Wonga requesting a further 8 weeks to resolve.
Today I received an offer from Wonga which I find more than acceptable, I claimed for £3.7k and they have offered me in total £2.8k and to delete all refunded loans from my credit file which is a massive bonus!!
Next job is to get in 3 smaller complaints to PayDay UK, Payday Express and WDA.
Also can I just not how amazing and helpful the guys at the FOS are, honestly some of the best customer service I have ever received.
Leah says
Got my final response from uncle buck today, This would result in a refund to you of £1374.70. I worked it out as £1364 not a bad calculation. Just need to complete and sign acceptance form by 24th April oruthe offer is not valid, guessing as the 8 weeks are up on that date.
Have had £1400 from safety net also cleared 900 and any records removed off my credit file.
Just waiting on lending stream, 247 money box. My jar I have escalated to ombudsman, as they offered zero. And wonga.
I had a few others but only 1 – 2 loans and it’s not worth claiming for. I’ve just tackled the big ones.
Kevin says
Hi Sara , i was on a few weeks ago about a debt of 1007 wonga left as a default on my credit file.As i said before i was in a DPP and after contacting the firm that was dealing with this , they called me during the week to tell me that this was a mistake on the part of wonga and i should contact Equifax to sort this.wonga are saying the debt was paid and wrote off,but should it not be them sorting this out as this has been on my file now since Feb 16, i just checked my file recently as i had 6 loans from them and I’m in the process of claiming.Is there any action i can take against them for this or is this just the norm for payday firms.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you tell Equifax they will tell Wonga who will hopefully correct it. But have you checked Experian and Call Credit – they may also be wrong :( See https://debtcamel.co.uk/best-way-to-check-credit-score/ for how to check for free.
Unless you can show the error has cost you money it’s unlikely you would get any compensation.
Susan says
Hi,
Well update from safety net credit they have given me another offer of wipe my debt which is £1000 and pay me £2240.00, but they have to tax me 20% on the refund by hmrc, does anyone know why they have to charge me tax on it, I haven’t decided yet if I am taking it or not.
Leah says
Just curious Susan
have you had your statement of account, as I found they sent it in a format that wasn’t acceptable. I had so many loans and they tried to send it to me on an email. I requested they send it in excel, they put tabs in to make it very clear then, amount borrowed, interest etc so you can see how much you are actually due.
I accepted knowing it was way under but it was a big difference, I shouldn’t have really but it went to good use.
Leah says
What do you think about the response I had from lending stream.
Looking at my Experian report they would have seen I was paying out 450 debt management 2 companies show that have defaults 4-6 months in arrears showing on there when they checked it. I set up payment arrangements with them in the end.
What do you think accept or not as I mean the total amount lent was 1295 interest and charges for late payment £12 everytime £1751.94.
—————————————
You borrowed six loans from Lending Stream which have been closed successfully.
Also, for your reference we have attached the Statement of Accounts. The password to open the attachments is your date of birth in DDMMYYYY format.
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.
The Experian score was factored into our proprietary underwriting and deemed acceptable
At the time of each application, you were full time employed
Your monthly income was ranging between £1467.00 – £1518.00 at the time of each application
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
Although we received additional applications, they were declined as they did not meet our lending criteria
Credit 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.
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. However, upon reviewing your accounts, we found that we were never informed about financial distress. Therefore, we had no reason to believe that the loans could have caused financial distress.
Resolution:
We could see that the loans were offered after the checks were performed with due consideration of all the information provided along with the data assessed from the Credit Reference Agencies.
Having said the above, we believe that Lending Stream have behaved responsibly in approving the loans and have dealt with them fairly.
However, we could note that there were some procedural error while approving the loan 1693316, hence, we offer to refund entire interest and fee paid on aforementioned loan amounting £497.00.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I normally remove a lot of the standard guff, but I’ve left most of it there as it’s interesting because Lending Stream normally tell people they scored 720 (or some other unlikely high number) with Experian, but they seem to have dropped that. Good!
“the total amount lent was 1295 interest and charges for late payment £12 everytime £1751.94.” To be clear, are you saying you paid £1751 in interest and late charges?
what were the gaps between the 6 loans?
Leah says
28.03.2013 – £315
01.06.2013 – £330
09.06.2013 – £95
24.08.2013 – £310
12.10.2013 – £170
27.10.2013 – £120
The loans were taken out on these dates. Interest and missed payment charges yes 1751 that’s based on me adding up what I borrowed adding up what I paid them deducting the 2. They may have still added the interest. But to give you an idea they’ve offered to refund 497 interest and charges for a loan of £310 so more than 50% than what I borrowed
Adam says
So here is my response from MY JAR;
———————————————————
[I have removed the standard stuff – that is most of it!]
