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?
Steve says
I’m now on week 6. I have had Mr lender wipe off debt and refund 300. I have also managed to get 600 debt clèared with drafty and wipe credit file. safety net agreed to clear 816 to clear and close account. Piggy bank refused but I only had 2 small loans spread a year apart.
I’m waiting on a final response from wonga, my jar. WDA, uncle buck, moneyboat, cash4unow, money box 247, cashap, ferratum and paydayuk.
hopefully some responses soon
thanks Sara and all on here for the help and advice it is paying off
Dave says
Case against QQ was about to go to FO after adjudicator upheld my complaint and twice QQ refused to accept any blame. Today out of the blue the adjudicator says they have offered £10.5k plus 8% interest and everything removed from credit file. This sounds far too good to believe after all their refusals. I will clearly accept this but can they again refuse it and not pay out meaning it going to a FO? I’m a bit nervous as this money would be life changing!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Gosh – did you add up how much interest you had paid?
Assuming they haven’t made a gigantic cock-up and you only paid 4k of interest, now they have made this offer they will stick with it. The 8% interest should add a fair bit – let us know what the grand total is when it’s paid!
Harry Iqbal says
Just shows how unethical these payday companies are they don’t care if you’re a gambling addict or whether you can eat or not they just care about money sad but true
Dave says
No the interest is correct. 12/13 loans upheld. Rolled over for nearly 5 years. Loan after loan. Got really trapped and depressed. I hope this is all legit as I can put the money to such good use after years of worry. Could be £13/14k. Just scared they will renege on this with the adjudicator. I’ve signed the settlement form and sent it back to the adjudicator. Just so out of the blue after refusing to deal with the complaint at all.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It won’t feel real until it hits your bank account… but you can sensibly spend the weekend making plans :)
Dan says
Congratulations, hope you get to use at least some of it to enjoy life. I remember the payday spiral well and it’s not a nice place to be! Maybe donate a fiver to CAB if you can, I’m sure Sara would never suggest it but she won’t let us send her a bottle of wine either
#unsunghero!
Michael Chadwick says
Anybody accepted an offer direct with QQ?
I accepted their final offer 2 days yet have had no reply at all from them!
M M says
I must say I got my list of loans from Wonga pretty quickly. I thought so I had loads of loans with them. Turns out I only had 6 with the interest totalling about £110. On the plus side, they are all within six years. Has anyone been claiming the £5.50 fee for each loan?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are you sure they have sent you a complete list? £110 interest across 6 loans means they were very small. Have you had a look at your bank statements?
M M says
They were very small loans to be honest. I used them right at the end of my payday debacles so makes sense I guess. I have yet to check against my bank statement but shouldn’t be too difficult to do as I can access statements from 2010 onwards online
Harry Iqbal says
M M just be careful with wonga I asked how many loans I had they said 10 today I asked they said 12 so I would ask for email it just my offer was to good to turn down or go to FOS while on wonga just sent them a email to accept but just now received a postmaster email saying it hasn’t been delivered is this something to do with my email or something to do with theirs
Ian w says
Oh well.
Final update.
My wife has decided to accept the small offer from cheque center.
It was 31 loans between 2011 to 2014.
I had worked out an estimate of just over £10,000 (including statutory interest at 8%)
After our 8 weeks of waiting, she got an offer of £509 (and they didn’t even offer the statutory interest) yesterday.
Today we called the FOS to check up on the status of cheque center, and to see if it was worth putting in a claim.
Lady at FOS basically told us that it will take around 3 months to look at the case, and if the company is in administration, their is no guarantee you will get anything, even if the case goes in our favour. If they don’t have the money to pay out, then we get nothing.
This scared the hell out of my wife, and she instantly signed the acceptance letter and posted it off.
I wanted to at least go back to the cheque centre with a counter offer, as they had so many details incorrect in their investigation, but can see my wife’s point.
Not as good an outcome as I had been hoping for.
I just hope to see better news coming from other cheque center claimants.
Good luck everyone, and thank you debt camel for all the advice.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Such a hard decision.
Ian w says
Yep..
Kinda feels like we hit the end of a game of “deal or no deal” with the two boxes being £10k and 1p and the banker offered £500.
Kinda gutted, as was hoping to at least get enough for a wee holiday or some home improvements.
Oh well, such is life.
Tom says
Morning all – finally had my Wonga response.
They have paid out more loans than I expected and added the 8% interest meaning they are refunding just short of £4,000.
I’m absolutely elated! More than I could’ve ever hoped for and it’s all thanks to this site! I have a few with the Ombudsman now so hopefully a few more hundred quid my way!
Tom says
This is my timescale for Wonga if anyone is interested:
17th July – initial complaint and request for statement of account
26th July – statement of account received
14th August – email to say investigation was taking longer than expected
8th September – final response offering refunds on the majority of my loans including 8% interest
I’ve just spoken with a friendly lady who said my refund would be processed today and the funds would be in my account within 3-5 days.
warren says
Hi everyone
The ombudsman has ruled in my favour regarding a refund from wonga. I have now forwarded my bank details to the ombudsman via email which i am happy with. How long do wonga usually take to pay out? 1 down 3 to go. Just would like to thank this lovely website without it i would be covered with debt every month ?
JoB says
Well apparently they say 14 working days BUT this seems to be a bit hot and miss!! I have also been told they send an email once the refund has been processed advising you that the payment will be in the chosen account in 3-5 working days! My 14 working days is up next Friday so technically I should’ve had by now received the second email stating 3-5 working days but I haven’t……Wonga seem to be a law unto themselves!!
Linda says
Just had my final response from Safetynet Credit (week 7). They say my credit history was good and I had a good history of repaying short term loans. I can’t believe that they’ve put that in writing to be fair as my credit history both at the time of lending and now is awful including 2 CCJ’s hence why I’m on a DMP. Them saying I have a good history of repaying short term loads is also incorrect as I have 8 listed on my DMP as unpaid. Just wondering if I should reply disputing this with evidence or simply refer to the FO?
they initially offered me a credit line of £300 and shot this up to £1000 within a couple of months even though it was clear I was struggling as they would have seen from my bank statements which they had access to.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I would just send it to the FOS. SNC doesn’t have a reputation for listening to reason.
