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?
Lauren says
Hello,
Thanks to this site and Sara’s great advice I’ve so far received over £2500 back from 2 lenders with having to involve the FO.
Currently just waiting on SNC – they are on week 6 of 8 to reply to my complaint. Has anyone had much luck with them? I have requested a full refund of £1955 worth of interest plus 8% on borrowing of £14688. Do they tend to be fair with their first settlement offers? I am quietly confident that it will be a successful claim as both the other lenders have offered 90%+ with no arguments (Wonga and Sunny).
Thanks!
Acee says
They rejected my complaint but the Ombudsman agreed with me and made them refund me from loan 1, seems to be a mixed bag with SNC if they don’t give you a good offer send to the Ombudsman straight away.
Julz says
Can I ask if anyone had any luck with the cheque centre. They owed me £3500 in intrest but emailed and told me they are now in liquidation and I couldn’t claim anything back.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send your complaint to the ombudsman right away – it’s not clear if you will get anything back but worth trying?
Gail says
As an unsecured creditor I have been advised by the administrators that my claim is fine ( £11,300 ) however the quantum will be less than 5% so I reckon I will get back around £500 if that and it will be much later in the year when payments are made
Keith says
Hi Everyone
I don’t normally post stuff in “forums” or “comments” but wanted to share my success so far in the hope that it will give some people the urge to complain and get their money back. Don’t think that it wont wokrk for you – it really will!
118 118 Loans – Borrowed £3500 / paid £1799 interest. Wrote to them advising they shouldn’t have borrowed me money due to level of debt etc. They were a week away from the deadline of 8 weeks without a reply, so I sent an e-mail to give them a nudge – 2 days later they have agreed to repay all interest and 8% on top.
Wonga – Wrote asking for a refund of interest on all loans (19). 4 weeks later they offered a full refund of £1900 plus £420 statutory interest.
Payday UK – Suprisingly a mixed bag with this one. I wrote to them asking for a refund on 7 loans between 2013-2016. I had also taken loans out between 2008-2010 but with the general consensus that you can’t really win the affordibility argument on loans over 6 years, I didn’t mention it. MISTAKE. They have offered to repay ALL interest on loans between 2008-2010 plus 8% but rejected the more recent – even though I demonstrated I was worse off at this time. In addition, I supplied bank statements for the more recent loans but couldn’t supply them for the older ones – yet the still offered to pay up!? It’s now gone to the FOS.
Get complaining!
Keith says
One last one….
Oakwood Homeloans – Slightly off topic but thought I’d include anyway. They charged my a late fee of £50 per month – total of about £2000 – for every month I either missed a payment or didn’t pay the full amount. Yeah, I really was in trouble at the time but miraculously kept my flat. They offered to repay £1100 but no interest. Wrote to FOS and they said they they agreed with Oakwood and advised to take the offer and run basically. So, a disapointing response from FOS but I still got £1100 nonetheless! Never thought I was in with a chance of £1 as they are ruthless!!
So for the sake of a few well thought out complaints, I so far have approx £7000 back with many more to go. Get complaining!!!!!
Linda says
Hi Sarah/all wonder if anyone could offer some advice. Two of my complaints have been placed on the list for an Ombudsman simply because the companies being 247 Moneybox and Lending Stream didn’t reply back to the adjudicator within the given timescales which is disappointing as they were both upheld by my adjudicator in my favour. I have a couple of questions, now there is FO involvement am I allowed to call these companies myself to see why they haven’t replied or should I just wait until an Ombudsman picks it’s up? My second question is is there an average wait time for an Ombudsman to pick up a complaint? I know there isn’t a precise date just wondered if there was an approximation
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can talk to the lenders if you want but with those two it is highly unlikely you will get anywhere :(
About 2-3 months is a rough waiting time, but some cases seem to get delayed for no clear reason at all. let us know how your two go!
Linda says
Ok will do both have been nightmarish in different ways. 247 simply ignored the adjudicator then last minute set through my case file after an initial decision had been reached in my favour, this delayed things another 2 weeks but after looking through the information they sent the complaint was upheld a second time. Now theyre simply ignoring the FO again. Lending stream ignored the adjudicators decision then came up with a very poor last minute offer, when this was turned down again they ignored the adjudicators deadline. So unprofessional, will let you know as and when things progress.
Marty says
Wonga have done this to me also. Adjudicator found in my favour at start of December but Wonga have not responded to them. Is this normal and has anyone any experience of it and what is likely to happen next?
Linda says
Well its happened to me with these two companies and my adjudicator even extended the response time for them with no luck. If they dont respond it goes in a queue for an Ombudsman to look at from what I’ve been told my by adjudicator. Im going to try calling them myself tomorrow but she has said she has already tried to call 247 and they done pick up.
Scott says
Hi, lending stream have replied to my claim saying they did lend responsibly etc etc, but the 20+ loans tells a different story, where do I go from here?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
To the ombudsman… see step 3 in the article above. Best of luck!
Dawn says
Hi. I’m starting a claim but my husband knows nothing of the mess I got in so if needed can I use a care of address, I’m hoping to do most of it thru email. Also I ended up on a debt management plan will that help my case. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Dawn,
I don’t see why you can’t use a “care of” address – you will need to make it very clear in your complaint that you want all communications to be by emails, that your actual address when you were borrowing was xxxxxxxxxxx but you now want any letters that are necessary to be sent to yyyyyyyyyyyyyy.
Ending up in debt management does show that you got into a big finanical mess.
Clairey says
I was in the same situation I did everything via email, nothing came to the house. I am just waiting for money to arrive in my bank account at the moment.. not really sure how I will explain that one.. but it’s easier than explaining my past
Eva says
Hello all,
just wondering how the FOS works. I’ve now submitted 4 payday lenders to them online giving them possibly everything they might need (bank statements, 2 different credit reports, excel spreadsheet with all lenders and loans listed, repayment plan offer letters I sent to lenders, final response letters). Does anyone know how long is the waiting time till someone contacts me?
Thank you
Kate says
Hi Eva, I believe it can be 2-3 months at worst as they are getting a lot more requests (as the word spreads!) but could be anytime.
Shannon says
You will be contacted by them in next couple of weeks and be given a case reference number for each complaint. Normally by post. Will say they have contacted the company for their case file and give a date to send it in by. Will also request documents from you but seems like you have already provided these.
Once all information has been received goes into the que to be picked up by an adjudicator to investigate. Probably looking at 2-3 months for an adjudicator to pick it up. Each case will be picked up separately. They will contact you directly to introduce themselves as your adjudicator. Depending on how complex the case is will determin how long it takes for the adjudicator to give you their findings.
Shannon says
That is the first stage. If either you or the company disagree with the adjudicator findings, or the company doesnt respond to the adjudicator in time, then it will be placed in the que for an Ombudsman to review. The Ombudsmans findings are final and company has to abide by them by law.
Hope that helps.
James Cole says
After some advise on what to do next
Contacted all payday loan companies. One has responded and are point blank digging their heels in
Saying I was “legally required” to declare my financial situation and based on that loan decision where made etc despite borrowing every single month rolling loans etc (lending stream is the one in question)
How do I argue back or because they have point blank made their decision do I now move on to the Finaical ombudsman? If it’s the FO I need to now move on to how do I go about wording it correct so I don’t get the same old but you said you could afford it thrown at me
I borrowed to pay loans back and the vicious circle started you all know what I mean so I don’t need great detail
Would love some pointers
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No point in arguing with lending Stream – they don’t listen. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/lending-stream-complaints/.
