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?
Roch says
Hi all, Just an update
Since making my complaint to Payday express on 9/04/17 (which is now with the FO awaiting an adjudicator) they have done 2 more searches I’ve just seen on noddle.
Shall I mention this to the FO? why would they need to do more searches?
Also still no final responses from Satsuma, Quick Quid or Wonga ( these are the bigger loans)
PDL’s with the FO are Payday express, My Jar, 247 money box and Safety net all waiting to be picked up.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How does Noddle describe these searches? Administration searches are fine, no-one else sees these and they won’t harm your credit record.
Roch says
Hi Sara, they say administration review by instant cash loans and theirs 2 the same on the same day I sent the complaint. If they don’t affect anything then I guess that’s ok.
Thank you for clearing that up for me x
Lorr says
Hi, my complaint with PDUK is now with an adjudicator, yesterday i received an email from him which stated that PDUK have upped there offer to £2988 from £1897. However theyre stating that this is only for 3 months of loans, one which they deferred 3 times which i believe was against requlations which they agreed to. I had 28 loans/ deferals over 2 years but I dont know how to work out the interest that I paid. The adjudicator has stated that he has not finished his investigation. Im not sure what to do.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
28 loans/deferrals over 2 years? That is a lot! I suggest you tell the adjudicator this sounds inadequate and ask them to continue their investigation.
Eddie says
An interesting update
Regarding my Wonga complaint which is with FOS for 3 months now and contains more than 10 loans older than 6 years. (39 loans in total)
As mentioned above FOS is trying to negotiate with business regarding this at a larger scale however I just had an email from adjudicator that Wonga wants to offer me a refund of interest on all loans within 6 years and few loans that are older than 6. This must mean they are starting to crack under pressure??
I think I will decline this offer and let FOS investigate further as I’m not in immediate need of cash.
Fingers crossed.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
very interesting, thanks for sharing!
Dave says
Just an update from my adjudicator today. She has upheld my case against QQ from loan 2 onwards out of 13 loans. Thanks to Sara for keeping me calm the other week when my complaint was rejected by the adjudicator. I provided additional statements and she has written back saying that she believes the loans were unaffordable. I have made calculations for each loan and with estimated 8% interest and I believe that IF upheld by the FO then I could be due a refund of £13,000 for 6 years worth of loans. This would change my life in all honesty.
Does anyone have any information as to how QQ proceed from here please? Also, how like is it that the FO could go against what the adjudicator has found? Thank you everyone.
“As a result, I checked some of the information that we have on file regarding Mr X’s
circumstances. In my initial review I explained that based on the information that we have
on file I can see that Mr X did have other financial commitments and did make
payments to other lending companies. However, I didn’t have enough information to
suggest that the loans were unaffordable. Mr X has since then provided more
information regarding his circumstances.
I checked Mr X’s circumstances around the time that his took the other loans and it
seems that his circumstances did not change considerably. Therefore I think that it is likely
that Mr X could not afford his loan repayments from loan two onwards.
how to put things right
– Refund all interest and charges that Mr X paid on the second loan onwards;
– Pay interest of 8% simple a year on all refunds from the date of payment to the date
of settlement*;
– Write off any unpaid interest and charges of and apply the refund to reduce any
capital outstanding and pay any balance to Mr X;
– Remove any negative information about the loans from Mr X credit file.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is a very large amount… I suspect QQ will reject and ask for it to go to the Ombudsman, possibly making you a much lower offer.
As the adjudicator has changed her mind, I suspect she will have looked into this in a lot of detail. Ombudsmen do sometimes make a different award – perhaps from the third or fourth loan, perhaps from all of them. I would be surprised if it is a lot less than the adjudicator has decided.
Lizzi says
I have just had a reply from wonga basically saying that they did all checks they needed and that is there finally response didn’t bother sending me a statement of my loans what do I do next? it would of been from about Feb 2010 to about 2012/2013 I think but could way off Anyone else had this x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
oh that’s a lot! And it includes quite a bit before the 6 year point, so settle in for a wait…
Send the case straight to the Financial Ombudsman, also tell Wonga you have done this and ask again for your list of loans
martin hood says
anyone know if WDA and quick quid are quick at paying out after ombudsman settlement i know they have 28 days anyone get money earlier thx
Rachel says
Qq paid within 1 week although this was last year don’t know what the timescales are like now? Have you confirmed bank details? Well done on the refund
martin hood says
yes have was surprise waited 3 months at ombudsman then got result of them both with a week qq was my biggest , now only have 1 left
Warren says
Hi everyone
Just received my email about my complaint to QQ.
They sent me this reply asking for old bank statements I’m with Halifax is there a way I can request old statements from them? And how can I send them statements? Thanks in advance.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Warren, That is QQ’s standard reply. You don’t have to send them bank statements if you don’t want, see my suggested reply here: https://debtcamel.co.uk/quickquid-payday-loan-refunds/.
Of course it might be a good idea to set about getting the old statements as the ombudsman may well ask for them. And most QQ claims go to the Ombudsman as they rarely make a good offer.
Rachel says
I was able to download online they went back 10 years
Debbi says
I went into the Halifax and they printed them off for the 1 year period I needed 2011-2012 I no longer even bank with them and it was no problem
Nicole says
Hi all, so have a bit of a weird one!! I made a complaint to square today, only had one loan with them with I defaulted on several times and had entered a payment plan with them to pay off outstanding balance! They did not uphold my complaint for irresponsible lending ect… So on the off chance I forwarded it to the fo, they also didn’t uphold my complaint….. So today I receive a letter from square today saying after reviewing my account they have wrote off my outstanding balance!! Weird!!
George says
So I’ve heard back from the Ombudsman regarding my 8 Sunny loans.
Passed from Adjudicator to Ombudsman on April 24th and had final response waiting in the mail for me when I got home today. I cannot believe how quick Ombudsman decision was. One month exactly ! I wasn’t expecting to hear anything until at least end of July going by others experiences.
The Ombudsman actually included two more loans than the original Adjudicator. So I’m now being refunded from loan 4-8 of 8 loans. With the 8% it’s going to be near £1000. And credit file entries for the unaffordable loans are going to be removed. I’m over the moon.
Altogether I’ve had payday UK, MoneyShop,QuickQuid, wonga,Payday Express,24/7 Moneybox and now Sunny successfully dealt with via the FOS with refunds totalling around £4500 which I have used to pay the order charging land on my home and thus saving myself and my family from potential repossession.
I have had 3 defaults removed also and it’s like a weight off my shoulders. I cannot express my gratitude to Sara and the DebtCamel team and community enough. A difficult phase of my life is finally over after 6 years.
I put all my complaints in on November 29th 2016. I’m still waiting on a final decision from my Adjudiactor regarding Lending Stream and Motormile Finance which is quite complicated as MMF defaulted me for my Lending Stream account and there were two separate defaults on my credit file. When I went through my Bank Statements it transpired I had settled the same account twice by paying both MMF and Lending Stream!! This is why it is taking so long. I am feeling a lot of love right now for the guys at FOS. Outstanding. Thanks everyone !! George
Steph says
Hi George, congrats!!
If you don’t mind me asking … what was the process like with QQ? I complained to them mid Jan, they rejected my complaint with a goodwill gesture of £350. Since referred to FOS, it’s been there about 2 and a half months, picked up by adjudicator 2 weeks ago, no news yet.
Did you have to go to FOS with them? Did it get settled at adjudicator stage or go on to ombudsman?
My total interest paid is more than £6,000 so I guess a fair bit to go through.
Thanks
Steph
Vijay says
I just had the Adjudicator rule in my favour against QQ but QQ rejected the judgement and it got referred to the Ombudsman. Exactly the same thing also just happened with PayDay Express: Adjudicator ruled in my favour and PDExpress rejected it so it is now sent to the Ombudsman. I was really surprised that these lenders rejected settling things at the adjudicator stage.
Does anyone know how long it takes for the Ombudsman to review cases like this? I presume that they do not read what the Adjudicator wrote/decided and they just review the case on their own.
George says
Hi Steph
I put my initial complaint to QQ on November 29th 2016. They rejected it but offered £250 as a goodwill gesture on the last day of the 8 weeks. I had a £1216 outstanding loan which had been passed to PRA uk debt collection agency.
Went straight to the Ombudsman and assigned to an Adjudicator within 4 weeks who was extremely helpful and updated me with emails and phone calls regularly.
Before my Adjudicator had even investigated my complaint fully ,QQ offered to recall the debt from the third party DCA, and refund me from loan 2-6 of 6 loans. The default would be deleted from my credit file and all the unaffordable loans removed from file also.
The refund balance was £1945 so they used this to satisfy the £1216 outstanding leaving me with around £700 compensation. My Adjudicator told me that i could still wait for them to investigate loan 1 but I accepted straight away as I had an upcoming court appearance with the Enforcement of Judgmemt office and I was anxious for some money to help pay toward an order charging land on my home. My adjudicator asked me for my bank details and QQ paid me within 7 days of my accepting their offer.