Linda says
Yes think I will do this afternoon I was just surprised as to the content of the email as a lot of the content simply wasn’t true. Never mind will refer this afternoon thanks for your reply
Ben says
Hello
I too have had a final response today – they said I had a disposable income of £800 a month and my £400 limit was affordable (plus top up to 580 the following month) I know its their final response but I replied with copies of my bank statements and a spread sheet itemising my income and expenditure. Surprise surprise income for the month before I took the loan = £1560….expenditure for the month £1800. including 7 open credit cards, 7 payday loans, 3 personal loans and £700 gambling transactions. An absolute joke that despite having access to my bank statements they can deem it affordable. I offered them as a gesture of good will another chance to review my case before sending it to the FOS
Tom says
Ben, don’t delay in sending it to the FOS. They can still give you an offer whilst it’s waiting in the queue.
You didn’t need to send bank statements either, the FOS will look at all of these. Sounds like you have a good case! Hope you get what you deserve.
Dan says
So Lending Stream have responded to the adjudicator today and reject his opinion/suggested refund.
The adjudicator stated they should refund all interest and fees on loans 10 through 23 (out of 23 I’ve had) which ,excluding 8% simple interest, is about £4.5k.
Lending Stream have, very kindly, offered just over £1000 to settle the matter which I have, quite obviously, declined.
According to the adjudicator, they have not provided any further information to defend their decision and , again according to the adjudicator, not provided any rationale to their offer.
Anyone had any experience with taking Lending Stream all the way to ombudsman? Or, indeed, any experience of ombudsman decisions vs. adjudicator opinion?
Sharon says
Hi adjudicator upheld mine, LS disagreed. Ombudsman has just upheld adjudicator decision in my case.
they offered me a series of really low offers (each one increased!) but still claimed no wrong doing. Waiting now for their settlement calculation, it was a little confusing that when settling at adjudicator level they tell you the refund amount but at Ombudsman level they just confirm which loans and ask you to accept without the settlement figure.
S
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well done, LEnding Stream need to start learning that they are losing these cases!
vickie9 says
Dan, LS disagreed with the adjudicator and upped their offer by £300. Needless to say I declined their offer. My case has only been with the ombudsman for a couple of weeks but my adjudicator said that it could take 3-6months if that helps in any way.
Dan says
Great! I have a feeling LS do this just in the hope that people will accept a short offer and go away!
I’ve asked the adjudicator to counter with an offer of accepting £4k and clearing current balance (about 200quid) and foregoing the 8% to settle quickly. I think that’s reasonable – we’ll see what they say…..
Lm says
I’ve had a pretty good offer from wonga for just under 3k… should I accept their first offer or ask for more?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How much interest did you pay? This good be a great offer or it could be very poor…
Lm says
I had just over £650 in 8% added interest.
Anyway I’ve accepted their offer now. Thanks for your help.
Daz says
I’m curious – has anyone else had instances of QQ processing refunds WITHOUT you accepting the outcome?
I was offered £1.4k for a number of loans I’d taken out – this is short of my projected amount by about £600ish, so I said I would like the figure reviewing as well as adding the 8% to it before I would accept it.
I was then asked to contact the Final Resolutions Team by phone (Then told they don’t accept calls and to email them) to then find the following day they had processed my refunds without me – and I also now have an email saying the refund has been processed, and the 8% is something “not something that is included in the refund amount nor is it something we would consider”.
I’m a bit annoyed they’ve processed it without me saying I accept it, even more annoyed they haven’t taken a second look at the request.
Has this happened to anyone else?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is a new one!
I suggest you reply saying that you have NOT accepted the refund and unless they add the 8% you will be sending the case to the Ombidsman and also complaining about the way they have handled your complaint!
Cat says
I had this with sunny. They sent me an offer which I wasn’t happy with, the offer was to pay off current open loan but I worked out I would be entitled to more than that. They closed my account with them that day even though I didn’t agree to this and haven’t replied to any of my emails.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you sent this to the Ombudsman? If you don’t think their offer was adequate – they can’t steamroller you into accepting it!
Darren says
Have done – but they are just treating this as if the matter is done/dusted.
Going to refer it to the FOS because I still haven’t approved the agreement, and they seem to be avoiding sending the 8% (last response I had to that was ‘they would never consider it). Maybe they’ll take a look at the remaining loans too…
Overall not too bad so far:
Wizzcash settled with 450 (shy of my estimate but a wins a win)
QQ seem to think I’m done here – referring to FOS
Wonga are challenging the age of my loans – taken loads out over 7 year period (32) and the best they can offer is £50 from a 5 year period? Currently with FOS who are looking at it. Definitely a pattern – estimating 2.5k.
PDUK said they are not responsible for my choice of lenders, refused to provide a statement of accounts, and the checks they ran were sufficient, and denied anything in way of a refund. Est 1.6k. Currently with adjudicator.
Currently using refunds to clear outstanding credit debts, pay off family, and fund college – just wish I’d gotten a grip on this year’s ago.
Jampanda says
Hi all
Wonga have agreed with my Adjudicator. But are saying my refund will be paid in 28 days. I remember people saying it took much less time.
Cmum says
28 working days too :(
I’m on day 17 (working day 13) and still waiting
D says
Ok so good news, finally after my adjudicator passing my case into the queue last December QQ have come back and made an offer in line with what my adjudicator has recommended! Didn’t even make it to the ombudsman, even though I have been waiting over 9 months to be allocated, (none of my claims over 6 years)
Thought it a bit strange they changed their mind but a happy result :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Also strange that you have had to wait so long! But on the bright side an extra 9 months is another 6% interest.
You are the second person today who has reported that QQ have just accepted what the adjudicator said having refused, let’s hope there will be more!
Chasabeth says
Hi guys,
Advice needed… I have finally had a response from Wonga after referring my complaint to FO as I didn’t get a response from them after 8 weeks. They have agreed that 4 of my loans were unaffordable and offered me £950 (includes the 8% interest). These are for my last 4 loans I took with them.
But my quandary is that most of my loans were taken out over 6 years ago (30 in total with top ups) from June 2010. They are flatly refusing to consider these, and I know from previous posts that they won’t consider these from the FO either. £950 is a lot of my money, especially when I’m about to go on maternity leave but potentially it could be a lot more.
