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:
- 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, Everyday lonas, Likely Loans/Finio, Reevo, 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.
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;
- 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.
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 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 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 free and 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 2018, 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 2024 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
- if you dont have the credit agreements, 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 FOS 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?
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!
Dan says
eeesh! good luck with your complaint(s)!
Lisa says
Good Luck! Sounds like you have an excellent opportunity for some life changing amounts if the complaint is upheld.
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!
Martin says
EDIT: Just found more information here on debtcamel explaining the tax will only apply to the 8% added interest.
I think…..? :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes that’s right. The 8% interest is treated as income – the refund itself isn’t taxed as it is your money that is being returned to you.
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.
Martin says
Thanks for the fast replies Sara :)
As much as I’d like to take the cash in time for xmas it would be at a big loss in the long term.
If I refer to FOS now should I reply to Wonga to let them know or just leave their offer open at the moment?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you should tell Wonga. You could suggest that you will settle your case for all the interest you paid within 6 years (plus 8%) but if they don’t agree you are taking the full case to the Ombudsman. Wonga don’t usually negotiate, but if you would be happy with that (up to you!) it’s worth a try.
Martin says
Great thanks, I’ll email them tomorrow.
One last thing, just to make sure my sums are correct. If I’m looking at the last 6 years should that be 6 years back from the date they first acknowledged my complaint?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well really from the date you complained – but it’s not worth arguing over 1 loan in these situations.
Martin says
Ok thanks. Just looking to track where the remaining missed loans were.
I submitted my complaint 23/10/17 – The first loan they have offered redress for was dated 1/12/11 so they have missed 2 loans at the starting period.
The final loan listed in their table was 9/12/13 despite borrowing continuing until October this year. However I’d missed this note in the their email saying that I met their new affordability criteria brought in after FCA changes to short term lending in November 2014.
I’ve argued that if anything this shows greater examples of irresponsible lending as my financial situation was still as poor as in previous years and yet they continued to lend to me. Almost all of the loans after their November 2014 cut-off resulted in a repayment plan setup to clear the loan and still they approved me for further loans. I also made the point that by this time I’d been continually borrowing from Wonga for 5 years with 141 loans including topups. That’s in addition to many other PDLs, credit cards and overdrafts!
Awaiting their reply :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I’m sure they did change their lending rules after 2014, but that doesn’t mean they have got all their recent lending decisions right… and continuing to lend after repayment plans suggests your case is an excellent one. Send it straight to the Ombudsman at 8 weeks unless they make good offer!
Martin says
Quick reply from Wonga today stating they have given their final response and that I should contact FOS if I’m not satisfied.
I saw a comment recently that someone is still waiting since the end of September on their complaint to be picked up by an adjudicator. Is it normal to take that long? I suppose I need to weigh up the pros and cons of taking a fairly large sum of cash now or waiting several months longer for the possibility of more…
Martin says
I decided to accept Wonga’s offer despite being less than full amount due to possible lengthy wait with FOS and also for the benefit quicker cash would bring me.
2 days ago I got the transfer into my account for £4040 :) :) Already paid off some credit cards and cleared my feet a little with others.
Thanks for all the help you provide here Sara. Without the guidance I would either have never submitted a complaint or I might have unnecessarily used a claims company because I thought the process was too complicated!
I took this offer for quick cash but now I can afford to wait it out and appeal others.
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!!
N says
Wow I’m so happy I found this site. I have complained to all my lenders and had 1 refund so far from cash ASAP and wiped off my remaining balance. Waiting to hear from all others I’m guessing it will take a while. But I’m so happy that it’s ye 2nd month I haven’t had to stress about where my next loan will come from. Finally after 2 yrs. Also can’t believe the amount others have borrowed over the years ?.
Has any one had luck with satsuma? I borrowed £500 in February paid back £502 but now on a payment plan. I have £498 balance left so that’s just interest. I have emailed them am hoping they would wipe my balance as I had many other loans at the time and default late payments on my credit file. Sara you are a gem for this I have been very depressed for the last few years it’s so easy to fall into the payday loan trap.
Nicola says
Yes, I had a loan with Satsuma for £1000. I only made one monthly payment to them before entering a dmp because I couldn’t manage. They upheld the claim and wiped the full balance and removed history from my credit file. This was only my second loan with them. I couldn’t believe it, so happy! I’m still waiting on several more complaints but this one was my biggest balance so I was over the moon to get rid of it! Fingers crossed for you ?
N says
Ah that’s great. I have had another loan with them 2 years ago which I struggled to pay backmy mother ended up paying it which I finished last year. But they let me take out another in February so I’m hopeful that they will wipe my balance for me. Thanks for the reply :)
Cmum says
My husband has had much better dealings with payday loan companies than myself so far!
Quickquid – upheld completely within 7 weeks on initial complaint – £2,991
Wonga – upheld almost all loans within 6 weeks of initial complaint £791. Accepted.
Lending stream – asked for more time at week 8. I’ve advised hubby to forward to FOS as they don’t have a good track record but he’s going to wait another week ‘just in case’.
WDA – Not a single response, now at 8 weeks so he’s going to forward to FOS next week with LS. (Is no response typical from these guys?)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If he has never had anything at all from WDA I suggest he phones up and asks – that isn’t usual from them.
Lisa says
WDA normally send out their response via the post I believe? They certainly did with mine. Once I had mine through the post, I dropped the complaints team a note and they sent over an electronic copy so I could share with the FOS. I would give them a bell, and if it has been lost in the post, then you will get the copy of it within a few hours I suspect.
LS have pretty much ignored me every step of the way, and WDA have been really responsive and helpful, even if they did reject my complaint.
sb says
Hi,
I started a group of complaints back in May and i’m just waiting on the final 2 which are in the queue for an ombudsman. I had 27 loans from August 2012 every month with no breaks until August 2014. The loans were as follows:
1) £300 2)£300 3)£300 4)£400 5) £350 6)£600 7)£701 8)£800 9)£600 10)£300 11)£150 12)£265 13)£265 14)£50 15)£400 16)£800 17)£800 18)£701 19)£800 20)£1000 21)£620 22)£500 23)£700 24)£781 25)£834 26)£1000 27)£1000. I was also borrowing with Quick Quid and Pounds to pocket in addition to other loans and cards etc. Wonga, after initially offering me £1400 have come back after an adjudicator found that loans 4-27 should be refunded +8% statutory interest, and offered me £3381 which i’m told with interest added will give me a refund of £3.5K. They have said that loans 6-9, 16-20 and 22-27 were unaffordable. Is this a good offer? or do you think I should wait in the queue for the ombudsman?
sb says
The list of loans above (27) is just Wonga BTW
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you know how much interest you paid on each loan? If you do:
– can you add up the interest on the loans Wonga has offered to refund and double check it does come to £3,381?
– can you add up the interest on the other loans that the adjudicator said to refund which Wonga is offering, so 4,5,10-15, 21 ?
Also the 8% statutory interest – who told you this would increase the Wonga offer to £3500? I would be expecting over £4,400 because it is 8% per year, and you made those repayments over 3 years ago.
Sam says
I know how much I paid back on each loan so if I minus the original amount loaned to me from that, would this give me the interest? Also, silly question but if the adjudicator has agreed that loan ?-? be refunded, does that mean the loan amount should be refunded or the interest paid on that loan? With top ups I had £16,918.04 in loans and paid back £20,055.19 and the loan durations range from 1day to 29days too if that helps?