So it took from November 29th until March 24th, less than 4 months in total without the need for Ombudsman. I only had 1 complaint out of 9 passed from Adjudicator to Ombudsman and it was a month for a final decision which was super fast. Perhaps because your complaint is larger it is taking longer? Every complaint seems unique as my Lending Stream complaint has been nearly 6 months and it’s not for a massive amount. Stick with it ! I couldn’t have done any of it without the Debtcamel community , although I’ve been a somewhat quiet poster I have been on this site every single day it’s amazing .
Nim says
HI George, great to hear!!
I have 5 complaints send by adjudicator way back in Jan/feb this year and none were assigned to Ombudsman? I don’t think it’s fair on our side that other cases are being looked at before mine and others waiting months…….so you are lucky!!!……I don’t understand if they have a queue system? I think I need to get on to them and ask them why it’s taking long and other cases are being settled within weeks. My caes have started in Nov 16 – and now really do need the money.
Best Nim
Mustard says
I’m still waiting since Nov last year, I’m phoning them today for an explanation/update
after reading this. Haven’t heard a peep in 6 months!!
Debbi says
How odd! I paid cash genie and MMF for the same debt. It looks like MMF carry on chasing a debt even when it’s no longer assigned to them!
Mitch says
What’s everyones longest awaiting claim? I know there is a few of us about. I’m still waiting for a QQ case started back in July 2016, I know they’re busy, so not moaning :P Just wondering who else is in the same boat :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
is the QQ case for loans over 6 years?
Mitch says
Well, they haven’t been forthcoming why it’s on hold as such, just that its with the Jurisdiction team. But some loans we’re over 6 years so I presume that’s the case.
Rachel says
My pduk claim has almost been resolved started the process march 2016 it’s been a long wait but will be worth it
Rachel says
Mine was due to 6 years also I was waiting in the jurisdiction que and they made an offer this week without having to go all the way to the ombudsman. Hope you hear soon
Mitch says
Thanks for your info Rachel, Would I be right in thinking the case has been assessed already, then the jurisdiction team decide whether loans over 6 years are counted?
Rachel says
With my case they had only looked at the more recent loans, anything older than 6 years if the jurisdiction team agreed it could be looked at it would then go back to an adjudicator to review the older loans, I had been waiting in the jurisdiction que since January but it was the Pdl company who came forward with the offer otherwise it would still be in the que. what did your adjudicator say they had looked at?
Adam says
I have an outstanding balance with PDUK and this has been sold to a debt collector who is sending the usual threatening letters, I am putting in complaint to PDUK for a refund, I had 7 loans altogether from them.
In the meantime shall I tell the DCA to freeze any action whilst I do this??
Kind Regards,
Adam.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You complain to PDUK about all your loans. Don’t let them tell you that you have to deal with the debt collector (which dca is it?) – if PDUK say this ask if that is their final response and if it is, send it straight to the Financial Ombudsman.
I suggest you should complain to PDUK asap, go straight to Step 2, don’t bother trying to spend weeks on step 1. Unless PDUK give you a good offer (which would be unusual but does sometimes happen) send the case straight to the FO.
Tell the debt collector you are disputing the debt with PDUK and ask them to hold any enforcement action until the dispute is resolved. When the case goes to the FO, tell the debt collector this as well.
Adam says
Thank you, I will get on this ASAP.
The DCA is PRAC Financial, being represented by “BW Legal”.
Many thanks I will keep you posted on what happens.
Stacey says
HI
i complained to Wageday advance about irresponsible lending, i had 11 loans and 11 rollovers between Feb 2009 and February 2011. Wageday advance sent me a final response stating as the loans were over 6 years old they wont even look at my complaint.
i then wrote to the Ombudsman, explaining the issue, which was about a week ago, but i havent heard anything back yet.
In the meantime i also went back to Wageday Advance and explained the Ombudsmans ‘3 years from when you could of been reasonably made aware you could complain’ rule and they have now agreed that they will re-review my complaint. Should i inform them that i have already gone to the Ombudsman? Or just ride it out and see what they say first? he said he would get back to me no later than the 31st May, so think i will hear back from them before the Ombusman anyway……
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You having gone to the Ombudsman isn’t really relevant to his review, so I wouldn’t bother.
If he makes you a reasonable offer you accept and then tell the Ombudsman you want to withdraw the complaint – don’t leave it sitting in the queue!
Lewis says
Hi guys, just wanting some advice.
I have had 37 loans with Wonga from October 2013.
I have complained to these and just got their Final Decision back, they feel all 37 loans were affordable. Rediculous decision, as most of these loans were taken days after the other, and some had late payments.
Do I just refer the case to the FO and they do the rest?
Or is there something else I do now?
Lewis
Roch says
Hi Lewis, I would Refer it straight to the FO. I’m in a similar situation I took 35 loans from Wonga between 2012- 2014 and I am still waiting for a final response from them and if I don’t get one by Monday I will also be referring it to the FO.
So go for it and Good Luck!!!
Eddie says
Submit this to FOS with copy of final response letter and just let them do the job. Be ready for a long wait, for Wonga its usually 3-6 months at least but I’m sure it’s worth it.
Paul Smith says
Hi all,
I’ve had the first letter from the FOS regarding my first complaint with them for myjar. How do I go about getting bank statements for an account which has since been closed? Do I just tell them this? Also is there anything else which you would suggest I provide them?
Thanks in advance.
Danny says
Hi Paul,
I provided bank statements from an old account that was closed – I went into branch & gave them my details and they supplied them there & then (this was Natwest).
I’ve found the more you comply with the adjudicator, the quicker the process goes. I provided bank statements, my credit report from several CRAs & their final response letter.
Hope this helps!
tracey says
My adjudicator picked up 4 complaints end of April. Is it normal for it take upto a month for a decision? Is it a no news is good news type deal? The longer it takes the better? I’m worried he’s going to rule they were all affordable.
QQ over £1000 in interest
Wonga over £1000 in interest
PDUk £800 in interest
Mrlender settled (£800 interest)
My jar £300 interest
£2000 overdraft and £1500 cc
All but the overdraft accrued over two years….
Danny says
Hi Tracey,
My most recent complaint was picked up last week – the adjudicator told me that QQ had 2 weeks to provide him with the business file they have for me. I have, however, found in some cases that the adjudicator will let the company extend this time so 2 weeks seems like an estimate.
Hope this helps.
tracey says
Adjudicator stated on the 10ththat he had everything he needed from myself and the companies. So it’ll be 15 days he’s had all the information required. Although 3 days ago he requested I filled out an expenditure form, which I forwarded back within an hour. Guess I’ll just need to keep waiting, this bit just makes me nervous.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No news is no news, it’s not good or bad.
Does the adjudicator have all your bank statements? A list of the loans for each lender? Lots of people worry that they aren’t hearing anything and get perfectly good results.
tracey says
I went through my statements before sending then and made a spreadsheet of each loan amount, date and amount paid, and total interest paid. I did this for each company and highlighted them in my statements. I figured every little helps them. I sent the spreadsheet in with my cover letter, bank statements and final responses.
tracey says
Also have 5 other smaller but active accounts…. wageday, wizzcash, mb24/7 and one other smaller.
Surely with this many, they were unaffordable? Right?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You need to stop borrowing from these lenders! See https://debtcamel.co.uk/help-payday-loan/
tracey says
I have, but they’ve only been like one or two loans, so didn’t see much point pursuing those.
Dan says
Hi Sara,
So, I’ve has a response from Sunny today which reads as follows:
*****
To investigate your complaint I have reviewed the account opening procedures in place at the time. Having done so, I am able to inform you that we conducted creditworthiness checks, we assessed your ability to afford the repayments which would fall due under the proposed agreement and we considered how you were managing other debts at that time. Based upon these checks it was considered responsible to advance credit to you.
Given the information available to me, I am unable to uphold your complaint. We believe that the aforementioned checks were proportionate and responsible. Initial assessment of your application accounted for some of the adverse information held at the credit reference agencies and as a consequence you were offered a small amount of credit relative to your stated income.
*****
The summary of my borrowing from Sunny alone is:
Total borrowed = £6600
Interest Paid = £5280
Total = £11880!! In 3 years!!!
During this time, I was also borrowing from LS, Mr Lender, WDA and Satsuma – the numbers are frightening!
I’ve got a pretty good case here, right?
I have already responded and said I would like them to review their findings as a) there is nothing in their response to back up their claims and b) that their email appears to mention “loan” (singular) and “account opening procedures” which suggests they have only looked at the process in checking me initially for my first loan.
I have also asked if this is their final response – at least if I can get confirmation that this is their final decision on the matter, I can get it sent of to the FOS as soon as possible.
Do you think that, maybe, this is an attempt to make me go away at the first step with some official sounding nonsense?
Thanks!
Dan
Keep up the good work!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
it sounds like a good case and as though they are hoping you will go away.
Kevin says
As I said on the 22nd , the cheque centre had 28 days to payout after rejecting my first complaint right out , but got to give them credit after adjudicator found all loans in my favour , they had a cheque sent out first class on the 23 rd.Fair play to them couldn’t ask for any better service, even with a note saying how sorry they were lol.
Thomas says
Just has the decision back from Wonga despite them approving 4 loans back to back to an unemployed student they say they have acted responsibily. Is it worth going to the FOS ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If it was 1 or 2, I would say not. But 4? It’s up to you, you aren’t going to get a huge amount back, but provided you keep your expectations low, why not? Those loans probably caused you a lot of worry at the time.
