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?
Danny says
QQ Success!
Initially complained to QQ back in March…responded after 8 weeks with a paltry offer of £127.50 which I rejected. Sent to FO the same day & within 2 weeks of it being with the FO QQ came back with a further offer of £2000 which was an offer on 5 loans – I also rejected this.
Adjudicator found in my favour in July and said QQ should refund all interest on loans post 6 year (I told FO to ignore loans older than 6 years to speed up process). QQ ignored the adjudicator’s findings so after a few weeks the complaint then went into the queue for an Ombudsman midway through August.
I contacted QQ regarding something completely different to this (weird accounts appearing on my credit file, I don’t owe them anything!) in the middle of last week & asked them why they hadn’t replied to my adjudicator’s findings and the lovely lady said she’d ask the question…..low & behold, this morning my adjudicator has come back to me & said QQ have now agreed with his findings and are refunding 4.5k! Acceptance form returned immediately!
Can’t thank you enough Sara, as well as the other forum contributors – this money will go a long way to buying my first home for my new, young family!
Also, for people querying whether the 8% is worth waiting for….my loans were from 2011-2016, of the 4.5k….1k is 8% interest! So it does pay to wait, even if they’ve offered what you wanted!
Tom says
Congratulations mate! I had an extra £1k added to my Wonga payout too because of the 8%! Enjoy the cash with your family :)
SPLITTY says
Great news! I’ve got a similar complaint with QQ for just less than £4K that’s just gone to the adjudicator so I’m hoping I’ll get a similarly positive outcome!
Lisa says
Great news for you all – QQ have been awful to folks it seems!
Whats all of your timelines please?
Ive got 1 that QQ refused to accept, so after 8 weeks it was sent to the FOS (A week or so back) just keen to understand when I can start to expect movement.
SPLITTY says
I started all my complaints at the end of July and they’ve all, except one, gone to the FOS last Friday.
I’ve had one payout from Mr Lender who were really easy to deal with and paid out almost straight away.
QQ and Wonga have both made fairly poor offers (£1.3k against £4k paid & £2.4k against £4.8k) but at least they’ve upheld my complaint.
Both of these are now waiting for an adjudicator.
I’m hoping to have them all resolved before April next year so I can go away on holiday n celebrate for my birthday!
Danny says
Hi Lisa!
Simple breakdown of mine
Mid March 17 – Sent initial complaint to QQ
Mid May 17 – Received offer of £127.50 on 2 loans (rejected). Sent straight to FO.
End of May 17 – Complaint picked up by Adjudicator
Mid June 17 – Adjudicator requested my business file from QQ who sent this back with an offer of £2k on 5 loans (rejected).
End of June 17 – Adjudicator found in my favour for all loans passed the 6 year mark, QQ had2 weeks to respond but didn’t…adjudicator gave them a further 2 weeks, but again didn’t respond.
End of July/beginning of August – Complaint put into Ombudsman queue for final decision.
Mid Sept – Rang QQ for something unrelated but mentioned in there that they hadn’t responded to my adjudicator.
26/9 – QQ now agree with adjudicator’s findings, acceptance form submitted, waiting for cash!
Be patient, it’s more than worth the wait & the FO are not judgmental of your circumstances in the slightest.
I must add in here that my bank statements were riddled with gambling transactions…this only worked in my favour as if QQ had done relevant checks they’d have noticed these transactions & not lent to me!
Grant says
Hi, just after a bit of advice. I received the final response from Wonga today, rejecting my complaint. I had taken out 26 loans over 33 months totalling over £12000. Is it worth taking this to the FOC? I also have a payday uk claim which I submitted at the same time. The 8 week mark is next Thursday.
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
26 loans sounds like a lot – definitely worth going to the Financial Ombudsman. The FO is agreeing with 77% of Wonga complaints! Go through and add up what you paid in interest – that matters more than the amount you borrowed.
Grant says
Hi, thanks for the reply.
I’ve worked out that I paid £1400 on these loans with Wonga.
I’ve also worked out that between 2008 & 2014, I paid £6500 in interest to Payday UK on 53 loans. They have until next Thursday to reply so hopefully I hear back soon.
Many thanks
Kieron says
Hi Sara,
I received a response from Wonga, they have said ” 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.””
I have had 33 loans over 6 and a half years. I have paid £3,200 in interest! On looking at my statement, I can clearly see I have rolled into loan after loan for 6.5 years.
Would you advise taking this to the FO?
Regards,
K
Lucy says
Good evening, How long have people had to wait for a refund from pduk? Ombudsmen found in my favour, I’ve signed everything and pduk have told me they have the form and has taken my bank details.
I have rung them 4 times and spoke to the same man every time. Maybe he’s the only one who works in that department ?
April says
Hi Lucy, it took 2 and a half weeks for my payment to be made after accepting. This was nearly two weeks ago so I imagine the waiting time is still similar!
D says
Hi Lucy im waiting on a refund from them too, I accepted on the 13th Sept and still nothing
Mrs Cheaplaugh says
Hi I have received an offer from QQ. It equates to about half of the interest I paid on 4 out of 10 loans. QQ upheld on dependency rather than affordability. They say a pattern emerged on my last 4 loans yet the longest break between loans/rollovers was one of about 2 weeks. They quoted their internal scoring system which said was good. They said they pulled my credit report ( don’t have a copy but I know I had a CCJ which my then landlord mentioned when he credit checked me for my home). All they have quoted was my stated income which was 50% more than my monthly rent alone!
I will be going to the ombudsman but should I let them know or just go? They have put the standard bumf at the bottom of their letter.
Dan says
Previously replies were you don’t have to but doesn’t hurt, especially QQ who sometimes negotiate whilst in queue
Pimmie says
Well… since starting my journey against various companies in February this year the Ombudsman has agreed with the adjudicator against WDA woohoo! Thanks Sara, without you & this site I wouldn’t have known where to start!
My last question is how long do WDA take to pay out? I’m desperate to book a holiday ?
Filed complaint requesting statements of account on 8th February 2017
details:
I had 23 loans from Sept 2011 – July 2015 – on 7th March 2017 they offered me £751 interest for 2 loans.
I rejected and same day referred to FOS – case was picked up by an adjudicator who found in my favour for loans 5 to 23 with 8% simple interest added and clearing of my credit file. This was on 13th June – he gave WDA till tomorrow to respond. They’ve come back and offering 6 loans. I rejected. So from there 3 months in the Omvbudsman queue.
Nicki says
They were really good with me, I rang to confirm my details with them and they told me it could take 3-5 days but it was in my account the next morning. Congratulations
Darren says
Heard back from my adjudicator regarding my 247 moneybox complaint. Off to the ombudsman I go so another few months to wait now. This is the first complaint that has made it to this stage. 247 stated in the response that as much as they acknowledge the adjudicators assessment they disagree that any loan was lent irresponsibly. I was told 4 loans out of 10 were irresponsible with interest totalling £2k back. Can I be awarded less or more now an ombudsman has to look at it?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, you may get less or more – the Ombudsman who picks up the case really does look at it from scratch. As it is going to the Ombudsman, you may want to write saying why you think more loans should have been refunded – it helps to be very specific at this point eg “By October 2014 when I took out loan 5, I had already been borrowing continuously for 6 months. Tthe 5th loan was a lot more showing my position was getting worse, not better, and I think they should have looked more closely at it and realised it was unaffordable.”
Lou says
Hi all,
I have just had a very long winded email from casheuronet aka pounds to pocket and quick quid and I don’t understand it. I know it’s a rejection but that’s as much I understand. Help!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Were you complaining about QQ and PTP? How many loans did you have with each of them? You can copy out their long reply if you want…
Lou says
It’s so long it won’t accept it on here and I have deleted all the bits that are on about the Ombudsman and personal info
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Just send the important looking bits? In several comments if necessary? Ignore the stuff about credit scoring.