But you don’t need to worry about their reply – the Ombudsman isn’t likely to take that seriously. You can just send on the complaint you made to the LS< but read https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-refund-complaint-detail/ and see if that gives you any pointers for extra things to say.
James says
Hi Sara,
I read up on the Lending stream complaints page and alot of it is very true. However ive only had 5 loans with them and pretty much all of them are this year so i don’t think i have a great case. After contacting them they have offered to close 3 of these loans amounting to around £450 and leaving me with a balance to pay off of around £100~ which is with all interest removed.
They will also remove the defaults i had from them last month since the complaint was made.
Do you think it would be best to accept this offer?
However my only problem is the amount remaining they are stating i should advise them how much i want to pay each month towards it, by which payment method and which day. They also say “Your decision to schedule the payment arrangement will reflect in your Credit Report” and “We are required to report the status of your loans to credit bureaus on a regular basis” Does this mean if i accept this and ask for them to setup a plan to pay the remainder this will affect my credit file pretty badly?
Thank You
James
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you have 4 loans currently open and they are proposing to close 3 and set the remaining one to £100?
James says
No i have 5 loans, they will close 3 amounting to around £450 and remove any defaults.
The further two loans they will set it as pay back what is borrowed type and just pay back the cash without interest which amounts to around £100 for both of these loans combined
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well for a start you have a strong case – they have let you have 5 loans open at one time! However what they are proposing is not unreasonable, but you can ask for there to be no negative markers on your credit record for any of the loans, even if you agree a repayment plan for the last two.
Jamie says
I have seen on this website 118 118 money. I have a large loan out with them as well as loans with about 5-6 payday loan lenders and it certainly isnt affordable but how would i go about complaining about that one as it isnt technically a payday loan is it. would i use the same template letter and just remove certain parts?
Thanks
Brad says
They wrote off my interest which was about £3,300.
Helen says
I’m sure this question has been asked a million times already but I can’t find the answer at the moment.
I had an email on Friday from Wonga saying they will process my refund within 14 working days. How long do they normally take to pay out? DO they wait until the very last day or are they sometimes quicker?
Keith says
Hi Helen
I received mine on the third working day. I was thinking that they would go the whole 14 days too but they didn’t. They were actually pretty helpful all the way through.
Keith
Clairey says
Keith
After accepting their offer did you get comfirmation outlining how and when you would receive your refund..
I have today accepted an offer, but haven’t had any acknowledgment as yet.
Keith says
Hi Clairey
In my case, they sent the offer e-mail, I responded immediately to accept and provide my BACS details and bank statement (as they had changed since I last took a loan with them). I then phoned the next day to make sure they had my e-mail, at which point the lad told me they have and it would take up to 14 working days to action, process and arrange BACS transfer but as I was on the phone to them already they would sent my e-mail straight to the relevant department. 2/3 working days later I got the money. So it might be worth phoning them to make sure they have your e-mail and asking them to forward it to who needs to process it. Otherwise it may sit in an inbox for a while….. I think that might have been why I got mine so quick!
Clairey says
Thank you for your advise I will give them a call.
After reading some of the stories on here my experience has been very good with Wonga so far.. Every response has been straightforward and on time.
1st letter sent – response with in 2hrs
2nd letter sent – acknowledgment
4 weeks up – letter requesting more time.
8 weeks up (to the day) – Response and Offer if compensation.
I hope this continues for you all.. unfortunately we were sucked into this path for what ever reason. My life is completely different now and I have been able to move on..
Good Luck to everyone who makes a claim against these companies ????
Brendan says
14 days, no. sooner
Lauren says
Lending Stream emailed back within a week of my complaint saying they believed they behaved responsibly in approving my loans. When I asked to stop ongoing payments whilst this goes through the Ombudsman, they refused but said they are ready to set up a payment plan for my outstanding balance. Should I go with this? No reply from Sunny, Wonga, 118 118 Money, QuickQuid or Satsuma as yet. I still have outstanding balances with Wonga, 118 118 Money and QuickQuid, shall I email again asking to set up a payment plan with them/ask to stop payments whilst they investigate my complaints?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well first with Lending Stream, how many loans did you have from them? LS reject a lot of good complaints!
You should cancel the CPAs or DDs with your bank to all the lenders you are complaining to – you are not “asking” them about this, you are telling them that the regular payments are unaffordable. It’s fine to make a payment arrangement, but you need to work out how much you can afford to pay all 4 lenders you still owe money to and don’t pay L:S more just because they have asked first. If you aren’t sure, ask StepChange for their help with this, see https://www.stepchange.org/
Lauren says
I have had 4 loans with Lending Stream. 3 that have been settled (all within a short period) and 1 that is still outstanding. I will go into my bank and ask all CPA’s to be cancelled tomorrow until the complaints are sorted either with the companies or the FO. I’ve also messaged StepChange for some advice. Thank you Sara.
Lauren says
After a lot of issues with QuickQuid, they’ve put my outstanding loan into ‘hardship’ until I either resolve my debt issues or I get a final decision from them or the FO. Lending Stream still being very difficult and haven’t yet heard back from 118 118 Money but all automatic payments from my bank have been stopped. Should I be doing anything else?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Those are the essentials to get yourself safe from these lenders. I hope you can now manage without borrowing any more in the next few months? I think it is still worth having the conversation with StepChange, especially if you have other debts as well.
Lee says
Just got round to complaint to myjar and had this response:-
We are sorry that you have felt it necessary to complain to us. We want to address your concerns as soon as we can and as fairly as we can. To assist us to do this, please provide us with the following information:
• Bank statements (at the time/s you took out your loan/s with us)
• Payslips (at the time/s you took out your loan/s with us)
• Any additional information relating to your financial circumstances (at the time/s you took out your loan/s with us)
We are asking you for this information to support the claims you have made to us in your complaint. This information will assist in our investigations and allow us to ensure you get the most fair outcome once our investigation is concluded. We are happy to discuss this request with you further, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.
Do i have to send payslips and bank statements? What should I reply?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can send them if you want, but you don’t have to. Many people don’t want to send such personal information to a payday lender. If you don’t want to, then reply saying you would like them to consider your complaint as it stands and you will be happy to supply any more information to the Financial Ombudsman.
NB the ombudsman never asks for payslips!
Lee says
Hi, thanks or the reply. They ask for pay slips and bank statements, which I’d rather not give, so I’m not going to. But it asks for any additional information, would it be a good idea to write all the loans I had with other companies? Thank you.
Lou says
Hi
Same old question I know but do SNC contact u prior to giving you a pay out or just put it in the bank? Any info would be appreciated.
Acee says
Lou they contacted me and told me they only make payments on a Friday they paid out within 5 days.
Lou says
Hi Acee,
How did they contact u? Was it 5 days from the ombudsman decision? Sorry for all the questions. Any information would be appreciated.
Acee says
Lou they emailed me the same day the Ombudsman contacted me to tell me they had instructed them to refund me in full on 19th December this what part of their email said.
