Have you had problems with payday loans? You can get a refund of the interest you paid on “unaffordable” loans.
It’s easy to ask for a payday loan refund using the free template here. This works if your payday loans were repaid or you still owe money.
Contents
What are “unaffordable” loans?
The regulator says:
“the borrower should be able to make the required repayments without undue difficulty, whilst continuing to meet other debt repayment obligations and reasonable regular outgoings.”
That means a payday loan is only affordable if you repaid it on time and you could still manage to pay your other bills and debts.
A loan is not affordable just because you haven’t missed a payment – if paying a loan left you so broke you had to borrow again – from the same lender or a different one – it was unaffordable!
If the loan was small and it was the first loan or second loan from a lender, the lender may not have realised the loan was unaffordable for you. But it was irresponsible lending to just carry on giving you more loans. Payday loans are meant for short-term problems.
Many lenders ignore obvious signs of problems such as your loans increasing in size, or your credit record showing increasing debts.
How much compensation can you get?
A typical payday loan decision by the Ombudsman is that the lender should refund all the interest you paid after the third, fourth or fifth loan.
But if your first loan was large, or was rolled over several times, you can get a refund from just one loan.
Which lenders can you get refunds from?
Lenders include:
CashASAP, Drafty, Fast Loan Uk, Fernovo, Fund Ourselves (now in administration), Kabayan, Lending Stream, LoanPig, Mr Lender, Moneyboat, My Finance Club, QuidMarket, Savvy, TickTock, The Money Platform, WageMe.
See this list for payday lenders for a longer list and their email addresses to use.
You can make claims to lenders who have recently stopped lending. It is probably too late to make claims to other lenders who gave up more than a few years ago.
For larger loans there are better template letters to use on other pages:
- 118 Money, Everyday Loans/Evlo, Likely Loans/Finio, Reevo, Bamboo, Updraft, Lendable, bank loans and other long-term loans.
- Loans2Go – the worst loans in Britain!
- doorstep lenders and guarantor lenders,
Do this before, before you send in a complaint
Doing these things now will make your life easier later.
If your finances are difficult, look into a Debt Management Plan (DMP) where you make one affordable payment a month to StepChange. This gets you into a safe financial position as these affordability complaints can take a long time. Winning a complaint then speeds up the DMP.
Get a copy of your TransUnion statutory credit report and keep it. After complaints are started, sometimes loans are deleted and you may want the full report if you have to go to the Ombudsman.
Unless you can afford to make this month’s payment without borrowing again, cancel the CPA or the Direct Debit to the lender at your bank. Otherwise the lender may take the money and you will be in a mess.
Start your complaint
It’s easy to make these complaints – you don’t need to calculate what refund you should get or quote laws.
Find the lender’s email address for complaints from this list. If your loan was sold to a debt collector, you complain to the original lender.
Put “AFFORDABILITY COMPLAINT” as the subject of your email:
I am making an affordability complaint about the loans you gave me. You should never have given me these loans. Paying you each month left me with too little money so I had to keep borrowing to get through the next month.
You should have realised from the number of times I borrowed and the rest of my credit record that my debt problems were getting worse. It was not responsible to continue to lend.
My credit reports would have shown all my other debts [include this if it applies: and problems including late payments/defaults /CCJs/debt management.]
I am asking you to refund the interest and any charges I paid, plus statutory interest, and to delete any negative information from my credit record.
I no longer have all the loan details. Please send me a list, showing for each loan when it was taken out, how much interest and charges you added, and what I repaid. This will enable me to assess any refund you offer me.
Some ways to improve this
Add any other points that help you describe what happened to you. Some examples:
- “I took out another loan with xxxx to pay you.”
- “Sometimes I borrowed to pay the rent and then had to top-up to get money for food.”
- “I had a gambling problem and your loans made this worse”.
Only one loan?
The template refers to multiple loans because that is what normally happens with payday lenders.
When you only had one loan and it was large (say £800 or more), read Refunds from large loans and use the template there.
If you only had one loan and it was small, this is going to be a difficult complaint to win. If you have borrowed twice from 5 leaders, that is much more difficult to win affordability complaints than having 4 or 5 loans from two lenders.
Sometimes a lender will offer you a small goodwill amount to give up eg £50 or £100 so if you only had one loan and it wasn’t large, that would be a bit of help.
Waiting for a reply from the lender
This email starts your affordability complaint.
The lender should reply to your complaint within 8 weeks. Don’t be surprised if you have to wait until the end of the 8 weeks to get response – this is common.
Some lenders ask you to send them a copy of your credit record, payslips or bank statements.
Credit record – the lender can check your credit record themselves if they want.
It is a good idea to send bank statements. But think twice about the cost of copying and postage if there are a lot. Some lenders seem to ignore them if you do send them. Don’t bother to send payslips.
This is a good point to get those bank statements even if you do not want to send them as they will help an Ombudsman claim a lot. You can get them going back at least 6 years, even if the account has been closed.
Lender rejects the complaint or makes a poor offer
If the lender says No or offers you a small amount, you may still have a very good case!
It is easy and free to send your case to the Financial Ombudsman, where many thousands of people have won their payday loan complaints.
Give up?
Some lenders try to make your case sound bad when it isn’t. Ignore any of the following comments, they do not mean you have a weak case:
- they relied on your loan applications – see Lender says I lied for more about this;
- some loans were paid early – this doesn’t prove the loans were affordable, just that you were trying to save interest;
- loan size didn’t go up every time – irrelevant, what matters is that you kept borrowing;
- you had a good enough credit score or they didn’t legally have to check your credit record – if you only had one or two small loans that is true. But if the loans were large or you kept borrowing, they should have looked closely;
- some loans are over 6 years old – the Ombudsman will look at these even if the lender says they won’t!
A good enough case to go to the Ombudsman?
If you don’t know what to do, ask in the comments below this article. Accepting an offer settles your whole complaint – you can’t change your mind later.
Some points to think about:
- if you are offered a refund on only a few loans, don’t accept it if you think you should have more refunded;
- an offer to write off your current balance may sound helpful … but it may be very poor if you should get a cash refund as well.
One or two loan cases are hard to win at the Ombudsman. It’s probably best to give up on one or two loan cases unless:
- the loan was large. Here is one single loan case that was won even though it was an instalment loan and the borrower had a good income. And another single loan case for a loan of £1,000. You can win cases for smaller amounts if the repayment would have been a large amount of your income; or
- you still owe money.
Don’t delay – there is a 6-month time limit after a lender rejects your complaint to send the case to the ombudsman. If you aren’t sure, send the case and let them make an independent decision.
How to send a complaint to FOS
Put in a separate complaint about each lender. There is no limit to the number of FOS complaints you can make.
Send the rejections as they come through – don’t wait until all your lenders have replied!
FOS’s “complain online” option is easy and asks for the information to set up your case.