Lou says
We are in receipt of your complaint dated 07/07/2017 where you allege that QuickQuid irresponsibly lent to you. As a responsible lender, we have reviewed your lending as it relates to QuickQuid and Pounds to Pocket as these brands are both owned by CashEuroNet. Both brands will collectively be called CashEuroNet moving forward in this correspondence. Specifically in your complaint, you mention:
• The loans were unaffordable
• You were dependent on short term lending
I’ve investigated your complaint and would like to bring your attention to the following points:
Lou says
AFFORDABILITY
In your complaint you allege that CashEuroNet did not perform a credit check or affordability assessment. We have reviewed your file and can confirm that, in line with our internal process, at the time of each application, we conducted our standard credit assessment, which included pulling your credit report. As part of our assessment, we analyse your current financial commitments, insolvency records, delinquency records, County Court judgements, credit enquiries and other credit accounts currently open.
Lenders are required to make an assessment that is proportionate to the type and amount of the loan as well as the associated costs and risk to the borrower. It would not be proportionate for a lender which provides small loans, which are unsecured and which do not require a guarantor, to conduct the same assessment as a bank which provides high loan amounts which are secured by your home or vehicle. Your loans were unsecured. We did not provide a guarantor loan where you would have needed to have had someone else share the responsibility of repayment .
Sara (Debt Camel) says
they say this to everyone – just ignore it
Lou says
At the time you first applied for a loan with us, the regulator was the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). The OFT published guidance on irresponsible lending which stated that as a general principle, the checks done may well be less for a small sum or short-term loan. The OFT also explicitly stated that it would “normally consider it appropriate for a relatively high level of scrutiny to be undertaken in the case of secured credit”; however, the OFT made no such statement for unsecured credit such as the credit we provided you.
Your credit report is not the only thing we analyse when we make a lending decision. We also look at the information you provide us in your application, as well as your loan history with us when we decide to approve or decline your loan application.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
you can ignore this standard paragraph too :)
Ernest Allcock says
I have complained to QQ about loans I have had from 2013-2016, and they have offered me 25% of the all the interest I have paid as a refund with no 8% payment on it. Is this a fair sum or should I to the case further ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How many loans did you have? If there were only 4, then upholding the last one may be reasonable. But I expect there were a lot, in which case this sounds like a very poor offer, go straight to the Ombudsman who is agreeing with 77% of complaints against QQ!
Ernest Allcock says
I have had a look at the statement they sent me and I had 6 loan accounts in total, but one was a “roll over account” where I could keep drawing from it up to an agreed limit like a credit card. On this account I had 13 loans !!! I don’t know what position that puts me in. Also I’m worried that if I go the Ombudsman I will lose the offer I have already been given, as I could do with that money…?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
We have seen a lot of QQ cases go to the ombudsman and we have never seen one where the Ombudsman awards less than QQ has. Most people get a lot more.
mathew says
I have just been on the phone and spoke to a woman in wonga’s complaints department about my settlement I accepted. Its been 14 days and still nothing so I just spoke with them and she told me settlements that get accepted through the finical ombudsman take 28 days to process its 14 days for complaints that get accepted through themselves. I told her that is ridicules so because pretty much if they had done their job properly and investigated my case correctly in the 1st place I would never have had to go through the FOS to get a proper settlement and now that adds 14 days onto the time to refund me the money back. After I told this to complaints lady she said she would talk to my case handler about it so hopefully that means I will get paid my settlement in the next few days if not more phone calls are going to go there way. Just thought this would help anyone who is waiting as well.
Chloe says
Had my first response back from complaints sent to the FOS and I’m disappointed with outcome. They have said they agree in peachy’s favour that they done no wrong. The amount of the loan was apparently pretty small and that it was reasonable for them to not consider my other short term lending or my bank statements which showed gambling transactions.
Must admit I’m really disappointed with that outcome as I had numerous other payday loans out before taking this particular one, which repayments wouldn’t even have covered my wage! Not feeling particularly positive about other complaints sent to the FOS now!
stu says
was it just the one loan? if so probably why.
Chloe says
Yeah it was just the one loan but I had about 6 other outstanding loans at the time. It wasn’t necessarily the repeated borrowing but the amount of loans I had from different companies in such a short period of time!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I’m sorry but it’s going to be very hard to win a one loan case if it is for a small amount.
stu says
From reading through Ombudsman findings in these cases they tend to uphold where the same company has given loan after loan without asking for more information or checking what you say is accurate, dependency and affordability is key, one loan is difficult and if repeat borrowing from several companies a few times too. Rollovers and repeat borrowing from one or two appears to be upheld more often than not. 3K is a lot but if spread over four or five firms, It may take some persuading at FCO. if only borrowed two or three times.
Chloe says
It’s quite unfair though because I had 17 loans out at one point from different companies, yet if that had all been just one company I would stand a much better chance! Just me having a bit of a moan I suppose but I paid more interest then some people just all different companies, but oh well! Just have to bite the bullet I guess!
GMA says
I got a refund from one month loan from just one loan, worth a shot and you have nothing to lose
Tom says
Wonga funds have reached my bank account today – the 14th working day – £4,000 – happy days! Thank you :)
Paul says
Hi Sara
Some advice please if you are able?
I’ve sent off complaints to 12 firms. Around half of them were 6 or so loans and the other 6 perhaps a dozen or so. In all cases I rolled over or re borrowed within days of paying off the last.
At the time I was earning good money. I also had a brutal gambling habit.
A few of the firms have written back and said as they only lent a few hundred pounds each time and my earning were a few grand they feel confident they lent correctly. A few others have offered to pay back the interest on the last few loans. The rest have yet to reply and the 8 weeks is up soon.
whqts your thoughts on how FOS will view this? Ultimately, without the gambling losses every day/month I could have afforded most of these loans?!?
Not all as at points I was borrowing from several firms each month so the repayments were in the thousands.
I am also as concerned with getting my credit file cleaned up. So far one firm has agreed to wipe out a remaining debt and clear my file. One other has refused any compensation and refused to clear my file. Is that something most firms will agree to or do I need FOS to push that angle?
As I say I am concerned about that as I am getting interest payments back.
Thanks for your help. Great work and awesome site
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The FOS is upholding complaints with a lot of gambling. You should expect most of these cases to be turned down by the lenders as to them you liked as though you had a lot of income.
If one of the “6 loan” cases has offered a refund on the last few, that could be a reasonable offer?
Firms will not usually agree to clean your credit file if they aren’t refunding you. But the FOS usually does say do this if your complaint is upheld.
Brad says
Think I could have written your statement too Paul. My situation is almost identical. I have gone to 13 lenders and had success with one so far for 65% of the total interest I paid. Fingers crossed for you mate and let’s remember how we got here so we don’t make that mistake again
Paul says
Thanks Sara
Yes one of the offers is from wage day advance who are wiping out all the interest from the last two loans, and removing 90% of the outstanding final loan that was never repaid and adding on the 8% too. So the offer is around £400 and write off about the same. I only had 5 loans with them so the £400 they are writing off covers most of the previous interest anyway. I am planning on accepting that one.
Is it common practice for lenders to only offer compensation after the third or fourth loan?
This seems to be fairly common practice.
Does the Ombudsman take the same view or do they tend to go all or nothing?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, that is common practice – and it makes a lot of sense. The argument is that when you took the first couple of loans, it was reasonable for the lender to assume they were affordable. But when you kept on borrowing, then they should have thought – hang on, perhaps this guy is in trouble and the loans aren’t affordable. At that point, they should either have said No or asked you for more details to make sure the loan was affordable for you.
