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?
david says
Just for clarification, does the 8 week clock start ticking when you first request statement of account or when you proceed to step 2? thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
When you make a complaint. If you have used the template letters above, the step 1 letter does say you are making a complaint.
Andrew says
I contacted all my lenders and asked for statements.
Then ooops 2 days later I might have been slightly tipsy and sent them all complaints letters instead of waiting for statements. Luckily I could go through my bank statements and roughly work out what I borrowed and paid. Otherwise my rushing in to things And being impatient could have cost my dearly.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No it won’t have cost you anything. The article above makes it look as though there is only one right way to do things – because people like seeing clearly what to do next. But there are plenty of other ways of making a good complaint.
I suggest you have a read through the possibly slightly tipsy complaints – see if there is anything you would like to add or change. If there is, send the lender another email saying you want to clarify your previous complaint.
Jamie says
Hi
Would you say that roughly 50% of total interest paid is a fair amount?
Mr Lender have now offered £740. My total interest paid over 4 loans with them was just over £1500.
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The 4 loans, what were the gaps between them – time from repaying loan 1 to taking out loan 2 etc? Did the amounts increase? Did you make any payments late?
Steve says
My adjudicator in my complaint against Sunny(elevate) has ruled that I had 21 loans with with Sunny,and that loans 6-21 we’re unaffordable,I actually had 27 loans,but the first one was apparently a running account and only counts as one loan,I have written back to him questioning this,and am awaiting his reply,in also disappointed that he ruled that 2 of the loans that were taken within a month of each one for £600 and the other for £300 were affordable even though it’s clear from bank statements that I was borrowing more shortly before the repayments were due on those loans,the £600 loan went for the full term of 6 months,has anyone had a similar experience?
MH says
Hi Steve
Sunny have rejected my complaint today, taking the full 8 weeks to respond. I had 22 loans over 2 year period. Can I ask how long it took the FOS to reply after you submitted it to them?
Thank you
MH
Steve says
Once I had submitted the complaint, I got a letter giving me a reference number after about 7 days,then after I provided all the info they needed your complaint goes into a waiting list untill an adjudicator is available,I reckon it took about six weeks to get picked up by an adjudicator after I had provided my Bank statements and other info.
Derek Nicol says
I am looking for a little bit of help. I am currently disputing the status of my two loans with lending stream. As of October 16 they reported that the debt was delinquent however the debt is from 2013 and as i understand should be recorded as a default from 2013 . This is having implications on my applying for a mortgage. They claim because they were corresponding with a debt management company( I was briefly in a dmp but only on one occasion not two as they suggest) in 2013 and again after that they don’t give me a date. Their reporting status is making it look as though I have current debt problems which I don’t. The refuse to alter the status on my report claiming they did the need to contact me because of the dmp however I’m not sure if that is correct – is there any way to get the status changed. They have given their final response but I have ever contacted the Ombudsman
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have these debts been repaid? Did you have previous loans with Lending Stream?
Derek says
No they weren’t repaid and these were the only two loan I had – they will as a gesture of goodwill close one of the loans off and reduce the balance due on the other one but they will only change the status to a payment plan from 2013 to December 2016 and then will mark it as delinquent but will not change the delinquent status to default from 2013
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well as a matter of practicality you have to get both debts marked as settled/satisfied. You DO have current debt problems – you have unsettled debts!
You could ask for a default date to be added – it doesn’t sound as though you have anything to them for years, if that is right then they should be defaulted BUT getting these debts marked as defaulted AND settled/satisfied is unlikely to mean that you can easily get a mortgage soon. Most mortgage lenders will require them to have been settled for over a year,
The alternative is to take the case to the Ombudsman and hope the Ombudsman says that both debts were unaffordable and so the credit records should be deleted. With only two loans, that isn’t odds on to be the FO’s decision, but it’s possible. You could explain to LS again that you are happy to repay the balance on the remaining debt right away but unless that agree to delete the debts from your credit record you will be taking the case to the Ombudsman.
Pimmie says
Hi all!
After contacting WDA on 8th Feb, rejecting their offer of refunding 2 loans and taking it to Ombudsman- I got a copy of the letter my adjudicator sent today upholding my complaint. Do WDA normally agree & settle or do they appeal it? If they agree how long does it take them to pay up? Thanks ??
Pimmie says
Anybody any experience of WDA response to Ombudsman?
Pear says
Hi Pimmie
WDA agreed with my adjudicator on day 28 of the 28 days they were allowed and paid the funds about 2 weeks after that.
Pimmie says
Fab thank you! Saying that my adjudicator gave them just 2 weeks to respond. He sent them letter on Tuesday and gave them until 27th June so here’s hoping I get something before my holidays on 2nd August haha – wee bit extra spending ??
Shane says
Hi Sarah. I’m wondering if you can give me some advice. I had a response today from Lending Stream. This is what they had to say:
While reviewing your accounts, we note that your loans were approved based on the following facts:
We have reviewed your accounts and would like to share our findings. You had ten loan accounts with Lending, where five loan accounts have been closed successfully.
Please be informed that Lending Stream has transferred the ownership of the loans 1855207, 1897818, 1979140 and 1999261 to Motormile Finance Ltd and the loan 2045899 to Asset Collections & Investigations Limited due to prolonged non-payment.
Empolyment: During the applications, you were full-time employed.
Income: The data shared in the applications indicated that your monthly income were £900.00. The disposable income on all your loan accounts was ample to complete the monthly repayments towards your loans easily.
Experian Scores: Experian score was factored into our proprietary underwriting and deemed acceptable.
Applications Declined: We have not approved for a loan each time your application did not meet our lending criteria.
The loans were approved only for the amount you were eligible for.
While we confirm that the affordability checks were performed with due consideration on the approval of all your loans, however, considering your circumstances, we offer to refund some of the interest and charges paid towards your loan accounts ****, **** and **** (amounting £264.96).
On my loan history the interest I paid adds up to just over £750 and this isn’t including the other 5 loans they’re with debt collectors. Should I take the offer or push them further? What sort of info would I need for the Ombudsman? Would I need bank statements etc?
Any help from anybody would be brilliant
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like a very poor offer. The loans that have been sold to the debt collectors need to be included in the offer. LS can either get the loans back from the debt collectors or give you a refund of the interest that was added so you can settle them yourself.
What was your credit record like? Lending Stream often tell people that had an acceptable credit score when it would have been dreadful!
What were the gaps between the loans – the time between repaying loan 1 and taking out loan 2 etc? Did the loan values tend to increase?
The Financial Ombudsman usually asks for bank statements.
Incidentally, have you told MMF & Asset Collections that you are disputing the debts with LS? If not, do this as soon as possible as it should prevent the debt collector starting court action.
