Did your payday loans cost so much when you repaid one you had to keep on borrowing?
You can get a refund of the interest you paid on unaffordable loans.
It’s easy to ask for a payday loan refund using the free template letters here. The letters work if your payday loans were repaid or you still owe money.
The comments below this article have thousands of stories of the refunds people have got using these letters. It is a great place to ask questions!
Contents
What are “unaffordable” loans?
Was a loan affordable just because you repaid it?
No! If paying a loan left you so broke you had to borrow again – from the same lender or a different one – it was unaffordable!
The regulator says:
“the borrower should be able to make the required repayments without undue difficulty, whilst continuing to meet other debt repayment obligations and reasonable regular outgoings.”
That means a payday loan is only affordable if you repaid it on time and you could still manage to pay your other bills and debts.
Payday loans are meant to solve a short-term problem. If you kept repaying one then getting another loan soon after, the lender should have stopped lending to you.
If the loan was small and it was the first loan or second loan from a lender, the lender may not have realised the loan was unaffordable for you. But it was irresponsible lending to just carry on giving you more loans.
Many lenders ignore obvious signs of problems such as your loans increasing in size, or borrowing again soon after repayment.
How much compensation can you get?
You don’t have to calculate this. Just ask for a refund from the lender and see what you are offered. This is simple and it works well.
The Financial Ombudsman has seen tens of thousands of payday loan affordability complaints.
A typical decision by the Ombudsman is that the payday lender should refund all the interest you paid interest after the third, fourth or fifth loan.
But if your first loan was large, or was rolled over several times you could get a refund from just one loan.
Which lenders can you get refunds from?
You can complain to lenders that are still in business, even if they are no longer lending. These include:
Lending Stream, Cash Converters, CashASAP, Drafty, Dot Dot, Fast Loan Uk, Fernovo, Fund Ourselves, Kabayan, LoanPig, Mr Lender, Moneyboat, MyKredit, My Finance Club, QuidMarket, Savvy, The Money Platform, WageMe, Wizzcash,
See this email list for payday lenders for a longer list and all the contact details to use.
If the lender has gone into administration, including CashForUNow, Piggybank, Ferratum, Oakam, Safetynet Credit, Tappily:
- make a claim to the administrators – there is normally a simple form for you to complete, see the lender’s website for details – but there will be a time limit for doing this.
- you may not get much cash back but this is very easy to do. A balance may be reduced or cleared even if there is no cash to distribute. And if you win the complaint any negative marks on your credit record will be removed.
It is probably too late to make claims to other lenders who gave up years ago, see this list.
For longer-term loans there are better template letters to use on other pages:
- doorstep lenders and guarantor lenders,
- Loans2Go – the worst loans in Britain!
- 118 Money, Likely Loans, Bamboo, car finance, bank loans and other long-term loans.
Do this before, before you send in a complaint
Doing these things now will make your life easier later.
Get a copy of your TransUnion statutory credit report and keep it. After complaints are started, sometimes loans are deleted and you may want the full report if you later have to go to the Ombudsman.
If you still owe money to the lender, read Will an affordability claim hurt my credit record, and other questions. These looks at your options for stopping paying, the effect on your credit record etc.
If the rest of your finances are difficult, look into a Debt Management Plan (DMP) where you make one affordable payment a month to StepChange. This gets you into a safe financial position as these affordability complaints can take a long time to go through at the Ombudsman. Winning a complaint then speeds up the DMP.
Unless you can afford to make this month’s payment without borrowing again, cancel the CPA to the lender at your bank. Otherwise the lender may take the money and you will be in a mess.
If your loan was sold to a debt collector you complain to the original lender. But also tell the debt collector that you are disputing the debt. It is a good idea to carry on making payments to the debt collector if they are affordable.
Start your complaint & get loan details
Find the lender’s email address for complaints from this list.
Put “AFFORDABILITY COMPLAINT” as the subject of your email:
You should never have given me these unaffordable loans. Paying you each month left me with too little money so I had to keep borrowing to get through the next month.
You should have realised from the number of times I borrowed that my debt problems were getting worse. It was not responsible to continue to lend to me. [Add more details eg how often you borrowed or rolled loans if you know them, how the amount borrowed generally went up etc]
[Include/change this if your credit record would have shown big problems:] My credit reports would have shown all my other debts and problems including late payments/defaults /CCJs/debt management.]
I am asking you to refund the interest and any charges I paid, plus statutory interest, and to delete any negative information from my credit record.
[delete this sentence if you know what all your loans were.] I know the difficulties your loans have caused me but I no longer have all the loan details. Please send me a list, showing for each loan when it was taken out, how much interest and charges you added, and what I repaid. This will enable me to assess any refund you offer me.
[delete this sentence if none of your loans were sold.]If a loan was later sold to a debt collector, please inform me of the date of sale and the name of the debt collector.
Some ways to improve this
Add any other points that help you describe what happened to you. You don’t need to list the loans – the lenders knows them.
Some examples:
- “I took out another loan with xxxx to pay you.”
- “Sometimes I borrowed to pay the rent and then had to top-up to get money for food.”
- if you weren’t treated fairly while you were borrowing or when you could not make a payment, add a bit about this.
You can attach bank statements if you like, This is a good idea as these show how unaffordable the loans were for you. If you have gambling showing, this helps your complaint, it doesn’t harm it.
I don’t know if many lenders actually read what you send them. I
it’s easy to make these complaints – you don’t need to calculate what refund you should get or quote laws.
Only one loan?
The template refers to multiple loans because that is what normally happens with payday lenders.
When you only had one loan and it was large, read Refunds from large loans and use the template there.
If you only had one loan and it was small, this is going to be a very difficult complaint to win. If you have borrowed once or twice from 5 leaders, that is much more difficult to win an affordability complaint than having 4 or 5 loans from two lenders.
Waiting for a reply from the lender
This email starts your affordability complaint.
They may send the list of loans first and later respond to your complaint. So don’t be surprised if you get sent info on the loans but nothing about your request for a refund.
When you get your loan information, you can send in more details about your complaint if you want. You don’t have to do this, your complaint has already begun and the lender has to reply.
The lender should reply to your complaint within 8 weeks from when you send the email, not when they acknowledge it. Make a note in your diary for 8 weeks time and chase the lender up if you don’t get a reply.
Don’t be surprised if you have to wait until the end of the 8 weeks to get response – this is common.
Send your bank statements or other information?
Some lenders ask you to send them a copy of your credit record, payslips or bank statements.
Credit record – the lender can check your credit record themselves if they want. But you should download a copy of your credit record asap as the Ombudsman will ask for it. Don’t put this off, the sooner you get a report downloaded, the further back it goes which is good.
Don’t send payslips – they won’t help an affordability complaint and the ombudsman never asks for them.
It is a good idea to send bank statements. But think twice about the cost of copying and postage if there are a lot. Some lenders seem to ignore them if you do send them.
Again this is a good point to get those bank statements even if you do not want to send them as they will help an Ombudsman claim a lot. You can get them going back at least 6 years even if the account has been closed.
Lender says No or makes a poor offer
If the lender rejects your complaint or offers you a small amount, don’t be depressed. You may still have a very good case!
It is easy and free to send your case to the Financial Ombudsman where many thousands of people have won their payday loan complaints, despite being rejected by the lender.
Give up?
Some lenders try to make your case sound bad when it isn’t. People have had large amounts refunded after a complete rejection!
Just ignore any of the following comments, they do not mean you have a weak case:
- they relied on your loan applications and you didn’t give accurate facts – see Lender says I lied for more about this;
- you repaid some loans early – this doesn’t prove the loans were affordable, just that you were trying to save interest;
- your borrowing didn’t go up every time – irrelevant, what matters is that you kept borrowing;
- you had a good enough credit score or they didn’t legally have to check your credit record – if you only had one or two small loans that is true. But if the loans were large or you kept borrowing, they should have looked more closely;
- your loans are over 6 years old – the Ombudsman will look at these even if the lender says they won’t!
A good enough case to go to the Ombudsman?
If you don’t know what to do, ask in the comments below this article. Accepting an offer settles your whole complaint – you can’t change your mind later.
Don’t worry that you will lose a small offer by going to the Ombudsman – this doesn’t happen.
Some points to think about:
- if you are offered a refund on only a few loans, don’t accept it if you think the lender should have realised a lot of the other loans were unaffordable;
- an offer to write off your current balance may sound convenient … but it may be very poor if you should get a refund as well;
- if getting defaults or late payments removed from your credit record is important to you, are you happy with what the lender is proposing to do? Don’t assume your credit record will be cleared if the lender didn’t mention this.
One or two loan cases are hard to win at the Ombudsman. It’s probably best to give up on one or two loan cases unless:
- the loan was large. Here is one single loan case that was won even though it was an installment loan and the borrower had a good income. And another single loan case for a loan of £1,000. You can win cases for smaller amounts if the repayment would have been a large amount of your income; or
- you still owe money.