Do I accept it? Or do I hold out with the FO? Anyone have any update in regards to this? I’m so stuck…
Gemma says
Wonga finally agreed to pay me on loans from 2010/2011 through Ombudsman – I originally sent complaint at end of Jan and had the decision on 22nd August although still waiting for the money. If you can hang on I would ….. and congratulations!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So Wonga paid for loans over 6 years old? I think that’s the first time anyone has reported that!
Joanna says
All of my Payday Loan complaints were submitted on 30th September 2016. Almost all of them have been settled apart from 3 of them. One of them is with Wageday Advance. Around 2014, they set up a new type of PDL called monthly pay flex loans. I borrowed 3 consecutive loans from them. But the FOS have been looking into how to deal with these specific loans because the interest was actually higher than the usual PDL.
For example, loan two with WDA was a monthly pay flex loan – this was taken out on 4 August 2014 for £250. I had to make 17 monthly instalments of £71.68 and 1 monthly instalment of £71.48!!! So the total to be paid back was £1,290.04.
The FOS has finally come back to me and have written to WDA and have said that they need to cap the borrowing of loans two and three at 200% and refund any repayments over this amount as well as the usual payment of 8% simple interest and other corrections.
I am now waiting for their response to the adjudicator’s letter.
stu says
17 instalments on a loan of £250 it should of been six max of about £70 , that sound very dodgy indeed.
Joanna says
Hi Stu,
Its taken so long for the FOS to look into these loans that I didn’t even realise that I paid back so much.
Apparently, WDA were told to no longer give out these specific loans, but it seems thst mine slipped through the net.
stu says
Well assuming you paid them all off you should have a tidy sum back as you paid more than double the amount plus the 8% interest.
They can have no real argument that I can see settling this. Good Luck
Lou says
Hi
Has anyone had any luck with cash float. I have sent them 3 emails already and received nothing back. I don’t know what to do now.
nigel says
I’ve dealt with them. They are not to bad to deal with
Offer was refused though and did settle through Ombudsman in the end. Phone them. They will talk to you and in my honest opinion are one of the better companies in all aspects.
Bev says
4 days ago QQ disagreed with adjudicator so things was all set for the long haul with Ombudsman. Got a message today to say QQ now agreed with adjudicator findings and offered me the full amount. In complete shock. Thanks Sara for all the advice. Anyone know how long it takes QQ to pay out once an offer has been accepted?
Bev says
1st June – made compalint/ asked for statement of a/c
8th June – received statements
8th June – QQ asked for bank statements etc. I declined saying I would send to FOS once asked.
22nd July – final response for 1 loan approx £900
22nd July – referred to FOS
9th Aug – bank statements etc requested and emailed in.
11th Aug – case taken on by adjudicator and assessed
13th Aug – Adjudicator found in my favour for all loans to have interest and charges refunded
29th Aug – QQ requested more info and time to look at adjudicator findings
4th Sept – QQ disagreed with adjudicator so sent to Ombudsman queue
8th Sept – QQ change of heart and they settle with full amou by adjudicator advised
Just to wait for payment to hit bank now.
14 weeks and 2 days from complaint to QQ to settlement via FOS
Just Wonga and Paydayuk now.
The Hitman says
That’s decent that.
I had a few with quick quid but was over 6 years :-(
Bev says
Thanks. I hope they change their mind about over 6 years. I have a one claim with FOS for wonga and its on hold regarding some of them being over 6 years. Hopefully they’ll just accept what the ombudsman says.
Mrs Cheaplaugh says
I’m waiting to hear from QQ, had 12 payday loans over 22 months in 2011/13. Only complained just over 3 weeks ago though. I think you can still complain if it’s over 6 years ago. Worth a try. I’m sure theres a mention for loans over 6 years old on these pages. Good luck.
Mrs Cheaplaugh says
Interestingly I received my statements of account from QQ last week. Only just noticed that 2 loans are missing from it. I have all my bank statements to reflect the loans. QQ are either being deliberately evasive and using delaying tactics or are totally incompetent. Wonder which is correct.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Were the “extra” 2 loans top ups of loans rather than new ones?
Mrs Cheaplaugh says
One of the loans I’ve just found. My error with the dates, it crossed months/bank holiday so there was a discrepancy between their date and my bank statement but the other loan is completely missing from the statement of account. I know what was borrowed and paid back from my bank statements. The top ups are accounted for.
It’s quite upsetting to look back and see the predicament I was in. Seeing discounts applied to interest payments and remembering searching for codes to get the cheapest deals. I’d completely forgotten about those. :( x
Roch says
Why are Quick Quid are being difficult with me when my loans were very small but nearly every month for 1 year, my adjudicator ruled that all loans were unaffordable on 30/8/17 as they didn’t do the proper checks, they have to refund all interest and pay the 8%, remove from file also from loan 1-8 from 2012. Quick quid previously offered me £87 which I declined, my adjudicator told me they disagree with her and so I sent to the ombudsman last week and now is in queue. My frustration is my case is small so why wouldn’t they want to agree when it’s only about £600 to refund.
Wonga has been found in my favour on all loans by adjudicator waiting to see if they agree they have until 15th sept (I’ve got a feeling they won’t)
Tom says
A couple of comments today have said that QQ disagreed with adjudicator and it was escalated to the ombudsman but after a few days QQ decided they agreed with adjudicator, so fingers crossed they’ll change their mind and you won’t have to wait months for a refund.
Bev says
Roch thats what happened with mine but 4 days later they contacted adjudicator to agree with her decision. hopefully this will be the same for you. Sounds like a delay tactic to me. Good luck
Tom Watsham says
I’ve had over 15 loans with wonga, and the odd loan from QQ, lending stream and sunny.
I have had responses from all and QQ said no, lending stream said no, sunny offered £88 and wonga offered £280 for interest on the last 2 loans. Do I go to the ombudsman?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Definitely for Wonga. The others it depends how many times you borrowed from each of them.
Xenedra Rebecca says
Iv sent off a complaint to Likely Loan as was able to borrow £3500 (goodness knows how) in June 2016.
I made payments until December 2016 when I got into severe financial difficulty called them and they agreed to reduce payments
Debt is now in a DMP but outstanding balene is is nearly £6k!! So they are clearly putting interest and charges will on the account?!
Do I have a case??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
An affordability complaint means that you couldn’t afford the loan when it was taken out and the lender should have realised this from what it knew ( your application, your credit records, any other info it had).