The adjudicator said that with the interest it would add up to just over £3.5k. She called me to try and resolve it so I wouldn’t need to wait in the queue for the ombudsman.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, interest plus charges is the difference between what you borrowed and what you paid (assuming all the loans were fully repaid, nothing is till owed.)
Only the interest is refunded, not the loan amount.
Are you sure those figures are right? Because 20,055 – 16918 = 3137 interest paid on all loans. You said Wonga are offering you £3381 which would have interest added… This can’t all be right.
Either your £16,918.04 and £20,055.19 figures are wrong OR the offer of £3381 from Wonga includes the 8% interest OR Wonga have got the figures wrong
I think it’s worth spending some time here to make sure what you are being offered and to decide if it’s good enough. At the moment it’s hard to tell. So could you go back and work out the interest on each loan? then add up the total interest on the loans Wonga is offering, and the total interest on the loans Wonga isn’t offering… that will be some hard facts to help make a decision on.
Sam says
Thanks Sara, I’ll go back and check my figures. Your site is a godsend! I’m fortunately out of the payday spiral and with a bit of luck will be debt free in the next 6 months! Thank you!
Sam says
Right, Wonga’s offer to refund certain loans (as above) totals £2611.37 which is short by £315.06 of the adjudicator’s decision, plus roughly £276 interest from 2013 and £419 from 2014. Does that sound more realistic?
I think it sounds like a reasonable offer.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Those figure sound more likely! So you are getting well over 80% of the adjudicator’s offer, it’s a reasonable offer, it’s up to you if you want to take it or hang on for the chance of getting a bit more.
Sam says
Thanks Sara, your help (especially working out the 8% interest – previous post!) has been excellent! I’ve accepted via a form through an adjudicator. Fingers crossed it comes through in time for Christmas. Only 1 left to go now.
Thanks again!
sam says
hello again everyone!
so months and months ago I put in complaints with WDA & Sunny. both with adjudicators now. WDA still haven’t answered them, but that’s not so much. Sunny I feel I had/have a very good case with them. I had £500 outstanding with them, they initially came back to me saying they would write the debt off (I had 29 loans) so I felt this was unacceptable, they closed the account before I had chance to agree or disagree. anyway.. my adjudicator has come back saying they agree with sunny. as I was paying 3-4 loans off early every month, even though I borrowed again the next day, I still paid early… I usually had a sum of £600ish I paid to them, sometimes more, then borrowed again straight after.
do I go back to them and go to the ombudsman, or leave the complaint?
Acee says
Personally I would take it to the Ombudsman just because you paid back early doesn’t mean it was affordable, sometimes I paid my loans back early as I’d taken a larger loan out with another payday lender my bizzare way of consolidating so many loans.
Lisa says
Hi Sam
How long was it between raising with the FOS and an adjudicator picking up your complaint please?
I raised my WDA one around mid September the FOS received the file from WDA on 29/09 so I’m expecting some time in the next month for this to be picked up… However, I have a feeling that now they are getting really busy, the 2 – 4 month estimated time frame is likely to be edging towards the 4 month side. …
sam says
I cant remember if I m honest, I started everything Mid- June. They took the full 8 weeks to respond, I went to FOS straight away and in the past week I have received both outcomes from the adjudicators. So it has all taken quite a while to be fair. just be patient, I am still holding onto some hope also x
Lisa says
Perfect thanks – so it seems I am about a month behind you so will keep crossed for both of us.
I paid about £1120 interest to WDA, they have already offered me £339, but that’s just on 2 of 8 loans (loans 3 & 8) between 2012 and 2016. I had 16 different lenders in this period so for me lots of littles add up to bigs.
I agree with Acee, paying back something early for me shows that you were juggling things rather then not being reliant. you have come this far, so I would continue as far as you can. Don’t give up x
Lisa says
So it seems QQ are on a roll this week.
Ive just stepped through the offer they have made to the FOS (My cases have still not been picked up by an adjudicator, so this simply came as a result of the request of the business case) and QQ have declined to offer redress on 2 loans over 6 years old. Fine, total principle on these was only £450. They advised that loan 3 (first within 6 years) was affordable. Fine: only a £200 principle. They have agreed a full refund of interest and charges on the remaining, these had a principle of £3100! This will mean a refund of £1429.72 (including the 8%) and all negative markings from my credit file removed, including a default raised by a debt collection firm as a result of 1 of these loans.
I am more than happy with this, and exceeds what I imagined from QQ, I am waiting on formal confirmation COP today so I can accept.
Sara, you and your members are amazing. Thank you.
Dan says
Great news! Use it wisely
Lisa says
Thanks Dan.
Oh yes, this will go on home improvements, as I have been debt free since November last year. (Except a bank loan but the interest in minimal on that one and its rebuilding my credit!)
I still have 8 cases with the FOS, and have refused initial offers totalling around £1000 so fingers crossed, my house will be finished by summer! Ive paid out somewhere in the region of 6 – 10 k in interest in the past 6 years or so. If I can get half back, that would be an amazing result.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Had you paid off the defaulted loan? Did the debt collector add any interest?
Lisa says
The defaulted loan is fully paid off with no additional interest being added. £631.25 defaulted, Statement of account confirms that £631.25 so the only interest added was by QQ and they are refunding I believe.
Thanks for your support as always!
Gary says
Advice please , Satsuma have sent me a statement of account today which advised that their is no outstanding balance on my last loan and it is now closed even though there is a £600 balance ( all interest) I think they have just copied and pasted from the others what do you think ?
Gary
Sara (Debt Camel) says
were all the other loans correct? does it show that you repaid the last loan or just that the balance is now zero? I’m wondering if it has been sold to a debt collector?
Gary says
Just says it has been closed think it’s a copy n paste from previous statements on the letter, deffo not sold in just think it’s an error on the letter. Balance still says £600
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well I suggest you just carry on with your complaint and see what offer they make you.
N says
How long does 247 moneybox take to reply because they are just annoying me now. No acknowledgement of email like they state they will send a written acknowledge within 5 days of complaint. But nothing so far over a week ago now. EveryOne else I have complained to has emailed their acknowledgement. ? wish I never got in this mess ?
N says
I know it’s just over a week but I’m impatient lol
Lisa says
In summary, I sent them 22 emails (I am too impatient) and eventually they replied to 3, with totally meaningless replies.
I would expect to wait 8 weeks with little or no interaction, you may or may not get a final response. At the 8 week mark, raise your FOS complaint. The FOS have been quite honest in admitting that 247 are ignoring the FOS too so expect this to last months not weeks…..
This may stop you driving yourself around the bend! :)
Gary says
I’ve been waiting for a response for over 2 weeks 247 are pretty appalling.all I’ve had is standard response back in a jiffy! I think not
C says
Im still waiting, my agreement was signed 30th sept, rang them today and so unhelpful so no further forward yet. 28 days is up 28th oct?? They are the worse to deal with, even at complaint level!
Lee says
247 Moneybox have not replyed to me since 27th July. I have had to give up and complain to the financial ombudsman. Also agreed in July to a payment plan in interim of compliant being handled then didn’t take it. However collections team threatened to lodge default against me on credit file. I cannot get through to anyone who will talk to me and help me resolve this compliant. Is really frustrating. Expecting this debt to be sold onto someone and have baliffs at my door. As they won’t answer me.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Annoying though they are, you will not have bailiffs turning up. Bailiffs can’t be sent until there is a CCJ. And a CCJ can’t be started whilst a complaint is outstanding.
Annie says
247moneybox ignored my complaint then ignored the adjudicator. After the ombudsman upheld my complaint they asked for my bank details and have ignored all further correspondence from me. To be within the 28 days allowed for redress the money needs to be in my account the day after tomorrow.