Shane says
I think my credit score was pretty low, during the later loans (unknown to me at the time) I actually had a CCJ. The loans always increased and it was only a few days between paying off the previous loan to taking out a new one. I haven’t informed MMF yet. I am making monthly payments to them so they should take any court action. I will reply and reject their offer with the points you made.
Kevin says
Hi all. Any help gratefully appreciated. After 2 years of taking new loans out as soon as I paid previous loan. I am finally out he circle and making my first claim.
I’d like to ask will it go against me not mentioning all my expenses on my loan application?
I never put all my expenses down as I was obviously desperate for the loans?
I still think I have a good case as I’ve been rolling over loans paying back on payday then needing to reapply on the same day so it’s still irresponsible lending??
Any help gratefully aprieciated
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Kevin, this sort of thing is common. It obviously doesn’t help your case, but if you carried on borrowing month after month the lender should have realised that there was something wrong and asked for more details. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/ which looks into this situation in more detail.
JOHN DICKINSON says
Hi There – I have just received the below from a few companies now. Can they refuse to send me my list of loans and interest?
Reference: 18200652
Balance: £0.00
“Many thanks for your recent contact.
As previously stated, 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.”
Referring to your comments I can confirm that we have acted in line with the Financial Conduct Authority regulations concerning complaints (DISP) and if you wish to raise your concerns this would be investigated fairly accordingly in line with our obligations under DISP.
If you wish to make a formal complaint with Payday Express, please detail your concerns in full so we are able to address the matter accordingly”
Any help would be much appreciated?.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is what PD Express normally do :( See https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-wont-send-loan-details/ for what to do – briefly put in a step 2 complaint as best you can, if they make you an offer, tell them you can’t consider it unless they give you a Statement of Account showing how much interest you have paid, send it to the Financial Ombudsman at 8 weeks and report them to the FCA for being obstructive. The last bit won’t do you personally any good but if enough people do it, the FCA may make lenders behave a bit better!
Lucy says
Good afternoon!
Just had a response from my adjudicator, she has deemed 5 of the 7 loans taken out with PDUK lent irresponsibly and has requested they refund the intrest plus 8% and take them off my credit file. She has given them till 28th june to respond.
Are they quick at responding or do they take forever?
Thanks in advance
Katie says
Hello everyone
Still waiting to hear if Wonga will accept my adjudicator’s findings which would be £6K( it’s been a week ). Then this afternoon I heard from another adjudicator about my QQ and P2P complaints. That adjudicator too has upheld my complaints which would be £5K on each not including the 8% interest. So my question is Sara or anyone else does the Obudsman always agree with the adjudicators as I feel I won’t be successful at this stage and I know it’s a long long wait for the Obudsman…. Many thanks x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The most common result is for an Ombudsman to agree with the adjudicator. Sometimes with payday loans they “tinker” with the number of loans, so if the adjudicator had said refund all after loan 3, the Ombudsman could change that to all after loan 5 or indeed all loans from the beginning. I don’t remember a good case involving a lot of loans where the adjudicator’s decision was good but the Ombudsman’s wasn’t.
In your case, there have obviously been loans over a long period so the 8%s will really add up as well. It’s natural to feel worried but it sounds as though you have great cases.
Also if none of your loans is over 6 years, it feels as though Ombudsman cases are now going through a bit quicker :) But fingers crossed the lenders accept the adjudicator’s decisions.
Kieran says
Hello,
I heard back from Lending Stream today, which they sent a long wordy email as always which pretty much said they think the 14 loans I had over the past couple years were all affordable.
I have an outstanding loan with them at present which they are offering to freeze interest on & enter a payment plan on which I will need to do to release some of the finical pressure.
However I guess at this stage as I do not agree I now can now raise this with the Ombudsman? Or would you suggest going back to them to confirm that I am doing this? If not can you assist with how I raise this with the Ombudsman & what you think is best.
Thanks Sara
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest using the Ombudsman’s online submission form as the article above says – it prompts you to attach various things such as the lenders Final Response. If you miss something off, you can always send it later. eg your bank statements and credit record. I expect LS said your credit score was OK whereas actually it was rubbish?
I uggest replaying to LS saying you are taking the affordability complaint about all 14 of your loans to the Financial Ombudsman. Then a couple of days later contact them about setting up a repayment plan for your last “which you have already sent a complaint to the Ombudsman about.”
Marie says
I have a complaint with the FOS about QQ lending to me a few years ago, they have now asked for a statement from when I was taking the loans out.
This will show gambling transactions as that was also part of my debt problems, is this likely to ruin any chances of getting a positive result?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Lots of people have had complaints upheld when there is gambling showing. This isn’t usually a problem with the Financial Ombudsman unless you only had a small number of loans. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/gambling-payday-loan-refunds/
Eddie says
Update on Lending Stream
They do seem to be very very difficult to deal with. Ombudsman ruled in my favour and sent a final decision letter on 8th June. It’s been 7 days now and when I called LS they claimed not to have received FOS letter yet. I will just simply wait out 28 days and go to county court as it seems from other comments here they will not bother.
Dennis says
I have 5 cases pending with the financial Ombudsman and my adjudicator has given me some mixed news, 1 case with uncle Buck deemed irresponsible with a £300 refund, but she deemed my pounds to pocket affordable I feel very frustrated I was looking at a £4000 refund with the 4 loans I had taken out.
debbie says
My question is should MYJAR remove all of the entry on my credit file for a loan found to have been unaffordable or is it ok to show it in payment plan which will still have a negative effect on my file for the next 6 years?
I received this email from the adjudicator:
MYJAR said that your repayment plan is currently £1.00 a month. MYJAR also said that this will be marked as a repayment plan on your credit report and it will be marked as ok on your credit report for the full period once the outstanding balance is cleared.
All of the above is in line with what we recommended and you will find that an ombudsman would recommend the same. We feel that the business has acted fairly in this instance.
Please could you confirm if you are now happy with this resolution. Please get back to me as soon as you can but no later than Friday 16 June 2017.
jenna says
Hi Guys,
Does anyone have any info on how long it takes Payday UK to pay out once it has been settled with the Adjudicator?
I accepted their offer 3 weeks ago and haven’t had any payments yet, Wonga paid out within 3 days so thought it might be the same with them.
Thanks :)
Ally says
I accepted 17th May they paid 6th june, they say they work to a strict date allocation, however someone on here accepted 4 days after me and was paid 7 days sooner.
They email you a breakdown and money goes in before midnight
Good luck
Martynas says
Hello I have accepted adjudicator and lending stream offer on 2nd. And sign the acceptance form from adjudicator same day. Got confirmation from adjudicator that form is sent to lending stream so now they need to contact me.
I send the email to lending stream to ask what will happen now but still no answer…..
How I understood from comments in here they are a real pain in the soft place. Should I call them maybe or still wait because is only 2nd week still.
clive says
I am in exactly the same boat….it has been 3 weeks since I accepted an LS offer via my adjudicator. Since then they have ignored all emails i have sent them.