Thomas says
Thank you I understand that , the last loan is with a debt collector and has a default against it. I will send it and see what they say even if it just gets the default removed if that’s possible.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is a very good reason to go to the FOS, even if you just get the interest removed from the last loan. Tell the debt collector you are disputing the debt.
gillian says
i rang the fos service today as i have had 2 complaints one with lending stream and one with quick quid since February and not heard anything since i sent my bank statements at the beginning of March except once when quickquid offered me 875 pound after first refusing my request my adjudicater for the quickquid one was not in but the lady on the phone said she could tell me that the adjudicator had reached her decision in my favour but because they were loans from 2011 to 2016 constantly she would get the adjudicator to explain everything to me prob after the bank holiday
in total my quick quid interest was over 6000 pound so hoping for a better refund of the 875 they offered as this only covered two loans
a hour later another adjudicator rang me about my lending stream complaint to explain that my original adjudicator had left and she had now picked up my case and would look at it immediately and get back to me as soon as she could
i would just like to say ty to this site and to tell anyone that is waiting to just hang in and go with what the fos says as you have nothing to lose i also found that putting in complaints has helped me to break the cycle of borrowing as if you put in a complaint you can not borrow again i know this sounds a bit daft but it really helped me to break the cycle because as soon as i paid i was reborrowing ty again Sara
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s not daft at all, when you are reborrowing every month it gets to feel inevitable and that you are helpless…
Have a good weekend – that was a very positive phone call today!
tracey says
Feeling low!
Adjudicator rejected my complaint for both pduk and QuickQuid.
He says basically that he doesn’t think they did enough to check, but that from what he can see they would still have lent to me….
If he has made that decision on these two then wonga and my jar will be the same.
He asked about an old account which I told him was shut and I didn’t have access to those now, he said it was fine. There’s also payments to credit cards but he hadn’t asked for those statements. Should I have sent those? I don’t really know where to go from here?! How can having more than 4 payday loans at any time be considered affordable?
Sharon says
Have you worked out all of your outgoings and income for the period of the loans and if so does it show that you paid out considerably more than you had coming in? My adjudicator at first found that my loans were affordable but they hadn’t included transactions from both of my bank accounts by mistake. I sent detailed spreadsheets categorising spend across both bank accounts, they then reviewed this and found that the loans were not at all affordable. Hope this helps
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You haven’t provided bank statements? You need to try to get them from the old account. Tell your adjudicator you are going to do thi and ask him to put the complaint on hold until you do. Then when you have them, do what Sharon said. We have had other people have an adjudicator change their mind in this sort of situation.
tracey says
My main account he has the details for. This account has a £2000 maxed out student overdraft. My wages go in here and I Had a joint account which I would move money into, to pay some bills. These transactions labelled bills. The joint account is now closed. There will also be transactions to my credit card. Which I would move a sizeable amount to, then live off it. He didn’t ask for those. The biggest problem I have is that some things I paid for in cash. But surely I can’t be penalised for that? I was paying bank fees every month going over my overdraft, I was increasing amounts borrowed and juggling several credit lines. I will get hold of the cc statements, but I can’t get the joint account ones. When he gave me my expenditure back he didn’t include food! He talked about utilities and rent that was it, no food, no prior commitments like phone contracts or broadband, no fuel or car cost. Which all would come out of my account. I don’t understand why he hasnt counted these? I asked him to review this again, with cc accounts provided and told him that I was upset with the result as these companies have me in a mass of debt with some months paying out more than wage in loan repayment, that I couldn’t understand how that could ever be deemed affordable and should he not be reviewing the case for it to go to ombudsman.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you tried to get statements for the closed account? Don’t assume this can’t be done. Joint accounts have caused problems for other people, but they are normally sorted when the adjudicator can see the statements. If you page back through the comments, see what Dave wrote on 11th May (Help – case rejected by adjudicator), then see his post on 23rd May (case now upheld by adjudicator for all after 2nd loan, may get £13,000 refund!)
Definitely supply copies of your credit card statements if they will help explain your spending patterns.
“When he gave me my expenditure back he didn’t include food! He talked about utilities and rent that was it, no food, no prior commitments like phone contracts or broadband, no fuel or car cost.” All those should be taken into account.
tracey says
How do I get statements from the banks? Its bank of Scotland, and would I need permission from the other account holder? I still can’t understand why all those other things haven’t been considered. I think one of the biggest problems is that my rents paid cash…. Would supplying my receipts from that be of any use?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ask the bank – all of them have different procedures. I don’t think you would need permission from your ex.
Supplying receipts for rent (or a tenancy agreement?) would be a good idea.
Think of it from the adjudicator’s side. They have to decide if the loans were affordable. They can’t just say – oh she used lots for ages, they must be unaffordable. There was one person on here who used payday loans for over a year whilst they were living with their parents and saving up for a house deposit – sorry that is just a very poor decision, it can’t possibly be classed as unaffordable lending. A couple of others have had complaints rejected because their bank statements showed foreign hotels, car hire and flights whilst they were borrowing.
The more you can do to make it easy for the adjudicator to reach the right decision the better.
Chris says
Hi Sara
Just had a response from Wonga saying they are not upholding my account.
They stated that they did the correct checks and that I didn’t borrow back to back. Even though I did. They say they did all the correct credit checks and they were right to lend to me. Yet they suddenly stopped lending to me when everything changed.
Just wondering if it’s worth going to the FO?
What do you think? Worth a shot?
Hannah says
Hi
Has anyone had any experience of dealing with uncle buck or quid.co.uk I have sent complaints into both had acknowledgement from both uncle buck have emailed asked me to provide bank details and credit score info I replied asking them to look at the information they already had, then they responded yesterday saying they have not yet been able to come to a final response but will respond no later than 21st June, do they usually uphold or flatly deny wrong doing? Not seen anyone mention on here about quid.co.uk either
Also 247 moneybox came back to me yesterday saying they will reduce my current balance and clear my account I am more than happy with that at the reduction amounts to the total interest over 6 loans. Wage day advance has declined any wrong doing aa have lending stream and quick quid is it best to get copies from old bank statements first as accounts have closed and then forward complaint to fos what do you recommend ? Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
UB aren’t known for generous offers.
Good moneybox247 is settled – it’s nice to get one out of the way!
I suggest sending the others to the FOS straightaway – you can then forward on the bank statements when you get them.
Warren says
Hi everyone
Got a reply from QQ about my loans they only sent my record from 2016 there is nothing about my 2017 loans what should I do next very strange ?
I also have a current one which is about 400 hundred pounds it is not on there reply
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can you not see the recent loans if you log into your online account with them?
Warren says
Sorry for the questions I also told wonga to cancel my repayments by email last week by email got a email today saying that they are taking a repayment tomorrow still is there any thing I can do to stop this as it is for £313 pounds? They told me last week they are looking into my complaint yet they are still after the any ageed payment that I made before I realised it was to much for me to pay
Sara (Debt Camel) says
have you told your bank to cancel the CPA? If not, it’s going to be too late for the one already going through…
Warren says
Hi sara yes I can see online
Latest and current ones which is not on my list. What should I do next thank you?
Warren says
Sorry wrong post I couldn’t cancel it as it was not a DD sara I asked them to cancel my payment online because that’s what I thought you had to do with wonga ? thanks for replying
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You need to tell your bank to cancel the CPA to Wonga, you probably have to phone or message them, you can’t usually see a list like you can with DDs and STOs.
If you can’t get through the rest of the month without borrowing now they have taken this payment, I suggest you call them up and ask them to return it to you, pointing out that you asked them to not take it on dd/mm/yy.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So now you have a complete list of your loans, even if it is in two bits… Write a Step Two full complaint and put in the first paragraph that they didn’t send you your complete list of loans but you have found the others online.
Steve says
I sent an irresponsible lending complaint in to Moneybox 247, after having loans in 2011. I sent the complaint in because my credit report should’ve shown I’d had issues repaying payday loans in the past & had a lot of other debt.
They sent me the the reply below –
Dear Steven,
Hope that you are well. Please find below a copy of our complaints procedure. If you remain dissatisfied, you may refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). Separately, you may also refer the complaint to our trade association (BCCA), this does not stop you taking your complaint to FOS.
You have borrowed a total of £525.00 from us. You have repaid a total of £426.06.
This means that you have not even repaid the principal amount lent to you (ie minus any charges). If you ask a third party mediator to look into this, they are likely to ask you to repay what you have borrowed (the principal amount). In this case that would mean they would tell you to repay £98.94 to us.
Where you hear comments about refunds, this often relates to payments of interest and charges over and above the principal amount we have advanced to your account. As you have not paid any, there is nothing to refund.
We are happy as a gesture of goodwill to resolve by accepting £98.94 as settlement of your balance.
We are aware that there are many forums and templated letters available on the internet to exploit any previous credit commitments under the wholly subjective banner of affordability. To compare our actions with the reported behaviour of other lenders is inappropriate.
We are confident that the required assessments were carried out prior to the advance of all loans. We are able to substantiate fully the information on which lending decisions were based.