I am going to complain to the FCA about their complaints handling process and I will add late payment of redress to that if appropriate.
N says
They are awful. They obviously know they are in the wrong! I’m on a payment plan with them got 4 payments left. If I don’t hear I don’t care I’m just glad they be gone soon
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Contact your adjudicator as soon as the 28 days is up. Moneybox 247 are a very poor company to deal with, telling the FCA is a good idea to try to stop this happening to other people.
Annie says
I will do Sara. If the money isn’t in my account I will contact the FOS immediately. I have also used an online calculator to calculate the 8% interest on each loan I am due to receive redress on as I don’t trust them to do it properly themselves and I will contact the FOS if it is short and will add it to the complaint to the FCA. I don’t know if they are deliberately inept in order to encourage people to give up or if they genuinely don’t know how to run a business.
N says
Okay so had a reply from moneybox saying they will wipe my remaining balance almost £200 so I have accepted as I’ve only paid £400 in interest I don’t think it’s worth the hassle in going all the way. If it was more I certainly would
C says
Hi annie
Did you get your refund after from moneybox 247? I havent had mine and the 28 days are up, reported to fca today about them and gone back to fos who said it could be 8 weeks for a refund which i dont understand why when ombudsman said 28 days?
Stuart says
Hi
Can anyone help me? I have two payday lenders showing on my account, MydirectLoan (Edgware) debit and short term loans, credit, can someone tell me who these lenders are?
Many thanks
Gary says
Update-Mr Lender have responded within 2 weeks of my initial complaint email with a final offer of £1,580 refund they said they could of done more checks on rollovers. I’m happy to accept to save the long FOS process for maybe £400 more. Super speedy response, that’s 1 down just 14 others to go. Thanks again Sara this site is a godsend. I will be making a donation of each one I get bk to Charity. So chuffed
Gary
Lee says
Mr Lender were one of my first to respond back in June. I had 13 complaints all in all. 7 settled – 6 referred to FOS adjudicator. Just starting to get these adjudicator outcomes now come through (3 months after sending them to FOS).
Steve says
Evening, that’s my first offer back from wonga.
how long do the ombudsman take? I am due around £1200+ 8% from wonga.
They have offered me £700+8% = £1050.
Take it or leave it?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s not the worst offer I have seen. How many loans did you have and which did they offer to refund? Did they give a reason for choosing those?
How much was the Wonga 8% added? Are your loans all about 6 years ago as that is what £700 + 8% = £1050 implies?
Stuart says
Hi
I have just had Uncle Buck sending a final response saying they will not consider loans over 6 years old, the case is with the adjudicator already and I have forwarded him their response, is this normal and does the The Financial Ombudsman service consider Uncle Buck Loans over6 years old.
There original response was I had no loans with them, no they are saying they are time barred. What happens next?
sammy boy says
Hello I have numerous irresponsible lending complaints in process. But one company has behaved, in my opinion, very badly.
My employer has been getting letters from this companies collection ‘agents’ asking for information about me and have even had the cheek to mention in their letters ‘due to money laundering regulations blah blah blah. Surely this is illegal? and also this has caused me damage to my reputation at work. My employer thankfully never sent them any info due to data protection laws. These collection agents were told to stop also and still they sent more letters. Where do i stand with this? can i tell the FOS about the upset and hurt this has caused?
Brad says
Which Lender was this?
Emma S says
Hello! I am at the beginning of a wave of payday loan refund requests. Started with the biggest (wonga!) but have also contacted payday uk/payday express. They have got back to me, ignoring my request for a full list of loans but have requested a selection of bank statements from 2009 (which I don’t have) 2012 and 2013 as well as a credit report.
I just wanted to check if this is standard and something I should provide or whether I should ignore.
Many thanks,
Emma
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If the complaint goes to the Ombudsman (which it almost certainly will if you have loans over 6 years old) then you will have to supply bank statements. they can be obtained from accounts that have been closed – most people haven’t had any trouble with this.
You can send PDUK/PDE statements if you want, it’s up to you. If you don’t want to, tell them to consider your complaint on the basis of what they know. They can check your credit record themselves, so asking you to send them this is just irritating.
Emma S says
Thank you! Is it worth me sending over the list of loans I received from Wonga during this time as evidence or is that something I should just send to the Obudsman?
D says
Hi,
Need some help. Got a bad response from drafty. Said my credit score was 651 at time of application. I was just recently discharged from a trust deed so there is no way it would have been that high.
They are saying their affordable checks showed I had enough income to pay off the loan. I may have misrepresented some of the figures on the I&E forms.
I’ve told them of my mental condition and asked them to review or I’ll send to ombudsman.
Is this normal from them?
Anyone else have any suggestions?
Cheers
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like Drafty – they are another brand from the Lending Stream who also quote bizarrely high credit scores. If it was just a single loan, these cases aren’t easy to win, but people have been successful so just send it to the Ombudsman.
D says
Thanks for that,
As I say, it’s just 1 loan with them. I’ve told them to reassess as there would be no way my credit score could have been that high. Said if they won’t reassess my complaint then I’m going to ombudsman. I’ll let you know how I get on ?
Big G says
I know it’s all relative but 6 months ago I was still gambling heavily, as I have done for over twenty years, I had £27,000 of unsecured debt.
An amazing wife, stopping gambling and lots of hard work (6/7 day weeks) and then Angel Sara and I’m now down to £4,500 of debt, a few complaints in the fire, a couple which could potentially clear that, however I can breath and it’s doable now, even without any more refunds. Sara, I know it’s been said many times but you really are a godsend, thank you so so much for this site and all your efforts. I hope also the greatest reward for you is to know that aside from trying to secure refunds, your site and advice has truly made me face into my whole approach to money. Debt free is on the horizon and my word am I going to enjoy getting there. Thank you Sara, from the bottom of my ❤️
Ash says
Disheartend today as adjudicator agreed with lending stream and they were my biggest complaint .
Can anyone tell me if the adjudicator takes overdrafts into affordability assesment? Would they count that as a monthly payment
Any help would be great
Gary says
Out of interest, how many loans did you have with LS over what time period? What was the reason the adjudicator sided with LS?
Ash says
I had 9 loans within 13 months interest o. Them all was £4900 thu said they believe the loans were affordable and satisfied checks were completed accordingly (I had several other loans on bank statements during the same period)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like a lot of borrowing. Is this a final decision from the adjudicator? If it is, ask for your case to go to an ombudsman.
Gary says
Update- Lending Stream have come back to me on 2 weeks and offered just short of £1000, Happy to accept, can’t believe it 2 offers today so that’s £2600 off 2 loan complaints , 13 more to go ???
Lisa says
Great – are you sure that its a good offer that you want to accept based on how much you have paid them?
I know its a great feeling getting an offer, just make sure you’re not doing yourself an injustice by accepting too early :)
Matt S says
Well another date promised by my adjudicator for a response has been and gone. Was originally told early August that they had all the information they needed and I’d have a response in a few days, this came and went with no contact. Chased them up and was told they were having further discussions but I would have a response by Friday 1st September (at the latest), again this came and went and heard nothing. About 10 days later got an email saying how complicated irresponsible lending complaints were and that they were awaiting further information. Emailed every 7/10 days asking if there was any update but generally the adjudicator didn’t reply to me… until on 13th October he told me that they now had all the information they needed and I would have a response by Friday 20th October (at the latest). But yet again this date has come and gone with no response and again the adjudicator isn’t replying to me to advise whats happening. So frustrating!!