Chris R says
So Wonga have just paid me out exactly what I asked for within 5-6 or so weeks, all very rapid.
Timeline of events
Initial contact with Wonga > 5th May
Acknowledged 14th May >
Also went straight to FOS on 14th May and created the case, just in case it needed forwarding to them quickly
Settlement agreement > 10th June
Paid into my account > 15th June
So around 5-6 weeks for the whole process which was quite pain free. I do stress please when you contact Wonga initially set out EVERYTHING, send all your bank statements the 2 months before you had loans, explain your circumstances, list out EVERYTHING you think they owe you, tell them all your circumstances – I mentioned a lot of gambling in mine. I calculated circa £1956 they owed me, they paid out £1946 because they missed one sign-up fee at the beginning, but what’s £10? But more than happy with the outcome and pretty painless!
Good luck all
Lee says
I’ve just sent mine also used to fund my out of control gambling addiction had 121 loans / top ups. Totalling just over a staggering £26,500 loaned in 31 month period all inside the past 6 years paid back just under £30,000 interest over £2,500 when you apply the 8% statutory intested also requested I’m looking at a claim over just over £3,000.
I hope I get an as amazing outcome as you did.
Claire says
Hi, I’m not sure how to proceed, I have had a final response from WDA saying that they reject my claim and that the biggest amount the offered me was £400 which was affordable. They offered me much more I just never took it. They said they relied on my honesty and that they are not responsible. I had 13 loans over just over a year. If family hadn’t of helped I would still have them. What do I do now if they accept no responsibility?
Pimmie says
Defo go to ombudsman- I had same with WDA – offered me £750 I rejected took it to FOB & they upheld my complaint this week – waiting to see if WDA reject FOB findings they have until 27th to respond. Good luck!
Steve says
Had this back from Safetynet Credit, my credit score was abysmal when they lent to me and their comment on my average salary ignores the fact that I actually got paid double one month, to make up for a loss of wages in the previous month.
Is it worth sending to the Ombudsman?
—————————————————————————-
[deleted bits where they are complaining that you used a template letter]
SafetyNet Credit’s affordability assessments are the most extensive and highest quality in the short term lending sector. As was made clear to you during the application process, before a customer is approved a credit limit with us they are required to provide us with secure read only access to their banking transactions. We ask for 90 days transaction data before we conduct our affordability assessment. That assessment identifies both income and committed expenditure so that we can come up with a highly accurate picture of an applicant’s ability to repay any credit we offer. These checks showed that, at the time of application, you had a disposable income in excess of £500. This gave us no reason to believe that the initial credit limit of £150 would be unaffordable. In March 2014 your disposable income was in excess of £600, hence the reason you were offered an affordable credit limit increase to £210.
When we booked you as a customer we did a full credit check. Your report showed that you had a good credit file, you had no CCJ’s and you had not opened any other short term loan accounts in the 12 months prior to your application. It also showed that you had low overall debt of just £878. There was not any information to suggest that we should not accept you as a customer.
In your complaint you mention that your monthly salary averaged £1000. Whilst our read only access to your banking transactions showed that it was always a considerable amount higher. Between October 2013 and August 2014 your average net monthly wage was, in fact, £1392.27.
It is evident that you have used a templated complaint letter which has been downloaded from the Internet. As indicated, the figures you have given do not tally with ours and all of your claims are completely without merit.
On the basis of above, we do not feel that we acted irresponsibly in lending to you, or the handling of your account. No form of redress is warranted and your outstanding balance of £329.70 will remain payable.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds as though you understand your complaint and that SafteynetCredit have got it wrong. On that basis, definitely, take it to the Financial Ombudsman!
Because they had direct access to your bank statements, they can’t argue that they were unaware of your real income or expenditures. All the guff about you using a template letter is irrelevant – so what if you asked for a refund of interest and charges if they didn’t add any charges? It doesn’t affect your complaint at all. Also, you may well have thought you were rolling over a loan – the significance of their “running credit” approach isn’t relevant. What matters is if the credit you were given was unaffordable.
Joanna says
This afternoon, I finally received my refund from QuickQuid. The woman from their resolution team called me to get my account details and I could actually hear her voice trembling.
My complaint began on 30th September and ended today. It wasn’t just about the refund for me, it was because their staff in the US are some of the most nastiest people that I’ve spoken to. I can’t go into too much detail, but they were very scared to call me.
The funny thing about the payday refunds is that when I got into one big mess with all of them, I remember wishing and dreaming that one day all this money would come back to me. I never thought this could happen.
Thank you Sara, you’re a Fairy Godmother! X
Mary says
I have several PDL complaints in with the Ombudsman since November last year. I settled Wonga myself – £1600 received and sent complaints to Lending Stream, PDUK, Quick Quid and Payday Express. The adjudicator ruled in my favour on all of them but the businesses disagreed. The Ombudsman has made a final decision on QQ and I settled last week. I confirmed my bank details today and they stated 28 working days. This has been on going since September last year and seems to take so long! If anyone has got to this stage how long does it take for QQ to refund into my bank? Does it take the full 28 days?!
The Eagle says
To te creator of this wonderful God send of a website, I thank you so much!
I sent emails to 8 lenders and within 2 weeks ive seen 3 loans mysteriously disappear off my credit file (i told them in my 2nd email to all the lenders that was part of my terms) and 2 of them hadn’t even made me an official offer BEFORE they did that. I’ve had a refund and I’ve so far contacted the FCA about 2 of the lenders (which made them both take me serious) and referred one lender to the FO.
Im waiting on 4 other lenders response but i truely believe that victory is mine.
When doing this make sure to print off a list all open and closed credit accounts, one from Noddle and another from Experian etc because these lenders will delete the loan so you have no proof about defaults etc if you have them which strengthens your case against them.
Go online and access the loan history/summary from the lender if you can.
Pull up all your emails from each lender if you have them, it helps to prove your claim if they wont send summaries.
Dont let the lender fob you off, I didnt and wont.
Finally, use the templates…….THEY WORK! HURRAH
Thank you so much DEBT CAMEL, IM being set free :o)
Maria says
Hello sara,
Just had a reponse from FO ragarding my myjar complaint and theirr reply is:
“While we wait for the business to get back to us, it would be helpful if you could give us as much information as possible from the following, if you haven’t already sent it to us:
your bank statements covering the period from three months before your loan(s) until one month after the date you took it/them
a copy of your credit file
the date you took out the loan(s) and the amount of each loan you’re complaining about
your customer reference number with the business, if you have it
it would also be helpful if you could send us any correspondence you’ve had with the business about your loans.”
