Have you had problems with payday loans? 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 here. This works if your payday loans were repaid or you still owe money.
Contents
What are “unaffordable” loans?
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.
A loan is not affordable just because you haven’t missed a payment – if paying a loan left you so broke you had to borrow again – from the same lender or a different one – it was unaffordable!
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. Payday loans are meant for short-term problems.
Many lenders ignore obvious signs of problems such as your loans increasing in size, or your credit record showing increasing debts.
How much compensation can you get?
A typical payday loan decision by the Ombudsman is that the lender should refund all the interest you paid after the third, fourth or fifth loan.
But if your first loan was large, or was rolled over several times, you can get a refund from just one loan.
Which lenders can you get refunds from?
Lenders include:
CashASAP, Drafty, Fast Loan Uk, Fernovo, Fund Ourselves (now in administration), Kabayan, Lending Stream, LoanPig, Mr Lender, Moneyboat, My Finance Club, QuidMarket, Savvy, TickTock, The Money Platform, WageMe.
See this list for payday lenders for a longer list and their email addresses to use.
You can make claims to lenders who have recently stopped lending. It is probably too late to make claims to other lenders who gave up more than a few years ago.
For larger loans there are better template letters to use on other pages:
- 118 Money, Everyday Loans/Evlo, Likely Loans/Finio, Reevo, Bamboo, Updraft, Lendable, bank loans and other long-term loans.
- Loans2Go – the worst loans in Britain!
- doorstep lenders and guarantor lenders,
Do this before, before you send in a complaint
Doing these things now will make your life easier later.
If 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. Winning a complaint then speeds up the DMP.
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 have to go to the Ombudsman.
Unless you can afford to make this month’s payment without borrowing again, cancel the CPA or the Direct Debit to the lender at your bank. Otherwise the lender may take the money and you will be in a mess.
Start your complaint
It’s easy to make these complaints – you don’t need to calculate what refund you should get or quote laws.
Find the lender’s email address for complaints from this list. If your loan was sold to a debt collector, you complain to the original lender.
Put “AFFORDABILITY COMPLAINT” as the subject of your email:
I am making an affordability complaint about the loans you gave me. You should never have given me these 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 and the rest of my credit record that my debt problems were getting worse. It was not responsible to continue to lend.
My credit reports would have shown all my other debts [include this if it applies: 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.
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.
Some ways to improve this
Add any other points that help you describe what happened to you. 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.”
- “I had a gambling problem and your loans made this worse”.
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 (say £800 or more), 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 difficult complaint to win. If you have borrowed twice from 5 leaders, that is much more difficult to win affordability complaints than having 4 or 5 loans from two lenders.
Sometimes a lender will offer you a small goodwill amount to give up eg £50 or £100 so if you only had one loan and it wasn’t large, that would be a bit of help.
Waiting for a reply from the lender
This email starts your affordability complaint.
The lender should reply to your complaint within 8 weeks. Don’t be surprised if you have to wait until the end of the 8 weeks to get response – this is common.
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.
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. Don’t bother to send payslips.
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 rejects the complaint or makes a poor offer
If the lender says No or offers you a small amount, 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.
Give up?
Some lenders try to make your case sound bad when it isn’t. Ignore any of the following comments, they do not mean you have a weak case:
- they relied on your loan applications – see Lender says I lied for more about this;
- some loans were paid early – this doesn’t prove the loans were affordable, just that you were trying to save interest;
- loan size 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 closely;
- some 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.
Some points to think about:
- if you are offered a refund on only a few loans, don’t accept it if you think you should have more refunded;
- an offer to write off your current balance may sound helpful … but it may be very poor if you should get a cash refund as well.
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 instalment 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 – there is a 6-month time limit after a lender rejects your complaint to send the case to the ombudsman. If you aren’t sure, send the case and let them make an independent decision.
How to send a complaint to FOS
Put in a separate complaint about each lender. There is no limit to the number of FOS complaints you can make.
Send the rejections as they come through – don’t wait until all your lenders have replied!
FOS’s “complain online” option is easy and asks for the information to set up your case.
Attach:
- the lender’s reply.
- 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.
- your TransUnion Statutory credit report
- it doesn’t matter if you don’t have the credit agreements, FOS will get them from the lender.
What happens after you have sent a case to FOS
Your case will wait for the lender to send FOS their case file and then be picked up by an investigator/adjudicator who will make a decision on it.
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 have been bankrupt unless your borrowing was all after your bankruptcy – 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 you are in a DRO now, a refund of more than £2,000 may mean your DRO is cancelled! But many payday loan refunds are less than that.
More help
Ask a question in the comments below.
Don’t use a claims management company. They are expensive and often incompetent. FOS says individuals making a complaint have a better success rate than claims firms.
Card & catalogue affordability complaints
Can you get an overdraft refund?
Could a Debt Relief Order help you?
Chris says
So Wonga have come back to the adjudicator and disagreed with his finding (11 loans from 20 unaffordable) they have offered to refund on 4 (£850) and although I could do with the money I have rejected. The adjudicator feels that they should come back with a much better offer or it goes to the FO. I started this complaint In May. So fingers crossed
Neil says
Hi all,
I have seen numerous posts regarding piggy bank loans and i would just like to give my findings with my complaint with then.
I first complained to piggy bank on 26th June 2017 for a total of 21 loans over 2 years interest paid being around £1210.
They took the full 8 weeks to respond to my complaint nd sent me an email yesterday which they upheld my complaint for my last 6 loans and offered me a refund of £617.20.
I replied to them stating i didnt think this was a fair offer and asked why did they pick the loans they did but i asked them to consider the previous 7 loans before the 6 they had already offered and add 8% interest ln top.
They have came back to me today offering a total of £949.70.
I am going to accept this offer as it is pretty close to the total amount and only around £261 short of my total interest borrowed but it saves a lot of time with the ombudsman who might not uphold every loan anyway.
One bit of advice i would give to anyone is dont accept their first offer.
Thanks Sara for all of your help! 3 succesful complaints and waiting for 8 more!
Lee says
Yes agree with you always try a counter offer and give them a further 5 working days to respond and revise their offer. If no joy send to FOS once addition 5 working days is up.
mr stressed says
Hi Sara,
so I have put in claims following guidelines in this blog to both Wonga and QuickQuid, had a response from both about a week later acknowledging the complaint/refund request. Also was asked by quickquid to provide bank statements etc, however following advice I told them I would provide to the financial ombudsman if required and want them to proceed without. Waiting for a response.