Whether the lender is ontuing unreasonable to add charges and interest is a different type of complaint, saying that the lender didn’t treat you appropriately when you told them you were in trouble. You can find out if they are still adding interest and charges by asking them for a statement of your account. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/creditor-wont-freeze-interest/.
You may have both types of complaint, but you need to be clear about the difference when you are complaining.
Xenedra Rebecca says
Hi,
I think I have both as at the time of the loan I didn’t have a job, had a start date but not actual money so sent them a copy of my job offer.
I will also try at least to have the I interest stopped as it’s getting really out of hand ATM.
Thank you.
Will update the thread as i haven’t seen any updates for this company
stu says
WDA have not started investigating yet week six and declined any attempts at a reduced settlement, I had 57 months consecutive borrowing paying £6300 in interest loans 4-57. No credit checks ever made. Was borrowing back same day on most loans and within a few days in all. Anyone had any luck with them without Ombudsman?
I had other loans alongside to keep head above water in this time too.
Vickie9 says
I had some joy with WDA. They agreed with my complaint and refunded just over £3000 which included the statutory interest. It took them a couple of weeks to process it but I got it without having to take it further.
Xenedra Rebecca says
How do you know WDA didn’t credit check?
I am also chasing from them in a similar situation.
stu says
Other people have stated WDA don’t credit check and no evidence of searches on my credit file, other companies show, let’s hope they are more forthcoming at week eight than so far. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Just send it to the Ombudsman at 8 weeks. Don’t be put off if they say they didn’t have to credit check you
Maureen says
I also had good dealings with WDA, settled direct with me within the 8 weeks all interest paid plus 8% £5500, without any hassle and paid in the bank within 48 hours of acceptance. One of the best I’ve dealt with.
Roch says
Hi all,
This has probably been asked already but do you know how long payday express take to pay out as it’s been nearly 4 weeks since I sent back my acceptance form and was told by them they have 4 weeks to pay after sending my bank details and since then heard nothing.
Thanks
Hayley says
I sent my acceptance two weeks ago and it was in my bank within 3 working days after, give them s call and say you were told 5 days and they will process it
Roch says
Wow Hayley that’s really quick, I will defo give them a call in the morning. Thanks so much for the advice xxx
Roch says
So I have called payday express today who said they were still waiting for my bank details which is strange as I gave them the same day they asked and have the email in my sent list anyway the lady was very nice and said she would forward it to the person dealing with my case and the money should be in my account today, so glad I called so thanks so much for the advise as god knows how long I would have been waiting otherwise. xxx
Hayley says
Payday uk and payday express were both really pleasant when I rang – it never hurts to politely ask. Ccongrats on your complaints bring upheld. I have a lovely new bathroom to show for mine.
Linda says
Hi anyone had any success with 247 Moneybox it’s one of the ones I referred to the FO along with Lending Stream and Safetynet. They were awful when I complained simply ignoring most of my emails. Just wondered if anyone had had any dealings with them? Just another quick question as most of mine are now nearing the 8 week mark I wondered if you can counter offer on any offers a company make to save a referral to the FO?
Shem says
Hi,
Money box 247 worked out well for me as responded within 5 days of complaining offering to waiver the outstanding balance, I worked this out and it was only £10 difference then all interest inc the 8% they also removed the default from my credit file. However this was with an existing balance I don’t know what they are like chasing old paid loans
Best of luck
Shem x
Linda says
Hi I do have an existing balance but I took out a number of loans from them over 12 months (12 in all each month where they gradually increased my credit limit even after I defaulted on one loan and paid late) so the interest and charges I paid far outweighs the small balance that is left from the last loan that I didnt pay and is now on my DMP. Ive referred it now so fingers crossed my finances were in a bad way at the time of borrowing. Thanks for your reply x
Harry Iqbal says
Hi just read a comment about bank charges and got me thinking at the time I was in this mess it all started with quick quid and wonga and am sure I made 3 to 4 increases on my current account over draft and at one time I was maxed out to £4500 over draft with Halifax charging me upto £3 a day can this be classed as irresponsible borrowing and also in that time they increased my credit card to close to £2300 this is Halifax
Dave says
Does anyone know how long QQ take to pay out once a settlement has been accepted through an adjudicator please?
Bev says
I want to know this too!
Joan says
I have been offered 450 I had 16 roll on loans from Lending stream should I accept or take it to the ombudsman
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you know how much interest you paid?
That’s the only way to tell – could be ok could be very poor…
Joan says
Thankyou I will have a look back at the amounts I borrowed
Karl says
Hi
I have just sent my complaint to Wonga and Payday uk with having 29 loans with Wonga and 30 with payday uk during the last 6 years these loans plus others do you think I have a good chance of succeeding with them? Totalling £14000 borrowed between them.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That’s a lot of loans – if you don’t get a very good offer, take your case to the Ombudsman! If you aren’t sure, come back here and ask…
It’s a good idea to work out how much interest you paid to each of them – that gives you a yardstick to measure any offer against.
Lou says
Just a quick question. Do the ombudsman contact you via email or post with their results of the complaint?
Maureen says
My experience is they either email or ring for further details then they seem to post their decision, although I rang before receiving my last decision which had been posted but I hadn’t received it so he emailed it over. I did stipulate on the initial form email as well.
Michael Chadwick says
Good morning all.
Qq made me a very good offer last week which i accepted, however i had no more correspindance since the emails after replying to them and calling twice.
Should i forward to FOS?
Thanks
Lucy says
Good Morning,
I have had my response from the ombudsman over weekend regarding PDUK, she has agreed withe the adjudicator and upheld my complaint and told them to refund interest plus 8% on 9 of the 11 loans i took out continuously.
Not a massive amount of money but i am happy with the result, i think if i have worked it out right it should be around £350.
I sent my complaint to the ombudsman in August and am pleased with how quickly they seemed to have got to it, i was expecting to be waiting at least another couple of months!
Hang in there everyone it is worth the wait!
Thank you Sara and everyone else on this site who has helped me
Bev says
Great news
Lucy says
How do i work out the 8% ? is it 8% of the loan interest?
D says
Hi Sara, I have a question, I have had an offer for Payday express which is in line with what the adjudicator has suggested, although payday express has taken off £200 from which I owe them. I made a reduced full and final settlement with them September last year. Are they entitled to take the £200 off me after I had the amount repaid at a reduced amount?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes they are – even though you had a full & final settlement offer agreed, the remainder of the debt still legally exists. Hope your offer is a good one!