Is it appropriate for me to send in as mich things as i can or not as there is gambling transactions etc
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Maria, I have just written an article about gambling and payday loan complaints: https://debtcamel.co.uk/gambling-payday-loan-refunds/. Read that, I think you will find it encouraging. You should definitely send all the info to the Financial Ombudsman and be open that you had a gambling problem.
david says
247 Moneybox have to be the worst payday lender to try to communicate with. They didnt respond to my complaint, then my adjudicator upheld it and has given them two deadlines to respond to them, which they have both ignored. Now it will go to an ombudsman.
What do these companies think they gain by not dealing with complaints, especially when the FOS are involved? Surely its not going to help their case when an ombudsman sees they havent responded to an adjudicator.
Katie says
So happy ? Wonga have agreed to my adjudicator’s findings £7.5 K so pleased ! So I’ve given my adjudicator my bank details, anyone know how long it usually takes to hit my account ?
Many thanks
Shane says
Hi guys, just a quick question for Sarah or anybody else who might be able to answer. I completed step 1 and emailed the companies I had loans with. Lending Stream replied with my loan summary and an offer (which I rejected). Is them making an offer so soon a good sign? Are they admitting fault by doing this? How likely are they to come back with a second offer in your experiences?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well it’s not a bad sign – if they thought you had a poor case they would not have offered anything. But “admitting guilt” isn’t really a useful way to think about it – it’s not a question of guilty so you should get a complete refund, it’s a question of how many loans should be refunded.
I suggest asking them mid next week if they have made their final response.
Pimmie says
Lending Stream are hilarious – I put a complaint into them for both my account and my husbands account. I was dealing with both with my husbands consent. I only had a couple of loans with them so didn’t expect anything and wasn’t surprised when I got an email saying I wasn’t due a thing. Two months down the line I get an apology email regarding the time it took to respond to my hubby’s account and offering him £670 which was we decided to accept at that time but could’ve possibly got more. Anyway I had to send them details of new joint bank account. Received call stating that because they couldn’t see hubby’s name I’d need letter from bank. I had a pop at them and asked how much was being paid to him – I was told £2,450 to him and £489 to me haha – I was surprised but rolled with it. A few days later hubby gets £762 & I get £292! Go figure haha
Mathew says
Just a little piece of advise that has helped me :D
I sent my complaint off to the FO about Wonga on the 11th of may. I hadn’t heard anything back and reading some of the comments on here most were saying about a month to hear back from the adjudicators. So i rang the FO yesterday and the guy on the phone said they had requested the info on my complaint from Wonga the week after they received my complaint but hadn’t heard anything back so over a month ago. The FO guy then told me he was going to ring Wonga and get back to me today. He has just rang me back and said Wonga will send them the info by Monday ready to start my case next week. so if you have been waiting a while and not heard anything back it might be worth a quick phone call to the FO the guy was really helpful and i think that will have sped up my case. Just thought i would share this if any one else is in the same position :D :D :D
Mathew says
Also i heard back from Safety Net Credit this week they have cleared my balance of £950 and gave me refund of £195 which was a bonus because i was just hoping hey would clear my balance :D :D :D
Andrew says
Hi,
I’ve had great success with most of my claims, down to the last few and there waiting in the queue for an Ombudsman so I’m happy to wait.
I’d like to hear people’s experience of Safety Net credit complaints through the Ombudsman though.
My complaint was sent to them on 29/12/16. An Adjudicator collected all my information and said they’d have a decision ready about a month ago.
However, I rang up to get an update and was told that it has been moved to a different section and awaiting an Adjudicator there as technically Safety Net Credit aren’t giving payday loans as such.
Just wondering what the timescales are for this as they were unable to give me one when I phoned up.
Katie says
Same thing happened to me. I rang last week to find out if my SafetyNet Credit complaint had been picked up as all my other complaints have been and I was told the same thing. Apparently there is a block on those complaints for the foreseeable future. Frustrating for sure!
Daniel says
Would like to say thank you to this site as I’ve just got £1700 in my bank back from Wonga. I was initially offered just under £1000 and after going to the FOS the offer was increased. Once I had accepted the revised offer through the FOS the money was in my account two days later. The whole process has taken nearly a year but I recommend that you keep waiting and chading. It’s about time these companies where held accountable for their actions and the whole payday loan industry is shut down!
Dan says
Big thanks once again to Sara and this site.
Complaint sent to WDA 6 weeks ago and offer received for £1500 yesterday – I worked out that a full refund (with interest) would be just over 2k and made a deal with myself that I’d accept anything over £1400. They said they would pay it out on Monday so I’m over the moon with that.
So far refunds from WDA and Mr Lender. Sunny and Lending Stream with the FOS and still waiting on Wonga – fingers crossed for the rest.
These refunds could be, genuinely, life changing so I can’t thank everyone enough.
Keep at it people!
Freddie says
Hi Dan, WDA, mr lender and quickquid are 6 weeks into the 8 weeks so I am waiting to see how they respond. I received 587 back from pdx it was rejected by Wonga. One for the FOS when I get round to it. Were WDA forthcoming with a good offer straight away? My interest is almost 5k but my salary was quite good. Albeit rolling 5/6 pdl’s every month will make anyone strapped.
Thanks
Dan says
Hey!
They wrote to me with a full explanation of each loan and why they woukd/wouldn’t refund – the first couple they said they’d completed reasonable checks and the last 3 they have said my increased salary (I’d had payrises between first and last loans) and were sufficient to pay. I thought their opening offer (incidentally, it also said final offer) was reasonable and for the sake of a few hundred pounds more, I didn’t feel it was worth waiting on the FOS.
Hopefully you’ll get a result too.
Good luck!
Thomas Grag says
Hi I received a reply from my adjudicator saying that she has told wonga that she thinks that out of the 106 wonga loans that I had 104 of them were unaffordable. The majority of those loans were £200 and then with £50 top ups. I’m just waiting for wonga to reply with an offer. What’s wonga like for refunding? Do they try to offer low refunds first?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
wow that’s a lot of loans – over how a long a period were you borrowing? Were any of these loans borrowed more than 6 years ago?
It is random, I am afraid, what offer you may get from Wonga. They will sometimes accept an adjudicator’s decision, even if it is a large amount of money. Sometimes they will just offer to refund some loans – sometimes the larger loans.
Have you added up how much interest you paid? That is the only way to be sure how good (or poor) an offer is.
Thomas Grag says
Hi Sara,
One loan was over 6 years old and the others were spread over 4 years. My statements that I sent to the adjudicator show that I was getting a loan then paying it back in full when I got paid then as I had no wages left I would borrow again. Almost every month.
In total I borrowed £11k and have paid back I believe £3364 in interest.
Darren says
Been on holiday for a few weeks in which during that time the 8 week deadline was up.
Came back to a nice letter from WageDayAdvance with an offer of £1.5k which was all interest on every loan I had so accepted that and money in the bank by 5pm the same day.
Wonga, 247 moneybox, Sunny, Moneyshop and Payday Express all sent to the ombudsman once I came back and had an email this morning to send in bank statements and credit report. Wonga and 247 moneybox could potentially be a few thousand paid in interest as the adjudicator has stated almost 50 loans between them.