Your complaint relates to the loans you have had with MYJAR (previously trading as TxtLoan).
You took out 32 separate loans with us between 3 January 2012 and 9 March 2013. All of these loans were scheduled to be repaid in a single instalment within a period of less than 30 days.
You stated that you were in full-time employment with XXXXXXX Ltd, earning £1,500 net per month, against which you listed monthly payments of £700 towards housing. You also stated that you were single and had no dependants living with you.
We note that we were only made aware of your financial difficulties after your last loan fell into serious arrears. We tried contacting you on several occasions via text messages and emails in which we also provided you with the contact details for free debt advice. We note that the loan is still outstanding and the balance stands at £889.99.
In light of the above, despite our obvious sympathy, we are unable to uphold your complaint. As a goodwill gesture, we propose to reduce the outstanding balance of your last loan to its principal, £500.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
32 loans in a bit over a year is a good case to take to the Ombudsman.
You may want to read https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/ which looks at the issues around whether the expenditures Myjar have mention are accurate. There is a wide variety of situations here, not believing you ever told them those figures, not having understood what they were asking for etc
John says
My QQ complaint is finally with the ombudsman. I complained in May 2016. I had 10 loans however 2 of these where over 6 years. Adjudicator made his decision October 2016 agreeing all loans where unaffordable. A second adjudicator agreed in November and has been stuck it the waiting list till now. In that time QQ have offered £200 good will gesture, £1400, and the most recent one being £2500. I rejected all however I did tell the adjudicator I would dismiss the first 2 to try and speed up the process but we will see what the outcome is in the next couple of weeks. I will keep you updated.
Katrina says
Had an Adjudicator call me today about Payday Express complaint, first I have heard from them since submission on 02/03.
PDEX have made an offer of £375! I finally managed to get my statement of account through the Adjudicator as PDEX would not send to me and I paid over 4K in interest. I have declined this offer and now the FO are going to investigate the complaint so fingers crossed.
Glen says
Wonga finally acknowledged my acceptance. They have said money will be with me in 3-5 working days. Is this true? I know PDUK said this and the money was in my account the same day.
Steph says
I had the same response yesterday. My o/s balance with them was settled this morning. No sign of the money yet ….
Jamie says
Hi all
Just had a final response from Wonga which I accepted . How long do they take to pay out? Does anyone know?
Thanks
Steph says
Hi Jamie, I accepted mine on Friday, had an acknowledgement first thing Monday, my o/s balance with them was settled Tuesday and the money in my account at about 5.30 this evening. Just in time for bank holiday.
So you’ll probably get something by Wednesday.
Good luck.
Lee Page says
Had a response today from wonga only waited 5 weeks with a offer and they have offered me £4434.24 which I have accepted was easy to deal
With wonga
Steph says
Huge thank you to Sara and this site. Last night I received my settlement from Wonga – £4,500 after a £600 deduction to clear my o/s balance.
This morning I woke up feeling like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. The money I’ve received has allowed me to settle my other outstanding PDL’s. I still have a long way to go but thanks to this site, have the following which I now have breathing space to pursue as fully as the ombudsman, and I will be pushing it the whole way regardless of how long it takes:?
Quick Quid – with FOS since mid March – £6,351 in interest alone.
Satsuma – waiting for 8 weeks – £400 in interest.
Sunny – with the FOS since mid March – £1,210 in interest
Lending stream – waiting for 8 weeks – £300 in interest for a one off loan – but hopeful I may get something as I had 3 other PDL’s at the same time.
In addition, thanks to other advice on this site, I’ve put in complaints with RBS for overdraft charges in the last 12 months – £216 back from them.
Also waiting to hear back from HSBC regarding the same thing but I’ve had no response yet.
Complaints have gone in about credit cards with Aqua and Vanquis for irresponsible lending by increasing my credit limit and the same with Very (Shop direct) catalogue.
Thank you to everyone who posts on this website. Your journeys have been great to read and I’m really pleased everyone’s making such good progress.
jenna says
Hi All,
So finally got an offer from Wonga 12 weeks after initial complaint.
The offer was for £2500 minus 20% tax.
First question will i get the full £2500 and then have to pay the tax myself?
Also any idea how quick they take to pay?