Jodie says
Hi guys, I’ve logged a complaint with quickquid – they emailed me back today (1 day before the end of the 8 weeks)
In total I had just over ten loans with them which helped start my debt spiral, they’ve come back and offered me £100 with the usual talk about how the checks they did were good enough etc etc and how I didn’t inform them I was in financial hardship (my last loan with them was 07/12/12 – I emailed them informing them of my financial hardship on 21/12/12.
I’m just wondering if its worth me taking the £100 or if its worth going to the ombudsman? Not sure how others have found the experience. Once you’ve sent them the information they require how long does it take to get a response from them on average?
Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance =)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
10 loans sounds like £100 is a poor offer… Do you know how much interest you paid on them all? Were they pretty much every month?
QQ often seem to make low “goodwill” offers – people often get 5 or 10 times as much by going to the Ombudsman. No one has even got less than this QQ offer.
At the moment it seems to take 8-12 weeks for cases to be picked up by an adjudicator and from there normally a few weeks until an adjudicator decision. QQ seem to be accepting more adjudicator decisions at the moment.
Jodie says
From looking at the statements they’ve sent me, I paid a total of £138.421 interest. Obviously its only slightly less but is it worth accepting rather than waiting for the ombudsman? I have already forwarded a case over to them from a refusal of complaint with wonga.
A different payday lender I’m dealing with at the moment is Sunny.co.uk – I logged a complaint after taking out 25 loans with them in 2012, they say I borrowed £1575 in total and repaid £1744 but I’ve calculated the interest to around £210, there is £43 still owed on the account, they’ve come to me with an offer of £169, with a “simple interest at 8% calculated on the above figure totalling £47.38” and have also offered to write off the remaining £43. Is it worth accepting the offer or again, is it worth sending it to the ombudsman?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
£138.421 – are you sure? That is VERY little for 10 loans, were they all very small?
The Sunny one – 169 + 47 will be more than your calculated total of interest. And as they are writing off a small balance as well, this doesn’t sound worth pursuing to me.
Tom says
Hi all.
My refund with Wonga has been processed. They have advised me that it can take up to 14 business days for the money to reach my bank account. What’s everyone’s experience of this? Have you waited the full 14 days?
I’m happy to wait 2 weeks for £4k! Just want to know when I should be expecting it :)
Thanks
Shannon says
Got my refund from them on working day 11.
Ash says
hi,
3 of my complaint have been sent to the ombudsman service ( about 2 weeks ago) iv’e emailed bank statements, pay slips, credit files. iv’e called to see if there was any progress but an adjudicator has still not been appointed, roughly how long does it take ?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
it does depend on the lender – if the lender acknowledges the complaint and sends the case details quickly it will be picked up sooner. On average 8-12 weeks from the time you put the complaint it. Once one has been picked up you can ask if that adjudicator will take on the others.
Gareth says
Just had a final respose from sunny offering to wipe balance (823) and remove loans from credit file some conflicting statements in the reply though one saying 2 loans were affected but then 4 was listed then saying I borrowed 700 my limit was 600 and repaid 419 lol all told I’ve borrowed 2300 and repaid 2600 to date
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you are sure you only paid 300 in interest (2600-2300) then the offer to wipe your current balance sounds a good one.
Jb says
What’s everyone’s dealings with wonga like. Accepted final offer and was told 14 working days and I will get an email when it’s processed once I receive that email it will show in my account in 3-5 working days. If that’s the case they are now going to go over there 14 days. So I phoned them and all they can say is that it’s on a list and that it’s still being sorted. Did any one actually get there payment within the 14 days or are they just playing games.
Cmum says
I accepted on 18th Aug. They said 14 days on 22nd Aug. Last week (at 2 weeks) I called and they said they meant 14 working days. Which will be tomorrow (after 3 weekends and a bank hol that has been counted). In any case they said to allow for 28 working days (a total of 6 weeks). So I’m only, potentially, at the half way stage of waiting ?
Jb says
My 14 working days is Friday. But I am not believing this as every member of customer services tell a different story. I feel that once you accept they know you can’t do anything else apart from wait. Just agreed to a business trip that I thought I would have this money, now it looks like a may have to cancel. By far worst Custumer service I have ever received.
Shannon says
I got my refund from wonga on working day 11. Settled with them directly.
lauren says
i had this response too, they are taking forever, you try phoning and can’t even get anywhere, its just odd, seems like just a long waiting game :( I’m currently on working day 8 so fingers crossed wont be too long! :)
Ben says
My Adjudicator finished looking into my Wonga complaint and its in my favour, he recommend the refund of interest for some of my many loans with Wonga and sent them a letter on 31/08/17. Do you think Wonga will agree with his recommendations?
Tom c says
Anybody know how long pounds to pocket take to contact you and payout once you have accepted their decision?
Jo says
I accepted a combined offer from Pounds to Pocket/Quickquid on Thursday last week (7/9/17). I rang them yesterday to see if they had noted my acceptance and then got an email today saying they needed me to ring to confirm my bank details, which I did and have just had an email saying the refund would be processed within the next 48hrs. Fingers crossed it does. Not sure if ringing yesterday helped.
Hope that helps :)
Dan says
Credit rating of 389 (experian) bank statements showing multiple returned items, defaults and late payments showing on credit file, payday loan usage from 12 months ago, £40,000 (£30k inheritance) passing through a bank account within 3 months, apply for a £1k loan, increase it to £2k on the same day, any chance that would of been irresponsible lending
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Who is the loan from?
Dan says
Likely loans (I posted before about them but experian only confirmed my historic credit score today)
Andy says
Hi all, this is the last day of the 8week period safetynet have to reply to my complaint , no reply as yet , does anyone suggest giving them a few more days to respond or send it straight in to the fos
Tom says
Send it straight to FOS, if they reply within the next few days you can contact FOS to tell them the issue was resolved.
Linda says
I’d send it straight to the FO. I have a complaint with Safetynet and received my response the other day (week 7) it wasn’t good news totally denied irresponsible lending even though I have a really strong case.
Lou says
Yeah I had the same thing. Said I had a good credit rating and somehow I had £900 disposable income, how they worked that out I don’t no know.
Richard says
Hi,
Can someone please advise me, I took two loans out with QuickQuid, one for £150 and one for £700, and paid and awful lot of interest rolling them over, is it worth trying to claim some of this back?? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Richard.
