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?
Ash says
Morning all,
Pounds to pocket came back with they made no error in irresponsible lending so I’ve called up ombudsman. He wants bank statements from the time of loan however this was2013 and the account has been closed since 2015 . He said he needs the bank statement to move forward with th complaint is this true?
I did have a gambling problem nothing majorly severe would this cause an issue?
Thanks :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes it’s correct – the ombudsman needs to check that the loans really were unaffordable for you. For example one person had her complaint rejected because her bank statements showed she was saving several hundred pounds a month as a house deposit. Another had lots of foreign hotels and foreign car hire showing.
Contact your old bank – most people haven’t found it hard to get the old statements.
Lots of people with big gambling problems have had their complaint succeed at the Ombudsman.
Danny says
My QQ complaint has been in the Ombudsman queue for about a month now so I thought I’d drop my adjudicator an email to see how things were progressing & to see if QQ had made any further offers in the mean time (only offer they’ve made was pre adjudicator’s decision).
He’s replied to me stating that case times are still 3-6 months for QQ complaints, but has said, in his words, ‘Quick Quid use to make offers whilst the case was waiting in the Ombudsman queue but they have recently stopped doing this.’
Sara (Debt Camel) says
interesting, thanks!
Head in hands says
Mine is also in the queue for the Ombudsman (since June and all within 6 years) and I had an increased offer from QQ this week which I declined.
A says
Hi – Hope somebody can help me!
I have sent two complaints to the FO – one for Quick Quid and one for Pay Day UK.
Both are in the queue as some or all of the loans are over 6 years old – I have been told by FO that there is dealings with FO and the lenders who are trying to come to a decision on weather loans over 6 year should be upheld.
I have been offered around £1500 from quick quid but I am owed more than triple that amount so I have declined.
Could somebody please advise if they have had any update on this ‘decision’ as I am desperate for the money and am feeling more and more each day like i should take the £1500 – HELP!!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
PaydayUK are already paying out on some cases where the loans are over 6 years.
QQ (and other lenders) – for what it’s worth, I get the impression that there will be some decision quite soon on these.
NB I have no inside information…
Nor do I have any idea whether you would win your “over 6 years” case…
Nor how urgent your need for cash is…
Nor do I know how long it will take for your case to be decided after there is a decision…
But I am optimistic there will be a decision quite soon.
Dave says
Success!!!
Had my first successful response without reporting to FOS. complained to 118 about the loan and top up loan I took out and they upheld my complaint removing £2,500 from my outstanding balance. Very happy with that!!
Know a lot of people have been asking about 118 so my advice is go for it. Took the full 8 weeks to respond but also did email 4 weeks in to say they were still looking into it.
Now just waiting for wonga to agree/disagree with FOS. they were due to respond august 7th but are facing huge delays.
Then I have sunny with FOS so waiting for their verdict.
If all in my favour it will be around £7,500 in refunds/reduced amount owed.
Thank you Sara for this site. You are changing people’s lives!!!!
Ben says
Hello Dave
Can I ask what were your circumstances with the 118 loan? I have a claim in with them too I had 5 payday loans at the time 6 open credit cards and 2 personal loans – my credit score was dire.
cheers
Dave says
At the time of the first loan I had 2 pdl, an overdraft and 2 credit cards. Then the second loan I’ll have had another pdl and credit card on top. Credit score was poor but no missed payments on it.
Don’t think you will have any problems from how you described your situation.
Fingers crossed for you!
acee says
Does anybody have a loan with PiggyBank and also on a DMP? If so I’ve probably got your email address they emailed me today offering a F&F but also sent it to 451 other people so we can all see each others email addresses. Breach of the data protection act surely? Is there anyway I could use this to my advantage?
Tom says
Absolutely this is a huge breach of the Data Protection Act. You should report this immediately to the Financial Conduct Authority.
Dan says
As Tom says, that’s a huge data breach – not only because you now have 451 different people’s email addresses, it also means that 451 people have a copy of a private and confidential communication from a financial institution which, most likely, contains personal details of yours.
I would make a complaint to PiggyBank (completely separately from whatever you have going on with them at the moment) and send a complaint to to FCA also.
If this had happened from May next year when the new GDPR regs are enforceable, they would be facing a massive fine for what they’ve done.
Tom says
Completely agree with Dan – it’s gross negligence and I think someone may be losing their job over it!
acee says
Tom, Dan thanks for your reply. Some of the emails were actually peoples forename and surname its a fraudsters dream thankfully mine isn’t. May use this to clear my debt with them its only £288 left to pay. Not quite sure how I go about complaining to the FCA as their website says complain to the company first.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can send an email to the FCA at consumer.queries@fca.org.uk. The FCA won’t “investigate” this and get back to you – it just gets passed on to the group that supervise the lender. All you will get is a “thanks for your information” message.
I suggest you put in a written complaint to piggybank saying what you want them to do to put this right.
James B says
Has any one had any problems with lending stream.had a final response that I have agreed to for a refund. They informed me they had to now send it to a different department. This happend over a week ago and the information has apparently still not been received. Just wondering what’s every one else’s experience with them.
Dave says
Well, MEM (Payday UK) finally agreed with the adjudicator today and he’s sent my bank details onto them.
Does anyone know how long they usually take to pay out from an FOS decision?
Lorr says
Congratulations, can I ask how long they took to make a decision? They were supposed to get back to my adjudicator on the 21st but they have now said it will take till the end of next week before they reach a decision. Thx
Dave says
They missed the deadline originally given, but came back a week later – however, their offer was wrong so it’s taken around 3 weeks of back and forth between the adjudicator to get them to agree.
Settlement form sent over today, and apparently they’ll get in touch with me.
Tom says
It was exactly 2 weeks from the adjudicators email for me to get an email from PD UK stating money would be in my account within 5 days of their email.
LG says
Hi all,
I have this week contacted some payday lenders (some of whom I have yet to fully repay) as I really feel that I have a claim for irresponsible lending…my credit has never been great and in 2013 i split with my then partner who created loads of debt in my name….stupidly and somewhat naively i took to payday loans to try and sort myself out…that obviously didnt work, and well, see for yourself:
2012 – 6 loans (1 a month increasing in amount) from cheque centre (all paid off)
800 (The Cash Store)
WAGEDAY ADVANCE , 420
1ST STOP PAYDAY , 300 (these ones really screwed me up – in January 14 i paid off my 4th loan and tried to take another to be told they no longer offered payday loans and i had been declined for an 6 month installment loan..) – i was left with £80 to pay rent, bills and food)
21/10/2013′ CASH GENIE UK , 180
16/10/2013’MRLENDER.COM , 133 – 180 owed, 175 paid and they claim i owe £200 (passed to MMF debt collector)
31/10/2013’INDIGO MICHAEL LTD, 250 (ClearAccount / Safety Net)
04/11/2013’MYJAR ,100
So, I suppose my question is, has anyone had any success with any of these companies (and did you still have an outstanding balance)? – any and all help would be really appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Cheque Centre, 1st stop payday – definitely worth a complaint. Take to the Ombudsman if the lender rejects.
The Cash Store – went under several years ago. I doubt you will get anywhere. But do you still owe a balance?
Cash Genie – was that one loan with no current balance owing? If so probably not worth pushing as they are in the last stages of administration.
Mr Lender was that just one loan? You need to tell MMF that you are disputing the balance with Mr Lender.
One loan cases are hard to win. Worth trying if they have a balance outstanding or are large. So MyJar, one small loan, unlikely to be worth pursuing. Safetynet Credit a better case as they could see your bank statements. WDA that’s a rather larger loan.
LG says
Hi Sara,
Mr Lender was rolled over twice, but eventually paid in full. I have contacted MMF to tell them that I am disputing the balance.
Clear Account / Safety net was 3 loans over the same month, each time increasing in amounts.
I have assumed that Cash Genie and The Cash Store are not worth pursuing – although there was a small outstanding balance with cash genie – about £50 which has also been passed to MMF to the value of £262 !! – again i have contacted to dispute.
With WageDayAdvance – I was declined for a loan initially, twice, then accepted less than a month later – then had 4 payday loans each increasing in amount.
I know this debt is my responsibility but with everything i was borrowing and re-lending, often on the same day, I would have though that someone would have gone enough is enough.
The Hitman says
Payday Express. The pdl’s are from 2008 and worth just under £600 in interest. PDEXpress have asked for bank statements (which I can’t get as its over 7 years) and credit report again from 9 years ago (I can only provide a current score from noddle)
The response which is final if I can’t provide the documents is they can’t uphold my complaint
Has anyone else had a similar issue?
Thanks again!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send it to the Ombudsman. The FOS won’t be so stupid as to ask for a credit report. They probably will ask for bank statements though.