Don’t delay too long – there is a 6-month time limit after a lender rejects your complaint to send the case to the ombudsman. When you aren’t sure, send the complaint to FOS. This is easy to do – let FOS make the decision.
How to send a complaint to FOS
Put in a separate complaint about each lender.
Don’t wait until all your lenders have replied before sending the first one to the Ombudsman!
FOS’s “complain online” option is easy and takes you through your complaint step by step.
You can just copy what you said in your complaint to the lender. You can add more details, for example, if you disagree with what the lender replied to you.
If some of your loans were over 6 years ago, tell the Ombudsman when and how you found out about these complaints. For example:
“I knew the loans were causing me difficulty in 2016, but I thought this was my fault for being bad with money. I didn’t find out that the lender should have checked the loans were affordable until June 2022 when my brother told me about these claims/I saw an advert from a claims company on Facebook/I read an article about these claims” – change this so it is right for your case!
Things to attach:
- the reply you have had from the lender.
- bank statements if you have them. Ideally from 3 months before your first loan until the last loan was repaid or you defaulted on it. This strengthens your case, showing how unaffordable the loans were. You can still get bank statements even if your account is closed – if you don’t have them, start the process of getting them now, don’t wait until FOS asks for them.
- a copy of your TransUnion Statutory credit report
- a copy of the credit agreements for the loans if you have them. If you don’t, don’t worry, FOS will get them from the lender.
What happens after you have sent a case to FOS
You will normally be contacted within a couple of weeks and asked for a copy of your credit record and your bank statements if you haven’t sent these. If you have sent these on one complaint, then when you complain about a different lender they will use the ones they already have.
After this initial contact, your case will wait for the lender to send FOS your case file and then wait to be picked up by an adjudicator who will make a decision on it.
If you are still making payments to the lender, tell the lender you want to reduce these to an affordable amount. This will make waiting for an Ombudsman decision much less stressful for you.
The Financial Ombudsman has a two-stage process. Most cases are settled by the first “adjudicator” stage but about 10% go to the second “Ombudsman” stage.
A few problem cases
Don’t ask for a refund:
- if you are bankrupt now or have been bankrupt in the past – any refund would go to the Official Receiver.
- if you are in an IVA, as refunds will go to your IVA firm not to you. If your IVA has finished the refund may still be sent to your old IVA firm.
- if you are in a DRO now, getting a refund may mean your DRO is cancelled!
More help
You can ask a question in the comments below – you may get a reply from someone who has been in your exact situation.
Don’t use a claims management company. They are expensive and often incompetent. It’s easy to do this yourself and you can ask questions below and get replies from other readers who have done this.
Card & catalogue affordability complaints
Can you get an overdraft refund?
Could a Debt Relief Order help you?
Steph says
My viscious circle of using payday loans started in 2007 and spanned right through to 2012. I had multiple loans at the same time, was always either rolling them over or clearing them but borrowing more just to keep up with monthly bills. I ended up nearly losing my home due to repeated missed mortgage payments because lenders used the cpa method to collect the payments and i now have a payment order against the house until the arrears are cleared. In all i have used around 15 different lenders – a few have ceased trading but i have fired off letters of complaint to them all. So far, MY JAR and Wageday Advance have compensated me, im still waiting to hear from the rest and a few have not upheld my complaints – those ones are in the hands of the FOS at present. PDUK however have basically stated that because it was more than 6 years ago they are not obliged to look into it. Is this correct?
Steph says
I received 2,454 off wage day advance – but that was only for one out of 12 loans in total taken with them.
They also cleared the remaining debt of over £500 I still have with them. MYJAR issued £155, cleared remaining debt of £140 and also removed details from credit file.
I’m wondering wether to try Wageday advance for the previous 11 loans – or am I pushing it?
Yes all the PDUK Loans were pre 2010.
Also, Bongaloan were vile in their response – received a very snotty email from them refusing to even look into my complaint and ended their email response saying ” stop using templates from websites to try and receive compensation ” – can you believe that?
Eve says
Hi Steph
Who did you contact regarding bongaloans? Ive heard no reply from them.
Thanks
Steph says
Hi Eve, Bongaloans come under BB Marketing.
lisa says
*Update*
Called speedloans today and got email with offer £721.All interest that I paid they sent statement with this too.Also still owed £656 that they send to motormile they are also writing this off too.Not offered 8% interest but happy with my result.
julie says
I have recently received 3k from my jar.very helpful case handlers.
Wonga complaint 8 weeks old today but no progress so referred to FOS. 7 weeks in with pde, pduk, moneyshop,cfo,wda,. Cfo took over 7k in charges and interest on 30 plus roll over loans.
Lost our home due to constant payday loans.now out of the trap and would never use again
Miles says
Quick update regarding my Myjar claim
They issued a final response saying only the last loan of 4 would they refund and no mention of credit file.
I decided to ask them to refund last 2 loan interest and remove 2 credit files. They responded with a yes, so I have accepted £200 refund and removal of last 2 loan credit files.
Very happy with that as the FO may not have awarded in my favour due to only ever 4 loans with them.
Thank You Sara for this wonderful site.
I still have another 3 complaints with The Money Shop, Uncle Bucks and Paydayuk so I’ll update when I get more news
Thomas says
After complaining to Satsuma 3 weeks ago, I’ve received a letter stating they don’t uphold my complaint and refuse to refund any interest or write off any remaining balances.
I only took out 3 loans with them totalling around £1000 (combined) over a 6 month period last year, but I’m still going to the Ombudsman as I have nothing to lose – and it was clear on my credit report that I was borrowing from several payday lenders each month last year, and that I’d defaulted on 4 credit cards on 2014 and 4 others in the first half of 2015.
Wish me luck. Good luck to everyone else in their quests!
Joe says
Another update, adjudicator held in my favour Payday Uk complaint for any loans after the 7th (Payday Uk were at the very start of the cycle and my first lender and given that there was a year from 1st to 7th this is understandable). So refund of for the loans from 7th to 23rd, fair in my opinion of just under £1700. Adjudicator put in recommendation on Tuesday with Settlement form being issue today, quite impressed given payday uk being quite slow.
In summary thus far:
Sunny and Wonga paid out without FOS.
Payday Uk, Lending stream, pounds to pocket and DJS – piggybank complaints upheld.
WDA complaint unsuccessful.
Payday express, Safety net and Mr Lender, Quickquid are all still with FOS.
It’s just a shame that the redress will be used to pay off outstanding other debts on mainstream lending, Sunny and Wonga refunds paid off the last safety net credit balance and 2 lending stream loans I had running at Christmas.
I think as people have been pointing out Payday loans do have a place it’s when there’s unaffordable and irresponsible lending that where the complaint procedures come in.
Background on why complaints weren’t upheld or part of complaints, WDA I only had 2 loans with so they couldn’t realistically expect to have known dependency on lending given they don’t credit check, and payday uk with it being the first lender I used wouldn’t have had any concerns but ought to have once the time between loans became shorter and on my credit file defaults and high levels of borrowing would show.
S.D says
Joe I spoke too soon, the FOS adjudicator has gone in my favour with Wonga, my main lender, I borrowed every month for 3 years . It was dark times. It was with the FO for 4 weeks
I’m delighted and it will be a few quid I can use to make things up with my family who suffered during those days with me.
Hopefully Wonga accept the FOS decision quickly.
And joe I’m glad it’s working out for you, get those debts sorted and start fresh,
But treat yourself a little. I’m sure you had a lot of tough times
Christine says
That’s reassuring re Payday UK. The adjudicator upheld my complaint and gave Payday UK until 25th March to reply. Adjudicator has emailed me today to say that she has written to them today and given them until Monday 4th April. I am hoping that they will pay out and not drag it out to the Ombudsman.
Erika says
Hello, today send complaint to Oakam. I have loans with them from 2010 and last amount was paid last week. Finally!!!! Every single week I paid for them. If they see I pay around half my loan they call o send message to me what i can top up. And I top up. From 2013 I lost all my jobs, so it was nightmare to pay every week. Hope someone get money from Oakam, as I go to the end
Margo says
Wonga didn’t uphold my complaint. Going to FO. But what should I tell them?
I had good outcome with SPEEDYCASH…got more then 500£.
Still waiting for respond from PDUK.
Matt S says
Also looking for some advise with regards to Minicredit / Opos / Kapama. Only ever had 1 loan with them of £100, it was the last loan I took out before the weight of the repayments became too much and I had to enter into debt management. Advised them on 14th June 2013 that I was having financial difficulties and would have to enter into debt management, by the time they passed it on to Opos and spoke with my Debt Management Company on 14th July 2013 (so only a month later) they had added so much charges that the amount due was £427. I have now paid £102 back to them via DM but still have £325 left to pay.
Find it crazy that after being informed I was in financial difficulty they could multiply add more than 3 times the original loan in charges. Anyway Kapama have basically come back informing me that the amount of £427 was actually a decreased balance and that I’ve got to pay the balance of £325. Is it worth taking the complaint further based on the crazy charges added after they were made aware I was in financial difficulties?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They sound very large amounts to have added, and I guess your credit file would have been poor at the start as well. It is harder to win a complaint with just one loan, but if you feel you have been unfairly treated, then why not make the complaint?