Sarah says
Is there any reason why it would take longer? For example over 6 years or QuickQuid?
Matt S says
No, its an irresponsible lending complaint regarding my Nationwide overdraft and has all taken place with in the last 4 years. I do appreciate that irresponsible lending complaints can be complicated, its just annoying when he promises me a date that i’ll receive a response and then nothing happens and I don’t even get an email explaining until I’ve chased it up a few times.
Dave says
Sounds like the same adjudicator I had on some of my cases!
Pamela says
Just an update on my Cheque Centre situation for anyone else dealing with this company. My loans under 6 years are sitting with the Ombudsman for the past 2 weeks after my adjudicator found in my favour and Cheque Centre said they didn’t agree. My adjudicator also called yesterday to say that the Cheque Centre are now willing to look at my loans that are over 6 years (which I was quite surprised about) and I’ve to try and provide some more information from that time.
My adjudicator informed me that the Ombudsman are well aware of the Cheque Centre’s administration position and are trying to move these cases on as quickly as possible. My fingers are truly crossed on this one, more so the over 6 years loans that the adjudicator has agreed with as they are in the region of £5k including the 8% interest.
Maureen says
Thanks Pamela. Interesting…..I settled my under 6 years at a vastly reduced sum but my over 6 years was allocated a different reference by the ombudsman service and hasn’t been looked at yet. I might chase them up!
Pamela says
Maureen, they split mine into 2 also, definitely worth checking up on. Can I ask how long the Cheque Centre took to pay out after the Ombudsman decision?
Maureen says
I’ll give them a call. They paid in my adjudicators decision within about 2 weeks
Chris says
Has anyone ever had problems with payday loans funding gambling addictions? If so did anybody have any luck? It’s left me in a righ pickle.
Thanks Chris
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Lots of people have won complaint with a lot of gambling still showing. Here are some published examples https://debtcamel.co.uk/gambling-payday-loan-refunds/.
BUT are you still gambling? If you are, then you really need to stop this and sign up for a debt management plan to get stable, then look at complaints. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/gambling/ and https://debtcamel.co.uk/help-payday-loan/
Chris says
Thanks Sarah! No I’ve completely stopped gambling now, go to the meetings etc learnt my lesson it’s time to get back on track. If I right a letter of complaint do I have to tell them? If so how is the best way to do it?
Chris
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s up to you if you want to tell the payday lenders the reasons why you were in difficulty – this makes some people feel very anxious and you can just be a bit vague and refer to your repeat borrowing.
But if the complaints go to the ombudsman you should be open about your gambling problem.
D says
Quick quid and pounds to pocket have sent an email stating I don’t have grounds to complain. One email back but says they are the same company.
Straight to the ombudsman for them.
I believe this is normal for them
Vikki says
Response from 247 Moneybox – can’t work out if they are looking into it or offering to take off my credit file as a resolution!
Please take this email as acknowledgement of your complaint. We will now investigate the issues you have raised within the timescales as set out in our complaints procedure below.
Happy to provide information requested (though do be aware that all of this information was provided upon the advance of any loan as the loan agreement was sent to you via email – do check your junk or spam for this and also check any other email address’ you may have provided us with.)
We are happy as a gesture of goodwill to resolve by removing all reporting made to credit reference agencies.
We are aware that there are many forums and templated letters available on the internet to exploit any previous credit commitments under the wholly subjective banner of affordability. To compare our actions with the reported behaviour of other lenders is inappropriate.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They are hoping you accept their offer to remove information as a settlement of your complaint. I suggest you reply that you do want the list of your loans and you want them to assess your affordability complaint as you want a refund of the interest you paid.
Sarah says
Hi Everyone
Just a note for anyone dealing with QQ – they’ve sent my statement of account to the FOS and me (on going since 2016) and I’ve had to query a few of their calculations as they have not included the interest I paid. One example is a loan of £200 with a late payment fee of £12, but they have told the FOS they only took £212 from me. My statements showed I actually paid £50 interest and £12 late fee . . . so i would check the information they have recorded.
Sarah
Matt says
Hi Sara,
I’m looking at making a complaint to sunny, I’m currently in a payment plan with them that I arranged this month, if I do submit a complaint, is there any way this could effect my repayment arrangement with them?
Thank you!
Brad says
No it shouldn’t do. I did the same and they have just put my payments on hold and aren’t asking for any payments until the complaint is dealt with.
Helen says
Hi all, I’m currently at various stages in the refund process with various lenders. I am doing this on behalf of my son who got into a horrible mess with his debts and I am trying to sort the mess out.
All thanks go to this site, Sara in particular plus all the other comments that gave me hope, thank you very much.
Has anyone had any experience of refunds from Everyday Loans? They have shops rather than online, but they have treated him particularly badly, it was only one loan I believe but a large one at £3000 at a time when he was clearly (from his credit report) in a terrible mess. On one occasion when he went in to the shop to explain he has having difficulty paying it back, the girl suggested he take a loan out for the payment (standard horrible practice) and unbelievably suggested if he took out an even larger loan they could go to Amsterdam together for the weekend! This loan is currently with a debt collection agency, surprise surprise.
Brad says
Hi, I have a complaint logged against Everyday Lending (trust two guarantor loan). I had similar experience with everyday loans but I repaid them by taking out a 118 money loan as the interest on everyday was crazy. Trust two gave me £6,500 when I had a lot of debt so will see what comes of that. I sent it about 5 weeks ago
Mark Jones says
Hi
I have had a refund from QQ today of £1250 which is great because I wasn’t expecting anything. My question is they wiped my loan history before I could work out if this is a good offer? Should I ask for information on loans before I except and because they have upheld complaint could I lose it if I reject the original offer?
Brad says
Hi Mark, can you not go through your bank statements and work out the interest?
Jon says
Has anyone ever had any success with an Avant credit complaint?
Ross says
I put in a complaint that was rejected. I logged it with the FOS who found in my favour. Avant agreed one day before the deadline (the deadline is tomorrow) and are calculating the payment with statutory interest. I will let you know when they pay out. I hadn’t seen any other complaints on here so didn’t know what to expect. Their reply was standard saying no wrongdoing and that they conducted relevant checks.
Jon says
Thanks for the reply! Did you have just the one loan with Avant?
Ross says
Yes, just 1 loan which has some outstanding (sold on to a debt company and included in DMP). The resolution was to remove interest, add statutory interest and remove adverse information. Having worked it out I will receive a refund of £2200 (and my balance cleared). I agree don’t wait as every case is different and its good to start the process sooner rather than later. I sent my original complaint end of August. Sent to ombudsman beginning of September (after they rejected) and got an adjudicator decision 2 weeks ago. Seems a long time but looking back its made me realise how quickly the last 3 months have gone.
SB says
Interesting… I borrowed 4K from AvantCredit to pay off payday loans and credit cards and living expenses. Paid that off with a 118118 loan and then borrowed again from Avant before going into a DMP. For some reason complained to 118 but didn’t think I could to Avant.
It’s been given to a third party collector who are working with me fine on the DMP but what’s to lose really?! If these complaints come through I could just clear all my debts!
Andy says
Hi I have a current loan with them , few miss payments and smaller payment plans and grace period , I had bad credit and many pdl at the time of being accepted but only the one loan £2200 paying 4,300 back , I am also thinking of putting in affordability complaint , so if could let me know outcome appreciated andy
Mikie says
If I have a live, but up to date avantcredit loan, with an outstanding balance- am I better raising a complaint now or with the loan settled? – (I can pay it off due to the refunds I’ve been paid already- fantastic!) they lent to me despite my payday lending being at its height at the time of applying, all over my credit file and my bank statements, I clearly couldn’t afford the loan at the time and ended up taking out more payday loans to cover it, and more mortgage and council tax arrears.