I spoke to stepchange and real alot about DMP’s and decided to run my own DMP – so that I can control payments 100%. It is a pretty big task, but I have all my numbers, have created a budget in accordance with guideline amounts etc and have worked out I can afford 2450 per month against non priority debts of 124k.
I have cancelled CPAs and DD’s on my account and am now about to contact my creditors, provide them with a summary statement and offer reduced payments. I wanted to ask whether you would recommend doing this over the phone first or just send letters explaining the situation and with the request of reduced payments and frozen interest? I hope to get some cash back from the payday loan refunds but appreciate this may take a couple of months – so just trying to get things under control in the short term.
A bit worried some of the offer’s Im making are quite low, and also, I dont want to get into big debates with everyone or provide them with paperwork/statements etc, so guess I just have to take the plunge…
any advice appreciated…
Regards
Mr Stressed
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest all contact with your creditors for the DMP is in writing. CABmoney can generate all the letters and an attached income & expenditure statement for you: https://debtcamel.co.uk/more-than-1000-people-using-cabmoneys-free-dmp-facility/. Don’t get into arguments – you have made an offer showing what you can afford and that is that. You do just have to take the plunge, carrying on borrowing will only make your situation worse.
Do try to keep your wife’s debts separate. Any money back from her payday loans (if she has any) should be used to repay some of her debts not yours. You have such a lot of debt that insolvency may be necessary if things don’t go well, so it’s good to be careful about keeping your debt plans separate.
Once you have sent the DMP letters you should also ask all the creditors to produce the CCA agreement for the debts, see https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/getting-information/credit-agreement-advice.aspx which looks at how to do this and what happens if they can’t. There is little chance of this working for payday loan debts but any old debts or ones with debt collectors you may as well try.
Kathy says
247 sent this to my first letter …
You have borrowed a total of £598.00 from us. You have repaid a total of £464.12. This means that you have not 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 recommend you repay what you have borrowed (the principal amount). In this case that would mean they would recommend you repay £133.88 to us.
They’ve offered to write off the outstanding debt. Does that sound reasonable?!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Assuming you agree with their figures, then it is a very good offer and you won’t get more by going to the Ombudsman
Kirsty says
So I’ve just had my first offer after sending complaints to about 8 lenders in July. Safety net credit have offered me just over £1000, £400 of which will clear my outstanding debt to them. They have agreed that it was irresponsible lending, I’m happy with their offer, it matches the interest paid plus 8% and they’re taking stuff off my credit report too! I’ve accepted their offer.
The Hitman says
At last a response from Lending stream (not the answer I want, but expected)
Resolution:
However, as per the latest communication received from FOS we reviewed the information to ensure that we share the best available resolution from our end. Upon reviewing, we found that the loan 1766761 was approved with a procedural error. Hence, we would have refunded you the interest paid towards this loan, however, we have not even collected the actual principal amount before the ownership was given to the third party Debt Collection Agency.
Having the said the above, we would not retreat in extending our support while helping you with your current circumstances, hence, we are ready remove any adverse entry reported for the above loan.
Also told me my credit score was 770 ha ha!!
acee says
Hitman Lending Stream are known to lie about credit scores – I think its their tactic to put people off. They said mine was something ridiculous like 700 when infact its never been that high in about 10 years. They also said my income was £1700 per month which ive never earnt in my life. I told them this but they haven’t responded that was a few weeks ago.
Shannon says
Hi Sara,
Have had my final resolution email today from WDA. They have said that from my 15 loans they find loan 1 was unaffordable and offered a refund for that but find all other loans were affordable.
First loan was for £130 in August 2013. It wasn’t until October 2014 I borrowed again but it then became a monthly, or twice monthly, occurrence to borrow from then with loan amounts between £200 to £400 each time. My income and expenditure had not changed throughout my borrowing from WDA.
Surely if they deemed the first loan unaffordable then all following loans should be? I have already escalated to the FOS but just wondering what you make of this.
Thanks again for your help.
Lee says
You are right. Send to FOS immediately let the adjudicator decide.
They are just using this sort of tactic with everyone. Hoping a large percentage of people that complain will give up and accept a very poor offer.
vickie9 says
Little update, the adjudicator has upheld my complaint against Lending Stream and believe LS should give me a refund on all 19 loans. So pleased I got over my nerves and took this further as LS only wanted to give me a refund on 4 loans. I realise that this is only the start and LS may not agree with her, so I might have to take it to the Financial Ombudsman but I just wanted to let others know they should stick with it and keep pushing regardless of what the payday loan company say. I was a bit worried because I just got in a mess with credit cards and payday loans, no reason for it other than going through a bad time but the FOS are excellent, they don’t judge, just want you to be honest with them. Good luck all.
Thank you Sara for having this website. I really don’t what I would have done without the amazing help and support from both yourself and other people.
graham says
Well done Vickie9.
I’m in the same boat as you, I had 28 loans with LS and they came back right on the 8th week and said they would be refunding 1 loan which was random due to a processing error so they offered me £208. I thought that this was a really bad offer, but was sitting and thinking about it for 2 or so weeks as I needed the money. But kept strong and took it to the FOS, it took about 2 and a half months and my adjudicator upheld 22 of my loans and have worked out to be near enough £4K in interest.
LS didn’t like the sound of it so they rejected the offer and now I’m waiting in a que for an Ombudsman to look at it. Just to anyone who is thinking of cashing in on a really low offer… Don’t!!! Be strong and say NO. By them offering you an amount of a few quid just to to make you go away. I have been waiting since February 2017 but for the sake of nearly £4K if my Ombudsman agrees with my adjudicator that’s something I can wait for.
If it wasn’t for Sara and this website and all the other staff members who help out behind the scenes and the FOS service I probably would have taken the £208 that LS offered me in the first place.
So a massive Thanks is in order.
Chasabeth says
Hi guys,
I have been following this post with great interest. I got myself into the Payday loan trap starting in 2010. It started with Quick Quid and then moved onto Wonga & Payday UK pretty quickly. Soon I was taking out 3 different loans per month with each company each month, amounts getting bigger & bigger or rolling them, just to cover paying the other. It was hell to be honest. Luckily I managed to get out of this.
I have raised complaints with all 3 of these companies and sent these off nearly 8 weeks ago. All I have had back is the bog standard responses so I am getting ready to send these over to the Financial Ombudsman next week when their 8 weeks are up. I didn’t have any of the statements, I sent them over my bank statements but just showing their individual payments in & out of my account, no more information at all.