Barry says
Hi All,
I have just received my statement of accounts from Wonga. I have put them all on a spreadsheet so it is easier to view, over the space of 39 months (from Nov 2012) I have had 45 loans (this figure does not include top ups to loans) from them totaling £12,260 and have repaid £14,097. To be honest I was expecting to have paid back more than this.
What is everyones thoughts on this, do you think I have a case to be answered by Wonga?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
45 loans over 39 months sounds like a pretty clear case to me!
Sophiex says
Hi everyone thought I would share my story with you!! What an interesting read which I came across a few weeks ago. So like all of you on here my cycle started around 2010 when I turned 20. Wanting to go out all the time in college part time bar job etc First ever loan was with Wonga because I couldn’t afford a night out basically and my friend showed me the site! Wish she never had! Anyway for the past 6 years I have been borrowing from every company you can imagine going. It has been horrific I had a part time job to live and my main wages were all going in interest to the main big companies. Now I probably started off in 2010 with good credit or no credit should I say because I had never had a loan until the dreaded payday cycle began.
I was gambling on slots site to try and win back some money so I didn’t have to borrow which made it worse because realistically I never won much more than I gambled.
Anyway cut a long story short I have written to all 25 lenders (yes I know how embarrassing!!)
So far I have had the following results:
Speedy Loans – Still awaiting reply
MyJar- So quick replied within a day I think – £200 wrote off and a refund of £492.91. After these lot lent to me I was in a payment plan paid it off about a year ago and then they lent to me again!!)
Next Credit- Still awaiting reply
QuidMarket – Still awaiting reply
Pixie Loans- After about 6 defaults on my file which I have sent to them. I apparently had a high credit score and they refused.
Peachy – Same again refused said they had done adequate checks
Wageday Advance- Should get reply by 10/04/16 when 8 weeks is up
CFO- Refused
Quick Quid- Still awaiting reply
Wonga – Still awaiting reply
Unclebuck – Again another company who I was in a payment arrangement with, paid it off, and then lent to me again haha!! Still waiting reply.
Sunny – Still waiting
Mr Lender – Borrowed £1000 – Paid about £300 back agreed to write remaing £700 and removal on credit file which I have agreed to.
PDExpress – Still waiting
PDUK – Still waiting
Savvy (was lightning loans??) – Still waiting
THL – Still waiting
Safety Net Credit – Have emailed me back stating they will wipe off current amount of £160 but mark credit file as settled? Probably paid around £200 in interest to them so not sure what to do…
CASH ASAP- Still waiting
Wage Me – Still Waiting
Satsuma – Still waiting (Another one that I had to pay back in a plan then lent to me again!! Not sure how these guys can say no…)
Lending Stream – Paid back £207.29 in interest
Cheque Centre – Still waiting
Cash Float – Refused stating they did the checks blah blah and my credit report was so wonderful… yeah right look above!!)
Cash Converters – Still waiting
So basically that’s me! I will keep you all posted, I email them most days to catch them up but they never reply maybe once every so often with the usual generated jargon.
Sent all these on 28th Feb so they have until around 26th April so after that off to the FOS I go :)
Elizabeth says
Wish you success with your claims. Are you now in a position that you are no longer reliant on these companies?
sophiex says
Luckily I have an ok paid job now and paid a lot off monthly and majority of these are now paid off I have a few outstanding but im refusing to pay them until my complaint is upheld! Thank you :)
Christine says
The adjudicator has upheld my complaint about Payday UK and had given them until the 25th March to respond. The 25th was a bank holiday b of of course they still have not replied.
I have had this email from the FO adjudicator today:
‘..Further to previous correspondence I have given Payday UK until Monday 4 April to respond fully. If I do not receive a response by that date, I will be asking you if you would like your case referred to an Ombudsman to review and issue a final decision. Attached for your reference is a copy of our ombudsman process.’
I was hoping it would be resolved quickly as that money would really come in handy. If they don’t respond by Monday 4th I don’t see that I have any other option than to go to the ombudsman, other than give up?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
There isn’t any point in giving up – even if you would prefer the money now, it will still be useful in another month’s time.
Angie says
Hi there
I have recently made a claim with Wonga, QQ, wage day advance and 1 month loan. I also have received the same questionnaire as others on this site. My concern is that I took out the loans in my name but my bank statements show my husbands income too. Will this go against me if I send them my bsnk statements.
Any advice!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Angie, your husband is not under any legal obligation to help you repay your debts and a payday lender should not have based an “affordability” decision on your combined incomes.
However a joint bank statement may make it more complicated to consider your personal financial position – you might decide that you don’t want to give joint bank statements to a payday lender but would be happy to give them to the Ombudsman.
Thomas says
My first two small successes: Ferratum and 247 MoneyBox. I have outstanding balances of £280 and £230 respectively, both include £80 interest. Both companies have agreed to remove the £80 interest, leaving me with balances of £200 and £150. I think that’s quite respectable considering I didn’t expect any recompense at all, so I’ll probably accept (unless anyone advises against it?). Thanks DC!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you only had 1 or 2 loans with them, then offering to take off the interest from the remaining balance is probably a reasonable offer. If you borrowed a lot, then you should think how much interest you paid on the previous loans which you repaid in full.
fred says
Hi, does anyone have any experience with cashfloat?
I am looking to make a complaint as when i told them i was strugling they threatened legal action, does anyone have any experience with this sort of complaint?
sophiex says
Yes they are a bunch of idiots who hound you on the phone daily. I have made a complaint and they have emailed me back a load of tripe saying my score was 560 when it was 110 on Experian and I had no defaults even though I have sent them screenshots. They said they will set up a payment plan with me ive told them no and im going to the FO.
craig says
Liquid Advance – if anyone had a loan with this company you can try DHR Capital who are dealing with some accounts now rather than Capital Resolve. Details below, they don’t have an email address:
DHR Capital Ltd
Wisteria Camrose House
2a Camrose Avenue
Edgware
Middlesex
HA8 6EG
Jamie says
Help! Payday express are refusing to give me a record of my account. They are quoting ” Section 77 of the Consumer Credit Act as per Subsection (3) of Section 77 which states that the “requirement under Subsection (1) does not apply to – (a) an agreement under which no sum is, or will or may become payable by the debtor….”.
is this true, or fair?
Please help guys!
JulesU says
Are you able to download bank statements? I have downloaded the last 7 years of mine and I am currently going through them with a fine tooth comb. I have set up a spreadsheet tab for each payday company, and when I see a payment in or a payment out I am logging it. It is VERY time consuming but you could get it that way.
For example, I am making a complaint to Mr Lender now. They sent me a statement which basically lied as to the amount they lent me initially, and the amount I paid back in total. It is scandalous! They are an awful company, I am using their terrible customer service as part of my complaint as well.
Danielle says
Mr Lender have lied to me too. They sent my statement which just showed one payment. When I actually paid £205 interest on a £300 loan. Plus a £60 late fee. Thank god for bank statements eh? I’ve emailed them back with dates and amounts I’ve paid. Let’s see what there excuse is.
Danielle says
I had my first reply today from Mr Lender. I only had one loan with them of £300, I paid £205 interest on that loan and a £60 late fee, plus the £300. I have emailed them back asking for a refund on the interest and late fee. What are my chances with it only being the one loan? At the time they issued the loan already I had already borrowed over £1000 from quick quid and Wonga that same month (Borrowing from one to pay the other)
Beverley says
Just received another refund from THL albeit small, I can’t complain. I have written to 15 lenders so far and received as follows :
WDA – £2,454; MY JAR- £155 THL – £110 LENDING STREAM – £150
The following lenders have refused so letters have gone off to Ombudsman for these :-PDUK (because I am ”time barred” since it was pre 2010) Peachy; 1st Stop Loans and Bongaloans. I still have letters in and am awaiting responses from QQ; CFO Lending; Payday express; Uncle Buck, Mr Lender; EPDL and Pounds to Pocket. Successful refunds have all been granted for the same reason – that i took out several loans in quick succession. Good Luck Guys and I’ll keep you posted.
Kay says
Hi all, another update as it’s 8 weeks this weekend for all my complaints. Wage day advance sent me a letter which I received today advising they are still investigating my complaint and now need longer,until 20th may! That is another 7 weeks on top of the 8 I’ve already waited. Do you think I should go straight to the FOS or wait? Do they need more time as they are going to offer me something back do you think? Not sure what to do now. Thanks in advance
John C says
My complaint is at week 7 with WDA, I’ve chased them all week and spoke to someone today, who kind of fobbed me off telling me he was going to put an email to the team handling my complaint. TBH I’ve found them a bit of a shambles and I get cut and paste emails that are meant to have parts deleted depending on the complaint, but have all the variations still left in them. Emailed them on Monday, rang yesterday and asked for the person that was taking my complaint to contact me today, as I’d had nothing since 1st March, but still had to ring them again today after 4pm, to be told nothing!