Lou says
Hi Sarah
Big thanks for all the help I have had so far from reading advice from this site
I have had an offer from QQ which I have accepted on Wednesday evening – what happens now do they contact me for bank details or do they just use the details they had from my loans.
Wonga have not upheld my claim so I referred to the FOS using the online form – what happens next?
Sunny still have 10 days to the 8 week deadline.
Tom says
Morning Lou,
QQ will get in touch and ask you to fill in a form with bank details so they can send the cash there.
In a few weeks you’ll hear from an adjudicator from the FOS who will ask to see bank statements from the time of borrowing and a copy of your credit file, then it’s a matter of waiting to see what he/she decides.
Lou says
Thanks Tom
What is my credit file and how do I get a copy?
Will they accept downloads of my statements as I bank online or will I need to request hard copies.
Tom says
They’ll ask you to email them so downloading them is fine. And if you have to forward another case to the FOS you don’t have to resubmit these.
They’ll ask you to obtain a copy of your credit report which you can get for free from various websites, like Equifax or Noddle.
Link says
Finally put in my step 2 letter. That’s about 4 weeks after I requested Statement of Accounts. When does the 8 weeks start. After step 1 or step 2?
Tom says
First email!
Link says
Thanks Tom.
Should I go ahead and request bank statements just now in case I end up having to go to Ombudsman?
I assume they’d need scanned paper copies. All TSB allow you to download from their website is spreadsheet (excel) copies of your statement.
Tom says
Yes just get them ready just in case! From reading comments on here and personal experience, FOS tend to get the best deal for you.
Acee says
Good news – further to my msg yesterday where Piggy Bank had included 452 email addresses in my email they have responded today agreeing to wipe clean my existing debt of £288. So if anyone has a DMP with PiggyBank it’s worth checking your emails.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
well done!
Shem says
Hi Acee
Can I ask how you know the 452 names were all on a DMP? I have a Piggy bank loan that I will be submitting an irresponsible ending claim for immiently although not on any DMP.. wondered if there is anyway I can check if I’ve been effected by this data breach – have they held their hands up for it?
Shem x
Lisa says
Hi just a quick one
I have piggy bank on my dmp what should I look for?
Acee says
Hi Shem the email was a generic email offering a F&F because I was on a DMP so everyone who got the email would have been on a DMP that’s not to say everyone who was on a DMP was offered a F&F though.
If you didn’t get an email don’t worry about it but if you did complain see what they can do.
Acee says
Yes Shem they have held their hands apologises said they will be investigating how it happend and have wiped my debt clear.
Paul Cornforth says
Hi
I have had my 8 week response from WDA. Quick background: 8 loans, 7 deferred from 09/08/2011 – 31/10/2012. Total interest and deferral interest totals £2367.90. They have responded with
“The complaint should be partially upheld and we will agree to refund charges and interest for your fourth to seventh loan. The total amount redress is £1,048.12.
As you currently have an outstanding balance of £1,312.50 we will reduce your balance and you now owe WDA £264.38”
The debt collection agency that were dealing with it have emailed me and said they have closed the account and sent it back to WDA due to my current financial situation and wont progress with any collection.
What should I do next?
Thanks
Paul.C
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They aren’t refunding loans 1-3. How much was the interest on these loans (including any deferrals)? What were the gaps between the loans 1 and 2? 2 and 3? 3 and 4?
The last loan – how much did you borrow? Did you make any repayments to WDA for it? Any repayments to the debt collector? This is really important – this offer could be very poor…
Paul Cornforth says
Loan 1: 09/09/2011: £200.00 interest £59.00 loan paid in full 31/08/2011.
Loan 2: 12/09/2011: £335.00, fast payment option £15.00 Initial interest £103.25, 30/09/2011 deferral interest paid £103.25, 31/10/2011 deferral interest paid £103.25, 23/12/11 deferral interest paid 103.25, 31/01/2015 loan paid in full £453.25
Loan 3: 01/02/2012: £435.00 fast payment £15.00, initial interest £132.75. 29/02/2012 Deferral interest paid £132.75, 30/03/2012 deferral interest paid £132.75. Loan paid in full 30/04/2012 £582.75
Loan 4: 03/05/2012: £270.00 initial interest £76.65 loan paid in full 31/05/2012 £349.65
THE LAST LOAN: 01/10/2012: £700.00 fast payment option £15.00, intital interest £221.25. Default charge 31/10/2012 £12.00. Daily interest charge £474.00. Total outstanding £1,457.25. No payments made from myself for this loan to either WDA or debt collection agencies.
The loan previous to my last loan was £585.00 on 03/09/2012. Paid in full £770.00 on 28/09/2012 and then I took £700.00 (last loan) on 01/10/2012.
Help and thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok then that is NOT a good offer. There was only a few days between the 7th loan and the last eighth loan. And the last loan was also larger – it should clearly have been included in the redress offered. It’s pretty naughty of WDA to not have done this :(
For a loan where no payments have been made, redress means removing any interest and charges, so reducing it to the amount you borrowed, ie £700.
If you think it’s fair to have a refund from the 4th loan, that would take the refund of £1048, settle the outstanding loan of 700 giving a refund to you of £348.
BUT should you get more?
There is a good case to say that you should get a refund from loan 3. That was taken out only a day after loan 2, loan 2 had been deferred several times and loan 3 was also larger – all signs that you were in trouble and should not have been given another loan. If you take this to the Ombudsman there is a good chance the third loan would be included in the refund which would give an extra £558 in addition to the £348.
And if you send the case to the Ombudsman you would also probably have 8% interest added, which at a very rough guess would be another £400 or so.
I think you should go back to WDA and point this lot out. It’s up to you what think a fair refund would be!
Paul Cornforth says
Ive just seen I must of made some payments as the statement from WDA that they sent says my balance outstanding is £1,457.25 but in the final response letter it says I owe £1,312.50. So i must of paid £144.75 to either of WDA or debt collection agency.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That would be MORE money that you should get back.
Andy says
Hi all, So both wonga and 118 money have replied to me stating they need more time to investigate my compliant, wonga at 7 week stage and 118 money at 5 week 3 days stage, anyone had this type of response?
My 118 case: It was a normal loan for 2,000 and interest at 99.9 % but had 4 credit cards maxed out 4 payday loans with 2 defaults and overdraft maxed out
Cheers andy
Ben says
I had a response from Wonga yesterday (4 weeks) saying the same, iv only just submitted my 118 complaint so had nothing as yet.
Lisa says
Fingers crossed for your 118 case.
I had one still with a balance, I took 2000 my complaint was upheld and what was just over 3000 they took all the interest off which left 1450 which is a lot better. I only had one loan with them and no top up
Sharon says
But of a disappointing update…. i posted last week that I had received an Ombudsman decision on one of my complaints which went in to the queue on 2nd June and took until 12th August. A further 2 complaints went to Ombudsman queue on 19th June and a 3rd on 24th June. I rang up on 15th June to ask if the 2 from 19th were about to be allocated (based on previous advice that they would all be dealt with in date order). I was informed that in fact all 3 had been allocated to an Ombudsman and were being worked on and that I should get a decision in a week or so. I called today (25th) to be told that my cases hadn’t been allocated to an Ombudsman and that they have no idea where the previous person who dealt with my call got their information from. I was assured again that all cases are dealt with in date order and I shouldn’t expect a decision anytime within the coming weeks which doesn’t accord with my previous complaint already being decided on a decision issued on 12th August. Anyway the person I spoke with today is going to look in to this further and email me…..
gillian says
i have had the same problem i submitted 2 complaints in feb2017 i was informed by email at least 6 times that they had been allocated a adjudicater i also spoke on the phone several times to different people who said they were dealing with my cases one the quick quid was adjudicated in my favour in june and i recieved paperwork to confirm this quickquid did not agree so it is now in the que for onbudsman i rang to ask about the lending stream complainet to be told it has not even been assigned a adjudicater despite it being submitted in feb and it is now august they could not tell me why it was still waiting 6 months on just said they will get to it a bit puzzeling
Sharon says
I’m really not complaining at all as I know everyone is working really hard at the FOS to deal with so many cases. I’m just confused as to why I could have been given such conflicting information and if cases are being dealt with a date order why I should have had one concluded at Ombudsman level (a not upheld complaint) yet others from the same time frame are behind considerably older cases according to the person I spoke to yesterday. It’s such a anxious time as these complaints are regarding a life changing amount of money and getting conflicting information adds to the anxiety.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I understand why the amount of money makes everything about the complaints seem fraught. But this just sounds like a mistake. Nothing here indicates there is anything wrong with your cases or that you have been badly treated. You were just told something about timing which was over optimistic.
Immy says
How are people getting on with UNCLE BUCK just had my response since march 2015 I took out 10 laons which were repaid and then taken out again some within a few days of paying the first others with a month later also I believe one to be taken out the same day the loan was paid so paid one loan and took another one out straight away they said that my expenditure list was either wrong at the time of applying or wrong when I sent letter in for for complaint for refund hence that could be application fraud. Don’t know how to go about this one as not sure where I stand some good advice would be great thanks a lot also disposable income was around £600 yet they still borrowed
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Uncle Buck are frequently difficult.