Looking at things it seems that most of my loans are over 6 years old. I started with Wonga in April 2010 and managed to pay everything off with them in February 2012, the others took longer, Payday UK was April 2014 & Quick Quid was 2015.
My query is has anyone had a response from any of these companies before going to the Ombudsman with loans of this age?
I had 48 loans with Wonga, 46 with Quick Quid (including rolled loans) and only 10 with Payday UK that I could find, but I’m sure that there were more (they changed their names on my bank statement when paying money in and collecting it) so I’m sure that I must be owed something?
fiona says
I have very similar loans like you with the same compaines & same dates, i got a good response & settlement really quickly from PayDayUK, Wageday & Quick Quid gave very poor setlements to everything has been sent to FOS & im just waiting now. I know it will be a long wait but so far they have emailed really quickly with what they now need from me, just would like a fiar settlement it was a while ago now but it was such a stressfull period of time, good luck.
Lewis says
Right guys just thought I’d provide an update.
I put a complaint in about Wonga roughly FOUR month ago.
My adjudicator found that Wonga were irresponsible to lend me 35 out of 39 loans and told them to reimburse me the interest paid on these. (With the 8%)
Today he has told me Wonga didn’t reply to his findings and so now the case is in the queue for an Ombudsman.
Any idea how long I’m looking at for this stage?
It’s a long long process BUT it will be worth it in the end.
Thanks,
Lewis
Ross Cooper says
Getting close to the 8 weeks for my complaints.
Sunny have not sent me anything.
MYJar sent me statement of Accounts & I raised step 2 had nothing since.
Wonga rejected & was sent to FOS however I have not received any confirmation they have received/looking into it.
Payday express told me that as I did not have any outstanding loans then they were under no obligation to provide statements, Followed advice on here to challenge that & my complaint was escalated.
My question is though if the companies do not reply within the 8 weeks do I go straight to Ombudsman?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes. (Well you may decide not to bother if you just had one or two loans and there wasn’t much interest.)
Linda says
Just wondering if anyone has had any dealings with Pounds to Pocket. I’ve put in multiple complaints against different companies, some have been resolved and some i’m waiting whilst they investigate, but all except Pounds to Pocket have responded in some way. It’s been quite a few weeks and they’ve simply ignored my emails and I’ve sent 3 now with not even a generic reply. Anyone else put in a complaint about Pounds to Pocket at all?
Shannon says
I made initial complaint to both them and QQ on 27/06/2017. QQ replied after 8 days with complaint reference. Pounds to Pocket however didn’t reply with a complaint reference until 05/08/2017.
Susan says
I started my claim against pounds to pocket in March, they didn’t acknowledge until 28th June.
The adjudicator ruled in my favour last Thursday and told pounds to make me an offer.
April says
Has anyone had any luck with Lending Stream and a credit line loan? I have had this open with them for over 2 years, I’m just wondering whether it is worth making a complaint about irresponsible lending, at the time I had several defaults and outstanding loans already.
I still have an outstanding balance with them.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Definitely, lots of people have won these cases. LS are difficult to deal with, rarely make a reasonable offer and will probably reply to you telling you your credit score was fine, even if it was actually rubbish… Just send the case to the ombudsman when you get a final Response from them.
Jampanda says
April, your complaint sounds EXACTLY like mine. I just sent off my complaint to the Ombudsman.
My adjudicator let me know that it may take awhile as they are figuring out how to go about credit line complaints as opposed to payday loan or PPI stuff.
Good luck. And I agree with Sara, don’t bother trying to reason with them. Just get it into the FOS as soon as they’ve replied with final response.
Bev says
FOS has found in my favour for 4 loans. If QQ don’t respond in time or at all and it goes to Ombudsman, has anyone heard of the ombudsman disagreeing with the Adjudicaters finding meaning he says the co,pant should pay you less?
Gemma says
Hi Bev
Adjudicator found in my favour with Payday Express but Ombudsman said there was. O wrong doing on their part as they wouldn’t have known I had other payday loans. I think that happening is really rare though and I was unlucky
Bev says
Thanks for the reply. Gutted for you. Mine is based on affordability and the fact I would repay then take a new loan within hours. Stick.in the cycle u fortunately. Let’s hope they accept the adjudicator x
Steve says
I had a credit line with lending stream such was switched to drafty. they replied saying they did nothing wrong so I replied saying as a goodwill gesture to them I would give them 7 days to redress my complaint before I hand it over to the ombudsmen. day 6 a reply and refund .
Andy says
I have just had ame email stating done nothing wrong , and have just sent to FOS online , did they reply and a refund for you , after your goodwill gesture
Cheers andy
Marie says
Good afternoon.
Just wanted to say thank you very much for your help on this site, today I received £3797 back from PDUK who were the most difficult ones to deal with initially!
Still holding out hope on two other claims although they’ve been sitting with the Ombudsman for a while now.
is it correct that I can claim some of the amount I was taxed back?
Thanks again.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well done! See https://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-payday-refund-get-back-tax/ for getting a tax refund. NB it depends on all the refunds you get in a tax year so it’s probably best to wait and see how the other two cases go.
Kathy says
Advice on how to respond to this please?
On and with effect from 14th August 2017 the Lending Stream LLC assigned to Asset Collection & investigation limited all its rights, title, interest and benefits in and to the Assigned Documents and the Debt.
All future correspondence, dealings, deliveries and payments in respect of the Assigned Documents or the Debt should be made to the Assignee whose details are as follows:
Agency: Asset Collections & Investigations Limited
Lee says
Kathy, thought your lending stream compliant was now with the ombudsman like mine. I’ve not had a message like this from Lending Stream?
I have a payment plan on lending stream account in interim of waiting for my adjudicator ruling.
I would just inform the FOS in writing with all the details and quote your lending stream case FOS complaint reference and ask them to advise.
Craig says
Hi, I have been reading through your informative site as I need help getting out of the payday misery.
I was bankrupt 3 years ago, discharged 2 years ago and have been having difficulty last 7 months with loans once my marriage broke down, is it worthwhile sending the companies complaints see if they will write the loans off I’m not so interested in compensation more to get them settled as the end of the month i’m due to pay out 2k on 1.4k wages, each one I have paid more than the original loan amounts total bar lending stream. All were taken out over 18 months after bankruptcy but i did see a note saying don’t bother trying, but is it not irresponsible for them to lend to me as this is stated on my credit report and many of the defaults from the bankruptcy are still on my record making my credit rating very very low at the time of applying?
Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“i did see a note saying don’t bother trying,” I think that probably referred to not claiming if your unaffordable loans were before your bankruptcy. Afterwards you can complain and any refund comes to you.
The first thing you need to do is to escape from the trap if unaffordable monthly payments. Contact StepChange and set up a DMP that you can afford.
Kev f says
I sent my complaint into wonga 5 weeks ago. I understand they still have 3 weeks but I still haven’t received acknowledgement of my complaint. Should I be worried or do they do this from time to time
Phil says
Hi Kev
Wonga replied to me this week after 4 weeks refusing my complaint so it’s now with ombudsman. I had an email the day before there rejection email saying sorry it’s taking longer than usual we aim to reply within 8 weeks
Ro65 says
Hi Sara
Like some others on the site I have a complaint with Cheque centre that’s been with FOS for a year now. I had 40 loans with them most of which were in consecutive months but 27 of them were older than 6 yrs.
I was in a similar position with PDUK and Payday Express who paid out on all loans. Whilst I know that there’s no guarantee my complaint against Cheque centre will be in my favour I’m a bit worried that this has gone on so long and they seem to be closing branches all over the place. Not sure whether it’s best to ask my adjudicator just to look at the loans within 6 yrs and forget the rest in the hope it’s found in my favour and settle for £3.5k ish or wait at the risk they could go out of business? All loans is around £8.5k. I’m not desperate for the cash but I’d be annoyed if I end up with nothing should this happen.
Is there a time limit where FOS look at how long complaints have been with them and just go ahead and make a decision either way?
Sorry if this is a bit garbled, just looking for your take on my situation.
Incidentally Cheque Centre did offer me redress on 3 of the 13 loans last year which was around £900 but I refused.
Thanks
Saffi says
Ok I have had a response from Wonga and would like some advice on if I should accept it. I had a total of 50 loans from them between December 2012 and September 2014. These varied from £50 to £1000, I currently have a loan for £1000 outstanding, my total borrowing from Wonga was £11600. This is what they have offered £954 made up of interest and charges on 4 loans from 2014 and have added on the 8%. They have offered to use this to write off the £1000 I owe them and they will write of the £45.42 left. I just don’t know what to do as it’s only 4 loans they will look at and whilst it would be good to get rid of what I owe I can’t help feeling they should be looking at the others as well?
Maureen says
I received the follow email from the FOS adjudicator yesterday, all loans over 6 years. My complaint was submitted in March and that’s the first I’ve heard, anyone else had similar or who have now received some positive news?
“As you might know, Wonga have previously said that we can’t look at any of the loans you took out as they were taken more than six years before you complained.
We’re not yet in a position to give you an answer on whether we’ll be able to look at any of your loans. And it’s still possible we might not be able to or that we may need to contact you about this.
We will be in touch when we are able to give you an answer on this.
sally says
Maureen, I submitted my complaint to F.O back in November 2016. I phone on a monthly basis to be told the same information. Basically, Wonga are not budging on loans over 6 years old. It is a stalemate situation. I’m told if maybe be a matter of weeks before a decision is made, but i’, not that every month. At the moment mine complaint is on the shelf. Once a decision has been made then an adjudicator will investigate.
Sit tight and wait it out! It’s all we can do at present!
Laura says
Saffi, go to the ombudsman , you can get more than just the 4 , Wonga are good at picking random few loans to refund on their final response at adjudicator / ombudsman stage they often up there offer at least
Mark says
I’ve not raised any complaints as yet, albeit I did write off to a few to ask for the statements with a wide range of answers but as mine are all over six years, I’m having to write to the bank to request historic bank statements that I can then review and work out who and what I paid out, I know I had up to seven at a time and multiple rollovers etc, also when they collected I know at least one took £10 increments out of my account, getting hundreds back as my bank kept authorising the £10’s having originally declined the same total request, queue massive bank charges and then a reloan with the same payday company the next day!
Anyway, just wondering if people think it really is worth trying, if I’m only just starting now and all are over the 6 year limit?
Also has anyone managed to reclaim from Oakbrook finance? – particularly interested in anyone that has been to the FO in regards Oakbrook?
thanks all
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Older cases are harder and slower, but the refunds can be significant as the “8% extra interest” will add up to a lot. It probably isn’t worth going for the marginal cases where you only had a few loans.
Oakbrook Finance though wasn’t going more than 6 years ago? Was it Likely Loans?
keith says
Hiya Sara wanting your advice, I’m known to have OCD very organised I keep everything never though anything away I keep files files of all paperwork etc. I put my complaint in to 247 8days ago got email received today –
Please take this email as acknowledgement of your complaint. We will now investigate the issues you have raised within the timescales as set out in our complaints procedure below.
We are happy as a gesture of goodwill to resolve by writing off your current outstanding balance of £1,064.68.
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.
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.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is their standard letter. It always baffles me why they think insulting their customers is a good idea, especially when they are offering redress.
But is this a good offer or not? How much interest did you pay on the previous loans that were repaid? And the last loan with a balance, how much did you borrow and have you made any payments to it?
keith says
Thanks Sara yes I thought so, and yes your right there why do they treat customers with insults
I had a total of 8 loans over mar 2012 – Dec 2012 valuing from £80 – £440 total loans £2,039.00 total interest paid so far £789.00
the balance outstanding was from a £440 loan which now stands at balance of that £1,064.68 that’s with interest fees late payments etc never going down.
what you think, should reply ?
your views valued
Cmum says
Wonga have responded to my adjudicator (after extending their deadline after no response at first) agreeing to refund fees plus interest on all 11 loans I ever had with them over the 9 months. Thrilled to bits!! Now to send my acceptance form back and hope payment comes pretty quickly.
MH says
Sunny being absolute idiots! Adjudicator found from loans 5 to 7 onwards upto loan 22 unaffordable (around £4675) and to repay with 8% ontop. Adjudicator has sent an email to me where Sunny have a list of 17 loans on where they have calculated refund of 4 on there. (totaling £1449) and asked if I agree with it. Im in the process of trying to speak with Sunny to resolve this, they “put me through to compliance team” and then cut me off on the phone. I am trying to avoid sending this one to an Ombudsman.
The Hitman says
Hi all, has anyone else had issues trying to get statement of accounts from Moneybox247?
I’m 6.5 weeks in from from my first email, to which they replied you could clear a balance of 129, but I’m certain the interest is more than that. The loan is 4years old. 7 or 8 other loans from them
I’ve emailed phoned nothing….