Attach:
- the lender’s reply.
- bank statements if you have them. Ideally from 3 months before your first loan until the last loan was repaid or you defaulted on it. This strengthens your case, showing how unaffordable the loans were. You can still get bank statements even if your account is closed.
- your TransUnion Statutory credit report
- it doesn’t matter if you don’t have the credit agreements, FOS will get them from the lender.
What happens after you have sent a case to FOS
Your case will wait for the lender to send FOS their case file and then be picked up by an investigator/adjudicator who will make a decision on it.
The Financial Ombudsman has a two-stage process. Most cases are settled by the first “adjudicator” stage but about 10% go to the second “Ombudsman” stage.
A few problem cases
Don’t ask for a refund:
- if you have been bankrupt unless your borrowing was all after your bankruptcy – any refund would go to the Official Receiver.
- if you are in an IVA, as refunds will go to your IVA firm not to you.
- if you are in a DRO now, a refund of more than £2,000 may mean your DRO is cancelled! But many payday loan refunds are less than that.
More help
Ask a question in the comments below.
Don’t use a claims management company. They are expensive and often incompetent. FOS says individuals making a complaint have a better success rate than claims firms.
Card & catalogue affordability complaints
Can you get an overdraft refund?
Could a Debt Relief Order help you?
Kel says
Hi Sara thank you for the advice earlier I was scared stiff of the thought of a dmp and would just continue muddling through each month with no cash to live. I filled in all of my debt tool plan honestly with Step change and the calculation was shocking even with this id be living better than I am now. Granted they estimate nearly 3 years till I’m debt free but if I carry on like this I never will be so think I’m going to bite the bullet and give it a go thank you again ?
Ben c says
An update regarding Wonga,
I have helped my brother through the complaint process, as I was going through it myself anyway. We have accepted an offer yesterday, in my estimates it is c£800 short of the total interest amount repaid (settlement to us: c£5,200). He was thinking of Christmas and wanted to boost the bank balance for the winter period.
When accepting a direct offer from Wonga, how long do they usually take to process a payment. There is no mention of a timeframe on their email.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
5200 out of 6000 sounds like a good offer to me! THey are pretty slow, they say 14 working days but it’s a bit of a mystery exactly when that starts from.
AE says
Finally the wheels are in motion an adjudicator picked up one of my 8 complaints and has agreed was unaffordable with pounds to pocket (£900) does anyone know how long they take to pay out if they agree with the adjudicator?
Thanks :)
C says
Hi all
Does anybody know the time frame for wageday advance to pay-out after ombudsman decision?
This is my last complaint to be settled ? thank you again everyone especially Sara
Helen says
LendingStream wrote me an email in early August saying how they carried out the affordability assessment, but never stated whether this was their final response despite me sending three emails asking if it was. I’ve forwarded this to FOS and have now had an email from LendingStream (more than two months since their last email) with their actual final response, just reiterating the first email. They have copied FOS in to their email this time.
They are saying my Experian score ranged between 693 and 758 at the time of my applications, and this is what they say in the recent email:
“We understand you are concerned about the assessment of your Experian credit score, however, we would like to confirm that the experian credit score was correctly assessed and deemed acceptable. We also confirm that Lending Stream never alter any information and the scores specified in our previous email was captured during the application.”
I don’t know exactly what my score was at the time of my first application as I wasn’t checking Experian at this time. But I know that my noddle score has gone up since. My Experian score is currently 299 and that is with me being relatively good recently.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So off to the Ombudsman!
Tell the Ombudsman that you don’t think their Experian score can possibly have been right. From previous cases it seems that LS only recorded the score, not the details. I wouldn’t worry about this, your current credit record will show what LS should have seen if they had properly checked your credit record.
Helen says
Further to my post above;
LendingStream are quoting my Experian credit score several times in their emails:
“Your Experian score was ranging from 693 to 758 at the time of the applications. This was factored into our proprietary underwriting and deemed acceptable.”
“[…] Hence, our decision to lend money does in part rely on the information received from Experian (credit scores).”
“We understand that you are concerned about the assessment of your Experian credit score, however, we would like to confirm that the experian score was correctly assessed and deemed acceptable. We also confirm that Lending Stream never alter any information and the scores specified in our previous email was captured during the application.”
“[…], the organization which will try to make a search on your credit file will only receive the information in the form of credit scores to get an idea of your credit worthiness as per their assessment procedure. Hence, the loans were approved to you as your credit scores reflected that your financial circumstances were in good standing.”
Reading the extracts above it seems LendingStream received a score and nothing else from Experian and the score has been supplied by Experian and is not made up by LendingStream. However after contacting MoneySavingExpert today, they are saying that I am the only one who can see my Experian report, and that lenders ONLY see the information in it. Which one is it? I’m so confused!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Looking back on some of your previous comments, you had 9 loans from LS in the last year or two. That is very recently. If your current Experian score is 299 and things have been getting better, I can’t imagine how the Experian scores LS have quoted are correct.
One “solution” to this puzzle (apart from the possibility that Lending Stream have simply invented these numbers) is that although MSE are correct to say that Experian don’t provide the credit score they give you to a lender doing a check, a lender can pay for a credit reference agency to calculate a score for them, using whatever criteria they want… if this is what is happening, then the so-called Experian score doesn’t really mean anything unless you know what it is based on.
But I want to emphasise that you shouldn’t be to bothered by this mythical score. What matters most to the adjudicator is whether your bank statements show the loans are unaffordable.
Stacey Reddick says
What do i do from Here? 118118
[I have edited the very long reply – Sara]
You told us that the reason for agreement 734068 was consolidate borrowing… we also complete a ‘welcome call’ with each applicant… During this call you were also asked to confirm if you felt the loan was affordable and whether you were aware of any future changes to your circumstances which could affect your ability to afford the loan. not proceed with the application… the above steps are taken to try to ensure, in line with the FCA rules in CONC, that potential applicants are creditworthy and can afford the loan they have applied for / have been offered by us.
With the above point in mind regarding you being asked if you think the loan is affordable, I am concerned that you now state that you did not think this was the case. I would like to draw your attention to the declaration that you signed as part of their loan agreement which states:
“You declare that at the time of Your application: All the information about You and all other information is true and complete and that You realise that We rely on this information in agreeing to make a loan available to You.” … there is a statement just above the button you clicked on to submit the application which states “If false or inaccurate information is provided and fraud is identified, details will be passed to fraud prevention agencies…” … We work with people with a less than perfect credit history because we understand there are times when they may need a helping hand.
At present, the balance on your account is £4985.43 of which, £2196.51 is arrears/overdue payments and as such, I would urge you to contact our Collections team to discuss how you are going to address the account.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I know it’s easy for me to say, but I wouldn’t worry very much about all that stuff. It is, no doubt, meant to sound alarming. But there could be good reasons why you may not have understood their questions about your expenses or may have given inaccurate answers
Having said that, if you said the loan was for consolidation and you didn’t use it for that, but if you had done that the 118 loan would have been affordable, then you may find this a hard case to win at the Ombudsman.