Its worrying to see they are asking for an extra 7 weeks. Have they asked for more info from you Kay? I sent them a copy of my credit report and other evidence a few weeks back to see if that would get a decision out of them and so they knew what I had to send to the FOS if need be. If they had asked you for a couple of weeks then I might have said wait it out, but 7 weeks is ridiculous and i’d get it sent off to the FOS today. Good luck with them
Joe says
I agree, send any complaints not dealt with within the 8 weeks to FOS, no doubt that’ll be where it ends up anyway and then it’ll take another 10 weeks plus to be resolved and payment made, that’s if the lender doesn’t then challenge again. I began this process November 10th and only just got my first settlement form yesterday from adjudicator
Rachel says
Hi, i have put in a claim against 4 lenders. the first to acknowledge was PDUK, i have now tried to log into my account and now i dont have access, anyone else had this problem?
I still have 1 outstanding loan and want to see how much there is o/s
Gordon says
Be careful.
PDUK and I have an outstanding last payment that was due to be taken at the end of Feb. Once I asked for SOA, i couldn’t log back into my account. Then they did not take the last payment or communicate with me that it was failed to be taken or whatever but it was in my budget ready to be paid.
Now they have registered a late payment marker on my credit file for no reason or communicated anything to me whether email or post.
That will be an additional point that will be raised to the FOS next week…
rachel says
Hi Gordon, thank you for your response, yes this is what i am worried about, i’ve just checked my bank statements and i have paid for what i borrowed, but obviously the interest on top means i have 3 payments left, i will email them and see if my account is on hold whilst they look at my claim.
i will email them and see what response i get at least then i will have it in writing and not defaulted on my part.
Aga says
Has anybody had luck with H@T cheque loans ??
Vic Smith says
Hiya.
I complained to them ,and within a couple of weeks they offered me £200 settlement against a figure of £380 interest.
I accepted it,and was in my bank within a week.
Vic Smith
Shanae says
Hi Aga,
I have had success with H&T cheque loans too. They didn’t provide the info required but did call me up to discuss a settlement figure. So I really had no idea how much I borrowed. They offered £290 and told me I borrowed roughly £500. I asked how did that figure come about and was told it was just a random amount. So I declined. I was then asked, what would I like to resolve this ? So I asked for all the charges in full, barr the 8% statutory interest that the FOS would give if i complained. I was then offered the full amount which was £570. I accepted and payment was in my account within a week.
Zima says
Are the payday loan companies expected to write off the debt if they gave me a loan that I could not afford? And what if they have sold on the debt to debt recovery companies.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Zima, the typical offer isn’t to write off the loan but to remove the interest and charges from the outstanding balance, leaving it just at the amount you borrowed less what you have already paid.
There are a lot of people reporting that outstanding balances have been written off. These will usually be where either the lender is refunding interest from previous loans or where the customer has made some repayment to the outstanding loan and already repaid all the amount borrowed, so the balance remaining is “all interest”.
See https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-write-off/ for some examples.
Spode says
Hi all,
I complained about my history of loans with Wonga (51 over a four-year period) to them on 12th January. I didn’t get a final response within 8 weeks so took it to the ombudsman who found in my favour and on March 22, emailed Wonga with what they thought would be a fair settlement to the complaint.
Today, Wonga have emailed me and offered me just over £3,000 and removal of anything on my credit report which I have accepted. Will have to wait now and see how long it takes for the funds to reach my account.
I also received £1,300 from QuickQuid last month. QQ rejected my complaint in their final response, however, the adjudicator at the FO found in my favour and QQ then decided to agree with them and made an offer.
sarah J says
can i ask how long fo took to complete after u complained to them? also did u need to send bank statements? very well done to you xx
Spode says
Hi Sarah,
The FO took just under two weeks from me contacting them via their website to them giving me their findings and what they thought would be a fair settlement to resolve the matter, which was pretty much more or less what Wonga have offered this morning. They then sent their findings to Wonga who had until next week to reply to the FO.
No I didn’t need to send any bank statements in, it took several weeks to get hold of all my loan statements from Wonga but what they sent was very useful in understanding what I had borrowed, when I’d paid it back and how much it had cost me.
Do you have a similar complaint ongoing?
sarah J says
yes i had nearly 200 loans with them. i have all the statements from wonga via email. i will be on week 7 this thursday. i had weekly loans from them. sad i know but i don’t owe them a penny and finally got out of the cycle in 2014. will defo keep u updated. i pray bank statements wont be needed as my bank account closed some years ago. any advice in what u said to fo please.
Spode says
I would get your complaint ready to send to the ombudsman as soon as the eight weeks are up. In their email to me Wonga said they were aware I had also raised it with the FO so that could only have helped things from my side.
I gave a general overview of my position, what my income was, what my outgoings were, but kept to the key message that the pattern of paying off a loan then re-loaning (often in my case on the same day) was a clear example of how the loan was unaffordable for me, and because this went on month after month, it should have alerted them that I had financial difficulties and that the loans were not helping my situation. I listed all of my loans with Wonga one by one and sent them to the FO, showing the date, loan amount, when it was repaid and how much for. They seem particularly interested when there was less than a 7 day gap between a loan being repaid and a new loan being taken out. Also send them all of the account statements you have from Wonga so they can see for themselves.
S.D says
I have a similar situation and the FO adjudicator found in my favour, they advise Wonga to repay all interest +8% from all but the first 2 of my loans, Wonga have a couple of weeks to reply.
The FO originally asked me for bank statements but I called them and said it would be difficult given it was the Entire 6 years and I was using 4 bank accounts to hide and protect money from ruthless payday loan companies, I provided an old credit report from a few years ago and s current one, and a list of all my payday loans to highlight my problem more.
Thankfully that was enough for the adjudicator to believe my complaint was valid.
Over to Wonga and I hope they just accept these findings
Soph says
Hi all
Just to update you, I’ve had a final response from Quick Quid offering me a write off of my outstanding default and payment of £250.
I have responded advising them that I’ve calculated I paid them approximately £1300 in interest and charges borrowing every month from 2010 to 2012. The default is £800. I have suggested that they write off the default and refund me £400 to resolve the complaint fairly.
If they respond declining this and stick to the £250 I will accept this however if they retract the offer altogether I’ll readily go to the Financial Ombudsman with it. I defaulted with them in 2012 on a £600 loan and they then issued me with a further 2 loans in 2013 while I still hadn’t repaid the defaulted one. I do completely appreciate that it was my choice to apply again and it’s not a mistake I’ll ever come close to making again, I certainly don’t feel as though I’m entitled to every penny back as ultimately I am taking responsibility for my choices however as they were my biggest lender I’d hope they will be prepared to agree to this and it will help hugely in clearing the last of these payday loans!
Lou says
247 moneybox have sent me a massive email rejecting my complaint!
‘Our relationship was based on responsible lending in addition to responsible borrowing. We provided you with all the facts about our product and the charges and costs involved. We treated you as a rational individual able to make a credible decision as to whether to borrow or not. For our part of the relationship we acted on the information available to us at the time and the prevailing regulations and guidance at the time.
We are, however, happy as a gesture of goodwill to resolve by removing any defaults which may have been registered.’
‘RE affordability we enclose the Affordability section of our current Compliance Policy’
Basically that’s all it says!
Now off to the FO!
Elizabeth says
Lou – I was under the impression that defaults could not be removed unless the company was admitting it was wrong to have ever given you the loans so in my opinion they have just admitted their guilt and you should escalate it to the Ombudsman.
Danielle says
Hi,
Can anyone help. QuickQuid have sent me my statement of account today but only from the 26/02/2013
I had my first loan with them on the 18/10/2011 and my last on the 01/03/2013… I had 28 loans in total, they’ve only sent a statement for the last 3?
Craig says
Hi Danielle, I had the same issue with them. They said I only had 6 loans with them when I had 23! If your online account with them is still active then your loan history may still be on there that’s where I found mine . Otherwise I would write back to them requesting them to send your full history. Good luck. My complaint with them is now into week 5
Danielle says
Hi Craig.
Thanks for the reply. I have emailed them back and asked for a full statement. Yeah I have a logged in and can see I had 28 loans. Oh my god they are ruthless. As if we wouldn’t know we had more loans ha. Good luck to you Craig :-)
Joe says
I have entered three complaints with qq, wonga and lending stream. Lending stream got back to me within a week saying that they issued my loans fairly but as I was a ‘valued customer’ they were willing to give me the interest back out of loyalty. £353 was in my account the same day which was great.
The eight week period for qq (26 loans over 4 years) is 12th April, Wonga 29th April (39 loans over 4 years) equalling around three and four thousand pounds in interest respectively.
I’ve chased for an update with both several times to be told that they are being looked into but there are currently no updates.
Just after some advice from experience as to what the chances of my complaints being upheld or me having the need to go to the financial ombudsman?
