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?
Nathan nugent says
I have been getting loans for 4 years from exactly 10 different sites including wage day advance lending stream and quick quid’s
Every month I pay out my entire wages anddo have to get more loans to make it through the month. With lending stream I have had over 30 loans so would it be worth me going through this process with them as a lot of the time you would have to pay almost double back? If they reject you proposed refund won’t they just stop lending too you? Would love a reply regards
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes it’s worth complaining BUT you have to stop borrowing first. You need to get out of this trap, your complaints could take many months to settle and you can’t carry on borrowing during them. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/help-payday-loan/. Once you have a DMP set up and you are stable and don’t need to borrow any more, then start your complaints.
Jordan says
I accepted my Wonga offer on Wednesday morning and was told I would receive and email within 24 hours telling me my refund was being processed. Still haven’t received that email.
Phoned them up yesterday and asked if they could tell me if it was being processed. The advisor didn’t know and couldn’t get hold of anyone from that department.
I have no idea what’s going on. I’m disappointed, considering they can fund a loan using faster payments within 15 minutes.
Just have to keep waiting.
Ally says
Hi Jordan
I accepted an offer off Wonga on Friday at 2pm via adjudicator and had an email off Wonga before 3pm confirming my acceptance and saying funds would be in my bank in 3-5 days
I’d chase them
Thanks
Ally
Jordan says
Hi Ally
I’ve literally just had an email from them telling me it’s being processed and it will be 3-5 days. Might get it on Friday.
Ally says
We should have it by next weekend then ?
Steph says
Well done to you both! I love seeing these results and these companies deserve everything they get targeting vulnerable people!! Makes me so happy :) Making me see there will hopefully be a light at the end of this very long tunnel for me too soon
Adam says
I too received an offer from Wonga last Wednesday afternoon, I replied to them that evening and accepted this but as of yet have had no confirmation……. :( . Should I ring them or just hold off a couple of days?
Phil says
I sent my acceptance off to Wonga on Monday. Still haven’t had an email from them to say it’s been processed yet. Did phone yesterday to confirm they’d received my email and confirm all was in order. The woman told me it’d be 7 working days before it’s in my account… joke really considering if I was applying for a new loan I’d have the money in 15 minutes!!
Ross says
Well, I was VERY surprised to receive an email from an adjudicator at the FOS at 1522 on a Saturday afternoon! Do the FOS actually work on Saturday’s normally or are they that saturated with work that they’re pulling out all the stops? Anyway, the email apologised for the delay with dealing with my Quick Quid complaint, which has been on hold since October 2016. However, the email just stated that they still didn’t know if they would be able to look at my loans older than 6 years old (can you hear me screaming?).
He also asked for bank statements and expenditure. I told him that the adjudicator for my other cases had access to these and I know they’re stored on the FOS system, so to ask him where they are. As for expenditure, I am unsure of what I was paying out (as it was 7+ years ago) but I know I had multiple payday loans, a bank loan, credit cards, overdraft and living expenses, as well as a rather nasty gambling habit (at the time). The adjudicator for the other cases upheld them all, so I thought it would have been easier for him to handle this one too? I know they can’t do much at the moment, whilst they try to come to an agreement with Quick Quid, but would it be worth asking if the adjudicator for the other cases could pick this one up too?
This is my final case and I can then, FINALLY, put all of this to bed. If it wasn’t for Sara, and this amazing website, I’d have had no idea that I could’ve complained about unaffordable loans. I also told the FOS that it was only stumbling across this website that gave me the insight to complain and, thus, couldn’t have known to complain earlier. I’m hoping this may make the FOS realise that I couldn’t, realistically, known to have been able to complain before then. Fingers crossed!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can’t you make a reasonable stab at your expenditure from looking at your bank statements? I always believe in being as helpful as possible when the FOS has asked you for something. Older cases are more difficult because people don’t remember things – this doesn’t help your case, so do your best!
I don’t think people normally get much joy from asking to switch adjudicators, and this one is obviously jus looking at your case. Your old one may have a really long case load you wouldn’t want to go to the back of,
Ross says
Thanks Sara,
Unfortunately, I actually don’t have the bank statements, as I was lucky whereby the FOS obtained them on my behalf as my Natwest account had been closed since making the complaint(s). I have given the adjudicator a breakdown of what should be appearing on the bank statements and I hope this helps. I totally appreciate that it helps me to help them and to build a strong case as possible. I have asked him not to hesitate to contact me if he needs anything clarifying or any further information.
dan says
I complained to Safetynetcredit 3 weeks ago and received my ‘final response” from them yesterday, basically it was a strong worded response stating they knew it was a copied template from an online website and that most of the complaint wasn’t relevant to their product (id be naiive if we didn’t think that they knew about this site), they state through their access to my banking statements they could see I had a disposable income of £600.00 which is clearly a lie I never had that much…they state that my credit report showed a good credit file…despite them acknowledging that they could see there were payday loans on the file….so how on earth could that be a good credit report?? Plus I was borrowing repeatedly the day after repaying the amount owed to them which they never even acknowledged in my initial complaint. They finish stating they had done nothing wrong, and to quote “In light of the above, we feel that your complaint is completely without merit and no form of redress if warranted”.
Is this just a tactic to try and scare you off or have I genuinely not got a case? anyone else dealt with these before?
Regards,
Dan.
Ross says
Hi Dan,
I, like you, had an account with Safety Net Credit. From an initial credit limit of £150, they increased this to £1,000. Like you, I was repaying, and re-borrowing, time after time. It was only when I decided enough was enough, that I started my complaints. Whether you use a templated letter, or not, is neither here nor there. If you were re-borrowing constantly, then it showed you had a dependency on a high interest, short term loan product. I didn’t use the template letter, but just drafted my own. I made them aware that their own website stated that this was a short term product, not suitable for long term borrowing, and that they had access to see my bank details. Based on this, I said they should’ve noted I had numerous loans going in and out of the account, as well as gaming transactions and credit card bill payments. When I sent the complaint off first, they denied they’d ever received it, even though I received an email from their complaints department, acknowledging receipt?!? (work that one out?). When they did, eventually, send a final response, they absolved themselves of any wrong doing, but offered to wipe my balance as a ‘gesture of goodwill’ which was £1370. I took this, as this equated, roughly, to the amount I had paid in interest over the course of the 12 months. I would definitely send this to the ombudsman, as you have nothing to lose and, potentially, a lot to gain. Let the FOS decide, not SNC, if you have a case or not. Good luck!
dan says
Thanks Ross, hear your experience and from someone in a similar boat is greatly appreciated! will send it the FOS and keep this page updated for anyone else who this may happen to.
dan
dan says
I had a running credit limit for just over a year and a half with them so every month Id repay the initial amount borrowed i.e £200, and then interest etc £30.00 then reborrow it back like the same day etc or sometimes straight away i.e hours…..at the same time several payday loans with other companies outstanding. In addition, the bank account I was using to have the credit deposited by them was a Lloyds account which was -£2,000 overdraft also, so everytime they paid money in it went from £-2000 to like £-1800 etc…surely that isn’t responsible lending??
Would it help if I posted their reply to my complaint? or should I send this to the FOS? they didn’t take any of my arguments on about why I felt it was irresponsible lending and just denied wrongdoing completely.
Dan.
Katie says
I will let you know how I get on Dan. After having some success in complaining to several pay day lenders back in January. 6 gave me good offers, another 10 are currently with the FOS. I decided 2 and a half weeks ago to complain to SNC. They increased my credit limit from £140 to £1000 within a matter of weeks. Like you I was paying back and borrowing immediately as well as my bank statements showing payments to multiple pay day loans. I also used the template from here. So let’s see what they say to me too. I’m expecting something similar in the next week. ?
tracey says
Good morning. This morning I finally managed to sort and go through my bank statements. So the three companies I have raised further to adjudicator level, total interest paid are as follows:
Wonga: £880.86
PDUK: £737.27
QQ: £1016.64
For me the QQ one was surprising. I thought it was half of the total amount paid. And this is the one I currently don’t owe anything to. PDUK I still owe £600 so I’d be happy for a pay off. And wonga I also still owe £250 for a current loan. However this particular loan the principle loan is paid the 250 is purely interest on that loan. Both wonga and PDUK completely refused to accept liability. QQ Offered £100.
The good news is now I can send bank statements and a credit file to the fos as progress has came to a halt because I’ve been waiting to sort this out. Hopefully I get assigned once these arrive.
There are abnormalities in my wages during the two years I’m sending. Changes of jobs etc would either move my pay date or I’d get only a half pay. But on once occasion I was repaid tax, which I’m now paying back through my wages. Can I explain this in a cover letter?
Thanks.
Lynsey says
Hi, I entered into a DRO approx 3 years ago. I know you advise not to try and claim as it may be revoked but I was just interested in having them removed from my credit file. Some of them were part of the DRO. Totally bad money management on my part and glad to be out of it but wondered if it was worth me asking them to remove them without it affecting my DRO? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The advice on not reclaiming is if you are in a DRO, not after it has finished.
After a DRO has finished is, in theory, a rather grey area. However, there have been a lot of PPI reclaims after a DRO has finished and I am not aware of any that have affected the DRO that has ended. So the same should apply to DROs.
BUT there is no point in doing this to improve your credit file. For the 6 years the DRO is on there, it isn’t going to make any difference at all whether you had payday loans, even ones which defaulted, three years ago. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/repair-credit-record-dro/ for ways you can get your credit file looking as good as possible after a DRO.
Wendy says
Hi Sara
About 6 months ago I had my balance wiped with 247 money box after an affordability complaint but just this afternoon i received an email from them giving their bank details with this original amount owing……what should i do? Thanks. Wendy
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Reply with details of when they agreed to wipe the balance. Also check your noddle report to see if the balance has reappeared on there.
Steph says
I phoned up SafetyNet Credit today to explain that I had to cancel my CPA as if I didn’t there is no way I would be able to pay all of my priority bills without having to keep borrowing more this month. I have been borrowing from them straight after they take the payment back but only for the last 5 months so not very long. I already have an irresponsible lending complaint with Wonga I guess this is now going to be my next one.