Matt D says
Hello,
I have a current adjudicator decision in my favour with Safetynet Credit, this was made on Friday 13th October and the adjudicator gave SNC until 27th October to reply. I made this complaint initially in late May/early June. I’m just curious if anyone else has had this experience at all? Generally do SNC side with adjudicators when it’s against them? I noticed in the stats that they received 44 complaints against them and only 5 reached ombudsman. If my investigations are to be accurate.
Any timescales or rough outline of what happens next would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Sally says
Matt,
My complaint against SNC was rejected by them too so I went straight to the ombudsmen. I don’t really think SNC have a leg to stand on as they can see your bank account and your transactions, therefore, they can see what you can and can’t afford. That’s just my opinion though. I’m really hoping that the ombudsmen rules in my favour. I would love to hear about other people’s experiences with SNC as from what I’ve read on here they reject the majority of complaints.
Matt D says
Yeah I believe SNC reject any direct complaint towards them, yet my adjudicator was brilliant in their write up. I’m really anxious now though as you’ve got to wait for their reply or submission of additional evidence. (Although to be fair, I don’t think there’s anything they could possibly submit as you said, they have had access to everything.) I’ll keep you up to date on this case if you like? And if anyone else wants to share things about SNC please do so? Has anyone else heard from either adjudicator or ombudsman? Thank you for your replies ?
Mike says
Guess I was a lucky one SNC
I sent them the standard letters and got a list of my loans, I sent the second letter and within 6/7 weeks they accepted they had lent irresponsibly.
They refunded £934 ( including 8% ) which I was happy about because I had only paid £1184 in interest.
AK says
My direct complaint was upheld in week 4. I had an outstanding balance of £1000+interest, so refund was only £72 but it covered all interest I paid except the interest on two first deposits and cleared outstanding balance. It was fair offer and I happily accepted.
Gary says
Hi there,
The ombudsman has requested additional clarification on my bank transactions due to gambling, his comments are as per below:
“I note what appear to be significant winnings on your statements. These included a refund of £2000 from Ladbrokes on 4 may 2015 and two cash deposits of £2000 and £1200 at Halifax on the 14 May 2016. Can you confirm whether or not these deposits were winnings.”
My question is i know the £1500 was winnings, however i seem to recall the other amounts were provided by family to help assist me due to gambling losses and help pay off some accumulated debt. Will the ombudsman look negatively at the fact i received money from my family or shall i say they were winnings.
Nicki says
Your best bet is just to be honest. I would say you know the £1500 is winnings but your unsure about the other two and that they could be winnings or they could be assistance from your family. He will just be trying to get a good picture of what your financial situation was at the time. Even if you had to borrow money from your family doesn’t show that you were any better off it shows that you needed help
Acee says
RESULT! Was given £2300 back from PDUK & Payday Express out of this I offered Lending Stream £300 as a f&f on a £595 debt and Likely Loans £1000 as a f&f on a £3500 debt and they have accepted. It will mean my DMP finishes 5 months earlier and because of Sara and the wonderful people on this site I will be debt free by August next year at the latest instead of January 2019 and I’ve still got 6 or 7 cases with the Ombudsman so hoping to be debt free before the summer thank you so much.
Acee says
On another note my lending stream complaint is with the Ombudsman because they rejected my complaint in their final response, however tonight I have received this email from lending stream
‘This is in reference to the FOS complaint received on your behalf
We understand that you are not happy with our previous resolution, however, we confirm that all necessary checks were executed at the time of your applications and your loan was approved only after it cleared our affordability analysis.
To reiterate, during the approval of your loans you were full time employed with the monthly income of £1070.00 or above for each application. We could observe a sufficient disposable income to make the repayments without any financial difficulties. Also, while accessing your applications, the score was confirmed to be above 564 and you were approved only for the amount you were eligible for. Although we received additional applications, they were declined as they did not meet our lending criteria. Upon reviewing your account, we found that all your loan accounts have been closed successfully.
Having said the above, we believe that Lending Stream has behaved responsibly in approving your loans and has dealt with them fairly’
I am totally confused as they gave their final response weeks ago so I sent it to the Ombudsman so what is that email about? They included an FOS ref number but my complaint hasn’t been assigned an adjudicator yet as I’ve had no contact from the FOS.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
does the figure of 1070 income or the credit score of 564 match with what LS previously replied to you?
Acee says
No they initially said between £1070 and £1800 and credit score of between 564-768 I’ve still got the original email ready to send to the Ombudsman when they pick up the case. Just not sure why they have emailed me a final response again and they quoted an FOS number when I don’t even think they have picked the case up I’m totally confused.
Helen says
This is almost exactly word for word the same email they sent me, apart from the credit score and monthly income.
When I put my complaint to FOS they could not give me a reference as LendingStream never sent me a final response. When I explained to FOS that I had asked LendingStream several times whether their email was their final response, FOS contacted LendingStream directly and asked them to send me a final response. That’s when I received this email.
Neil T says
Hi Sara, Do you know how long it takes the business to get in contact with you after the Ombudsman ruling. I had the adjudicator call earlier to say Sunny will pay out on all the loans when they previously only offered 3 out of 36. The amount came to a very handy £3600.
The ombudsman said the business will contact me to pay out but may take four weeks. Is it worth calling to nudge them along as Just want to get this over the line.
SPLITTY says
WAHOO!! Payday UK have today finally paid up (albeit only £257 in interest & fees paid back to me) but crucially they have written off a £1061 debt that’s been hanging over me for the last 4 years!
I’m now free from the harrassment of daily phone calls from the PRA Group and letters from BW Legal threatening legal action against me.
PDUK also promised to remove all information from my credit report relating to my loans, including the default they issued on the last loan that was eventually sold to PRA.
Am I right in thinking that I’ll have to wait until next month for this to show up on my credit report?
Even though I haven’t come away with a huge payout, the relief of not having this old debt hanging over me and finally being able to improve my credit rating makes so much more of a difference!
I’ve still got 4 other claims waiting for an adjudicator however none of those have negative credit details against them, so any refund from those will be a bonus.
Lucy M says
MY QQ SUCCESS: I submitted my complaint to Quickquid in October 2016. QQ remained largely unresponsive during the entire process. At one stage they made an offer of £300 which I rejected.
I requested a Subject Access Request from QQ who informed me that they did not have to comply as it qualified as an “exemption”; which was incorrectly supported by my adjudicator. The Adjudicator rules in QQ’s favour based on them reported I was earning £3,000pm (not true!). My adjudicator said it was simply “not necessary” for me to see my file and was “extremely unlikely to change his mind.” QQ is absolutely legally obligated to comply with a SAR. I spent weeks fighting this & stated that if QQ failed to comply I would be making a formal complaint to the ICO. QQ finally agreed to provide me with a copy of my “Business File”.