I’m worried they might stop accepting payments and technically put me in arrears as retaliation if I raise a complaint now. Thanks
Andy says
Same situation mike just can’t pay it off right now with other commitments ??
Gary says
Hi Sara / all, any advice on my onbusman reply below would be greatly appreciated, has anyone had recent refund from Vivus / V7 limited? Bit concerned at the note about the court action, had anyone had experience with this before?
“I haven’t heard from V7 Limited so my decision on your complaint should be going out in the next few days.
The deadline has passed on the other case I referred to and I understand nothing has been heard from V7. I’ve spoken to a colleague who has been working closely with cases involving V7 and based on that conversation I think you’ll need to be prepared for the likelihood that the company will not comply with my decision.
Final decisions are legally binding and can be enforced in court if necessary (although we don’t get involved in the process of enforcing decisions through the courts). This is something we can provide more information about at a later stage.”
Lou says
Advice please. I have had 3 loans with cashfloat in February £300, March £300 and again in June £700. The last one still has an outstanding balance. I sent a complaint to cashfloat on 7th July but had nothing back. Is it worth sending it to the FOS or not as there are only 3?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is worth sending to the Ombudsman as the last loan was so much larger. You may only get the interest removed from the last loan – but’s that’s worth having!
Gary says
Update Mr Lender just over two weeks to resolve and refund in my account today £1580 back result and very quick from Mr Lender
Brad says
Quick update, had a response from Piggy Bank after just over 6 weeks. Agreed they should have seen a pattern. I paid them £1k in interest over 19 months and had 10 loans.
They have written off £660 from my outstanding balance of £900 so I have accepted.
Bristo says
Hi I have just asked for statement of account for several payday loans I had, I was wondering if I could possibly claim back cashed cheques fees with a cheque guarantee card as I was rolling over about 6-12 cheques a month between 2009-2012
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes you can complain about cheque based lending. Who was the lender?
Bristo says
Thankyou for the quick reply Sara, my cheques were with cash converters mostly and quite a few with H&T…. I also until recently had a log book loan of £1800 with loans2go I was paying £248 a month for 13 months into a 36 month loan, and then I was told that I still owed £1500 on the loan which I paid with help from my father (when I applied for the log book loan they printed off my credit report , there must of been at least 100 pages of payday loans on it but still gave me the loan) do I have a case against them?
The last 3 years have been a night mare as I have a 1 and 3 year old child and most of the time only my wage coming in, I had to contact stepchange who were great and put me on a plan for 6 months which is over now….. My wife is back to work part time now and things have got a little better.
Thanks in advance
Regards
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I’m glad StepChange have helped you get straight again. That sounds like a good complaint against cash converters & H&T. Also potentially a good complaint against loans2go if you feel the logbook loan repayments weren’t affordable either, but these are harder to win than payday loans.
Pacman says
Hi All,
Can someone help me please, i had loans with Wonga, Sunny, Lending Stream and also Safetynet credit from the period of 2014 to present.
I have managed to get my accounts from Sunny, Lending stream and Safetynet. Wonga im awaiting bank statments
With sunny i had a total of 19 loans totaling up to £4600 with £1500 interest paid.
With Lending stream i had a total of 17 loans totaling up to £3200 with again £1500 interest paid
With safetynet credit i had a total of 403 loans totaling up to £34000 with £600O interest paid
With Wonga im not sure how many loans i had in total but from checking my credit report it looks like i have paid around £2000 in interest.
The problem i have is im still borrowing from these lenders. A perfect example of this i have just been paid this month and out of my £1900 salary after paying back the lenders loans have been left with just over £300 so i am going to have to borrow again to make ends meet.
I have tried going to stepchange and have entered all my details andt hey have advised that a DMP is not good for me and all they can offer is to make a token payment of a £1 to the lenders until i get myself back on track.
With this in mind do i progress with what stepchange have told me but how will this affect me next month. Do i move my salary to another account that the lenders dont have access to and just pay them back the token amount and then proceed with lodging my complaints.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are StepChange offering to make the token payments for you or suggesting you do it yourself? Do you have other debts apart from payday loans?
Pacman says
Hi Sara
They are offering to do it for me and yes I do have some other debts but was hoping that if I was successful with my complaints I should be due at least a few ££££ back and was going to use that to pay off the rest of my debts
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK well go with StepChange if they are offering to set this up. Unless you owe money to your bank, you shouldn’t need to get a new bank account, just make sure you cancel the CPAs and DDs to the lenders with your bank – they then can’t take your money. Your other debts also need to be included in offering token payments.
Annie says
I just received my refund from 247moneybox on the 27th day. Thank you so much for this site Sarah.
C says
I am still waiting, its 28 days tomorrow. I have emailed and rang but still no joy
Kel says
Really disappointing few days declined by piggy bank wageday advance satsuma and now sunny
Sunny deemed only one loan out of 36 was irresponsible in an 11 month period all of these are included in my recent DMP as I have relatively small balances but feel a bit disheartened by this
Will pick myself back up in a day or two and although not sure it’s worthwhile but will send them to the FOS for their opinion on the matter thanks Sara for all you support so far
The Hitman says
Keep your head up! Sunny rejected all of mine!! Took the case to the FO, who found that 95% of loans shouldn’t of been borrowed to me. I had 1350 outstanding, that was wrote off, plus 1300 paid into my account today!!!
Keep pushing!!!!
Kel says
Thanks will get on with my complaints tomorrow ?
Neil T says
How long did it take sunny to pay out? I had a decision from the FOS last Tuesday and Sunny still haven’t called to arrange payment and this is for £3300 so I am getting impatient.
Dave says
Are you waiting for them to respond to your adjudicator decision Neil? Or have they agreed and you’re just waiting for payment?
It’s the extended deadline for them to respond to mine today (3 weeks since decision).
Looks like mine is going to ombudsman :(
Shame as £4.3k would be very nice before xmas!
Neil T says
They have accept the decision and I’m waiting for payment. If you ring up they won’t put you through to their compliance team either which is very annoying!
Alan says
Just thought would let you know I got a settlement from PEACHY and was quick too. complaint 30/09/2017 paid into my account 23/10/2017
Jess says
Hi Sara -had a response from mr lender – I had two loans with these (6 years ago). The first they said I paid on time and the second one I had for £200 and I rolled over 12 times !!! They have offered me £175 goodwill should I accept or ask for more ?!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, so you say unless they can give you a statement of account you will be sending the case to the Ombudsman. Mr Lender are normally quite reasonable to negotiate with.
Jess says
Will do ! Thank you x
Carl says
Hi everyone
Just wanted to give some info
So Mr Lender refunded me £1800
Wonga £6800 and are taking all loans off my credit file
These two payday lenders were both good and quick to reply. I rejected two offers from MR Lender initially as they were low. This was without going to the FO
I’ve just sent lending stream, payday uk and payday express complaints off to the FO with copies of all the emails from each company. Payday UK wanted bank statements and payday express are no longer responding. Lending stream is adamant they have done nothing wrong.
Anyone any idea if lendingstrean are paying out? And how long the FO will take?
Brad says
Payday UK and Payday express are part of the same business so maybe send it as one?
Saffi says
Heard back from my Adjudicator today regarding my Wonga complaint and she has upheld 24 out of 26 loans, now to wait and see what Wonga have to say for themselves. Has anyone had any response from the FOS regarding SafetyNet Credit?