Sara (Debt Camel) says
oh then clearing that balance is unlikely to be a good offer. Just send it to the Ombudsman at 8 weeks. Can you get a list of your loans from your bank statements?
Tom W says
Hi, i lodged an official complaint with Sunny on 27/07. I had stopped paying the loan that was open about a month before. As part of the complaint (as per draft) I asked for recollection efforts to be paused pending resolution. Despite me writing to Sunny on several further occasions and speaking with them on the phone they have now sold my ‘debt’ to a third party. Are they allowed to do this and has anyone else had experience of them doing this? I have written to them again to complain about this and point out that my account should be in review.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Selling a loan is unusual after less than 2 months… but it’s not illegal. I suggest you inform SLL that the loan is currently in dispute with Sunny and ask them to put a hold on any enforcement action.
ab says
****HELP****
Sunny gave me a final reply today ” 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”
They charged me £3008 of interest over 1 years worth of loans – my salary at the time was 17k. Surely this is a good amount of my salary and with loans in access of 5k in total. I totally disagree with there comments.
WILL I HAVE A CASE WITH OMBUDSMAN????
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Affordability depends on your income and expenses, so it’s not possible to say on a 17k income that 3k of interest was unaffordable. But it does sounds like a lot!
how many loans did you have over the year? What were the gaps between repaying one and borrowing again? Did the loan sizes tend to go up?
if in doubt, send it to FOS to get an independent decision on your case
Tom W says
I just had an email from Peachy, i had 4 loans with them over the last 18 months, and they offered to write off the current one, plus delete the previous ones from credit record. The gaps between the loans were 4 months, 3 months and 3 months. I had paid nearly £500 in interest over the 4 so i went back and asked for £250 (i just want this one to go away as i have bigger fish to fry). they came back with this:
“The results of our credit checks did not suggest you may be experiencing financial difficulties. For example, according to the information received from Callcredit at the time of your last loan, the number of active short term loan accounts was 0, number of short term loan accounts opened in last month was 0, number of short term loan accounts opened in last 3 months was 0, number of short term loan accounts opened in last 6 months 1, number of accounts in default was 0, number of delinquent accounts was 0, number of short term loan searches in the last 12 months was 3 etc. None of this raised any concerns and all of this would be inconsistent with a customer who has several loans from several lenders at the same time.’
now the thing is this was probably the case for the last loan, but i also had two guarantor loans, 2 ‘normal’ loans and 4 credit cards which amounted to over £1200 a month. Is it irresponsible for them to have not checked that, or is that level of lending not in their sphere of ‘duty’?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
4 loans, not huge, with big gaps – you are going to struggle to do any better than a write off I would have thought.
Paul Smith says
I spoke to my adjudicator about it, she explained the difference is that lending stream enquired about my expenditure before issuing the loan, where as the other companies did not.
Fair enough I suppose, but I’ve put it in the Ombudsmans queue anyway!
MH says
Hi Sara
After some advice please. Adjudicator ruled to refund 17 out of 22 loans. Principal amt borrowed £5300 and they claim the interest amount paid is £1140.99. I am sure that this can’t be right with sunnys interest rates? I think it should be way more. The adjudicator seems to agree with the funny looking spreadsheet sunny has provided them with (I have a copy too).
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can’t you get the information from your bank statements? Use that to cross check the spreadsheet?
MH says
Thanks Sara. The spreadsheet makes no sense. They have a list of 17 loans, columns with ‘capital’ ‘total’ and ‘repaid’ ironically they have totoalled up the last 4 loans of interest that I have not replaced and calculated that interest to be repaid even though the loan is outstanding?!
I’ve just gone through bank statements online and outgoings from my acccount is approx £8K.
Pretty confused right now!
Mark says
Hi,
I sent my Wonga and QQ complaints in last week to which they both replied including sending me my Statement of accounts, in the meantime I went through my bank statements and added up what they had paid in and what I had paid out and took the difference as what I would be owed, is that the right way?
When I added up the fee’s and interest on the SOA they sent me the QQ figure came out slightly in my favour but the Wonga figure is nearly half what I worked it out to be from my bank statement.
I’m going to double check later but could this be Wonga trying to pull a fast one?, it’s made me doubt myself now.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes the difference between what you received and what you repaid is interest plus charges.
Its unlikely they have done this deliberately.
If you are unsure, send the case to the Ombudsman
Dan says
Hi All,
Advice please…..
Sunny complaint upheld by adjudicator and agreed today (a week late) by Sunny.
However, despite them agreeing with the adjudicators decision completely, the number they have sent is £900ish short of my own calculations (based on statements from my online sunny account).
If it was a couple of hundred I’d probably let it slide but 900 quid is a lot of money and means the difference in clearing all my debts and only partially clearing.
Has anyone had experience of Sunny doing this at adjudicator level and hoping people don’t realise or do you think this could be a genuine oversight/mistake?
Any help/advice/experience gladly received!
This is refund #3 for me (3 more in the queue) and I’m looking at a total so far of over £5k back. Advice here truly is life changing so thank you all!
Dan says
I just wondered if this was a common thing with lenders sending amounts that sound kind of right to the adjudicator and hoping that us customers just accept that the numbers are right?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
no it’s not common, but where errors have been spotted they have been corrected
Jampanda says
Hi all
My adjudicator has got back to me regarding my Wonga complaint.
I’d taken out 77 loans between 2012 and late 2016. Some large gaps but always at least 10 loans consecutively back to back.
I worked out a refund of interest combined with 8% would be about 2900 to 3200. Not counting fees.
Unfortunately my adjudicator has only picked 4 of these as unnafordable. I’m a bit gutted as it’s extremely clear I was reliant on these loans and had many other payday loans at the same time as these Wonga loans were being borrowed back to back.
I also rolled over at least 10 of these.
Not sure what to do. Take 600 or so quid or wait to see if Ombudsman see’s a more desperate situation in my borrowing.
Lee says
I would take this one to the ombudsman. Worst case is he will agree with adjudicator. So nothing to loose but potentially a lot to gain.
Miss B says
My adjudicator is asking lots of questions about bank statements such a PayPal, money received from my partner and legal fees I had to pay. Is this normal?
Vickie9 says
I would say so as they need to build up a complete picture of you. Just be honest with them.
Maureen says
Has anyone had this happen? I assumed you either claimed for all loans or only ones within the last 6 years. It seems you can split them and they’ll deal with them separately by this email I received this morning in relation to cheque centre!
