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?
James says
Hi Sara,
Thank you for this excellent and extremely helpful website.
I have made my complaint to Payday UK and Payday Express. They have come back with offers of £850 (Payday Express) and £1,800 (Payday UK). Both lenders have not accepted fault for my claim and these sums were offered as a gesture of goodwill. They have refused to send me my statement of accounts so I am currently unsure of the total interest and charges I have paid.
Considering I have already been made offers, does this mean it is very likely that should I reject the offers received and go to the Financial Ombudsman, that my complaint will be upheld and I will receive at least what I was originally offered by the lenders?
I’m reluctant to go to the FO as my bank statements detail many gambling transactions, will this impact their decision?
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
James
Isaac Okafor says
Hi
Want to ask, do you pay £1.00 statutory fee to payday loan when you ask for your statement of account?
Thanks
James says
Hi,
Both Payday UK and Payday Express asked for £1.00 payment before they sent me my statement of account but I refused as this appears to be just a delaying tactic when reading others comments. I again requested it without making a payment and they refused to issue.
San says
Just wanted to share a fantastic result… cheque Centre have now agreed with adjudicator decision and will be paying my redress by BACS today… adjudicator ruled that they should refund all my 40+ loan interest + 8% interest. To be fair, cheque centre have been good to deal with, I feared this would go to ombusdman but after rejecting their first offer they asked for another week to review my complaint, got decision from them yesterday and funds will be available tomorrow. I can’t thank this site and Sara enough for all your help and support. I now have another 5 PDL complaints all at adjudicator stage, the one that will be decided on first is Lending stream, 7 loans taken all at same time, with interest exceeding £1200. Anyone have any dealings/experience with Lending Stream? If adjudicator rules in my favour are they likely to accept straight away?
Katrina says
I had an Adjudicator partially uphold my complaint with lending stream on 2/3 of my loans, they disagreed and counter offered taking the largest loans out, I rejected and now waiting for the Ombudsman, they seem to drag their heels at every possible stage and are very unhelpful as far as I have experienced sorry but your case could be different
Danny says
Hi!
This site is fantastic, I’m glad there’s so many of us fighting back!
Logged complaint with QQ on 30/03 for 30 loans spanning 4 years. Got a final response from them on Friday which is give or take a few days 6 weeks after my initial complaint. Offered to refund me & uphold on the grounds of ‘dependency’ on 2 loans (£207.50) as these were the only instances where they could see that I had become ‘dependent on them’. They said the didn’t uphold the fact they weren’t ‘affordable’.
The two loans specified were 2 rolled onto each other, there’s been instances where I’d rolled 5 back to back! I’ve taken this as a ‘here’s some cash, please go away’ response so I’ve sent it to the FO. Was surprised to even get an offer of a refund, it seems its usually a goodwill offer or a total rejection!
Hannah says
Hi Danny,
It seems they must see a difference between dependency and affordability – in my book they are the same thing really!! Surely if you are dependent on having to take them out to live – they are probably not affordable!
Best of luck!
Lisa says
Today my adjudicator agreed my loans with 118 118 money and the top up loan with george banco was lend irresponsibly… so will see what comes back if they agree or not… some light slowly shining through
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Fingers crossed!
Heather says
So I’ve had my statements through today and have written and send my stage two complaint. I’ve just sat and gone through the figures and I total I’ve borrowed in excess of £21k and paid back that amount plus a further £6k of interest. To say I am appalled and ashamed with myself is an understatement. I am so so pleased I don’t use these lenders anymore and haven’t done for 18 months but I am truly gobsmacked and still shaking at the amounts!
Lyndsey says
Hi, thanks to Sara and this site I have successfully had two refunds (mr lender &wonga)
I also have payday uk with the ombudsman still ongoing and qquid, sunny, pounds to pocket, piggy bank, satsuma and two others to go to fo…
Now the one I’ve heard from today is uncle buck I sent them to fo last year they had until April 13 to do what the fo said and pay me, they didn’t reply so it went with an ombudsman who have agreed with what the adjudicator said, what I didn’t realise is out of 5 loans in 20 months paying over £3000 back the very last loan number 5 I got £300 and the same day paid £324 back because I wanted to get out of the loan trap, they are only refunding loan 5 I carnt believe it the adjudicator said I could afford the first four loans, that cost £290 a month for four months to pay back then all different payments on the others one month paying £517 back along with the other payday loans I had running at the same time, so basically money paid in from one company to pay the other ect, how was the first four loans affordable. At least I don’t ow a penny to these companies and it’s a few quid to me, disappointed, confused but thankfully I have learnt my lesson lending from these people
Lucy says
When i have a complaint upheld and it says take off anything negative off my credit file will this improve my credit rating or will it stay the same and just the missed or late payments removed? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Removing “negatives” such as defaults and late payments/arrears normally improves a credit rating. The main exception is when there is still such a lot of negative information there that the removal of a few negative marks doesn’t make any significant difference.
However, some payday loan companies simply remove all the loans included in the refund. If these loans were repaid on time, this is actually removing settled markers that were good for your credit score. If defaults were also removed at the same time, it’s hard to guess what the net effect will be. A few (not many) people have noticed their credit score drops!
But some lenders (especially mortgage lenders) may take the view that any payday loans are viewed as negative, even if repaid on time. So removing these can improve your chance of getting future credit even if it actually harms your credit score. Confusing!
Joel says
Hi Sara,
Vivus have decided to refund me back 1 2 and 3 Loans.
1st Loan 2013- 0 Interest paid
2nd Loan 2013 – £34
3rd Loan 2013 – £228 Extension and £47 interest paid
4th Loan Jul 2016 – £32 interest paid
5th Loan taken straight after paying the 4th loan – £236 interest paid
They have offered to paid interest on 1st and 2nd loan plus 8%.
Should I reject the offer as they approved a loan straight after paying off my 4th loan?
I did have lots of other payday loans at that time.
Thanks
Dave says
Adjudicator has today upheld 20 out of 25 of my loans with Lending Stream. A different adjudicator sided with QuickQuid last week for a claim of £11,000 of interest for four years of consecutive loans. I have provided that adjudicator with bank statements for mortgages and utilities etc. so hopefully that one will be reviewed and come back like this one for LS. With 8% interest the LS complaint that has been upheld could be worth £3000. Fingers crossed, but prepared for a wait still!
how to put things right
Having assessed XXXXX complaint I can see that loans five to twenty five were lent
irresponsibly. And had Lending Stream taken steps to check what XXXXX was saying
about his financial circumstances I don’t think you would’ve lent to him.
refund all interest and charges that XXXXX paid on loans five to twenty five,
pay interest of 8% simple a year on all refunds from the date of payment to the date
of settlement*;
apply the refund to any outstanding balance on the loans and refund the remaining
amount to XXXXXX
remove any negative information about loans five to twenty five from XXXXXX
credit file.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If the adjudicator doesn’t change their mind over the QQ case, ask for it to go to the Ombudsman!
Warren says
Hi everyone could anyone possibly help me I’m currently paying over 700 pound or maybe more a month to various payday lenders I’m finding I have to borrow more every month just to pay my rent I have crohn’s disease and worried sick about it all. Is there a teplate of what to say I have no idea where to start. Thanks in advance
Ross says
Hi Warren,
First of all, you MUST stop borrowing to pay these loans and your rent. Cancel all of the CPA’s with your bank, and make the companies you owe money to that you have done this. Secondly, offer what you can (even a nominal amount, after you’ve taken in to account what your rent, bills, food costs etc… and then offer them say £1 per week/month whilst you submit complaint(s). If you’ve been consistently borrowing to cover rent, this is not right or good. You need to see how much you have borrowed, and paid back, and submit complaints to the lenders for unaffordable/irresponsible lending. Sara has the template letters on here. Let them investigate and, if they reject your complaint, send them to the FOS. To help you, look through all of the comments on here to get an idea of what to do and say. If you get stuck, just shout out on here and people will help and advise. Good luck!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Agree with this, Warren.
You need to cancel the CPAs for payday loans and any DDs for credit cards and other loans. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/help-payday-loan/.
Warren says
Hi sara thanks for the reply what’s a cpas? and it I cancel my quickquid direct debit surly they will not be happy and I don’t want baileffs around my house. Wish I never got in this mess to start with ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry, using jargon, bad habit :(
A CPA is a continuous payment authority. That is a bit like a direct debit and it’s what most payday lenders use to take money from your bank account.
QQ won’t be happy, but you aren’t going to get bailiffs round. To get bailiffs you have to miss several months payments, then the lender has to start a court case, that will take a few months to go through, then you can make an arrangement to pay monthly what you can afford e.g.£1 a month. You won’t ever see a bailiff if you make the required monthly payments. So it’s many months away and won’t happen unless you do an ostrich act and ignore the problem.
AND QQ can’t start court action if you have an ongoing complaint:)
(Well technically they could, but they would get into trouble with their regulator and you would have some great options to defeat / postpone the case. I’ve seen thousands of these complaints by now and so far no lender has been stupid enough to go to court during a complaint.)
I know this must feel very scary. The best thing is to phone StepChange https://www.stepchange.org/ and talk to them about a debt management plan to stabilise your situation so you don’t need to go on borrowing. Then you can start your payday loan complaints knowing you won’t have accept the first bad offer from QQ because you are desperate.