Once again thank you Sarah for this website, after a rough time between 2011-2014 with the payday loan cycle and gambling I am debt free and have just been accepted for a mortgage so all good :)
Gareth says
Hello all, I am currently trying this out – I’m not sure If I qualify exactly but Wonga allowed me to take about £2000/£2500 back in 2012 when I really shouldn’t have been given it and absolutely could not afford it. I have all my bank statements showing the amounts being paid to me, and I do still have some emails confirming certain loads (and a terms and conditions PDF from the time) but they have deleted everything from my account. So I asked them to supply me with the details and they ignored me, so I asked again and now they have sent me a default “complaint response” even though I haven’t even written the complaint yet! Is this normal behavior? They are referring me to the FOS before they even know my complaint. Thanks for any replies, Gareth
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are they saying you didn’t have an account with them? Or that you did but they loaned responsibly and they are rejecting your compliant?
Gareth says
Hello Sara, I have not done your complaint template yet – I sent them the “statement of my account” template on the 16/05 by email. They emailed back on the 22/05 to say somebody would look into this. On the 10/06 they replied again only showing 2 of the loans I had with them which came to £700 (I had 6 I believe, in the end my total was about £2k or more which I had to get a Halifax loan to pay off, my info is at home though) so I asked them to tell me the details of ALL of my loans as I had my bank statements and knew there were more. Then today 19/06 I had been emailed a rejection email;
“Having looked in detail at your complaint and the information we had access to when we made our lending decisions, we have not found any indication that your loans were unaffordable. On that basis, we are unable to uphold your complaint.
This is our final response, however if you are not satisfied with it, you have the right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, free of charge but you must do so within six months of the date of this letter. ”
So they still didn’t give me my full list of loans. Shall I use what I know/have and move onto step 3 now do you think?
Thanks for your help!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well it’s not very clear if they have actually found your other loans or they are just repeating their previous offering without actually looking at it again. I suggest phoning them up and asking…
Gareth says
Hi Sara, they have never offered me anything – I just wanted my loan details (from them) and they have taken it upon themselves to not supply it as well as send me a complaint rejection email. Anyway i’ll try your next steps!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
My point is that you need to work out if they have found all of your loans. IIf they have found all of the loans, then I suggest you send the case to the Financial Ombudsman. If they haven’t, then they need to be convinced that you have other loans, and if they won’t budge, go to the Ombudsman.
Gareth says
Hello Sara,
I have had another response from them today regarding me asking for the further information on my loans;
“Thanks for your email dated 19/06/2017.
We’ve now given you our final response to your complaint on 19/06/2017. We advised you that if you’re dissatisfied with our response, you can refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service within 6 months of the date of our final response letter.”
I am now confused how I go about this, as I never even got to write the email you have in your templates above? Do I just write the FOS an email saying Wonga irresponsibly leant to me which caused me further debt and supply information ie. dates/amounts/my bank statements? Sorry if i am asking to be spoonfed abit, i’m not too confident with all of this.
Thanks for all your help so far
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, well they aren’t really reading what you are writing. I suggest you send it to the Ombudsman, I suggest you use what you would have put in the Step Two email as the basis for what to tell the Ombudsman PLUS any bits from here that you think will help: https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-refund-complaint-detail/ PLUS a paragraph listing what you think your loans are and explaining that Wonga has only send you details of some of them.
Darren says
Something similar happened to myself regarding Wonga. Back when they had the redress I received 2 emails with amounts and when I queried this it turned out I had 2 wonga accounts. Every detail was the same apart from my year of birth. Had a load of hassle proving it was me the money was due to and eventually got the redress. Fast forward to now and with my complaint Wonga have said I have only had one loan and only have one account and it is impossible to set up 2 accounts. This is now with the ombudsman with bank statements showing every loan and also the emails back and forth regarding the 2 accounts. Everything from Wonga just seemed a standard reply to everything!!
Gareth says
Hi Sara, I emailed the FOS on the 22nd June with what I wrote above and they have replied today to me asking me to fill in a complaint form and send it to them by mail.
david says
Hi guys, made a complaint to wonga seven weeks ago and today was offered £803.61 for three loans back in 2012. Between 2011 and 2016 i had a total of 51 loans with the company, yet they agreed that only three did not comply with affordability criteria. Im considering pursuing further – I can’t see how the other loans borrowed on the same criteria dont fall into the affordability claim.
Rather, than go straight to FO I was thinking of replying to wonga to ask to reconsider. Has anyone taken this step and been successful ? and if so what are the most appropriate points to make?
thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They are such a very long way from a reasonable offer that I think you will be wasting your time doing this. But if you want to give them a week to reconsider, then it’s just a week…
Katie says
Hi David
I had 30 loans between 2011-14 including 70 top ups. 10 weeks after I initially complained they offered me £2997 on 14 of my loans. I had already forwarded to the FOS at eight weeks. This week my adjudicator’s were that I should be refunded on loans 2-30 and 8% interest. Wonga accepted and I have £7488 winging its way into my account ! So whether you reply to them or not, get your case into the FOS asap. I was very very tempted to take the offer back in April but I’m so glad I didn’t. Good luck ?
David says
Thanks both for the guidance. I think they just plucked the three biggest loans from the pile in the hope I d go away
Sal says
Dear Sara,
I maid my complaint to Mr Lender.
They responded quickly and offered me £194. This was against several loans taken to the tune of £1700.00
I rejected it and told them it was unreasonable.
They then made another off of £264.00
I rejected that also and asked them to make a substantially reasonable offer.
I have had a reply today from them and the offer is now £399.00
Stick or twist? I need some advice please. :} Somehow they have not claimed it is their final offer!
There were 7 loans at least.
it started off with £250.00 of which I paid back £326.00
Then The offer increased to £300.00 and so on interest is about 292.25% fixed.
The gaps were less that 24hrs after making final payment. I get paid on the 28th and by the same day or the following day I was back borrowing!
They never sent me a statement of account.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Tell them you can’t consider their offer unless they send you a Statement of Account.
Rachel says
So this is where I leave you all my PDL journey is now finally over.
To recap I had successful claims with
Wage day advance – settled without going to the fos – £3000,
Quickquid/Pounds to Pockets – settled after 8-9 months after adjudicator decision- £6000 – they wouldn’t look into loans older than 6 yrs, and
PDUK which has taken 15 months – the PDL – £10000 offered to settle all loans 2007 on wards this was whilst waiting in the jurisdiction team at the fos.
I am now debt free and saving for a house which would not have been possible without this site and encouragement from Sara and everyone else. My advise be very patient you may not hear for months but its worth it in the end.