Our relationship was based on responsible lending in addition to responsible borrowing. We provided you with all the facts about our product and the charges and costs involved. We treated you as a rational individual able to make a credible decision as to whether to borrow or not. For our part of the relationship we acted on the information available to us at the time and the prevailing regulations and guidance at the time.
I am your personal account manager and would be happy to discuss any of the above with you via email.
I asked for a breakdown of my loans and they sent me the below –
Original loan – £100
Paid back £163.20
Second loan £175
Paid back £262.86
Third loan – £250
Was unable to pay back.
They also said –
Thanks for your email – please note we have 8 weeks in which to investigate your complaint and issue a final response.
Please see your loan schedule attached. Not sure I understand – as advised, you have borrowed a total of £525.00 from us (see loan schedule: Principal – this is the total of all loans paid to you), and repaid a total of £426.06 (see loan schedule: Repayment – this is the total amount you have repaid to date).
You have not paid any fees or interest.
Refunds of this nature relate to monies paid over and above the principle amount funded.
Do you think there’s any point taking this to the ombudsman or just leaving it?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I assume you agree that you had 3 loans and that you haven’t repaid anything to the last? In that case this is a reasonable offer. Is the last lan showing as defsultry? If it is you could asknfor that to be deleted. Of course if your credit record is dreadful this may not make much difference.
Ade says
After visiting your site I thought I would try my luck
I have had many payday loan over the past 6 years with lots of different companies
I used your template and have had 3 successes so far..Ferratum who I still owe £1200 have agreed to write off the whole debt and remove from my credit file..result
Payday express although my debt was paid off over 12 months ago have agreed to compensate over £300
Finally peachy loans..this was only a small £150 debt which I had still £40 owing..again they have cleared and removed from my file.
This is a much better result than I could have imagined and I have still many more to respond
The only company that has refused to do anything so far is lending stream but I have challenged them with this response so will wait and see what happens
What a great site this is
Many thanks
Ade
Jamie says
Just heard back from Wonga yesterday and they’ve offered £1569.99. Just Lending Stream,Quick Quid,Clearaccount to hear back from
Darren says
Hi. I have just had an offer from Wonga for £4,155 which I am more than happy with.
I have just replied to the email accepting this offer.
Does anyone know roughly how long this will take?
ZOE POTTs says
Hi Jamie when did you first submit your complaint to wonga? Thank you
Jamie says
Hi Zoe. About 12 to 13 weeks ago
Darren says
Hi. I have accepted an offer from wonga.
Does anyone know roughly how long it will take from when I returned the accepting email ?
Gordon says
Hi Darren,
mine took 2 weeks.
but the person dealing with it was off on holiday for a week.
Darren says
Did you jist reply via email and leave it? Or did you have to ring them?
I haven’t received any confirmation emails yet
simon says
i rang them for my money i stayed on the line till they put me through to the manager. beware thought thete based in south Africa so there ahead of uk time by one hour… when i spoke to her after it took two days then my money was in my bank…
MH says
Just thought I’d post this about Peachy. I wasn’t too confident about this one but with having other PDL’s open at the same time I’m going to supply bank statements as they request and see what happens. After all it’s not a huge amount but worth supplying statements
Still awaiting Sunny, wonga, LS and uncle buck replies
Dear Mr. X
Thank you for your email.
We are sorry to hear that you have not been satisfied with our previous response to your complaint.
We would firstly like to deeply apologise if we you feel we have not treated you fairly or not assessed your complaint properly. We can assure you that our complaint handlers are required to act fairly, reasonably, responsibly and with care towards our customers. We always ensure fairness in all of our dealings and do everything to guarantee that the fair treatment of consumers is at the heart of our business and central to our corporate culture.
We will most definitely be looking into your concerns to determine whether your complaint was assessed in line with our procedures and if the assessment meets the expectations we’ve set on our employees. Should we uncover any failings, we’ll immediately take appropriate measures and the person responsible for any misgivings will be subject to additional training and monitoring.
However, from the evidence available to us at the moment, it does appear that the complaint was properly assessed and the decision not to uphold the complaint was correct. We understand that this may come as a disappointment and would like to use this opportunity to explain this decision in more detail.
We would like to provide you with a full breakdown of how much interest you have covered per each loan:
Loans Borrowed Repaid Interest
1 £100 £132 £32
2 £120 £173.26 £53.26
Your first loan repayment was made in two smaller monthly installments and was repaid on the original due date. Your second loan was was repaid in three monthly installments earlier. Therefore, the daily interest was deducted from the amount and you paid back less than the original contractual amount agreed on your last loan.
When reviewing complaints about irresponsible lending, we need to review the checks we did at the time the loans were given. Did we do any? Were they proportionate? Or should we have had concerns about affordability?
However, there are no prescribed rules on what we have to check.
The checks we do have to be proportionate to things like the size of the loan, the size of repayments, what we already knew about you and the things you told us about your circumstances. Based on these matters, we will make a decision on what kind of checks to complete before lending to you.
It may be sufficient to only ask for your employment status and your income and expenditure information and we would be allowed to rely on your statements only. In some cases however, we might decide that a credit check should also be completed. And in more serious cases, we might ask for additional evidence of you circumstances – such as bank statements.
When the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) investigates complaints about irresponsible lending, they will first look at what checks were done and then see if these checks were proportionate. If they agree that there was nothing that should have made us suspect that you were experiencing financial difficulties and don’t think that based on the information that was already available to us we should have asked for your bank statements then they will not proceed with the investigation or uphold your complaint.
This means that even if you were in financial difficulties, our culpability will depend on whether or not we knew or should have known about it.
If however, the FOS does think that the checks we did or things we knew should have raised some concerns – for example if you failed to pay your loan on time or asked for a repayment plan before a new loan was approved- then they’re likely to say that we should have completed more check (like asking for your bank statements).
This still does not mean that your complaint is upheld because if they don’t think the checks were enough, they will then do the check they think we should have done and look at whether they think you could’ve afforded the loans.
To evidence your actual circumstances at the time of the loan, you will have to provide copies of your bank statements and probably a copy of your credit report and any other proof they may require. Once you’ve provided these statements, an assessment of information visible on the statements will take place. This would include looking at what you had coming in and what were you spending your money on.
For example, if you had a loan where the repayment was due in multiple smaller installments but you chose to clear the full balance in one big lump sum and then claim that you had to take out a new loan to be able to survive the rest of the month then this would not be reasonable. This is because you didn’t have to repay the loan in one go, you could’ve paid the smaller payments and wouldn’t have had to take out another loan to survive. Also, not only creditors, but customers also have to act responsibly too. This means that customers should always pay their priority bills first. So if you had a lot of non-essential expenditure and couldn’t repay the loan without taking another one right after then this type of ‘lending cycle’ couldn’t reasonably be considered your creditors’ fault.
Having reviewed the information available to us, we are satisfied we did do affordability checks and even though we didn’t ask for your bank statements before lending to you, our checks were appropriate in those specific circumstances.
However, although we feel your complaint was investigated diligently and should not be upheld, we would be prepared to review our assessment provided that you are able to send us copies of your bank statement covering the period of 1 month before the first loan until the last loan. This will enable us to have a better understanding of your circumstances at the time and although we will not be able to use the benefit of hindsight, we will see if there is anything that could be done about our decision on your complaint and whether we should change it or offer any additional remedies in light of the new evidence.
Please be so kind to let us know if our explanations have been enough for you to accept our decision and whether you consider your complaint resolved. Alternatively, please be so kind to provided us with the requested documentation and we’ll come back to you as soon as possible to let you know if we would be prepared to change our assessment.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us on 0800 0124 743.
Craig says
Hi
Will I be able to claim even though I have been through a debt management plan?
The plan has been fully paid
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes that isn’t a problem. You can complain if your DMP has finished or if it is still underway.
Kai says
Thank you so much, Debt Camel. I followed this and received 1650 from quickquid via complaining to the ombudsman. Really grateful!
Craig says
He
I asked for a statement of account as said on step 1 and received the below reply.
This account currently has no sums due or payable. Therefore, we have no current obligation to provide a statement of account under Section 77 of the Consumer Credit Act as per Subsection (3) of Section 77 which states that the requirement under “Subsection (1) does not apply to – (a) an agreement under which no sum is, or will or may become payable by the debtor.”
What is the next step?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry I missed this comment. This article https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-wont-send-loan-details/ looks at your options.
Cassandra anderson says
I just had this reply from payday express after email 2 in which I quoted the amount of loans and dates etc!!
Many thanks for your recent contact.
We have sent your concerns to our Customer Relations Department who will be in contact with you as soon as possible to help resolve the issue.
Should you wish to contact them directly, please call 0800 280 2548.
———————————————————-
Fingers crossed!
David says
I started the process of looking for a payday loan refund against both WDA and QQ on November the 2nd after finding this site by chance, I didnt want to post anything until both my complaints had been resolved which they finally have today so I want to share my experience.
I started using mainly QQ in around 2010 and this was driven by a gambling problem, I soon added WDA alongside QQ but on a much lower scale.
I was earning very good money and never missed a payment but I was totally dependant on the loans during a four year period, WDA responded about three weeks after my complaint email and surprisingly offered me £2700 which I accepted after I calculated that I could be due back just over £4000 and this would leave me to purse QQ to whom I paid over £15000 back in interest over this period.