Warren says
I haven’t sent this to QQ yet wanted to see if you guys felt this was ok to send first.
Hi I have had to cancel my current Direct debit with you guys I have already sent a email to you guys stating why I have had to do this I just can’t afford to live with the money I’m left with every month and the stress of it all does not help my crohns disease at all hopefully we can come to a agreement over outstanding payments.
Jackp says
Hi Warren,
Was also paying a high amount (500 a month I couldn’t afford) so I went into a Debt Management Plan with Step Change.
This helped me get my finances back on track. Give step change a ring, they are very helpful and understanding.
Months after I set up the plan I then looked into making claims for irresponsible lending.
Warren says
Hi I was gonna send this to QQ and cancel my DD with them do you think this is ok to send them? Thanks in advance
Hi I have had to cancel my current Direct debit with you guys I have already sent a email to you guys stating why I have had to do this I just can’t afford to live with the money I’m left with every month and the stress of it all does not help my crohns disease at all hopefully we can come to a agreement over outstanding payments.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds OK. They may just put the account on hold pending the complaint being sorted. or they may ask you for an income & expenditure sheet to prove what you can afford to pay them. But that email will do for starters.
Joseph Campbell says
Hi Sara, I hope you are well.
Thanks to you and this site I have received excellent refunds from most of my complaints and only have 1 outstanding with cheque centre. I think I have about £4k interest within 6 years and another £4k from 2007-2010 but I am not sure whether to just bite the bullet, progress the post 2010 ones and forego the older loans as there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel regarding the older loans. My Ajudicator said last week he had been hoping to provide me with good news by now but the ombudsman still hasn’t made a decision on the older ones yet.
Doesn anyone have any new info on these older loans and when we are likely to hear? It’s dragging on no end but reluctant to lose out on a potentially huge refund.
Thanks in advance.
Joseph
Ro65 says
Hi Joseph
I’m in the exact same position as you with Cheque Centre. I’ve been waiting since September for a decision on whether the FO will look at my loans greater than 6 yrs. My 4 other complaints have been resolved and 2 of them involved loans out with 6 years.
I’m remaining positive about the Ombudsman saying they’ll look at the older loans as some other lenders have started to cave in (Payday Express and PDUK being the most difficult to deal with for me).
Unless you’re desperate for the cash I’d sit tight. Supposing there does have to be a judicial review in the courts, in my opinion it “should” have a favourable outcome as other lenders now seem to be in agreement about loans over 6 years.
Everyone will no doubt have different opinions on how it may go and I know it’s really frustrating having to wait for news. I’ve worked out that for my loans every day that goes by is £1.31 in simple interest. I’m now just over £8,200 if it goes my way. I’m in no desperate need as I’ve used the other redress I received to sort out my financial issues and I live month to month within my means and I’m prepared (not happy) to see it through!
Good luck to you though whatever you decide!
Ross says
Hi all,
Just an update on anyone waiting on Quick Quid complaints, specifically ones which relate to ones with loans older than 6 years. The FOS has recently been in contact to apologise for my long wait (it’s been since October 2016) and a further email to ask me for outgoings etc… I sent an email back, asking if they were now in a position to investigate the loans (including those more than 6 years old) and received this today;
Dear Mr *****
Thank you for your email.
Unfortunately not yet, this matter is taking longer than we had hoped as we are trying to resolve this on a wider scale, however once we have any updates we will be in touch with you.
Yours sincerely
So, it appears that the FOS are now trying to get a broader agreement, across all complaints, rather then negotiate them on an individual scale. In all honesty, until I received this last week, I had forgotten all about this. I do have an email file though, with all of the information, so I do know it’s still pending. Has anybody else received anything similar from the FOS, as it’s on an apparent ‘wider’ scale?
Eddie says
Hi Ross
I recently received similar email regarding Wonga and Myjar. My adjudicator told me they are in talks with both businesses to resolve the 6 year rule all-together. Adjudicator also suggested that the wait will be longer than usual because of this. Im sure companies will crack at some point. We just have to wait..
Ross says
Thanks Eddie. It’s been 7 months for me already, but it’s my final complaint, so I am prepared to just ‘ride it out’. As you say, they will either crack, or the FOS legal team will have to seek some kind of court order (although I hope they don’t have to go down this route, as this could make it a VERY long wait). I have made the FOS aware, on several occasions, that I was only made aware I could make these kind of complaints less than a year ago. As a consequence, there was no way I could’ve (and, as Quick Quid have said to my adjudicator ‘should’ve) made them any earlier than this. I suppose the longer they drag it out, the more interest they will eventually have to pay. I could’ve had this investigated without the 6+ year loans included, but my adjudicator ‘recommended’ that I hold on, so I am.
Nicole says
So today after 7 weeks sunny got back to me regarding my complaint! I’ve only had 4 loans with them…. They have offered to remove all traces from credit file and write off a outstanding balance of £561 …. They did not say if this was there final response! Do you think it’s worth trying to get some interest back or just accept there offer? They did state that looking back there were indicators that I could not afford the loan.
The first three I’ve paid about £185 in interest! The last loan was for £500 but have had that many charges applied … I’ve repaid £409 and still have an outstanding balance of £561.
Any thoughts appreciated Nicole xx
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So on the last loan, if the interest is removed, you would still owe £91.
I’m not sure if you paid £185 on each of the first three loans, so £555 in total, or that is what you paid in total, so about £62 on each loan.
It would be pretty normal for the Financial Ombudsman to say the first few loans were OK because the lender couldn’t have realised you were in trouble. In a 4 loan case where you defaulted on the last one, that makes it hard to tell how large a refund you could get. So the different cases:
1) the FOS says you should get a full refund. This would be unusual but it’s possible. In this case, you would get a refund of either £185-£91=£94 or £555-£91=£464.
2) the FOS says you should get a refund after the first loan. In this case, you would get a refund of either £122-£91=£31 or £370-£91=£279.2)
3) The FOS says you should get a refund after the second loan. In this case, if you only paid £62 interest on the third loans this isn’t enough to cover the amount you still owe £91 on the 4th loan. If you paid £185 on the the third loan you would get a refund of either £185-£91=£94.
4) The FOS says the first three loans were OK but the 4th wasn’t. In that case you won’t get a refund for the first three and the balance you owe would be reduced to £91.
So it’s not easy to say how much better result you might get from the Ombudsman. Case three is probably the most likely result, but any of the others is possible.
Nicole says
I think I’m just going to accept and be done with them!!
John says
I’m waiting for Sunny I had 6 loans with them in 2015 paid the first three back then had issues with payment on the next three. These have now been settle through MMF.
I have evidence that had zero for my outgoings this even includes food and they never bothered to question it.
I love to just have these remove from my credit file.
Sally says
Good News from PDUK. Original request for Statements submitted in Aug 2016; they refused to send them. Complaint sent 8 weeks after; complaint rejected, no offer. Complaint escalated to FO in October 2016. My loans were from 2007-2012. I’d heard nothing for months and then out of the blue yesterday FO emailed to say that PDUK were offering to refund all interest and charges plus 8%! Amazed and delighted to say the least. I’ve worked out that I paid roughly £4700 in interest. I’ve tried to work out the interest on this at 8% but keep getting muddled. Anyone any ideas?
I now just need to sign, scan and email back settlement form and that should be it! If you are waiting for loans 6 years and over , please hang in there if you can- it is worth it.
Now just Wonga to go , similar time scales.
Thank you to Sara and Debt Camel.
Chris says
It’s 8% per year so for 1 year you’d be looking at £376 per year based on 2012 alone this would equate to £1880 in interest less the 20% tax deduction leaving £1504 for a total refund of £6204 based on your estimate of interest paid. Hope this helps. Obviously it’ll be more than this as you have loans from previous years but without knowing when exactly amounts were paid that’s the best I can do
sally says
Thanks Chris! Crikey the 8% does make quite an impact on the final settlement figure. My adjudicator is saying that PDUK have not given a settlement figure but that this is quite normal. So i find myself signing a form to agree to something i do not know! Hopefully i will find out soon…. the good thing is that PDUK have themselves made this offer so it should be quick… ?? hmmm
Ally says
Hi Sally
SNAP!!! almost identical timescales and story. Not heard anything since 2nd Feb then out of the blue all interest plus 8% on all bar the first loan offer.
form signed and sent back.
Thanks Sara another result, I just need one more result and I will be debt free :0)
sally says
Hi Sarah, did your adjudicator give you a settlement figure? Good luck with the complaint. I’m now waiting for progress with WONGA..
Ally says
Hi Sally
I’ve signed the papers but have not been told the figure just everything from loan 2 I think it will be about 4k. I settled with Wonga 2 weeks ago for 4.5k so it’s been a good 2017 so far.
Ally
Gordon says
Hi Sara,
a small update and hopefully reassurance to those who feel gambling transactions will affect their decision at the FOS.
I was initially offered a small discount on my loans from qq p to p the complaint took over 7 months from starting my 8 weeks to adjudicator decision I received yesterday, qq have refused to look at loans older than 6 years I only had 6 older so asked the adjudicator to look into the others, 28 loans in total.