By Business File contained over 900 cells of duplicated data. The salary for each entry was £1,500pm except a single entry stating £1,500 “twice weekly”. It appeared QQ had taken this single cell and claimed I earned £3,000 for the entire period. I argued the £3,000pm figure (upon which the adjudicator had based his decision) was clearly incorrect. The adjudicator was reconsidering his decision, when QQ offered me £3,000. I accepted this and it was paid about 28 days later. The entire process from start to finish took a year.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Good grief.
(For anyone else encountering this sort of nonsense about a firm not having to comply with a SAR, put a complaint into the ICO immediately. )
That is appalling complaint handling by QuickQuid. Can I suggest that you think about telling their regulator, the FCA, about the obstructive way QQ has behaved.
gillian says
hi just a quick update i recieved over 6 thousand pound from quickquid in refunds the last time i used them was end of 2015 the only problem now is since i have got refund they have started to send me emails asking if i would like to take a loan ARE THEY SERIOUSE surley this proves they just target anyone with the emails trying to tempt you (I WILL NOT BE TAKING UP THE OFFER AS NOW THANKS TO THIS SITE I AM DEBT FREE AND EVEN HAVE FUNDS IN BANK)
AE says
Accepted my first offer of £950 from pounds to pocket a little less than I initially thought but it will start me on the road to being debt free, does anyone know how long they take to pay out?
Thanks :_)
Ben says
Just a quick question, before I accept offers from lending Stream and Quid. Is it a full refund on interest we paid we are trying to claim? Or refund on the actual loan also? Any feedback would be great.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
it is a refund on the interest you paid, not the amount you borrowed.
Be careful if they are offering to write off an outstanding loan as part of the refund – this may sound good but it may be worth less than you think as a lot of the outstanding amount was interest. If you aren’t sure, come back here and say what the numbers are… it’s worth making sure rather than regret this later.
Luke says
I received an offer from Lending Stream which I thought was for 1/3 of interest and charges paid. I replied saying I would take it to the Ombudsman. However, I recalculated its actually for bang on 50% of interest and charges, (£1797.44 for £3288.63 of interest/charge) is that a fair settlement? If so, do I have to now progress to the FOS or can I retrospectively accept their offer?
Also I have a complaint against Wonga with the FOS. They received everything they asked for (statements, credit report copy etc) on 25 Sep. How long would I expect until I get an adjudicator decision?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is up to you what you think is fair. How long ago were these loans? Because the Ombudsman would normally add 8% interest per year to any refunds? Also does it matter to you if LS removes any negative information from your credit record? If it is, get this agreed with LS in writing before accepting their offer.
If you decide you think a 50% offer is good enough to accept, then I suggest you contact LS and ask them how you accept this. Only when it is actually paid by LS should you withdraw your complaint at the FOS as some people have been badly messed abound by LS… hopefully this won’t happen to you but it’s good to keep your Ombudsman complaint running until you actually get paid.
L7 says
Hi Sara,
So I’m on a journey of getting refunds from payday loan companies and have had over 1000 back in the first three weeks! I’ve just started a claim against amigo loans I had two with them the first for 3000 to consolidate payday loans and then the second for 5000 to consolidate once again as o took more payday loans out! In the conversation they based my earnings on me working overtime as I was working a lot at the time but surely they shouldn’t base affordability based on overtime and also they could see I was taking more money to pay the same payday loan companies as before, do you think I have a good case for a refund of interest on the second loan?
Kel says
Hi just got a response from PiggyBank and to be honest it’s a little scary and a little threatening not sure where to go with this one
This is the summary-
Based on my findings and the information above, I can uphold your complaint regarding irresponsible lending and will be able to offer some redress in this matter. If you accept in full and final settlement of your complaint I can refund interest and charges on the highlighted loans which totals £49.52. As your outstanding balance is £405.20 this means you will have a new outstanding figure of £355.68. Please confirm you accept this offer and I will also have your credit file updated
Please be aware that the T&Cs that you agreed to, mention fraud and a fraudulent application; be aware this is also classed as ‘irresponsible borrowing’
I did make my credit commitments sound a lot more attractive but surely they could see these
Advice would be great please
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How many loans did you have before the current one that defaulted?
I wouldn’t worry about their aggressive sounding response. A few payday lender do this and it is unpleasant but nothing ever comes of it. There are a lot of reasons why your application may not have been accurate, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/.
Kel says
Hi Sara I had six previous loans before defaulting with them
If they don’t feel they have done anything wrong why offer redress at all
Thank you for your help
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Because they are hoping that the combination of a small offer plus aggression will make you give in? There isn’t really much point in speculating about this. With 7 loans this is a case worth asking the Ombudsman to look at to see what they think is fair.
SPLITTY says
WAHOO!! (Mk.2)
Just a day after my payout from PDUK, I’ve had a letter from the ombudsman upholding my complaint against 1st Stop (now Clear Recoveries) for all 3 loans I had with them.
1st Stop were an absolute PITA to deal with when I had the loans and were incredibly quick to issue defaults.
When I put inmy complaint, they blatantly lied to me and the adjudicator, claiming the business was being wound up (their website was/is still live and accepting new loan applications – and they are still shown as active on Company’s House).
I now stand to get a refund of £1394 in fees and interest back… HAPPY DAYS!!!
Matt says
Today I’ve received a ‘final response’ letter from PaydayUK regarding six loans with them. I’m a little confused with the response I received as they’ve not determined whether they lent responsibly on two of the loans, the letter reads:
However, you continued to utilise our services taking out another two loan deposits of £250.00 on 13 August 2016 and 6 November 2016. Based on your lending history, I think when you took out these loans we should have asked you for more information. Unfortunately, I have been unable to reach a decision as to what we should have done with the information I have available to me. However, if you are able to provide the documentation I require as set out in the table below we will happily look at these two loans again for you.
In my opinion it sounds like they’ve admitted they should have done more with the statement being “Based on your lending history, I think when you took out these loans we should have asked you for more information” but have stated that in order to look into these two loans I will have to provide bank statements from this time and a credit report. They put down the bottom:
13 August 2016 – 30 March 2017
March 2017 2 Unable to Determine Redress: N/A
Are they legally obligated to provide me with an answer rather than just giving me “unable to determine” and should I respond to them prior to send to the FO?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s not really worth arguing about what they should have done. It is peculiar for them to ask for your credit record as they can look at that themselves without asking you.
Did they make an offer on the previous loans? If so how many loans did you have and how many are they offering to refund?