Given the time that has passed while we are trying to resolve Cheque Centres objection to us looking into your older loans, we have decided to split your complaint to be able to give you an answer on the loans that were complained about within 6 years.
Ro65 says
I received a mail from my adjudicator this morning saying that as my cheque centre complaint has been with them for a year they are splitting my complaint in to loans older than 6 yrs and loans within 6 yrs.
Takes away the dilemma I had on whether to tell them to forget about my older loans. A bit of good news / progress after waiting a long time.
Ro65 says
Yes Maureen – I got the same mail. Some progress at last!
Baz says
Hi all, quick question I am sending one of my complaints to the ombudsman and the question asked is as follows;
how do you want the business to put things right for you?
what should I write on the form to the ombudsman with regards to the above?
Dan says
Just write exactly what it is that you want them to do.
On all mine I’ve simply put “refund of all interest, charges and add simple interest. Remove all negative information pertaining to these loans from my credit file”. Simple as that really.
Luke says
Does anyone have any advice/dealings with mini credit now with Kapama / OPOS?? I took out a payday loan with them about 5 years ago for £100, needless to say the loan defaulted as I was in financial hardship. They charged £5 per call to chase me and made around 100 calls in the space of 30 days. The loan plus fees and charges totalled around £850 for a £100 loan. This company no longer exists and has been taken over by a third party. I would like some advice on the best way to approach a refund.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well you can complain to them – it’s not easy to succeed. but it sounds as though you were dreadfully treated so give it a go.
Baz says
After sending a complaint to QQ regarding irresponsible lending this is the reply I got;
On 07/08/2017 your account was placed on a 30-day hold. At the culmination of the 30 day period (07/06/2017), an acceptable repayment arrangement must be reached. If we’re unable to reach an amicable repayment arrangement collection activity will proceed. Your account is placed in Hardship. For a maximum of 30 days, collections activities will be halted/frozen. After an extended period of time and your loan is unpaid your account will be eligible for transferral to a third party collection agency. Your repayment offer £¬¬¬¬____/month I’m unsure where to go from here as they are not even investigating my original complaint and expect me to set up a payment plan for my current loan which was taken out (£400) which is now over £900 due to daily interest accord due to missed payments,
I sent the first complaint to QQ on the 21/07/2017.
julia says
Hi Baz
I too have received the very same email from Sunny saying that the account is on a hold for 30 days and that I need to fill in an expenditure form in relation to my struggling with finances. I’m not sure what to do as I asked if I could have a refund on the interest and have always paid up to date with the loan but now my hours have been reduced at work I felt I needed to let them know.
any suggestions would be great as to what to do next
Jules
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Julia,
you have two problems:
– the affordability complaint about your current and previous loans. the email from Sunny doesn’t seem to relate to this.
– what you do about the outstanding balance. If your hours have been cut, you probably can’t repay it in full this month. So complete their form and offer an amount you think you can afford. At the end of this reply, add that you still want them to consider your affordability complaint.
Also cancel the CPA with your bank to Sunny – or they may take the whole lot after 30 days.
The Hitman says
Hi all, my head is mashed so need some help, here is goes:
Principal 250
Paid 95
Arrears including charges 727
Should I calculate 727 minus 95 or 727 minus 250?
This was a Lending stream account that’s been sold on to a 3rd party. The amount of 727 is still outstanding.
Thank you!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The equivalent of “refunding interest” on this sort of debt where there is a balance outstanding is to take the principal (250) and subtract the amount paid (95). The amount remaining (155) is the amount you still owe after any charges and interest have been removed.
See https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-refunds-defaulted-loan/
Willie says
Hi,
I just received an offer from Wonga to repay back interest and fees, including the 8% net interest on 5 of 22 loans. Basically they have picked 5 loans from 2012 and have said they will not look at the loans from 2011 (over 6 years) and have not included my loans from 2013, although there was only 6 of them. I have asked them if they were to include all loans from 2012 then I would consider accepting there offer, as the interest and fees in 2013 aren’t that high so I am not to fussed about them. Does anyone know what Wonga are like for negotiating or is it likely that I will just have to send this to the FOS?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Normally they don’t negotiate… If they don’t, just send it to the FO, including the older than 6 years cases as there may well be some sort of resolution on these quite soon (OK I am being optimistic here!)
Nav says
Hi. I took out a loan with satsuma in June 2017. I was wondering if I’d still be able to put a complaint forward even though it’s only been a few months now?
Thanks!
Ben says
I took loan with Satsuma out in early 2016 – I missed about 12 payments, I eventually paid it off in April This year. Somehow they have pre approved me for another loan last month – my financial situation is far worse now than when I took the first loan out with multiple missed payments on credit cards not to mention the missed payments on THEIR loan. Joke of a company. I have made my complaint today. GL!
fiona says
I have just received over £8,000 from Payday Express & Payday UK they were so quick & I believe a fair outcome. Quick Quick & Wageday who I was with for much longer & had many loans offered me £750 each!!! so I have forwarded this to the FOS. Thankyou Debt Camel I could never have done this without your help.
vickie9 says
Well done Fiona. It’s always nice to hear when people get refunds.
It’s strange how they all work differently for people though. WDA were very quick in their response to me and refunded all interest on loans without having to take it further. Payday UK & Lending Stream have been a royal pain in the backside and am waiting to hear whether they agree with the adjudicator that they should refund all loans. Wonga first claimed they didn’t lend me any money and then said it was more than 6 years ago so basically not their problem. That’s also with an adjudicator at the FOS.
Donna mckinlay says
Hi,
Has anyone dealt with Mr Lender before?
Dan says
Yes, they were my first complaint and, so far, the easiest to deal with.
Quick and reasonable resolution.
Vicki says
Just a quick update on my complaints.
I’ve submitted complaints to about 9 company’s. I am still waiting to hear from 2, and others have been sent to the ombudsman.
However, I did get some decent news from 2 of my other complaints.
1. Sunny replied to my complaint the day before the 8 week period. They advised they had done the relevant checks but upon checking they feel the loans were not suitable for me, so upheld my complaint. They will remove any details from my credit filenand have offered me just over £800, which is more than I’d worked out.
2. Quick quid again came back the day before the 8 week deadline. Again, they said they had done checks and since realised some should not have been given. They have offered me just under £3k. This is a little less than I had worked out but I’m happy with it as it will clear some bills for me.