Yesterday I received a letter from the adjudicator upholding all my complaints against both companies qq and p to p.
the reason why I have posted this is I was losing substantial amounts of money gambling it was stated within the decision 1,000s per month, this did not have a detrimental affect on my if anything this helped as it showed I was living outwith my means and had serious gambling issues and was irresponsible.
if you have these on your statement please do not let this stop you pursuing these companies.
I am expecting QQ to appeal to ombudsman but not bothered, because this seems to be what they are like.
Roch says
That’s good news Gordon as I’ve just sent off all my bank statements like 6 months worth for Payday express showing the same thing and was not very hopeful in a good result but more hopeful now thanks.
Caroline says
Hi
I have received two final decisions (My Jar, Wonga) deciding not to uphold the complaint and have forwarded to the FOS, and am still awaiting response from Lending Stream and Sunny. Do you know when they will get back to me?
Thanks
Caroline
dan says
Lending stream took me 1 month and 10 days Caroline to get back, I have posted their response on here, how many loans you had with them?
Caroline says
All in all, in the past 18 months, I have had
Lending Stream = £2600
Sunny =£7k
Wonga = £5400
MyJar = £4500
???
What do you reckon? Do I have a case? They all seem to be fobbing me off!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well two out of four rejections is hardly “all” !
That is a lot of borrowing overall, but it is the individual cases that matter. Unless there were very big gaps for a lender, they should probably all be sent to the ombudsman if the lender rejects them.
Caroline says
Thanks Sara. I’ve totted up just over £21k borrowing over 18 months (not including the £20k secured loan I have also taken out!! They should have realised I was having problems from the offset! The loans were with a lot of companies so I’ll send the details over to FOS and fingers crossed!! Did you want a copy?
Thank you for your help!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No thanks!
But apart from the payday loans, I think you should talk to a debt adviser about your whole situation… see https://debtcamel.co.uk/more-information/where-to-get-help/. A large secured loan, presumably from a sub prime lender, is VERY bad news. I have seen too many people with these, saying after many years that they still owe more than they borrowed as the variable rate was jacked up.
Caroline says
Thanks Sara, I’m really regretting taking out the sub-prime loan, but didn’t know what else to do. In your opinion, will the lenders and/or FOS even entertain me?!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You haven’t mentioned any reasons why your complaint could be rejected by the FOS.
Pay no attention to being rejected by a lender, they have their bests interests at heart, not yours. It isn’t an impartial assessment. If you borrowed a lot from any lender take your complaint to the FOS…
It’s natural to worry, but lots of people have been very stressed all the way through until the end when a large refund arrives. Of course I can’t guarantee this will happen to you, but it’s pretty rare that good cases don’t get a good result.
re the sub prime loan. Get some debt advice. All it will take is an hour of your time – it’s worth it to get a full assessment of your situation and your options. Don’t assume you don’t have any options.
PS I have been deleting your rather unusual surname – unless you wanted it on the interent I suggest you stop putting it in the comments form :)
Caroline says
Thanks Sara, your words are very reassuring. I’ll sit tight and let things take their course.
And thank you for deleting my surname. It’s Scandinavian and you’re right, I have all kinds of comments about it!
dan says
So I complained to lendingstream on 07th April and yesterday I received this response from them:
[I have edited out the standard bits about their fabulous affordability checks etc]
“We comprehend that you wish Lending Stream to investigate your concern regarding the affordability checks conducted while approving your loans. We would like to inform you that you borrowed six loans from us, out of which, three loans are closed successfully with us and three loans XXXXXX, XXXXXX and XXXXXX are still outstanding.
Your monthly income at the time of applications was £1200.00 or above
We could observe a sufficient disposable income, which denoted that repayments towards the loans could have been made without any financial difficulties
The data shared in your applications indicated that your monthly income well exceeded your expenses and that repayments towards the loans could have been made without any financial difficulties.
With the above being said, we would like to inform you that Lending Stream never retreat in extending their support and ensures that we provide appropriate help, whenever required. Hence, we offer to set up an affordable payment arrangement on your outstanding loans, thereby freezing further interest.
—————————————————
Do I take this as their final response or should I email them asking them to reconsider? or do I just send it to the FOS now? I took out all 6 loans back to back, on the same days whilst having other payday loans, a large maxed overdraft and maxed credit card ongoing.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They say you had 6 loans and defaulted on 3; that your income was £1200 or more; that your Experian score was satisfactory; does that sound right?
What was the timeline for these loans? Were any of them rolled? Were there any gaps in between? How large were was each of the loans?
dan says
Hello Sara,
I know, ive found the English is often poor with LendingStream and its not the first time they have used bizarre phrases or the wrong words in explaining themselves. Yeah I had 6 loans in total, all of these had top-ups and were taken out consecutively straight after the previous payment was made. When applying for the loans I did write that I had an income of £1,200, I did have several other payday loans open whilst applying to LS at the time, a maxed overdraft and credit card too. After missing payments regularly, ended up closing first 3 loans with repayment plans they approved me for 3 bigger loans almost straight away?
Ive never used “Experian” but my noddle credit score is extremely poor. Just made an Experian account and my score is 0 so surely they are making it up that it was “satisfactory” unless they just accept anybody?
So do I take this as their final response or should I email them asking them to reconsider? or do I just send it to the FOS now?
Cheers,
Dan
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Wow, that sounds like a good case! I suggest you go back saying something like “Can you confirm if this is your final response? Because if it is I will be going to the Financial Ombudsman as the fact I missed payments and needed payment plans on my first three loans shows you should not have continued lending to me.”
Dan says
I went back and called LS asking them if it was their final response as I strongly disagreed with their response to my complaint and here is what they had to say today in an email:
——————————————————————–
Following your dissatisfaction with our findings, we have reviewed your account to ensure a fair outcome and would like to share the below response with you.
We would like to reiterate that appropriate affordability checks were performed at the time of your application, this process takes place for all of our customers for each application. Upon receiving an application for a loan, Lending Stream carries out numerous checks. We ensure only to lend to customers who we believe will be able to repay their loans without any difficulty. At the time of your application, your credit score was 526 or above. You were also full time employed with the monthly income was £1200.00 or above. Your disposable income was more than the borrowed amount, which denoted that repayments could have been made without difficulties.
However, considering that some of your loans 3319860, 3323348 might have put you in financial hardship as they were approved in quick succession, we offer to refund the interest paid on these loans £11.10. Also, we are ready to adjust the refundable amount towards the remaining principal balance.
Please note, even the FCA legitimize a lender to collect the principal amount.
Hence, we would like to inform you that our offer to accept remaining principle balance for loans 3306521, 3327768 and 3352570 (Amount borrowed – Amount paid), thereby waiving of the interest and charges, would remain the same. To re-iterate, the remaining outstanding balance is on your would be £440.20. Also, after adjusting the refundable amount towards the remaining principal balance (£440.20 – £11.10), the amount to be paid would be £429.10.
We find it worth mentioning that the stated settlement amount (£429.10) can be paid in a full one time payment or in an affordable payment arrangement.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can you give the numbers for each of your 6 loans seperately:
– for each of the first 3 repaid loans say the date you took it out, the amount you borrowed including top-ups, the interest you paid and the date it was finally settled
– for the last three loans, say the date you took them out, the amount you borrowed including top-ups and any payments you have made so far.
Christopher Smilth says
Hello, Still waiting on a respond from both wonga (with lost of loans) and FO service. I have managed to go through my bank statements and collect all the inward transactions from wonga. Over a period from about May 2011 to May 2014 I had about 57 loans. They offered to pay back 26 of those loans. From what I can see they have not offered to pay back loans under £100 or wherever there is a loan taken out that is less than the previous loans. They offered me around about £1400 for the 26 loans and somewhere around £1700 including the 8% interest per loan. The majority or the other loans were £20 -£40 loans some £100 and some a lot higher but we’re obviously taken out after even higher loans. Totalling around about 31 loans not offered for but I can see why they would argue they were not irresponsible. My question is did I get a good offer…? Id rather not have to play the waiting game. Can I even accept the offer now that I made a complaint to the Fo?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well, it’s up to you. It can certainly be argued that a £20 or £40 loan is unlikely to be unaffordable – unless you had other loans running from wonga at the same time? If you are looking just at the credits on your bank statements, are you sure these are separate loans, not top-ups? Top ups are a good indication you are struggling!
But if you borrowed £200 one month and then £150 the next, that £150 could well be unaffordable. Obviously, if your borrowing goes up every time, that makes a dramatically good case. But just because it doesn’t, doesn’t mean the lower loans are affordable. This is NOT a test the Ombudsman is applying.
The only way to tell is for you to actually add up what you paid them. Then take away what they paid you. The difference is the interest you paid.
It’s fine to settle for any amount you feel is fair having looked at the figures. If your total interest paid was £2,000 then you may feel £1400 now is an OK offer – other people might not but it’s your decision. But we have had people coming back here and regretting what they have accepted later, so do the maths and be happy with your decision!
lee hughes says
Hi,
I have emailed pay day uk for a statement of my account, they have replied saying because no sums are due they have no obligation to provide my statement under section 77 of the consumer credit act… blah blah blah.
I replied with a template from your site about the FCA rules and saying i feel they’re being obstructive by not supplying the statement of account and also threatening to go to take complaint to financial ombudsman and notifying FCA about them being difficult.
They have now replied and sticking to their guns saying as previously stated they have no obligation to give me a statement due to section 77 and also says they are acting in line with the financial conduct authority regulations concerning complaints.