28-07-2012 Principal £150.00
28-07-2012 Interest Charges £44.25
13-08-2012 Principal £700.00
13-08-2012 Interest Charges £206.50
31-08-2012 Interest Charges £250.75
31-08-2012 Interest Payment Received £250.75
26-09-2012 Interest Charges £250.75
28-09-2012 Interest Payment Received £250.75
23-10-2012 Interest Charges £250.75
26-10-2012 Interest Payment Received £250.75
27-11-2012 Interest Charges £225.68
30-11-2012 Interest Payment Received £250.75
30-11-2012 Principal Payment Received £85.00
21-12-2012 Interest Charges £203.11
28-12-2012 Interest Payment Received £225.68
28-12-2012 Principal Payment Received £76.50
22-01-2013 Interest Charges £182.80
25-01-2013 Interest Payment Received £203.11
25-01-2013 Principal Payment Received £68.85
Date Description Payable Paid
21-02-2013 Interest Payment Received £176.27
21-02-2013 Principal Payment Received £619.65
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes I think that is worth a complaint. To settle the loan £700 you would had to pay £950 back? That is a lot of money – if you think your bank statements will show you couldn#t repay it without borrowing more, then the loan was unaffordable. And QQ should have realised this after a few rolls – possibly even at the start of the large loan.
sally says
Hi, just a quick question has anyone gone to the FO with SNC and had there complaint upheld. I have had a reply back today from them and they are denying any irresponsible lending.
Lou says
Hi sally
Yes I have because hey said I had a good credit score and a disposable income of £900
Joanna says
Hi Sara, do you know how long Payday UK, Lending Stream or Wageday Advance take to pay out please?
Both Lending Stream and PDUK went through the final decision with an Ombudsman.
Craig says
Hi Sara,
Thanks for the advice, I sent off all 9 complaints over the weekend *after hours of trying to write a complaint that would make the companies offer me what I wanted rather than going to Ombudsman!). Had 5 responses saying they will look into it but MrLender have already responded saying they will write my balance off, despite doing nothing wrong.
I have had 2 loans, first £300 to be paid over 3 months, nut took interest only payment they offered first month which extended it. All paid on time and in full then lent again day after for £500, again interest only taken first month, paid second month then contacted stepchange before 3rd payment due. All in all borrowed £800, paid £916.26. Willing to write off £416.06. Do I go with this or be cheeky and ask for the extra £116.26 or say £50 or £100? Or will they withdraw the original offer?
They did state at the bottom of the letter “Although we have conducted a full and thorough investigation, we are happy to investigate any further points you wish to raise or if you have any supporting evidence that you wish us to consider.”
Thanks, Craig
Tom says
Mr Lender are always the fastest to respond, Craig. But sit tight for a full 8 week wait for the majority.
Mr Lender are also very good at offering more if you challenge their decision.
Jimmy says
Got 2 emails today from wonga and QQ. Had 12 loans with wonga, eventually defaulted and had to get into a plan and paid it off. They have offered one loan refund today and 8% interest so around £453, not really happy with this. QQ have totally ignored the fact I had rolled over loans for a year and in the email say i only had 2 loans so I wasn’t desperate and have offered £208. Personally i feel it’s random numbers that don’t mean anything. Worth escalating?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They both sound like poor offers – take both cases to the Ombudsman!
Jimmy says
Do you think it’s worth trying to counter offer with either of these companies before involving the ombudsman?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No. No point in going back to either Wonga or QQ unless their reply to you has a clear and important error. If they seem to have missed off loans, that sort of thing.
Jimmy says
I’ve messaged QQ as they stated I only had 2 loans and that is the reason the offer is so low they are neglecting to mention the 2 loans both stretched to over a year paying interest and constantly rolling over as a ‘preferred’ ‘member’ Don’t expect a response but I’ll give them a few days then forward it on!
john roberts says
I’ve had a letter today from FOS stating that they can’t look at my complaint because the company that I’m complaining about are not covered by them – Lending Stream. That sounds very strange to me. Has anyone had a similar response?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
A couple of people had had this sort of odd remark about other firms. Go back to them and ask them to look at this again.
Harry Iqbal says
I Sara having looked at this mine is similar but mine gone on for 36 loans also what I find about this decision is do the FOS now have to use a similar approach to all claims of irresponsible lending because they have said this I think most people who took loans with LS will find themselves in a similar position easy to borrow no checks gone off the first income and expenses list and never ever asked for proof
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I didn’t look at the decision, I just pulled it out at random. I’ve now read it and it looks pretty standard. From what I’ve seen here, a lot of LS borrowers may well have good affordability complaints.
Dave says
Thought I’d post an update for anyone thinking of putting in a complaint on single or just a couple of loans.
I had 1 with satsuma and 2 with lending stream. These were right towards the end of my pay day borrowing before I set up my debt management plan.
I sent complaints in around 3 weeks ago and lending stream got back to me yesterday saying that even though they believe all checks were carried out ok, they will remove all interest from my loans reducing the amount owed on my DMP.
Result!!!
On another note, still waiting for my wonga payout after accepting their offer 2 weeks ago.
Jb says
What date did you accept?
Mike Seabrook says
Hey Dave.
Yes I am too. I accepted Wongas offer on 28/8/17 and still no pay out. I was thinking of contacting them and saying I will take it back to the ombudsmen. They did say 14 working days. Have you contacted them at all?
Dave says
Accepted on August 25th but wasn’t sent to wonga until September 4th as my adjudicator was on holiday. Contacted wonga by phone 2 days Later. They confirmed they’d got it and said I’d receive an email but nothing yet.
Emailed them last night asking for them to confirm when payment is likely to be. Will see why they respond with.
Jo says
I rang Wonga the day after accepting their offer and the person on the other end of the phone said he was push my email reply through to be processed. I received an email later that day to say it had been received for processing and to expect a refund in up to 14 days. Might be wirth ringing them again if you haven’t had the email saying it is being processed. Good luck :)
warren says
Hi jo, what email address did you send your enquiry to? i have also accepted wonga off via the ombudsman. I have sent bank details to ombudsman to send to wonga via email I have heard nothing from wonga I want to email them to ask when my refund will be sent to me. What should I also say to them in the email? Hope you have received your refund thanks in advance ?
warren says
on working day 8 now sent a email last thursday asking when im liklely to recieve my refund got no reply from the complaints team have any of you guys heard anything yet?