Paul says
Thanks Sara
Looks like the WDA offer is actually very good then so I’ll definitely take it.
Wes says
Hey folks,
My final complaint – adjudicator found in my favour against wageday advance on my final 2 loans only (only had 4in total) so not mega bucks.
Just wondered how quick wageday advance are at responding to this decision?
Thanks in advance folks.
Pimmie says
Well done!
My adjudicator found in my favour against WDA for my loans 5-23 inclusive but WDA disagreed so it went to Ombudsman in June. Just found out last week that Ombudsman agreed with Adjudicator so they have 4 weeks to pay up.
Will be interesting to see if WDA agree to your Adjudicator findings and if so how quickly they pay.
I’m desperate to book a holiday haha
Annie says
Just to let you guys know that the ombudsman has reviewed my complaint for 247moneybox and agrees with the adjudicator that they should refund interest on most of my loans. They didn’t even bother to respond to the adjudicator so if you are in this position don’t give up.
Only Wonga to go now – there are loans over 6 years old on this one so I don’t know how it will turn out or if it will work.
Thank you so much for this site. I am now payday loan free and on my way to being debt free for the first time in years :-)
Darren says
Can I ask how long you waited from adjudicator to ombudsman decision? Mines just got passed to the ombudsman yesterday to look at but moving to Australia at the start of the year and hoping its finalised before then.
Annie says
Only a couple of months but i know that isn’t typical. I have another that went into the queue before that and is still there. This one was very quick but I’m not sure why.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
2-4 months is normal. Pimmie’s WDA complaint (see comment above) was about 3 months.
JoB says
I want to put in a complaint to Safety net but I’m hoping someone can answer a quick question! How can I check whether they carried out a credit check at the start of them lending to me? First loan was summer 2014 but I cannot find any searches dating back that far on any of the credit files companies I use i.e. clear score and noddle…..I’m assuming searches drop off after a period of time so how can I be sure they did carry out the correct checks??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can’t be sure but it doesn’t matter.
a) it’s up to the firm to show the Ombudsman what they did, you don’t have to prove it
b) plenty of cases have been won when the firm did check your credit record and ignored it
c) the above apply to all lenders, but for Safetynet Credit the massively better argument is “you could see my bank statements so you knew how bad my finances were”
Job says
Yes that’s what I’ve actually said that they could see the bank account! Well they haven’t carried out any credit checks at all nothing on any of the agencies! Ive borrowed on over 100 occasions since 2014-present nearly £9000!! Not sure if you’d know the answer but with hear pay day lenders are they meant to credit check each time you borrow or say they did it back in 2014 is that sufficient? I know I don’t need to know this but I’m interested to know how often a company should check your credit file! Already successfully won almost £4000 from Wonga ?Complaint sent last night to SNC so let’s see what they have to say for themselves!!
Danny says
Anyone waiting for a payment from QQ….I sent my acceptance form to my adjudicator on Monday & was paid out yesterday!
I sent an email to foscomplaints@enova.com (the UK owner of QQ) as well as the complaints/resolution email yesterday morning asking when I should expect to see the money hit my account and they paid out 4 hours later!
Two ends of the spectrum from QQ….initially being extremely difficult at the beginning of my complaint to them paying out less than 24 hours after acceptance form submitted…so glad this is over!
Georgina says
Hello,
So I put in a complaint with Wonga in March which was sent to FOS who agreed and sent a letter to Wonga asking to refund all interest etc. They were given a deadline which is today. I haven’t heard anything, if the FOS had heard something would they let me know straight away or would it take a few weeks until they would have let me know? I’ve been waiting for 2 weeks nervously for their response so I’m a little gutted there’s still been nothing and today is deadline day!
John C says
With mine they didn’t respond on the deadline, so the FOS gave them another week. They didn’t achieve this either, so I actually rang the complaints department on the day the response as due, to tell them I wouldn’t be making the payment on my payment plan and explaining how annoyed I was. The next working day I had an offer through my adjudicator. Now this won’t happen in all cases, but my adjudicator did tell me they have a contact in the FOS who deals with Wonga direct, and she would try and pick up with them. Her view was it was better to wait a couple of days rather than send in the queue for an Ombudsman, as that might take months. Wonga are inundated and as Sara mentioned earlier more cases than not are being upheld at the FOS. Hopefully they do come back to you
Benjamin Broad says
Need some advice.
Wonga responded at last to my Adjudicator they partially agreed with his assessment and said would refund £484. But as i am overdue with a larger balance i would have to pay £68 instead of 500 ish.
Or should I decline their offer and let the Ombudsmen look into it. As I worked out Sith the Adjudicator’s decision I should get £400 after paying the overdue balance.
Should I stick to my guns? I can afford to wait as I am working again and getting paid tomorrow
I had about 57 loans Adjudicator thought 28 loans shouldn’t have been given. Wonga agreed with some but only to 11 loans. The later ones they disagree with had the most interest during periods of unemployment
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It seems clear that it’s worth taking this to the Ombudsman.
Occasionally someone gets a very “generous” decision from an adjudicator- if you had had 4 loans and the Adjudicator has said to refund all of them and the lender had offered to refund 2, then you may well find the ombudsman doesn’t agree with the adjudicator.
But in your case it sounds as though the adjudicator has carefully selected where the refund should begin and Wonga are applying some rather random criteria that doesn’t make much sense… Obviously I can’t guarantee you will gain by going to the ombudsman but it looks HIGHLY likely and if you aren’t desperate for the money, then an extra few hundred pounds could be a very nice little nest egg for you.
Acee says
Good news finally. PDUK & Payday Express agree they lent irresponsibly and have offered £1200 & £1100 which I am very happy with. However PDUK say they need my bank statements to determine if an extra loan was lent irresponsibly and Payday Express the same for an extra 3 loans. If I accept their offer now and send bank statements will they still look at the other loans?
vickie9 says
Does that fall in line with the interest you think you are owed? PDUK are particularly sneaky, so make sure you have looked properly before accepting they offer.
Acee says
Vickie they gave me a breakdown of which loans they think were affordable and which weren’t I could take it to the Ombudsman to try and get the other 3 loans looked at but I’m quite happy with their offer and they are good to look at 3 other loans when I send bank statements today. The money from these will go towards F&F for some of my existing debts so would save a few hundred pounds that way if they accept. Also means I will have a nice Xmas for the first time in years.
Stuart says
QQ Success:
So I’m not entirely sure how I stumbled across this website but I’m glad I did! I sent an email to QQ informing them of my complaint (I used the template response on this website) in mid January. I had 27 loans with QQ over an 8 year period, some for as little as £100 and some for as much as £750. I included all my loans in the complaint knowing that some were ultimately affordable and others were outside the 6 year window and were therefore not likely to be considered. QQ replied with a goodwill offer of £97 as the disagreed with my claim. I informed QQ I would be passing it to the financial ombudsman. I contacted the FO on the same day via email and sent them details and evidence of my complaint.
Not much happened until late August when my adjudicator emailed me to say he had come to an agreement with QQ and they would refund me a total of £1620 plus they would remove 7 loans from my credit file. I confirmed that this offer was acceptable. Once I confirmed my bank details with QQ the repayment was made within the hour.
Whilst I am delighted with the refund if I’m honest, I was a little hesitant about complaining. Ultimately I was well aware of the terms and conditions of each loan I took out and by complaining I was almost dodging some of the responsibility for the financial situation I found myself in if that makes sense?
Anyway, thank you to the excellent advice on the website – it made a complex process extremely straightforward.
Maureen says
Just received my money in the bank from Cheque Centre after adjudicator decision……probably a few thousand less than what I should have got but I’m happy that I’ve got something before they most likely go into liquidation. Now to press the FOS for some movement on my other 3 complaints against Quick quid, wonga and Payday UK that they’ve had since April which haven’t even been picked up by an adjudicator yet. These are big complaints with consistent borrowing from 2008 to 2012.