I am currently struggling financially and asked for a payment plan with them, I was told it doesn’t really work like that because of their automated system if i contact my bank to set up the CPA again then they would automatically take the payment when I have enough money in there. This is exactly what I am trying to avoid because then I will have no choice but to continue borrowing from them in order to be able to pay my other bills and living expenses.
I was told to call back tomorrow to speak to the relevant department to re-set up my CPA and then once i’ve done that they will see what they can do. I don’t think so!!! The fact that their ‘automated system’ has access to my bank account i’m shocked that they have even been lending to me in the first place to be really honest.
I have now just emailed them to complain as think its disgusting that they won’t set up a payment plan and the best they can do is take the payment so then i’ll have to borrow again. I know the interest to date won’t be that much due to only borrowing over the last 5 months but they surely have a responsibility to help me when I’ve told them I need to bring my priority bills up to date first so need to either set up a affordable payment plan or temporarily have a bit of breathing space to get these up to date first. There is no way I will ever borrow from one of these ‘legal loan sharks’ ever again
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is incredibly unhelpful.
There is no way you should reinstate the CPA arrangement. Try tomorrow to agree a repayment plan that you can afford and offer to set up a standing order for that amount so you are in control, or to make the payments manually each month. If they refuse, then put in a complaint first about affordability and second about their refusal to agree a repayment plan.
Stefan says
Hi Steph,
Try to aggree with them for a payment plan with £1 or 5£ per month. You should request their bank details and pay the money in their account for the payment plan. I did the same. Don’t give them access to your account again. I have a 5£ payment plan with them an today I will make a complaint for irresponsible lending.
Stefan
Dan says
Hi Sara
Would just like to say i think you are doing a fantastic job and keep up the good work.
I am a recovering compulsive gambler who has not gambled for 8 months now. At the height of my addiction i owed £1000’s to payday loan companies:
wageday advance, piggy bank, h&t, satsuma, sunny, wonga and mr lender
I eventually got myself out £10000 worth of debt including the £4000 overdraft.
I worked all the interest out on the loans to be around £4000. Do i have a case? i was never asked once for copies of my bank statements and i feel these loans should not have been taken out considering the state my bank account was in. My credit file would of shown at some stages i had several loans out at the same time resulting in a massive majority of my wage being used to pay them back. This of course did not help with my addiction as i needed to borrow more.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well done on “being clean” for 8 months.
Yes you probably do have complaints against some lenders. But it’s important to recognise that this isn’t because of the amount of interest you paid, that doesn’t in itself mean the loans were unaffordable (though it certainly won’t have helped!) Or because they didn’t check your bank statements before lending you money, they weren’t obliged to.
If you complain about these things you may win some cases with the Ombudsman – the FO is pretty good at going to the heart of a case. But it’s better to focus on the crucial points for an affordability case. First to make things simpler at the FO (and most cases involving gambling go to the FO) and second so you don’t bother with some cases where you have little or no chance.
What matters is for each lender is (a) showing that the loans were unaffordable – look at your bank statement for this and (b) showing that the lender should have realised this before they lent you the money. For a typical case with gambling, your income would have looked at first sight adequate to cover your expenditure (without the gambling) and repay the loan. So it is pretty likely that the lender did nothing wrong in lending to you initially… but if you kept rolling the loans or repaying and reborrowing soon after, then after a few months they should have realised that you were dependent on the loans and stopped borrowing… or looked closer and perhaps asked for bank statements at that point…
So the best cases are the ones where you borrowed the most for the longest period. Ant lender where you only had the odd loan every few months is unlikely to have been able to see the loans weren’t affordable for you, unless you were borrowing a large amount in relation to your salary in which case they should have inspected your credit records more closely.
Dan says
Sara,
Thanks for the reply. If I’m honest I’m not 100 percent concerned about the refund itself. I get quite worried I’m going to not be able to get a mortgage in the near future. I have one default with sunny loans and I’m hoping to scare them into removing any dealings with me off my credit file.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hell go for the refunds, they can all help with a house deposit :) I wasn’t trying to put you off, just clarifying which your best claims will be and the points to focus on.
Anecdotally most mortgage lenders don’t mind about payday loans that weren’t defaulted if they were more than a year ago.
Dan says
Quick update:
Mr lender have refunded all interest on my loans and removed them off my credit file. Amazed at how quick and easy it was to sort out. As I said before I don’t care about the money I’m just happy about the loans being removed off my file but the £900 in interest will sure come in handy towards my first home!
Waiting for reports to come back from piggybank, wagedayadvance, sunny and wonga which I have a much better case against than mr lender. Thanks for your help Sara your an absolute diamond
Dan
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s great to get a quick win!
Jordan says
Hi everyone
Since CFO Lending went into administration has anyone pursued a complaint?
I was about 3 or 4 days away from a final response although now I realise they were probably fobbing me off with the date because they obviously knew administration was coming.
Chris says
I have a final decision against CFO Lending which they delayed paying until the administration email got sent. The figure they have down as owing me is wrong so I have tried to email with proof the correct amount first before I put in my claim(because it’s more then £5k) but although I have emailed the correct email address I have just received a reply stating that they are in administration, although the email is to the administrators!
I have also tried to check with the F.O office to see if it might be covered by the FSCS but apparently it’s not.
I’m just hoping that if there is still money being paid back in repayments that money might be kept for creditors, and I believe if you have a final decision from the F.O that you can put in a claim in court. If I hear anything I’ll let the site know.
dan says
Hello, I submitted a complaint to lendingstream on the 10th April and they responded their generic response saying theyre looking into it etc…a few days later I emailed again saying that as I had put a affordability complaint in with them, id like the account I still had open to stop collection activity whilst this complaint was being investigated. I never heard off them at all to this query and then on the day the amount was due (28th) they still took the full amount and now I’m struggling to afford bills etc. There anything I can do? :/
Cheers!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is a shame you didn’t cancel the CPA with your bank. I suggest you do that right away now.
I don’t know what your second email said and how clear it was from that and your complaint that you were couldn’t afford this months payments. If you think it was clear, you could phone Lending Stream up and complain and ask if they can repay you some of the money. Have a detailed list of your expenses etc that are coming up so you can explain how you now can’t manage.
If the only reason you can’t manage is because of other debt repayments, you need to stop those happening – cancel the DDs and CPAs and tell the lenders you are in financial trouble and are looking into your debt options. If you have a lot of lenders to deal with, going through StepChange https://www.stepchange.org/ may be a good idea. It can take many months for a payday loan complaint to be resolved, you need to get your finances stable during this period so you don’t need to borrow again.
Phil says
Morning All,
Just an update…
1) I received an email yesterday from Lending Stream that they do not uphold my complaint, I had a total of five loans with them, however they are willing to write off two of the loans. The remaining three they have assigned to somebody else after I had issued my letter of complaint. They are saying that I need to follow this up with said company. I issued my complaint on 14th March and they assigned the debt on 6th April. I believe that they have now acted unfairly. Is this correct? Also they reckon my Experian score was 522 when I applied for the loans (my credit report from clearscore states at the time my credit score was around 100…) is there normally such a big difference between the CRAs?
2) I also received an email from Wonga upholding my complaint. So that’s abit of good news. I have returned the settlement form with the requested bank details. My only question is how long does it normally take for the redress to be processed once I have sent these across?
All in all it was my birthday yesterday so the Wonga email was a lovely surprise birthday present :D
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have I read this right, that Lending Stream sold your loans after you submitted a complaint and are refusing to reply to your complaint about those loans?
The Experian scores that Lending Stream quotes are often wildly wrong – ignore this.
Phil says
Yes I believe that is correct… here is a couple of extracts from emails that I have received…
Notice of Assignment Email Extract:
On and with effect from 06/04/2017 the assignor assigned to Asset Collections & Investigations (Assignee) all its rights, title, interest and benefits in and to the Assigned Documents and the Debt.
Complaint final response:
This is in reference to your recent correspondence dated 14th March’2017. We apologize for the delayed response.
The ownership of the loans *******, ******* and ******* has been transferred to Asset Collections & Investigations Limited (ACI) due to prolonged non-payments. For any further queries in regards to these loans, we request you to get in touch with Asset Collections & Investigations Limited on 01698 907055.
I don’t believe they should have done this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Gosh.
I suggest you reply asking why they sold loans that were in dispute? And say if they do not offer to refund/settle these loans, you will be sending your entire complaint to the Financial Ombudsman and also complaining about their action in selling the disputed loans.
Phil says
I have sent the following to them… Hopefully going to receive a positive response…
Dear Sir or Madam,
Thank you for your email.
Please can you advise why after I had lodged a complaint with yourselves on 14th March 2017, that the following loans *******, ******** and ******* were subsequently sold on to Asset Collections & Investigations Limited on 6th April 2017 despite the fact that these were in dispute. I feel that you have acted unfairly in doing so.
I request that you offer to refund all interest payments made and settle the outstanding loans otherwise I have no choice but to send my entire complaint to the Financial Ombudsman, also complaining that you have sold these loans whilst in they were in dispute.
From your email below you state that my credit score with Experian was up to 552, however my credit score with other Credit Reference Agencies show that my credit score was averaging between 65 to 136 at the time that I applied for the loans.
Awaiting to hear from you at your earliest with a positive response.
Gordon says
Hi Sara/All,
a small up date on my progress.
initially padyday uk and payday express both refused my complaint timeline started October last year took their 8 weeks submitted to FOS adjudicator took 3 weeks to find in my favour for all loans taken out, both companies took another 4 weeks to reply accepted irresponsible lending on only a couple of my loans offered £400 and £500 I refused took to Ombudsman who upheld my complaint this took until mid April was Sent and email from payday uk two weeks later requesting bank details, they sent me an email informing me of the amounts I was due £1,400 and £1,900 paid into my account the same day. these are one of my smaller lenders so a great result.
the other lenders been allocated to adjudicators but I am now finding the emails I send or the timescales are becoming longer this maybe because of demands? it is worth it in the long run.