Linda says
My complaint with Safetynet went to the FO neatly 3 months ago and hasn’t been picked up by an adjudicator as yet. They did tell me it’s a different/smaller team going to look at it presumably because it’s a slightly different way of lending. So just playing the waiting game now.
Chloe says
Disappointed so far with the adjudicators decisions on two of the companies peachy and wonga. Apparently £38 is a good offer from wonga even though I paid over £200 in interest with them! Not had much luck so far with those two still waiting on a decision from adjudicators for quickquid
Wage day advance
Money shop
Opos
Hopefully I will get somewhere with these!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Would you like to summarise the Wonga & Peachy complaints? How many loans from each? How large? What were the gaps between the loans (time from repaying loan 1 to borrowing loan 2 etc)
Chloe says
Peachy I only had one loan but I had loads of other loans from other companies at the same time.
Wonga I had a loan 9th November for £150 then another one for £150 on 6th December then topped it up twice on the 17th December £140 snd £150.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s very hard to win a one loan case. The Wonga one it sounds as though you got back the interest on one of the top ups? I doubt that’s worth taking to the Ombudsman, though you may get the interest for the other top up added.
Russ says
Hi guys,
I’ve wrote all of my first e mails last night to the usual suspects. Already had SOA’s from a couple so have sent the second mail in straight away so will see what other responses i get in the next few days.
One question i have though is how to approach the situation when there is a DCA involved as the debt has been sold. I have written to the original lender with my complaint and i have e mailed the DCA to advise i have a dispute but two have started court proceedings. I have asked both the stop proceeding as i have a dispute lodged and one has confirmed that is okay but second one is yet to respond. Do i need to inform the court at all?
Cheers
Russ
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So the court proceedings were started before you put the complaint in…
Let’s have the following details for each complaint:
date letter before action received? Date claim form (N1) received? Have you submitted an acknowledgement of service? Have you submitted a defence, if so what does it say? date complaint put in? which DCA? what did the DCA say and is this in writing?
Russ says
Hi Sara,
Out of 9 complaints i wrote out, only two had already started proceedings. The first one was a WageDay Advance account, sold to MMF and subsequently in the hands of Moriarty Law.
Date letter before action received? 10th October 2017
Date claim form (N1) received? 10th October 2017
Have you submitted an acknowledgement of service? No
Have you submitted a defence, if so what does it say? No
Date complaint put in? 25th Oct
Which DCA? what did the DCA say and is this in writing? MMF/ Moriarty Law. I sent the complaint to WDA and they have suggested my debt was sold to MMF. I have therefore sent complaint to MMF and they have sent me a form of SOA with a CCA bu ti have again written to WDA as I had multiple loans with them that rolled monthly so the SOA is key really. Moriarty have advised they will keep this on hold until thier client advises what to do next.
Russ says
Second one:-
PayDayUK/Payday Express.
Date letter before action received? N/A have not received one. Got a letter from BW Legal on 20th Oct “Notice of CC Claim issued”
Date claim form (N1) received? Issued 20th October 2017, received 26th Oct
Have you submitted an acknowledgement of service? No
Have you submitted a defence, if so what does it say? No
Date complaint put in? 25th Oct
Which DCA? what did the DCA say and is this in writing? BW Legal/ PRAC. I sent the complaint to PDUK but had no reply so also sent a mail to BW Legal explaining that i had made a compliant. Heard nothing back yet though.
I have had a mail from PDUK/Payday express which states
“Many thanks for your recent contact.
The business has made the decision that when accounts reach a certain stage within the Collections journey; they may be sold to a third party company for collection. Going forward, your account will be owned by PRAC Financial Limited and will be managed by BW Legal.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
re Payday UK/PRAC/BW legal
1) no letter before action at all? this gets worse…
2) you must file an acknowledgement of service asap, National Debtline can explain how to do this.
3) reply to PDUK that you want them to consider your affordability complaint about all your loans including the one that has been sold to PRAC. If they refuse, send your complaint to the financial ombudsman immediately.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The WDA debt with MMF (Moriarty are just MMF’s solicitors)
1) Did your Letter Before Action have a set of enclosures as described in here: https://debtcamel.co.uk/letter-before-claim-ccj/? This is the “Debt Pre Action Protocol” letter that is supposed to be used by all creditors after 1st October. If the answer is No, then have you ever received a Letter before Action from Moriarty Law or any other solicitors before, if yes, what date?
2) you haven’t filed an acknowledgement of service within 14 days :( This means that you are technically out of time to file a defence and the creditor can ask for a “default judgement” ie you get a CCJ
3) you need to contact National Debtline urgently (this evening would be good – they are open until 8pm – or tomorrow first thing) about what you can do. Can you stress that you never received the Debt Pre Action Protocol letter if that is the case.
4) carry on with your WDA complaint. If it is rejected, send it to the Finanical Ombudsman immediately.
I have sent you an email with some more notes.
Shannon says
*****UPDATE*****
Sent complaint to lenders on 28/06/2017 via email. No loans over 6 years.
1) QQ – Final response on last day of 8 weeks – Offered refund totalling 70% of interest paid but figure was £300 short compared to statement of account they sent me and no 8% added – called to query with them and advised is final response and no amendment will be made – Sent to FOS on 29/08/2017 and currently waiting to be assigned to adjudicator.
2) Wonga – Final response received one day before end of 8 weeks – Offered refund totalling 90% of interest paid plus 8% so accepted – refund in bank account 11 working days after returning acceptance form.
3) Lending Stream – Same old story of sending email after couple of weeks denying wrong doing and quoting ridiculous credit score – LS would not confirm if this was final response – received same email again on last day of 8 weeks but stating was final response – Sent to FOS on 23/08/2017 and currently waiting to be assigned to adjudicator.
4) Uncle Buck – Only had few loans with these – Replied on 7th week – Agreed interest on last 3 loans to be refunded – went towards balance with them.
5) WDA – Replied on 7th week – Out of 15 loans deemed first one to be refunded but rest were affordable – Sent to FOS on 16/08/2017 and waiting to be assigned to adjudicator.
6) Sunny – Replied on last day of 8 week denying any wrong doing – Sent to FOS on 18/08/2017 and waiting to be assigned to adjudicator.
7) Piggy Bank – Best company I have dealt with regarding these complaints – Replied after 4 weeks with final response – Deemed 3 out of 5 loans to be refunded – cleared balance with them and small refund to me.
8) My Jar – These have been dreadful to deal with – Replied after 2 weeks stating no wrong doing but as good will gesture will write off interest so only repay the loan – this is similar situation to my Piggy Bank complaint so declined final offer – Sent to FOS on 17/08/2017 – Picked up by adjudicator as of 03/10/2017.
James Bolton says
after checking my bank statement i have had around 30 loans from 2012-2013 equaling £2500 borrowed and around £2900 paid in interest. with all these loans being in such close proximity would it be possible to claim for irresponsible lending for all of them? most of them were every week and almost all of them left me with little bank balance and having to borrow again. do i have to wait for an offer before taking it to the FOS? i would like an estimate first as i am sure the loan company, which is Wonga, will try and give me a small offer. also does anybody have any idea at all what i might expect in refunds? anybody had a similar case? i may not need the FOS if i have a good idea of what to expect.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like a very good case. A full refund, including 8% added interest would be about £4000. It’s up to you what you think a fair amount to accept would be, but I would suggest well over 3000.