Kay M says
Hi
Just thought I’d post for people who weren’t sure which loans to complain about – I had several payday loans with numerous companies, I explained to sunny loans how I thought the 1 loan they gave me was irresponsible as if they’d conducted checks they’d of seen I was in financial difficulty by taking numerous loans out. I’d only taken one loan out of £800 with sunny and quickly set up a repayment plan of just £17 a month, I still owed them around £700 but they have agreed to wipe this debt and take all notices off my credit file – happy days!!! I had only taken one loan from sunny so this proves all you need to do is show it was irresponsible of them loaning to you initially!!! Good luck everyone…now that’s one lender that’s disappeared from my to pay list all due to this fab webpage. Thank you!
Dave says
Thanks Kay M
I have put claims in with Wonga and Sunny who I had loans with constantly over a 3 year period. But wasn’t sure whether to try claiming from Lending Stream and Satsuma. Only had one loan with Satsuma and 2 installment loans from Lending Stream. These were just months before I setup a DMP so Satsuma only had 1 payment from me and Lending Stream had 3 payments for one loan and 1 for the other. Wasn’t going to put a claim in against these but might do now as my credit file at the time will have showed loans with Sunny, Wonga, 118 as well as credit cards and nearly a 2k overdraft.
Also, Lending Stream offered me the second loan just because I have managed to make 3 payments on time on the first loan.
Dave says
I have accepted an offer from wonga for 7000 , the refund was processed by them on Wednesday 14th, what time /date is this likely to be in my account?
anna says
Hi, I have had few loans with Wonga, made a complaint 8 weeks ago. They came back to me offering £960 which I think is reasonable offer. I emailed back last Thursday that I am accepting their offer and silence. Not heard anything else. How long does it usually take to receive the refund?
Also, emailed Sunny nearly 8 weeks ago and few chasing emails. Been ignored completely. any advice?
Thanks for all your help here
sam says
Hi Everyone!
I have had a few replies back from some lenders, if I’m honest I was just chancing them really. sent off to all lenders about 3 weeks ago. The other 2 are Sunny & WDA left to reply, I have GOOD cases I think with these ones as a lot of loans were taken out one after the other. Is it a good thing that they are taking there time? what are everyone else’s experience with these 2 please?
many thanks!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry a delay doesn’t mean someone is doing an in depth investigation of your complaint. Some lenders are just a lot faster than others to reply.
MH says
Hi Sam
Sunny replied on the very last day of the 8 weeks with a rejection and no offer; I sent it straight to the FOS with bank statements (just for info it may be worth getting them ready if you can just in case) they want from 3 months prior top you taking the loan out until 1 month after your last payment to them!
MH says
Literally nothing until this:
[at this point I edit out the standard stuff, leaving only what is relevant to this particular case. here it is hardly anything!]
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.
———————————————————————————————
I had 22 loans in 2 year periods; ranged between 150-600 – mainly on the higher amount of that scale (normally had 3 loans open at at time – thats not responsible lending in my eyes).
You can only refer to the FOS after the 8 weeks is up…..my advice get those bank statements at the ready!!
D says
Afternoon everyone!
My QQ case so far;
Put my complaint in to QQ at the end of March regarding the 23 loans I had with them. They replied around 6 weeks later with an offer on 2 loans for £200 which I rejected.
I then sent my complaint to the FO mid May & it was picked up by an adjudicator a week later. Quickquid then made an offer of £2000 on 6 loans out of 23 (looking at the loans from I make this about £1200 interest & the remainder being 8% simple tax!). My adjudicator hadn’t even having looked at my case, he only requested my business file from Quick Quid!
The 6 loans they’ve offered to refund were in a sequence of paying back & borrowing on the same day, but there were so many in the 23 loans that were the same scenario as that. I decided to decline the offer.
Today, my adjudicator has come back to me saying he’s ‘strongly upholding’ my complaint on all 23 loans – relief is an understatement! I’ve calculated my total payout to be around £4500, then the 8% simple tax needs to be added.
So far, QQ haven’t been difficult to deal with in terms of time taken to reply etc….but I have a feeling the difficulty is about to start!
I’ve read a few posts of people worried about gambling transactions on their bank statements – my bank statements were filled with them until I knocked it on the head about 18 months ago. Listening to my adjudicator, this only works in your favour, as if the PDL had done the relevant checks (ie. checked your bank statements) they’d have seen this & not lent to you!
Head in hands says
My story so far…..
Payday Express 1st contacted 8/2/17
initial offer £172 24/3/17
Sent to FOS 27/3/17 assigned to adjudicator 9/5/17
Decision – full refund 17/5/17
Accepted £851.99 30/5/17 Received payment 20/6/17
Payday UK 1st contacted 8/2/17
initial offer NONE
Sent to FOS 5/4/17 assigned to adjudicator 28/4/17
Decision – full refund 12/5/17
Accepted £1689.97 13/6/17 Awaiting payment due in next 2/3 weeks
Wonga 1st contacted 8/2/17
initial offer £1079 10/4/17
Sent to FOS 21/3/17 assigned to adjudicator 9/5/17
Decision – full refund 10/5/17 circa £2000
Wonga ignored deadline of 24/5/17 and still awaiting contact – may be passed to Ombudsman
Lending Stream 1st contacted 24/2/17
initial offer £1643
Sent to FOS 9/3/17 assigned to adjudicator 28/4/17
Decision – full refund less one loan 19/5/17 circa £4000
Lending Stream Disagreed 2/6/17 in queue for Ombudsman
Quick Quid 1st contacted 24/2/17
initial offer £1312
Sent to FOS 5/4/17 assigned to adjudicator 9/5/17
Decision – full refund 1/6/17 circa £6700
Quick Quid have asked for more time to reconsider information, should have reply by next week
Still a way to go but will mean I am debt free and my credit record clear. Could not have done this without the help of everyone here so thank you Sara and everyone for the fantastic help available on this site. It’s something I didn’t even know was possible to do. Keep on at these companies, don’t give in and don’t be tempted to accept early low offers in an attempt to fob you off.
Ang says
[edited to remove standard stuff]
Your Experian score was ranging between 645 – 705.
At the time of applications, you were employed full employed
Your monthly income at the time of applications was ranging between £2600.00 – £2700.00
We could observe a sufficient disposable income, which denoted that repayments towards the loans could have been made without any financial difficulties
The data shared in your applications indicated that your monthly income well exceeded your expenses and that repayments towards the loans could have been made without any financial difficulties.
—————————————————-
Just had the above from LS – should I send to FO?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Ang
– how many times did you borrow over what period?
– Are any of the points in their reply wrong, eg what was your credit score really like?
Ang says
Hi Sara
Thanks so much for the response.
My credit score was really poor and has only just reached fair after nearly two years after paying off PDLs.
My records show I borrowed 1550 from LS across 3 loans this ranged from sept 2012 until Jan 15 – I paid back over 4000.
I was also using another 4 lenders at the same time.