People often get expenditure lists wrong when applying without this being “fraud” – it sounds as though they are just trying to scare you. Read https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/. As that says, even if there was something wrong on your application, Uncle Buch should have realised you were in trouble and made some extra checks long before it got to 10 loans.
If this is a Final Decision from UB, I suggest you send the case straight to the Financial Ombudsman.
Immy says
Hi Sara
Thanks for the quick response and I wish this page all the success and the genuine prayers and people wish you great success I hope that doesn’t go unnoticed cause before I discovered this page I would never have applied for a refund I already received £650 from mr lender and am glad I found you this page. The reply did say this was the final response I have found some things they mentioned to be a bit out of context like it my responsibility to not apply if I didn’t think I could afford also does a high disposal income work in my favour or there’s as am sure I read if there is high disposable income they shouldn’t lend the money as there is more left over so should I try with one more email see if they budge or go straight to the financial ombudsman. Once again thanks for your time
Pamela Howey says
Hi there Sara, I wonder if you have come across this. I have had 2 outstanding cases sitting with FOB since December 16, they are with the Cheque Centre and also The Money Shop and are still waiting to be picked up by an adjudicator. I received this email where they have referred to my Cheque Centre loans and seem to be splitting this into 2 cases?
Has anyone else come across this as yet?? Also they detail loans until February 2012. My biggest gripe with Cheque Centre is a 12 month loan from Feb 2012 – Feb 2013, which I was encouraged to take out to help with my debt. Loan was £1500 and paid back £4448. So around £3000 interest. I emailed back and also called to ask why this was missed from the detail. I’ve just been told someone would get back to me when the case is picked up. Would there be any reason this loan was missing from the detail, I have sent all statements and correspondence.
Thanks Pamela
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.
· our ref xxxxxxxxx is in relation to loans between July 2008 and August 2011
· our ref xxxxxxxxxx is in relation to loans between August 2011 and February 2012
if you have any questions please do get in touch with us.
Financial Ombudsman Service
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, other people are having Cheque Centre cases split into two.
Your last laon should be included in your case, but as it was an instalment loan it may go to a separate team that look at these.
Pamela Howey says
Thanks for the quick response Sara I thought this may be the case. Is it also normal to wait so long for the case to be picked up by an adjudicator. I also wondered should the 6 year rule apply to when you first complained to the lender, or when it is picked up. I complained in October 2016.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
the cases will have been on hold because of the older loans. The 6 year rule applies from when you put in the complaint to the Ombudsman, not when it was picked up.
Jamie Power says
Had provisional decision back from Ombudsmen ruling in my favour. We have been waiting for the lender to respond with either more information to argue the decision or just agree. They have provided more details today. I’m Just wondering if there has been many cases were more information has changed the provisional decision?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Not many but this is really case by case – knowing what happened to other people doesn’t really help you.
Jamie Power says
Ok thanks Sara. If I was to send you what the lender has said, would you be able to tell me if it’s just a generic reply or weather it’s likely to change the final outcome?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can copy it in here if you want. But the important thing is if any of it it is wrong… in that case you should send your comments about it to the Ombudsman.
acee says
Another day another letter this time from Wage Day Advance saying they cant provide me with an update after 4 weeks and are compiling the necessary info and documentation to enable them to supply a fair and accurate response. That’s PDUK Payday Express and WDA who all seem to be using the full 8 weeks with me still waiting on the other 6 or 7 to respond.
Helen says
Out of the 10 I’m waiting for I’ve only had a final response from 2 (Peachy and Cashfloat) so far. Peachy refunded half and Cashfloat claim the loan was affordable.
The ones I’m still waiting for are Sunny, Ferratum, PayDayUK, Lending Stream, PoundstoPockets, Satsuma, WageDayAdvance and Wonga. All have acknowledged my complaint thought. Just gone 4 weeks since my complaints went in.
Saying that, LendingStream sent me a long email explaining how they worked out whether the loans were affordable which was full of lies (they say my Experian credit score was around 650 when it hasn’t gone above 350 for years). I replied asking if it was their final response two weeks ago but they haven’t replied to that.
Acee says
Exact same for me with Lending Stream Helen they make scores up I’ve sent them 2 emails asking if this is their final response nothing back yet. Wonga emailed me today saying it may take the full 8 weeks to add to the list
Andy says
Hi , just had final response from
Pounds to pocket, long reply as to how they done nothing wrong and justifying that they carried out the relevant checks accordingly, don’t no wether to take this to fos , because they seemed to make out all was Perfect with their lending process , it was a very long reply , anyone had this sort of reply but success at fos
Thanks andy
Ross says
Hi Andy,
Pounds 2 Pocket rejected my complaint within hours of sending it. I owed no balance and all I got back was an email basically telling me I owed nothing and to sod off. I sent to the ombudsman and they upheld my complaint. Surprise, surprise, Pounds 2 Pocket disagreed with the adjudicator decision, but they offered to refund half of the interest paid on the 1 loan I had with them (it was a 12 month instalment loan). I went back to decline their offer and told my adjudicator I would only accept the WHOLE amount of interest paid. A couple of hours later, I received an email, stating that they agreed to pay out the full interest amount and I had it in my account that same day. Don’t give up, as this is what they want you to do, in the hope that you will just go away. If you feel your case is strong enough, send it to the FOS!
Andy says
Cheers Ross, they took 5 weeks to respond and mine was instalment loan to , had two loans from them, their response was quite convincing but I believe they were irresponsible given my situation at the time, this gives me hope , so will send to the ombudsman today and see what they can do, appreciate the reply mate, let u know how get on finger crossed ?
Samantha says
I’ve had my finally response from QQ after the long 8 week wait and I’m so disheartened. They have said in their final conclusion ‘ we cannot agree that QuickQuid irresponsibly lent to you’.
I had 13 loans, including rolling loans over a two year window 15-17. I AM going to send it to the FO but have I got any chance?
Please help!
Bob says
Yes. Something like 70% of cases Quick Quid cases to go to FOS get overturned in some capacity.
Sarahm says
Hi
Can anyone help please? I have received a final offer from Quick Quid. It is for the interest on my last 3 loans, I had 6 loans and I have declined their offer as it was too low. My question is, can I get a refund of my final loan? I paid this off over 3 years with the help of Stepchange. I have read that some people are getting their loans written off. Do you think I would have a case for a refund of the actual loan repayments? If I hadn’t repaid it I may have had it written off.
Paydayuk have offered me a full repayment of all interest plus 8%. I accepted this offer as I thought it was very fair, I wonder how long it will be before I get the money? I didn’t think about the refund of the loans when I accepted the offer.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
People aren’t getting the last loan “written off”. Some people have already repaid more to it than they borrowed – so in that case removing the interest means the balance is cleared. Others are using a refund on earlier loans to repay a balance. In either of these situations, people talk about a “write off” but that isn’t really what has happened.
So your last loan – what did you borrow? How much did you repay, to QQ direct or through StepChange?
How much are QQ offering? Do you know what the inter4est you paid on loans 1,2,3,4,5 were?
Jacob says
Hi all. I’ve had my final response from QQ today which is just inside the 8 week period. They have partially upheld my complaint based on dependency as I rolled over the loans numerous times. The dilemma I have though. They have offered me just over £700 in relation to my last loan which was just inside the 6 year cut off point. They have stated they won’t look at loans over 6 years as per usual. Most of my loans were over 6 years though and I have calculated about £2,000 of interest for this period. In 2 minds what to do as I know they are playing hard ball with the FOS on the 6 year rule unlike some of the other PDL’S who are now paying out. I have already submitted 1 complaint to the FOS against PDUK. I rang up the FOS tonight to see if there was any update on the QQ position on loans over 6 years old and the adviser said they were hoping to have an update in the next month but couldn’t say anything more. Don’t wanna accept the offer then find out I could have gotten more by taking it to the FOS. What’s your thoughts ppl?
Mark says
do they give you a time limit on the decision? – they get 8 weeks, surely you can take similar? i.e. don’t accept or decline yet, see if there is any more of an update in 4-6 weeks time?
Jacob says
Thanks for the reply Mark. Just checked it again and no mention on a time limit for my decision. Only time limit mentioned is the 6 month for me to take it to the FOS if I disagree. Might hang fire for a few weeks and see what they say. Also noticed no mention of the statutory 8% interest. Do QQ normally add this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sounds like one that worth waiting for… that’s a lot of extra money.
If they haven’t mentioned 8% interest, it’s not included… I don’t think they normally do.
Dave says
Coming in thick and fast now!