QQ failed to respond to my compliant other than to send me my spreadsheet of previous loans taken, so after the eight weeks I progressed the complaint to the FOS and received my first correspondence from the FOS on the 13/01/17 to advise me that it was being looked into.
On the 14/02/17 QQ made their first offer to me of £4,641.25 which I declined flat out, they offered no detail of how this was calculated and where obviously just trying to see if I would take a heavily reduced amount.
My case was then moved between adjudicators and it wasnt until the 14/04/17 that I received an email from the FOS asking me specific questions around my personal circumstances, I had a couple of conversations which the adjudicator and I was genuinely concerned that they wouldnt find in my favour as I was earning good money and I could make the payments but they came back on the 26/04 and found that all the loans should be refunded with the 8% interest.
QQ didnt respond in time and then asked for an extension which was further complicated by the adjudicator going on long term sick, eventually after several calls one of the short term lending team managed to get me a response from QQ on the 24/05 which was for £11,741.96 as they agreed that only some of the loans should be refunded.
I instantly declined the offer but I have to admit that I have thought about it many times this weekend as facing a potential six month wait for an ombudsman was playing on my mind when I could do with the money in the next 8 weeks due to moving house.
I received an email this morning from the FOS with a new offer from QQ advising that although they thought the loan payments could be met by myself they agree the lending placed me in financially challenging circumstances so they would like to refund all the loans plus 8% interest at a settlement figure of £19,816.07.
I sent my bank details and they money was in my account 4 hours later, I am still in shock that QQ made this offer and didnt let the complaint go to the ombudsman.
My advice to anyone reading this is to put your complaint in and stick to your guns as its very easy to think that you wont get a favourable outcome or to start considering the low offers that are made by QQ to entice you out of the full payment.
Thanks to this site I am now in a lot stronger position.
C says
Wow a big well done to you. Ive got a complaint in against QQ, interest is nearly 6000, got other complaints in against wonga, payday uk, 247 moneybox, and WDA, all with FOS now, and like you i was a gambler. Well done again xx
Jamie says
Hi David.
I to took out loans with QQ and also had a gambling problem. Are the FOS strict on gambling cause when qq reply within the 8 week point and offer me my first amount I don’t want to take it to the FOS incase they reject it when I gambled.
MH says
According to Sara there the FOS don’t look at gambling as a negative against your case. If anything it should give you a reason for you to say; if you had delved deeper into my finances (I.e. Requested bank statements when applying for loans) they could have seen the gambling transactions and work in your favour!
David says
Like MH says it didn’t negatively affect my case Jamie so I would not let it worry you.
Steph says
Hi David, great news! Congratulations and thank you for sharing. I’ve so far turned down offers of £350 and £2,100 from QQ as I paid back in excess of £6,000 in interest.
Your story has made me want to continue pursuing as far as necessary to get the best result. Thank you!
Kieran says
Hi,
I am just about to begin claiming against a number of payday lenders as for the last 6 years I have taken a number of loans continuously to assist with paying of existing loans & just ended up in a mountain of debt. I have also take loans in the region of £4000/5000 with the likes of 118118money to assist with paying these large interest loans off. as well as originally having a £2000 credit card & a £1200 overdraft with my bank. I also do not have a good credit score due to all these loans. My loans were with the likes Sunny, Wonga, Lending Stream, Payday Express, Mr Lender, QQ, My Jar, Uncle Buck. I also have 4/5 of these recently just loaned me funds in the last couple of weeks which shows after all my other loans they are still willing to lend.
I’m looking to put an email together tonight & would be interested to see any which others have sent over to them to start the complaint process.
Cheers
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Kieran, I have deleted your email address – you would get buried under spam if that was published.
The template letters in the article above are what you need to use.
As you are still borrowing, I assume you can’t afford to repay them without borrowing again. This has to stop. Tell the lender in your complaint that you can’t make the repayments and that you are cancelling the CPA for the debts – contact your bank and do cancel these, don’t rely on the lenders being nice and not collecting any more money.
As you have a lot of debt at the moment, I strongly suggest you set up a debt management plan, for the payday loans and your other debts, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/help-payday-loan/. These complaints can take a VERY long while to go through. If you don’t get your finances stabilised in a DMP you are going to be tempted to accept a few hundred pounds now because you are desperate, rather than wait and get thousands in 6 months or more.
Kieran says
Sara,
Thanks for coming back to me. Do you think I could have a claim against the likes of 118 money for loaning me money & then only recently topping this up further even though I have outstanding loans & a poor credit rating. I have however been paying back on payments back on time, but purely from boring money elsewhere.
Also do you think its worth using a company which does all the claiming for you for approx. 25% as they have the experience?
Kind Regards
Sara (Debt Camel) says
118 Money – possibly – it is a harder complaint than payday lender where you borrowed repeatedly from the same lender. I suggest you start off with the easy payday loan ones and think about 118 Money in 6 months when you have seen a lot of the payday loan ones through.
It absolutely isn’t worth using a claims company – the people with the experience are right here on this page!
Read the template letters above – no way could a claims company write those for you unless they ask you for all the details. These aren’t simple tick box complaints like PPI or packaged bank accounts – your case is different from everyone elses. Then the Ombudsman is going to need your credit records and bank statements. You may need to explain things on your bank statements, for example if you were paying a chunk to your partner who was paying the rent / bills. There can be a lot of to-ing and fro-ing when a case is with the Ombudsman – with a claims company in the middle, this adds delays, you still have to be the one answering the questions.
Also take the example of a reader who was offered over £11,000 by a lender last Friday – I bet a claims company would have told him to accept it! But he was a reader here, so he knew how good his case was, he rejected it and they came back and agreed with the Ombudsman’s decision on Tuesday – £19,000.
So a claims company won’t make your life easier, the claims are likely to be slower at the Ombudsman level and they don’t know more than the people round here.
Maureen says
Well done David, that’s a fantastic offer. I have the same predicament as you, I was earning good money but it was all being swallowed up between all the payday lenders interest payments never mind the capital, but when I needed to pay the capital to obtain a higher limit, I found a way and like you I never missed a payment. All my big complaints, QQ, Wonga, Payday UK and Cheque Centre are with the FOS……Wageday Advance settled direct with no FOS involvement at just over £5000 which shocked me, so I suppose I should look at like they know they did wrong continuing to lend but it’s still in the back of my mind that they will come back with a decision that they were affordable. I am expecting a decision on a very low use one with My Jar, I have had a conversation with the adjudicator dealing today and he will have a decision by the end of the day he said. That’s worth around £2500, so I’m thinking if they find that one in my favour which was very low interest and loan amounts but consistent borrowing, then I should be in good standing for the remainder of lenders with them….let’s see what happens. Enjoy your payment…..it’s a nice feeling to have some money in the bank for a rainy day. It’s a far cry from where we all have been with these ruthless lenders for many years!
Matt says
Hi all,
Has anyone had any cases where a CCJ was removed from their credit file? I’ve had a complaint go all the way to ombudsman level and a final decision was made which gave a refund of my final five loans and required the entries on my credit file to be removed too.
This included the last loan which I couldn’t pay back at all and ended up as a CCJ after the debt was sold on.
Just wondering if anyone else has had a CCJ removed as I wasn’t expecting that to happen and it would be a very nice bonus!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I too wouldn’t have expected that to happen. Usually the Ombudsman will refuse to look at cases which have gone through the courts. Was there a reference in the Ombudsman’s decision to the fact it was a CCJ or did it sort of just get bundled in with your other loans?
The only mechanism to get a CCJ removed is to apply for a set-aside. See https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/howtosetasideacountycourtjudgment/settingasideaccj.aspx. If the debt collector agreed not to dispute this it might be possible. If the debt collector doesn’t agree (which feels more likely to me but that is a guess, I haven’t come across this situation) then it’s likely to be very difficult as you don’t meet the normal rules.
Matt says
Ok thanks – yes it was pretty much just a blanket decision on loans from x. onwards and didn’t specifically mention the CCJ.
I’ve actually paid the CCJ since but it’s going to be bringing down my credit report for another 4 years so would have been nice if it was taken off.
Paul Smith says
Just had a mini result from Mr. Lender, the first resolution of the 12 cases I’m perusing. Only only had one £300 loan from them, so wasn’t that hopeful of getting anything had it gone to the FOS. I had repaid £54 to Mr. Lender and a further £390 to mm finance.
After receiving a reply rejecting my complaint with a clearly fabricated credit score I sent a firm letter of reply set in a tone to suggest I wasn’t just going to go away. To my surprise they responded shortly afterwards offering a refund of the £54 paid to them and, most importantly a removal of the default from my credit score!
Could I have got more from the FOS…… possibly……. but not a lot more, if I had even won at all. My only aim with this one was to clear the default, so the small refund on top is a bonus.
Keep going everyone, I think we have them running scared!!
Sarah says
I emailed mr lender on Tuesday and had an offer of £45 on Thursday, they said they had done a credit check when I applied for the loan, and it was above average, I know this was a lie as I already had 5 pay day loans that I had defaulted on. I have rejected the offer, but am now thinking I should have accepted it? I have replied and said my concerns over their credit check and said I don’t think it is a fair offer and i will for to FOS if i dont have a response in 14 days.