Ro65 says
Hi Maureen,
I’m awaiting pay out from Cheque Centre. I think you got your decision around the same time as me. Did they contact you to confirm bank details etc? I’ve tried phoning them but all their lines either aren’t answered or are dead. I’m waiting on £3900 and I’m increasingly concerned that they’re not going to pay.
Cheers
Maureen says
Hi, yes we both had our decision on the same day. My adjudicator rang me to confirm cheque centres acceptance, he then also took my bank details from me that day and passed them on. He said they didn’t ask for any acceptance form to be signed so he said to expect them to settle within 28 days. I think you will receive the money at this point, I was also worried, it may be worth asking your adjudicator to pass your bank details on to them or chase it as I think you’ll be wasting your time contacting cheque centre. I breathed a sigh of relief this morning when it hit the bank as I really thought we’d get nothing from them after hearing the recent news. I hope you get your larger settlement soon.
ab says
Advise needed please!!
Took few of my cases to the ombudsman after being rejected any money back. They are asking if I can provide bank statements, during the time I took the loans. At the time I had a gambling addiction so statement is scattered by this although still shouldn’t have been borrowed the amounts. Should I provide this too the ombudsman? or hold these back and provide the rest of the information. Just don’t want this going against my case…
Please advise.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You need to pro0vide the statements or you are VERY unlikely to win a complaint. Many people here have won complaints where there was gambling all over their bank statements. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/gambling-payday-loan-refunds/ which includes examples of some Ombudsman decisions where there was gambling.
Loreta says
I submitted my bank statements to my adjudicator with loads of gambling transactions, .he still uphold my complaints againts QQ .Made my complaints stronger actually because if QQ asked for my bank statement before giving me loan, they will see my gambling transaction.So don’t worry about it.
Andrew says
just got £3500 back from Wonga for the sake of sending one email absolute result!!!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That must have been the best paid hour of your life!
Head in hands says
Currently on honeymoon in Mauritius and just had a great response from QuickQuid, started complaint Jan/Feb and received an offer of a few hundred, adjudicator recommended QQ refund all loans & QQ disagreed. Whilst in the queue for Ombudsman since approx May they have increased their offer several times which I kept declining. Whilst out here last week I received a call from QQ asking if I would accept their latest offer of £2500 plus interest etc. I declined and he asked what it would take for me to close my complaint. I replied a full refund as outlined by my adjudicator, 3 days later they increased their offer, I again declined and the following day they offered to settle in full!
Yes it’s taken a few months but last night saw over £8000 transferred to my bank account – that is a result & im a very happy bunny!
Thank you Sara, a donation to CAB will be on its way as soon as we get home! It has just made a great honeymoon into a fantastic one!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Congratulations on the result and on your marriage!
Stu says
So 59 consecutive loans with WDA paying £6700 in interest they just offered £2700 on random loans, off to the Ombudsman I go……sigh.
Claire says
My adjudicator came back with a decision in my favour, but wage day advance didn’t respond. Now my claim is going to the ombudsman. How long does this process usually take. I started this process 5 months ago and I feel like I’m about to give up. Any advice is appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
At this point there isn’t much point in giving up! Going to the Ombudsman from here is usually 2-4 months, but many lenders will come back and accept the adjudicator’s decision whilst you are waiting. they are just so snowed under they haven’t looked at your case and what the adjudicator said yet.
Claire says
Hi Sarah, thanks for the advice.
Michelle says
Complained to Myjar nearly 7 weeks ago. They emailed to ask to call and called today to ask what I thought a fair settlement would be and will be sending me their final decision on a Monday. I said the FOS are giving interest paid plus 8% and are removing info from file. They have been very good at keeping me informed on the way.
They said as the info is positive (no defaults) they can’t remove it from my file. Is this the case or do the FOS suggest for it to be removed regardless? I shall be applying for a mortgage in a few years time and the last loan won’t have dropped off by then. I know there’s one or two mortgage lenders that won’t consider the application if they see a payday loan.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The FOS only ask for negative info to be removed, though some lenders delete everything as it is easier. But a payday loan repaid on time a few years ago shouldn’t be a problem for getting a mortgage – go though a broker, but there are high street lenders that will give you a good offer, they only care about recent payday loans.
David says
Looking for a bit of advice if possible,
Over the years I have had a terrible gambling addiction and I have taken out so many pay day loans to cover losses, Sunny, PaydayUK, Safetynet, Wonga, Satsuma, the list goes on and on.
There were times that I was paying loans back slightly early just so I could borrow more immediately on the same day to keep myself going.
There were even times when I repaid PayDayUK early, I was asked to fill in a box as to why I was repaying early and I put ‘Paying early so I can reborrow’.
I had 3 loans at a time from Sunny and as soon I paid one off, I kept reborrowing again and again, I borrowed £1800 in 5 separate loans in 5 months. They never investigated as to why I was borrowing so much money.
Also with SafetynetCredit, they can see my transactions, I had a limit of £900 with them which I fully used, repaid on my pay day and then took the full £900 again straight away to pay off other loans caused by my gambling problem. If they can see my bank statements then why did they continue to lend to me?
Do I have a case to claim for refund as none of the companies I borrowed from investigated why I was constantly reborrowing from them? The warning signs were there and no questions about gambling were ever asked in any application. Without the gambling losses, I could have afforded my repayments. If I am entitled to claim, how do I go about doing this and how should I write up my complaints? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Those all sound like good complaints. Many people have won complaints with a lot of gambling showing on their bank statements, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/gambling-payday-loan-refunds/ for some examples. Are you still gambling? Do you currently have payday loans?
David says
No I haven’t gambled for a few months now, I have managed to seek help for my problems. Yes I still have some pay day loans. Should I contact the companies directly to complain, and should I mention gambling?
Katy M says
I’m pretty sure my story of payday loans hell is pretty similar to a lot of others , from about 2011-2014 I had several loans with several companies . Thankfully with help I managed to find a way out of that hole! I stumbled across this website and seeing everyone’s comments made me realise I wasn’t alone with my problems , all your stories inspired me to file my own complaints, I figured I have nothing to loose. If I do get anything it’s a bonus ! So I sent of my emails to all the companies . The main big ones were wonga which I calculated I paid £4000 interest . QQ which was about £3000 and paydayuk which was about £3800 !
I got confirmation emails back from all within about 2 weeks .
I passed the 7 week mark yesterday and so far 2 companies have responded with a final offer
Mr lender offered to refund all interest and fees £324 ( I only had one loan)
Wonga replied yesterday (which suprised me a whole week before the deadline)
They have agreed that they acted irresponsibly and have offered to refund all interest on all loans except 2 , the two they are not refunding is the 1st loan which I feel is fair and a small loan which was only for £50.
They have offered £4302 and have also added on the 8% ! My total refund just short of £6000 !
And most importantly they have also agreed to remove all of the loans from my credit record :-)
Again thank you to Sara and everyone here for inspiring my to do this !
Tom says
Hi Sara,
I hope you can help. I had received a final response from the cheque centre on 25/08/17 where they said they could not take any loans over 6 years into account and that they felt that they had loaned me based on affordability fairly, seemed like quite a genetic response. The outcome of the letter offered me £750 as a final settlement of any future claims (I had paid over £10,000 interest over many years)
My concern is the recent news that they have went into administration as I was just about to refer this to the ombudsman and had initially rejected the £750 offer from CC. Should I go back and accept the £750 or will I still have the chance to go through the ombudsman as this is what I would prefer to do.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is a horrible dilemma. Over what years were you borrowing from them?