Just waiting for the money to hit my bank now.
Just hope the FOS fine some in my favour now.
A big thanks you sara for all the help and tips on her. It’s worth the wait!
Cmum says
My Wonga timeline – in case it helps anyone.
– Requested statement of account (23rd April)
– Received (13th May)
– Sent second email to get complaint rolling (13th May)
– Final response declining my complaint (23rd May)
– Sent to FOS (23rd May)
– Picked up by adjudicator (6th June)
– Adjudicator upheld my complaint (27th July) and gave Wonga until 10th Aug to respond
– No response from Wonga so adjudicator extended until 21st August *
Reply from Wonga agreeing to adjudicator (18th Aug)
Email from Wonga to say they’re pleased I accepted and the refund is being processed, it may take up to 28 days (22nd Aug.)
Just wondering how long the payment usually clears after receiving this email from Wonga please, if anyone can help at all xx
Lee says
Wonga told me 14 working days for my refund of £2486. Accepted offer 9th August and still waiting.
Apparently should have it by 29th August. But getting really annoyed now.
I would phone them and ask why 28 days when someone you know 2 weeks before has been told 14 days.
And they do faster payments. So don’t understand the huge Wonga delays.
Tamsyn says
Good afternoon,
I have been following your website for some time and would like to thank you for all your helpful advice. I wonder if you can help with a question I have?
I borrowed from numerous companies over a 5 year period, the company with the most loans was with Quickquid and I think I had around 36 loans. Financial Ombudsman have had my complaint since the beginning of January. They have advised that Quick Quid are disputing all payday loans that are not within a 6 year period. Before the 6 year cut off I had around 14 loans. FO have advised they can proceed with my complaint if I agree to not include the first 14 or so loans or can wait until a decision has been made. Over the last few years I have been paying back everything so I don’t actually owe them money I have just requested if the details can be removed from my credit file and if they can refund me the interest charged. Do you think it is worth proceeding without the first 14 loans or should I hold out?
I just wanted to know really what you would recommend or do in this situation?
thank you :-)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you know how much interest you paid on the over 6 year loans? And the under 6 years? If your loan sizes got bigger over time, then most of the interest may have been on the later loans anyway.
I get the impression that there will be some sort of resolution soon, but I may just be being optimistic about that!
Tamsyn says
Thanks so much for your response!!
over 6 year loans interest adds up to around £850- within 6 years £1600- that’s if I’m looking at this correctly.. :-s
I might just hold out a little longer and hopefully I will hear back.
Optimism is good! :-D
thanks again for all of your help and advice.
Dave says
Here’s my update…
Wonga – Paid out on 9 out of 11 loans. £2300
Piggy Bank – Paid out on 2 out of 3 loans. £350
Sunny – Paid out on all loans. £2100
Payday Express – Not upheld by FOS – Only one loan
Payday UK – See below for more details
Ladder Loans – See below for more details
Lending Stream – See below for more details
Pounds to Pocket – See below for more details
Dave says
Payday UK
Not upheld by them, complained to FOS and Adjudicator found in favour on the 3 loans I had and asked them to refund all charges. They’ve agreed BUT… they have excluded two “deferrals” in their calculations (around £600) so that’s been going back and forth between the adjudicator and MEM for the last few weeks, suspect this will end up with an Ombudsman. I have had to do a lot of the hard work on this, as I don’t believe MEM have sent my Adjudicator a full business file, including the deferrals.
Ladder Loans
Not upheld by either them, or the adjudicator. According to the adjudicator he’s not happy they did the right checks, but based on my statements, less than £200 a month disposable income (after their loan) is sufficient, I would be interested to hear your thoughts Sara? I have emailed back, but expect this will end up with an Ombudsman.
Lending Stream
I had over 10 loans in total, I’ve been upheld on all but the first 4 of these at adjudicator level, but suspect Lending Stream will disagree – no offer was made by LS at any point in the complaints process. If LS disagree, this will end up in the Ombudsman queue.
Pounds to Pocket
Upheld by Adjudicator on 1 out of 2 loans, findings sent to Pounds to Pocket to which they’ve responded to the Adjudicator asking how he got my I&E information, I suspect they will disagree and this will end up with an Ombudsman too.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“less than £200 a month disposable income (after their loan) is sufficient”
Not sure what has been taken into account when doing this calculation. Is it after groceries, clothes transport etc? And after other debts have been repaid?
What did your bank statements show you were spending money on during this period?
Dave says
That’s factoring in averages for everything such as food, diesel, insurance etc, but excluding some stuff like quarterly utility bills etc.
Nothing has been factored in for clothes, what else could be factored in?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
an amount should be allowed for quarterly utility bills. Clothes – how much were you spending on average – look at a few months.
Tom says
Quick update on my complaint with Lending stream for everyone:
-Initially complained mid April
-Lending Steam denied any wrong doing but offered me £1,200 which i rejected and sent to the FO.
-This week i heard back from my Adjudicator telling Lending Stream to pay me back all interest plus
8% on loans 3-28 which would be roughly £4’500.
They have until the 30th August to reply, and if they disagree it can go to Ombudsman level but unless they have any new information, it’s unlikely their decision will be different to his.
Hoping that they accept before Ombudsman is required, has anyone else had Lending Stream agree with Adjudicators decision?
Tom
Davee83 says
Hi Sara and all,
I haven’t been on here for a while. I have recently had the decision from my adjudicator that was dealing with all of my complaints against Pay Day U.K, Pay Day ex, Wonga, TMS, Sunny and QQ and thankfully my adjudicator ruled in my favour. The frustrating thing other that Pay day ex challenging the ruling, none of the business have responded within the adjudicators deadline, so all are now being referred to an Ombudsman which could take a further 3-5months.
All very frustrating and a blatant procrastination tactic but I was wondering if that is common and any others have experienced it on here?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is quite common. Some people are lucky and have adjudicator decisions accepted, some aren’t. The ones who haven’t rejected the offer may yet come back and accept. Or they could make a counter offer – have you worked out how much the refund would be in each case? QQ have been known to make several increasing offers at this stage :)
JusticeImp says
Can anyone help please. I’ve had a response off wonga saying they’re not going to pay anything. I was late with payments and had 27 loans over 9 months. What started as a quick loan to tie me over to payday turned into me needing to borrow all the time as I couldn’t afford to pay the loan off and live off my wage. I remember I was originally denied a loan but after tweaking what I was earning etc they gave me one.