Worrying now that I just seem greedy! Will see what happens!
Sarah
Sara (Debt Camel) says
With 5 defaults it seems pretty unlikely that your credit score was above average… Bother sounding greedy – why should you care if a payday lender thinks you are greedy? You deserve a fair response to your complaint, that’s not being greedy.
Did you have more than 1 loan from Mr L? How much interest did you pay?
Ally says
HI Sara/All,
Had my first Ombudsmen decisions today 2 of them Payday Express and WDA.
He added an extra loan on to PE and agreed with adjudicator on WDA. I have been quite anxious waiting for these as they are my first ones to go all the way. I still have 5 more in the queue all including these 2 have been there since early February.
After making me an offer on 6 + year loans 16 days ago and me accepting I’m still waiting on figures and money from Payday UK.
Do WDA and Payday Express usually accept Ombudsmen decisions and how long do they take to pay out anyone know?
Thanks again for this site and Sara’s guidance.
Ally
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you have had a final decision from an Ombudsman, a firm has to accept it – it’s not optional.
Warren says
Hi everyone also had this from lenderstream
What should I do next any advice thanks in advance
This is in continuation to our previous email. We apologize for the delayed response.
We understand that you want the entire details of your loans.
We would like to inform that you borrowed ten loans from Lending Stream, out of which seven loans (2792725, 2919480, 2948063, 2985880, 3009596, 3065589, 3101557) have been closed successfully and three loans (3292851, 3298804, 3314866) are outstanding.
We believe in maintaining complete transparency about interest and charges etc. by sharing the agreement containing all such necessary information regarding the loan before entering into the contract.
Please note that the interest has been incurred and paid in accordance to the agreed schedule before entering the agreement. The Statement of Accounts would help you in understanding the total repaid amount and the breakdown of interest and charges.
We have attached the statement of your loan accounts for each loan along with this email (password would be your Date of Birth in DDMMYYYY format).
Jimmy says
Anyone had any dealings with Minicredit/Kapama/Opos? I’m currently at the adjudicator stage and the adjudicator has that nothing can be done as Minicredit went into liquidation! Just wondering if anyone has had any luck against them. Minicredit stuck on nearly £500 worth of charges before they sold the debt to Kapama and then went into liquidation.
April says
I made a complaint to Opos/Kapama as well about my Minicredit loan from 2012. This was for £200, and bought by Opos when they went into liquidation. When they first contacted me, they were asking for a balance of just over £1900. They claimed this was interest and late payment charges, and eventually adjusted my outstanding balance to just over £900.
Opos used the whole 8 weeks to respond to my complaint, about irresponsible lending and me paying X amount on interest back to them.
When they finally gave me the final response, it was a big fat no to any kind of refund, and that they had infact helped me by reducing the balance that MiniCredit put my account upto.
They also stated that as the interest had been added before the 200% cap regulation came into effect, they are still owed that £900. over the past few years I have paid back £700, and still have a bit more to go.
Opos/ Kapama have not been helpful in the slightest, and I am still being emailed weekly to repay what’s still owed.
Good luck if you do get anywhere with your complaint, I am determined not to pay another penny towards them!
Gordon says
Hi Jimmy,
I was the same opos/Kapama a night mare one and the same they refused to budge.
was sent out s refusal letter 25 pages of information and only one counted minicredit had not taken out a check on my finances and didn’t even ask how much I earned.
have sent to adjudicator too, will keep you informed
Lee says
Hi All,
Been reading all your posts and comments over the last week after stumbling over this site as I’ve started a big attempt to try and claim some money back from Payday Lenders. I’m a recovering gambling addict. Since 2012 I had maxed out a number of credit cards and started going to every payday lender under the sun to fund my addiction / illness. I paid a lot but then started struggling really bad and got in a vicious cycle of borrowing from one to pay another. Debt has sored to around 18k in total debt from £5k in 2012.
Attempting to recover money from Lending Stream at the moment for 28 loans borrowed to me in a 24 month period. Paid interest of £952.78 all been costed by me through checking bank statements, I would settled some loans early when I would win at gambling then take out more etc when loosing. Gone down the route that although have a full time job and settled many early over time you allowing me to constantly borrow, funding my gambling addiction and creating a debt spiral for me and warning signs of allowing 28 loans to be taken out in a short time should of been picked up that there was a serious debt problem. Also my credit score is poor now – so used that angle to in my complaint to them.
Also sent a 2nd letter yesterday for payday express on 5 loans taken out with them.
And now working on Sunny, which they allowed me to take out 21 separate loans with them in 8 month period, during all these others going on.
Got another big one for Wonga to do, but need some statements from the bank as this one goes back to 2012 when started lending from them.
Will keep you all posted how I get on.
Hopefully we can all help one another as I’ve got about 10 different payday lenders to go through.
April says
Good luck Lee, I was in a very similar situation between 2011-2012.
I had payday loans with 14 companies at one time, I ended up relying on them just to be able to pay the previous one back. It was so out of control and none of these companies would say no to lending me more!
Thankfully after a few years of setting up small payment plans, and admitting everything to my family I am nearly debt free!
I owe about £1500 left on payday loans and just over £500 on an old Lloyds overdraft.
In march this year I had seen people talking about payday refunds, so I gave it a go and emailed all of the companies I had borrowed from.
2 Months later and I have had about £2400 refunded to me, and just over £3000 written off of outstanding balances.
I’m still waiting for 3 that I have sent to the FOS, as the companies had rejected my complaint and I wasn’t happy with it.
My credit score has also jumped up drastically in May, hopefully it will be even better when the June one comes out. Good luck to you, it really has been worth it
Emily says
How long have people waited for a refund from Wonga? They have said I should have a decision before the 8 weeks is up (which is next Tuesday). In total I loaned £4,000 from them over a period of 18 months. They have sent me a statement of my loans out (after much badgering and them saying they had none of my details on file-funny that) and I paid back £800 in interest/fees.
I was not in a good position to be borrowing any money, let alone such a high amount, and was under the care of a debt management company. Wonga were informed of this, and were chasing me for payments I either couldn’t afford or payments I had already made and provided evidence for.
I haven’t bothered with QQ as the majority of my loans were Wonga’s. I’m hoping I get a resolution soon, but my friend waited 16 weeks before he got an offer.
MH says
Hi Emily
I’m still awaiting a statement of account from them and this is the 7th week!
Jon says
Hi,a few years ago I had problems and took out a lot of loans with wonga totaling £9856 over a couple of years. I repaid £12548.60 can anyone give me a rough indication of how much I can expect from this process so I know what kind of offer (if any) I can accept?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
On those figures you paid £2692 in interest and charges. If you got a refund for all the loans, you would get back that money plus 8% interest. If the loans were between 2013 and 2014 (guessing from what you wrote) this could be another 25% on top.
But what the Ombudsman would think is a fair resolution will depend on a lot of things. It is common where there has been continuous lending for someone to get a refund of all loans after the first few – basically saying that it was OK to lend to you at the beginning but after you kept borrowing month after month the lender should have realised you were dependent on the loans and stopped. If there were a lot of big gaps between the loans say the offer may be lower.
It’s up to you what you think a fair offer from Wonga would be. On that sort of borrowing, I think most people would reject £1000 plus interest but think hard about accepting £2000 plus interest.
Katrina says
Just received a very nice email from my adjudicator. After initially rejecting the FO decision and me expecting a long wait for the Ombudsman they have come back a few days later saying they will accept the decision and I have 4K to come back! Very happy with this as I thought it was less, the statement they sent via my adjudicator was very confusing. Just so people know PDEX originally rejected my complaint offering nothing, after I sent to the FO before the complaint was looked at they then offered £330 which I rejected. Try not to be tempted to accept low offers, this is what they are counting on!
Updates on other complaints:
QQ – Rejected my complaint originally when complaint was sent end of Jan. Sent to FO in Feb, received adjudicator decision last week upholding most of my loans, they rejected the decision and came back with an offer of £1200 which was rejected, they then increased to £1700 which I again rejected. This is now in the Queue for an Ombudsman as the adjudicator decision awards me 2.5-3k.
Lending Stream – Initially offered me £55 for ‘procedural error’ on one of my loans, this was then increased to £550 which was rejected, sent to FO and pretty quick decision from Adjudicator upholding 2/3 of my loans which should be around £1500, also now in the queue.
Payday UK – With the jurisdiction team as there are loans over 6 years but I am waiting this one out as I have noticed they have started paying out on a few 6 years + cases. Will just wait to hear.
Wageday Advance – Originally offered me £340 when there was 2.5k interest paid. Has been assigned to adjudicator but still waiting decision.
Mr Lender – My first response back straight away and offered me £670, accepted as I did not really know what I was doing then when probably could have got more but they were great to deal with.
Cash Genie – Received £1400, refund on all loans from Administrators.
Great site, thanks again!