We are writing to confirm that the discussed refund will be processed by the close of business on the 22nd December 2017, with your outstanding balance adjusted to £0 and your account closed, due to internal procedural timeframes.
So they paid out within 3 days.
Scott says
Hi Lou
I’m not too sure as unfortunately I’m not at that stage. I’m in the process of sending statements and evidence to the FO. When your complaint was upheld at adjudicator level was one of the reasons given for it be upheld was that the SNC facility was unaffordable when the account was opened (as its a running credit agreement). Any help would be appreciated.
Scott
Lou says
Hi Scott,
The adjudicator said they should have realised from my credit file and bank statements that I had more PDL’s and that they didn’t do a proper check of the credit file because the one they used didn’t show my other borrowing. But they had access to read only bank account. So they shouldn’t have given me the facility. Hope this helps and if u need anything else answering just let me know and I will try and help u.
Acee says
Contact SNC for an update on when they will process your payment not sure if it will speed things up but may do.
Scott says
Hi Lou
The key here I think is that they have read only and real time transaction data. I put together an essential expenditure budgeting sheet from when the account was opened and gone through my bank statements and highlighted my other credit commitments and other loans obtained for the 3 months leading to them opening an the credit facility. Then for each of the months I have done a simple calculation of Wages from employer minus Essential Expenditure minus Credit Commitments shown on bank statements going out.
Unbelievably this left me in minus figures for 2 months before SNC opened an account. and £30 left in one month!
For any one reading I think a flaw with SNC Calculating disposable income is that I used to take out loans and repay in Cash. As did I used to pay Rent, Council Tax in cash..
Sara does this sound OK
Thanks
Scott
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“I think a flaw with SNC Calculating disposable income is that I used to take out loans and repay in Cash.”
oh SNC manage to lend too much to people that didn’t use cash much – they just don’t seem very good at working out what is affordable.
katie says
I have payday loans with payday uk, wonga, quickquid and lending stream. My last wonga loan was wiped off when they had to pay back loads but can I claim for previous loans I had with them?
Qq I had loans in total of 1555 and the interest was 1473 and I’ve paid back 2155 and still owe 690 do you think I have claim with them? I have emailed them and they are looking into it.
I’ve emailed LS and I’m waiting for a reply I have about 6 loans with them and still haven’t paid them off I never would have been able to pay them off.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes you can complain about earlier Wonga loans. You should think of the earlier write of as being “the first part” of your compensation from them. If it was large and there were few previous loans, you may not get much if anything back now. but if you had a lot of loans before then you could still get back a large amount now. Worth a try!
QQ – well you have repaid more than you borrowed so definitely worth a claim. If they only write off the balance, that’s ok, but you may get a small refund as well.
Same with LS – as you still owe them money it is definitely worth a complaint.
Clairey says
Does anyone know if after I have accepted an offer from Wonga will I receive another email. I wasn’t sure if i should contact them via Phone as I havent recieved anything yet. Or will I just receive a payment and if this is the case how long it will take… I received my offer 8.00am this morning
Kerry says
Hi Clairey
Can I ask when you received your offer from wonga and when you put your complaint in so I have an idea of time scales? Thank you
Clairey says
It has been exactly 8 weeks to the day since I sent in my complaint..
Helen says
I accepted an offer on Wonga on Friday via adjudicator and about an hour later I had an email from Wonga telling me that they will process the payment within the next 14 days.
Nick says
Can anyone help? The adjudicator upheld my older than 6 year loans and agreed they should refund all 20 loans. This was because my adjudicator explained to me if I had mittigating circumstances they could look into them. I did.. back in 2012 my husband was critically poorly in intensive care and I took 22 months off work. So in the payday uk case I could proceed. However in all my other loans .. pdexpress, quick quid, epdl and uncle buck.. none if them gave me the option of explaining any circumstances.. so I just presumed I could not claim back over 6 years.
Can I go back even though I have had partial payments from them.for younger loans ? Or I have I missed my chance ? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well, it’s worth a try! Send the cases to the Ombudsman if the lenders refuse.
James says
I stumbled across this website trying to find another pay day loan company to use, read the above and thought I’d give it a crack. I had pay loans with 3 companies from 2012-2017. I referred my complaint from QQ to the ombudsman and I currently owe £150 to them. My account has been frozen with QQ until the complaint is resolved with sounds promising. I received an offer from The Money Shop today for £786 and I worked it out at £247, my maths must be bad! My final complaint with wage day advance is with the ombudsmans after I declined and offer of £400! I would like to say thank you to everyone involved in this website, it’s been a massive help for me and allowed me to turn my financial situation around!
Shannon says
Finally getting somewhere with the FOS since my complaints were logged in August last year. Have had my adjudicators findings regarding WDA. Anyone had any dealings with these at this stage and know if they tend to reply within the allotted time given by the adjudicator?
Linda says
I had a complaint upheld after referral to the FO and WDA were pretty good responding to my adjudicator throughout. The refund didn’t take long after an agreement was reached either. Just over a week I think. Good luck :)
Zoe says
So this morning I got a reply from wageday adavace I had 22 loans from may 2009 to Nov 2013, they have rejected my claim and said that I could afford it and also I am 6 years and 3 years old with the loans and if I go to the FO he might not consider my complaint. Any advice would help if anyone has had any dealings with wageday and would it be worth sending the complaint off.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
the ombudsman is NOT rejecting these complaints over 6 years old but they are likely to be slow. You have nothing to lose by sending the complaint off, so why not? 22 loans is a lot.
Zoe says
Thanks Sara I will send to the ombudsman it’s the first one I will be sending hopefully it’s going to be straightforward enough to for me to understand.
The replies are coming back today I have just received back from payday express full and final response I had 10loans between 6th may 2008 to 14th April 2011 they have agreed 3 loans were lent irresponsibly 3 were lent responsibly and 4 they are unable determine and they have requested I send bank statements and a credit report My offer was on the 3 loans was £1900.
Also had a reply from payday uk today for the 7 loans from May 2008 to Jan 2011 they have agreed 2 loans were lent irresponsibly and offered a refund for £1500 2 loans were lent responsibly and three loans they can’t determine.
I have been advised by payday UK/express that I can sign the agreement for the loans they upheld and get refund and then the ones they couldn’t make a decision on once I send the bank statements and credit report they will look into as separate cases.
Thanks Sara for all your help.
Brad says
QQ made me a good offer whilst the complaint was with FOS. Adjudication hadn’t been decided but they went from saying they did nothing wrong to offering £1700 out of £2k interest
Kara says
Good to know!
tracey says
Payday UK have finally sent me a refund email. However I think the amount is wrong. The final loan was for £900 I paid to installments to a total of £300 and the debt company got £50 from me. In their break down they are removing £806 from my settlement balance…. Shouldn’t it be £550?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I agree that it should be £550 – that is assuming that they are refunding the last defaulted loan…
tracey says
Yes last loan was also refunded. I’ve sent them an email back. Nice try I’m thinking.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
One thought, some firms do this a confusing way where they count the interest that was added to the last loan as being refunded and then use this bigger refund to pay off the balance including the interest. Let’s see what they come back with.
tracey says
I have done the calculations. From what I can see they owe me £700 plus interest not including the final loan. They deducted £800 from the final balance leaving a refund of £100. So they said £900 refund minus £800. But for the final loan I paid £150,£150, £60, £50 and £50…. So their numbers still don’t make sense. I think they haven’t counted my final loan payments except the two £50 I paid to the debt collection company.