Tom says
Hi Sara, the first loan was 31/03/08 there was a further 70 monthly loans that followed of approximately £1,000 each time. The last loan was taken out in 2012.
There investigation is only taking into account 14 of these so 56 being completely discounted.
I have already sent back an email rejecting the £750 but I am now reconsidering with the current situation they are in and drawing a line under this with at least something.
Do you reckon with me already rejecting there offer that I would be able to go back to possibly accept if I decide to do so?
This is not an ideal situation at all as I was willing to be in this for the long haul but feel that time is not on my side now.
Thanks again
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I would be surprised if they aren’t happy to settle for £750. I can’t really advise on whether you should, it is a very difficult situation. There may be more money for paying out these claims that you expect but it is obviously a big risk. And it’s doubtful if you will get anything for the loans over 6 years.
Maureen says
If it helps, when the case goes to the FOS they split it into loans over 6 years and loans within 6 years….cheque centre will not allow loans over 6 years to be looked into at the minute so the FOS are trying to get people some form of redress for their most recent loans. I know exactly how you feel, all in all I should have been looking at around 8000 from cheque centre for all loans, my adjudicator looked at my loans within 6 years and didn’t take a lot of my short term lending in to account. I have settled at £1000 as I didn’t want to risk awaiting an ombudsman and get nothing. Having spoken to my adjudicator though they were fast tracking the cheque centre claims through but there was no guarantee it would be looked at in time. Ultimately, it’s your decision and I hope some if this info helps you to weigh it up.
Tom says
Thanks for letting me know that Maureen, has your case been settled now? I initially rejected the £750 offer but with the vast majority being over 6 years old and the business being wrapped up it might be my only option.
Maureen says
Yes I got my money on Friday, most of mine are over 6 years too but this was the adjudicators decision on my loans within 6 years which still should have been a lot more than the £1000 that I got but like you I was worried if I carried on I’d end up with nothing as we’d run out of time. It’s a gamble as nobody knows if there will be any money left if they do go in to administration….there was talk about a December deadline but even if you lodged your case with the FOS now there is no guarantee that it will be picked up before then as it’s only 8 weeks away….it’s a difficult one! Good luck whatever you decide.
C says
Hi all, heard from ombudsman today about money box 247, didn’t respond to adjudicator, ombudsman found in my favour. Does anyone know how long moneybox 247 takes to pay refunds please? Thank you
Tom says
September 30, 2017 at 12:10 pm
Hi Sara, the first loan was 31/03/08 there was a further 70 monthly loans that followed of approximately £1,000 each time ending in
There investigation is only taking into account 14 of these so 56 being completely discounted.
I have already sent back an email rejecting the £750 but I am now reconsidering with the current situation they are in and drawing a line under this with at least something.
Do you reckon with me already rejecting there offer that I would be able to go back to possibly accept if I decide to do so?
This is not an ideal situation at all as I was willing to be in this for the long haul but feel that time is not on my side now.
Thanks again
** I have went through the detail there again and it was only 49 loans taken out at the end of the month commencing 31/03/08 until November 2012 there was some very brief spells (months) where i never took out the loan but this was few and far between.
Steph says
Update on Quick Quid
So today, after almost 9 months since initially submitting my complaint to QuickQuid, I’ve come to an agreement with them over the 11 loans I had over almost 6 years.
This was one of my biggest payday loan complaints and started with them offering me only £350 “goodwill gesture” when I first complained. Needless to say, I submitted to the FOS, QQ upped their offer to around £1,000 whilst in the queue for an adjudicator, covering 2 loans.
My adjudicator reviewed and requested to refund 8/11 loans, QQ disagreed and Offered to refund about 6/11 loans, which would have been about £4,000. I submitted to ombudsman level.
Today I received a call from the FOS notifying me that QQ have now increased their offer. They want to offer me a refund on all loans – 2-11 inclusive (so that’s all but the first one refunded) plus 8% interest, which comes to a whopping £7,300!!!!!
Thank you so much Sara, your site has enabled me to reclaim around £23,000 (plus I still have a couple of smaller complaints with the FOS) and has brought my debt level down to something manageable enough for me to clear within 12 months.
You’ve changed my life and I can’t thank you enough!
Steph
SPLITTY says
Fantastic result! Congratulations.
I’m hoping for something similar from QQ too. I’m in the queue for an adjudicator at the moment.
Steph says
Splitty – hold out until you get the result you want. It’s worth the wait.
Good luck.
Gary says
Hi there, so good news today, received a final offer from cash converters to refund all interest on all my cash advance loans and personal loan amounting to £1030 which the letter states is inclusive of the 8% interest as recommended by the FOS.
This issue is the total interest adds to £954. So the additional 8% interest of £76 has been calculated as a flat percentage of the total interest rather than interest calculated over the period of time since 2013 when the loans were taken.
Am I correct in thinking the above and the calculation provided in the final response is wrong?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes, they are wrong. I suggest you point this out to them. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/interest-payday-loan-refunds/
Sally says
So lending stream replied to the 8 week deadline one day late and denied any wrong doings. I’ve had 29 loans almost every month from 2014-2017 (still have 4 loans outstanding). Total borrowing of 7.5k and intrest of 3.5k and there offer is to reduce the outstanding amount to £169.. I don’t want to pay this as I feel if I do then I’m agreeing to there deal. I’ve sent it off to the FOS.
lending stream are by far the worst company I have dealt with.
Nav Gill says
I’m still waiting on their final response which was meant to be a week away.
They advised that a technical issue meant they couldn’t access the information (cobblers I am sure)
I have sent mine to the FOS as well but I wanted to ask if anyone has had a result with them and if so, do they amend adverse history or simply remove the records completely?
Liz says
Has anyone else had a provisonal decision from an ombudsman? I’m not sure exactly why it is provisional? My complaint is against Wage Day Advance. They have agreed with the Adjudicators recommendations of a refund of all interest and fees on four loans but then added ten other loans. Surely in order to reach this decision they have gathered all relevant information from WDA?
Any thoughts?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is normal – if the Ombudsman agrees with the adjudicator’s decision there is no need to ask the lender or the customer for their comments as they have already been made. But if the Ombudsman increases or decreases the number of loans included, then there is another opportunity for comments.
You must be very pleased – hope it gets finalised soon.
Liz says
I am delighted! I am also glad I “stuck to my guns” and asked for the Ombudsman to look at my complaint. She has agreed with all of the loans I thought were unaffordable.
This is my final complaint with the FOS so looking for it to be resolved asap.
Thanks again, Sara!
Eddie says
Regarding Myjar
6 year rule negotiations between Myjar and FOS are still stuck so I have asked them to ignore 12 loans dated before the cut off. Compliant was filed in mid January 2017. Still looking at 85 loans within 5 years so should be a fair result. Adjudicator was assigned within days of me requesting to drop “out of date” loans.
Katie says
Quick update.
ombudsman has agreed this week with my adjudicator on my wage Day Advance complaint. It was put in the queue on 31st May and letter from ombudsman is dated 28th September so queue took 4 months which is shorter than I expected. Just waiting now for Uncle Buck, Lending Stream and SNC which are all in the Ombudsman queue after they ignored adjudicators findings.
All my other lenders have paid out totally £34,000 received this year. Started my complaints in Jan 2017. So for anyone reading these posts and wondering whether to go for it, you must ! I never thought I would get anything back as I wasn’t behind with any payments but was getting deeper and deeper into debt ! Good luck
Dan says
£34,000??? Wow, congratulations, that must of been an horrific amount of debt, I hope it helps you get clear and stay clear… #lifechanging #saraisanunsunghero
Katie says
I know ! It was. The refunds have been life changing. Sara is amazing !!!
Dave says
Well, deadline day for 118118 to get back to me, and nothing yet.