Customer service have been terrible. Quickquid initially responded to my complaint in 43 minutes with a denial to which I replied that I was deeply insulted that they expect me to believe that my complaint had been looked into properly in that amount of time before they responded the next day to say that it would be looked into properly..
Elizabeth says
QuickQuid and the sister company PoundsToPocket always send a quick standard reply saying they have done nothing wrong. After 8 weeks they will still tell you they have done no wrong but will usually offer a “goodwill” gesture. Don’t think anyone has had big money back from either of these without the intervention of the Ombudsman.
Wonga I believe are often asking for four more weeks but from reading back it seems it is worth letting them have the extra (I have and am half way through the extra four weeks so hoping for an outcome soon) as they seem to make sensible offers without the need to take it the ombudsman
Sorry can’t advise on lending stream as not one I have dealt with.
Good luck with your complaints but be prepared to have a wait
Sam. F says
Reading through these posts it seems I’m not the only person having additional trouble with QQ, nasty company, I wish I’d never heard of them… they are my last, it’s with the FO but from what I hear, they’re not being very co-operative.
Danielle says
QuickQuid are an awful company.
I asked my statement of account. They only sent me a statement of my last 3 loans. I had 28 loans from them… Emailed back asked for a FULL statement, woke up today with 9 emails from them, Instead of just putting it all in one? I cant complain really, I got what I needed. From what they sent me I have paid over £1100 in interest and charges. What surprised me the most was they were allowing me to have 4 seperate loans in the space of 2 weeks. Also allowing me to pay the interest only then take another loan immediately after whilst still owing the original loan. There is also quite a few £12 late fees applied. I am hoping this will all go in my favour.
Good luck to you. I hope you get everything back.
Leanne C says
Well I have had notification from Wonga who have upheld my complaint (at the end of 12 weeks!) and agreed they could have done more. I am getting a refund of just over £2200! I am thrilled!
Lori says
Hi everyone…
Just had an email from Wonga offering me £2300!!!! They emailed at end of the 8 weeks to ask for extra 4 weeks ..which was up this Friday…they agreed that they were wrong in letting me have most of the loans, they are also taking it off my credit file as well. Just a pity tax has to be paid on it lol…still have QQ to go but by looking at everyone else’s comments it’ll be a long drawn out conclusion…but for today I’m very happy
Z D.. says
Nice!
My extra 4 weeks is on saturday & just get email..£1089.. Happy with that
Elizabeth says
Just want to say thanks Sara and everyone on here. Wonga have got back to me today with a final response I am happy with and have accepted.
I initially emailed them early January (about the 10th or 11th) they have dated my complaint from January 14th in their response to me although the official complaint did not go to them until january 25th (I was working off this time scale so was surprised by response today although today was the final day since they asked for four weeks more)
Bear with them, seems many have satisfactory successful outcomes by end of the extra four week period.
There is some excellent advice on this site and I hope everyone fighting cases has outcomes that make their lives that little bit easier. Good luck
Spode says
Received £3,063 from Wonga in my bank account yesterday after they emailed on Monday with their offer. It took a while (complaint was lodged eight weeks ago) but they definitely seem like one of the better payday lenders when it comes to handling complaints. So don’t get disheartened people.
That was interest and fees plus 8% interest. It’s the second result I’ve had after receiving £1,300 from QuickQuid last month.
Each month I am chiseling away at them and have managed to pay off eight creditors since November. This money will certainly be a big help in moving forward. And I might just afford myself a drink or two :)
Joe says
An excellent result, seems like there’s now breakthroughs being made. It’s great as often there’s debts in the background like credit cards and overdrafts, or payday lending still, that can be paid off and people can start to live their lives again. This month will be my third month without any payday lending after paying them off with wonga and sunny payouts in fecember and yesterday I was able to payoff £1200 off credit cards. Brilliant stuff, use it wisely but also enjoy it
Nicole says
So have just a had a reply from lending stream regarding my complaint! Have had a total of five loans with them, two outstanding which are being paid up via debt collection agency! Have said they don’t feel there was irresponsible lending, but will write off my two outstanding loans totalling just over 300 pounds? I feel is quite fair, but do think should haver revived some charges or interest back? How can I ask for this? Because don’t want them to go back on there offer to write off
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Nicole, I think it’s pretty good to go with your instinct as to whether something is fair. The Ombudsman will often say the first 2 or 3 loans weren’t unaffordable any way, so you would only get a refund from loans 3 or 4 – which may come to pretty much what you have been offered.
Nicole says
Yeah I’m just going to email back and accept there offer! I’m so pleased to have found this site, one down several more to go!!!
Steph says
Nicole, almost exactly same for me. I had 3 loans outstanding with LS all with a debt collection agency. I complained and they initially came back to me and said they were prepared to write off 2 of the 3 loans and reduce the 3 rd and final loan to £90. I went back to them and was pleasant , thanked them for conducting a thorough investigation etc but said whilst I thought their offer was kind I still thought there lending was irresponsible since the loans i took out were in quick succession and got bigger each time. They came back immediately and offered to write off all 3 and refund me around £200.
Tony says
I also had good dealings with lending stream and sorted with them a few weeks back.
Got a good result with wage day advance today, only had 4 loans with them and they have offered to do the last 2 plus interest. This clears debt of nearly 400 quid and paying me £289. Really think they are being fair – though I had tochased them as yesterday was my 8 weeks.
Got 5 now with financial ombudsman, some for big money and have give. Wonga the extra 4 weeks as read they have been decent to people. Really pleased I saw this site
Sam. F says
Wonga were very decent with me, issued me a refund eventhough all I was pursuing was getting the o/s cleared & the default removed. They did this & then said they felt they were wrong & should give me a refund too, they do seem to be one of the nicer companies.
LS are verging on incompetent in all my dealings with them but once I questioned their ethics, I got a satisfactory refund from them with no need to escalate.
Sam says
After finding this fantastic website on Thursday I sent an email to the complaints department of payday uk, payday express, wonga, safeloans (now trading under sllcapital), lending stream, quick quid, pounds to pocket & swift sterling asking for details of all my loans. I have already received these back from payday uk, payday express and after realising I still had access to my online account lending stream, quick quid & pounds to pocket. So only waiting for them off wonga, safeloans & swift sterling.
I have been in a debt management plan for the past 3 years now as I managed to accumulate over £35000 worth of debt including these 8 payday loan companies, I know I was very silly at the time but I got caught in a spiral of debt! Obviously I have been trying to clear these for the last 3 years, the most recent wonga loan got written off without having to chase them but believe it or not I’ve calculated I paid over £13000 in interest and charges over a 2-3 year period. This was done by using one payday loan to pay of another until I couldn’t do it anymore. Do you think there is a realistic chance of me getting some of this back? As it would massively help clear some of my debts!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Sam, that is a lot of borrowing from a lot of lenders. You will find the “easiest” complaints to win with the Ombudsman are those where you borrowed a lot from the same lender. I will be surprised if some lenders don’t either reduce or write off balances – and if any refund you money you may be able to use that to make full and final settlements on on non payday loan debts.
Sam says
A few of them I had a lot of loans off quick quid I had 18 loans, paydayuk & payday express about 15 each and although I don’t have the details back yet I think about 25 with wonga. These were all rolled over or deferred at times so I think it’s clear to say they didn’t do correct affordability checks! I’m not proud of taking all the loans but at the time it felt like the only way to pay one off with another, but I should never have been allowed to get into that situation. Thankfully I found a great debt management company who don’t charge and I should be debt free in about 2 years hopefully sooner if something comes of this!
Elizabeth says
Are you sure the 13,000 figure you mention is just the interest not the total paid altogether? 13,000 interest seems a lot over 25 loans. I had 40 loans and 20 top ups and my interest is nowhere near that but my total paid is
Sam says
Most of my loans from wonga and quick quid were around £1000 each so the interest soon mounts up, I’ve included the 8% interest figure in that too so it is a little lower but not far off, I wouldn’t even like to work out the figure I actually borrowed I think it may make me cry! And there are 73 loans with the 4 I mentioned above not to mention the other few your probably talking around 90-100 loans
Robert says
I am finding QQ tough going. They sent me a final response well within the eight weeks at week 5. They offered a goodwill gesture payment of £250. I emailed them back saying I still disagreed with them and asked them to
reconsider their decision before I went to the Ombudsman. Today after one week they responded to say no thanks and to let it go to the Ombudsman. I am expecting a long haul with them but am determined that I should continue with this. Anybody had similar experience with them? Also have had good offers with Lending Stream and My Jar which I have accepted. Still waiting on Wonga but will probably give them the extra weeks if they ask for it.
Sam. F says
Very similar, I got a pitiful offer from them, a true insult to my intelligence, it’s with the FO now which, as I understand it, will now cost them more then what they offered, karma…
grace says
I also had the £250 goodwill gesture went to the FO in my favour and got just over £2k so keep going x
grace says
Ok so today the FO emailed me with an offer from Payday UK I have had a complaint with them since November 2015. I had over 20 loans with this company and the offer they made is …. wait for it £532 – so I have kindly rejected their offer and have instructed the FO to carry on with their investigation. Has anyone else had this at all?