Ben says
Got some good news today,
Firstly my Sunny complaint was upheld in full, they fully agreed with the Adjucater’s decision of a refund (about £240)
And my Wonga complaint has now got a final decision from the Ombudsman, refund of some of the loans interest minus what I owe them, I think after 20% tax thats about £1100
Now I got to see how quickly Sunny & Wonga can process my refunds.
Liam says
Hi Sara,
I hope you are well and had a good new year, i was in touch with you last year on here and complained to all my lenders regarding irresponsible lending. They have all now come back saying they haven’t done anything wrong etc etc and i have reported them all the Ombudsman. Yesterday i received a lot of Acknowledgement Letters from the Ombudsman asking for Correspondence with the business, Bank Statements and my Credit Report.
I am now in the process of getting the required information but i have noticed i have defaults on my Credit Report which should be there but i wasn’t aware of.
My question is should i mention this to the Ombudsman and does me having these Defaults on my file help my cases when i was taking other loans out after the default date?
Many Thanks,
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The defaults support your argument that you were in financial difficulty and if they were recent when you took out payday loans, the lenders should have noticed them if they did a credit check.
A default a couple of years before a payday loan wouldn’t be regarded as that serious – payday loans are after all aimed at people who don’t have perfect credit scores – but a default in the 3-6 months before a loan should have been a warning bell.
gillian says
hi sara just a update on my payday uk loans i sent a complaint 9 weeks ago last week they replied that they have not completed the investigation but i could forward it to ombudsman if i wanted thought i would give them a couple more weeks i just recieved a email saying they upheld 7 loans from 2011 to 2014 but not the 6 from 2015 to 2017 all these were 3 to 6 month loans so borrowing constantly the good news is they have offered 2990 pound and 4 pence refund i am willing to except this as i do take some responsibility for borrowing and am very happy with what amounts to about 60 percent refund so thank you again sara that is 6000 from quickquid because they took it to the final stages of ombudsman and 6000 from lending stream they to took to ombudsman still waiting on them to reply to adjudicater i think payday uk have been very fair to deal with ty
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds good. You know enough about these complaints to know that you could go to the Ombudsman for the more recent loans, but if you think the offer is fair – especially as payday UK have been easy to deal with – that is great.
tatty says
Hello All
First of all, happy new year, i’ve posted here before, but i was wondering if someone can help me out , i have a complaint lodged with safety net credit, which was lodged with them towards the end of November 2017, apart from the original email i had acknowledging my complaint, and i phone call i had in december* it has now been 5 weeks since i have done this but i have not heard how the procedure is going, not even by letter.
It did state in the email that i had,”You should expect a final response within a time period of 4 weeks from today. In some cases this period can be extended to 8 weeks, for example if it takes a little longer than anticipated to gather all the required information. In such circumstances where an extension is necessary, you will be informed via e-mail” .
*But as of the time of writing this, the only contact i have had with them is for me to say that i would not be able to pay the last lot of money i owed to them, which was last month.
Will this scupper my chances of the complaint being successful, in regards to me owing them money- or should that not matter?, should i contact them within the next few days to see what stage my complaint is at or wait for the full 8 weeks?
Scott says
Hi Tatty
SNC rejected my complaint at 5pm at exactly week 8. Although this was because I chased. Throughout I chased about 3 times via telephone and the call handlers always said the scripted response i.e at week 3 ‘Wait to Week 4’ , at Week 5 ‘Wait to week 8 but its usually before’ and at week 8 to the day “Should get a response today…but the complaints team are in a different department and we cant phone them’.
The lack of communication through out from SNC frustrated me!
Hope u get the response you are hoping for soon
tatty says
Hello Scott
And thanks for the reply, i have had a few dealings with banks before, but i’ve got to say that safety net are pretty dire so far, but as the weeks tick by i am starting to feel i will not get a decision in my favour.
Just wondering Scott, did you take it further?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
People absolutely should take any rejections or poor offers from SNC to the Ombudsman. Do not assume that SNC are right if they make it sound as though you have a poor case!
Caroline says
I’ve just made a complaint to Lending Stream using your template. I have had 26 loans over the past 3 years – I have also been in a DMP, although thankfully next month will be my final payment on this. While I’ve not defaulted on any of the loans, nearly all of the loans rolled over each month, and in some cases I took out more than 1 at a time to make ends meet. I only have 1 loan outstanding with Lending Stream now, but I’ve read that a few people are having issues with responses from them. I will wait a few weeks and see what response I get from them before taking it to the FO. Wish me luck!
JohnC says
Don’t expect anything quickly with LS. They have been ridiculously slow in responding to me and then the FOS. My complaint went into the FOS end of Sept and still not even been picked up by am adjudicator yet
Caroline says
I have had a response from Lending Stream, was much quicker than I was expecting given some of the comments from people here. Unsurprisingly they have rejected my claim though and said they believe I could afford the repayments. Given the amount of loans taken out each month, and my credit score (due to being in a DMP) I disagree with this. The last payment on the DMP is this month, so I am passing this over to the Ombudsman now.
Davy says
Very similar circumstances to me Caroline. Been in a DMP from 2013 and got the first of 45 loans from LS in 2015. Be prepared for the fantastic credit score (mine was 785) that they saw when checking you. Obviously complete fabrication. From when I started my DMP in 2013 LS were the only company that touched me with a barge pole and I applied to many. I have until the end of February then if we don’t reach an agreement, off. It goes to Ombudsman.
Caroline says
They said my credit score was around 550, and they said “the loans were approved to you as your credit scores reflected that your financial circumstances were in good standing.”
I was in a DMP and taking out frequent pay day loans, how was my financial circumstance in good standing?!?
Tim says
Hoping someone can help. Back in 2016 i had complaints with most of the bigger companies. At the time my mental stability was not good and I stupidly settled for some very low offers as I was still in debt. As my 6 months has lapsed some of them will not allow me to pursue through fos. Am I able to go through small claims or is there an easier route? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am sorry to hear this. The problem here seems likely to be that you accepted an offer in full and final settlement of your complaint – not that it was over 6 months ago. Because you accepted a low offer you are likely to not be able to win a court case.
There is a small exeception if you think a lender’s reply to you was actually wrong or misleading, not just too low. So if the lender said you had 6 loans whereas actually you had a lot more than that. Or if the lender failed to tell you that you had the right to take your case to the Ombudsman. If something like this happened, I suggest you go to the Ombudsman and say you were misled and that you didn’t take this up earlier because of your mental health – it may help if you can provide some medical evidence of this.
Jon says
I ordered 4 years worth of bank statements over Xmas. The bank were really cagey about providing them.
Anyway they’ve not turned up in the post. So I’m behind with my letters.
My loan payments are in 2 days time. So my plan was to get my continuous payment authorities stopped today and to get the emails sent off to Wonga/Sunny/Lending Stream tonight.
If I’ve not got the exact details of the loans, but a rough idea of borrowing. Am I still able to get the letters off?
My concern is that I need to cancel the CPA, but I wanted to at least have them all in receipt of my complaint first.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Cancel the CPAs immediately, today preferably.
Then put in the complaints with a rough idea of the borrowing.