Thanks
Lisa says
Evening all
Can I ask if an adjudicator is in.your favour that the loans are unaffordable and the company disagrees and it goes to the ombudsmen… from when.the ombudsmen picks it up how long for a decision from them… my 118 complaint got picked up Thursday by an ombudsmen
Steve says
Hi Lisa,
I have a complaint going against 118 money, just waiting for an adjudicator to pick it up,I had 1 loan with them and refinanced it twice,all during a period when I was heavily in debt to 3 pay day lenders,can I ask what was the adudicators decision in your case?
Lisa says
Hi mine has now been picked up by an ombudsmen which hasnt taken long maybe a week..
Basically as I had lots of payday loans and plus a big one with george banco, they said it was unaffordable and to remove from my.credit file, refund interest and..%..
Fingers crossed for us both.. I only had one loan with 118, no top ups
Dave says
with your 118 loan, do you remember if they rang you after to applying to confirm you were happy with the payment amount?
Just wondering as thats what happened with me. I didn’t know if that would work against me if I tried to make a complaint.
However, I don’t remember them ringing me to check I was happy with the payments when they offered me a top up loan after a year!
This was all because I had kept up with payments (thanks to PDL and credit cards!!) My credit report would have shown these pay day loans and credit cards (as well as my overdraft) at the time of the top up.
Do you think its worth complaining?
Lisa says
Yes.. you have nothing to lose….
When I applied to 118, the called me to check everything … when I spoke to my adjudicator I explained.the.situation I was.in and I admitted I lied to get the loan, when people are in situations the lie to get what they want/need…. 118 never asked for bank statements, they.did a credit check which highlighted my other loans which they admit they are aware if……
michellew says
Hi
Just an update with where I am, with the help of this site.
I have so far received 5 refunds, from Wonga, Lending Stream, Speedy Cash, P2P and Herbert Brown.
Struggling with PDUK – loans over 6 years so they say wont look at this, however, they are in a queue with the Ombudsman
Payday Express – only had 2 loans with these, the adjudicator says both loans should be classed as unaffordable they disagree so waiting for the Ombudsman’s decision
Quick Quid – Loans over 6 years so in a queue with FOS since November 16
Money Shop – Cheque Cashing, they denied doing anything wrong so now with FOS, as this loan goes back over 8 years and I stopped cashing cheques in 2014 this is also in the queue to check if they can look at the loans over the 6 years. Not sure whether or not just to ask for the last couple of years to be looked at this one.
Just a waiting game now but with help and advice from here I have received over 6,000 back which has helped me get on top of my debts whereby I now feel I am no longer drowning and can manage. Such a relief for the first time in years.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
re the Money Shop – they have refunded some complaints over 6 years, so probably worth hanging on for this one, not taking half.
Matt says
Hi michellew
Hope you can help me I had cheques with Herbert brown from 08 -09 but got told they went in to administration and I could not take it any further . Can I ask did you take cheques out and if you did can I ask were they longer than six years ago . The money shop has just made me an offer on half of my loans as well this morning but unfortunately need the money desperately so might have to take it .
michellew says
Sorry for the delay in replying but just noticed your comment. I have not put in a claim for Herbert Brown as I could not see anybody on here making a claim so was dithering (lol), but if I had a done my cheques would have been over 6 years.
You are lucky with Money Shop even though they sent me a statement showing that over 2 years I had paid over 1800 in interest fees they would not look at it, as they say my other loans were over 6 years. Well I hope they do as my account with them goes back to 2006 and I started cashing cheques regularly from 300 per month up to 750.00, paying 17.50 a cheque per 100 check each month.
All the best
Michellew
Claire C says
Sara …… THANKYOU!
Exactly 5 weeks ago I submitted my stage 1 letter to Myjar for a total of 70 loans within a 5 year period. I did not include the 8 other loans they then advised that I had taken that were over their 6 year time limit.
Today, I have received a full and final response offering a refund in excess of £4k for ALL loans taken out including the 8 loans that I hadn’t even mentioned that were over 6 years old. They have also cleared the balance of my final loan which I have been paying off monthly for 14 months!
Thank you for your sound advice and quick responses – i’m sure I’m not the only one who’s very grateful for your hard work.
michellew says
Hi
I am slightly confused as when I worked out the 6 year rule I took it from the date my loan was taken out to the date I first put in my claim, however I am unsure the date the PDL company uses as QQ says all my loans were over a 6 yer period.
When a pdl company tries to enforce the 6 year rule do they do it from the start of the year or when you took the loan out. I am trying to sort out my loans from quick quid who state that they do not need to look at my loans as they are all over 6 years. However, I first put in my claim in August 2016, so I would assume that I could go back and claim for loans from October 2010 as they would fall within a 6 year period. QQ have said that these loans are over 6 years including those that cover October 10, November10, December 10 and January to March 11.
Thank you
Michelle
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Firstly you don’t have to make this decision – leave this to the Ombudsman.
But if you put in a complaint in August 2016 and took it to the Ombudsman after 8 weeks, QQ are talking nonsense to say that loans from Oct 10 to March 11 are over 6 years old.
Mustard says
Woohoo! Quickquid originally offered me £150 to go away, then upped it to £500+ at adjudicator level, I refused and ombudsman agreed the same as adjudicator. after I worked out they’d be due me around £1480 quickquid have just got back to me and the full amount is £1823. Super chuffed. ??
Gary says
Nice one Mustard, how long did it take to receive payment once the ombudsman upheld your complaint and give Quick quid 4 weeks to settle?
I am in the same position and today they asked me for my bank details but no mention yet of the amount and when the the payment will be made – they have until the 11th July.
Cheers
Mustard says
Gary I emailed them asking for an amount so I could check it was close to what I had added up, and I got an email back within a couple of hours . I was just worried incase the sharks thought they could take me for a mug. ???They emailed on Monday for bank details and money was in my account today but I’ve heard others have waited a couple of weeks. ?
Gary says
Cheers Mustard,
Received 7 emails tonight advising refunds had been processed and money would be in my account within a couple of hours.
Well pleased initial offer was £250 on my last loan – tonight received a total of £1,860 well worth the wait from my initial complaint back in September 2016.
Stick with it everybody and a massive thanks to this site and its great advice in particular Sara
Ev says
The money shop sent me a fin al response offering 200 pounds . I had been taki ng loans with them from 2004 . When i replied to final response they said they would look at it again.
That was 4 weeks ago so called them today, they asked me how much i was looking for in compensation i said i would like interest back should email asking for an amount?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If they reply offering more, say you need a list of your loans (amounts borrowed, repaid, dates) so that you can consider it. Otherwise send the case to the Ombudsman!