So can you advise me on what to do next?
By the way this site is so great and i’m really grateful for your help
Sal says
I’ve had this from Payday Express. They also blocked me from accessing my account online. I told the FCA and they’ve changed their mind from offering me nothing, to offering me just short of £500 for my final loan. I have 14 days to decide if I’m going to accept this or speak to the FO about all the other loans I had…
I’m not sure if I should accept it or not because getting statements from banks I am no longer with (because I owe them a lot of money!) seems too much hassle…
I have no idea how many loans I had with them or what interest/charges I paid because of all of this…
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well it’s your choice, but if PDUK have offered £500 for one loan, you could be looking at getting thousands on the others!
Do you have any idea how long a period you borrowed over?
Lee hughes says
Yeah i would get your old bank statements. Its not much of a hassle really just pop in branch and they can order them for you. Pay day uk and payday express are disgusting i hope they get taken to the cleaners for their lack of morals and bad customer service.
david says
got the exact same response a few months back, stick with it and go to FOS. that is their final response. FOS currently adjudicating on my complaint to payday UK. They’ve recently come back to me saying they are contesting what some payday lenders are doing by trying to get out of paying back on old loans due to the over 6 year “ruling”, which technically no longer applies. just stalling tactics if you ask me. i’m hoping for a positive response so go for it. they can only say no but its looking likely to be the opposite once the FOS have done their “ting”! :)
Nani says
Hi, need some advice on this one please, been sending my complaints to several PDL and Lending Stream come up with this answer, althought I did pay back some of the loans at the time (and interest which I am trying to reclaim):
This is in reference to your correspondence dated xxxxxx
We have reviewed your accounts and would like to share our findings. You have borrowed two loans (xxxxx and xxxxx) from Lending Stream.
We would like to inform that the ownership of the loan accounts xxxxxx and xxxxxx has been transferred to Mackenzie Hall (MH) and Motormile Finance Ltd (MMF )respectively, due to prolonged non payments.
We would request you to contact (MH) and (MMF) on 01563 556533 and 0113 8876876 in regards to your concern raised.
We are unable to provide the statement of accounts as the ownership of the loans have been transferred to third party Debt Collection Agencies.
———–
I had two loans with them that were partially paid back at the time.
Should I just send it straight to the FO?
Thanks for any help
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You need to reply to LS that you are complaining that they should not have given you the loans as they were unaffordable. Ask if that is their final response as you will be going to the Financial Ombudsman.
Also inform MH and MMF that you are disputing the debts with LS.
Adam says
Hello, put complaints in to Wonga, Quickquid and Sunny. Last week I had an email from two adjudicators the Quickquid complaint has come back as refund all interest from loan 4-8. Bearing in mind I only took out 8 loans and was topping these up. However the adjudicator that has been dealing with Sunny and Wonga has come back saying that she can not see any reason of why Wonga shouldn’t have lent to me. I have had 32 loans with Wonga from 2013-2017. However they are willing to settle the balance of my account which is £442. The interest paid back to Wonga amounts to approximately £2000. I have gone through my statements from the dates the adjudicator gave me to clarify the amount of disposable income I had. In some months I was paying back more in loans then I was getting paid. Surely this is irresponsible lending and Wonga should have asked more about my financial position? Any advice would he appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you have gone back to the adjudicator? Hopefully that will get this sorted. If it doesn’t ask for the case to go to the Ombudsman.
John says
Hi Everyone,
Well, thats it! I am done!
Got my last “final decision” today from the Ombudsman. It took 4 months from adjudicator to Ombudsman. Full refund of all interest and charges on 10 out of 11 loans from the good folk at QuickQuid plus 8% interest plus remove adverse findings on credit report. This brings me to total refunds of over £11,000 from Wonga, Lending Stream and QuickQuid since I began all this nine months ago. My credit file also looks a lot better these days also.
One slight hiccup is that Lending Stream (awful people) continue to ignore the Ombudsman’s final decision of nearly six weeks ago and have yet to pay out. However as it is legally binding I am not too concerned. It will turn up eventually one way or the other.
Good Luck with your cases All
John
Hannah says
Hi
Can anyone help please, how long do wonga take to pay out I accepted offer last Wednesday then they emailed on Friday to say I needed to send picture of my account details then they will pay. I called Monday they said 3-5days from Monday apparently and to call on Friday if not in account. Just wondered on average how long. Thank you
Linda says
The 3-5 days is from the date you receive the email confirming that you have accepted the settlement. Once you get the email it’s just a couple of days, if you don’t get the email then ring them. I waited 2 weeks after being told the same thing as you, when I rang them I was told that the email is triggered when their finance issue the funds.
Hannah says
Thank you I called this morning and it hadn’t even been put through to finance department I asked to speak to a manager as I have called twice this week first Monday and been told I should expect by Friday she said she will email finance department and ask if they can push it through quicker as could be 3-5days from today. Not impressed.
Keith says
Hi there, I’ve now taken the first step and contacted several lenders I have rolled over loans with. I closed the bank account I used to pay them back with a while ago now. Will I still be able to claim a refund without obtaining bank statements. I will still be able to get hold of emails as proof of payments to them in the past.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The bank statements aren’t needed by the FOS to prove what you borrowed/repaid, they are there to help prove the loans were unaffordable by showing what your expenses were.
It is possible to get bank statements from closed accounts. Cross this bridge when you come to it.
Hannah says
Hi can anyone advise who has had dealings with 247 money box please. I put a letter of complaint in on Monday although I have an outstanding loan with them, will they continue to collect from me I did ask them to stop collection whilst they investigate my complaint. What should I do as I have only received an automated response not that I expect a prompt response but my payment due next Friday 26th should I call them to discuss? Any advice please thank you
Ross says
Hi Hannah,
Contact your bank and cancel the continuous payment authority for them. Then contact 247 and advise them you’ve done this. That way, you don’t have to rely on them coming back to you before the due date. They’d more than likely wait until after the date anyway, so at least this way you’re in control.
martin says
wow having last week recieved confirmation from ombudsman on my WDA and today the same with quick quid so that leaves me with only one to go sunny (but that was late going in) been long journey but worth it the quick quid final will be intersting as they offered me £1200 which rejected, good luck to everyone still on this jouney one thing i would say is try not to except there offers of the 5 i have recieved i worked out that the companies offer me £875 (exculdeds QQ as do not know final settlement) and my final totals on them has been £4200
Jonny says
Hello
i have outstanding loans with Sunny and Lending Stream (about 4 with each) tottally £700ish a months
Should i continue to pay before putting a complaint in or cancel the payments?
I am just concerned that they will add late fee’s and interest if i stop paying, making my situation worse
Really dont know what to do for the best
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can you afford to repay the current loans and not borrow any more money, either from those lenders or by letting your overdraft/credit cards/arrears on household bills increase?
If you can, then pay them off. But if you can’t (and most people with unaffordable loans can’t – that’s why they are unaffordable!) then you need to stop the cycle of repaying and borrowing more.
Late fees and interest are capped these days – and anyway if you win your complaint they will all be removed from your credit record.
If it is just these two debts, you can cancel the CPAs with your bank, inform the lender you have done this, say you would like an affordable payment plan and put in a complaint.
If you have other types of debts that you can’t repay without borrowing more, you need to stabilise your whole fiances. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/help-payday-loan/ for how to do this.
Jonny says
No, i continuously pay them back and then borrow more to get through the month! One continuois spiral, and i cant see a way of getting out of them! I even found myself borrowing from LS to pay off a sunny loan so i could take a ‘fresh’ sunny loan out!
Its madness i know, just not sure what to do for the best
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You have to stop. I know it feels scary, but stopping paying them is the first step back to sanity with your finances. Hundreds of people here have taken this decision and the world hasn’t ended for them.
Jonny says
Yeah i know, its just the horror stories you read about high interest being added and the phone calls/letters ect!
But i know i need to get out of it and this would take such a weight off of my shoulders!
Jonny says
Hi Sara
Just an update, I have contacted both LS and Sunny asking for payment to be put on hold
They have both agreed to this and have come back to me with positive emeails about setting up a payment plan
Do you think now is the right time to put the complaint emails in?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Now these payday loans are on hold (well done!) are the rest of your finances manageable? Or do you have other problem debts you can’t afford without borrowing more?
This is a good time to complain, but your top priority has to be sorting out your current money situation. Once that is under control is the best time to turn your attention to affordability complaints.
Jonny says
Hello Sara
Yes absolutely, I can live comfortably now without borrowing more as long as the amount I agree to pay back is affordable
Complaint put in with both. I explained that I was in the process of sorting a payment plan out but that was putting a complaint in at the same time!
Chris
Peter says
Hi Jonny,
I`ve been in the same situation in last November. I emailed to sunny to suspend my account untill the FOS final decisson. They did and never had to pay back anymore. The FOS upheld my complaint and they clear my outstanding balance which was 340 pounds. It was done by end of February.
Thx
Peter
Jonny says
Thanks Peter makes me feel confident knowing someone else has been in the same situation
malik says
Hello,
i made a complaint to myjar for irresponsible lending for loans i had taken out in 2015. after a week they replied with the following:
“Unfortunately, and despite our best efforts, we are not yet in a position to give you a final response and have therefore, forwarded the matter on to our Complaints Team. Please find attached to this e-mail your MYJAR account summary.