Then, when you get the bank statements, go back and provide more information if you think it will help.
Davy says
I cancelled my CPA at the bank with Lending Stream last month (was due to have £200 out my account on 01/01/18) Told them I could only afford £50 a month until they made a decision on my case. They agreed without even asking for an income and expenditure outlay, which surely strengthens my case against them. Have now set up a monthly standing order to pay them until I have an outcome!
Daz says
Hi
I had loans with wonga 32 in total from 2012 to 2016, I have got to the ombudsman stage and the adjudicator has upheld my complaint and told wonga to refund all the interest accrued plus 8%. They have by 24th Jan to reply, but reading on here sounds like they will ignore this. What happens now do I just sit back and wait. The adjucator has said that the ombudsman is highly likely to agree with the adjudicators decision I assume to try and prevent any delays.
Marty says
They are ignoring adjudicator decisions at this point. Well they have mine anyway. They had to 12th december to reply to my adjudicator and didnt. It has now been passed to an actual ombudsman and I think I might be back in for a long wait for this decision. I have no idea if they can come back to agree with adjuicator to allow this to be resolved at this point still or it has to go the distance now. Sorry Daz but I was in your position about 8 weeks ago really happy with adjudicator decision and potential resolution before Christmas and now I feel as if I am back to square one. There should be some penalty to companies that dont comply to prevent this from being allowed to happen.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“I have no idea if they can come back to agree with adjudicator to allow this to be resolved at this point still”
Yes they can, and this happens quite often.
“now I feel as if I am back to square one”
No you aren’t – you know that the adjudicator thought you should get a good refund and that is a promising sign!
Zoe says
Evening Sara, I have a quick question regarding payday express and payday uk with the loans that they couldnt make a decision on ans requesting more information bank statements and credit report, what do you advise? Thanks
Steve says
You don’t have to send anything and can just forward these on to the FOS, especially if you disagree with some of those that they claim were lent responsibly. Having said that, I put mine into FOS queue then sent Payday UK the requested statements and credit report and they upheld the full complaint with £600 refund + £200 interest. Easy enough to phone FOS after that and say that you’ve settled the claim and don’t need to pursue it further.
Acee says
My advice is to do it Zoe, PDUK and Payday Express both initially refunded me over £1000 each and said they would look at some loans again that they couldn’t decide on if I sent bank statements I sent mine and Payday express paid out on the ones they previously couldn’t decide on so there was no need to involve the Ombudsman but PDUK rejected my complaint after sending bank statements so sent that to the Ombudsman and PDUK have agreed to refund me £1800 so you have nothing to lose.
ABB says
Hi all,
Would anyone be able to advise on how long the following companies generally take to supply responses to complaints.
Wonga
Cash ASAP
PDUK
Cash Float
Safety Net Credit
Satsuma
Wage Day Advance
Trusted Quid
Lending Stream
My Jar
Thank you in advance
ABB says
Also Sunny :)
Alison says
Hi there
I complained to Wonga/Provident/Myjar/Sunny in November. Also Mr Lender & Lending Stream. I have not pursued the latter 2 as it appeared I only had 1 off loans.
Wonga left it till 2 days before the 8 week was up to say no, and Provident still keep asking for a further 2 weeks – both have gone to the FO. Sunny were the quickest and gave their response within about 5 weeks. It was a small ‘rollover’ loan which I was not due monies back – but they cleared the balance and updated my credit report. MyJar took the full 8 weeks and again was not a huge amount but a ‘rolling’ loan. Once they wipe my balance im due £109. Its not a great deal but it will be removed from my credit report and help with my credit score. I have to say both Sunny & MyJar have been good throughout the whole complaint process – very easy to deal with.
Good luck with yours. :)
Beaker77 says
Hi sara
I have a question regarding my partners loans with Wonga, she defaulted on her final payment as she had lost her employment. There was £900 outstanding (including interest) on a £750 loan – wonga took a payment of £400 in respect of this loan and then due to default and extra charges applied the final amount owed was £810. She was under a support worker to assist with anxiety and help her get back on track with challenging finances along with overall health issues. Her support worker wrote to Wonga and explained her situation and they agreed to halt any further interest and charges. There are numerous loans from 2012- 2013 (we are waiting for wonga to provide a statement of loans). Eventually wonga wrote to her and said that they wiping off any debt and recording the account as settled this was in November 2014. Is it still possible to pursue an affordability claim now as I don’t believe they fully refund monies owing in respect of the interest paid. From some of the limited information i have, it looks like a minimum of £1250 in interest paid.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I always suggest people think of a previous Wonga write off as being the “first instalment” of a refund they could get now.
If the loan that was written off was for £750 borrowed and she had paid £400 towards it, then the amount actually written off by Wonga (ignoring the interest they added) was only £350.
If she had paid more then £1250 interest on the previous loans (I can’t tell if that figure includes anything for the last loan) then that is a LOT more than the £350 write off so yes, it is well worth making a complaint now.
Beaker77 says
Thanks Sara
I have received the statement from Wonga – I factored out the last loan and the payment towards that and looked at the interest on all of the other loans – this came to £1097, when deducting the payments made on the last loan against the initial amount Wonga refunded £378 as their settlement.
I have a copy of the original email sent from wonga in respect of the clearing balance of the final loan and there is no reference at all to the financial ombudsman in that email.
I am about to put the affordability letter together, have you got any wording I can add to the template you have supplied that suggests their balance clearance was the first installment
Sara (Debt Camel) says
something like “In 2015 you wrote off the remaining balance on my last loan, but I would like a refund for the interest i paid on the previous loans.” You don’t have to give numbers.
Ashleigh says
Hi,
can anyone help finally my adjudicator has said Wonga should refund all but 1 loan ( 8 in total) hes sent them his paperwork how long do they normally take to reply with an offer and also does anyone know there payment timescale?
Thanks
Maureen says
I have finally had an adjudicator decision on my Payday UK claim including loans over 6 years, they have upheld my complaint on loans 9-16, mainly due to old bank statements just having a transaction history and not showing full details of other lenders repayments by name which is disappointing but hey nothing I can do about it if the bank tell me that’s all they can get. Anyway, even those 7 loans which were each rolled over a few times should be around £4K. My questions is, does anyone know if they respond to adjudicators within the 14 days to agree or disagree or do they delay it?
Ben says
Does any one how long Sunny takes to process a refund? They agreed with my adjuacter last thursday, and then amended their offer to include tax on Tuesday of this week, so since then I’ve been trying to contact them to ask how long should I wait but no response to the emails I’ve sent and can’t get through to their complaints team via Elevate Credit, almost seems like they have a single person handling their complaints.
Vicky says
Sunny has just agreed with the adjudicators decision so I have sent my bank details today I haven’t heard anything back did they send you a confirmation email or anything to say they had agreed with your adjudicator, mine said it will take upto 4 weeks for a refund
Benjamin Broad says
I haven’t had much communication with Sunny recently. I was speaking to my Adjucater who said they agreed with him and they will be in contact. The Adjucater took my bank details so Sunny should have all they need for my refund.