Otherwise, 2 claims now in Ombudsman queue after not getting back to the Adjudicator (Adjudicator didn’t uphold on one). They’re Lending Stream and Ladder Loans.
Dave says
Well, there’s a surprise. 118 upheld, accepted and in my account already!
£4k better off than I started this morning.
Andy says
I have been rejected by 118 , Dave so well
Done on tha score , was that from initial compliant , was were their reasoning to upheld if don’t mind asking , as took whole 8 weeks 2 day with me to decline and dismiss any wrongdoing
Cheers andy
Dave says
They rejected me on my initial loan, but I had topped up half way through – they admitted that the details I entered didn’t tally up with what they saw on my credit file, so deemed it unaffordable.
I don’t believe they calculated the 8% correctly, but as I was expecting a rejection, I was more than happy to accept.
Andy says
Nice1 mine is in the queue now, as I also had a top up so thanks for the info mate
Dan says
Just accepted a £64,500 refund from mr lender
Oh no, sorry, £64.50 – ah well, that’s a full refund, as far as these companies go, like many others I’m most impressed with mr lender, almost sad I shall not put more business their way
Mr lender – full charges
Wonga – inadvertently accepted a terrible payout in 2015 (about 5% of what might have been!)
QQ – With FOS
Five others have a week still to reply
Then there are the credit cards, bank charges, loans etc etc…. mine won’t clear my debt but I getting there, month by month after 20 years of debt, one more to go!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“Wonga – inadvertently accepted a terrible payout in 2015 (about 5% of what might have been!)” do you mean you put in a complaint but settled way too low? Or are you referring to one of the automatic refunds they handed out? Because you can still complain after an automatic refund…
Dan says
I settled but didn’t understand the process or the ombudsman etc, read the reply at the time and it sounded like it was more than I would get if I complained further… silly but then sadly I hadn’t found your wonderful site/advice by then….
Just had another settle for £150, because I was using wonga so much I just had a few sideline ones, I guess they are settling because paying me the interest etc is less than the ombudsman charges
Thanks Sara – you star!
Adrian says
Did Mr Lender reject your offer and then give a ‘Good will gesture’ settlement figure? I have a had a letter stating my credit score when I applied for the loans (x2) and that they do not believe it was irresponsible lending. The interest I paid was £45 On a £300 loan and £660 On a £200 loan. The gesture amount is £388….quite reluctant to accept. Any advice?
Dan says
Yes… but mine was only very small, one loan, cheaper for them to settle than me send to fos,
Dan says
In your case, you are debating £388 v a max of £705… depends how hard you want to push but as Sara says often, you could argue against refunds on the first loan, so then £660 would be max. No harm in saying you’d accept £500** or you’ll go to fos (**whatever you think)
Adrian says
Gone in at £600, hopefully they will want to settle before the FOS gets involved….cheers for the advice
Katy M says
Hi all ,
So after my success with wonga (which I am just waiting for it to hit my account) I have now heard back from one of my big lenders pduk, they replied 1 day before 8 week deadline and offered to fully refund all interest on all loans after the first 3 which I feel is fair , the first 3 were all very small.
They have offered 3878 + 8 % interest 1432 ! I calculated I paid around 3800 interest as they refused to give me a statement of loans !
In the past week I have now reclaimed over £10,000 !
I am over the moon with the result and have a few others still outstanding so I have my finger crossed :-)
Again thanks to Sara for this website , I would never have been able to do this without it !
Is there anywhere I can give a donation to when my refund comes through !
These companies can’t get away with what they put us all through !
Sara (Debt Camel) says
A good week!!!
A small donation to your local Citizens Advice would be great. Each CAB is a small charity and many of them are struggling after funding cuts. But if you really want revenge on the payday lenders, the best thing is to share this page in Facebook or elsewhere online – spread the word! (but i do understand that many people don’t feel they can do that.)
Sarah says
Hi everyone
Just an update for anyone who accepted offers before companies agreed to look at over 6 years … Payday uk refunded me in July last year for all loans under 6 years and said they objected to the older loans. I contacted the FOS about the older loans now that they’ve changed their minds and the FOS have upheld my complaint so I’m now getting those loans refunded.
Just still waiting over a year now for the QQ decision.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is EXCELLENT news, thank you for sharing.
Kel says
Hi I’ve received a letter in the post from wda and an email from Ferratum saying pretty much the same that they need more time to investigate my complaint it is just over four weeks since my original complaint is this the norm?
I have heard absolutely nothing from the other companies and sunny are still choosing to ignore my requests for a statement of my borrowing showing interest
This scares me that I had 36 loans in 14 months totalling £6k and I have no idea what the interest was !
Vickie9 says
In terms of working out the interest you paid, have a look through your bank statements. They will show you how much you loaned and then how much you actually paid back. Work out the difference.
I was lucky with WDA as I got a refund without taking it to the FOS but they did take the full 8 weeks before providing me with their response. Good luck.
AK says
Today received an email from FOS customer services giving me a reference number and telling me that I will be contacted within next 4 weeks. And couple of hours later a phone call which I missed. Is the phone call normally from adjudicator or from customer services? Could it be assigned to adjudicator so quickly? And what do they ask at this stage?
Lisa says
Its a courtesy call to say hello and explain that they have delays so they will be collated all of the required info and will be in touch when they have something to say or they need more info from you. The call is normally from the front line admin team.
All of my cases were acknowledged between 4 and 14 days.
Willie says
Hi,
I just received this from the financial ombudsman in regards to my lending stream complaint. Any suggestions on what to do next?
your complaint about Lending Stream LLC
Thank you for contacting us.
complaints we look at
We deal with a wide range of complaints about financial services – but unfortunately, from
the issues you’ve raised, it doesn’t look like your complaint is something we would look
into. This is because the business you’ve complained about isn’t covered by the Financial
Ombudsman Service.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Go back to the person who sent you that message and ask for this to be looked at again. Point out there are a considerable number of decisions about Lending Stream published on the Ombudsman’s decision website.
Natalie Williams says
Just got my email settlement off wonga. Theyv agreed to pay for 34 loans out off 50. Brilliant!! It says under all the explaining total settlement £2637 but unerneath that it says 8% interest gross £684 asic rate tax deduction £136. Im just wondering if these 2 things are taken off the £2637 or the amount i receive is that with these deductions. i worked out it should have been just shy of £4000 but im more than happy to accept this instead of dragging it out. Im so thankful for this site without it i wouldnt have known were to start. THANKYOU SO MUCH X
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Wonga will have quoted your interest and charges they were refunding and then a total settlement figure. It is the total settlement figure you will get. this is calculated as interest refunded PLUS gross 8% interest MINUS tax deducted. Or interested refunded PLUS 8% net interest. These two sums come to the same thing.
NB if this is your only refund this year and you are a basic tax payer you can reclaim back the tax being deducted up to £200. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-payday-refund-get-back-tax/
Natalie Williams says
Thankyou so much sara. I have emailed them to accept. Im over the moon i stumbled across this site. I appreciate all the advice and everything its been fab keep up the good work :) x
Brad says
Hi Sara,
Do you know if anyone has been successful with a high street bank? I have £7,500 debt with lloyds. They gave me a loan in Apr 2016 and increased my cc limit a few months before that. I already had a £5k overdraft at that time which I was fully using. In the 10 months prior to Apr 2016 I had taken out 34 pay day loans and my financial situation was poor. They were the holders of my bank account so could have easily seen this.
Any advice appreciated, I already have another bank account now so thinking of just using that and writing to Lloyds to complain and agree a repayment plan which will hopefully freeze interest on the overdraft and credit card.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Setting up a repayment plan sounds like a good idea. And then it is worth pursuing a complaint about the loan and the overdraft increase – there is a lower success rate on these than payday loan complaints but it’s worth a try.