Gemma says
Does anybody know how long complaints sit with the compliance team for? I have one case QQ with them who outright said FOS couldn’t look into anything g over 6 years but also PDUK who haven’t even bothered responding to the adjudicator, because some are over 6 years the adjudicator is not now looking at as I asked they be considered
Ross says
Hi Gemma,
My Quick Quid complaint has been on hold since October 2016, as I have the same issue as you and have been told it’s with the compliance team. I last heard something about 2 months ago, and it was just an apology, from the FOS, advising that they’re looking to press on with these complaints once they have come to an agreement with Quick Quid. In all honesty, I had forgotten all about it until I saw your post. It seems no light at the end of the tunnel on this one. I also wouldn’t bother pestering your adjudicator, as they will only tell you it’s a waiting game.
SL says
I’ve been waiting a year now for my QQ one with the FOS … it’s been through the compliance stage but still no joy since November with the 6+3 with them
Rachel says
My payday uk was with the jurisdiction team since January but surprisingly payday uk offered to pay everything back to 2007 last week waiting for payment, so if they hadn’t responded it would still be waiting
SL says
Has anyone had an update about QQ and the 6+3 ruling yet? Or had any movement to an ombudsman for them? I’ve been waiting 1 year and since November for the ombudsman after going through the jurisdiction team who said that the older loans should be looked at
Matt says
Hi Just had a letter from the adjudicator saying to the money shop that they can investigate the loans I held from 2007 – 2009 . Has anyone else received a letter like this recently?
Thanks
sw says
Hi SL
My complaint was made at end of June 2016, QQ refused to look at older loans, offered a small amount on newer loan. I rejected. Adjudicator said they were looking into older loans in November 2016. The adjudicator agreed older loans should be refunded. In December 2016, QQ said they would consider what the adjudicator had concluded. Mediation between QQ and adjudicator took place throughout December/January. January/February/March, the adjudicator delayed passing to the Ombudsman as she wanted to ‘work’ with QQ to find a resolution. I asked many time if the case should just go to the Ombudsman but she thought it was beneficial to liaise with QQ. At the end of March QQ came back with an outright No on older loans, the same response they had given back in June 2016. My case was put into the Ombudsman queue at the end of March. It has still NOT been assinged to an adjudicator. So nearly a year on and I am no futher forward on this one.
gillian says
i spoke to the fos on the 26th the lady told me my adjudicater had upheld my complaint agaisnt quickquid but cause i had over 30 loans she would like the adjudicater to explain to me she said she would get her to ring me i have not had a call yet do you think i should ring again i dont want to be seen as annoying them but i would like to know what is going on or should i leave it another week or two i know they are very busy ty
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Wait until Monday perhaps? It’s not just that they are busy, but it’s been a bank holiday and it’s half term this week for a lot of the country.
John Smith says
Hi All, ok so far I have done step 1 and sent a email to six different payday companies asking for statement of accounts. Peachy Loans came back to me with the below, does that mean that is it now or should I try step 2? I’m still in major debt and back then was still the same. Any ideas on what to say?
Dear John Smith,
Thank you for the email.
Please be advised that you have had 5 loans with us since 11/01/2014.
The loan #1, #3, #4 and #5 were all taken out with one instalment and were repaid on time, thus have never been overdue or defaulted.
The loan #2 was extended once, when you requested the extension by covering the outstanding interests and fees. Afterwards we have failed to collect the payment on the due date and you have contacted and advised that will repay it several days later. We have then collected the full payment 6 days later than it was due during your call with us.
You have never notified us about experiencing financial difficulties or seeking for financial advice from third parties.
You are able to find the specific information regarding the loans you have had with us, payment history and details of charges in the attached loan statements.
Please note that extension creates separate loan statement, so you will find 6 statements attached, even though you have had 5 loan with us. The statements with references L340202127616986 and L34022712765784 are describing the payment history of the same loan before and after extension.
If you have any other questions, then please contact our Customer Support either by email on info@peachy.co.uk or by calling us on 0800 0124 743.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That isn’t a final response to your complaint, so time for Step Two. The fact that loan 2 was extended and you filed to repay on time is a pretty good indication that you were in trouble.
John Smith says
Peachy came back and said that my expenses was enough to live on for the rest of the month,which is making feel embarrassed as they probably are right but I had a gambling problem so was getting loans from other places and I would have took other payday loans at the time to covered them, so they came with the below:
As creditors, we employ the use of a variety of types and sources of information to assess affordability which include some or all of the following examples:
information about income [£2400.00]
information about expenses [£1000.00]
a credit score
a credit report from a credit reference agency
information obtained from the borrower, whether on an application form or separately.
Unfortunately, based on the above, we are not able to uphold your complaint as we are confident we carried out sufficient checks. However, as a gesture of goodwill, we are willing to refund £67.00 of overdue fees paid on your second loan and remove all entries made to your credit file.
Should I accept this £67? The interest I paid is about £950 but I don’t think Financial Ombudsman will be on my side, what do you think?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Did you just have two loans from them? Both 1 month loans? How large were they? what was the gap between repaying the first and borrowing the second?
John Smith says
Hi Sara,
I had 6 loans altogether from 11/01/2014 to 30/06/2014.
The total I took out between this was £2800, the interest was £666, Fees was £30 and £67 Penalty, so I have just worked it out that it came to £763 not £900. They are willing to refund me £67 and remove all entries made to your credit file. I mean they would have seen on my credit file that I had numerous loans, credit cards, different payday loans taken in the past, I was getting a good salary but was spending on gambling etc..
Do you think I should take what they have offered or go to Financial Ombudsman? This is the first of 10 payday loans I have had a final response, so should I wait till I have a response on all of the payday loans before going to Financial Ombudsman with a bulk load of complaints or do I have to go individually if I do go to them? As I’ve never contacted them before?
Thanks
Lesley Campbell says
Hi,
Does anyone know how long it takes from submitting a complaint on the FO website to having someone pick the complaint up? Wonga and payday express flat out refused my claims.
I rolled over my very first Wonga loan 5 times, paid in full them borrowed even more money 4 days later. Again this rolled over 4 times and finally repaid in full, a few days later I borrowed even more money. I then had a further 6/7 loans with them, all repaid on the due date but new ones taken out straight away.
I was also borrowing from payday express at the same time. They flat out refused my claim to.
I have more claims that I’m still waiting on final responses to so I haven’t done anything with them yet.
Im not expecting it to be any time soon but just a guide of time would be great.
Thanks
Karen says
Hi has anyone had any luck with the 6 + 3 rule with Wonga and Payday Express?
I put my complaint to the Fos back in Sept 2016. It been picked up by several adjudicators. But the lenders don’t appear to be considering loans that are 6 years or older.
Is this happening to anyone else.
Ro65 says
Hi Karen
I complained about Payday Express also in September. After initially rejecting my complaint and after I sent to the FOS I received redress for all my loans dating back to 2008 in March of this year.
Think they’re 1 of the few pdl companies who have agreed to pay out on loans older than 6 years. Sit tight!
Karen says
Hi
Thank you for sharing this info, much appreciated as I had given up hope. I am now positive I would receive a good result.
The funny thing I had received a redress from payday uk for loans going back to 2007 in March of this year. So I thought as payday Express was its sister company they would follow the same procedure.
Oh well all I can do is sit and wait. And stay positive. Fingers crossed.
Ro65 says
Yeah – I received from Payday Express and Payday Uk within 2 days of each other – £10741! Was delighted as you can imagine. Maybe worth giving your adjudicator a call to chase it up.
Best of luck.
charlotte says
i sent my complaint to PDUK and Payday express back in January they got turned down in march as over 6 years so sent to FO. sent them all the bank statements etc in april and spoke to someone last week they wanted to get some info on my complaint, they said they will most likely find in my favour as I borrowed from one every month for a year and the other every month for two years. How long am I looking at waiting until I get a result
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds as though both your complaints have been picked up by the same adjudicator.
From here the adjudicator reaches a provisional decision on each complaint and tells you and the lender what it is. Both of you then have the chance to object / put forward more points. The adjudicator will sometimes change their decision because of these, if they do you both get a chance to react to the new decision. Then the adjudicator says this is their final decision. If either you or the lender object it goes to an Ombudsman for a decision.
If your case is straightforward – borrowing every month for 1/2 years – then this could be quick – less chance of the adjudicator changing their mind.
But the fact it is for loans over 6 years old may slow it down – Payday UK / Express are payng out on some of these but at the moment it’s not possible to tell if they have decided that they will normally do this or are looking at it case by case. One reader has had had a payout from UK but not yet Express!
Payday UK / Express don’t push all cases to the Ombudsman, they do accept done adjudicator decisions.
Sorry it could be anything between a few weeks and 6 months…
Paul Smith says
Just been going through my bank statements to calculate what I have paid Wageday advance through the years. It appeared that every time I had the money transferred they charged me £15 for a same day transfer. Would this be refundable as well? Or is this a legitimate business charge?
sw says
I had a refund from WDA without going to the FO and in their email they said they were refunding interest and transfer fees…..so I assume the transfer fees were these £15s which I also paid.
Paul Smith says
Do you mind me asking how much you managed to get refunded? I’ve just calculated over £2650 worth of interest and charges paid to them. I’m pretty sure I have a great case against them, I’ve yet to receive a reply from my initial complaint though.
sw says
I paid £5300 of interest plus £500 charges from loan 2. I had 45 loans over 5 years, borrowing and repaying every month, with increasing amounts borrowed. They declined loan 1. They repaid everything from loan 2 onwards plus 8%.