Claire says
Hi.. I have received a £1600 refund from wonga and have put further complaints in against leaning stream payday uk and payday express all of which I have now referred to the fos, I also have put a complaint into wageday advance and pounds to pocket was just wondering if anyone had had any experience with either of these lenders the complaints have been with them for about 6 weeks I’ve had an acknowledgment so just waiting for a response the 3 that are with the fos responded with in a week or 2 so was wondering if it could be good news that the other 2 are taking longer
MH says
HI Everyone,
Just received the below from Peachy; I only had 2 loans which interest totaled £85.00, i didn’t think id get anything but supplied bank statements as they requested and they’ve offered me £50.00, I’m happy to take that.
It just shows that even if yo have one or two loans – GET CLAIMING!!
We are writing to inform you that we have today received the copies of your bank statements which have now been reviewed.
Unfortunately, even after additional assessments, we are not prepared to change our decision on your complaint.
Even after using the benefit of hindsight and reviewing your bank statements, we believe our lending was responsible. The reason for this is that you bank statements evidence a positive balance, only a few small payments to other lenders, non-essential expenditure and debit card payments and funds being transferred to your own second account.
This means that even after deducting your essential monthly expenditure from your income, you still had sufficient disposable income to cover your loan repayments. This, together with the fact that you only had two small loans which were repayable over several months, means we are still not able to uphold your complaint or offer a refund of the interest paid.
However, in order to resolve the complaint in an early stage, we would be prepared to offer you a payment of £50.00 as a gesture of good will.
Please confirm if you would like to accept our offer as the full and final settlement of the complaint and that your complaint has been resolved to your satisfaction.
Sal says
Hi Sara / Everyone,
I took out 14 loans with ferrartum over a 24 month period. I have an outstanding balance on the last one of £525.00.
They calculated that I have paid a total of £951 in interest total to date.
Their offer is to give me £300.00 and to wipe the debt of £525.00 off.
Does this sound fair?
Please reply :}
Sara (Debt Camel) says
First do you agree with their figures? Lenders have been known to miss things off, by accident of course :)
The last loan – how much was it for? Have you made any repayments to it?
Sal says
I rejected the offer of £300 and asked them to consider a more suitable refund.
They swiftly withdrew their offer. :}
I have now told the ombudsman that I have a final response. I will rely on the Ombudsman’s outcome.
Lisa K says
Hi everyone,
I need a little advice please….i have requested a copy of my statement of account from Wageday advance, which they’ve supplied but i have noticed at the bottom of the page they’ve made a note saying that “as of 12/02/2017 the customer account was sent to Moorcroft debt recovery”
Now my question is who do i complain to Wageday Advance or Moorcroft?
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You complain to Wageday Advance. They were the one that made the irresponsible lending decision.
It sounds as though they haven’t sold your account, they are just using a debt collector to try to get you to pay. If Moorcroft contact you can tell them the account is in dispute.
Stefan says
Hi Sara,
Thank you so much for this website and for you priceless advice. A few days ago I received the decision from adjudicator, which decided that wonga to refund all interest except one loan. Now I wait for wonga reply.
Can you please tell me what does it mean: ,, HM Revenue & Customs requires Wonga to take off tax from this interest”. Should I pay any tax for the money that I will receive from wonga?
Thanks so much
Stefan
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The 8% interest that is added to your refund is treated as savings interest and is taxable. Wonga will tell you how much this 8% is and how much tax they are deducting. You can then probably claim some of it back from the tax man, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-payday-refund-get-back-tax/.
debbie says
Hi Sara,
Please can you advise? I have a complain in against Wageday and they have rejected the adjudicators findings so it will be sent to the FO. However I have tried to contact them several time via email and they don’t respond in order to set up an interim payment plan. Today I have received a letter from Moorcroft to say that they have been instructed to collect the debt. I didn’t think that Wageday could sell on a debt while it’s in being disputed. Do you think I should let the adjudicator know?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Your debt hasn’t been sold, it still belongs to WDA. Moorcroft are just collecting it. I suggest you talk to Moorcroft about a repayment plan.
Jamie says
Hi,
I have a few loan companies currently investigating my complaints. However, Wageday Advance sent me a final response today. It states they see no issue etc…
I had 5 loans in short succession, the first and second had a 2/3 month gap.
Shall i respond to them or just contact the FOB?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Up to you. If you go back to them, I suggest you offer a pretty reasonable compromise or they are just going to say No. Which they may do anyway. What do you think would be fair?
Miss B says
Hi Everyone,
I want to say a huge thank you to you all for making me take the steps to apply to these companies for a refund.
Can I ask I received a response from Mr Lender within 5 days. They made an offer. My interest claim was £2954.62 and they have offered £362.70. It doesn’t mention anywhere that this is their final offer. I only sent the letter of complaint to them on the 19th June and they responded on the 22nd June. Which I am declining. Do I send it straight to the FO or do I wait on their next response.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So not close!
I suggest you replying saying that you paid nearly £3000 in interest and unless they make you a much larger offer you will be taking your case to the Financial Ombudsman. If they don’t get back to you in a week, email them again and ask if their offer of £362 is their Final Response.
Lee says
Just had my first Final response back from one of my payday companies I have complained about, which is payday express. They have given me their final response rejecting my claim in full in just over 3 weeks after lodged my inital compliant.
Question is do I still have to wait the full 8 weeks or can I take this to the Ombudsman now?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
After a Final Response you can go straight to the ombudsman – good luck!
Victoria says
Would like to say a huge thank you to this site using just the template letter I have received 3 settles from 5 companies in under 3 weeks still waiting for the others to respond, companies I have received settlements from are
Mr lender £590.00 paid all interest minus the 8% but decided to settled
Lending stream initially offered £282 I declined but said I was open to offers before going to OB man came back with £590 although a little short I have accepted
Payday Uk have offered full interest plus 8% plus taken off my credit record on all except first loan which is £690 back so a huge ty hope to update with more soon.
kelly says
Thank you for this site Sara, it has changed my life. Just had final response on my last complaint from the ombudsman going in my favour in regards to Pduk!! 4 complaints with Pduk, lending stream, p2p and qq all in my favour with a total of just over £6.5k being refunded in total! And I couldn’t have done it without this site!
Josh says
Hi, Just found this site and wanted to know weather you think I would have a case hive worked out my loans (Below) for my bank stamens. and am just gong through what was repaid when, I know many where extended and loans taken out to pay off previous loans.as well as multiple at a time They are all from sunny .
There also have been other lenders used although to a far less extent.
may wage always varies each month quote a lot so some times I would have high disposable income and others not but I would always have to estimate this.
My credit file has always been very poor with defaults and CCJ’s on it,
what would my next step be ,and do you think I would have a case?
I still have loans outstanding
2015 7 loans 100-350
2016 9 loans 50-500
2017 9 loans 50-850
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is a lot of borrowing, definitely make a complaint and take to the Ombudsman unless you get a reasonable offer.
re the outstanding loans – cancel any CPA with your bank and tell Sunny you would like a repayment plan for these.