Lee says
I made a complaint to Lending Stream for £5,050 of interest on 14 loans (total repaid circa £9500). I received an offer today for £1798 in a final answer letter. They acknowledge there ‘may’ have been procedural errors in 4 of the loans.
FOS or not?
They’re all within 6 years.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Doesn’t sound like a good offer to me!
Lee says
If the FOS rule in the lender favour, does this mean you lose the right to the earlier offer? I’ve already referred my complaint against Wonga to FOS and all the docs are now with an adjudicator. On that note also, how long does are cases taking on average at the moment? Thanks for all your help!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
We haven’t seen a case where the FOS has awarded LESS than the lender has already offered.the “worst scenario” seems to be that the adjudicator says that the lender’s offer seems fair and you should accept it.
has an adjudicator been assigned to your Wonga case?
Lee says
They have and they asked me about a week and a half ago for statements, credit report etc.
bob says
Just gone through all the PDL’s and its totalling just over £64k over 60 loans with 6 different lenders all starting from 2011 to present. Ive always worked but these have destroyed me with crippling interest. Can i still claim even though i worked with a half decent wage.?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Definitely! Get going with your 6 complaints!
Freddie says
Bob, I can agree with that. I had a good wage but as I jockeyed payday loans month after month, they eventually become unaffordable. Mostly on final payment months. My tactic was to include only my payday lending on my bank statements and send this off along with my complaints. This way each payday lender could see I was using multiple lenders and had to borrow more to not only repay them but get through the month. The payday loans were over 20 pages and I think maybe hammered home my point. I included my expenditure on normal items in the text. Only two lenders out of 9 rejected me, total £18k back!
Good luck.
bob says
wow, Thats some pay back. ill give it a go. Did you use Sara’s template letter?
In writing or an email?
Never claimed anything back before so this is all new to me. Any tips welcome :D
Thank you
dan says
think most people have just done email wherever possible – one or two don’t accept emails but think most payday lenders do. with that level of borrowing its worth you taking some time to get it right, your refunds could be decent, Sara has done an awesome job for so many people, just read her article above and get your complaints logged, asap, then you should keep everything within 6 years which will ultimately make things easier, use the templates as laid out, just make sure you read and amend the required ones.. separate articles for credit cards etc so above is for payday loans, there are plenty of Q&A and feedback in the comments of the best emails to use, if you cant find them but worth going onto each companies website first and finding there where you can
– if you need to, take a few hours out of work for yours – could be a good hourly rate if you can hold out for good offers!
Freddie says
Hi, I used Sara’s brilliant templates and emailed the lenders. Then I just told my story and included a download from my bank account of all my payday loan usage for the whole period (2011-2014). I filtered everything else out. Whether or not this helped I don’t know but it was like a horror movie looking at all the entries, how I and most people on here leapfrogged payday loans to survive. Work out how much interest you paid as the site says and I went about it like a military operation for a good 5-10 hours, every detail, saving emails from and to each lender in their own file. This makes it much easier to track them all and also to refer rejections to the ombudsman. Good luck.
Barbara Smith says
Updates
1st Dec 2016 I sent sample letters to the 4 companies below. They declined or didn’t respond to my complaint, therefore, I went to the FO.
Sunny
Case started 4th Feb and the adjudicator agreed with my complaint on 27th April. On 4th May Sunny accepted adjudicator decision and offered to pay me £869 which I accepted. Received funds in my account on 12 May. Good news.
Pay Day UK
Case started 23rd Feb and the and the adjudicator agreed with my complaint on 4th May. On 18th May PD accepted adjudicator decision. However as I had an outstanding balance of £839. We agreed that I pay £168.92 taken into account unpaid/paid interest.
Lending Stream
Case started on 30th Dec and and the adjudicator agreed with my complaint on 11th April. On 29th April LS did not fully accept the adjudicator decision. Therefore, I declined their offer and it was passed onto the Ombudsman level. On 7th September the Ombudsman ruled in my favour. I am now waiting for LS to contact me with a settlement amount.
Wonga
Case started on 4th May and the adjudicator agreed with my complaint on 14th June. Wonga did not respond to the adjudicator by 17 July and my case was forwarded to the Ombudsman level. I am still waiting for final decision.
I hope reading this has given you some hope. Even though it can be a long process it is truly worthwhile. Due to debt camel I am finally Pay Day Loans free and hoping to get good settlement amount at least from LS by Xmas.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It isn’t a surprise that LS seem to be much the slowest. You should get back to your adjudicator and say that after 28 days you still haven’t been given a settlement figure let alone been paid…
Good luck with your Wonga complaint!
Barbara says
Thanks Sara. I’ve made a diary note to contact my adjudicator next week. You’ve been great. Once this is all over i’d like to make a donation to Debt Camel.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
A donation to your local CAB would be great :)
Barbara says
Hi Sara, Funny enough yesterday afternoon LS emailed me with the settlement amount of £2631.45 which is wonderful news. I checked their calculations and looks ok with me. Do you know how long it’ll take to receive the funds once I confirm to them to proceed? Thanks
Ps donation on its way :)
Grant says
Hi there,
Like many others here I found myself in an uncontrollable debt spiral, rolling over loans and borrowing again and again, straight after settling with the amounts increasing each time. These loans date back 9 years and i’m still feeling the effects of them today.
I had taken out 25 loans with Wonga over 33 months paying back £1395.09 in interest between May 2014 & January 2017. I contacted Wonga and they replied after 6 weeks saying they’re unable to uphold my complaint as they don’t feel the loans were unaffordable.
I’ve also had 57 loans over 60 months with Payday UK, paying back £7825.72 in interest between September 2008 & April 2014. 24 of these loans are less than 6 years old, totaling £4078.13, and 33 loans are over 6 years old, totaling £3747.59. I contacted Payday UK and today is the 8 weeks since the initial claim. I’ve had no response from them. During this time I also took out 5 door step loans (3 separate loans, then two at the same time) over an 18 month period paying back £2348.43 interest with Provident with who I’ve also filed a complaint.
Although I never defaulted on any loans, I was borrowing again days after just to get by. Do you think this is worth taking to the Ombudsman? The Wonga loans and Provident Loans are all less than 6 years old. Some of the Payday UK loans are older than 6 years.
Many thanks,
Sara (Debt Camel) says
From what you have said they sound very good cases. the ombudsman is upholding 68% of payday loan complaints, so you can see how often the lenders are not reaching the correct decision with these complaints.
Payday UK is paying out on these older cases, so ignore anything in their reply which says that some of the loans are too old!
Nav Gill says
Hi All,
I just thought I’d update on my cases after having just passed the 8 week mark;
Mr Lender (5 Loans) – Settled with interest back on loans 3-5 which came to £201
Safety Net Credit (Ongoing) Settled with interest back from Aug 2016 which came to £1,850
Peachy (4 Loans) Settled with interest refund on loans 3 & 4 which came to £264.21
Payday Express (6 Loans) Settled with interest refund on loans 2-6 which came to £822
Wageday Advance (4 Loans) Settled with interest on Loan 2 which came to £93
Total: £3,230
All were reasonable offers, as WDA argued that the gap between loan 2 and 3 was over 9 months so I saw their argument and accepted.
(Pt. 1)
Nav Gill says
Pt. 2 (cont…)
Cases that have been sent to FOS
Sunny (2 Loans) This wasn’t the rolling credit account but a 14 month loan of £2,500 with a monthly repayment of £353 but they didn’t ask for a bank statement which would have confirmed that I had no way of paying that amount each month with current commitments as well as a massive gambling problem.