Vicky says
I rang sunny on their complaint phone number they said they have received my bank details and the refund should be here within 3-5 working days
Acee says
Another great result already had £1100 redress from PDUK but they later rejected the loans they previously couldn’t decide on so I sent those to the Ombudsman and they have advised PDUK to refund me £1800 and PDUK have agreed to refund me today so I will have had £2900 in total from them. The adjudicator has also partially upheld my Wonga complaint which will be around £1000. In total this site has saved me around £10,000 I still have complaints with Lending Stream 247moneybox and Sunny and instead of my DMP which started in August 2017 ending in January 2019 with a bit of negotiating I could be debt free at the end of this month or at the very latest next month this site is literally a life saver thank you so much.
Claire says
Hi, Just discussing a settlement with Mr LEnder – they have offered to pay loans 4-6 of 6 and i have gone back asking for them to include the 3rd.
Just wanted to clarify as i have seen it mentioned on here – do i have to pay tax on this refund?! surely it is money that belongs to me and i have already paid tax on? Do Mr lender have a right to deduct that?
Also if they are claiming it is a good will gesture and not a refund, can i still ask them to remove the record from my file?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If 8% extra interest is added this is taxable, but the refund itself is, as you say, your own money and there is no tax.
Yes you can ask them to remove either the whole record or any defaults/ late payments markers from your credit record. If the loan was more than a year ago and it was repaid on time, it isn’t doing your creditor record any harm.
LS007 says
I remember many moons ago when these legal loan sharks caused a lot of grief. Some of them never even wanted to listen or help when one started to struggle and got caught in the viscous cycle of bad credit. Part of me blames the mainstream credit industry for ignoring the not so perfect credit peeps and of course these people had nowhere to go if they needed credit. Then along came the payday loan companies.
They spotted the gap in the market and pounced.
Fast forward 5 years and one by one I’m now taking them on, with help from websites like this and of course the FOS, and they don’t like it. They hide under the jurisdiction of responsible lenders, some directors even have positions in boardrooms within the regulatory credit industry and organisations. Stick with it people and never give in.
I know it may feel like you’re trying to get blood from a stone but it will be worth it in the end. Just remember the times they wiped your bank account clean or bombarded you with phone calls, letters and the veiled threats
Tom f says
I rang up lending stream two nights in a row to see if they recieved my letter of debt issues for 2 current loans. I told them both times of my money issues. They said no emsil recieved. On third day, I logged on site to check messages, had a new loan offer of 960 (already had 200 and 190) so now have over 1300 with them. I’ve used the money Borrowed to repay 2 months rent arrears in a panic. I’ve messed up!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well it could be a lot worse, you could have gone and spent the 960, at least you have cleared some rent arrears…
Do you have a record on your system of the email you sent them about your problems with the first two loans?
Tom f says
I have the interest history of the page being submitted, and the call logs for the 2 times I rang, each call was around 15 minutes long.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That’s good. 960 is a huge jump from the previous two loans of 190 and 200 … had you had other loans from LS before this?
Tom f says
No lending before this from them. I didn’t apply as such, I logged in to see it I was getting a responce to my message and it had a banner saying I am able to take out a further 960 in a third loan.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, then this is what I suggest that you do:
1) cancel the CPA with your bank that lets Lending Stream take repayments from your account
2) put in a complaint to Lending Stream saying –
“I had two loans from you for £200 and £190 . I was in bad financial trouble with rent arrears and other bills that I couldn’t pay. I asked you on x for a payment plan – I attach a screen shot of this.
You didn’t contact me. I was so worried I called you up on x and asked about a payment plan and was told you hadn’t had my message. I called again the next day and again you said you hadn’t had my message.
On x I logged into my account hoping you would have sent me a reply but all I saw was a large message offering me a £960 loan. I was so stressed and scared I took this loan and have cleared some rent arrears. But I can’t afford to pay any of the three loans I now have from you.
I want to complain that you should not have ignored my request for a payment plan and you have given me a loan you will have known from my message and phone calls that was unaffordable.
If you never had the request, why didn’t you offer a repayment plan when I twice phoned up about this?
It was irresponsible to offer to lend me any more money when I had told you I was in trouble three times, let alone such a huge amount as £960.
I would like you to:
– remove the interest that you have added onto the last loan;
– set up a repayment plan with me for the three loans that I have and not add any more interest or charges.”
Add in dates, loan numbers, details of your other financial problems etc to that.
3) Have you now cleared all your rent arrears? If you still have rent arrears I suggest you go to your local Citizens Advice as you need urgent help. If all these priority debts are under control and you “only” have other loans, credit cards etc, then I suggest you phone StepChange who can set up a debt management plan for you that will include the Lending Stream loans.
Michelle Farley says
Hi Sara found this website by accident and it’s really great. A couple of questions are loans from myjar/moneyshop/everyday lending in this category even if the original terms of the loans meant repayments were spread over 2/3/6/and 12 months?
I was already in a DMP when some of my loans were granted and prior to that my credit history wasn’t the best. While I do earn a decent wage most of my problems have been through online gambling and Myjar and Everyday saw my bank statements prior to loans being granted. Should I mention the gambling as they should have noticed the pattern.
Would I still be able to claim under irresponsible criteria? With Money Shop I did have missed payments but still was granted loans after repayment. I currently have loans with Money Shop and Myjar after paying of 3 in November.
Am talking to someone re my Gambling but just need to get out from the mess.
Many thanks
Michelle
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What you need to do now, in order, is:
1) cancel the CPAs to the Money Shop and Myjar.
2) ask your DMP firm to include these loans in your DMP.
3) get serious about tackling your gambling. Making payday loan complaints now isn’t going to help you unless you have stopped, it will just give you a fun couple of weeks gambling but leave you with the same debt problem… read https://debtcamel.co.uk/gambling/ and put blocking software on your PC and mobile. Also sign up to CIFAS.
4) in a few months come back to the irresponsible lending complaints.
Michelle Farley says
Thank you Sara. I am a bit worried in asking my DMP firm to include as we know I shouldn’t have taken credit out and I don’t want to be penalised. Years ago I was with Stepchange and hadn’t included a store card as partner was paying it but when he stopped and I informed them they refused to work with me any more so I went to PayPlan
Sara (Debt Camel) says
StepChange have agreed to include payday loans in these sorts of situations – it’s well worth asking Payplan about this. Also tell them about your gambling and what you are doing to tackle it.
Michelle Farley says
Sara I have just spoken to my banknand they cant cancel the CPA’s as the first payments havent come out yet. Can I cancel them with the companies concerned
Many thanks
Michelle
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes tell the companies that you can’t afford the repayments, they will leave you in hardship and you need a repayment plan for the loans.
BUT ALSO read https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/banking/stopping-a-future-payment-on-your-debit-or-credit-card/. As that says:
“If the person you speak to says you can’t stop the payments, ask to speak to someone more senior. If they still won’t stop the payments, ask them to put a record of the call on your account so you can refer to it later if you need to. Make sure you keep a note of the date, time and who you spoke to as well, in case you need to make a complaint.”
Vikki says
Hi i had least ten pay day or more plus log book loan ,loans all different companies i have had response from 24/7 saying they will write off debt last loan .payout from pay day express pay day uk said all was done correct So no redress and wonga says the same should i go to ombudsman with all rejected thankyou
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you borrowed more than once from a lender OR you still owe them money, yes I suggest you send the case to the Ombudsman to look at.
And send the logbook loan one as well – they always reject all complaints.