I have a question and not sure if anyone can answer, there seems to be some protection for the banks? I took out a debt consolidation loan with Santander in 2008 my debt worse took out another in 2009 and another in 2010 I went to Santander in April 2011 took out 2000 loan and still progressed my debts I took out another consolidation loan 5 months later increasing this to £10,000. at the same time they continually permitted me to increase my overdraft it went from £1000 up to £5000, they argue different sections of the company different checks, all my banking was done through this company they had easy access to my accounts they say their checks were done through computer, I gave an example to the adjudicator of the month before I took the £10,000 loan my salary into my account was £1800 but it rang no alarm bells with Santander that the total monies into my account that month was £6,800 this was made up of my salary £2400 from pdl and the rest taken up from gambling transactions.
I had never from 2008 until 2012 had a month I was not minus interest in my account(I was always in my overdraft and a numerous occasions receiving unauthorised overdraft charges), in my response from the adjudicator they had found the payday lenders had lent to me irresponsibly in all loans from the start of 2011, they said my out goings were £4,000 per month more than my income, they stated in the decision that credit checks were not enough but they have found that the bank has done no wrong.
I am sorry I know this if for payday loans but this one is confusing me in my eyes Santander are as guilty as the pdl , I have appealed the decision of the adjudicator and taken this to the Ombudsman.
in saying this I am overjoyed with the refunds and the assistance the FOS have given me.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Correct decision to take Santander to the Ombudsman level.
Lucy says
Hi i have loan and overdraft complaints i with the ombudsman with Lloyds. Its with the adjudicator at the moment as Lloyds refused they had done any wrong. My adjudicator has said he will have an update within the next two weeks but im not holding out much hope as i have had a catalogue one refused. I did win pdl complaints though.
David says
Hi Gordon,
Glad to hear you had a result from Payday UK Via the FOS – I too have a claim against them and was initially rejected with their standard letter (now also at FOS level).
I noticed you mentioned about gambling transactions, I am in the same boat sadly. I was wondering how that affected your case etc? I am worried about the gambling issues.
Cheers
Nick says
Hi I have 16 complaints currently with ombudsman all with gambling at the heart and so far 6 different adjudicators have found that because of gambling transactions on my accounts there was no way that i could maintain a financial commitment and thus refunds have been granted on all complaints dealt with so far. Dont worry about gambling transactions they may help.
Gordon says
Hi David,
As advised within these pages I was aware the FOS would ask for a copy of my bank statements, I have declared all along that I had a gambling problem. in the decision to the two lenders the adjudicator has mentioned my gambling transactions they were quite significant, he said the lenders should have noticed these and this has probably helped more than hindered.
Gordon
Neil says
Morning all
I’m looking for a bit of advice regarding some odd activity on my Equifax credit report (specifically as seen through Clearscore). I had a complaint upheld against Elevate last month; credit report changes were not part of the decision but there was a small financial award which I’ve received.
However, I checked my Clearscore console as I always do, when it refreshes, and I was horrified to see in the ‘updates section the following :
– You opened your ELEVATE account
This message appeared 12 times; I had 11 loans and 1 rolling credit facility so the number ties up. I also saw this :
– You closed your ELEVATE account
Also 12 times.
The dates of the accounts seem correct, but what business have Elevate got changing this data around? I’ve already got in touch with my Adjudicator, but was wondering if anyone had seen anything like this before? I have a mortgage application going through right now and if I get declined because of this, I am going to go potty.
Zoe says
I had exactly the same yesterday on my Clearscore from ELEVATE .
I hadsent their Final Response to the Ombudsman’s office last month, so no idea why this is all showing this month!
Neil says
Zoe – thanks for that. I guess they have some oddball internal policy. I’ve asked for an explanation as to what the heck is going on, because this seems extremely strange.
Zoe says
Yeah, it’s very odd. I am still waiting an Adjudicator to look at my Complaint, so no idea why ELEVATE have been messing around with my credit file. The last payday loan i had was repaid last summer!
I hope everything is OK with your mortgage application!
Neil says
I got an annual “Statement of Borrowing” from them too; I wonder if the two are linked! Anyway, I have asked for a detailed in-depth explanation; I doubt I’ll get any more than vague flannel but whatever I’m told I will happily share.
Katie says
I had the same too this month. Two weeks ago Sunny gave me a final response which I accepted.
Would be interested to know what’s going on.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Zoe, So you had a rejection from Sunny and then sent the case to the Ombudsman where it hasn’t yet been considered? Were these loans previously showing on Noddle?
Zoe says
Hi, yes Sunny/Elevate rejected my Complaint. I have sent to the Ombudsman, they contacted me asking for Bank Statements to pass everything across to an adjudicator, I am in the process of downloading them now.
The ELEVATE/Sunny loans were all recorded on my Noddle/Clearscore & Experian credit files, at the point they were taken out. However, each month, Clearscore details what has changed in the month since your last credit report. They have clearly done something on their system, as my Clearscore says:
What changed in April 2017
•You opened your ELEVATE [lots of these comments]
•You closed or settled your ELEVATE account [lots of these comments]
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Neil, “I had a complaint upheld against Elevate last month; credit report changes were not part of the decision but there was a small financial award which I’ve received.” from Sunny direct or via the FOS? If via the FOS, at the adjudicator level or the Ombudsman level? And were these loans showing on Noddle before this?
Neil says
Hi Sara
– Decision received from FOS at Adjudicator level, accepted by Sunny (so no need to escalate to Ombudsman)
– All loans were showing on my file as closed; I had never missed a payment etc
– The loans spanned from 2014 to 2015 and were indeed showing on all three version of my credit report from all 3 CRAs.
– I need to go back through past credit reports and compare to this latest one to establish the changes
Kim says
6 weeks ago I wrote a letter of complaint and refund request to both QuickQuid and Wonga. I’ve a good case for both. QQ started in 2009, and Wonga in 2010.
Every month for seven years I paid wither the interest or loan, either rolling them over or repaying and then taking out another loan with that same company within days. It was horrific trying to juggle them. Using o e to pay the other etc.
Anyway, today I got a flat NO from QuickQuid but they offered to knock £400 off the £800 I still owe.
I did of course send back a rejection email and will be complaining online to the FOS to take it further and out of QQ’s hands.
Still awaiting any news from Wonga, I’ve had no statement of account despite emailing and phoning. They have 2 weeks left to reply so I’ll stand firm.
Disappointed with QuickQuid response but not surprised. Again, will keep you updated as and when news comes in.
Steph says
Definitely a good choice to pursue QQ Kim. I also had a “goodwill” offer from QQ at the 8 week point (£350), referred to FOS.
Hasn’t yet been investigated the adjudicator who’s only just been assigned, but QQ have already increased their offer to £2,100.
I’ve declined again as the interest alone that I’ve paid over 5 years is £6,361.
Good luck with your journey!
Chris Dyer says
I have had several loans with Wonga, emailed them about getting statement of loans but heard nothing
Went on to credit score and found i have had over 29 loans tottalling £6000! I pretty much took out a new one every month to cover the repayment, so i hope i have a solid case?
I have sent Wonga a letter and emailed them with this:
To whom it may concern
I wish to complain about irresponsible lending provided to me from Wonga
Over the period of May 2012 to August 2014 I had 29 loans totalling £6304
These loans were taken out regularly every month (sometimes twice)
This put me in a poor financial position, causing me to continuously roll over my loans as I had to borrow within days of paying off my previous loan, in order to get through the month
Therefor I request a refund of all interest that was paid on these loans
Yours Faithfully
……………………….
Chris says
Hi,
The adjudicator for my wonga refund has sent they conplaint to the ombudsmen. How long do they usually take to get a reply off the ombudsmen? Wonga already made an offer i refused and then wonga didnt get back to the adjudicator. So he sent it to the ombudsmen.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Wonga sometimes come back whilst you are waiting for an Ombudsman to pick your case up. If not then it’s usually in the 2-6 months period. Six months would be very unlucky but a few cases do seem to get stuck for no particular reason. I am assuming you don’t have any loans over 6 years.
Ally says
Hi Chris they never came back to my adjudicator so I chased them to ask why and they said they hadn’t had the findings letter I sent it to them and spoke to my adjudicator who resent as well. I had a second offer within 5 days almost double the first which I accepted.
May be worth chasing.
Thank
Ally
Chris says
Thanks Ally I have just sent them an email :), hopfully I’ll have a reply soon.
I haven’t Sara and I hope that’s the case :)
Thanks for the info off you both :)
Vicky howarth says
Hi I have a current loan with mr lender (£246 left to pay on this), I have had 8 loans with them since Feb 2015 they have all been one after another . I put a complaint in and said they had lent me the money irresponsibly, they have messaged me back saying they will wipe my loan do I accept the offer or do I try and get some money back also (if so what should I reply to them) thankyou
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Vicky,
do you know how much interest you paid on the 7 loans that have been repaid? were any of these loans rolled?
this last loan, how much did you borrow? have you paid anything towards it?
Vicky says
That’s one of the loans I received .. so I think that means the interest I paid on that loan is £450.67, yes all of the loans where rolled one after another I just kept borrowing once the last loan was paid off & I have made 4 payments off my current loan I have 2 more payments to make
Number Date Total Amount
(Interest and Capital)
1 04/09/2015 £255.33 (Capital £83.33 + Interest £172.00)
2 02/10/2015 £176.66 (Capital £83.33 + Interest £93.33)
3 30/10/2015 £158.00 (Capital £83.33 + Interest £74.67)
4 27/11/2015 £139.33 (Capital £83.33 + Interest £56.00)
5 24/12/2015 £119.33 (Capital £83.33 + Interest £36.00)
6 21/01/2016 £102.02 (Capital £83.35 + Interest £18.67)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you have paid about £450 in interest on the first 6 loans far. The last loan, what did you borrow? How much do the 4 payments you have made come to?
Vicky says
All together over the loans the interest is around £1900 (the one I showed you above was just one of the loans) the current loan I have open I borrowed £400 & so far I’ve paid £404.80
Sara (Debt Camel) says
In that case a “full refund” would look like £1900 paid on previous loans plus £4.80 (the amount you have paid over the amount you borrowed on current loan) plus 8% interest on these amounts and wiping your current balance and removing the default.