We will be contacting you again shortly and we will either issue our Final Response giving our decision on the outcome of your complaint and the reasons for this or, an explanation of why we have not yet resolved your complaint. At the very latest, we will issue our Final Response within 8 weeks from receipt of your complaint.
can you please tell me if i should escalate to FOS or wait until their final response?.
Thankyou
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Wait. You can’t go to the FOS until either you have a Final Response or they have sat on your complaint for 8 weeks.
Hannah says
Hello I had this response too from
My jar and they got back to me around 2-3weeks later with a final response.
Hannah says
Hi Hannah,
How did you get on with Myjar and their final response? Was it a favorable response?
Just curious as have submitted my stage 2 to them also and wondered how they fair at handling things and making a reasonable offer?
Hannah says
Hi Hannah
Yes out of 10 loans they upheld the last 6 refund of 1105 and wiped my existing account reduced it from 728 to 300 and reduced amount of refund from 1405 to 1105 if that makes sense.
Heather says
Makes perfect sense, thankyou. I’m hopeful they will uphold my 70 loans over a 5 year period then! Were the quick to respond with your final decision?
Hannah says
Took just under 2 weeks for final decision. Good luck with yours.
John says
Lending Stream!
Its now nearly six weeks since the Ombudsman issued their final decision with a maximum of 4 weeks to pay and they still haven’t paid. The Ombudsman’s office wrote to them a week ago to ask them why and they ignored their letter. I called them today and got passed around their call centre in the Philippines for a while but could not get a time frame when they would pay.
They are signed up to a legally binding process and they behave like this. It’s absolutely terrible. They don’t even bother to make up an excuse. They just do what they do and probably know they will get away with it.
Disgusting Behaviour
John
Claire says
I have contacted Lending Stream about my accounts and they have told me to contact the third party debt agency with regards to my complaint ….so do I now go to them ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, reply to LS that you are complaining that LS should not have given you the loans – ask if that is their final response as you will be going to the Ombudsman.
NB have you told the debt collector that you have out in a complaint with LS? You should do,
Matty says
paydayuk are playing silly buggers in regards to issuing my refund. Think they will take the full 4weeks just to be awkard .
Ally says
when did they agree the refund Matty
thanks
ally
Matty says
2 weeks ago!!!
They have been awful to deal with, constantly making excuses and delaying any sort of payment. will be glad to see the back them. Their customer relations dept need training in the ‘relations’ part…..rude and arrogant staff.
C says
Heard back from my aujudicator yesterday to say she upheld my complaint against wageday advance for loans 2,3 and 4. All interest to be repaid along with 8% simple internet and all markers removed from my credit file. WDA hasnt responded yet, quick question, how long do WDA normally take to respond and if they agree how long before they settle?. Many thanks
Pear says
My adjudicator upheld my complaint with WDA and they had 2 weeks to respond which is up today, I have heard nothing yet ?
C says
They have until 1st june to respond to mine, will you updated x
Lisa says
Wda disagreed with my adjudicator so in the line for ombudsmen
Pear says
Got word from my adjudicator this afternoon to say they have agreed so I have sent back the settlement form, not sure if they take 28 days to pay but don’t really mind as long as I get it.
Timeline: my adjudicator sent them her findings on the 5th May and they had until today to respond, they responded today to say the agreed so the adjudicator sent the settlement form on the e-mail
Isaac Okafor says
Hi
Got an email from 247Moneybox
“We are, however, happy as a gesture of goodwill to resolve by writing off your current outstanding balance of £174.96”.
Should I accept that or go ahead and ask for a refund. Think I have borrowed about 5 or 6 loans from them, been in payment plan for the last loan since last year, sent them a message asking for my statement of account and they got back to me with that offer without sending the statement. Think the last loan was £250.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If the last loan was £250 plus interest then you must have repaid a fair bit to get the balance down to £176. In that case this sounds like a poor offer.
But to be sure I suggest you reply saying “thanks for the offer to write off the balance of my final loan, but I need the full statement of my account from you so that I can decide whether to accept this or not.”
Miriam says
Hi Sarah
Complaint sent to WDA by the end of January. Adjudicator’s decision received by the and of April and ombudsman’s 12th of May. Pretty quick.
I paid interest 661.52 from 10 loans I had during 11 months, from Feb 16- Jan 17. how do I calculate 8% interest from payment to settlement?
I will get refund £259.65 inc 8% interest £68.69 and they have written off outstanding loan £470.56. Total interest paid 661.52
Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well the interest they have calculated looks too much to me! If I assume you made much the same payments to them throughout the 11 months period, this is roughly the same for the interest calculations as making all the payments in the middle of the 11 month period ie in July 2016. From then till now is 10 months. 10 months interest at 8% on £661 is about £45…
Ash says
So I submitted two complaints; one to QuickQuid and one to Wonga.
QuickQuid
I submitted the complaint in October 2016, and had a final decision by December 2016. They confirmed that I had 38 loans, and said although they do not believe they did anything wrong, they would offer me £43 as a good will gesture. I rejected and forwarded to the FOS. The adjudicator ruled in my favour, and said to refund from loan 2 to 38, with 8% interest and remove adverse info from my credit file… QQ made a counter offer of £300, I rejected, they made a second offer of £1,100 – I rejected. It is now waiting to be assigned to an Ombudsman, (I requested it go to Ombudsman in March 2017, now May 2017 – no word from them).
Wonga
I submitted my complaint in October 2016, and they were very slow to respond. They eventually provided a final response in February 2016, and offered nothing, saying that they had done nothing wrong. The adjudicator ruled in my favour in May, and Wonga offered £1,300 – I rejected this, as the Adjudicator said to refund 37 loans in total with 8% interest and the removal of info from my CR, but Wonga only offered 17 loans to be refunded with 8% interest. I’ve now asked for this to go to an Ombudsman for review.
I’ve had a read, and seen that some people are getting results around 4 months in to their waiting games…. is that about right?
Ash says
I’ve just thought… is it usual for a company to make an offer in the period that the adjudicator states to provide info by before it going to an ombudsman?
I declined Wonga’s offer, because the adjudicator found over 19 more loans to be refunded than they offered (which was stated that the offer was made prior to them viewing the adjudicators findings, that’s a bit odd too, considering this was a day after the deadline that he gave the company).
The adjudicator has said it will be reviewed by an ombudsman, and to provide any information by 26 may…. what’s the purpose of this period, for me or the company??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It gives you and the lender a chance to say something extra that will be considered by the Ombudsman.
Sometimes a lender will come back with a larger offer at this point.
Dan says
Its been a long winded process, but I’m finally coming to the end of my complaints journey. I found this site in September last year and made my complaints in October. I have claimed: £900 from Ladder Loans (4 weeks) and £3.3k from Wonga (11 weeks) both direct.
QQ, Pounds to Pocket and Lending Stream all went to the FOS. After 2 below par offers QQ offered what i was expecting through the adjudicator and have received £770 back from them.
Pounds to Pocket disagreed with the adjudicator who said both loans should be refunded so it went to the Ombudsman who has ruled that both the loans were unaffordable and that Pounds to Pocket should refund interest from both loans plus 8%.
Lending stream is in the queue for an Ombudsman, but the adjudicator found that loans 4-12 (out of 18) were unaffordable. I did think this was a little below what i thought was unaffordable but my adjudicator has been really good so i accepted what she found, although as you can imagine Lending Stream did not. After their 3rd offer my adjudicator just refused it without telling me first as she said it was an insult. so that is now in the queue for the Ombudsman and I’m kind of hoping that they may include a few loans more than the adjudicator, mainly just as a dig to Lending Stream for handling the complaint so poorly, although i will be happy if they agree with the adjudicator as with the 8% should still be around 2.5k.
Thanks to Sara and everyone on this site for their advice and their stories which has kept me motivated throughout the past 7 months. I have also since started volunteering for Citizen’s Advice to give a little something back to people, as without this sort of help and information, i would have been none the wiser.
debbie says
Has anyone dealt with an adjudicator call [edited] Would like to know if anyone has dealt with her what the outcome was. She sounded very nice and explain how she will base her decision on the information and evidence. Just had a call from her she’s currently looking into my complaints with WDA, Safety net and Payday UK. She wanted some additional information and a couple of bank statements and said she should have an response for the WDA by the end of today. Have to say I am feeling a little anxious.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry but I have deleted the adjudicator’s name. It is not fair for FOS staff’s names to be published here. Not only that but it won’t help you much to know she turned down someone else’s case or upheld it in full. Their case could be completely different to yours.
It’s understandable that you should feel anxious but there is nothing you can do at this point except send her the info she has asked for.