So 118 upheld my complaint writing off £2.5k interest yesterday. And today wonga partially agreed with adjudicator offering £1.9k. They disagreed with 4 or 5 loans which would have been another £400-£500 but I have accepted to avoid the lengthy ombudsman queue.
Just waiting on adjudicator decision on my sunny loan which should be around £2k – £2.5k.
Then I’m going to start on lending stream and satsuma. Both of those are small in comparison. Am doing those mainly to get the record of them removed from my credit file.
Just wish I could complain against my 4K Barclays credit card and 2k nationwide OD as that would be my DMP done!!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can you use the Wonga refund to offer a full & final settlement offer on the Barclaycard?
Dave says
I could. Do they sometimes accept a lower amount than the outstanding balance in order to settle there and then?
If so I may wait for my sunny outcome as I was planning on using the wonga money to pay a small family loan, treat the wife and kids to some bits and then leave a bit as a rainy day savings. Be nice not penny pinching at the end of each month!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This post https://debtcamel.co.uk/full-final-settlement-rejected/ looks at why F&F may be rejected – so it also gives you clues about when one may be accepted… It’s definitely worth thinking about if you get a good Sunny refund.
Andy says
Did the 118 loan go to the fos or did they make offer before Dave
Dave says
They made me the offer before reporting to FOS. They are in my DMP but they add all the interest when you take out the loan so being in the DMP means they’re not freezing any interest.
Wasn’t overly confident they would agree so am over the moon with their decision.
Andy says
Nice 1 , they have rejected mine complaint out of hand so fos for me, thanks for the reply Dave
Dave says
Sorry to hear that Andy. Hope FOS find in your favour and you get a timely resolution.
Did you just have the one loan with 118? Also did you have any PDL at the same time.
I had 1 loan with 118 and then they offered me a new loan after 6 months. I only actually complained about the second loan to them but did mention that if they’d checked with the first loan I had 2 PDL at that time. They came back and said they should have checked better for both loans!
Andy says
Yes it was 1 loan with them , but had pdl loans aswell as a default on one , think I paid it off half way through to avoid interest with another loan with slightly better interest, but downward spiral either way, it is sent to fos so keep updated
Dave says
Good luck Andy. From the sound of it the FOS will find in your favour and then hopefully 118 will make an offer rather than forcing to ombudsman.
Your Situation sounds so familiar to mine. My 118 loan(s) were actually to try and pay off my pdl but never works out that way once you’re on that one way track.
Good luck mate.
Gary says
Hi, can I ask when you received your reply from 118 saying they should have checked better for pay day loans, what offer did they give you? I had a 118 2 year loan which was taken out while I had multiple payday loans, after 12 months of payments I applied for a top up loan with 118 which they approved, again at the time of approval I had multiple payday loans. My worry is that if I do complain to 188, the offer they may provide would be to take off the interest and put me on a payment plan which I think affects your credit rating?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“My worry is that if I do complain to 188, the offer they may provide would be to take off the interest and put me on a payment plan which I think affects your credit rating?”
if your loan is unaffordable, it sounds a pretty good result to me… Getting your repayments sorted is the main thing, surely?
Dave says
Completely agree with Sara. Put the complaint in Gary. As 118 add all interest at the start of the loan it will reduce what you are we dramatically. And if they put you on a payment plan so be it. Your credit record isn’t going to be great if you have multiple PDL anyway.
You need to sort out the debt now and make it manageable. Then start sorting out your credit record.
Hayley says
Another update: out of 6 companies I can say on the following
Wonga: out of 11 loans they picked a random loan to refund which was the 9th loan to uphold but not the others… this has now passed through the FOS
QQ- upheld 3 out of 6 not including the mid month and defers and didn’t offer interest on top now with FOS
Pay day uk : upheld all loans and deducted the last loan without interest I accepted and got pay out within one week
Payday express :and uk : upheld all loans but didn’t pay last loan so agreed to take this off the final figure
Provident: upheld loan from 7 years ago but none before so I just took the interest and fees and 8% on top
The Money Shop complaint made 6 June still no response with FOS awaiting g adjudicator
It really is just a waiting game from now but hopefully hear something soon
Ian says
So I’ve started getting responses to my complaints (all went in on 1st Aug);
MyJar first to respond offered to write off any outstanding interest which effectively wrote of my last loan and saved me around £300. I only had two loans with them so to free up future funds, a quick win and I accepted.
Lending Stream have offered to remove all interest from my last 2 loans – would save me around £320 in future payments but when compared to the 30 previous loans and £4k interest that I have paid them this has gone to the Ombudsman….
However if I make my final payment (£160) to them excluding the interest as they have offered does that then deem as acceptance of their final offer and refuse me any further improvement of their offer from the Ombudsman? I am in a position where I have got my head above water and Lending Stream is the only loans I now have outstanding balances on from the 70 loans I have taken with 8 Lenders across the past 4 years… Just don’t want to make the wrong move on what would be my biggest chance of a refund?!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can’t accept their “remove interest from the last two loans” and carry on with the rest of your complaint, their offer will be as a settlement of the whole complaint. Sounds like a good call to send it to the Ombudsman – tell LS you have done this.
Lee says
Do not do this…. setup a small payment plan in interim. Send complaint to ombuds. Lending Stream most difficult to deal with. They hope people won’t go to the ombudsmen and give up.
Mine like others currently awaiting adudicator.
Vijay says
My Adjudicator has passed on some questions from the Ombudsman now handling two of my cases (the Ombudsman combined them but the were separately filed and decided by different Adjudicators–both found in my favour–for Quick Quid and PayDay Express). The Ombudsman has gone through all my statements and found there are some cash and cheque deposits and wants to know the source of these. The source was selling some personal items and taking extra cash work, just trying to get money where I could—I still was ££££ in debt each month, paying off huge expenses and also all the loans and interests on payday loans and my statements show this. Does this matter? I was really surprised that neither Adjudicator had any issues with this but the Ombudsman wants to know if I had “help” from a partner or ex-partner….the answer is No! I was a single parent struggling under the pile of payday loans and defaults. IS there anything I should say/explain to the Ombudsman with regard to this? I was a mess and everytime I put cash into my checking account I had to make sure it would not be seized by PayDay loan companies who had continuous payment authority or access to my debit card details. Thanks so much for your input.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is necessary to understand what is going on in your bank statements to make an affordability decision.
Selling items to raise money doesn’t mean the debts were unaffordable – it helps your case that you were struggling. If you have any emails confirming eBay or other online sales you should show some of those, but if they just came from cash car boot sales, explain this.
Actually having help from a partner or ex wouldn’t matter either – unless it was regular child maintenance which would be treated as income. But as you didn’t have this, just say so.
MrsT says
Just starting to get the ball rolling with my claims and I’m in complete shock! Looking back through my bank statement, between 2010 and 2014 i took out 58 pay day loans!
35 with Wonga – £4,206
18 with Quickquid – £3,320
5 with Payday UK – £760
Totalling … £8,286 !!!
I had only just left my teenage years at the start of this.
I remember how worked up i used to get trying to not default, regularly having to set up payment plans because I couldn’t afford to pay them back.
Just became a vicious circle.
I have emailed all 3 companies asking for my loan history, how long should i wait for a response?
Can anybody advise me on the next step that i need to take?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you have your bank statements, you don’t really need to wait for your loan history. The next thing is to write a more detailed Step Two complaint, using the template in the article above as a starting point. If you had a payment plan with a lender and then then carried on lending soon afterwards, definitely add in a paragraph saying that, it’s a very strong point that they knew you were in trouble and should have stopped lending.
Then, while you are waiting for the responses, add up how much interest you paid. From your bank statements that is the amount you borrowed minus the amount you repaid. Knowing that figure will help you decide whether an offer from a lender is good, ok, or poor.
Ash says
Hi There,
I’ve paid over £8000 in interest alone between 2013-2017 on a salary of £14000.0 with 2 dependands. I have sent all the letters to the loan providers and pretty much most of them have came back with “We have lend the money responsibly” iv’e now contacted ombudsman but I am worrying as I did gamble a lot which can be seen on my bank statements ( don’t judge once I did It once I tried to keep winning money back I have since stopped) I had a a total of 60 loans within a 56 month period. Has anyone came across this kind of issue before where the ombudsman have rejected due to gambling?
Thanks :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Ash, that’s a lot of borrowing…
Lots of people here have had good refunds via the Ombudsman even if there was a lot of gambling showing on their bank statements.
There are some example cases listed in this article: https://debtcamel.co.uk/gambling-payday-loan-refunds/
stu says
Had 59 months in a row borrowing from WDA, have asked for refund nothing as yet in response in week four now, but my statement of accounts show £6010 worth of interest from loan three, they never asked for any extra information or checked my credit report?.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sounds like an excellent case! Just sit tight and wait for the 8 week point. And don’t accept too low an offer, if you aren’t sure, come back and talk it through here!
stu says
Thanks Sara I have stated that I would accept 5K if done quickly but prepared to go to Ombudsman and claim the 8% interest if they drag it out the full period so now I wait, Great site and information. Will post more when they respond.
ab says
*HELP NEEDED*
Hi Guys,
QQ have offered my a payout which im happy with and accepted. I have emailed back and accepted.