James Bolton says
thanks for replying so soon Sara, this helped a lot. i will update my progress as and when :)
James Bolton says
Hi Sara, i just noticed that i wrote £2900 in interest but what i meant to say was £2500 borrowed and £2900 paid back over 30 different loans so it would be 400 interest over the years of 2012-2013. could you please tell me what you think now?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am assuming those figures are correct- the interest paid looks on the low side.
So the loans were small and short term. That doesn’t mean the loans were affordable – that depends on your income and outgoings – but it may have been reasonable for Wonga to assume they were initially. Borrowing repeatedly over a long period though should still have been a warning flag to Wonga that something was wrong and that you had become dependent on their loans.
It’s still a case that is worth pursuing, from your figures the maximum you could get back would be just over £500, but I can’t really make a guess where the Ombudsman would be likely to determine that Wonga should have stopped lending.
John Smith says
Hi Sara,
Has anyone had anyone success with 118 118 loans and Ladder Loans (they seem to have gone into liquidation) is it worth making a complaint about irresponsible lending to them or would you class them as a payday loan company?
Thanks
Dave says
I had success with 118. Had 2 loans with them (the 2nd one a top up) and had all interest on second loan removed without going to adjudicator.
Saved me about £2.5k on what I owe them on my DMP.
Lisa says
I had one loan with 118 and after going to the ombudsmen I had all interest removed which really bought the balance down for my dmp.
Jo says
Hi John, after reading other people’s posts about 118118, I just sent off a Complaints by to them today. It is 1 loan in 2015, which has been topped up twice, once in 2016 and again in 2017. However throughout the life of the loan I have always been paying back 6-9 other short term payday loan lenders at the same time (not now though :-) ). Will be interesting to see how we both get on. If the balance I owe right now was to be paid off, I would be very happy with that alone :-)
Shannon says
Ladder loans were run by the money shop. I sent a complaint to them but reply confirming complaint was received came from payday contact (PDUK, PDE) so guessing they are responsible. Not been 8 weeks since logged it so unsure what outcome will be.
Ben says
I had 7 small loans with myjar over a 1 year period. I logged a complaint with them and 8 weeks to the day they came back saying they upheld my complaint and were willing to refund interest on 2 of the loans. This equated to £83. I replied (nicely nicely) stating I felt that wasn’t a fair offer, and asked them to include the 2 loans prior to the ones they agreed to have acted irresponsibly on. 2 days later they have accepted my offer, its not mega money but its more than doubled their initial offer. Just shows its sometimes worth trying to negotiate.
Ben says
And they have just emailed me saying the money is in my bank. Cant argue with that
Wayne says
Hi,
I’ve just had Money shop turn me down due to the fact my PDL,s were taken out in 2005-2006. They say this was before they joined the FOS, which was in April 2007. I eventually ended up in a DMP and before I defaulted paid quite a bit of interest per month as the loan was for £500 and I just kept rolling it over pretty much for a year.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, sorry, you will not be able to take a complaint to the Ombudsman for any loans that were before April 2007.
Wayne says
Thanks Sara,
I’ve also had PDUK turn me down for loans that I had in 2009. They say that I should have known in 2013 that my loans were unaffordable and because it’s longer than the 3 years that they won’t consider my complaint!
Shall I send to FOS?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes ask the Ombudsman to look at it.
Dave says
RESULT!!
Sunny have today accepted my adjudicators decision and are refunding £4.8k. That’s £500 more than I calculated!!
So happy with that and the fact it hasn’t had to go to ombudsman.
Will be getting that acceptance form signed and sent off today :)
Have said it before but will say it again, a MASSIVE thank you to you Sara for this site. When I think back to Where I was a year ago and where I am now, I have to pinch myself to make sure it’s real!!
Ro65 says
So after receiving offer of £1700 for full and final settlement from Cheque Centre for loans after 6 years last week, I rejected that and adjudicator has now contacted me today finding in my favour for all loans – approx £5k. Nervous times ahead as I wait 2 weeks for Cheque Centre’see response and hoping it’s picked up immediately by an ombudsman if they reject given their administration.
Dave says
I have loans over 6 years and some in the past 6years totalling about 5k interest with Cheque Centre. About 2.5k for the past 6years. The ombudsman split my complaint so they could look at the most recent loans. They offered me 3k to cover all loans in the end. Although that it is alot lower than what interest I paid them, they are currently in administration(since September) and may not be able to pay by time a ombudsman looks at it(I’m not sure of current wait times but I waited 4 months for my last one). Plus I don’t have much financial info before 2010 so I may struggle to provide more info if asked. So I’ll be accepting.
All in all seriously consider there offer as looking at other experiences on here from company’s going into administration and eventually closing you may end up with nothing.
Andy says
Hi All. Does anyone know how long Cheque Centre takes to pay once you have accepted their full and final offer. Their correspondence says up to 30 days but I am hoping they may pay sooner. When I accepted I explained I am struggling financially and would appreciate them paying out as early as possible. Thanks in advance.
Maureen says
Hi, it was a couple of weeks for them to pay me via the adjudicator. Not sure if the process was delayed by the adjudicator letting them know I accepted though. Maybe if you’ve settled directly, it will be quicker. It was the last Friday of the month they paid me so wondered if they process payments monthly.
Andy says
Hi, a quick update. Today I received my payment of £3,000 from Cheque Centre on Day 20. Towards the end of week 8 they offered circa 60% of the interest I had calculated I had paid. Given their current Administration status and after reviewing their response which seemed quite fair I accepted their full and final offer which excluded the 8% statutory interest. I have contacted them by e-mail a couple of times since I accepted the offer to explain my financial hardship and was paid by BACS today. To be fair to the staff who have been kept on in their head office, and who must be facing quite a lot of uncertainty themselves, in my opinion they have dealt with my complaint well and have been responsive and professional throughout. Thanks Sara, this settlement has made a huge difference to me and my family :-)
Pamela says
Ro65 I’m a bit further down the line. My adjudicator found in favour of nearly all my loans. 2 weeks from this Cheque Centre did not agree. I am told by my adjudicator it was passed to Ombudsman the next day. I’ve been waiting now for over 2 weeks.
My loans were also split into 2 cases before 6 years and after. The adjudicator called me last week to say Cheque Centre contacted them to say they are now looking at the over 6 years loans which I must say given the current administration is encouraging.
Fingers crossed for all of us with this Cheque Centre situation.
I have also seen posts on here that they agreed with the adjudicator I think Maureen was one am I correct?
My last loan was an installment loan for 12 months. Interest on this one alone was 3k I think thats why it was rejected.
Good luck ?
Maureen says
Yes cheque centre agreed with adjudicator in my case….think because they knew they got off lightly! It’s looking promising for you Pamela….hopefully the ombudsman gets back to you soon. My complaint for over 6 year loans is still with the FOS and not been allocated. I’m not hiking my breath!
Lou says
Hi
the adjudicator has upheld my claim on 10 of my 15 loans – Wonga have been given until 7th November to reply – do Wonga usually agree with the adjudicator.
Josh says
Hi I have recently been sent a letter by a DCA to the tune of £1,500 following a payday loan with QQ. It was passed over to Motormile and then passed over again to the DCA. They have given me 14 days to respond before court action is taken.
From what I can see on my Noddle credit report I have taken out 6 payday loans from QQ starting in November 2012. The loans were £150, £250, £200, £300, £50 and £100 respectively. I am unsure as to what loan the DCA is chasing up, but they are all settled on my credit report. Not only that but £1,500 from one of those loans, that interest is huge!!!