Thanks for everyones help :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The tax is only on the extra 8% interest added, not on the refund element. Wonga usually deduct basic rate tax. If this is your only claim, you may well be able to get most of this deduction back from HMRC, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-payday-refund-get-back-tax/
Lee Page says
Well done I got offered £4334:50 on Wednesday and accepted it but not received funds yet
Angela says
Hi
I wonder if you can help me, I wrote to Mr Lender last week regarding several payday loans that I had with them from 2014 (6 in total) using your template letter. They replied yesterday offering £277.50 (the interest in total I paid over all the loans was £2,528.23). I wanted to reject this but I entered into a Trust Deed in 2011 and was discharged in 2014 so my understanding from you website is that any sums recovered will go to the Trustee, is that correct?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If these loans were taken out after your Trust Deed completed, any refunds will come to you. During a Trust Deed – I don’t know – you could ask the firm that set up the Trust Deed, but you may feel reluctant to do this as you may have broken the terms of the trust deed by borrowing? Sorry I really can’t say anything useful about Scottish insolvencies.
San says
Sara,
I need some advice. I have a claim with adjudicator now for multipl rollover loans spanning 4 years with cheque centre, adjudicator is now going through my statements, I am ashamed to say many transactions are gambling will this affect how she sees my claim as I’m scared she thinks we’ll if she could afford to gamble she could afford her debts???
Mandy says
I was in a similar situation. Lots of PDL’s and then starting gambling online in the hope I could win and pay them off (silly I know, it behind me now)! I just had a decision back from adjudicator in my favour. She didn’t even ask about the gambling. There are a lot of people on here with PDL debt & gambling seems to sadly be a common theme ? Try not to worry I doubt you could actually afford to gamble but you did in hope as many others do. Good luck x
Gordon says
Hi San,
I was in the same boat, when I had given the adjudicator my bank statements they had a significant number of gambling transactions, I had stated within my claim I had gambling issue as I did not want to mislead the FOS in anyway.
Payday express had refused my complaint but both adjudicator and now the ombudsman have upheld my complaint interest paid on all loans and the 8% returned.
these transaction only go to show how bad my situation was and prove the lenders had not asked or received the relevant answers ( don’t forget I also admit I had borrowed irresponsibly).
be as honest with the FOS as you can remember they are not the villains they will do all they can and request all relevant information and accounts.
2 decision went my way another 8 to come. so far so good thank you FOS
Kevin says
Hi Sara, got a few questions regarding my cheque centre claim and the reply I’ve received.
Was taking loans since 2009 continuous up until now , put in my complaint last week , they said can’t compensate the ones over 6 years.They have offered to pay the last two which have been sold to other agencies.my grevence is that these have nothing to do with the cheque centre any more so why would they want to do this now.plus the fact that my interest is over 10000 without the 8%. They have offered just over 900 to pay these other ones off.its off to the ombudsman for me , do you think i have a strong enough case.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
10k in interest and continuous borrowing sounds like a good case!
Kevin says
Thanks Sara , thanks for this , my friend didn’t know about this site , I’ve just sent all info away to ombudsman for her , I’m just glad i saw this site as she was in a bad financial place and still is through all this. Obviously the cheque centre just trying to fob her off regarding the 6 year rule , but she was going to take this offer without receiving receipt of her previous loans if i didn’t interveen, told her to continue with this . Thanks
Natalie says
Hello everyone just wondered if you can help me. Mr lender agreed to remove all entries on my file. But I have recently noticed that have added a new entry for 1.1/17 to say the account is settled? Are they allowed to do this. I emailed them and this was the response
Dear Miss Parr,
Thank you for your email.
We have a duty to report and provide all information of our customers to the credit reference agencies, reflecting the status and the method of payments.
Although our position regarding your complaint is clear and we feel removal of the loans from your credit file is not a true reflection to others on your financial history.
Furthermore, we must follow the recommendation from the Financial Ombudsman Service who have advised us to remove adverse information.
Kind regards,
Akan says
Myjar have agreed to refund me all the interest after the FOS ruled in my favour.
alan says
Morning
Has anyone dealt with MYJAR and if so how long after you accept an offer from them that the FOS ruled on can I expect the payment to be made to myself as they are not the best with communication
Thanks
Scott says
Hi there,
Have today received ombudsman final decision on quid quid. Quick quid started with offer of 175, went up to 2k. Ombudsman ruled all loans which amount to 7.5k which I’ve just accepted.
Does anyone know of the best email to send to quick quid to give them my bank details and try to speed up the refund process?
How long do they normal take to calculate the refund amount and pay out?