2 weeks later – still no sign of the funds in my account? sent 4/5 emails (no reply) – customer service no help. & the complaints team been on hold for 1hour+ on several occasions trying to get through.
Anyone suggest anything?? anyone else had this problem.
Thanks a lot.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send them an email saying you will be sending the case to the ombudsman next week if you don’t get the refund they have offered you.
Nick Welch says
I’ve the same issue, ombudsman ruled in my favor last week with repay all interest etc, so emailed them to confirm they had the FOS decision and did they need my bank details etc, I know the payment will come so not worried about date, more they had received it so I know it’s in process, I fully expect them to delay for the full 28 days but no one has answered my 6 emails and it’s impossible to speak to someone on the phone!
I just want it confirmed they have received it all, I don’t want to have to go to the ombudsman at day 28 and them spin some story about it all.
Nw
Mike Seabrook says
Hey debt camel. I used your lovely templates for letters and followed the advice on here.
Wonga offered me just under £3500 I did have to go thru the ombudsmen as They refused to respond to my complaint. As soon as the ombudsmen got involved they settled with in 6 weeks.
PaydayUK
Wageday advance and
Payday express
Are dragging their heels abit and say8ng basically it was more than 6 years ago burn used the 3 year argument as I didn’t know I could claim a refund on unfair lending until last year but no luck with them yet.
It’s with the ombudsmen now. Let’s see how it goes! They said it may take a while though which doesn’t surprise me.
But happy progress so far :)
FYI if any of you had a loan with cash genie they are doing automatic refunds as they have been put into liquidation . Look at their website for details.
Thanks for this website !
Ian says
So had first contact with my adjudicator today, sent over four years worth of banks statements, all the relevant information, copy of all communication between me and LS and a copy of my credit report. He has told me he has requested all the information from LS too.
Any rough ideas on timeframes going forwards now? How long do Adjudicators usually take to produce their findings?
Thanks
Ian
Dan says
Hi Ian,
I submitted my complaint about Lending Stream on 05/06/17
Was picked up by the adjudicator who handled another case for me about 3 weeks ago and he issued his decision (found, mostly, in my favour) last week and gave Lending Stream until 5/9/17 to respond.
My timeline is a little skewed as mine was picked up by someone already handling my cases so there wasn’t as much research to do but, from my other cases, it looks like 8 weeks is the timeframe for adjudicators picking up cases.
Good luck!
Dan
MR ROSS COOPER says
Many thanks for the templates.
Got £203 back from payday express as had no outstanding balance and after reviewing summary of accounts was pretty accurate.
Myjar gave me £293 after they had taken what was outstanding again I accepted.
The crown jewel was sunny who offered £2316 & that is after they had cleared outstanding balance of £367.
Just waiting on ombusdman ruling on wonga.
Thanks for the templates they are such a valuable tool.
Shem says
Hi all
I’ve just had the fairly standard response from moneybox247 about them being aware and of the sites and templates people are using and them not to be compared to other lenders etc. However as well as acknowledging receipt of my complaint and advsing they will investigate my complaint they have also agreed to write my balance off as a gesture of goodwill, I will happily accept this as the £200 balance is not much less than the interest I would be pursuing as one of my smaller lenders, however I have a couple of queries if anyone with experience can help?
1, does acceptance of this definitely complete the claim? The wording is very ambiguous stating ‘they will now investigate and are willing to write the balence off…
2, the outstanding balance is due on Thursday 31st so only a clear working day away…..is the time for me to cancel collection by cpa at my end to avoid them turning around and saying it was too late to stop collection and me be forever chasing their goodwill gesture of writing it off….
Any help appreciated
Shem
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is a shame you haven’t already cancelled the CPA. At this point you may not be able to… You could say “I will accept writing off my debt of £200 – but if this is collected on 31st August then I will want the amount refunded.” Then if they don’t, you just take it to the Ombudsman.
Shem says
Sorry to add I have just logged on to my account and it says it is in default!!! Technically I haven’t even missed the payment date yet…..anyone one know why they’ve done this and if I accept a write off can they mark it as a default ?
Shem
Sara (Debt Camel) says
oh then also add to your reply that you are only accepting this on condition they delete the default on your account, because you haven’t yet missed a payment!
Lynda says
I have had an offer from Wonga. What happens if i decline the offer then go to the FOS and they find in favour of Wonga will the offer from Wonga still stand.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How good is the Wonga offer? Recently they just seem to offer on a few loans… if this is what has happened, then people always get more by going to the Ombudsman!
I can’t remember a case where someone got less. The worst that can happen (and it doesn’t seem to very often at the moment with Wonga offers) is that the adjudicator says the Wonga offer is fair and you should accept it.
Lynda says
I am undecided on taking it to the FOS. It was a not to bad offer. I just wondered if I did go the FOS and they found in wongas favour could this offer then be withdrawn. As in my eyes they have already admitted that these loans were irresponsibly lent.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
All I can say is that we have never seen this happen… If Wonga have made you a half way decent offer, you clearly have a reasonable case and so the ombudsman isn’t going to say that Wonga did everything fine and don’t have to pay you!
What is your offer? How much interest have you paid? how many loans did you have and how many are Wonga refunding?
SPLITTY says
Thank you for getting in touch with us about your payday complaint.
Just as a heads up to anyone else with a complaint going against 1st Stop Payday Loans (now called Clear Recoveries), they rejected my complaint, which I’ve since forwarded to the ombudsman.
I’ve received a reply today from the ombudsman to say that unfortunately it’s seems likely that 1st Stop Recoveries is looking to wind the business up, and that once this is done there will be no one to consider my complaint against.
So while they can still look into my complaint for the time being, it’s likely they won’t be able to resolve my complaint in time! ARGH!!
However, if you would like to carry on with your complaint up until the point the business is wound up, please let us know.
LG says
That sucks…. I put in my complaint to 1st stop last week and I have yet to hear anything back from them… they are the ones that really messed me up too :(
Paul says
hi sara ,
recieved my statement of acount (how many loans i had (40 loans ) biggest was 335 borrowed , which was a jump from 50.00 to 335.im confused
as to now how i go about it they are aware im making a complaint and when i spoke to them in oringin call 20th this month , i told them clearly that i wish to claim back all intrest on loans taken out , to help u help me ive copy/pasted there response which i recieved with statement of accounts- below
Dear Mr paul
Thank you for your email regarding your account.
We have now sent you details of your loans with WDFC UK Ltd.
As a responsible lender, we must make sure every single application we receive is individually assessed. We look at your repayment history and a wide range of industry data. A decision is then made based on a combination of factors.
All applications we receive are assessed at the time of application.
If this is not the information you were looking for, please contact us on 0207 138 8330. We’re here to help from 7am to 10pm, every day.
(does this mean they are looking at responsibilty)ie r they in the wrong ..
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Paul, Wonga should look into your complaint now. But it’s a good idea to use the details you now have to write a fuller complaint letter, by using the Step Two template letter in the article above.
40 loans is a lot! I suggest you go though and work out how much interest you have paid overall. Knowing this will let you work out how good (or bad!) any offer of a refund from Wonga is. If you aren’t sure, come back here and ask, because if you accept an offer you can’t later change your mind if you think it should have been more.
Acee says
Had final response from Safety Net rejecting my complaint saying they know I’ve used a letter template and many things finer apply to them they offered £80 interest accrued from 16th July. They said could see from my bank I had a disposable income of £500 per month which is a joke I took payday loans out because I had zero in my bank they acknowledged they could see other payday loans. Straight off to the ombudsman today.
Acee says
Also for the last few months every day I paid back my loan with safety net the very same day I took the maximum available as a new loan. They said my complaint doesn’t apply to them as they aren’t a payday loan company.
Ross says
Hi Acee,
They’re talking complete cobblers! I had an account with SNC and, from an initial limit of £150, they upped mine to £1000. I used this, to the maximum, month in, month out, until I decided enough was enough. They stated, on their, website that this should only be used as a short term facility. I complained, as they could see what was coming in and out of my bank account, including payments to other PDL companies and gambling transactions, and they agreed to write off the existing balance, which was just under £1400. If they have rejected your complaint, send it to the FOS. The fact that they could see your incomings and outgoings, from your bank account, strengthens your case. Good luck!
Acee says
Ross thanks for this. Yeah I too had plenty of gambling transactions. They seem really miffed that I used a letter template from the internet. They also say facts don’t back up my claim and their sums don’t add up to the same as mine but I’ve got it all on bank statements. Fact is i had 17 loans in 6 months from them this year ontop of 8 other payday loans. I’ll be writing to them today to point this out and will go to the Ombudsman today.