** side note: I am doing this on behalf of a friend who had a serious gambling addiction and probably lied on the application just to get the money. Would he still be entitled to anything? Since he banned himself off wonga he’s had counselling for his gambling and has finally got it under control. Wonga were majorly irresponsible throughout it all. They didn’t have proof of the correct address he lived at, that was a lie on all the applications**
Sara (Debt Camel) says
27 loans is a lot – whatever he wrote on the application, Wonga should have realised he was dependent on the loans. I suggest you help your friend take it to the Ombudsman.
Darren says
I think the 247 moneybox saga is a bit of a joke now. Complained away back in March which moved onto the FCA and awaiting an adjudicator to look at it as 247 haven’t responded regarding a business file.
Today I received a text, email and phone call from 247 offering me a new loan. Screenshots were all sent to the 247 email (with FCA email cc’d in) as I had been told previously I was removed from all communications.
Throughout this complaint, I had only received one email from them, goodwill of £100 the day of the 8 weeks was up. Today when I sent the email regarding the text I got an email within 5 mins apologising so just shows you anything to do with a complaint they must be ignoring and dragging it out for the long run!!!
JPMP says
Hi, I have been reading all of the advice on here for a number of weeks and have complaints in since end of July with around 8 pay day loan companies.
I have received a reply from PAYDAY UK today in which they have offered a refund of £100.00 interest paid on loan, 8% interest @ £50.10 minus £10.02 which is a 20% tax deduction from interest paid. Total refund suggested is £140.08.
I am wondering whether you feel this is a reasonable amount? This is only based on 3 small loans but I have not received a breakdown from them. The other lenders are much more.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you ask them to supply a full statement of your account as you need that to consider their offer. It could be good but who knows? If any of the loans were rolled the interest could have been larger than you think.
JPMP says
I have a very small loan being disputed with MYJAR. The problem is, although it was some time ago and small it has been damaging my credit file ever since 2012. MYJAR have offered an amount to settle but say they cannot remove the item from my credit file? They quoted in their last e-mail:-
“We regret to inform you that we are unable to remove the entry from your credit file. Reporting information to the CRA is a mandatory regulatory requirement, as well as a contractual one with the agency themselves. We have reported all information accurately to reflect your borrowing and repayment history with MYJAR. As such, deleting our information regarding you would risk causing other lenders or financial institutions to incorrectly assess your financial circumstances. Once we close the loan it will be marked as satisfied on your credit file”.
Is this correct? Others have had no problem in removing entries? It is a pity they never took so much notice of my credit file when I was borrowing! They would have seen it was clearly unaffordable.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you reply that you understand the Financial Ombudsman recommends that adverse information is removed from credit records where interest is being refunded, so the lender is allowed to amend credit records under these circumstances. Add that if they don’t agree to delete it you will be taking the case to the Ombudsman.
Ash says
I’ve finally emailed all 9 companies I borrowed from and got an acknowledgement from them all.
However if they say they are not to blame what’s my next step I keep seeing adjudicator on this site but I’ve no idea what this means if the Pdl say they are not to blame do I go straight to Ombudsman?
Shannon says
The Financial Ombudsman Service is an impartial organisation who helps resolve complaints between customers and companies that hasn’t been resolved between them directly.
Basically they don’t take sides and look at everything. If you don’t agree with the company you can send the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman (FOS). First stage is an adjudicator who looks into it and make a decision. If you or the company don’t agree with hem you send it to the Ombudsman and their decision is final.
You have to give the company 8 weeks to reply to your complaint but if they don’t or your not happy with what they say then send it to the FOS to be looked at.
Jordan says
Hello,
I’ve recently had a reply from Ferratum, regarding my complaint of irresponsible lending…
Total loan payments amounting to £2700 over 7 months… they’ve denied irresponsible lending to me… although they’ve made a ‘goodwill’ gesture of a £300 payment…
I’m quiet surprised by this offer, and am very grateful for this websites help..
But I’m just wondering before I accept, is this a good offer to accept or should I be due more money back? I don’t want to be greedy and miss out on the money being offered, although at the same time I want any money I’m rightly due back..
Thanks for any help
And all the help so far
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like a lot of borrowing in just 7 months. Say you can’t consider their offer until they give you a full statement of account showing what you borrowed and what you repaid on each loan.
Jordan says
Just asked for the complete statement, and i’ll be back in touch once I’ve found out the total figures.
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At the time I put on the application that I was earning £2200 p/m. Rather than £1850 I was earning, with this considered shall I still wait for an account statement before accepting the offer? As I’m hoping this won’t affect my claim
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Just managed to work out the interest charges via my bank statements. They total £506.20
Do you think I should accept the £300 offer?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you still have a balance outstanding?
How many loans did you have, how large and how long… could you list these starting with the earliest loan (So an answer could be £200 for one month, £400 for 3 months, £400 for 3 months, £500 for 4 months etc)
c £500 is quite a low amount of interest for that much borrowing – it’s not impossible, especially if you repaid any loans early but unless you are very sure, it may be worth waiting until you do get a statement.
What was your credit record like at the start? And recent defaults, missed payments? Lots of other borrowing?
Jordan says
No outstanding balance
9 loans over 8month period
1 x £100 (9 days)
5 x £300 loans (26/27 days long each)
2x £400 loans (22 days: 25 days)
1x £200 loan. ( 19 days)
credit score would of been not to bad at the time, although was on a debt management plan and did contact them regarding this and they still lent to me after contact..
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK £506 could well be accurate based on that. £300 isn’t a bad offer – you normally wouldn’t get the full interest back and exaggerating your income means the first few loans would be very likely to be disregarded at the ombudsman.
Baz says
Has anyone ever complained to 118 118 money or AvantCredit?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes to both. The affordability rules are the same for all lenders. You have to show that the loan repayments were unaffordable AND that the lender should have known this when they gave you the loan. It’s harder than a payday lending complaint because you don’t have the ‘repeat borrowing’ element but cases can be won.
The loans were long term and often large so the lender should have made thorough checks that it was affordable…
Things that help a case:
– your credit records was appalling (not just bad, no one with a fair credit record uses these horrible expensive loans) and that the problems were recent
– if they asked for your expenses, they didn’t look right. Very implausibly low or missing expenses (£50 a month for food, no transport costs that sort of thing). Or that they didn’t match against what your credit record showed.
You can use the template letters above but edit them properly – remove references to payday loans and repeat borrowing. Add stuff on your credit record. Don’t complain about he interest rate, complain the repayments weren’t affordable.