Now you may well not get a “full refund” from the Ombudsman – it’s common for the FO to decide the first few loans were ok so only refunds from that point on. But I think this shows that the LS offer to just wipe your current balance is very poor.
Dan says
Hi,
I had the same – an open loan with Mr Lender and raised a complaint.
Credit to them as they do investigate and respond pretty quick.
First offer was to wipe my balance (about £900). I refused this.
Next day I received a second offer to wipe existing balance and refund some interest from previous loans. I refused this too.
A day or so later they came back with wiping existing balance £900 plus refunding £850 which I accepted.
I could have got a lot more as I think I had a good chance with the FOS but I figured I’m responsible for the mess I’m in too and clearing a balance is equally as important as getting money back (so long as I’m happy, right).
If you don’t think an offer is right, reject it/ask them to reconsider – the worst they can do is say no and keep the current offer.
Si lad says
Sara,
Wonga have not paid me out by day 28 as instructed to do so by the Ombudsmans final decision. What are my options please?
I’m fuming.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
See the “other ways to get paid” section in this post: https://debtcamel.co.uk/enforce-financial-ombudsman-decision/.
Jordan says
Hi Si Lad,
I’m concerned to hear this, I’ve recently accepted Wonga’s offer and they said I’d get the money in 3-5 workings days. Did they send you an email saying your refund was being processed?
Si lad says
No mate. Nothing. Day 28 came and went. Still waiting.
They just make the rules up themselves these companies. I had the exact same with Lending Stream. Paid me on day 29.
The 28 day rule is just a guide given by the Ombudsman as what is reasonable time enough to pay you. They don’t have to stick to it. If they are inundated with claims. Which they will say you are you won’t get your cash by day 28. But will eventually get it as they do have to give it to you in the end. Hope you get your cash man.
Ally says
Hi Jordan
My money is in check your bank!!!
Thanks again Sarah your amazing
Ally
Jordan says
Hi Ally
The money is also in my account, very happy now!!
Si Lad, I hope you get your money soon!!
Phil says
Pfft. No sign of mine nor a confirmation email!!! I sent the information they requested on Monday! Grrr
Si lad says
Jordan,
After how many days since getting 3-5 days email did you get paid?
JORDAN says
Si Lad
I got the email saying 3-5 days early on Monday morning and the money went in yesterday afternoon.
Phil says
Jordan, Ally… can you just let me know if your processing email read the same as the following? I just want to be sure as it took three phone calls for them to actually pull their finger out and send this. Just want to be sure they haven’t only sent me it to shut me up haha
“Thank you for confirming that you wish to accept our offer as outlined in our Final Response, in full and final settlement of your complaint.
We have started processing your settlement and we aim to finalise this within 3 – 5 working days.
A request has also been made to the credit reference agencies for the affected loan(s) to be removed from your credit file. It may take up to 30 working days to reflect the change on your credit file.
Thank you for giving us the time to resolve your complaint.
Kind regards,
Complaints Team”
Many thanks,
Phil
Rick says
I am 25 and since the age of 18 have been in employment. I started borrowing money at 18 from payday loan companies. This went on for years and the debts slowly got worse. I started gambling, chasing money and the debts got bigger and bigger. Some family members bailed me out when things were really bad. Like an idiot, I was not completely honest about all the debt I had and thought I could hide some of it from them and manage it myself. I am earning good money so did not seem like a difficult ask. Nevertheless, the gambling continued and one month I fell short and back into the trap. The cycle began again, with me paying bits and bobs off here and there. Now I find myself in serious debt, stressed beyond belief, but now with the bank/long term loans. I know I can manage the majority of these debts its a few stupid payday ones I want rid of. I want to get rid of those payday debts and then pursue my complaint as I believe that I could be owed a substantial compensation package.
I suppose what I want to know is;
Should I lodge the complaint at a stage where I still have a few outstanding payday loans? I am worried this will effect my case.
Will the fact I have loans with banks/peer2peer lenders effect my case negatively?
My plan in theory is to get the payday loans paid off. I will still have substantial debt, but with banks and other lenders.
I would then like to pursue the complaint against a good 15 – 20 payday lenders spanning 7 years. If successful with the case, I then plan to use the compensation money to put towards my existing debts with other lenders, further reducing my debts and making my life manageable again.
Does the above plan sound a bit idealistic?
Any help/advice is welcomed. Thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
When did you last gamble?
Rick says
I have gambled most of my adult life, it is something I am currently dealing with. As of today I have blocked all online accounts as I am really looking to try and get my life back on track.
I have money invested in shares which is how I plan to pay off my payday loans. This will make my existing debt more manageable, especially with no gambling!
I know this won’t look good, especially any bank statements. Will this detrimentally effect my case?
I have already written to a number of companies asking for a Statement of my Account as I plan to go through all my previous loan amounts.
All help/advice welcomed. Thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Not sure if you have seen my article on stopping gambling: https://debtcamel.co.uk/gambling/. My advice there is not to make these complaints until you have stopped gambling, and sorted out your finances. This will take months.
We have seen lots of people win complaints with gambling showing on their bank statements. However, the fact that you have liquid assets you can use to repay these debts may be a much bigger problem.
Rick says
Thank you Sara. I think what I will do is spend the next 3-6 months not gambling and then sometime in that period make my complaint. I plan to pay off my payday loans this month.
Do you mean my liquid assets may weaken my long term case? I plan to use these to pay off some debt now. My shares were never declared in affordability checks so as far as the lenders were concerned that money did not exist? Also, can you win in some of these cases and not others? For example, are complaints lodged against payday loans in the last 3 months more likely to be rejected?
Sorry to be a pain I just really don’t know where I stand with this and didn’t know it was even possible until recently.
As ever, all help and advice welcomed.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
To win a payday loan affordability complaint you need to show 2 things. First that you could not afford to repay the loans without borrowing more. And second that the lender should have realised this.
If you had savings such as these shares, you are very likely to fail on the first point. You could afford to pay off the loans, you just chose not to. Sorry.
Harry says
Put complaint in with Wonga on 7th Feb.
They finally sent offer after about 10 weeks.
I have had about 70 loans normally two a month to repay off the other. When I got paid I had like £50 in my account then had to take another out to live etc etc (completely unaffordable).
They offered me like £200 and said they take responsibility for 2 loans and could have done more… Why just two lol?? They then tried giving me the whole ‘it’s your fault’ malarkey and tried scaring me.
I knew it is their responsibility to stop lending etc and I wasn’t going to take their crap so sent them another lovely email saying my next steps and contacted the FO. The lady I spoke with was lovely. I contacted my bank to get statements from 2011-2014 and I logged in to Noddle to get my credit report printed off and sent to over to them, was all effortless. I was stupid at 18 but I’m not stupid like they think now and to be honest out of principle I would have challenged their offer as the payday loans are vultures preying on vulnerable people.
I am certain I will get more than what they have offered and I can’t wait to send an email reply back to their first email saying it was my fault
with a few simple words……
“Thanks for all the Wonga, thought it was all my fault??”
Good luck people, DON’T ACCEPT THEIR SHITTY OFFER, IT IS EASY TO CONTACT THE FO AND BELIEVE ME THEY WANT TO HELP YOU!
Kev R says
Hi Sara.
I made a complaint with QuickQuid about 5 weeks ago. They replied quickly, saying, they refused to uphold my complaint, but offered a “goodwill” payment of £200.
I had 8 loans over a two year period, repaying interest and fees totalling about £1800. I took the complaint to the Ombudsman 3 weeks ago. I sent him my bank statements, which he received today. I’m waiting on my credit file, which will arrive imminently.
He emailed me today, saying QQ have offered £1020, in relation to loans 5 and 8. It’s not a bad offer, but I’m wondering whether I’m likely to get interest and fees back on the other loans? This is new to me, so would appreciate an opinion as to whether this is likely.
Thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
2 out of 8 doesn’t sound like a good offer, but you really need some more facts to decide:
Your loans, were some if them rolled or instalment loans?
What were the gaps between them, the time from repaying one to taking out the next?
Do you know how much interest you paid overall?
Did the size of the loans tend to go up?
Kev R says
The loans were instalment ones. The first 7 were in fairly quick succession, with about 2 weeks, at most, between paying one off, and taking out another.
My interest repayments totalled £1600. Yes, the loan amounts did increase over time.
martin says
i had offer from QQ of £400 then they up it to £1100 but had missed out my 2 biggest loans and roll overs so said no, with lending stream they offer me £650 ended up getting £2100 so i say go the distance its long wait but big difference
Kev R says
Thanks for that. What a coincidence how they missed out your biggest loans. In two weeks, mine’s gone from £200 to £1000. I shall see it out till its conclusion, and see what happens.
MattyB says
Hi.
First of all may thanks for the excellent article. Finally took the plunge so to speak and dared to look through my history with wonga. 24 loans over a two year period (continually reborrrowing and not just from the either but I’ll get round to tackling the rest of them) Looking back now I was in a right mess and to be honest i still am to a degree. Anyway had a reply from Wonga and from the 24 loans totalling just over £3k in interest and charges, they have decided that just one of these loans was ‘unaffordable’ and offered me £230.
I guess my next move is the ombudsman then.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Another bizarrely random offer from Wonga – Ombudsman time as you say.
arzalan says
Hi Sara,
I have recently used the first, basic, template you provided asking Wonga for a Statement of Account. After a couple of “we’re dealing with your complaint” kind of emails I even contacted them again to make sure they knew I was specifically asking for a statement of my account. They eventually provided me with a 1500 word response, without a FULL statement of account, slowly leading me to believe they were going to reject my complaint. Nearer the end they gave me some reasons as to why they thought they had lent irresponsibly and surprisingly included an offer of £800ish right at the very end (I HADN’T SPECIFICALLY ASKED FOR A REFUND) for the inter 30ish loans I took out between July 2011 and August 14.
They told me I could get in touch with the Ombudsman but they also informed me that the Ombudsman would not deal with anything more than 6 years old so they, Wonga, would not investigate my claim past this date. They also told me as the laws changed around 2014 regarding lending so they deemed my loans prior to this date affordable and these would not be investigated either.