They even offered me an increase to loan amount last month which I refused and they’ve included this in their final response which is strange as strengthens my case not theirs totally irresponsible.
Andy says
I have a complaint with safety net 7 week stage but feel that I may get the same response then, good luck with the fos , as may situation was exactly the same , please post how u get on and will do the same
Cheers andy
Acee says
Yeah will do Andy just looked at last 3 months bank statements and I’m -£400-£500 each month so I’ll send these to the FOS
Nav Gill says
Hi Guys,
Thought I’d update you as I have a complaint that i entered with Safety Net Credit on 28/07/2017.
I sent out template letters to around 8 lenders where Mr Lender have settled and the rest are the usual suspects who send the same generic email. Now I sent my SNC complaint but ended up putting a little more effort and going into detail about why I felt my loan was irresponsibly lent. However, in addition I ended up reading through different cases that the FOS had upheld and saved a copy of the one most similar to my case (gambling transactions, pattern of lending as immediate re loans, etc).
Anyway I had my final response back from them today where they admitted partial culpability and have agreed to refund £1,889 in interest with 8% statutory (total interest I paid over two years was around £2,234) so I have accepted.
So it appears that they are settling some claims but I added significant further explanation to support the claim. They have also agreed to remove adverse credit marks so keep at it and get your complaint into FOS as their settlement clearly suggests that although not a conventional PDL, they are irresponsibly lending which is the entire basis of your complaint.
Hope this helps.
Acee says
Thanks Nav but Safetynet can see all our bank details they can see all my gambling transactions and still offered me more money right up until last month which I refused. It’s going to the Ombudsman to decide. Even out of principal I wouldn’t accept any offer from Safetynet.
Andy says
Thanks this does help , I am still waiting a response been 6 weeks now, but have a very similar situation as re loans n gambling transactions although I never stated in my complaint so just waiting for reply had initial dealing with one but waiting game I guess
Thanks Andy
Kate says
Hi Sara cash genie has got back to me and offered a refund but not sure how to calculate how much the 8% interest extra would be could you help please? Here’s the email
I have looked into your account and I can see that you are due £195 in interest payments and charges
Loan ID:1001325191 – interest paid £52.50
Charges paid £0
Loan date: 22/11/13
Loan ID: 1001352593– interest paid £52.50
Charges paid £0
Loan date: 3/12/13
Loan ID: 10001428148 – interest paid £37.50
Charges paid £0
Loan date:8/1/14 Loan ID: 1001554652 – interest paid £52.50
Charges paid £0 Loan date:
The refund is to be offered as full and final settlement. However, you will also be entitled to statutory interest from the date of your loan, which will be calculated by RSM and added to the amount of £195 when payment is made.
RSM will post a cheque payment. However, as you are aware, Cash Genie was placed into liquidation on 5 January 2016. As you are owed funds from the Company you are classed as an unsecured creditor and the Joint Liquidators will seek to make full payment to you in due course. Dividends (payment runs) will be run approximately every 2 months and RSM will send your payment as soon as they are able to do so. In the meantime, your debt will continue to accrue statutory interest at 8% per annum.
Thanks
Anon37 says
Easiest thing to do is get the calculations and add it on an excel sheet. Im interested when you get paid as i am awaiting a cheque after getting a letter like yours
Lindsay says
Did u get your cheque I’m waiting 😀😀😀
Danny says
Hi Sara,
I’ve just had a response for Wonga about a complaint I sent through in mid July. They’ve offered to refund 2 out of the 20 loans + 8% I had with them over a 5 and a half year period. The 2 loans that they’re refunding were 2 of my biggest and the amount they’re offering to refund is about £680. I need your help as I’m not sure whether this is a good offer or not. I could really do with the money, but I’m not desperate and don’t want to accept an offer if it is too low. The 2 loans that they’ve offered to refund are from 2012 – one of my concerns is that a fair amount of my borrowing was in 2010 – would the ombudsman be able to review those loans?
Also, if I now go to the ombudsman, is there a chance that I could lose my current offer? Many thanks for your help and advise Sara – you’re a star.
Danny
Danny says
Further to the above, PaydauUK have just come back to me at the 8 weeks mark asking for bank statements from 2009 & 2010. Shall I send the bank statement or just go straight to the ombudsman now the 8 weeks are up?
Re the Wonga loan, I don’t undersatnd how much tax I’ll be due to pay. Will it be refunded from the £680 offered? Here is what they send me…
total interest and fees
£516.48
8% interest net
£163.67
total settlement
£680.15
tax
8% interest gross
£204.59
basic rate tax deduction
£40.92
Thanks,
Danny
Dan says
Think the general consensus is that you shouldn’t send bank statements to the lender – I think the phrase Sara suggests is “investigate the complaint using the information already held and available at the time of application”.
As for sending it straight to the FOS – if the 8 weeks is up, it’s your choice to give them more time but, personally, I’d send it to the FOS.
As for the tax on your Wonga refund, you will get £680.15.
The tax has already been deducted from the 8% interest (they’re paying you a total of £204.59 in simple interest but have deducted £40.92 in tax = £163.67).
Don’t forget, you may be able to reclaim the tax if you don’t have savings, etc.
Lee says
Danny don’t accept this measily offer from Wonga. You have a very strong case. You won’t get less or loose this offer.
Refer this one to the financial ombusdman asap using their online website compliant portal.
Lee says
Hi all.
Finally got my refund from Wonga of £2,486 took them the full 14 days to pay out. I also successfully got Piggy Bank refund of £185 yesterday (on 3 loans had calculated £203 – but accepted as only very small difference). So have accepted offers and settled with Wonga, Piggy Bank, Peachy, Sunny & Mr Lender.
Whilst Wage Day Advance, Uncle Buck, Satsuma & Moneybox 24/7 – Should here final responses within next 12 days, as all their deadlines all up then.
Whilst Lending Stream and Payday Express are still in FOS adjudicator queue waiting to be picked up.
& Quick Quid phoned twice, emailed twice 6 weeks ago and can’t even get them to send me my statement of accounts.
Paul says
Hi all,
Just to let you know, I complained to Mr Lender around 4 weeks ago, asking for a refund of all interest on 5 loans I had with them. Yesterday I had a response, stating the usual garb of how they deemed all the loans affordable etc but as a gesture of goodwill they were willing to refund the interest on the final loan I took out with them. I responded by saying I was not happy with this and that I would be taking my complaint to the FOS if this was their ‘final offer’. I added that I’d be willing to accept a refund of the 3 large loans only, instead of all 5, and if they did this, I would not pursue it.
Low and behold, today I receive an email from them agreeing to refund what I’ve asked for.
So goes to show, don’t accept their initialoffer as a ‘final offer’. It seems to me Mr Lender would rather settle direct than go through the hassle of Ombudsman investigation.
Acee says
Good result Paul I tried this with Safetynet ( hoping for about £500 only offered me £80 as a ‘goodwill’ gesture) didn’t work they replied straight away saying their decision still stands so straight to the Ombudsman now not sure how they can defend giving me 17 loans already this year.
Jo says
I just got an offer from Mr Lender today for 3 out of 9 large loans. I have used Pauls comments above to ask them to consider 6 of the loans or I feel I will have little choice but to refer the case to the Financial Ombudsman. Fingers crossed they come back to me tomorrow like they did with Paul :).
I have claims filed with 6 lenders (with 3 more to do). I have been stuck in this vicious payday loan cycle for 7yrs, totally in secret from my partner, kids, friends and family. I have always (and still do) felt so ashamed by it all, but finding this site has finally made me realise I am not alone and maybe not entirely to blame. Thank you for this site! I am so glad I found it :-)
Paul says
Hi Jo. They seemed quite adamant with their initial offer to me but no where in their response did it mention ‘final offer’. So I thought what the hell, write back and ask for more. I stated what I’d be happy with but also emphasised the fact that the hassle of going to the Ombudsman could be saved for each party. They replied within 24 hours and have me what I wanted.
They then then paid out my refund within a few hours of accepting.
Challenge their offer. Dictate to them. But be polite in your correspondence. Seemed to have worked for me.
Good luck ?
Lee says
Yes counter offered with Mr Lender through their supervisor Amy on the phone. If you play hardball and they know you won’t budge they will cave in and give you the full amount or very near to what you initially requested.
JoB says
I know someone who only 5 weeks ago complained to safety net and has already been given their settlement!! Really confused as to why some are point blank being refused? They didn’t have a very high limit and had only been doing it about a year so seems really strange that others are being refused…..perhaps it’s those larger complaints they are trying to avoid??