Christine says
The FO ruled in my favour and I had an email today saying that PDUK had replied to her (at last) and that she would get back to me as she was awaiting their file.
How long from the FO ruling in your favour to the offer?
I would stick to your guns, I find that PDUK are very arrogant.
SPreston says
Hi, I’m just after some advice if possible. I’ve been following this site with interest for the past few months and making contact with all the lenders I have dealt with.
On my credit file I noticed a default for £750 to Opus / Kapama , after a little research I discovered that this was linked to Minicredit. As I had so many loans at the time I lost track of what I had borrowed and whom I still owed.
I have just been sent a copy of my account statement and to my horror the initial loan was only for £100. What is my best plan of action here? I’m sure they will argue that the original loan was affordable but surely they cannot say the charges are ?
Any help would be appreciated, thanks x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you just had the one loan with them it’s harder to win an affordability complaint, but that is a huge amount of interest and charges added so definitely put in a complaint!
lisa says
Mine was also £!00 loan from minicredit and Opus say I owe £1851 now. Minicredit are now gone so I called f/o. and they have wrote to them awaiting reply from them.Hipe this helps.
Jason says
I have had 6 loans with me lender, with one day between them. First two £300 next two £550 and last two £1000.
I put complaint in and they gave me final decision within a week with was only pay £150 on £550 balance I have with them I have gone to FO have I made right decision ?? I have literally had loans for 18 months with 4 company’s wda, pduk, mr lender and qq . I was loaning more and more every month and it got to point I couldn’t pay rent and loans.
Have I a strong case ? And surely they should of stopped loaning knowing I was loaning more and more and reloading same day as I paid previous loan ? . Thanks in advance I’m regretting my decision am I right to ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
As you say, immediately borrowing again – and often borrowing more – does suggest that you were struggling. I can’t say if you have made the right decision, but £150 offer sounds low in these circumstances.
Claire says
Anyone had any success with wage day advance without having to go to the FO?
Tony says
Hi Claire
I had success yesterday with wage day advance, only had 4 loans with them and they offered to pay the last two plus interest. Wrote of my debt of nearly £400 and paying £289 into my bank today. Really was not expecting anything like that tbh
Mags says
Update:
Minicredit/Opos/Kapama – referred to FO today after final response received.
Further 4 weeks extensions requested from WDA and Wonga so these will go to the FO tomorrow.
Still no word from FO re CFO Lending, PDUK and Payday Express.
Got copies of bank statements for Vivus and Uncle Buck. These will be sent off tomorrow.
I think i only have Trusted Quid and Money in Advance to complain to – anyone had any luck with these companies?
Good luck everyone – it’s a waiting game.
Mags
BarryS says
Hi.
I have been on a debt management plan with MMT (Money Management Ltd) for 2 years.
They contacted me a few weeks ago to say that they now do payday loan claims and would I like to claim on my 3 loans which I did they said that this is why I was currently in financial difficulty.
I didn’t realise this at the time but having reread the agreement I signed with them they want to charge me a 30% fee of what I get back!!!!
Initially because I was on a debt management plan with them, I thought this was just part of their service as I already pay them a monthly fee and have done so for 2 years.
It feels really disappointing to see that I could have made this claim for free and having read comments on debt camel and other forums it seems that I am classed as a vulnerable person being in a debt management plan so do I actually have to pay them 30% fee on top of what I already pay them if the claim is successful? This just seems completely unfair and I feel gutted and a bit cheated :(
Any advice would be very much appreciated.
Here’s hoping.
Baz
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have a look at the paperwork you have signed – there may be a cooling off period? If there is, then cancel this as soon as possible.
Have they asked you to supply any information about the payday loans so far? If they haven’t you may still be able to cancel on the grounds that they haven’t actually done any work. Send them an email immediately saying that you do NOT want them to proceed with the claims. You may need advice on what to do if they dispute this – go to your local Citizens Advice for this – but don’t delay telling them immediately that you want to cancel this agreement.
Elizabeth says
I am not sure it would work if they have already started their investigation especially as you have signed for it but might be worth a call and tell them you no longer wish them to persue it (don’t tell them you plan to do it yourself)
I also advise you change your dmp iver to stepchange or another devt charity that do not charge a fee for their services. You should not be paying for a dmp…this means lot of the money you are paying each month isnt going to your debts it is going to your management company.
Ring stepchange and ask for their help and advice.
Joe says
Latest news, had my Mr Lender complaint upheld by the adjudicator, only 4 loans and all deemed to be unaffordable. Context behind this is that they were my second wave of payday lenders after pavement arrangements and 70+ previous loans with other providers.
Rang Payday Uk this morning, refund should be in within 5 working days, DJS have said 14 working days. (Both came back and accepted adjudicators findings relatively quickly.)
Pounds to pocket and lending stream were upheld by adjudicator but neither have came back to confirm they accept the adjudicators findings yet.
Claire says
How long from when you took it to the FO did you get a decision?
Joe says
Took my cases or most of them on January 10th, and first decisions started coming back 17th March. Each lender then gets two weeks to reply to adjudicator on their findings, lending stream and pounds to pocket have yet to reply to findings.
I have had 12 lenders, 119 different loans and over £11k in interest (borrowed £52k and repaid £63ish) over 5 years. Provided full bank statements and have had gambling issues on those statements too, it took about 5 weeks for the cases to be assigned to an adjudicator
Janet says
Sara, I just read Barry’s comment and I too have spoken to MMT to make a claim on my behalf. I have been in a debt management plan for a number of months with them paying around £75 per month to the creditors I also pay for a monthly fee for the plan and they told me that part of the reason I was in this plan was because of payday loans got me into a trap and that there is a strong chance they can get back any interest I have paid AND compensation. They did not mention fee’s at any point and it could be a big claim as I had 10 loans from 3 different lenders. If the claim is successful will the money come to me of Money Management Ltd? And would I have to pay the fee because I would rather distribute the money to all my outstanding debts if I do get anything back. I just assumed this was part of their management service as I already pay them a fee every month. It just doesn’t seem fair. Why didn’t they just tell me I could make a claim for free like so many people on your site.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Like Barry you need to look at what you have signed and what information you have told them. If this is very recent and you haven’t told them anything, tell them you want them to stop now. Put in a complaint immediately that you feel you were not properly informed that there would be extra fees and that you were given the impression this was all part of your normal monthly DMP fee. If they won’t let you cancel and you feel you have been misled, then take your complaint to the Ombudsman! Also say you will complain to the Financial Conduct Authority about this – you won’t get any compensation from the FCA but MMT aren’t going to want you to do this because MMT are currently applying to the FCA for full authorisation – at the moment they are only interim authorised.
Apart from not having to pay an extortionate amount for what you could do yourself, I also suspect that you will do a better job a making the complaint your self. These payday loan affordability complaints are NOT simple tick box exercise like PPI reclaims – you know your situation when you took the loans out better than your DMP company which only knows your current situation.
Joe says
Success! Emailed my final settlement acceptance to the adjudicator on Monday for PDuk, decided to ring them this morning to ‘check they had the right details and check the timescales for payment’ – £1680 was sitting in my bank account tonight. Hopefully the first of many.
MrsPass says
Hi all,
After being spurred on by everyone’s helpful comments and successes I have sent complaints to all the companies that I have held Payday loans with Mr Lender, MyJar, Peachy, PDUK, Lending Stream, Wonga and Payday Express and am awaiting responses.
I have received the following response from Peachy:
We are sorry to hear you do not agree with our assessment of your complaint.
Although we are not able to uphold your complaint, we do still wish to do our best to try and resolve this complaint without causing you any further inconveniences and would therefore be prepared to write off your outstanding balance and close your account with no more payments being required. This is our best and final offer and we would appreciate your confirmation on if this would be acceptable for you. Alternatively, you may have the FOS reopen your complaint and we will ensure full cooperation with their adjudicators.
Please do not hesitate to contact us should there be any further information you require.
I am unsure whether to accept this offer or move on to the FOS as I cant seem to see any successes when complaining against them. The balance on my current loan is £501.95. I have held 5 loans with them starting September 2014 to January 2015 which I repaid and then within days borrowed again at a higher amount. I have worked out that I have paid £723.67 in interest. Thoughts anyone?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then wiping out the balance is refunding 2/3 of the interest you paid. It sounds like an OK offer?
Danny says
I had 4 loans with Mr lender but at the height of my problems when I could not lend off anyone else , they said they did all the checks by checking my credit score even tho they did not ask any other details , I paid about £350 in interest they offered me £45 as a good will offer!! I’ve really got nothing to lose as they took around £20 of money lent to just send the money like the interest was not enough !! Think I’ll let the FO have a look.
Joe says
Hi Danny, I had very much the same case 4 loans with mr lender at about loans 75-95, case upheld by the ombudsman in relation to all 4. They did credit searches so ought to have realised from credit report was the rationale
hannah says
Success with Quick Quid
I have had a response from the adjudicator today saying they uphold my complaint in part. They have discounted the first 4 loans and I think their decision is very fair. My loans were from 2012/13
They did however say that I had just been released from bankruptcy so they thought QQ had been fair for lending to me.