Thanks
Michelle says
Hi Scott
The FOS normally provide an acceptance form for you to sign and put bank details on it.
I verbally accepted with my Wonga complaint but they told me some companies are funny if they don’t have a signed acceptance form so I printed, signed, scanned and e mailed the form back whilst I still had the FOS on the phone
Maureen says
Another success! Response below from 1 month loan complaint….they’ve not included 8%..is it worth taking to the FOS or is it not always added by them? They are not upholding but refunding as goodwill.!
Bearing in mind the above, I am unable to uphold your complaint, as 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. As a gesture of goodwill, we will repay the difference between what you borrowed (£2,300) and what you repaid (£3,394) which is £1094 and will refund this to your chosen bank account. Please can I ask that you provide me with your account number and sort code so I can arrange for the refund to be processed.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The FOS does usually add 8% but sometimes they won’t say refund on all the loans… Most people are happy to pocket the return of the the interest they paid, feeling this is a fair outcome, but it’s your decision, if you feel the delay is worth what could be an uncertain amount of money.
Maureen says
I have emailed accepting the offer last night and already had an email back to say the refund will be in my account by 6pm today! Total received back from 3 lenders to date …. £6641.13.
Jamie says
Unbelievably helpful website, appreciate all users documenting their journeys. I got my email from Wonga this afternoon finally, took around 12 weeks without FOS. Agreed to refund £2775, much more than I was expecting after a number of other claims were effectively dismissed. Only question I have is they have stated that the £499 loan existing with them will be written off first, leaving around £2200 to be transferred, however that debt has already been passed to a collection agency. Will Wonga tell the agency that this has now been paid, or will they still consider the debt sold and require payment to both parties? Thanks again all :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They should call back your debt from the debt collector – you can double check this with them if you want before accepting their offer.
Dan says
Hello,
I had four loans with QuickQuid, over a short period (4 months) and then was, unfortunately, forced to go on a debt plan. I have £675 left owing to them (The interest on these loans was £730 altogether). I asked them to waive the debt on an affordability complaint (loans £1125 to pay back, my income at the time was £1687). They have come back today with the usual tale of checking credit, and cannot agree it was not affordable etc. and offered to waive £180 of my outstanding debt (which is the interest on the final loan that caused my finances to tailspin into a debt plan).
I would like to ask whether think it is advisable to go ahead the FOS, because I am nervous I will lose the offer if I do so (better to have something rather than nothing!).
Thank you for your advice!
details:
Loan 1 – £500 (£100 interest)
Loan 2- 1125 (£225 interest)
Loan 3 -1125 (£225 interest)
Loan 4 – £1080 (£180 interest) this is Outstanding loan – borrowed £1080 (repaid £495 and still owe £675) – I believe this is why they offered £180 of this debt as this is the interest outstanding on the loan.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“Outstanding loan – borrowed £1080 (repaid £495 and still owe £675) – I believe this is why they offered £180 of this debt as this is the interest outstanding on the loan.” Yes that makes sense.
It is what the Ombudsman would do with the last loan if that was the only one being refunded.
So QQ aren’t offering you anything for the first three loans. Your first loan was for £400. Then the next month you borrowed 900. And the moneth after another 900. If your income at the time was 1687, it looks to me as though the 2nd and 3rd loans are very like to have been unaffordable as you had to repay £1125.
If the Ombudsman agrees with this you would be likely to get back the £450 interest you paid on the 2nd & 3rd loans, plus 8% interest. This would then pretty much wipe out the balance owing.
It always feels risky to take a case to the Ombudsman but you seen to have been lent a very high amount compared to your income for 4 months in a row. This is a pretty good case! I think you could assume the QQ offer is now the least you will get.
Dan says
Thank you so much for this vote of confidence! And for taking the time (and very promptly) replying to my questions and concerns. I think I am going to go to the FOS, it’s worth the wait. I will let you know how it goes!
One more question, is the interest added as an overall (i.e: 8% of £450 = £486) or is it a per year calculation?
Thank you for your time, it’s really appreciated!
Neil says
Dan – the 8% is calculated as “simple” interest. So for the sake of keeping the numbers easy – if you were owed £100 from a loan taken out in April 2013, you would be owed 4 years’ interest.
8% of 100 = £8, £8 every year for 4 years is £32. Minus the 20% tax and it’s £25.60.
From memory, Wonga work it out monthly – so 1 year and 11 months’ 8% simple interest does not mean you just get £8 (using the above example) – you’d get £15.33.
This is unlike interest paid on savings, which is “compound” (that means you earn interest on your interest).