Ben says
Does any one know if a debt has been forwarded to a debt collection company (BW legal) do I need to go to them instead of Payday Express. From reading up on various sites there seems to be differing opinions on who is responsible .i.e the original lender or Debt collection agency. I think the act that was quoted was Section 189 of the Credit Consumer act.
Lisa says
I believe you go to PDE as they are the firm who initiated the borrowing.
Claire says
Hi Sara,
I had a car loan with advantage finance that I have put in a claim against – at the time no one else would even lend me 500 and they gave me £3.5k at very high interest.
Since putting in the complaint they have sent me an email and a txt asking if I wanted to upgrade my car and take a new loan.
I have complained about this and they have offered me £50 compensation… I just wanted to check whether it is safe to accept this or if it would affect my claim in any way?
Thanks, c
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How about replying “I am happy to accept the £50 offered as compensation for your recent inappropriate marketing. I look forward to receiving your reply to my affordability complaint that I sent on dd/mm/yy”
Ron says
Hi,
Has anyone had any luck with 118-118 loans?
Only had one large loan with them but at the time I had 6-7 payday loans. Just seeing if it’s worth putting in a complaint.
Steve says
I had almost exactly the same sort of case. 1k loan of which I’d paid off £1,024 when I put in complaint. Had about 7 payday loans at time. Took the full 8 weeks but 118 agreed that shouldn’t have lent to me and wrote off remaining interest and refunded the £24 I repaid over the initial capital. Definitely go for it and tailor the template slightly.
Mike says
Hi,
Just wanted to express my gratitude for the information and advice on your site. I have just accepted a £3000 settlement from Wonga on what I had calculated as a maximum settlement of £3850. Obviously delighted with that outcome!
I have also referred a complaint to the FO regarding Payday UK after they offered £1200, I calculated it at closer to £3k. Incidentally Payday Uk would appear to think that it is reasonable practise to rollover a loan for 9 months and then process another loan the following month!
All I can say is that I am glad that my health has now improved and I am no longer putting myself in that kind of position to be taken advantage of anymore.
Bakey says
Does anyone know if The Money Shop negotiate? They took 14 weeks to respond to my original complaint but offered me 1/3 of what I have calculated a refund could be – even without the 8% added.
Their response wasn’t a full and final one and they invited my response and so I countered with a breakdown of what I thought was a fair refund amount and why. Just wondering if it is likely they will offer something again? It is already in the FOS queue so I am happy to let that process continue.
Thanks for any help.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They didn’t used to, but other brands from the same company (payday Uk and payday express) are now more approachable so it will be interesting to see hoe the Money Shop respond.
Benjamin Broad says
Quick Question,
How quick do Sunny refund?
As Sunny accepted the Adjudicator’s recommendations to settle my complaint on thurs 4th Jan and then i got another email from the adjudicator on Tuesday 9th saying Sunny made a mistake in their offer they didn’t take tax from the refund amount.
So the adjudicator said on Tuesday they will be in touch but since then no emails from them and trying to call is no use
Vicky says
Ring sunny on their complaints phone number, I rang to see if they had received my bank details they said the refund should take 3-5 working days so hopefully receive it soon
Village Idiot says
Hi, here’s my dilemma: I currently owe Wonga £1400, in theory plus interest all the way up to £2800, but I can’t be sure, communication has been that poor. I think interest is frozen. I agreed a very low payment plan a few months ago, made one payment and then stopped, Wonga have never been in touch and when logging in you get to what looks like a dormant or frozen account. It has obviously not gone to a DCA, it’s like they have forgotten me. It does not seem to feature on my credit report either, not even under ‘short term lending’.
Wonga have definitely lent irresponsibly to me, and I have borrowed irresponsibly from them too but I guess that’s not the point. I am confident I would be able to show that they lent to me repeatedly, month after month, while I had mortgage arrears and other issues, whilst I had other payday loans and would borrow just days after repaying a previous loan. A while ago they wrote off one loan I couldn’t pay (because they decided to no longer offer that product, they said) and STILL later started to lend to me again!
The dilemma comes about because of a few things, one is that generally, I was actually a good payer, regularly paid off early (my partner is self employed and gets paid daily) so can I really claim I should have looked like I was someone that it was irresponsible to lend to? Another is that I know that when I answered the questions about income I put down my income and then half our mortgage etc – the other half being paid by my partner – and so will probably have looked like someone with some disposable income, safe to lend to (and yet there should have been those alarm bells for them about mortgage arrears etc! Above all though, there is the worry about poking the hornets nest with it being so quiet from Wonga. There is, though, the prospect of a serious payout, I must have had 30 or so loans over 6 years and often over a £1000 a time, though I did work to keep the interest down each time by repaying bits at every opportunity – very few loans went to the intended term – it will still have really added up.
What do people think?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Just because you aren’t being harrassed at the moment, doesn’t mean that the defaulted loan won’t be sold to a debt collector. People are being taken to court for CCJs for unpaid payday loans…
Mortgage arrears should have been a HUGE red warning flag to Wonga – and to everyone else you have borrowed from. Paying off a loan early doesn’t stop you winning a complaint if as you say “they lent to me repeatedly, month after month, while I had mortgage arrears and other issues, whilst I had other payday loans and would borrow just days after repaying a previous loan.”
I suggest you put in an affordability complaint to Wonga and to every other payday lender you used. And also think about Vanquis, Provident and other lenders as well.
James says
Hi,
Just curious has anyone ever gotten a refund offer straight from wonga, sunny or Myjar without the need of an ombudsman?
Linda says
Hi James I got an offer from MyJar without FO involvement it was only for a small amount though but they upheld my complaint and paid paid the interest really quickly . I also got an offer from Sunny but that again was for a small amount and they called it a ‘goodwill gesture’ from memory, it wasn’t far off the interest etc so I accepted. Wonga were a different matter I had to refer that one but they accepted the adjudicators decision and didn’t mess about too much although they were allowed a bit of extra response time by the FO due to the amount of complaints. Hope this helps
Clairey says
Yes I got a response from Wonga after 8 weeks with an offer of compensation. Very straightforward compared to others on here.. I was really surprised that I didn’t need them take it to the fos like everyone else has seemed to..
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The thing is, you hear a lot more about the ones that go to the Ombudsman because people post about them over a long time – ones that get settled directly are often just one or two comments. Yes, people get good offers from Wonga, Sunny and Myjar directly. They also get poor offers or rejections for good cases.
So cross your fingers and hope some of yours go well, but don’t be disheartened if they don’t.
Russell Ellcome says
Hi,
Has anyone had a reply from FOS regarding Myjar? I have just received a reply stating that Myjar are not covered by the FOS system therefore they cannot help.
Just wondering if anyone else has had this response?
Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How long ago were the loans?
Shannon says
I logged a complaint with FOS against MyJar and it has been investigated by an adjudicator. My loans were from June 2016 to July 2017. I put the company name when I complained as MyJar limited. So they are definitely covered by them.
Russ says
Less than 6 years ago. It was actually loans through “TxtLoan” who are part of Myjar so i’m really not sure where to go with this one.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you go back to the case worker and say you would like this looked at again. Point out there are Ombudsman decisions for MYJAR trading as Txtloan at a date where Txtloan Ltd was no longer an authorised entity and Myjar settled the complaint. Say the same should apply to Txtloans.