Mrs W says
Hi All,
Adjudicator agreed in my favour Wonga should refund all loans 6-27 (around £6500 in interest), Wonga disagree and only want to pay out loans 6-21(£3100 in interest) Has anyone had the same situation and sent on to Ombusman for a better outcome?
dan says
If you can afford to wait it out then must be a good case, unless there was a good, plausible reason to not pay on 22-27 but probably not, they are just hoping you are desperate for money and accept
Claire says
Hi, my adjudicator sided in my favour on some of my loans and gave WDA till the 27th September to contact them. They didn’t respond until the 2nd October, where they disagreed with the adjudicators findings. Now my claim has gone to the ombudsman and I am waiting for one to pick it up. Is it normal for WDA to reject adjudicators findings and what does the ombudsman do, do they normally agree with adjudicator or might they reject my claim?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
In most cases the Ombudsman agrees with the adjudicator my guess is it’s over 3/4 for these payday loan complaints but I haven’t seen statistics.
But sometimes they “tinker” with the adjudicator’s decision if they don’t think it’s quite right. So an award of “6 out of 10 loans” could be changed to “8 out of 10 loans” or “4 out of 10 loans”
Brad says
So Wonga came back today after 7 weeks rejecting my complaint. I had 31 loans in 21 months, borrowing over £20k. Off to the FOS again!
Mark says
How long can it take FOS to conclude their investigations..I had 22 loans over two years with lending stream which I’ve calculated that interest alone amounts to approx £5000.They said my credit score was 758 upon the first loan they gave me in Jan 2012 which I found very hard to believe considering at the time I had a personal loan and and payday loans with other lenders of large quantities since DEC 2010.I ve sent bank statements as requested to FOS three months ago but no update as yet.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds as though your case hasn’t yet been picked up by an adjudicator. It may be that Lending Stream haven’t yet sent the FOS their case file :(
I suggest you call the FOS and ask if an adjudicator has been assigned.
Ashley says
I have started to write complaints to all the payday lenders I have borrowed from in the last 7 years. many I have taken 20+ loans with, and already have been offered 1k+ settlements from a couple. many have rejected my complaints.
I have taken 4 loans with Lending stream over a period of 1 year, and they have not upheld my complaint, Do you think this one is worth going to the ombudsman with?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes definitely worth a try.
Ross says
I noticed today that PaydayUK and Payday Express websites show they are no longer issuing loans. I have complaints in with them, Is this anything to worry about? They have not given a final response within 8 weeks and it was logged with FOS last week?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am hoping this won’t affect any existing complaints as the parent company hasn’t gone into administration.
Maureen says
Ross,
I have a big complaint in against Payday UK but even so, I see this as a great result! One of the big four lenders no longer inflicting misery on people and inevitably forcing them in to debt, bankruptcy etc…..the more of these lenders that either go into administration or stop lending is good news! They are no longer profiting from their high interest lending. I paid around £5000 interest to this company over 4 years.
Jb says
Dos any one know how sunny refunds work. Got informed I should have had my refund today. But before I phone them just want to know if they pay by bank deposit so over night or did it just go in at a random times during the day. Thanks in advance.
Ross says
Hi Jb,
They pay by Faster Payments, so it should hit your account within a couple of hours. If they say it was refunded today, it may be in your account now, or tomorrow at the latest I would think?
Bert says
I have had good news and Ombudsman has ruled in my against lending stream.
So my Ombudsman didn’t take any bank details off me to pass onto Lending Stream, but said that they will be in touch with me within 28 days to process the refund. Has anyone else had Lending Stream contact them directly to get bank details so they can process the refund? And how long does the Ombudsman’s decision to the refund from Lending Stream in your bank account usually take?
Mer says
Hi Bert,
Ombudsman found in my favour against Lending Stream on 3rd October, they have 28 days to contact me, I’ve not heard from them yet. I emailed them on Tuesday to check the progress, but they haven’t replied. I will let you know if I hear anything
Debs says
MyJar – surprisingly easy to deal with!
Submitted my complaint to them 9th Sept 17. Had a reply within 2 days letting me know they had received the complaint and would investigate, and aim to get back to me within 4 weeks. A couple of weeks letter an email to say they’d be taking longer than 4 weeks but will definitely be back to me within 8 weeks.
Yesterday 18th October, had an email asking when would be a good time to call and discuss the complaint, rather than wait I called them today.
They were very reasonable on the phone, admitted that it did seem my affordability of the loans was questionable and agreed to refund charges and interest on 11 of the 12 loans I had + 8% interest.
They emailed me with official offer within the hour, I replied straight away. Funds in my account almost immediately!!
Thanks Sara! You truly are worth your weight in gold! You’ve helped so many people with this site! I cannot thank you enough! I have written a cheque to give to my local citizens advice agency and tell anyone who’ll listen about this site and the help you offer!!
Kel says
Good evening I’ve had two knock backs in two days PiggyBank and wageday advance both said no wrong doing although piggy did offer a small amount of redress
My question is I have just activated my dmp which will obviously take a couple of weeks to get in place should I still send these complaints to the Fos I have included all my payday loans in my dmp so see it that whatever the outcome I haven’t got anything to lose. I am also still paying token payments to these companies wda offered to send a hardship pack to arrange payments for my outstanding debt but if it’s in my dmp not much point am I looking at this all wrong ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, send the complaints straight away to the FOS. There is no need to wait for your DMP to be up and running, the complaints can go ahead now.
tony says
Dear
We have received information from Provident about the complaint you have referred to our service. Provident has explained that the last loan was issued on 28 May 2010
Because all of the loans were taken out more than seven years ago, Provident has objected to our service looking into the complaint. Part of this is because it says it’s unable to adequately investigate the concerns as it is only required to keep documentation for a period of six years. The time limits for bringing complaints are six years after the event complained of or three years after the date upon which the customer became aware, or ought to reasonably to have become aware, that they had a cause for complaint- although there are exceptions to this.
If you would like to pursue the complaint further, we would first need to consider whether we can investigate these loans before we can move the complaint forward. It will take some time for us to consider before we will have an answer for you.
If you wish to not pursue the complaint further, please let us know and we’ll arrange to close our files. I would appreciate it if you could let us know how you would like to progress the complaint as soon as possible.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Kind regards
I have asked them to investigate further as provident have supplied me with agreements going back to 2008 which is 9 years ago saying they only keep them for six
Ryan says
Hi,
Anyone had a refund from safety net credit? I’ve used them For 3years with over 60 loans. 11k in total.They have send me a list of all loans and repayments already is it worth me complaining and asking for a refund?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Definitely! They could see your bank statements so they should have known you were in trouble.
John Smith says
Hi,
I had a email from a Adjudicator on the 05th October 2017 saying that they have wrote to Sunny saying that they should refund all interest and to get back in touch on the 19th October 2017 if they agree. Do I contact the Adjudicator to see if they got back to them? If they haven’t what does that mean?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I would leave it a couple of days. If Sunny haven’t got back, the adjudicator may decide to give them another week or two. But if they don’t reply the case goes into the queue to be seen by an Ombudsman.