Secondly, in June, July and August 2013, in between the QQ payday loans. I took out 3 more loans with Instant Cash (Payday UK) whichever one it is, to the value of £259, £168 and £454
Do you think it is worth me sending an Affordability Complaint to QQ and ask the DCA to stop court proceedings until the matter is dealt with. I am so lost as to what to do, and i can’t afford the £1500 the DCA is asking for.
Please help!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What was the date on this letter from MMF giving you 14 days before legal action? Did it (and the enclosures) look like the ones referred to here https://debtcamel.co.uk/letter-before-claim-ccj/ because they should give you 30 days, not 14.
Josh says
It doesn’t have any requisite details. Just mentions my original account number, their account number. And how much is owed. It then says about contacting them within 14 days or court proceedings will be instructed.
I have looked through bank statements through this time. And i had 8 payday loans with QQ, the 9th payday loan was for £200 also with QQ which i rolled every month for another 6 months £65 each time. I paid back about £180 each month, then took another £65 after.
I have sent an Affordability Complaint to QQ with regards to all the loans specifically the last one. As i was only working part time so paying £180 along with rent, transport and all the other finances. Left me with nothing, hence the rolling over of debt. I have also sent an email to the DCA disputing my debt.
Josh says
The date was 23rd October. And there is nothing enclosed in the letter. Just stating how much is owed and giving me 14 days to contact them, before they take it to court.
Josh says
Hi Sara, sorry for the additional replies. I have received a very quick response from Quickquid with regards to my Affordability Complaint. In their email they have stated this…
“Thank you for contacting QuickQuid. I am sorry you felt the need to complain. We have received your complaint whereby you allege that we provided you unaffordable loan(s). Upon our initial investigation, we cannot find any record where QuickQuid provided you any loans and therefore we must reject the complaint based on the information given.”
Are they saying they never actually gave me any loans? Or that they never gave me a loan that was unaffordable?
Do you think I have a case if I was to go the FO?
Thanks
Josh
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They are saying they can’t find a record of lending to you. Have you changed address or email address? I suggest you reply with a lot of details such as your date of birth and also attach a copy of your Noddle credit record.
Josh says
I have just got home to find the claim form waiting for me. So 5 days after sending me a letter saying “you have 14 days to contact us, before we proceed with court proceedings”
I now have claim forms which they have sent. I thought I had 14 days before they did this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
MMF – Useless, incompetent, unpleasant… you need to talk to National Debtline about what to do, 0808 808 4000. I have emailed you a few nots about this.
Chris says
Please help, my debt has just reached the point where I can no longer afford to pay for it, do I complain and write to the lenders or do I set up an IVA? What’s the best option? If it’s an IVA does anyone recommend anybody?
Thanks Chris
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Don’t choose an IVA if you have paid a lot of interest to payday lenders. Talk to StepChange about a DMP whilst the complaints go through then review situation. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/help-payday-loan/. StepChange also do IVAs if you do need one.
Chris says
Also do you think it would be worth writing to them and asking them to stop taking payments whilst I’m making a complaint?
Lou says
Hi Chris
I started with stepchange in September and they are brilliant. I also asked the PDL companies I still owed money to if they would hold off the payments until the complaints were sorted and to be fair to them they did.
Dan says
So I’ve arrived home today to find some excellent news about my LS complaint – Financial Ombudsman found in my favour on loans 10 to 23 and ordered them to refund all interest and pay 8%. That’s a whopping 5k! So pleased and means I’m finally out of the payday loan nightmare.
This was my final complaint (apart from wonga which are over 6 years so I don’t hold out much hope) and means I’ve had about 8k refunded – all thanks to this site and Sara’s advice.
Probably my last question now but how long do LS take to action a direct instruction from the FOS? I’m hoping that the money is in the bank before Xmas – is that realistic?
Thanks everyone! Good luck and keep at them!
Marina says
Hi Dan,
Ombudsman found in my favour against them too – the 4 weeks, that they have to contact me within will be up on Monday and I’ve heard nothing at all from LS – I’ve emailed them twice and they have ignored both emails… will see what happens on Monday. I will let you know when I receive payment
Dan says
Good luck – figure I’m in for a fight with these clowns!
As an FO decision is legally binding, I wonder how long it should be until legal action is threatened?
Lee says
Adjudicator on Thursday (26th Oct) ruled in my favour on my Lending Stream Case submitted to them on 23rd July. Adjudicator ruled in my favour on from loan 6 to 28. Plus got the 8% statutory interest on all these loans awarded. They also got to remove these loans from my credit file. I don’t expect them to respond knowing how other lending stream cases have gone on here. I expect this along with all of your cases will go to the ombudsman, which is when I believe they have to cough up then and pay the money.
Mer says
Hi Dan, still nothing from LS, the 4 weeks was up yesterday. I emailed the FO, who are going to now contact them to find out how it is progressing and to again ask them to contact me. The FO did say it can sometimes take longer than the 4 weeks due to the volume of cases the lenders are dealing with. Mine had gone all the way to Ombudsman after LS rejected Adjudicators decision.
Good luck to you too!!
Paul smith says
Has anyone ever actually received money from Cash Genie or 1st stop?
Cash genie have promised me a cheque on their next ‘payment run’ and the ombudsman has ruled in my favour against 1st stop. I’m just weary because of the precarious situations of both companies.
Big G says
Yes from cash genie on about 4th October, so next run probably early December if any funds left…
Anon37 says
Yes received my check in last payments run. Didnt expect to ever see it as they are “winding down”
Paul smith says
Well that’s what I was thinking, it’s felt that they have used a lot of delay tactics along the way too. But it seems there is still hope! Thanks guys!
C says
247 moneybox 28 days are up tomorrow, have had no response to emails and phone calls, really annoyed anyone not had their refund? They have been a nightmare to deal with from the beginning
Linda says
247 were nightmarish for me too. My complaint is with the FO now but previous to that they more or less ignored every email I sent and never sent a final response. They haven’t got back to the FO either who have written to them. Presume it’s maybe because they’re a smaller company and are inundated with complaints. Good luck with your refund
david says
I’m exactly the same, 247 Moneybox ignored my complaint, then ignored the Ombudsman after 28 days. Will go back to the FOS on Monday and see what the next step is, possibly court action. The worry is, are they in financial trouble themselves these days? No-one seems to be getting anything out of them now, and on the other page https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refund-payout/ it says most refund are done in a few days.
Concerning times…
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I know it seems worrying but they are still offering loans and you are going to get paid at some point. I have changed the other page to reflect the problems people are currently having.
Dave says
Anyone had any experience of Sunny paying out after agreeing with adjudicator decision?
Are they normally pretty quick? Or do they drag it out like wonga?
Dan says
Mine took a couple of weeks.
Hope that helps
The Hitman says
Mine took 2 weeks, but only after I chased Sunny up by phone. Received the money the day after
Dave says
Cheers guys.
Did you get any confirmation from Sunny that they had received your signed acceptance form from the adjudicator.
Just so I know when to chase them if I haven’t heard anything.
The Hitman says
No. I’d give it a week from the ruling then pitch a call into Sunny
Dave says
Thanks Hitman, took your advice and today phoned Sunny. After 20 minutes on the phone and the poor chap on the other end going back and forth between complaints and head office, Head office have said they will process payment today!
dave says
what I find unbelievable is whilst having a complaint logged with Mr Lender for unnafordable lending after 12 loans with them (each one for an increased amonut) and having to come to an agreement to pay off my last loan (less then 2 weeks ago) after being 3 months late with payments, as a test i just tried to take out another loan and got approved for £500 – I wont be taking it out though!
That must surely be classed as unaffordable lending?