Shannon says
Something I need clarification on. I have logged complaints with the FO for a few different companies. I have now received letter/email with reference for each one and all relevant information from my side has been sent.
Does this mean the case has been picked up by an adjudicator? Or does it just mean they have all the information and will now be assigned to an adjudicator to look at?
Maureen says
My experience is that those letters just confirm they have received the complaints, I got my letters in April and only 2 of my complaints out of 5 have been picked up by an adjudicator.
Jo says
Hi Warren, I accepted an offer without going through the Ombudsman. I haven’t had the refund yet but I am only on working day 5 of the 14 days. I’ve read on here that for people who’ve gone through the Ombudsman it can take up to 28 working days! I was emailing customercomplaints@wonga.com and when I rang I used 0800 316 6745. Hope you get it sorted soon :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Wonga are aiming for 14 working days or less for all payouts, direct or through the Ombudsman.
Matt S says
Has anyone ever had a complaint about irresponsible lending upheld rather than an unaffordable lending complaint?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes, irresponsible lending can take other forms, from advertising and marketing through to the handling of defaults and arrears. What did you have in mind? It is important when you are making a complaint to be very clear about the issue.
Matt S says
Hi Sara, I have an ongoing complaint against Nationwide over provision of an overdraft which is an irresponsible lending complaint (overdraft was approved 8 months after I entered into debt management, with notifications showing on my credit report, PDC payments and multiple payday loan payments coming out every month and a gambling addiction – approx. 50 to 100 individual transactions every month).
Adjudicator originally ruled against me around 2 months ago, but I queried a couple of points he made. For example that Nationwide had noticed I was in debt management but as the amounts were quite low they didn’t need to take it into account. And that I should have informed Nationwide of my gambling addiction (even though it would have been obvious by looking at my transactions).
He went back to Nationwide for further information and has since had discussions with senior colleagues. Was promised a second response by 1st September but have now been told that irresponsible lending complaints are the most complex and they are still looking through the information provided. Just wondered what other peoples experiences were with irresponsible lending complaints and the time they take?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They are complicated. It sounds as though your points are being taken seriously by the adjudicator. I don’t think there is much you can do except wait. I don’t think finding out about other people’s cases is going to help you much – they are all very individual.
Cmum says
Sara you may want to share this with people.
Wonga.
Today is working day 14 and still no refund. I’ve just come off the phone and, after having escalated to the complaints manager, the guy told me that all FOS refunds are now not being released until the 28th working day (the latest they are allowed). If anyone accepted directly via WONGA they will have it within 14 days. I asked why the segregation and he advised that because they had to be pulled through the FOS this was the reason (in other words, you made us do this). I explained my dire financial circumstances right now and that 2k would seriously help me (husband has been out of work since May) and he finally gave me a date for payout. But upon checking, whilst on the phone – it’s the 28th working day! Nothing more he can do. So 6 weeks payout times now for all accepting via FOS.
Cmum says
Although escalating seems to have worked! Literally just got an email apologising and confirming that my refund has been processed and will show in my account in 3-5 days.
Perhaps the complaints guy shouldn’t have said what he said?! Hope this helps people!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
huh, so your suspicions were right. I am actually shocked :(
Cmum says
It’s pretty bad isn’t it ?
I argued that had they have investigated my complaint properly in the first place it wouldn’t have had to go through the FOS so this was through no fault of my own and, as such, there should be no separate ways of treating people. The guy just didn’t seem to care. FOS is 28 working days, full stop. Direct complaints at within 14 working days. Pretty poor.
My guess is the they want to hold it for as long as allowed in order to gain interest in the FOS refund pot to cover the fees they have to pay. x
Dan says
Surely the simple interest would need to be calculated to the date they pay a refund? If they know they’re not going to pay a refund until 28 working days, that should really be taken into consideration in the refund offer.
OK, so it won’t be a lot of money for most people but it’s the principle of the matter.
Have you gone back to Wonga and told them you want the simple interest calculated to the date that the refund will be processed? I bet that would make them move their backsides a little quicker…….
Tom says
Cmum that has really surprised me.
I was shocked that Wonga paid out on more loans than I ever expected after 7.5 weeks of initial complaint. I was very happy with my settlement from them and didn’t have to escalate.
When I spoke to someone on Friday she said my refund had been processed, she said it may not be put through until Monday. So yesterday I spoke to someone and they told me it would be 14 working days from 08/09/2017 and he advised me that he sees most refunds go in 10-14 days after processing and although he had seen several loans go in earlier than this he couldn’t guarantee it.
How on earth can they make you wait 28 days for a refund because you went through the FOS? As you rightly said – you only went to the FOS because they didn’t come to the correct conclusion during their investigation.
I hope you get your money soon – even 3-5 days after it has been sent is bizarre. Whenever I transfer money to people it’s in their accounts within minutes, at the most a couple of hours!
Stacey Reddick says
Good Morning All
Looking for some advice – i sent my Lending Stream complaint to FO.
This was the first response before i sent it to the FO ..
Resolution:
While we confirm that the affordability checks were performed with due consideration on the approval of all your loans, we could note that there was some procedural error while approving the loan 2598307, hence, we offer to refund the interest paid for the same (amounting £306.32). However, we can adjusted the refundable amount of £306.32 towards the outstanding loans 3390217 and 3412940 amounting £324.04, thereby, reducing the balance to £17.72.
Stacey Reddick says
They have sent me another email this morning – We are writing in reference to the complaint received on your behalf from Financial Ombudsman on 29th August 2017
While we confirm that the affordability checks were performed with due consideration on the approval of all your loans, we could note that there was some procedural error while approving the loan 2598307, hence, we offer to refund the interest paid for the same (amounting £306.32). However, we can adjusted the refundable amount of £306.32 towards the outstanding loans for the outstanding principal balance for the loans 3390217 and 3412940 amounting £213, thereby, the remaining amount can be refunded amounting £93.12 in to the registered bank account ending with “668”
What should i do – there is no difference in what they are offering me i dont think ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It looks as though they have realised that they got the balance owing on loans ending 217 and 940 incorrect – that it should have been £213 not £306. But the refund being offered is the same.
Assuming you had a lot more loans with them other than the 3 they have mentioned, I suggest you reply that their offer is inadequate and you will be leaving your complaint with the FOS. If you have a figure you would be prepared to accept (do you know how much interest you paid on the loans before the last two where there is a balance?) you could say that, but LS don’t usually negotiate.