MH says
Hi All,
Anyone recently had an adjudicator decision in you favour with WONGA and them taking over the allocated time to respond?
thanks
MH
Dave says
My one was end of august. Wonga took 2 weeks longer to respond (4 in total) and didn’t fully agree with adjudicator.
I accepted to avoid ombudsman queue (about £400-£500 less than what adjudicator advised) and hen Wonga took near 28 days to payout and only after a lot of calls!!!
Pear says
Hi Sara
Looking some advice after hearing about payday UK seemingly withdrawing from the payday loan market. I had a decision upheld by the ombudsman a week ago for a refund on my loans within 6 years (I decided to forget the over 6 years) they have 3 weeks left to refund me, should I try ringing to get it sorted or am I panicking over nothing.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I would be VERY surprised if there is any problem with this. The parent company is still in business. But why not ring them up and ask?
Lisa says
Hi All,
Just called the FOS for any update on allocation to an adjudicator, and whilst this hasn’t happened, they did advise that there has been an offer from QQ of just short of £1500. QQ initially rejected my complaint completely, however, have now made an offer on loans 4 – 6 (there were 9, but I am assuming that some have been removed due to the 6 year timeframe)
Having looked through my records, I calculated that I only paid about £800 in interest on a principle of 3750. So on the surface this does feel like a good offer as it includes the one that has defaulted and they have confirmed that this will be removed. So will wait on the email confirming from the FOS exactly what this is and make a decision.
On the basis QQ normally come in initially with a low offer to start, and are painfully slow to do anything, I want to get myself in a knowledgeable position, Watch this space….
Robbie Henderson says
Just had call from adjudicator re cheque centre loans older than 6 years. They’very made an offer of £1700 but have discounted the first 12 loans and have haven’t offered 8%simple interest on the loans they’re willing to pay. I don’t know whether to accept as I wasn’t expecting anything anyway or hold out. The adjudicator did say that it’s likely simple interest at least would be added in Ombudsman decision which is £1160. But then there’s no guarantee they agree and pay out? But if they don’t agree can I just accept the initial offer? Given the timelines involved in could end up with nothing? Adjudicator did say he did accelerate the case and would have his view early next week. What do you think Sara?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t think there is anything I can say here that you haven’t already thought of. If CC reject the adjudicator decision then the case has to go to the Ombudsman. Which even if it is fast tracked means the “December deadline” is very close, but I have no idea whether that date actually means anything or not.
I suppose you could tell the adjudicator that you will accept their offer if they add simple interest on – for these older loans that is a sizeable amount? But if they say No, you have a difficult call to make.
Craig Webb says
Hi
I have just received all my statements from QQ I had 15 loans from them between 2010 and 2012 the last one I didn’t pay it but they said they want wage slips and bank statements from that period, shall I supply them or not ? I haven’t even asked for refund only my statements !
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s up to you if you want to give QQ your bank statements. There is no need to supply payslips as those amounts are on your bank statements. Some people don’t see why they should supply this information to a payday lender. It’s possible that QQ will use it to make a better offer, saving the need to go to the ombudsman, but I haven’t seen any evidence of this. Looking through more than 2 years of bank statements would take a considerable amount of time and some people reckon QQ will ignore them – they are only asking for them to make the procedure seem difficult to you.
If you don’t want to supply them, I suggest you use the loan info you now have to write a good step two complaint and put at the end that you would like them to consider your case as it stands and you will be happy to supply bank statements to the ombudsman if necessary.
In practice QQ are very likely to refuse to look at loans over 6 years old, so your case is almost certainly going to go to the Ombudsman.
Dan says
Just passed the 8 week stage and after receiving. Around £300 for some very small loans I’ve just accepted a tad under £3k, max would of been £4K without going to the adjudicator! Massive result and fingers crossed it come soon through soon, that’ll be going straight into repaying a debt! Not that long ago and I would of spent that five times over in my head before it arrived and most of that would of been to bookmakers! No more! Thanks again Sara, I will make another donation to the CAB once it’s paid out!
Lee says
I have today sent this to Lending Stream…….
Good Afternoon
I have had no response to the email I sent you on the 11th October 2017.
I would like you to provide a Statement of my Account. The FCA Rules provide that a firm’s procedures must ensure that a complaint may be made free of charge. I require complete details of the loans you gave me and the amounts that I repaid in order to be able to clearly explain my complaint.
In addition, the FCA’s Principles set out that (6) a firm must pay due regard to the interests of its customers and treat them fairly and (7) a firm must pay due regard to the information needs of its clients, and communicate information to them in a way which is clear, fair and not misleading. I consider that you are being obstructive, delaying and not treating me fairly by not supplying me with a Statement of Account.
If you do not supply me with this information, I shall be taking my complaint about payday loan affordability to the Financial Ombudsman and I shall also be writing to the FCA pointing out the difficulties you are putting in the way to prevent me being able to make an effective complaint.
Please can you provide me with the information requested.
Should I await their response or send the case to the FOS? I the number of loans from Lending Stream but I do not have the amounts or the dates, I guess I will need this info to start the case with the FOS?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can’t take a case to the Ombudsman until it has been 8 weeks since you sent it to Lending Stream. You don’t have to have a list of your loans to do this – it helps you make out a case but it’s not essential. The lender will almost always provide the ombudsman with a list of the loans.
Do you have your bank statements from this period? You can usually reconstruct the loans from those – look for the amounts you received and the amounts you paid LS. The total interest you paid is the difference between these two numbers (well it’s a bit more complicated if you still owe them money.)
Lee says
The original complaint was sent on the 4th August and I got the standard reply asking me to pay them a £10 fee for an SAR.
I responded and then have sent this email as a nudge so to speak.
I can try and obtain bank statements but don’t know the exact dates of the loans.
Nick says
Well the FOS have just informed me that pduk have allowed them to look in my 20 loans that over 6 years old due to my husband being critically ill in 2012.
I had 20 loans one after the other.. each time I borrowed around 600 a time. Every month til entering a DMP. Should be a nice amount, all my complaints have been upheld so far..just this and wonga to go now
Lisa says
My lender says they don’t have to look into my case as it’s pre 2007? Is this correct? I have one claim with the Ombudsman now for a loan dating back over 6 years and it’s being looked into. Is it worth me sending this one to them as the loans were 2003. I’ve just received a refund from 2002 from a different claim re packaged bank account. Is it the same rules and regulations?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Consumer credit business (e.g. Loans) only came under the Financial Ombudsman’s jurisdiction in April 2007. I can’t see how you will be able to win a case where the loans were in 2003, sorry.