Michelle Farley says
Sara I have started what you suggested earlier. Cancelled CPA’s and had interested frozen so potential amount owed now a lot less, booked a review with my DMP company and contacted GA, closed my online gaming accounts and installed Qustodio on my computer.
Getting paperwork together to eventually claim. 1 question are Everday Loans (everyday lending) one of those companies that fall under this.
Many thanks
Michelle
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like good progress!
Everyday loans aren’t a payday lender but they provide very expensive loans for bad credit customers. You can make an affordability complaint about them – they are like 118 Money and people have won lots of complaints against them.
Claire says
Oh I was wondering about this as well as they consolidated most of my loans so I was in a better position each month (but a lot worse off long term)….. so is it still worth processing a complaint for them?
That is VERY exciting!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Definitely worth a complaint. You can use the standard letter but adapt it to remove references to ‘payday’, repeat borrowing, spiral of debt etc and make it clear you only had the one loan from them. It’s worth checking your credit record to find details of the recent problems (not ones years before) that would have show that Everyday loans should have noticed.
It’s harder to win a “one loan” complaint but because these loans were much bigger, the lender should have made more careful checks beforehand.
Claire says
I actually had 2 loans with them. They paid all my other loans off directly the first time around.
The second time the only paid a few of them off meaning install had multiple payments to make each month.
They were certainly aware of the other debts and did a sit down appointment to discuss them but as they paid them off I didn’t realise you could still claim against them as on a monthly basis they helped the situation? Long term was trapped though.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They may have saved you money each month, but was the resulting loan affordable? SO with the first one, they cleared your payday loan debts, why did you then need to borrow again?
Perhaps they should have seen that the new loan repayments weren’t affordable before they made that first loan.
In any case, when you approached them for a second loan, they should have realised that the first one had not gone well and wondered why? And why the second time did they not consolidate everything, were they sure you could afford the second loan plus the unconsolidated debts?
Ben says
What are the chances of getting anything from the cheque centre, I believe they are in administration?
After going through my accounts, I have figured I have paid nearly £10,000 to them between 2010-2012.
Thanks.
Gail says
It’s unlikely you will get anywhere near what you should be owed. I am in the same situation and completed a claim form to the administrators who have advised the most I am likely to get is 5 pence in the pound and this will be much later this year. So around £500 for me from a £11,500 claim !!!
Jayne says
Hi,
I had 6 loans with WONGA 2012-2013
10 loans with payday uk 2012-2013
I have written letters to both company’s from the draft letter on here and have had acknowledgment back they are investigated and I will have a reply within 8 weeks.
Do you think I will get a refund ?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well worth complaining about! Good luck.
Dan says
Hi Sara, with one-off loans, you often say the lender should’ve completed more checks, when do you think this would kick in, £500, £1000, £2000, £5000? I know it wouldn’t be quite that specific but I agreed a £1000 loan with likely loans and then increased it the same day to £2000, after the first had been approved, they seem to have made no additional checks – case is with an adjudicator but is taking some time as it more ‘complicated’ – winning this could make the difference of us moving from a 2 bed house, with three under five year olds – that would be most welcomed!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No specific amount, sorry. The fundamentals are the same as for all affordability – could you afford the monthly repayments without borrowing more? If no, should the lender have realised that? Things which can matter in these sorts of complaints include:
– recent (preferably in last 6 months, a year at the most) credit problems on your credit record
– any discrepancies between your credit record and your application. If they can see more borrowing on your credit record than you put down as outgoings, they should have looked much more closely (NB I’m not saying you lied, people get figures on applications wrong for all sorts of reasons, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/)
– where you applied for a top up, were you asked why? Did this make sense in terms of the reason you put for the original application?
Scott says
Has anyone ever won a payday loan refund from my jar? I got a response saying they need another 4 weeks to look into, even tho it’s been 4 weeks.
Linda says
Hi MyJar took the full 8 weeks for me which is what they’re allowed but got back to me and I had a small refund.
Justin says
thanks for all the help and advise so far Payday UK & Payday Express have just emailed me back advising with the same letter/response that all loans were lent responsibly and the loans they couldn’t agree on i need to send them bank statements well i can’t do this as my statements online only go back to 2011 and they want infomation from 2010. They have advised that i can send this to the Financial Ombudsman Service to look into any furthe advise please?
Steve says
I had similar letter and sent them bank statements. They found they were all irresponsible and offered refund. I’d suggest putting complaint into FOS now, then it’s in the queue. You’ll need these statements for FOS anyway, so no harm sending them to Payday UK/Express, if you wish, once you have them, and can always withdraw complaint if they do make a satisfactory offer. If there are loans that they have deemed responsibly lent, that you’re not happy with though, then just send it all to FOS and don’t bother with statements to PDUK/Express as they won’t review those loans.
Linda says
Hi I had a complaint with Payday UK and received a similar email. However I refused to send them bank statements and asked them to investigate the complaint using the information they had on file and anything else I had sent to them, I also stated I would make statements available to this FO if requested. I heard nothing back so referred to the FO at the 8 weeks and emailed and told them. They wrote to me again just after I referred it and upheld my complaint no statements submitted. They dont do this in all cases from what Im reading on here so I was lucky but the bank statement bit is a stalling tactic in my opinion. I’ve submitted a few complaints and other companies do it too. Id refer it to the FO now as Steve says so you’re in the queue. Being in the queue for the Ombudsman bides you a bit more time to get your statements ready if the FO request them which they probably will as I had to send them for my other complaaints.
Russ says
Has anyone else had a response from Lending Stream that seems to be a letter stating that the letter is a final response but in fact isn’t?!? I have had 3 mails from them now which gives their outcome to my complaint but no suggestion i can go to FOS etc so i sent the letter in with my FOS complaint and got a message back from FOS stating they have 8 weeks to respond with a FRL.
It seems strange as the letter clearly refuses to accept they lent irresponsibly and offers no further way forward. I have sent them another mail asking for them to confirm if this is a FRL so will wait and see what they say but was keen to hear what others have experienced with this lot.
Davy says
Yeah, they tend to give a bog standard reply of “we don’t consider we mis sold to you and your credit score was in the high 700s” They never tell you if that is their final response. I have emailed them twice and got the same response twice. I am happy to wait the full 8 weeks then send direct to Ombudsman. I will not ask them to look again. On the 1st March I will be forwarding straight to Ombudsman
Julze says
Sent away my acceptance offer for payday uk…
£1275..
Also sent away the requested bank statements for the other loans they couldn’t determine.. received a reply, that they have been passed to my case handler and should hear within 2 weeks..
Fingers and toes crossed.
This website is great. I could never had did it without the great letter templates.
Kara says
Congratulations. Do you mind if I ask if the offer that they made you represents all of the interest paid for the loans in question plus interest?
Thanks.
Julze says
I had 13 principle loans that were almost all rolled over for atleast 2 months.
They found 4 fairly loaned
5 they couldn’t decided without further information. I’ve sent statements back today
And they paid out in 4 loans with 8% intrest.
So my payment is £1275 after tax deductions.
I think the other amount if they pay it will be the same.
Wonga, txt A loan and cheque centre all said no. So I have sent them to the ombudsman.
I sent my acceptance back on Friday so they should have received it today. I will give them 10 working days to pay the £1275 into my account and then I will chase up