This leads me to believe Wonga are hiding many more loans, especially prior to 2011 which were sold to me when I could not afford to pay them back. Does this seem like something I should take to the Ombudsman? Or do you feel Wonga have treated me fairly? As I have not been able to check exactly how many loans I have had with Wonga I cannot tell if this is a fair amount. There are no records on Wonga’s website and I can’t search back far enough through my online transactions.
Any advice you could give me would be greatly appreciated. I didn’t know it was possible to claim back from unaffordable payday loans until a friend put me on to your website.
Thanks for your hard work.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Not looking at loans after 2014 – did you have many after this point? I see from the list that you were a regular borrower between July 11 and Nov 12, then there were just two loans Feb 13 and Aug 14.
Not looking at loans over 6 years old – any idea how many there would have been before the July 11 point which the first one they are offering a refund on?
If there wouldn’t have been many loans before 2011 or after Aug14 then this may be a reasonable offer.
You could reply saying you want to consider their offer but could they send you the full list of loans so that you can decide?
Roch says
Hi all, Just received final responses from Payday UK, The Money shop and Payday express
They all cannot uphold my complaints. I am totally fine with The money shop as I only ever took out 1 loan, however Payday UK and express refuse to show me a statement of account.
UK have said I took out a loan of £140 with them In August 14 but when I checked my bank it was a different date and was showing £150 I’m very confused as on my statements its only showing express finance around that date and I’m confused whether its payday UK or payday express as they wont give me the statements, with Payday UK I went on a dmp with Harrington brooks and in their final response they say its Harrington Bond. Why are they mixing up everything?
With Payday express I took out my first loan in August 2012 for £350 then repaid then 2 more in August 14 which rolled over then went into arrears and was on a repayment plan after telling them I was struggling. They both say all their checks were done and that they don’t have control over my spending habits with other lenders or my spending habits etc…
I guess that’s it then.
Ross says
Hi Roch,
Express Finance was a previous trading name for Payday Express (should show as Express Finance, Bromley?). They are renowned for being awkward with providing statements of account. I couldn’t get any of mine. However, as they rejected my complaints (PDEX, PDUK and The Money Shop), I just sent them off to the FOS and they HAD to provide these statements to the adjudicator(s). The adjudicator, in turn, sent them to me (via email). I was then able to see what I had borrowed/repaid and this helped me decide when accepting offers. Maybe another way of doing it?
Roch says
Thank you for your advice Ross :) do you think I should send them to FO for not giving me the statements etc.. and do you think I have a good case even though I only took about 3 loans each from express and Pduk both getting rolled over and paid off by a repayment plan and one on a DMP? Were your loans high as mine varied from £100- £350. Thanks x
Ross says
You’re well within your rights to send these off to the FOS, especially if you ‘rolled’ loans, it doesn’t really matter about the number of loans but the rolling does! A friend of mine, who was in a DMP, had some good success and her DMP finished much earlier, as a result, and she’s also had some more money besides, which is going to help her buy a new car. Go for it! Good luck ?
David says
Hey everyone,
I have posted previously, but once again thanks for the great site and information. I had loans with more or less all the main lenders, over a 6 year period, some nearly constantly which thankfully I have just managed to get out of the spiral. I made my initial complaints back mid February and have since escalated to the FOS, been appointed an adjudicator who has been in touch and am about to send over my information they have asked for later today (my fault on the delay as my bank missed out a significant amount of bank statements for key dates!).
I’ve been reading through the posts on here and was feeling optimistic over the last few months but since I have received final notices and flat rejections from all the lenders – not even a paltry offer as most seem to received from Wonga who was my main lender, I’m feeling a little pessimistic now.
I’m just wondering if the fact I haven’t been offered anything as a settlement from any lenders doesn’t bode well for my case? Has anyone else had total rejection letters and then been awarded something via the adjudicator?
I guess I should feel more optimistic but its been a long slog and even some of the money I have spanked in interested and charges would be a game changer for me and my wife and help pay of my credit card debt.
Ross says
Hi David,
First of all, don’t feel despondent by the lack of offers. Some have had offers, but plenty haven’t. There seems to be no rhyme, nor reason, as to how some companies treat complaints. Because these type of complaints have now really taken off, companies are more than likely going to try to put you off, by rejecting your complaint, in the hope that you’ll just go away. Stick with it and let the FOS decide if you were wrongly lent to, or not. You have nothing to lose and, potentially, a lot to gain! Good luck ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Wonga is incredibly random – some people get good offers, some just on a couple of loans and no one can see why those, and some with good cases are offered nothing. Send any complaints where you borrowed consistently from a lender to the FOS and let them consider your cases.
David says
Thank you for the advice.
I have 5 cases against 5 of the main lenders with the FOS and have been appointed an adjudicator. I know it is a waiting game now, but I am just a little disheartened as I haven’t been offered even a random, paltry amount from any of them – flatly rejected by all 5 ( 2 of which are PDEX and PDUK so I wasn’t expecting anything from them!) despite borrowing almost consistently over 5 years!
Hey ho, fingers crossed.
Lizzie says
I am so annoyed with wonga I have now received a reply to tell me they can’t find any history of me so ask me to confirm my dob name address and email I registered with now the email address I sent 2 and i said it is one of those sad this goes back to 2009 and I had no involvement with them since 2012/2013 maybe so my memory is hazy they are still telling this is not correct information I know this is correct as obviously I know my own name my date of birth I had just turn 18 so I knew I gave my actual dob my address was my first independent address as I knew better than to bring debt to my mums door lol. As this been the case with anyone else? Is this a way of hoping people give up or are they being genuine any advice appreciated thanks x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
do you still have access to the email account you used then? or the bank statements that would show payments from and to Wonga?
Lizzie says
I don’t at the minute as my bank account was closed but I could ring and try and get all my statements. I can’t get into my emails ATM because I can’t verify them due to old phone number etc but I am still trying x
Lizzie says
I think I may of scared them into submission I sent a further email yet again sarcastically confirmation that I am certain of my name and date of birth etc and that my last correspondence from them was a said address and also sent my previous address. I also stated that with the information above it would be impossible to not find me on the system unless aliens or better still wonga yourself have removed from your database for some strange reason however I will be seeking out old bank statements to find out the information I have requested if you do not wish to. To which they replied with we are sorry to hear you wasn’t happy with service you receive we now have your complaint and will look into your case. Now I’m assuming this is the typical response to the first email I sent regarding my complaint and requesting my statement of loans. Does anyone if that’s the standard reply? Does it sound like they may have now trace me on the system? X
Leah says
Hi lizzie
I had the same response and provided all the information in my original email. They still asked for it again. I think it’s standard to try and put people off.
Steve says
Hi, I’m after some advice please. I’ve just received my final response from wonga and they have offered to refund interest and charges on some of the loans (total £2200). I paid £3500 in total but this included loans over 6 years which they have said they are not considering. Does this same a reasonable offer? Is there any chance I could get anything from the loans over 6 years? Any advice would be much appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can you divide up the £3500 – how much of it is for loans over 6 years? If it is only a few loans, you might not mind if they are ignored.
The Ombudsman is looking at cases over 6 years old, not ruling them out of court, whatever wonga says. But these cases will take much longer…
Your options are
1) to accept the current £2200 offer
2) to send the full case to the adjudicator
3) to send the case to the adjudicator but say you only want the loans under 6 years to be looked at.
Steve says
Thanks for the response Sara. £900 is for loans over 6 years and £2500 for loans within that timeframe. That is without the 8% which they say they have added. How much longer are we talking for over 6 years? Could I accept and get the ombudsman to look at the loans over 6 years? A few of the interest and fees they have listed don’t match up with those on the SOA they gave me so can I query that? Or will they not be interested with it being a final offer?
Steve says
Does anybody know if I can accept the offer and then get the financial ombudsman to look at the loans over 6 years?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can ask your adjudicator, but I think it’s very unlikely.
Baco to the problem of the offer. If you think your paid 2500 within the 6 years, if I guess that on average this was 4 year ago (so evenly spread between 6 and 2 years ago?) then the 8% extra would be worth 32% ie £800 ish. So if you ignore the older loans the question is whether to take £2200 against a possible £3300.
On the older loans the 8% interest is a lot more so £900 could increase to £1400. But of course the Ombudsman may not agree all you loans were unaffordable>
How desperate are you for the cash?
Steve says
Ok thanks Sara. The majority were nearly 6 years ago so looking at £1000ish. The offer did including closing a current loan of £600 with them so suppose it’s £2800 against £3500ish. Taking the offer would allow me to clear all debts and start a fresh so thinking of doing that just don’t want to think I’m missing out on a much larger amount!
Neil says
Payday UK did not uphold my complaint so I have referred it to the FOS, just got an email from the FOS asking for my bank details only ? no statements or credit file ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That’s unusual. You could ask them why they want your bank account details?
Neil says
I thought that too, I have asked them as it doesn’t say whether it’s my current details or the account when I had the loans which is now closed.
Joel says
My jar rejected my complaint.
I took 15 loans from 2014-16.
13 one month loans, all back to back.
1 3 month loan.
1 6 month loan, which is currently on hold.
I asked if this was their final response. They said yes, they await the ombudsman response.
Guess it’s over to them?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sounds like a good case to go to the FO.
John says
HI,
23 days ago the ombudsman gave a final decision against Lending Stream upholding the adjudicator decision and giving them 28 days to settle. Not a word from them so far. Just have to sit it out I guess.
I think it says it all about Lending Stream that after delaying the process for more months than I care to remember they then string out the last part to the very end ………
John
Phil says
Lending stream are real pains in the backside! They have sold a debt on after I disputed it. If I don’t receive a positive response it’s off to the ombudsman.
Tom says
Hi I have sent my bank details to Payday Express today for a refund of redress. How long do they usually take to pay out now? It took nearly the full 4 weeks for a previous redress to be refunded to me from Payday Uk but I have heard things seem to be speeding up now regarding payments from the Dollar Financial group that they belong too.