Holly says
Hi, wanted to update in regards to cheque centre. I’ve had a letter saying they are writing off the existing outstanding debt. Nothing about compensation from them in regards to the whole load of others I had and payed off. Do you think I will get compensation from them if they have written the other debt as this is in my eyes accepting it was irresponsible lending?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well it depends on how large the debt being written off is compared to how much interest you paid. I suggest you reply asking for a Statement of Account, saying that you can’t consider their offer properly without this.
Paul Smith says
Has anyone had any luck with Amigo loans? I’m a little tentative to pursue this one as obviously it’s a guarantor loan. I wouldn’t want to cause any grief to the guarantor who stood for me. I’m guessing the fact that it is a guarantor loan also negates any arguments you may have about your current financial status? As the loan isn’t technically issued to you?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The loan is technically issued to you. In fact the lender should check that both you and the guarantor can afford it…
Andrew says
I’ve made a complaint to amigo. Got picked up by adjudicator last week so will post when I hear something. Had my first loan in 2011 and topped up twice
Donna says
I accepted a goodwill gesture of £375 from PDUK last summer. At the time they excluded pre2009 loans in their response to me.
Do you think it would be possible to revisit and try to complain about my consecutive loans from 2007 to 2009?
Ross says
Hi Donna,
If you signed to accept the goodwill payment gesture as ‘full & final settlement’ to your complaint, you may find it hard to revisit. However, there’s no harm in trying?
Benjamin Broad says
I complained to Wonga and Sunny a month ago, have had no response or acknowledgement from Sunny.
Wonga declined my complaint around 3 weeks into it just after I rang for an update (Which I found suspicious as told would need to wait the 8 weeks). So I took it to the ombudsmen. I think I have a strong case against Wonga with dozens of loans rolling over all the time.
vanessa says
Good Morning,
I started 2 complaints to Wonga, Lending stream and they have all come back with final response but I am unsure what I should do next.
WONGA, offered me….
total interest and fees £624.27
8% interest net £172.74
total settlement £797.01
tax 8% interest gross £215.93
basic rate tax deduction £43.19
This was for 3 loans out of 15 which 7 of the loans were for more than £1000.00 each one month after the other. I was on fairly good money but had to keep borrowing to stay in credit, at the time I also had a CCJ for £3k and was borrowing from other lenders.
I did however call Wonga and tell them that I was in financial difficulty which the have acknowledged and admitted they could have done more to help me and that they should NOT have continued to lend to me. Wonga a few years ago were sending out false solicitors letter so the removed the balance of my account as a good will gesture. But I did sign anything to agree to anything they just did it.
Should I take this further?
Lending stream said…
We have reviewed your account details and would like to share our findings. You borrowed four loans from Lending Stream, out of which one loan account .000000 was closed successfully and the ownership of the other three loan accounts: 000000, 0000000 and 000000 were transferred to Motormile Finance Ltd (can be contacted on 0113 887 6876) due to non-payments on this account.
For any further queries regards to the loan accounts 000000, 000000 and 000000, we request you to contact Motormile Finance Ltd on 0113 8876 876, as the ownership of the account has been transferred to them.
In regards to the loans closed with us, we are ready to share the affordability checks done while approving this loan.
Affordability Checks:
We confirm that an affordability analysis is conducted for all customers (existing or new) and on each loan application. Our advanced analytics and underwriting processes review the information provided by the customer, all public information, and details held by Credit Reference Agencies before making a decision.
While reviewing your accounts, we note that your loans were approved based on the following facts:
Employment: At the time of application, you were employed full time.
Income: The data shared in the applications indicated that your monthly income was £2000.00. The disposable income on all your loan account was ample to complete the monthly repayments towards your loans easily.
Experian Scores: Experian score was ….; it was also factored into our proprietary underwriting and deemed acceptable.
Application(s) Declined: We have not approved you for a loan each time your application did not meet our lending criteria.
Financial Circumstances: We were never notified about your financial adversities, had we been notified earlier, we would supported your situation by offering payment plan suitable for your situation.
We expect our customers to include any current obligations due to be paid while filling the expenditure details to ensure a fair assessment of their disposable income and ability to make repayments. The data shared in your applications indicated that repayments towards the loans could have been made without any financial difficulties.
Having said the above, we believe that Lending Stream has behaved responsibly in approving your loans and has dealt with them fairly.
We consider this as our final response to this matter.
Two of the loan I took out were one day after each other for £500.00 each, plus I also had the wonga loans and other loans and the CCJ for £3k.
What should I do ???
Thank you
V x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“This was for 3 loans out of 15” – that doesn’t sound a good offer from Wonga – I suggest you send it to the Ombudsman to look at and tell Wonga you are doing this.
The Lending Stream response – I suggest you reply saying you will not be contacting Motormile about this affordability complaint because it was lending Stream who made the irresponsible lending decision. Ask if this is their final response for all your loans as you will be sending it to the Ombudsman if it is.
vanessa says
Hi Sarah
Thanks for this.
Wonga – I have passed this onto the Ombudsman now to look into further
The Lending Stream response – their email states that ” We consider this as our final response to this matter.” Should I just pas this onto the Ombudsman then?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think it’s worth going back to Lending Stream and making the point that it is their job to deal with the complaint about the loans that have been sold onto Motormile, But I suspect this is going to end up with ombudsman too :(
Suzie says
This website is fantastic and has helped me compile a letter to Wonga. I had 22 loans over a 11 month period total of £4200 and repaid on time only to borrow again and again. I was solely on benefits which Wonga knew and my credit file would have shown previous debt problems had they looked into it.
I have information on all my loans from my credit file, so know the amounts borrowed but not the interest or any charged paid. I have stated the loan dates and amounts and asked for the interest and any charges plus an additional 8% back. I have gone into detail about how my personal circumstances where difficult and the loans were simply unaffordable for me given my income at the time.
If they come back with a figure for a settlement I don’t know what is reasonable or not? Any ideas of what I might have paid on interest. I could try and obtain some bank statements from back then which would show what my repayments were, but the bank might charge me for this information.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’snot possible to guess what interest you paid. If Wonga make you an offer, they will say which loans this is on, so you will be able to tell if it is on a lot of your loans or only a few. So if they offer on the last 18 loans, that’s probably a good offer. Just the three largest loans probably isn’t.
I suggest you ask about getting back bank statements so you know how this is done and whether there will be a charge.
MH says
Has anyone had any success with Pounds to Pocket?
Ross says
Hi MH,
P2P rejected my complaint. Adjudicator upheld it, they disagreed but offered to pay 50% of the interest. I rejected this and said I would only settle for what the adjudicator recommended. He went back to them, and I expected it to have to go to an ombudsman but, surprisingly, they agreed and I was paid out the very same day!
MH says
Excellent Ross! I’m expecting them to reject it. Do you mind me asking did you have many loans? Mine was a 12 month and I added to the balance as a top up during the loan period totaling approx £1200 interest.
Rachel says
Yes I did, I had 7 loans running alongside qq, took a long while about 9 months but got a good result in the end
Ross says
Hi MH,
I only had the one loan with them, and the interest was £672.00. They offered to refund £336, which I rejected and they agreed to pay the full £672, 2 hours later. I think both me and the adjudicator were both taken by surprise. There was no 8% interest but, because of the small amount to be refunded, I thought this amount would be negligible.
MH says
Hi Sara,
Just came across this that you had written “If you asked for a Statement of Account and QQ replied with the email above, the 8 week clock has started ticked from the time you asked for the Statement of Account.”
Is this the same for Wonga? They have taken 7 weeks to supply a Statement of Account.
Does this mean i can wait 1 more week then send to FOS if they haven’t made an offer?
Thanks
MH
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I’ve just seen your reply to Ross. Do you know how many loans you actually had from Wonga? If you do, put in a Step Two complaint now – Step One is unnecessary.
MH says
Yes i had 24 loans between Aug 2011 – Aug 2016.
I’ll get that submitted asap, does that mean that they have another 8 weeks to respond?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If your Step One complaint included the phrase along the lines of “I am making a complaint to you about irresponsible lending.”, then the clock started from that point.
MH says
Hi Sara, yes it did – I too the template from the website – I will phone them and see what is happening as they litterally sent me this with my SOA attached:
Thank you for your email regarding your account.
We have now sent you details of your loans with WDFC UK Ltd.
As a responsible lender, we must make sure every single application we receive is individually assessed. We look at your repayment history and a wide range of industry data. A decision is then made based on a combination of factors.
All applications we receive are assessed at the time of application.
If this is not the information you were looking for, please contact us on 0207 138 8330. We’re here to help from 7am to 10pm, every day.
Vickie says
Hi all,
Has anyone had an issue with WDA saying that you are not on their system and therefore can’t make a complaint? I had 19 loans with them between 2011-2013 but they say they can’t find any record of me so I cannot proceed. I’ve got bank statements to prove they loaned me the money so do I just raise it with the FO instead of trying to prove it to WDA?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, that sounds the right thing to do. I suggest phoning the Ombudsman about this one as it’s a bit odd.