Lending Stream (19 Loans) Never sent a final response so I sent directly to FOS
Quick Quid – (4 Loans) They just refused to accept liability which seems the case with them and I have forwarded this too.
On Stride – (3 Loans) I am only claiming unaffordability on the final loan because Loan 2 was £1,000 which they gave and I paid on time for 4 month, but then paid the full amount in June and immediately borrowed £2,500 on the same day.
In all, the interest on the accounts with FOS totals around £4,500 so hopeful they will go well.
Thanks to this site (and attending weekly GA meetings) I may very well be debt free by end of this year.
A personal thank you to Sara, for many of us its not about the money but being able to break the cycle and start to envisage living a normal life and you simply cannot put a price on that kind of peace of mind.
I hope to wake up on January 1st 2018 not owing anyone a penny and then any refunds from FOS would be a bonus.
I will update once my cases have been picked up by an adjudicator :)
Lisa says
Update on PayDay Express and being able to partially accept offer
So PDE final response initially said that the first 4 loans were affordable, the next 2 were unable to determine, and the final 3 were lent irresponsibly. I raised a case with the FOS as I disagree on loans 3 – 6 but contacted PDE asking can I accept the final 3 decision and still go ahead with the FOS to which they said yes, no problem.
However, the acceptance letter states this is in full and final settlement, and whilst they have reassured me this isn’t a problem, I wanted this confirmed in writing.
This was last Monday, and they advised they would do it by COP Monday of last week. I have just called them for an update as I hadn’t heard, and they advised that this is now with the senior management team and the legal team under review, as if this is the approach, they need to change the wording of the final response accordingly.
I wonder where this will go…..
drew says
Lisa,
Interesting you mention this, I am in exactly the same boat, Payday UK and payday Express both came back with offers, in both case I had a couple of loans that were affordable, and a couple that were undetermined, I have had to order statements from Barclays to send to them to look at the unaffordable loans, I was wondering about asking if I could accept their offer in the meantime, but I just said I couldn’t accept it until they re looked at the undetermined loans once I sent them my statements.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Good move. Don’t try to accept part offer and then pursue the rest.
Lisa says
I’ll let you all know if/when they come back to me. Hopefully they will change the wording of the offers to make it easier for folks moving forward
drew says
I had this reply regarding accepting offer now
Thank you for your email.
By accepting the offer that has been presented to you will not affect us looking at the loans that were deemed undetermined.
We will look at the undetermined loan seperately once you provide us the information and a seperate Final Response will be issued out.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
But I still suggest not accepting a part offer. Wait a few days and see what the full offer is then make up your mind.
LG says
A big fat rejection from SNC, so it’s gone to the FOS on the following points:
SNC have declined my request under irresponsible lending stating the following:
• I had no defaults, CCJ’s or late payments in the 12 months prior to the loan – this is not true as can be seen by my Call Credit report from February 2013. At the time I had 1 active CCJ, a defaulted account and a number of late payments.
• SNC were provided access to my bank account, they state that I had around £500 disposable income (this is not true) and I was in receipt of large monthly credits – these were payday loan deposits, not income.
• SNC were given access to my account where it is quite clear that I was gambling often and often using all my available funds quite quickly.
April says
Just over 6 months since making formal complaints to 13 companies, and today I have had my last response accepting my complaint and agreeing to a refund.
Over £5K refunded and just over £3.5K of debts written off. 8 companies originally upheld or partially upheld my complaint, 3 were sent to the FOS – each adjudicator agreed with me and finally so did the companies, and 2 rejected completely.
Finally debt free and I’ll be able to sleep properly again! Best of luck to everyone, it can be done with some perseverance!
Annie says
The ombudsman upheld my complaint against 247moneybox and they got in touch today and asked for my bank details to process the refund although they haven’t confirmed the amount. Has anyone here had a refund with them? Do you know if they tend to take the full 4 weeks or do they process these quickly?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
normally pretty quick!
Jack says
Hi Sara, I have recently contacted lending stream in regards to 17 loans I took out with them Between December 2015 to present ranging from £50 to £600 with a total of £3200.
In their reply 2 days later they state that they carried out the require affordability checks that my experien credit score was over 611 which was deemed acceptable but then continued to say that they don’t rely on credit checks (contradictory) and that they are not able to see specific details of credit reports.
I was taking our new loans as soon as paying off existing loans and constant emails from lending stream telling me how much I could get did not help. I also often took out multiple loans with them within the same months.
Was just wondering how to go about replying to this and advice on whether to go to the ombudsman. I ended up owing around 11 different payday loan companies all at once and was continued to be approved loans.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is a lot of borrowing and sounds like a very strong case. Ignore their talk about your credit rating, I suggest you send the case straight to the Ombudsman.
Jo says
I have had the same reply from lending stream. I have had 57 loans since 2011 and 4 currently open and since 2013 6 loans open at any one time. Their response didn’t say full and final response so I have gone back to them explaining why I believe their arguments are wrong, pointing out that they have made no effort to ask for proof of my income or expenditure in 6 yrs and that the credit score they say I have is wildly inaccurate (they stated in the mid 700’s but in really has been in the low 200’s for years). Waiting for them to respond now…..
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you say that if they don’t respond within 5 days you are sending the case to the Ombudsman. I can’t remember anyone getting nowhere with trying to reason with them but you could be the first i suppose!
Jack says
Thanks for the fast reply.
Am I able to send this case straight the ombudsman now after that reply or will I have to wait for a final response or the eight weeks?
Jack
Sara (Debt Camel) says
As you have replied to them, you may as well give them a few days to respond.
Acee says
Put a complaint about Sunny – they replied rejecting my complaint but as a goodwill gesture would reduce the balance to £280.31 on my current loan which I’m paying them via a DMP. I’ve know had a letter through the door today to say I need to pay £230.81 by 30th October or further action will be taken. Advice please? I hadn’t even accepted their ‘goodwill’ gesture and my complaint is at the FOS.
They’ve been fine with my throughout my DMP but now I’ve put a irresponsible lending complaint in they’ve responded by demanding I pay my account in full this month. Seems like a dirty tactic and they’ve spat their dummy out. Not sure how to reply to them without telling them to go forth and multiply.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How many loans before this last defaulted loan? How much interest did you pay on these loans?
The last loan, how much did you borrow? Have you made any payments to it? What is the current balance.
Acee says
5 or 6 loans before this one paying £900 interest as the loans were flexi loans and top ups etc. They were fine with my repayments via stepchange until I complained about their irresponsible lending cant be coincidence.
Acee says
The current balance is £280.31 they deducted about £150 as a goodwill gesture. I’ve made 2 payments of £25 each via stepchange not sure how many in total as I had several loans at a time with them
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then I suggest you reply that you feel the fact they are demanding full repayment of the dafulted loan, when they had previously accepted the DMP payment visa StepChange, is unfair. Suggest that a fair resolution would be wipe the outstanding balance, remove the default from your credit record and refund you £x (a few hundred?). And that if this isn’t resolved you will be taking the case to the Financial Ombudsman and your DMP payments will continue.
Katy M says
Hi all,
Just thought I would update with my payouts ,
I accepted wongas offer on the 30th September , I received the 14 working day letter on the 2nd October confirming my acceptance of The offer . I was fully expecting to wait the whole 14 working days but today around 5pm or after it appeared in my account ! So all in all quite a quick payout considering :-)
Shem says
Thanks Katy that’s encouraging!
I’ve had my 14 working day email this morning after accepting an offer directly with Wonga, will be good to see if your faster payout was an annomoly or if they are bucking their idea up in general – could sure do with the funds this month sooner rather than later
Be good to know if others are seeing faster wonga payouts
Best wishes
Shem x
SWEETS says
Hi – I’ve had my claim with Safety Net/clear account accepted and they’re refunding me all the interest plus 8%.