Cheers
Ads says
Hi,
Having been told about this by my wife, i decided to take the plunge and contact Wonga who i’ve used quite about over the last 5 years even having an active loan with them now. I’m pretty sure the lowest amount I took out in this 5 year period is £700 and majority of them have been over £1000.
When I have taken out a loan with Wonga and then after I’ve paid it back, i’ve gone back to them to take a further one out (awful cycle of events i know) even had to take other loans out to pay Wonga. I need this to stop and the only way to stop is to do it myself.
Having read all the comments on this page, i would like some clarification. So tonight I emailed them asking for a statement of my account, how long do i wait for them to reply before chasing?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you have a loan from Wonga now, you have to be able to stop borrowing. Can you repay this one without borrowing any more from them or another lender? If not, you need to cancel the CPA to Wonga with your bank and tell Wonga you can’t afford the repayment.
If you have used Wonga a lot for 5 years, you don’t have to wait for a statement to put your complaint in, you could do that now. Just put at the bottom that you have asked for a statement of your account and you still want this.
Ads says
Hi Sara,
Just to give an update, i got a response back from Wonga and they have admitted wrong doings when loaning me the money they did but for only 2 loans back in 2013 not any before that or any after that and they offered a measly £240.00.
Obviously I don’t think this is responsible and will take it further. I am just about to fill in a online form with the Ombudsman.
I also wrote a complaint to lending stream but they have yet to respond back to me.
Maureen says
My interest with Quickquid was around £4000….do you think this response stands me in good stead with the FOS??
Nonetheless, I can see that a pattern of dependency emerged with loan 362253 and such pattern continued during the period you took out the above referenced loan.
We take seriously our responsibility to treat customers fairly and to that point we uphold your complaint as it relates to dependency but do not uphold your complaint as it relates to affordability and hardship. As such, we would like to offer to waive your balance in the amount of £720.00.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The FOS look at your case as a whole. £4000 in interest is a lot of borrowing, so this sounds like a good case. And an inadequate response from QQ. I wouldn’t worry about the difference between dependence and affordability and hardship – these are pretty interlinked.
Maureen says
Thanks Sara. Yes, I hope it is a good case. I did have decent income at the time but once I’d paid all my payday loan interest only each month I had nothing left and had to borrow again straight away. I’ll let you know how I get on with the FOS.
Andy says
Evening
Just an update on my cases – which will hopefully give some of you some info on certain companies.
Received an offer direct from wonga today for 7.5k. I was expecting less than that so have accepted the offer – 10 weeks from when I originally complained.
My lending stream complaint has now gone to the FOS adjudicator and I am awaiting their decision (after first a £0 offer , then £650 offer) now nearly 12 weeks from original complaint.
Sunny – now with ombudsman. No offer, no correpondence ( apart from acknowledgement of complaint) – 8 weeks on from original complaint.
From what I have read on here based on other people’s experience – and now my own, wonga seem to be more forthcoming in trying to settle their claims themselves – although you may have to wait slightly longer than the 8 weeks. However they did inform me of this. I hope this helps in some way to any of you that have claims ongoing and just to stick with it!
I thought I may get 6-7k back at most from my 3 main lenders but have already exceeded that with one.
I would also add that I never thought I would get anything back and effectively when I took these loans that was it. As such if feels like getting anything back is a bit of bonus and gives me the chance to dramatically change mine and my families quality of life.
Sara I owe you several drinks !!! -along with the rest of us!
Andy says
some more details:
With regards to wonga I sent them the same email I sent to my other 2 lenders – obviously with amended details that involved them and my borrowing. So …Date of first loan taken to the date of my last loan with them as well as the total amount borrowed. ( they do not give you a statement on your account and I didn’t receive one after 2 weeks of asking so I made an official complaint to wonga). I stated that I had 29 loans with them over that period and it was unaffordable due to the fact o was borrowing more each time
And rolling over loans as well as having other payday loans at the same time. Basically a standard template letter with my story in it.
I had an initial response from my request for a full statement of borrowing ( which is free) not the one you have to pay £10 for. After 2 weeks they hadn’t sent it so I then sent them the official complaint with details as stated above. This was around mid march.
They again responded with an acknowledgment that they had recieved my now complaint. At 7 weeks they emailed me and apologised for not resolving my complaint and that they would not be able to meet the 8 week deadline. They also stated I could take to FOS at this point if I wanted – which I did.
We are now approx 10 days on from that and they have made me the offer of £7.5 k – including 8% interest and minus he 20% tax – basic rate. This is without any FOS assistance.
I worked out that I prob paid around 6k interest on ALL the loans I took and they only settled on 19/29. Plus the 8%.
Sorry to have made this a long post but I wanted to show what my process was with this particular company and I think that they are more likely to offer you a reasonable settlement without necessary having to go through the FOS which can of course take some time.
That being said – this may not happen in every case therefore make your own decisions based on your own circumstances.
I still have complaints with 2 other lenders that started at same time and are not near to being resolved yet.
Hope this helps others and good luck!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Thanks for the detailed timeline. It’s great that some of the Wonga cases are getting a good offer that people are happy to accept. It is frustrating that some good cases seem to just have a random 2 or 3 loans offered a refund on. And some get nothing!
Leah says
Update on my progress so far and a massive thank you for this website for allowing me to know this was all possible.
I have been successful with safety net uncle buck and lending stream without the Ombudsman.
My Jar, Wonga and 247money have all been escalated to the Ombudsman. 247 are the worst ones I have dealt with.
Today I received my email from uncle
buck to confirm my refund of just over £1300 has been processed and will be in my bank 3-5 working days. No escalation to ombudsman required.
My total offer from lending stream came through today as shown below. This one I emailed to the ombudsman emailed them to advise then they increased their needs.
This is in regards to your recent emails. We apologize for the delayed response.
Thank you for accepting our offer. We would like you to note that the total refundable amount along with the 8% statutory interest is £743.87.
Steph says
Anyone have any experience with Satsuma?
I complained to them about 6 weeks ago, they asked for a copy of my credit report after a week, which I didn’t provide. However, today, I’ve had an email stating that a summary of my account is available. Have logged in to my account only to see that I have no o/S loans (had about £260 left with them).
Is this their normal stance? I’ve heard nothing from them since their email 5 weeks ago.
Thanks
Roch says
Hello Steph I only submitted my complaint 11th April and still had hardly no response from Satsuma all they have said is that they are looking into my complaint about irresponsible lending and to give them More time, I did manage to get my loans from my online account but know I had more loans in the past so still waiting too sorry can’t be more help.
siona says
Good afternoon,
Firstly can I just say this site is brilliant! I’m so glad I am not the only one that has been drawn into a debt spiral by these unscrupulous companies. Anyway, I put a complaint about Mini Credit. Co.Uk in to the email address complaints@oposlimited.com. I received an email stating they couldn’t find my details requesting further information to try to identify me which I provided. This is the last email I got from them:
“I have looked through our systems using the information you provided and can see nothing linking to an account in your name. Kapama Limited purchased some but not all Mini Credit accounts and it would appear that yours was not one of them. I’m sorry we are unable to assist you further but suggest trying to get in touch with the original loan provider to get the resolution you are hoping for.”
Has anyone else experienced this and if so, where did they go from here? Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Unless you think your loan was sold to Kapama there is probably nothing you can do about this :(
Marie says
Can anyone advise me pls. I have recently submitted a PPI request to Santander, who have today replied and said that I had complained in 2014 and that they replied (included a copy of this) saying that they uphold my complaint and to contact them with my bank details.
I never received this letter.
They’re saying I had 6 months to go back to them with any concerns and that they won’t investigate this further.
I don’t have any concerns, I’m happy with the amount they offered. Am I eligible to still receive this, as they’re letter reads that I’m not.
Surely if they’ve accepted wrong doing then I’m entitled to it?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you should reply saying that you never received that letter and that under the circumstances you would like them to agree to pay you the amount they offered. If they refuse, take your case to the Ombudsman.
If there is a good reason why you didn’t realise that you hadn’t had a reply (perhaps you or a family member was ill?) mention this.
Charlie says
I recieved a response from Lending Stream today since my initial compliant in the 11th March 2017, with a rather low offer of £255 from 16 loans and probably lucky to get that if it wasn’t for them admitting to a procedural error on one of the loans How do i respond to them as they have not stated that it is thier final response?
We are writing in reference to your recent correspondence. Please accept our sincere apologies for the delayed response.
We have reviewed your accounts and would like to share our findings. You borrowed 16 loans from Lending Stream, out of which 14 loans were closed successfully and the other loan accounts 3006734 and 3041003 are still outstanding with the balances £94.22 and £84.00
[random garbage edited out about employment, income and credit score]
In lieu of the overall situation, we believe that Lending Stream has behaved responsibly in approving your loans and has dealt with them fairly. However, while reviewing your account, We could note that there was some procedural error while approving the loan 1601250, hence, we offer to refund some of the interest paid on this loan (£255.00).
Sara (Debt Camel) says
16 loans – over how long a period? were any of them rolled or installment loans? do you know how much interest you paid?
Charlie says
Hi Sara
16 loans between 2013 and 2016 with the last two loans going to debt management. All 16 of them were installment loans and the interest comes out at around 3 and half thousand roughly
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like a lot of borrowing – I suggest you send the case to the Ombudsman for them to look at.
Noel says
Charlie, I had a similar number of loans to you & similar amount of interest & the timeline of my LS complaint ran as follows:
Aug-16 I complained to them
Sep-16 LS reject complaint & offer c£80 for procedural error
Nov-16 I complain to Ombudsman – LS increase offer to c£160, which I reject
Mar-17 Ombudsman finds in my favour for all except earliest loans
May-17 I receive £4k
So stay patient! Delays from LS at every stage, including the payment stage, but well worth it in the end. Good luck
Christopher says
Hello people,
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I recently emailed wonga to file a complaint of irresponsible lending. I asked for a list of all my loans (Statement of account). They replied saying that they had received my complaint and would get back to me withing 8 weeks. Eventually getting back to me about 7 weeks after my first complaint they reviewed the complain and pretty much concluded,
“However, having reviewed your complaint, we accept that the loans in the table below may not have been affordable given your circumstances.