They also said that I had inflated my income(I am self employed so it was on what I expected to receive rather than a salary ) so QQ based their decision on me being honest. However the fact that I rolled over loans and re loaned on the same day they had been paid off should have highlighted that they were not affordable regardless of any other circumstances.
I am really happy with the adjudicator decision although of course QQ could dispute this but I can’t see them having any further evidence to do so. It also says that they can escalate it to the ombudsman but it is highly unlikely that the decision will alter
It took QQ 8 weeks to respond with an offer of 150 as final settlement. The ombudsman have taken 5 weeks to make their decision just to let people know what the timescale has been.
I’m now looking at a settlement of around £2k which I would never have known I could have claimed had it not been for the help and advice from this site
Good luck to everyone going through this process
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Thanks Hannah – it’s really helpful to hear the details of the adjudicator’s reasoning. Fingers crossed QQ accept it – it sounds carefully thought out.
Let us know if it is accepted or if they drag it out!
hannah says
Thanks Sara I will update when I have a real result. I am surprised at some of the adjudicators findings but nonetheless the outcome is what I expected. I dont understand why a bankruptcy wouldn’t be a red flag for lending but my complaint was based on a pattern of repeated borrowing and rollovers. I think my circumstances didn’t influence the decision as I thought they would have but I hope it encourages others to make a complaint no matter what their credit score or situation was at the time. It costs nothing to complain and could result in people who have been in this cycle getting a positive result. They have nothing to lose so I would encourage everyone to pursue it. The ombudsman are so helpful and professional. The worst they can do is say no
I would also like to add that QQ did not ask about my outgoings at the time as they were not obliged to. I could have had £10k a month coming in from employment and looked like an ideal candidate for any loan but had £11k in outgoings. (This is nothing like my situation but money coming in does not reflect disposable income per month)
The ombudsman also didn’t question what I had spent my money on that I had drawn out or suggest that I could have made any cutbacks for those that are worried about that. Their decision seems to have been solely based on at what point should the lender have realised I had a problem and stopped lending to me and agreed a repayment plan. After rolling over one loan 6 times they then lent me double the amount (£1000) on the same day I had paid it off
John C says
Thanks for the update Hannah. My complaint has been with the FOS for 3 weeks now. 2 weeks waiting to be assigned an adjudicator and just over a week, with the lovely person I spoke to at the FOS. My case is slightly more complex as it covers over 50 loans and a flexi account that I paid over £15k in interest on from 2008 to 2015. However i’m hoping the timeline that you’ve followed won’t be to dissimilar. Great to hear proper breakdowns of peoples progress
hannah says
Hi John.
Good luck with your complaint. Once my case was picked up by the adjudicator I was kept informed along the way and if you ring them in the meantime they will let you know what’s going on.
I wouldn’t have thought that your case was any more complex though. Repeated lending is the thing that seems to get a positive result. So the more often you have borrowed especially in quick succession makes that easier to spot not harder
Hannah
Patricia says
Thank you so much for this site, has helped me greatly. I’ve put in complaints with 8 companies, yesterday I received my first offer from MyJar which I accepted. It took MyJar about 4 weeks .
Thanks for all your help
Jessica says
Hi everybody,
I too have been caught up in the pay day lending hell since 2012 with various companies wonga being the worst with a shameful 79 loans borrowed from them. I’ve submitted most of my complaints and being hopeful I’ll get a positive result from at least one!
Thank you Sara for starting this, I’ve felt desperately ashamed of my lending history and it’s made me feel like a bad person having to hide my financial past from family and friends. If anything it’s good to read other peoples stories and realise you’re not the only one so thank you for that!
It’s been awful going through previous loans and realising how much I actually paid on interest alone but hopefully I get a good result, will update when I hear back
Nicole says
So after receiving a offer from lending stream on Tuesday to write off both my loans (£300 odd) that are being paid by debt collection I emailed back saying there offer was very kind but do feel there was still some irresponsible lending I’ve heard nothing back, is this unusual? They said they were just writing them off due to a good will gesture
Lou says
That seems like a good offer on the face of it. I suppose it depends on the original amount borrowed, and how much you’ve already paid back.
Christine says
Can I have some advice please? I have received this from the adjudicator:
‘ Since I’ve been talking to the business, they’ve let me know that they want to make an offer to settle your complaint.
Payday UK have offered to refund the interest and charges for the loans from between December 2009 and July 2010, which totals £605.
Each time you applied for a loan with Payday UK, you confirmed your income and outgoings. It is for you to ensure you provide accurate information to them. Payday UK have provided me with the information that shows how much you were left with each month after all your outgoings. The loans after the above dates looked affordable as you would have something remaining after your outgoings and the loan.
Also these were paid on time, so there was no indication that you were in financial difficulties. However your loan from 1 November 2013 was deemed unaffordable as you confirmed your income of £700 and outgoings of £450. After the loan of £250 was to repaid you would be left with nothing. Therefore payday UK will also be refund the interest and charges from this loan which is £74.88.
The total refund is £679.88. Looking at the offer I feel that it is a fair offer, this is because the information you provided on your income and outgoings, showed the loan were affordable at the time of taking them out. At the time you took out your loans with Payday UK, there were not stringent affordability checks that they would need to conduct for payday loans so for example they did not require to see all your statements.
I have to go by what checks they should have conducted at the time and not what checks should be carried out, therefore feel they have made a fair offer based on all the information I have received from you and Payday UK.’
What do you think? I originally thought that they owed me about £1000, is it worth asking for it to go to the Ombudsman? or should I accept it? I have to admit the money would be very useful right now but don’t want to do myself an injustice.
Matt S says
Well Quick Quid’s 8 weeks are up today, been emailing them regularly looking for updates over the course of the 8 weeks and always received back a short email stating that I will have their final response by 8th April.
So far nothing though, but will give them until the end of the day.
Fingers Crossed!!
hannah says
Hi matt
They emailed me a few times late at night so you could still get a reply.
However in my experience they came back with a final offer of 150 when I had paid 2k in interest. They seem to be offering these small amounts as a standard response. I don’t recall anyone on here getting a decent offer from them without going to the FOS.
If their 8 weeks are up take them to the FOS
good luck
Robert says
Hi matt – I got my response at around 9pm last night. As hannah stated they offered me 150 quid and to wipe off a loan (worth 450 ish). I paid over £4000 in interest to them so shall not be accepting. To the ombudsman I go!
Gary says
Here’s a cracker…I’ve been waiting for my final refund after an agreement was made with the adjudicator at the FO.
I’ve waitied and waited and the 4 week payment deadline has passed. Went back to my contact at the FO who has now been touch with the company (Payday Express).
They had “forgot” to make the payment. Unbelievable. They never “forgot” to take the payment by CPA.
Anyway, should be with me by Monday!
Gary says
Eventually got my refund (yesterday).
I got just short of £1.2k back. Not going to grumble or complain!
It’s taken my total refunds to just over £8k from these pests. I had borrowed over £40k in 2 years and repaid over £60k in total using up to 16 payday loan companies.
So glad that things are on an even keel now and this website has been an amazing help.
Emma says
Hello everyone.
I posted here a while back now but just wanted to give an update. I’ve had really good replies from all lenders I used wonga, sunny and Lending Stream. Lending Stream were 1St to settle giving me two offers and then I accepted on the 3Rd about 90% interest and fees I had 17 loans almost continously for two years they settled way before the 8week deadline think my 1St offer was within two weeks. Nxt were wonga they took about 10 weeks to resolve my complaint and asked for another 4 wks after the deadline I complained about having to wait and hey presto I received an offer of 90% refund I had 25 loans with them and had a refund of interest and fees on about 20 loans. Lastly sunny replied on the final day of the 8 week wait offering me a full refund of interest on all loans. Really didn’t think they would uphold my complaint I only had about 5 loans although they allowed me to top one loan up 18times! All in all I’ve had fantastic results and received almost all my interest back plus loans removed from my credit file without having to go to the ombudsman all in all £4k.
Good luck to everyone fighting. Power to the people
Peter says
Just had my first success today with WDA. Today was the last day of their 8 weeks and they responded with a letter. Only had 5 loans with them and they have upheld the last 2 stating ‘…by the time of the fourth loan, we could of identified a potential reliance on payday lending given the increasing amounts of lending and the short time between loans.’
They have also added 8% per annum bringing the total above £800. I have accepted the offer andemailed them my bank details. Does anybody know how long it takes for WDA to transfer the money?
This has given me hope that I may receive more from my 4 other PDL companies. Great site, thanks for your help.