Shem says
Hi Sara
Really frustratingly after accepting wongas offer which included a £288 deduction to pay an outstanding balance they had passed to their 3rd party debt agency BPO with agreement to remove any negative marks relating to this loan from my credit file, I am now being contacted by BPO with ‘DO NOT IGNORE’ emails saying the balance of £274 remains. ive even sent wongas final response email which states the deduction will be used to repay the loan but thye say I am miss reading the offer! I 100% am not.
i’ve spoken to Wonga who confirmed the outstanding balance was actually £274 and this has been paid in full by the amount deducted as agreed in the offer. they said they reclaimed the whole debt from BPO on 6th October and the deduction was applied against it on the 11th and my debt is £0. but that they WONT contact BPO to clear this up that I need to! I have stressed that it was not a transaction I was involved with and therefore am not carrying anyway to BPO who are adamant the balance is still due to them!
help!
Shem x
Shem says
meant to say ‘I’m not carrying any weight! for info this was wongas offer!
for info too this was wongas text around the outstanding balance:
“I see that you currently have an existing loan with Wonga so if you accept our offer we will use part of the redress to repay your loan. The current outstanding balance is £288.00; however, this figure may change because interest is added on a daily basis. That would leave a total of £1334.28 to be paid to you as redress.
If you accept this offer, you will need to inform your debt collection agency of your new balance”
far from me owing anything now I would say someone owes me £8 :-)
on a serious note this is so maddening – I’ve emailed BPO but I’m not holding out much hope and I guess there is every chance they could add ‘missed’ payments to my credit file simultaneously as Wonga are removing them!
any advice would be really appreciated – it was a direct offer so no FOS involved
Shem
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Was the Wonga offer accepted directly from them or via the Adjudicator?
Shem says
Hi Sara,
directly from wonga no FOS or adjudicator involved,
I also just realised the difference between the £288 deducted and the £274 BPO state as the outstanding debt is £14 not £8. Which tallys up with the fact i was making £14 installments to BPO and the October payment was taken Really close to wongas final response which accounts for the anomaly and further confirms this is one and the same balance that wonga deducted funds to clear. (Not that I had any other outstanding balance with them anyway)
I’ve sent an email asking that they talk to wonga but I’m not holding out much hope
Shem x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
it is Wongas job to resolve the BPO problem, not yours. I suggest you phone them and say if it isn’t sorted by Thursday , with you having had an email from BPO to agree you no longer owe them anything, you will be sending the complaint to the Ombudsman and asking for compensation for their poor complaint handling.
Nicola says
Thanks you so much for this website Sara!! I sent all my complaint emails on the 26th September 2017. I have already had a refund from Mr Lender for £150, this was for one old loan which was rolled over twice (wasn’t expecting anything from this one!), then a £470 balance write off from Safetynet Credit, and a £900 write off from Satsuma! Wow! So happy, and so much closer to being debt free.
Still waiting on Wonga, Myjar, payday uk, wageday advance, the money shop and quick quid.
I have also got a complaint with the FOS for 17 lending stream loans, they told me my credit score was over 700 when I applied! Absolute rubbish, it is currently 396! I have 2 outstanding loans with them totalling £157, so was hoping they would wipe them, but I may get more back now that it has gone to the FOS, fingers crossed!!
I could be completely debt free by Christmas if these lenders agree in my favour! So just wanted to show my appreciation!! I will never take out one of these dreaded loans again, they have made the last 10 years of my life a nightmare of constant borrowing to pay off another loan etc. Feeling very pleased right now!
Thank you!!! ?
Robert says
Lending Stream also dismissed my claim said credit score was 700 god I should be so lucky.One month prior to my application I had a bank default for 3500 plus missed payments so have passed to Fos.
Nat says
I will also never ever in my life get another loan. So glad for this site. How many loans did you get with satsuma I’ve made a complaint to them borrowed £500 in Feb. Paid back £500 there’s £498 left of my balance so that’s just interest I’m hoping they will write it off. Also had 2 loans from they 2 years ago which I struggled to pay back x
Nicola says
I’ve only ever had the 2 loans with them, one for £200 which I paid off and then one for £1000 which is the one they wrote off (so glad because the interest was ridiculous on this one) I think it helped that I was in a DMP so they knew I wasn’t managing and the loan was unaffordable, because they didn’t do the correct checks in the first place. Fingers crossed you get a good outcome too ?
Nicola says
**Update- QQ and P2P not upholding complaint- so sent this off to FOS straight away
MyJar- Refunded £763!! (interest and charges plus 8% for 7 loans)
Another debt now paid because of this refund!! Thanks so much Sara, if my Wonga complaint is upheld I could be debt free for Christmas. This site has been a life saver for me! :-)
Paul says
Haven’t been on here for a while due to work, so far i’ve been refunded £12086 interest from various payday loan companies. does anyone know any other trading names for payday express ?
Ross says
Hi Paul,
They used to also trade under the name Express Finance (Bromley). This was an old trading name before they were taken over by ICL.
Lee says
Payday express is currently trading under Instant Cash Loans. Just had an adjudicator rule in my favour from a compliant I submitted to the FOS end of July. Took 3 months to get my first outcome from the FOS. They have till 2nd November to confirm they accept their decision and pay me out on loan 3 onwards to the final loan 12. Hoping they don’t appeal.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send it to the Ombudsman – your bank statements will show you had loans from them.
Ben says
Hi,
Does anyone have any info on LOANEXTRA.COM
I want to send a complaint to them but can’t find there business name anywhere online.
Paul says
domain name expired, probably closed down
Mikie says
Some more great news today!
Quickquid initially totally rejected a complaint against them and poundstopocket. Spoke to the Ombudsman service today for a quick update on my complaints in general, and turns out that qq have totally changed their mind, and offered all my qq interest back +8% and my 2nd poundstopocket loan interest +8% – while in the queue! The refund now stand at £7900! Astonishing. I accepted, so just waiting on qq to contact me now. For anyone who’s had a refund from them- do they just go through email/phone or snail mail? Just that I’m away to work for 3 weeks on Monday.
I can’t believe the results I’ve had, Sara – thanks so so much!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
£7900 after originally being offered nothing – excellent news!
gillian says
just another quick thank you to Sara i just got email from adjudicator for my lending stream she as said loans 3 to 42 should be refund total of 5939.63 pence plus 8 percent interest she as given them two weeks to reply i know they may not agree but i will let it go to ombudsman if i have to
This is on top of the 6500 pound i already claimed from quick quid thank you again Sara as at the start of the year i did not know i could claim and would prob be still using these companies and still be getting into more debt as they were taking all my wage every month.
This month was the first ever in over 8 years no payday loans to repay.
gillian says
i received an email off quickquid the day after i sent my bank details to adjudicator accepting the offer i rang quick quid the next day and the nice lady processed it there and then it was in my bank within the hour i know this was quick compared to others that have waited
Gary says
Just checked my credit report, hard reading with a complete history of my payday nightmare. in 6 years I’ve had £40000 in PDL’s made me feel a bit sick, here’s hoping for some redress and an end to payday loans.