Outcome
Based on the above, there may have been more that we could have done to assist you and so we have decided to uphold your complaint.
Additionally, we will also request for the redressed loans to be removed from your credit record. This may take up to 30 working days to be updated fully on your credit file.
We would like to offer £1,402.37 which is an amount equal to the interest and fees on the following loans:”
They then listed a bunch of my loans including the loan reference, date and interest/fees.
And finally this is what they said.
“Interest of 8% simple per year has been added to the total redress for each loan from the date the loan was taken out until the date of calculation. Please see the outline below.
total interest and fees £1,402.37
8% interest net £330.36
total settlement £1,732.73
Tax
8% interest gross £412.94
basic rate tax deduction £82.59”
To me this seems like a fair amount i was not expecting them to give me anything if im honest…. but now I question why they didn’t send me a list of my loans.
“We would like to offer £1,402.37 which is an amount equal to the interest and fees on the following loans:”
I beleive i had more loans than what they listed however i cant be sure as they didn’t sent her statement of my account. Should i report it to the ombudsman… Can i end off worse if i do?
Thanks again
Christopher
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s good to know the facts before making a decision. I suggest you reply to Wonga saying that in order to consider their offer you want the full list of loans that you have asked for.
Sarah says
Hi,
My Jar rejected my initial complaint, however the Adjudicator went in my favour on three loans. They then rejected her findings and came up with there own, however she still agrees that they should have done more and has sent this to an Ombudsman. Roughly how long should it take from this point to get a final decision?
Appreciate any comments on this.
Thanks
Emma says
Hi, I have received an email today from PDUK with regards to my refund. Do you know how long they normally take to issue the refund? Do they delay or are they quite good?
(Timeline: My PDUK had to go through to the ombudsman and I made my original complaint back in September so it has been a while. PDUK didn’t agree with he adjudicator and the delay was the complaint being allocated to an ombudsman.)
Ross says
Hi all,
They used to be quite bad (as part of the wider Dollar Financial Group) but they have recently improved. I waited 25 out of 28 days for my PDUK refund, but they processed my PDEX refund after 8 days, this was the later one. You shouldn’t wait that long I believe.
Emma says
I’ve just had an email from them and it states it will be in my bank account within 5 working days, so hopefully they will stick to that.
My PDUK had to go through to the ombudsman and I made my original complaint back in September so it has been a while. PDUK didn’t agree with he adjudicator and the delay was the complaint being allocated to an ombudsman.
Gordon says
Hi I received the funds the next day good luck
Matt says
Just thought I’d share a success story as I always like to read others!…
I made a complaint to Uncle Buck last September and wrote to them with, what I thought, were very fair requests. I said that I accept they probably carried out proportionate checks on the first couple of loans I had but after that the frequency of borrowing and increased amounts should have warranted further investigation. I asked for a refund (without the 8% interest) on my third loan onwards and said I was willing to have a sensible negotiation about it all if someone was willing to. They admitted no wrongdoing.
Some 8 months later and I finally have an ombudsman decision for a refund on loans from my third loan onwards, plus 8% and they now have the fee to pay to the FO on top. I guess in terms of the % of their profits my refund is trivial, but why they couldn’t have just negotiated with me in the first place is beyond me. Glad it’s all over now in any case and hope for a speedy pay out :)
Maureen says
Result with The Money Shop….I expected nothing from them as they have always been difficult! Final response 6 weeks ago offered all my interest back (£1300) less outstanding amount of £650. Due to the fact they saw my bank statement every now and again, I emailed them back asking them to add the 8% interest (another £720) then I would accept. Got their second response today agreeing to this on the basis that they did see my bank statement and could see other payday lenders on there. Makes it worthwhile sometimes to sit back and not be on a rush to settle at the first offer. I’ve now got 5 other cases with the FOS, most with loans over 6 years so I don’t think I’ll be getting a result any time soon but prepared to wait! My 3 big cases are Quickquid, Payday UK and cheque centres. All with around £5000 interest paid each before any 8% interest added so I’m keeping my fingers crossed to eventually get a positive result. Cheque centres have no excuse as they saw my bank statement every 3 months as well and could see other payday lenders payments on there…..they were horrid in their Final Response letter so let’s hope they are made to pay up!
Maureen says
Total received back to date:
£1094.00 from 1 month loan (settled direct)
£192.14 from cash genie (settled direct)
£5385.19 wage day advance (settled direct)
£1251.83 money shop (settled direct)
Not bad for a few emails….a big thank you to Sara for this site and all the time she puts in to help us.
Freddie says
Hi, great result from wageday advance, how were they to deal with please? More detail would be appreciated. The interest on my loans with them was £4K and I just complained yesterday.
Thanks
Maureen says
Hi Freddie, they were fantastic….I was expecting nh a battle as they were very nasty when I defaulted but I couldn’t praise them enough for how they dealt with my complaint. I sent my initial complaint letter to them on 3rd February and received my final response on 21st march stating the below. To be honest, I was more than happy to accept as the first seven loans were very small. I considered it a very fair offer based on my case so was happy to accept. Money was in my account within a few days. Good luck!
In order to resolve your complaint I would like to propose the following in full and final settlement of your complaint:
A refund of all interest and charges for loans seven to eleven amounting to £3774.50.
Include the statutory 8% interest on the above amounting to £1610.69.
This means the total amount payable to you is £5385.19.
Matt says
Evening all,
So the Ombudsman has made his decision on my pounds to pocket case and has ruled in favour of P2P, stating that there first offer of a refund on the interest of £287 in regards to the last loan I had with them. My adjudicator ruled that all 3 of the loans should be refunded.
As the offer was made from the company will this be without the 8% interest or can I dispute the ombudsmen decision saying that I’ll accept his findings on the condition that it will be £287+8% interest, also could I go back to the ombudsmen asking for the last loan to be removed from my credit file
Thanks
Matt
Adam says
Hi Sara,
I intend to submit a complaint to quick quid about numerous loans in the past, which were all rolled over. The only thing is that I have an open loan with them at the moment?
Should I wait for this to be settled until I make the claim? Or would this not affect anything?
Thanks
Chris says
Hi Adam
I’m currently in default with p2p but have had 6 loans before all rolled over
I have started now in the hope that I can at least get the one I owe on settled
Whether that is right or wrong only time will tell
T says
Anyone have any idea of how long it takes On Stride (same company as QQ) to pay? They have accepted my adjudicators decision, finally. :)
gillian says
hi I have just got a call from an adjudicater dealing with my complaint about quick quid. I had twelve loans with two of these being over the six year mark she told me quick quid have responded with an offer saying they will not deal with the first two loans but have offered a refund on loans 3 and 7 totaling £887 and will wipe these off my credit report. Or I could adviser her to look into all loans from 3 to 12.
I have added up the interest on these loans and it is near the 5 thousand pound mark so I have asked her to carry on looking into my claim. Do you think since they have said 3 and 7 were lent irresponsibly that she will find in my favour as nothing had changed in my finances over the six years except I took more payday loans with other companies so I do not understand why they have picked just number 3 loan and number 7 ty
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It doesn’t sound like a good offer, does it! Unless there were some very large gaps between some of your later loans, I think there is a good chance the adjudicator will come up with much larger offer.
gillian says
ty sara all the loans were taken out one after the other no gaps at all most all were taken out within a week of paying off the last one most take the day after paying other off as i was paying all my income to payday loans and reborrowing to survive
Allison says
Hi, it’s been a while since I last posted after waiting on an adjudicator to pick up my case, well I have had an email saying that on the 5 Loans I had from QQ one was just outside the 6 years ?by a few weeks! Grrrrr but on the Loans 2 to 5 they will refund Loans 3 to 5. Repaying the loan owing £598 and repaying me £682 and wiping off my credit file. Does this sound like a good offer or should I let the adjudicator look at loan 2 aswell? Have I got anything to lose? Not sure what to do ? thanks in advance for any help. Allison
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Were there any gaps between loans 1 and 2? 2 and 3?
What about the size of loans 1,2 and 3?
How much interest did you pay on loans 3 and 4?
Loan 5, how much did you borrow? Have you paid anything to it?
Allison says
Hi, I have just looked through my account. 1st loan 7.1.2011 – 30.6.2011
£300 borrowed £475 interest
2nd loan 30. 6 2011 -31. 10. 2011
£500 borrowed £475 interest
3rd loan 8.11.2011 – 30.4.2012
£500 borrowed £607.interest
4th loan 30. 4 2012 -2.10.2012
£500 borrowed -£606 interest
5th loan 2.10.2012
£500 borrowed. Paid back £185
I think because there was a gap of a week between Loans 2 and 3 they are not going to pay back the interest. What do you think? Thanks again
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK the very short gap between 2 and 3 can’t be a reason not refund the interest on loan 2, which is the one in question.
Refunding from loan 3 is quite common. It could be argued here that a refund from loan 2 should be given as it was (a) immediately after loan 1 was repaid and (b) it was a lot larger, suggesting you were in trouble. It’s hard to say what the FOS would be likely to decide – a refund from loan 2 is definitely possible but not highly likely.
BUT ignoring the question of loan 2 for the minute, QQ don’t seem to have done the sums right for loans 3,4 and 5. I wondered if they would, which is why I asked for the details…
They say they are refunding loans 3,4 and 5. That means putting you back in a position where you don;t pay any interest on these. For loans 3 & 4, that is a refund of 607 + 606 = 1,213. For loan 5 it means using the amount you have paid so far to reduce the amount you borrowed, leaving a balance of 500 – 185 = 315. Then the balance is settled from the refund giving a cash refund to you of 1213 – 315 = £898. Not the £682 they have offered.
I leave it up to you if you think they have just made an error here or been sneaky and hoped you wouldn’t realise…
Of course, they also haven’t added on 8% statutory interest, which would be another £400 odd.
I assume you don’t think it’s worth really prolonging this case by fighting for the first loan to be included. In that case, your options are:
1) to send the case to the Ombudsman saying that you accept there won’t be a refund on loan one but you would like it taken into account in assessing the case for loans 2-5. Say that you think loan 2 should be included because it was straight after loan 1 and it was for a much larger amount. Point out that QQ didn’t ask for your expenses during these loans (at least I assume they didn’t?). Add that although QQ say they have offered a refund on the 5th loan, they don’t seem to have got the sums right.