Hannah says
Hi has anyone else had this happen with 247 money box not sure what to do. I have an outstanding loan due with them for 400 pounds I submitted a complaint on Tuesday this is my 5th loan with them and loans have been taken pretty much back to back increasing in amount, I asked if they would put my payment on hold until complaint investigated. Payment is not due to come out until 26th but I logged on and it says my account is in default, I am going to try and get in touch with them to see if I can commence a payment plan or at least stop payments until complaint investigated has this happened to anyone else? I will also be contacting bank to stop cpa. Thanks
Susan says
They are a nightmare never acknowledge my emails or anything just took it straight to the FO, if you do this, I don’t think you need to pay while there is a complaint going on but it is always better to pay something even if it is a £1 to show that you are still paying
Katie says
Hello everyone
I heard back today from my adjudicators on two of my lenders MyJar and Wage Day Advance. The adjudicators have recommended that they repay all interest. Are these companies good at agreeing at adjudicator level and if so how long do they generally take ? Many thanks
Stacey says
How long did the FO take to reach a decision after you made the complaint to them? I complained last Monday the 15th May, heard back from them today asking for Wageday Advances’s final response letter, so just want to know roughly when i will expect to get a decision from them? thanks
Katie says
Hi Stacey, my complaints went to the FOS middle of April so about a month before they were looked at properly by an adjudicator. Having said that, I also have another 8 claims that have been picked up by adjudicators but I haven’t heard their findings yet but they were all lodged at the same time ( some of them even a month earlier ). Good luck, I hope you hear soon x
Dom says
Hi Katie. My experience with MyJar was good. They waited until the day of the deadline but they agreed with the adjudicator and paid out the refund within hours. Every case will different though of course, I felt I had a strong case against them.
Freddie says
I got the standard response from Lending stream that stated my credit score was 710-737 during the period I had loans with them. I called Experian and they gave me all my generated scores over this time and they were all between 420-600. LS just lie to send us off the scent don’t they. I sent them the email from Experian and the lady on the phone at LS said oh we must have made an error. Yeah right… anyone else got good cases with LS that didn’t go to the FOS? Anyone get a settlement direct?
Joanna says
Hi Sara,
I’ve noticed that since I began my payday loan journey in September, I’m constantly being bombarded with emails and text messages from payday loan companies asking me to borrow from them. I usually receive the messages in the 3rd week of the month until payday. They’re from MyJar, 118 and Cashlady. I didn’t have any loans with them but they keep persisting.
Is anyone else experiencing this ?
Allison says
Hi, yes I am, I get loads, very annoying makes you wonder where they get your email from! I even get text, and cash lady one of them amongst others, how can you stop them I wonder?
Susan says
Am the same all the time am getting texts or emails
Joanna says
I’ve tried blocking them but they keep persisting
Allison says
I have just rang cash lady and asked to be removed let’s see if it works, will ring others when I have 2 mins ☺
Danny S says
Hi. I’ve just been passed this thread by my partner. Between 2009-2012 I was in a wonga loan debt spiral. I regularly (every month from mid 2009 to early 2012) took out a wonga loan. This all started off with a £250 loan which then very quickly spiralled out of control to the point where I had to borrow the full £1000 each month to cover living expenses.
Wonga, if the looked at my credit file, should have been easily able to see that my finances were not in a good place. I had a maxed overdraft of £3000 which I was unable to pay for and had missed several bill payments to BT and virgin etc.
I have checked my credit file and a lot of the loans have now dropped off due to being past 6 years. Will, if Wonga don’t, the FCA take these loans past 6 years into account! Or only the ones within the time frame?
I have sent the first stage 1 letter off asking for a statement of my account. Will wonga have to include these loans in the statement? This is the first I have heard of being able to do this. Wonga left me in a terrible financial mess, of which my partner had to end up bailing me out for. This was after several thousand pounds was paid to Wonga in interest payments. I was only 19 at the time and was estranged from my parents so had no finiancial support from anyone, up until my partner kindly landed me some money to get out of the trap.
Any info would be appreciated!
Danny
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Small point, your complaint goes to the Financial Ombudsman (FOS) not the FCA.
The FOS is looking at loans over 6 years old. But many lenders are objecting to this at the moment, including Wonga. A few have now given in and are accepting they have to refund earlier loans and the FOS is hoping other lenders are going to do this too. But at the moment with a Wonga complaint with a lot of loans over 6 years you are in for a long wait.
Best thing is to get a complaint in asap so as many loans as possible are included as under 6 years – obviously I hope the older loans will be included and I am encouraged that other big lenders are now agreeing to this (such as the Money Shop). But plan for the worst is always a good approach, so don’t delay! I would put a step two complaint letter in immediately, you can always add some more later when you do get a list of your loans.
Danny S says
Thanks Sara. I’ll get a stage 2 letter sent off today then. Thanks for the help. Will post updates when I have any!
I take it for the fact that I had to borrow every month for such a long period of time this should be evidence enough that I was in trouble? Expecting them to say that I didn’t let them know etc.
Thanks
Danny
Aaron jackson says
Good luck with that,
I waited 8 weeks with wonga then since then,
Has been with the FOS for over 3 months now.
I’m 5 months in and still no further forward!
And even if you’ve had just 1 loan outside the 6 year period, they refuse to look at ALL loans within it as well.
I had 25 out of the 6 years and 55 within it…..
I asked them to drop the 25 but they say they won’t look at the whole thing in general because my first ones were in 2010
Ross says
Hi Aaron,
Who said they wouldn’t look at loans within the 6 years because of you having loans outside of the 6 years? I am still, patiently, waiting for a decision with reference to my last complaint, with Quick (slow) Quid. My adjudicator made me aware that if they can’t get the go ahead to look at the older loans, then they can definitely look at ones within the 6 year period. I think someone’s telling you porky pies?!?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hav you told your adjudicator in writing that you are happy to drop the older cases? The FO is normally happy to do this if it thinks you realise the decision you are taking?
Freddie says
Sara, have you heard of anyone receiving direct redress from LS? I will go to the ombudsman if need be but to me they would be silly to take let it go further after seeing the evidence of all my payday loans and my true credit score or are they really stubborn?
Thanks
Katie says
I don’t know if it helps but I had over 30 loans with LS paying in excess of £6K in interest alone. I was on a DMP had multiple defaults and was also borrowing from another 10 PDLs at the time. LS claimed my credit rating was excellent ( it was very poor ) and rejected me outright after 8 weeks. I emailed them to ask if it was their final response as if so I was forwarding to the FOS and they replied to say that they looked again and that they might not have done complete checks on one loan. So then they offered me £750 which I rejected and forwarded to the FOS. My case was picked up by an adjudicator 3 weeks ago so we will see what they say. I’m also hearing of cases where they are ignoring adjudicator findings and going all the way the the Ombudsman which of course will be a further few months wait. So you must go for it but they are one of less helpful lenders so expect it to go all the way especially if you have a good case. Good luck!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s not stubborn, the lenders know that a lot of people with good cases can be bluffed out of taking them forwards by the assertion that their credit score was good enough etc. Even where people do go to the Ombudsman, the lenders know that many will settle for not good offer rather than have it drag on for months. So they are saving money by taking this line :(
Kevin says
Just had reply from cheque centre saying they will pay in full after adjudicators decision, not bad for someone who had knocked me back at an early stage saying it was me in the wrong , not them . Anyway I will be 3500 richer in a few days , but all the thanks should go to Sara who has been fantastic for everyone, thanks again.This is my first I have 12 others at the ombudsman level. Think everyone should organise a good night out for her and her hubby, that’s the least we could do , she deserves it.
Liz says
I had my payout from the Cheque Centre on Friday for £6500. Initially they offered me nothing and refused to look at loans over 6 years.
I first complained at the beginning of January this year.
Delighted!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Good that Cheque Centre aren’t dragging things out to the Ombudsman level. Less good of course that they refused your initial complaint – they are well aware by now when someone has an excellent claim and in option they are in breach of the regulators rules to dismiss these complaints :(
If you want to say thanks , good ways are to donate £10 to your local Citizens Advice and to Like my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/debtcamel/ and then share some posts from there. With no income from this site I can’t afford advertising so I rely on social sharing to spread the word!
Liz says
Unfortunately they did not look at loans over 6 years old but the 8% statutory interest really adds up!
Sara, I will be making a substantial donation to my local Citizens Advice. I would like to thank you most sincerely for all your time and effort that you put into this site. It is appreciated by so many.
cookie says
Hi all, just thought I’d give an update on my LS complaint. I initially complained to them the beginning of Jan ’17, they offered a low settlement which I declined and referred the complaint to the FOS. It was picked up by an adjudicator who recommended they refund interest/charge from loans 4-7; I though this was fair enough and the majority of the interest and charges were on the later loans anyway.
LS didn’t agree with the adjudicator and therefore it was referred for an ombudsman decision 29/03/2017. I received a letter through the post yesterday, dated 19/05/2017. The ombudsman’s final decision was the same as the adjudicator’s. I will be posting my agreement back to them tomorrow and expect LS to drag out any payment as long as they can.
I was quite surprised how quickly it got picked up by the ombudsman; I was expecting a 6-9 month wait but it actually took just under 2 months from the date it was referred by the adjudicator. My loans didn’t fall under the 6 year rule.
My 3 pay day complaints have all been dealt with now, all complaints were initially made beginning of Jan ’17.
For anyone thinking of accepting a lower offer from LS, they do seem to be holding out for ombudsman decision in the hope you will accept a lower offer. From my experience, things seem to be picking up pace at ombudsman level – it’s worth waiting it out if you can
cookie says
Hi Sara, I have a question re the tax on the 8% and hope you can help. I received a refund from Wonga 31/03/2017 so in the 2016/2017 tax year. They had deducted around £120 from the 8% interest and I have completed the HMRC form online to claim this back. I didn’t receive any other interest from refunds or savings for the 16/17 tax year so believe I should receive the whole amount back.