Acee says
Well they loaned to me 17 times in 6 months rejected my claim today then I tried to compromise by saying I will accept all interest without the 8% added but they refuse. They said I have £500 per month spare even though i sent them my last 3 monnth bank statements showing -£2500 over this period.
Saffi says
My claim was large and they said they had done no wrong, now with FOS.
Acee says
I’ve lent £3130 pound this year in 17 separate loans and will have paid back over £3800 when I pay the existing loan back. I’m on a DMP and they haven’t even froze the interest so im determined on this one.
They offered me £80 today. I’ve paid £1059.30 in interest alone this year already they can shove their £80 offer. My monthly income is £1070.
AK says
Hi, firstly I would like to thank you for this amazing site, it gave me hope.
I sent 1st step’s emails to 10 payday loan companies and started to receive the statements and even the offers.
First offer was from Myjar. I had 3 loans £650, £2000 and £1500 with Myjar, first two were repaid earlier, towards the last one I made 3 repayments of total 12 ones. Myjar offered to remove the interest from my last loan and repay back the principal less already paid amounts. Original loan was £1500, I paid c. £700, they asked me to pay remaining £800 which is fair enough. But the interest I paid on first two loans is c.£700 and I was in debt spiral at that time I took these loans already. I was expecting that they refund old interest as well. What shall I do? Accept their final offer or go to FO?
AK says
After sending Myjar an email with counter-offer to the their ‘final’ offer they send me final-final offer and refunded the interest on my second loan. Even I tempted to send them counter-counter offer to refund the interest on first loan I think I’ll accept. My outstanding balance will be £300. Not the ideal situation but better than £1400 in first no answer. Saves time and nerves on FOS investigation.
Paul says
Wow. So Mr Lender paid out my refund (into my bank account) within 3 hours of accepting their final offer, earlier today.
If only all the other companies did the same. Well done Mr Lender!
Tom says
They are by far the best. They did the same for me too.
Dave says
That’s really good.
surely all of them should be able to do this though since they can deposit the initial loans in minutes!
I’m waiting on wonga. Accepted on 25th of august….. waiting…. and waiting…. and waiting…. :)
Wonga made an offer after the adjudicator had investigated it. Was about £300-£400 lower than what adjudicator had advised but as ombudsman queue is taking around 3 months at least I thought I’d accept. And their offer was £1.9k more than what they had initially offered after my complaint as that was a big fat zero!!!
Billy says
Looking for some assistance. Firstly I love the site and was not aware I could make these claims against the many lenders I have used. Can you advise on bank statements. I bank with the Clydesdale Bank and always shredded my statements as I was embarrassed by them and anyone found them. Clydesdale Bank website states it is £5 per month for a copy, is there any way around this. I have already sent to appeals to the FOS from Wonga and Lending Stream.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How many statements do you need? You should talk to Clydesdale Bank and ask what the cost would be for that number.
Billy says
Sara, thanks for your advice, contacted the bank and they are supplying six years bank statements for £30.00.
Could anyone advise if they have been successful with claims against Provident and what was Greenwood’s, I had several large loans over the years with them and really struggled to pay them due to the interest and other loans.
Ads says
Billy, hsbc tried to charge me £10 for my statements which I flat out refused. As soon as i said the ombudsman required my statements the charge of £10 magically disappeared. Took about 3 weeks to get the statements from them (all 37 envelopes worth).
Vickie9 says
That’s interesting. I’m with HSBC and went into a branch, they just printed them off with no questions asked. The only thing was that the older ones didn’t have my address on but FOS accepted them regardless.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This other page looks at some points you may want to make for doorstep loan complaints: https://debtcamel.co.uk/refund-doorstep-loans/
yes people are getting some money back from Provident. If you look at the comments on here today, Hayley mentioned they sent her a cheque.
Lee says
£30 is steep. Nationwide only charge £5 flat rate fee.
Think you need to complain and state you will change bank if fee not waived or reduced to £10 max.
Then I’d switch banks once you have got all this sorted.
Alex says
After sending my acceptance form to FOS I had a reply that wonga will contact me within 4 weeks to process the refund. Anyone know if there will be 4 weeks or should I contact them if they need anything for me?
Now I have more 10 complaints already sent to Financial Ombudsman. They requested more information. Should I tell them to use all the documents that I sent for wonga case?
Thank you so much Sara for your hard work.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, if the FOS already has your bank statements and credit record, your previous adjudicator will pass them on. You could also ask you adjudicator if they can pick up any if your other cases?
Cmum says
I accepted via FOS 18th Aug, Wonga contacted me on 22nd saying payment will take up to 28 working days. I called yesterday to see of it’s likely to be the full 28 days and the lady said it’s currently taking around 14 working days. Today is working day 6 so hopefully it will come to me in the next week and a half. Hope this helps and I’ll come back to report when it has cleared to help you further xx
Alex says
Thanks for reply.
I sent my acceptance to FOS on 21th of August but not contact from Wonga yet. Should I call them to see why are so late or just wait 2 more weeks until their deadline given by Ombudsman? What phone number did you use to call Woanga, Cmum?
Cmum says
FOS said they had 28 days to contact me. That said, the contact came 4 days afterwards for me. It was an email from Wonga’s FOS Team.
If you accepted with FOS on 21st, I see no harm in calling them to check they have your correct details (that’s what i asked when i called). I called their customer care line. The lady was really very helpful. Good luck!
Roch says
Hi all, but annoyed with Quick Quid, my adjudicator ruled in my favour that all 8+ loans should be refunded and 8% on top of that they were quite small £50-300 but was every month some straight after paying one and was using them to gamble with and clearly could not afford any of the lm she said. had til 5th of Sep to respond and have yesterday stating they will only refund loans 1-4 which I told my adjudicator I don’t agree with. If I take it to ombudsman will they agree with the adjudicator or Quick Quid and will I have to wait 3 months. Loans were in 2012.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How much interest did you pay overall? How much on the first 4 loans?
Was there a big gap between loans 1-4 and 5-8? Or were the later loans for smaller amounts? I am asking because it’s unusual for a lender to offer to refund the first 4 loans rather than the last 4 loans.
Roch says
Sorry for the mix up it was loans 4-8 and their was hardly no gaps as some the same day as another. They even said they saw the level of dependancy but it’s not the money really as it’s only £200+ interest and with the 8% I’m not sure but it’s the removal of them on my credit report I want. Quick Quid offered £87 with the 8% as their final offer. My adjudicator ruled refund all loans and 8% and remove all from credit report so don’t really know what to do as never had a complaint had to go to Ombudsman yet my others so far are
Payday express were ruled by adjudicator to pay all interest and fees last week which was just over £400 plus remove from file and say they can take 4 weeks to pay so waiting
I got £97 redress from satsuma only for last loan which is fine.
Wonga is with adjudicator my biggest £4800 loans so should get news soon.
Safety net is waiting for adjudicator.
So all complaints are moving along and get resolved at adjudicator level and I only complained in April 2017.
vickie9 says
Lending Stream didn’t agree with my adjudicator and just want to refund 8 of the 19 loans I took out with them. This is the same as they offered me in the first place. I’ve asked for it to be looked at by the ombudsman so I guess i’ll just be playing the waiting game now.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well the PDUK refund should keep you going for a while!
Gary says
Hi there,
Can anyone advise please, i have submitted a total of 6 complaints to the FOS where they have requested bank statements covering the period 3 months before my loans to 1 month after the date taken out. My scenario is that all the loans which i took out with the 6 different payday loan companies were credited and paid from my Halifax account so the use of payday loans didnt show up on my main Natwest account. Throught the years i would transfer money from my Natwest account which receives my salary to the Halifax account to pay the monthly loan amounts.
Should i only provide my Halifax statements as they show all the loan amounts in and out of the account?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You need to provide statements for both accounts.
lorr says
Hi thought id give everyone an update,
QQ refund of £489 after going to adjudicator
Wonga offered £500, declined and now at the Ombudsman
And today PDUK have agreed with the adjudicator and is refunding £6210.
Im really pleased, after seeing this site i also applied to my Ambrose Wilson (catalogue companies) and was refunded £3545.
I cant thank Sara and everyone else enough ?
Catherine says
Hi I have already received a payment from payday uk, this was without asking for it they did this automatically. Would I be entitled to anymore?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This would have been a refund for some problem they had with handling your account. Unless it was very large, you may still have a good affordability case.
Vickie9 says
I had £1300 off them a couple of years ago which they said was because i’d overpaid on some of my loans. I’ve also just been sent a letter from my adjudicator today telling me that Payday UK have agreed with her decision and will be refunding me just over £9,000 so definitely worth putting a complaint in! Good luck.
Catherine says
Brilliant site! Just had an offer from piggy bank and have settled. Still awaiting correspondence from wage day advance, wonga, sunny, my jar, quick quid and pounds to pocket. Hopefully will hear from them in the next week!