Since I sent my complaint had a few administration reviews from Instant Loans? I presume they are checking before answering my complaint. Any ideas?
Lisa says
THey did the same to me Gary, and I have read a few others too. I think its perfectly normal. (I ended up with a rejection from PDUK, and PDE admitted irresponsible lending on 3, unable to determine on 2 and lent responsible on 4. Both are now with the FOS)
Kevin says
Hi.
I’ve just seen this article having seen a link to a compensation company on Facebook. I’ve recently completed a DMP (back in February 2017) after getting into a bad cycle while trying to support my elderly parents. I had a couple of years of cycling my loans before taking on the DMP. I have had a refund sent my way by Wonga already that wiped out my balance with them that was helpful but there are still a couple of other lenders I’ve yet to hear from.
Given that they worked with me on the DMP could I still try and get something back? Would the ombudsman take into consideration the fact that I was on a DMP?
Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The fact you were in a DMP shows you were in a mess at the end. The fact that your lenders “co-operated” with the DMP is irrelevant – what matters is whether they should have given you the loans in the first place…
If you borrowed repeatedly and ended up in mess, then it’s worth making a complaint. I can’t say you will win because that depends on your exact situation, but it costs nothing to try, so give it a go!
(And ignore any claims companies – they charge a lot and aren’t any good with this sort of complaint. the Ombudsman wants to hear YOUR story, not some claims company sending a standard letter.)
Natalie says
I sent an email to cheque centre asking for my account summary which I received within a few days. I have now had a letter saying they are investigating my complaint but they have advised they are in administration now. All loans are over 6 years ago. Have I lost out to claiming anything back?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They are still paying out and it isn’t clear when this will stop. There are rumours about December but all you can do is carry on and see what happens.
Robert says
Hi .I took a loan that I have pay plus interest but because some difficulties It took me longer than what we agreed I have repaid the original amount plus the interest but now they say that I still own them the original amount that I took £(200) so I borrow 200 I have repay 320 and I still own 200 is that correct to do to me…the loan that I took it was last October for 6 months
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Who did you borrow from?
Robert says
Hi Sara I took a£200 loan for 6 months from Piggybank I have pay back 320maybe more I had accept that I was late and I agrred by phone to pay another 40 to finish so 360 all together but I didn’t pay last month and now they send an email saying my loan is on arrears and I own 200
Bev says
After some advice please. PDUK have finally made a final offer. They say they will redress interest and costs on final 2 loans which were the biggys. 1 was over 6 years ago so that’s good. I had 7 loans altogether and co statanly deferred them. Fee on the 1st 5 is small. About £180 so happy for them.to be left off. My issue is I have had no statement is account and the offer for these 2 loans is a lot less interest than I think I have paid after going through bank and emails. I have referred to FOS but with PDUK ceasing trading should I be worried that if I don’t accept the offer now I won’t get any money at all in the future as they won’t be there Anymore? If that makes sense.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t think there is anything to worry about here. There is no indication that the parent company is in trouble.
But have you told PDUK that you can’t accept the offer until they have given you a statement of your account?
Bev says
Yes. I emailed them explaining. They had also asked for bank details to look at loans 3-5 but declined that too as believe they should have the details.
Thanks for the reply
Sarah says
Hi I’m currently waiting for my last settlement from lending stream to be paid into my account after winning my case which went all the way to the ombudsman. I’ve had a call from lending stream telling me that I need to provide my bank statement showing my sort code and account number to enable them to process the refund which I refused as I had put this information in a email. I called the FOS and they said I could send a summary from bank statement that didn’t show any transactions so I did this but it’s now been 27 days and still no payment!!! What are the next steps if they don’t pay by tomorrow???
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well first of all, phone them up! Then tell your adjudicator.
The Hitman says
Hi all, Sunny agreed with the adjudicator in writing off my remaining balance and refund £1200. This was two weeks ago, since then straight away I supplied my bank details, and not had payment nor I/adjudicator has heard a word. How long on average do Sunny payout?
Thanks again!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Most people have said they are a few days… worth phoning up to ask I think.
Martin says
After seeing this site I’ve finally started checking back over my statements to see just how much payday loans have cost me over the years.
Wonga has been by far the biggest and most frequent lender.
For them alone I’ve found 180 loans totalling over £57k from 2009 to present. Frightening.
I’m starting my complaint today, thanks for all the info here to help me along!
Martin says
Ok time for an update and a few questions :)
PayDay Express Complaint sent 25th October:
Heard back today they have refused half of the the loans and said these were lent responsibly. They have asked for bank statements to investigate the others further. Should I provide additional information to argue their decision on the refused loans and provide the requested statements? Or should I go straight to Ombudsman at this point?
Wonga Complaint sent 23rd October:
They replied today acknowledging some of my loans were lent irresponsibly and have made an offer of £3247 + 8% interest. They have refused to consider loans over 6 years old (worth approx £1800 interest).
£3247 is a lot of money! However, I think that the full interest paid over the period they have stated is £4215.
I would consider taking the £1000 loss here just for the sake of speed in closing the complaint and receiving the funds. Offset against interest and fees I’ll save in using this to repay some debts could make it worthwhile.
Would FOS be likely to look at the older loans worth £1800 despite what Wonga have said?
If I take complaint to FOS am I risking the compensation they’ve offered at this stage? Could I end up with nothing?
They also stated that the refund would be subject to 20% tax, is this correct?
Thanks!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Payday Express – they do seem to be considering statements which are sent to them. So probably worth it- but if they dont make a better offer, send the case to the Ombudsman.
Wonga – The FOS thinks older loans should be considered. It has convinced Payday UK/Express/Money Shop group of this but is still trying to convince Wonga. So yes there is a chance you could get a lot more money.
” am I risking the compensation they’ve offered at this stage?” we have seen a lot of these cases and so far no one has got less by going to the Ombudsman. The “worst” case seems to be that the Ombudsman says you should take what Wonga are offering.
Tax – see https://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-payday-refund-get-back-tax/. If you are a basic rate tax payer you should be able to claim back £200 of tax deducted.
Kel says
Hi I have made several complaints some of which I will be sending to the FOS as they have been declined however the 8 weeks is up on 28th October and has no reply from Sunny or Cashasap is this the norm for them to wait till the last minute?
I think I know the answer if they do not respond at all but just wanted to be clear is it straight to the Fos if there is no response many thanks
N says
Cash ASAP replied to me in 7 weeks and gave me a refund and wiped my remaining balance. But I didn’t have any emails from them at all until then so I didn’t know if they even received it or not. Good luck
Job says
For us Sunny was right on the final date!! They actually only owed us a couple of hundred but cleared all our outstanding balances on the same day that we’d recieved our reply!!