Ben says
Quick update on my complaints with timescales
Mr Lender – wrote off outstanding balance of £200 from previous interest paid which was less than the £200 – 3 day reply
247MB – wrote off outstanding balance of £125 from previous interest paid which was less than the £125 – 3 week reply
Ferratum – wrote off balance of £285 from previous interest paid which was less than the £285 – 6 week reply
SNC – rejected claim – 6 week reply, sent copies of bank statements & spreadsheet with all ins and outs – 3 days later they replied their final offer stands.(sent to FOS)
Wonga – no reply after 7 weeks
WDA – no reply after 7 weeks
118 118 – no reply after 4 weeks
Lending stream – no reply after 4 weeks
Dave says
So, after a good few weeks of back and forth, my Ladder Loans complaint has been referred to an Ombudsman.
I wasn’t impressed with the adjudicator I had on this case, very poor at replying to emails etc, and he deems that under £100 a month is sufficient disposable income, after paying £260 a month to Ladder Loans.
So far, I’ve had more than one Adjudicator looking at my complaints, and I’ve been impressed with all but this one.
Fingers crossed, but not particularly hopeful.
Andy says
So safetynet have replied 8 weeks and 1 day, declined any responsibility and have indicated that they know I have used a payday loan template and that there business does not apply when using these templates, along wit a load of jargon as to justify their reason for complaint , I will be sending to fos to verify there findings, has anyone else had this issue with these
Thanks Andy
Lou says
Yes I had exactly the same. Said I used a template but they are a revolving credit facility not a payday loan.
Andy says
They must be trying to put people off , did you send to fos, if so how long ago , do u still owe, them £s, please post outcomes so no what up against, their response was a bit cheeky to say least given they have full access to account and can see outgoings
Cheers lou
Lou says
Hi Andy
Yes it’s with the ombudsman now. Sent in extra info the end of August. No don’t owe them anything now. That’s exactly what I said to the ombudsman, that they could see what went in and out of the bank account. They also said I had £900 disposable income and that they took into account my lending from other pay day loans!! Will keep u posted when anything happens.
Andy says
More or less same for me, said had 700 disposable income , although defaults on onther lenders and repeat borrowing , goin round in circles , mine got sent yesterday so good luck let ya know
Jdjj says
Hi
I have had loans with mainly quick quid, but also satsuma,my jar,sunny and a few others
I have had a total of over 24 loans with quick quid and currently owe them £275 which I cannot afford to pay, I also owe satsuma £100 which is in the process of being paid off. at the end of each week after being paid and after paying my expenses I am left with a small amount to live on for the rest of the week, my credit rating is also poor.
how do I get the ball rolling to claim back a refund? And do I claim off just quick quid? Or all loan company’s? If so how likely would It be to be eligible to claim?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Definitely complain to QQ and to Satsuma. Also cancel the CPAs to QQ and Satsuma and offer them an amount you can afford each week.
The lenders you have used less often – well it’s up to you. Some people have had success with even one loan, especially if it is in the last couple of years as all lenders would have been checking and reporting to credit reference agencies so they would have seen all your other loans.
Gary says
Hi All,
Can anyone please advise if they have received any form of refund from VIVUS recently trading as V7 Limited. My complaint is currently with the FOS who has advised the below:
“V7 Limited have stopped lending and have asked the FCA to cancel their permissions, which the FCA have done recently. It’s seems likely that V7 Limited will be wound up, if they do this means that the business won’t exist and there will be no one to consider a complaint against. It’s possible that this may be done shortly and if it does we won’t be able to resolve your complaint in time.”
The FOS has upheld my complaint on the last 3 loans out of 6 requesting that Vivus reply by the 25th of September to settle the complaint. Vivus did not provide my case file to the FOS and did not respond to their initial correspondence.
Has anyone had recent refunds / luck with Vivus?
Thanks
Darren says
Finally got somewhere with 247 moneybox. Adjudicator finally received the business file and found in my favour of loans 2-7 :) total interest is just over £1.5k and the 8% should bulk that up quite a bit as all loans from 2012/2013. Just need to wait on 247 hopefully agreeing as from what the adjudicator put in my letter to them they only checked my credit score on the 1st loan along with my salary.
T says
They responded to me and denied all wrongdoing but agreed to reduce my outstanding loan to the principle amount and take off the interest. I replied saying they should refund all the interest and charges from my loans as I had several increasing in value and were taken out soon after one another. Let’s see what they say!
Brad says
Hi, I have had around 100 loans over last 36 months.
I have sent a complain letter to 7 lenders out of around 14 for repeated lending and still lending after I had defaulted on others.
Sent to Wonga, QQ, L Stream, Mr Lender, Piggy Bank, Sunny and Ferratum. I had around 22 loans in 24 months with Wonga which grew in value.
Will update when I hear anything, just over a week now and nothing other than a couple of automatic replies.
Thanks for all the info on here, very useful indeed.
Paul says
i haven’t been on here for a while due to being very busy at work & sorting out these refunds. so far i have received 4575 from 3 payday loan companies, 4 are currently with the fos & i’m currently waiting for the loan summaries from the rest
Harry Iqbal says
Just had a reply from payday express which is strange they said I borrowed 8 loans and they found 7 to be affordable and one they weren’t sure they wanted pay slips and bank statements for 2 months around the time to see if it was affordable not sure if this is a trick to actually get me to send it and then they have more idea of their decision which I ain’t guna do not really given me a final response but said I could refer to the FOS has anyone counter offer these see if they accept also they wrote that when customers borrow from them it takes 1-2 loans to catch up with them selves but that was the first 2 loans then I borrowed another 6 in like 15 months each loans is taken for 3 months so thats continuous borrowing also they refused to give me a summary of borrowings saying they don’t have to. Don’t know what to do definitely going to try a another email as I do with all lenders but I think this one going to FOS
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Don’t waste your time with another email, send it straight to the FOS – if they *think* they may offer a refund on one loan if you send them statements, this isn’t remotely close to being reasonable. Pay no attention to their convoluted justifications.
Harry Iqbal says
Thanks again for advice and quick response just wanna stress the greatest thing for everyone after all this refund and chasing will be that we will all be out the payday cycle and I think that is great good luck everyone