John C says
Thanks great news Peter, well done. My 8 weeks is up tomorrow with WDA and after ringing them yesterday, they apologised I wouldn’t have anything sent out to reach me for Sunday but said they would be close of play on Monday. I had loans from 2008 and have an outstanding balance still. I’ve asked from after I rolled a loan over 10 times to be refunded which is around £4k. Hopefully I see a similar result to you tomorrow
Nicole says
After receiving offers from both my jar and lending stream Tuesday last week, I emailed them both back an. Have not heard a peep from them both since! Is this unusual?? The lending stream was quite reasonable but could have been a bit better, and the my jar one quite insulting I thought, after myself making a overpayment of 143 through debt collection , it took for me to ask for a statement of account to find this out, and that was over a year ago, and they offer me £13 and pence good will gesture, pfffftttt!
Sam. F says
I’ve just heard from the adjudicator at the FO that I’m getting an offer from QQ on all the interest & charges on most of my loans, no figure yet but this is music to my ears! :D
Lou says
I am so annoyed. Qq sent me an email with someone cc’d, thinking it may be someone who needs to know I replied all. To get an email back asking why he is included in private conversation! Serious data breach!!
Danielle says
Hi all,
I have just received my first rejection of my complaint from Mr Lender in a 4 page email.
I did only have 1 loan with them, however it took 4 months for me to pay it back, they also state I rolled over the loan twice, I could not afford the next payment so defaulted then incurred late fees. However they say “At no time during your loan did you inform us or show any signs that you could be struggling financially”. Surely the fact I rolled over twice and incurred late fees would show this??? £300 loan (Actually £283 as I had to pay a £17 admin fee) total repaid £601.90.
I also had a 600 loan with Wonga and a £400 loan with QuickQuid in the same month. Would that have showed on a credit check?
I dont know if its work going to the FO with just 1 loan. Its QuickQuid and Wonga I had most of my loans with, 28 with QQ and I’m guessing more with Wonga (Still waiting for my account info from Wonga)
Do you think it worth going to the FO for the 1 loan?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think it’s worth going back to them and pointing out that the fact you rolled the loan twice and then incurred late payment fees was a clear sign you were struggling financially. You could suggest that they should refund you the interest paid from the third month onward.
If they refuse,you have to decide whether it’s worth pursing it. You have 6 months to take the complaint to the FOS – you could wait until QQ and Wonga are resolved and decide then? At that point you may feel you know more about the Ombudsman process.
Danielle says
Thanks Sara,
I emailed them back and got back quite a patronising response. Apparently they did not force to me rollover the loan twice and 4 months is not an exessive amount of time to pay off a loan therefore did not show any debt problems??? 4 months for a payday loan that was meant to be for 12 days, rolled over twice, several late fees and eventually a default.
The emails states they tried to contact me several times. I can remember the constant emails, letters and phone calls which I did ignore as I was in that much of a financial mess then I didn’t know what to do. A family member helped me to pay it off in full 4 months later. Will it go against me that I didn’t contact them when i defaulted?
I’m not really expecting anything with this one to be honest, but I’ve got nothing to lose so sent it to the FO anyways.
Steph says
I asked ”Uncle Buck” for a list of my statements and borrowing history approx 3 weeks ago. Initially they came back asking for copies of Bank statements and credit report. I refused to send these since I now have a different bank account to the one when I was loaning off them and they should have my credit report. Today I have received the following response :-
”Thank you for your recent email.
We are not obliged to investigate your complaint based on the following:
• What you’re complaining about happened more than six years ago, and
• You’re complaining more than three years after you realised (or should have realised) that there was cause for complaint.
Although the above does not affect your right to escalate your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service they will not have our permission to consider your complaint and so will only be able to do so in very limited circumstances.”
First of all, they still never sent me any statements as per my original request; Secondly – their statement saying I complained more than 3 years after there was cause for complaint is a load of twaddle because it is only in this last year that it has become apparent we could complain and thirdly, who are they to say that the FOS will not get their permission to conside the complaint???
I suspect their reply is to try and put me off but in fact just gives me more ammo to go to the FOS with!!
Jo says
Hi. I had quickquid loans going back 11 years but FOS would only refund December 2009 onwards, which was 6 years ago. They said I should have known earlier that the loans were unaffordable. i genuinely only became aware in the last 6 months that I had cause to complain when reports of quickquid and other loan companies paying redress were in the media, but this plea fell on deaf ears. I am however currently awaiting payment of around £3000 from quickquid following FO involvement. I could have taken it to ombudsman for final decision but chose to accept the offer as it seemed unlikely that they would find any differently to the adjudicator and it could have taken much longer and they could of asked for paperwork etc. Good luck!
Kez says
Hi Sara,
I have just received my first response from MYJAR:
‘You registered with us on 11 August 2011. At that time, there was no specific requirement on lenders to make checks with credit reference agencies. It was permissible to rely upon other checks and upon the information provided by the borrower, which should of course be complete and accurate. Checks needed to be proportionate which means that the checks carried out for a small short-term loan were likely to be less than for a larger, longer-term commitment. As such, we undertook a number of checks which included searching on public databases, fraud checks and our own credit scoring. In your application form, you said that you were in full-time employment
We have provided three loans to you. Please note that we have only provided one loan at a time and have never enabled top-ups or roll-overs. Your first loan was requested on 11 August 2011 for £100 and this was repaid on 31 August 2011, five days later than initially due, for £147.67. Your second loan was requested on 9 September 2011 for £100 and this was repaid on 24 September 2011 for £148.80. This loan was also repaid late, six days after the initial due date. Your last loan with us was requested on 4 March 2012 for £200 and this was scheduled to be repaid on 19 March 2012 for £234. As it had been over five months since your last borrowed from us, we had no reason to suspect you might be dependent on short-term credit. Unfortunately, the payment was not made as agreed. We repeatedly tried to contact you by text messages and e-mails to discuss the matter, but were unable to reach you. As all our attempts to establish a dialogue were unsuccessful, on 4 May 2012 the loan was handed over to a debt collection agency. Since they were also unable to reach an agreement with you, we issued a default notice on 26 January 2015 and in May 2015, the default was registered to your credit report.
We believe that your first loan with us was provided appropriately, as the affordability checks we undertook before providing you with the option to borrow determined that repaying the balance would not prove difficulty for you. Having reviewed the information available to your account, I agree that we should have conducted a further review into your financial situation before issuing your last loan. To put things right, we are prepared to reduce the total repayable amount for this balance to the principal balance of £200 that was initially borrowed from us, thus writing off all interest charges and late fees. In addition, we would remove our adverse entry from your credit report entirely once this balance has been repaid. I hope you agree that this is a fair way forward.’
My initial thought is to reply and say that after my late payment on the first loan neither the second of third loan should have been provided as they have said they should reviewed my situation before issuing the last loan. They also seem to shy away from mentioning the whether or not they think the second loan should have been given. Do you think it’s worth going back and asking them to look at the information again?
Kez
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you didn’t make any repayments to the last loan, reducing it to the amount borrowed would be the usual offer from the Ombudsman.
You may have seen people reporting that they have had the balance written off. This would normally be where they had already paid a lot of interest on the last loan and / or previous loans.
Claire says
Wondered how everyone’s got on with WONGA ? I’m now on week 11 of my complaint!! After them asking for an extra 4 weeks! I’m getting more annoyed and frustrated now…they haven’t really been in touch since my orginal complaint in Jan and I had to call up to find out they wanted an extra 4 weeks .
Elizabeth says
Claire – last week of the 12 weeks seems to be fruitful for most. You are more likely to get an outcome with Wonga without the FO than any of the others it seems. They made me my offer last Weds. Accepted same day. They emailed me Friday to say it had been sent for approval “which could take a few days” and theb said payment would be 3-5 working days after approval so just waiting now for funds to be paid into my account. Think they have been very fair to most and list which loans they have upheld so you can see how it fares against your own thoughts
Claire says
I’m in a tricky situation at home so need the money really! Hence I’m getting impatient:/ I just don’t want them to fob me off & then have to wait longer! It’s also my biggest paid interest & charges at about £1300. Back in October 2014 they Cleared my last loan of £1150 due to bad lending and being unaforable. So I’m hopeful that I have a very good case. Do you normally get most of the interest & charges back ? I just don’t want to be disappointed with there offer. Iv had trouble with lending stream but they have now offered to cut two of my loans completely& reduce my £900 loan to £350 which Iv now accepted through fos. Qq is still with fos. I just can’t relax about it at the moment as I need the money :/ thanks to this site Iv been able to see what these company’s do & had helped me clear about £1000 off my debt so far.
Elizabeth says
Claire – sadly you will just have to be patient with them. Refunds will depend on your individual case there is no rule. I had a refund on 16 loans which was about half of my loans but they were the biggest and the refund was a figure around what I expected/hoped for.
Please if you are struggling and haven’t already do speak to stepchange about your situation and get some help and advice
Danielle says
If Wonga aren’t replying try inboxing them on Facebook… I’ve waited over a week for my statement of account, messaged them on Facebook, they replied within 10 minutes asking for my email address then within an hour I had my statement of account in my emails.
Wonga do seem the most reasonable from what I have read so far, I guess they are just swamped right now. Now I have my account info i’ll be patient with them and hopefully get the result I want.