I then received a refund from PDUK early May 17, so in the 17/18 tax year. The 8% interest from this refund was just over £1k and they deducted £214.75 from the 8% interest. I’m going to fill in a separate claim for the 17/18 tax year now as an interim claim and expect to receive a £200 refund from this. I’m awaiting a refund from LS and expect them to deduct tax from the 8%, but as I’ve gone over the £1k allowance for the 17/18 tax year am I right in thinking there will be no point waiting for LS refund before I put this claim in because I’ll be due no further refunds?
I’m just wondering whether I’ve got this right before I make an interim claim for the PDUK refund?
Thank you for any help and thank you for this site it’s been amazing for me, changed my life. I’m now debt free and have some savings for a deposit for a mortgage and will soon have no pay day loans on my credit report!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Assuming you are a basic rate tax payer, that sounds right.
But I suggest waiting until the LS complaint is settled. They may not deduct tax – not all lenders do, which is a complication
Claire says
This has been extremely helpful.
I have spent the majority of today going through my bank statements and found the following:
Wonga: borrowed between December 2012 and March 2014
Mr Lender: borrowed between June 2013 and December 2016
The Loan Store LTD/ Cheque Centre: borrowed between November 2012 and February 2014
PDUK: borrowed February 2013 and March 2013
And you can see how the amounts started off small (due to poor credit I asked if this could be a good way of rebuilding and over the phone I was advised as long as I don’t not pay back then it would never have a negative impact). The amounts went up and up and even the amount of lenders I was using to cover one another!
Luckily I have only used Mr Lender at the back end of last year (as they sent me through a promo code stupidly!) and I will NEVER use such services again! Feel like a complete fool.
I have emailed each of the above companies following the template on here asking for a statement of loans and the fact I wish to have interest paid back (+8% returned) as well as removing from my credit file as this is preventing my gaining my first mortgage – completely gutted but I guess now time will tell!
Is there anything more I could be doing?
Many thanks,
Claire
Sara (Debt Camel) says
A good days work!
The longer the period of lending the better the case is. Unless the amounts were very large, you only borrowed from PDUK for a couple of months so this may not be a good case.
Did you have defaults or late payments on the older loans? If they were all paid on time, then only the recent 2016 loans are likely to be affecting your ability to get a mortgage at the moment.
Nothing else needs to be done at the moment. At some point, it will be good to add up the interest you paid to each of the lenders, so if they come back with an offer you can assess how good it is.
Claire says
Would I still be potentially entitled to a interest refund on the 2016 loans? I thought they might be discounted you see.
Thanks so much for this site and the advice/ tips really is a life saver!
Working so hard to get my credit rating up but it can drive you round the twist haha!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If there was a large gap between them and your older loans, think of them being decided as two separate claims (though they go to the lender and the Ombudsman as 1).
The rules about payday lender changed in 2014 and things got a *bit* better. But we have seen loads of people here given unaffordable loans in 2016, so if you borrowed for several months in a row and you couldn’t afford the repayments without borrowing again, from them or from somewhere else, then it’s definitely worth a try.
(PS I have been deleting your surname)
Rachel says
Not much to report, still in jurisdiction que for pduk referred from adjudicator in January, claim started last year. Hoping I hear something soon anyone had any recent joy with older loans?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Several people have had payouts from the PDUK brands for loans over 6 years :) That doesn’t mean yours will go through easily, but it’s a positive sign.
Rachel says
Hi Sara after writing this the other day I got an offer on all loans going back 10 yrs!! I will post once it has been finalised with more detail of my claim. I’m so happy this is over can’t thank you enough if it hadn’t come across your page i would never have known I had a case thank you
JR says
Hi Sara, I had 9 loans with WDA with the last loan of £680 still outstanding, all loans were taken out month after month all separated by just a few days. I received a response in the mail recently but it doesn’t mention it being a final response. They have offered to refund interest on loans 7-9 with the 8%. This brings the remaining balance to just under £200. All of the loans were taken out to fuel a gambling habit or pay back money from my income I lost to the same cause! My statements would all show this if asked to provide them. What should my next move be?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
A refund from loan 6 isn’t dreadful but it’s not that good.
What would you be happy with? I’m guessing that a refund from loan 5 would nearly write off the last debt – if you think that would be fair, you could go back and suggest that you will accept a write off of the last debt and removing it from your credit rating or you will go to the FOS.
If you think you should get a refund from the 4th loan, work out how much that would be and go back and suggest that.
Gambling showing on your bank statements doesn’t prove a problem with the Financial Ombudsman. So don’t let this worry you.
JR says
The gambling doesn’t really concern me it’s the fact that I have no outgoings showing in the particular bank. This was a brand new bank account I opened because thevlSt one was full of payday loans funnily enough :/!
I have emailed them asking if this is their final response, I await their reply. I would be willing to accept the balance being wiped at a minimum. If not I’ll take it the the ombudsman and accept any outcome as I’ve got nothing to lose really.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well your outgoings must be shown somewhere… if you had two bank accounts, you will need to send statements for both to the FOS. If you had a joint account with your partner, and the bills came out from this, you need to send statements for that one as well.
This isn’t unusual. The FO is used to dealing with this sort of thing.
Sarah says
Hi Sara,
I’m after some advice if possible please as I am unsure as to whether this is a fair offer or not? The response is regarding my complaint with Lending Stream/Drafty
· set up a repayment plan for your outstanding balance
· waive any further interest and charges from being applied to the outstanding balance
With your outstanding balance, they’ve let me know that you borrowed £888 capital in total and of this you’ve repaid £681.93 which leaves an outstanding balance of £206.07 for the capital you borrowed on the loan facility.
Sharon says
Hi folks
I’m looking for some advice if possible. I currently have 6 complaints with the FOS. My adjudicator has come back to me on one, which was 13 loans over 12 months each amount escalating and at the same time as other PDL. The findings are that 1-4 was fine but from 5 they should have carried out more checks. The FOS therefore carried out affordability checks and found that 5-10 were affordable as I had sufficient disposable income to cover the payments. I have checked my statements and with normal living costs I was £350 short at the end of the month rather that having any disposable income. The only spending was normal bills (gas, insurance etc), mortgage, car loan, credit cards etc. Food and petrol (only £250) and clothing (only £70) plus PDL repayments of £800. All in all I think the FOS has miscalculated my outgoings. Can I ask for it to be reviewed as I believe there is a clear error or is my only route to reject the findings and ask for escalation to FOS? My worry is that the same person is dealing with all complaints and may therefore use incorrect calculations on all. Any help really appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Go back to your adjudicator and ask for this to be looked at again. Some have found it helps to take a month in the middle at random and go through everything that month in detail, proving how unaffordable the loan repayments were.
Sharon says
Thanks Sarah I have done that and have been informed that they will review their calculations and come back to. Mine show a massive shortfall there’s showed a surplus of over £400. They have come back to me saying that they don’t usually include payments to other PDL’s as part of their outgoings calculations as they are usually paid off in one month (the majority of mine were 6 months loans though) – does this sound right, surely an outgoing is an outgoing…? Thanks again
Sharon says
Hi again
I have forwarded my analysis of account statements for two months as a start. In the request for the statements my adjudicator has highlighted that I may be including things in regular expenditure that they wouldn’t. So as well as the post above where they are saying other PDL’s would not be considered as expediture neither would food where it is from restaurants or McDonalds. I have one entry on my statement from McDonald’s for £10 that I had included in food but adjudicator has stated that is not expenditure that would be considered. Does this sound right it’s seems bizarre when others have confirmed that significant gambling was considered as expediture….. any advice Sarah would be hugely appreciated. My interest on this one is £4000 and the other 2 that the adjudicator has yet to consider amounts to £8000 and I’m really worried about this analysis.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think most adjudicators tend to view this on a case by case basis. Obviously, there is a difference between one £10 bill at MacD’s and having fast food every night of the month or spending £100 in a restaurant.
If your payday loans were 6 months loans then these repayments absolutely should be included, no doubt. Even if they are 1 month loans, the fact is that these are contractual commitments that you have – I suggest querying this with your adjudicator.
Jono says
I have a complaint with Quickquid & Wonga who I was using at the same time and was roughly borrowing £1,000 a month to just simply pay off the prior months loans (yes..that cycle). From what i’ve seen on this site i think i have a strong case. Wonga already said they rejected the claim..so thats in the queue for the FOS but Quickquid just came back with a response..so thought i’d put it here..Seeing as in the time of dealing with Quickquid I borrowed £14,500 and paid back £17,500 (what horrible companies these are) I think i should firmly reject this offer! Thoughts?
——————————
[stander stuff edited out]
It was noted your monthly income was stated as £2638 per month. I compared your income to the average monthly repayment for each loan you took with us. From this I can see that the income you made during each loan with us was always more than enough to cover the amount you had to repay us for each loan and thus I cannot agree with you that your loans were unaffordable.
….
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 are offering you a total refund of £412.5 which equates to the interest paid on loan #.
Steph says
Decline!
QQ didn’t uphold any part of my complaint, and hey flat out declined but offered £350 goodwill gesture. I referred to the FOS and, prior to any investigation behind started by the adjudicator, QQ increased their offer to £2,100.
On the basis they’ve already partially upheld your complaint, it sounds like you have a stronger case than me.