Lee says
It’s great here isn’t it. Had over 4k refunded already and still 7 to settle.
Catherine says
It really is! Just wondering which companys people have found have been more forthcoming without going to FO?
Also if I decline an offer and take it to the FO is there a chance I could end up losing the whole amount?
Lee says
Easiest to deal with- Mr Lender & Sunny.
Best initial refund offers – Wonga
Worst to Deal with – Lending Stream, Quick Quid, Payday Express, Satsuma.
Cat says
I have had an offer from sunny but seems quite low. If I send them an email asking them to reconsider with further information will I then have to wait another 8weeks?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, I suggest you say you will be going to the Ombudsman if you don’t get a settlement agreed within a week.
Hayley says
Thought it would be useful to give an update on my complaints and waiting time.
Payday Uk – responded on 8th week upheld all loans and refunded with added 8% interest payment made 5 working days later
Payday Express responded on 9th week and upheld all loans with added 8% interest an outstanding loan payment made 4 days after I sent the acceptance
The Money Shop – responded 10 weeks later listing all loans and upheld only 4 out of 10 even though stating I had deferred on my first loan and had 9 more after deferring on all but 1 of them and numerous top ups. No 8% interest added so I have declined stating I do not agree and that I had loans from their sister companies at the same time and they have upheld them all and passed to Ombudsman.
Provident contacted 9 weeks later only upholding one loan which was 6 years ago and the biggest loan. the rest of them were not upheld but were around 8/10 years ago so accepted. Cheque was sent along with decision letter
Wonga responded within 7 weeks but only upheld one random loan out of 10 and advised I didn’t pay my last loan back but my bank statements showed I has in fact paid this and half the interest. Declined and sent to Ombudsman
Quick Quid responded within 7 weeks and only upheld last 3 loans out of 11 and didn’t add 8% interest. I counter offered but was told a very stern no they will not budge so this has gone off to Ombudsman and my bank statements show more loans than they said I had
harry says
hi can someone please help I have been following this site and like everyone else I have also sent letters of complaint to the following companies and outcomes
Mr lender offered £220 then after saying no said £656 which I accepted
uncle buck point blank refused
my jar said no but reduced interest on current loan to just what I borrowed so accepted
piggy bank said no then after email asking for £359 they said they give me £320 as goodwill gesture I accepted
sunny have got back today saying no just asked them to reconsider with 34 loans
lending stream only offered on 1 loan from the 36 loans I took out asked them to reconsider
quick quid waiting for reply
Wonga waiting for reply
first response waiting for reply
peachy waiting for reply
now here’s my problem I wasn’t entirely honest on my expenses list I did not put down my mortgage and have to be honest my biggest problem was my gambling which am not proud of and also in my account as well as my mortgage going out I had rent coming in but this was going into another one of my accounts which I was then transferring into my main account will the fos look at both account will they ask me where that money was coming from and will this then put me into a worse situation I am no sure how the fos work and I rather not chase money if then get my mortgage lender involves and other parties thanks for your help
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you didn’t put your mortgage on your expense list, this is a reason why the lenders should have asked you some questions, not given you a loan, as your mortgage would have shown very clearly on a credit check. Inconsistency between your application and other information is something the lender should have looked out for.
Gambling isn’t usually a problem for these complaints, lots of people have won cases with their bank statements showing lots of gambling. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/gambling-payday-loan-refunds/ for some examples of Ombudsman decisions in these sorts of case.
Yes the FOS will want to see statements for both your accounts. I’m not quite sure why you are concerned about this – if your mortgage lender wasn’t told you were renting your place out, then that shouldn’t be an issue, the Ombudsman is a confidential service and they aren’t going to write to your mortgage lender.
Harry says
Hi Sara thank you for your reply this is my biggest concern I haven’t told my mortgage lender and am scared the FOS will notify them in case they have some sort of obligation too this will put me in more bother than chasing lenders
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I understand why you feel worried but I don’t think it will be a problem!
AK says
HI, I sent my request for a statement to MyJar on 24th and an initial complaint on the next day. First response was ‘no’ and I received it on 25th then after sending another more detailed email I received the final offer on 30th which is not what I expected. They offered to refund the interest on last loan but I think previous two were also unaffordable. Can I go to FOS straight away or do I need to wait for 8 weeks since the initial complaint anyway even I have a final offer?
Tom says
Once the final offer has been given you can send it straight to the FOS. The lenders just have 8 weeks to respond to your initial complaint, if they don’t respond in that time you can also send it to FOS. Send away :)
AK says
Thanks. I asked them to change their final offer (I asked them to refund two biggest loans’ interest, all together I had 3 loans from them.) if they don’t answer until weekend I send my complaint to FOS. Great that I don’t need to wait, 8 weeks is a long wait.
Ash says
Brilliant site and so helpful. I have started my emails today to the following companies, Wonga, wage day advance, safety net credit, lending stream and amigo- amigo is the one I’ve paid most interest to and I have hardly ever paid on time and Evan though my guarantor paid a couple of times they offered me a top up a couple of years ago which I stupidly accepted and now seen that from a 5k loan I’ve paid over 10k back. What are the chances of getting a refund on the interest? Excluding that loan I have totalled my pad day loans as receiving a total of 15k and paying back over 20k so fingers crossed I will get a decent offer.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If Amigo offered you a top up after they had had to get your guarantor to pay, that seems like a strong point to me! Good luck!
Paul Smith says
Would the FOS request to see bank statements for a guarantor as well as the loanee with a guarantor loan like the ones that amigo offer?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
A guarantor loan has to be affordable for both the borrower and the guarantor. But the FOS won’t be interested in the guarantor’s finances unless the guarantor is also making an affordability complaint. If the borrower is complaing, the guarantor’s bank statements are irrelevant to the complaint.
Chris says
Hello Sarah
I have a complaint in with Sunny (7th May) and am awaiting contact from the adjudicator
I have an outstanding balance of around £1000 but have recently had a letter from SLA to say that the debt has been sold to them and I must pay the balance through them or set up a payment plan. They are threatening court action if I don’t.
I’m not sure what to do next?
Do I set up a payment plan? But how would that affect my complaint.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You should tell them that you are disputing the debt with Sunny and ask them to hold any enforcement action until this is resolved. But you may as well set up a payment plan as well. It won’t harm your complaint – every £10 you pay them is £10 more you will get back. And if you don’t win your complaint, well you are going to need a payment plan anyway.
Janet says
Lending Stream I sent my complaint and they replied saying they had done nothing wrong, no mention of FOS or final response, just states :
Resolution :
Having said above, we believe that Lending Stream has behaved responsibly in approving these loans and has dealt with them fairly.
We hope the above helps.
For further queries, please email at complaints@lendingstream.co.uk or call on 0203 365 0138 (Monday to Friday between 7 am to 10 pm). Call charges apply.
I have asked them if this is their final response but they haven’t replied yet, do I wait until 8 weeks is up before I can send it to the FOS ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You have done the right thing asking them if that is their Final Response. Wai for that or the 8 week point.
Did they also say you had a good credit score which seems very unlikely to be correct?
Janet says
Thank you Sara, yes they said my experian score was 574 which is highly unlikely due to defaults and 2 active CCJ’s.
Helen says
I had a very similar reply from LendingStream. I replied immediately saying their information was incorrect (especially about my credit score!) and asked if it was their final response. Waiting ten days before sending another email asking if it was their final response and that if I heard nothing in 7 days I would be forwarding to FOS.
They never replied so I’ve sent it to FOS now.
Acee says
Janet they offered me £400 off my outstanding balance a few weeks ago which I declined I’ve sent them 3 emails since asking if that was their final response – they have yet to reply you will probably have to wait 8 weeks then send to Ombudsman
Sally says
Hi, just after some advice please…..
My aduticator upheld my complaint against payday uk on the 11th August and give them until the 25th August to reply they haven’t replied so she sent an email on the 29th to chase up. She said if she doesn’t hear anything but the 5th sept she will get an ombudsman to look at it and that means more waiting!!!!! I was just wondering do u think I should give payday U.K. a call to see if they agree with the adjudicator or not?? I’m not sure if I’m allowed to???
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Don’t waste your time – this isn’t going to speed things up.
Sally says
It’s just frustrating my first complaint was on the 3/6/17. If it goes to the ombudsman it’ll take a further 3 months or so……
I know you are right in saying don’t waste your time… I don’t think it’ll make much difference!
fiona says
I got5 quick response from them & got a payout of 5,000 which I thought was fair & i accepted they also paid within 7days… WageDay &Quick quid are so slow & offered me 700 so its now with the FOS, these companies seem to deal with everyone different so stay with it & hopefully you will get an answer soon.
vickie9 says
Hi Sally, it took PDUK a further two weeks after the initial deadline before they came back to my adjudicator with their decision to accept her recommendations, so my advice would be to leave it with you adjudicator and see what happens.