2) go back to QQ and ask them to double check the suns as you make it that they should wipe out the balance and refund you £898, which you would be happy with.
Allison says
Hi Sarah, Regards my QQ account I think I will ask the adjudicator to look at the Loans 2 to 5, and yes I thought the sums didn’t add up! Thank you for your invaluable advice. I will keep you posted. Allison
Phil says
Stupid question – But does anybody else have a confirmation email from Wonga stating that their settlement has been processed? At first I read this as the money would be back in my account in 3-5 days time, now I believe that they have just put me on hold by the below email as I kept ringing for an update on when it would be settled.
“Thank you for confirming that you wish to accept our offer as outlined in our Final Response, in full and final settlement of your complaint.
We have started processing your settlement and we aim to finalise this within 3 – 5 working days.
A request has also been made to the credit reference agencies for the affected loan(s) to be removed from your credit file. It may take up to 30 working days to reflect the change on your credit file.
Thank you for giving us the time to resolve your complaint.
Kind regards,
Complaints Team”
Any ideas or can someone advise if there confirmation email was similar?
Thanks,
Phil
Wiggles says
I had a question about that too, so I phoned Wonga and spoke to them as mine was a bit behind due to them saying “the FoS had not sent paperwork” etc, I complained and spoke to a manager and within 2 hours it was processed and in my bank via a faster payment. Just moan at them as they have the ability to send it that way
Nicole says
I got the same email on Friday afternoon Phil x Nicole x
Phil says
Mines in the bank Nicole :D happy days!!
Nicole says
Just checked bank …. Mine in also!!
Roch says
Just a quick question don’t know what section to post in.
Do I have any chance In making and winning a complaint against lloyds for irresponsible lending? In 2015 I was allowed to increase my overdraft to 0-£2550 in a matter of a few weeks due to gambling and payday loans. I know it was my fault for the gambling but they never said no even when I told them my job ended I could still increase. Has anyone ever won this type of complaint any info would be appreciated. Thanks
Eddie says
Hi Roch
You might have a case there. I won a similar case at adjudicator level when my overdraft was increased by 200% within few months while I was dependant on payday loans and sports betting. Adjudicator found that bank should have noticed that there was a problem and they agreed to repay all interest and fees since the increase. It was with Lloyds.
Roch says
Thanks so much Eddie for that info, you have made me feel hopeful ? how did you go about it? Did you complain directly to lloyds and do u know their email or did you have to write to them?
Thanks a lot x
Eddie says
I complained through resolver website and Lloyds called me to discuss next day and obviously denied any wrongdoing. Once I had a final response letter in hand I went to FOS. All together it was 7 weeks from first complaint to adjudicator decision and refund from Lloyds.
Good luck
Roch says
Oh well done on getting the refund Eddie, fingers crossed I do too. I sent over the complaint via internet banking today so will keep you posted x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If the bank increased your overdraft after you told them you were unemployed and there was a lot of gambling on your statements that sounds like a good reason to complain. This other article https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-catalogue-credit-card/ is about credit cards, but overdrafts are a bit like credit cards in that you can keep dipping in for borrowing and the lender may increase your credit limit.
tracey says
What kind of number will an adjudicator phone you from? I’ve been waiting since mid March and haven’t heard anything other than please send us more details. Just don’t want to ignore their call.
gillian says
all my calls from the adjudicator have come from a number starting03001 and it been diffrent people i spoke to i did get one call and that adjudicator give me a personnal number that would go through to her phone if that helps i just saved the first call to my phone then it comes up ombudsman everytime they call saves you not answering if you dont answer unknown numbers like i dont
tracey says
That’s great thank you so much for that info. Will just need to wait it out I think, it took me a while to get bank statements together so hopefully hear something soon now that I’ve sent them. X
Lisa says
Hi.. when ever I have been called its been from an 0800 number
Allison says
Hi, I put my complaint in the end of March and hadn’t heard anything so rang on Friday just to ensure they didn’t need anything else, they were very good and told me my cases were being looked at. Then on Saturday I received an email about one of the cases were an offer had been made. Not sure if my phone call had prompted them. Also I nearly missed the email because the subject line said short term lending ,which I nearly never opened because thought it was more loan companies!
Good luck .hope this helps. Allison
Darren says
I’ve just had this reply from stage one of complaint, wonga didn’t even provide me with statements and interest paid Just this below. If there a next step for me?
I borrowed every month from £150 to begin the up to £1000 every month so from year 2009 – 2012ish: it was paying back around £1300 then having to borrow £1000 at the later years.
———————————-
[edited out general stuff]
Your loan agreement (76586239) has already been assessed under our affordability forbearance programme. As a result your balance was written off and all records of the loan were removed from your credit file.
….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.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That’s a lot of borrowing. I suggest you send the whole case to the ombudsman. In your complaint say how you have found out recently that you could complain.
Laura says
Hi just a query , I was struggling for years with a gambling addiction , I took out 4 loans through my bank NatWest (ranging from £1500 going up to £3500 , and even took out an overdraft , increasing it to £900 within a short period of time ( wages only £1100 a month) and also was using payday loans to try and bridge the gaps , I have successfully Claimed on my payday loans , is it worth me complaining to my bank regards irresponsible lending too as they could see my bank statements when approving the loans and before agreeing my overdraft limits ? Thanks Laura
Matt S says
Hi Laura
I’m in a similar position to you but only with regards to the overdraft. I had a bad gambling problem aswell as having entered into debt management due to payday loans when Nationwide accepted me for an £800 overdraft just over 3 years ago. I was then allowed to increase it up to £4000 within the space of 6 weeks despite almost all of it going on gambling. I also had a shockingly bad credit report and score. I put in a complaint which was rejected within around 3 weeks by Nationwide. They claimed I met their criteria, my credit report showed no adverse information (which wasn’t true, although they used Experian which had no defaults listed at that point there was 3 mentions of being in debt management dated 6 months before they accepted me, I did have defaults at this time but these only showed on my Noddle report for some reason), and that they took into account how I managed my account. But seeing that in the 3 months prior to being accepted I had 185 gambling transactions, 32 payday loan transactions, 3 guarantor loan payments and 3 payments to a debt management company, their opinion of how I was managing my account is very different to mine. I’ve paid almost £3000 in interest and charges over the past 3 years.
Anyway I have forwarded my complaint to the Ombudsman and am currently awaiting allocation, but I feel I should have a very good case.
My opinion is to go for it, get your complaint in and get the ball rolling, I don’t see that you’ve got anything to lose. They should have been able to see the issues you were having and either not provided you with any of the loans / overdraft or at least not allowed you the further loans / increases.
John says
Hi All,
The good folk at Lending Stream continue to out do themselves. They have ignored the Ombudsman’s final decision and four week window to pay me. Not a word from them. No email, no call, no text and certainly no money!
I know they received the final decision because I called them two weeks ago and checked. I also checked they had my correct phone number, home address, email address and bank details. Took about an hour to do. Anyone who has ever had to call Lending Stream will know why it took so long. Their call centres are terrible.
Not at all surprised they have not paid out as they delayed every stage of this process over the past year and failed to respond in a timely manner to myself during the initial complaint process, the adjudicator on every occasion she contacted them and finally the ombudsman during the last stage of the process.
They still run TV adds claiming 94% of customers recommend them and they have a a 5 star rating. And if you believe that then ………
Back to the ombudsman I go ………..
Daniel Lane says
Contact the adjudicator who dealt with your case saying they haven’t paid and ask them to chase for you as you’re being ignored.
If that doesn’t work within a week, submit a money claim to MCOL online. This is to get a CCJ on the lender to force them to pay you. You’ll need to send a notice of intent to file for a CCJ first and give them the option to pay within 14 days first though. There’s an article on here somewhere about it :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
DO NOT put in a claim through MCOL trying to get a CCJ – that would result in refighting your complaint in court and would take many months. Instead, you need to apply to the court to enforce the FOS judgment. Here is the article: https://debtcamel.co.uk/enforce-financial-ombudsman-decision/.
BUT this is a considerable hassle and you will need to calculate exactly the amount you are owed, including the 8% added interest. Better to make a nuisance of yourself – hassle their twitter account @lendingstream, their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/lendingstream/, email their CEO chris.deboer@global-analytics.com and their compliance director stuart@global-analytics.com.
Jack says
Hi Sara, I have received a FOS reply saying Moneybox 247 aren’t within FOS control or at least Active Securites aren’t , is this an error as it appears multiple referrals are in progress on here. All loans are within 6 years.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sounds like it – you could point out that the Ombudsman decisions site lists 21 cases upheld against Active Securities in the last year.
Jack says
I have spoken to FOS today and letter was issued in error so they are picking up the complaint as submitted, appears explanation is nothing more that human error just happy I can at least take this forward – and thankful for this site and the information shared so I didn’t just take the letter at face value !
Steve says
Has anyone had any success with an irresponsible lending complaint with 118 118 money?
james says
hi Steve, I put in an irresponsible lending complaint with 118 118 money. they replied within two days to say that they are investigating my complaint. but they will not freeze or hold my account whilst it is being looked into. that was 3 weeks ago. they said that any missed payments would show as a default on my credit score.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you want them to accept reduced or no payments, you need to show them an income & expenditure sheet justifying the amount.
Andrew says
Any advise anyone?
Sunny really messing me about, they received my signed settlement form 18 days ago, rang up several times for an update, every time I get a different answer, the compliance team will contact you shortly, the compliance team need to review the offer with the FOS, then today asked for my bank details but no other update. Still don’t know when I will get it? I appreciate they have 28 days but I really don’t have a clue what’s happening and can’t seem to get a straight answer out of them , anyone had a similar experience? Or suggestion what I should do? I could see this getting to 28 days and then delaying again for some reason or another.
Thanks,
Andrew
Sara (Debt Camel) says
There really isn’t much point in worrying about this. It will turn up at some point.