Hope this helps.
Danny says
Hi Jono,
That reply is a carbon copy of the reply I got from Quickquid, except for the amount offered.
I’ve declined & it’s now with an adjudicator.
MH says
Hi,
These are the dates and Sunny loans I have had, with the amounts with interest that I paid.
Does this look like a good case of irresponsible lending?
Also do Sunny tend to take the full 8 weeks? they have agreed to put my most recent loans on hold until their investigation is complete. Its been 4 weeks so far.
They were 6month loans.Does the longer the length of loan mean a better case?
Thanks
MH
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s not as simple as that. Often longer loans just mean the monthly repayments were less.
But in your case, it means you often had several loans going that the same time and there was probably never a period when you didn’t have any loans from Sunny. So that helps your case.
Obviously, i don’t know anything about your situation (income, expenses, other debts etc) but if Sunny reject the case it looks well worth pursuing with the Ombudsman
Katrina says
So haven’t heard anything for a while but had letters from 2 Adjudicators on Friday. One from Payday Express which I think is my biggest complaint upholding 2/3 of my loans and Quick Quid upholding all loans apart from the first 1. Very happy with the results.
Quickquid have already rejected the decision but come back with an increased off of £1200 (initially from 0 and then up to £350) I have rejected this as I am not sure how the would expect me to take an offer of this amount when the Adjudicator has just ruled in my favour to the tune of approx 2.5k. I presume they hope people are desperate for the money so just play the waiting game again now for an ombudsman. I am expecting Payday Express to reject also so if not this is a bonus. Just have 2 cases to come back to me with a Adjudicator decision now, Payday UK and Wageday advance. All my complaints started end of January.
Wes says
Hey,
Has anyone heard of or had any luck with Street-UK?
My sister apparently lent a fair amount of money from them which caused major problems a few years ago. Just wondering if it’s worth putting in a complaint for her?
Wes
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No one has mentioned them before. Did she have several loans from them or one big one?
Address for complaints is loans@street-uk.com.
Bobby says
When I first started taking out payday loans I did not have high outgoings, I stayed with my parents still, and had a reasonable wage. However, I suffered from quite significant mental health problems for years which I am still being treated for today. As a result of my mental health, I struggled with drink and alcohol dependancy. A lot of the money I took out in payday loans was wasted feeding both these terrible afflictions. I then lost my job as a result of it all as my mental health diminished even further, and afterwards, I know that I lied about working and what income I had when I made more applications. Many years later now I am getting back to better health, I am looking at the mess of back had then.
How would these factors be viewed a) that I had minimal outgoings b) what the money was spent on c) that i lied about income on some of the later ones
Am I wasting my time pursuing this? I kind of feel like I would have to lie about what my outgoings were for this to be viewed as a reasonable complaint, or is being honest about personal circumstances at that time the best option?
Many Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
a) and b) you didn’t have minimal outgoings, you had an addiction to alcohol. People with gambling showing all over their bank statements routinely get refunds, the Ombudsman isn’t judgmental about this sort of thing.
c) if you lie about your income it makes it harder for a lender to see what is happening and make the right decision not to lend. But if you borrowed for month after month, the should have still realised that something was wrong, even if you appeared able to afford the loans. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/ for more about this.
I would say it’s worth making a claim to any lender you used repeatedly over a long period. Probably not worth bothering with any lender you only had a few loans from.
Don’t lie about your situation. You don’t have to go into details with a lender, you can delete the bit in the template letter about your regular expenses if they were minimal and just emphasis how often you kept borrowing/rolling loans from that particular lender. But when it goes to the Ombudsman, just explain your alcohol problems and later mental health issues.
hannah says
Morning All,
Could anyone advise what the FO normally requires when progressing on from a final response from lenders? Is it a standard requirement for the adjudicator to request bank statements, and other proof? Or do they request copies of stuff based on each cases history?
Danny says
Hi Hannah,
My complaint got picked up by an adjudicator yesterday & before looking at any of the details he requested all bank statements from the period I borrowed, as well as a copy of my credit report.
I think having your bank statements is more or less common practise on each of these cases now!
hannah says
Hi Danny,
Thank you for your reply. It is as I thought although with the addition of the credit report.
I have been out of the cycle of pdl’s now for 18 months however have a list of 70 loans within a 56 month period with one lender dating between 2010 to 2016. Do you know how it works with the credit files – as in, mine has a low score still and the only negative now on it is the last outstanding loan with Myjar that I pay off monthly. My credit score still remains very low but I know ALOT of negatives from previous defaults have dropped off in the past 12 months as they have exceeded the 6 year limitation
simon says
Hi All,
In case anyone is waiting for the email about the refund cheque from Cash Genie, I have just had the email advising my cheque will be posted on 30/05/17 and should be with me a few days later. I started the complaint with them on 11/04/17. Lets hope it all happens!
Simon
Pear says
Got the same e-mail today and my name is Simon too lol. Hoping with interest it should be about £1500 ?
Maggie says
Got mine to. See no reason why it wont happen as others got theirs when they were told they would :-D thanks Sara and the donation as you suggested to show aporeciation for your help will be on it’s way xx
Debbi says
Got the same email too re cash genie. 1mth loan paid up with the need to go to FO. –
On a side not I complained to the FO re Quick Quick only two loans back in 2012. The FO has upheld the 2nd one as unaffordable which I’m really pleased about as I’m still paying this one off via a dmp so it should settle it and he has instructed them to remove any negative information from my credit file. I have a big one with provident which was refused at adjudicator level so I’ve escaleted it and now asked that they use the bank statements and copy of credit file I sent in for the QQ complaint ( it wasn’t requested for the Provident one not sure why not and it was for QQ)
KAREN BODKIN says
Hi I have had my wonga and payday express complaint with the FO for more than eight months. Both are loans that exceed the six years, but saying that my last loan with Wonga was in the summer of 2010. I put in my complaint last year February 2016. Do you know what likely hood of winning these cases. I already had a cash refund with payday UK with loans taken out over 6 years. Initially they told me I was not entitled to any refund. (I put my complaint in Feb 2016. Got sent to FO September 2016. Payday uk accepted and paid my refund April 2017.
How is it that some are accepting 6 + 3 and some aint.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am surprised your PDUK complaint has paid out and your PD Express one hasn’t. You could ask your adjudicator what is happening about this one.
Wonga are so far arguing with the FO about the older than 6 year complaints. I *think* that the FO would rather have a prolonged argument about a few cases with a lender in the hope that the lender will eventually accept the FO’s approach to these older cases and not force all the cases through to the Ombudsman level.
I know this much be frustrating. But there isn’t anything you can do so far as I know to speed it up. And this is money you never imagined you could get back a couple of years ago.
KAREN BODKIN says
Thank uou Sara for your rapid response.
Yes it is frustrating because payday UK accepted all my loans and paydayexpress doesn’t seem to be budging.
But I do appreciate because I never ever thought I could get back any returns on the loans taken.
Hopefully I get back to you with some good news about WDA and PaydayUk
Vijay says
My PayDay UK complaint paid out (the Adjudicator found in my favour and PDUK agreed to the terms) but my PayDay Express complaint, despite being upheld by the Adjudicator, was rejected by PayDay Express and has now gone to the Ombudsman. I was surprised, especially since they are owned by the same company and the loans were at the same time and for the same amounts.
Jo says
Well, I read this thread a couple of weeks ago and it reminded me of the awful time I had with Wonga so thought I’d get in touch with them. I had loans over a 9 month period in 2012-13. What started as £150, quickly became 250, 400, 550 etc.
I was borrowing in consecutive months. 5 loans were renewed on the same date as paying the last one off and, clearly, larger than the last. 4 loans were taken out the day after paying the last one back and 2 loans were top ups through the month. In the end I knew I had to stop – it was ridiculous. I emailed them a request to cancel the CPA and filled out an income/expenditure form. They disregarded the CPA cancellation and took out the last payment anyway, which took my bank 6 days to refund. They knew I couldn’t afford to be without their loans to subsidise my income given the trap I was in. When it was refunded, it took 7 months of ongoing effort to pay it back via standing order as they kept cancelling my payment plan and demanding the full lot.
In total, I borrowed £5,545 and I believe I repaid £7,721.09. My income at that time was around £1200 – £1400 from memory. Paying back £500-700 per month in the latter half of lending period was utterly stupid, it was around half of my monthly salary.
Today, I’ve had my final response and they’re not willing to uphold my complaint. They say I agreed to the CPA (yes – in the first instance, but I specifically requested, in writing as they advised, that it didn’t happen any longer and subsequently asked to go into a repayment plan). They also say that there is no evidence of a continued borrowing over an extended period of time (really?!!!). They also say they did credit checks however my own bank wouldn’t even let me have a current account (even without overdraft or anything!) at that time, I was on a basic account only.
It seems they’re final response sticks to their idea of affordability as opposed to the irresponsible lending that I genuinely feel has happened. It ruined my life at that time!
I have forwarded the complaint to the ombudsman but I’m feeling somewhat disheartened by this. What are your honest thoughts about my case, am I fighting a losing battle here?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Nine months of continuous borrowing with the amounts often going up sounds like a good case to me!
Also tell the FO about the CPA cancellation and the way they made it difficult to repay as they kept cancelling your plan and ask for compensation for this.