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?
Sally says
Good Morning, I’ve put in a complaint with the FOS about SNC, I had an email about a week and a half ago to say it had been picked up by an ajudicator but how long is before I’ll receive the adjudicator’s decision.? The complaint has been with the FOS since the end of October last year
Linda says
Hi I had a complaint with SNC took a good couple about 3 months to be picked up by an adjudicator as I was told its a smaller team as its a different type of lending. However once it was picked up I got a decision really quickly if I remember right about a week. I was a bit miffed because I lost but its now in a queue for an Ombudsman so we’ll see. Good luck as reading on here people have had complaints upheld at the first stage with the adjudicator :)
Sally says
Thank you for your reply Linda, I got my fingers crossed but I’ve read some of the decisions on the FOS website and I got to say I’m not hopeful. Once I receive a reply I’ll let you know how I got on. Can I ask how did the ajudicator tell you his final decision. X
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Decisions at the adjudicator level are not published, so the Decisions site can give a misleading impression sometimes.
Linda says
The adjudicator emailed me to let me know Sally. Let us know how you get on :)
Sally says
Hi Linda,
I have just emailed the adjudicator as I haven’t heard anything, but I put a complaint in with the money shop just about 2 weeks ago and had an acceptance offer for £930 last Thursday so I’m slowly getting some refunds.
A says
hi I was wondering if anyone has had a similar case.
I took out a loan with 118 18 months ago (repaid in 12 months) however during this time I missed payments and made them aware several occasions I was struggling. so I finally repaid the loan and as I had a gambling problem missed out important payments so took out another loan less than 8 weeks after first loan was paid off. However they said they would only be willing to lend me for 24 months ( meaning more interest to be paid) desperate I accepted and took it.
Do I have a leg to stand on in regards to irresponsible lendign by 118? could I ask for the interest to be removed?
Any help would be much appreciated
Regards,
A
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Definitely worth a complaint as they knew you were struggling with the first loan.
John C says
I did most of my re-claims in 2016 with WDA, QQ and the horror story that is PTPD in Malta. I was quiet on here for a long time while I put through my Wonga complaint which has been a disaster from start to finish, and my final complaint with the least co-operative payday lender – Lending Stream
Wonga eventually agreed to a refund of £2.5k of which £850 was to be used to pay off an outstanding loan with them. Unfortunately I received contact from a debt collection agency as Wonga did pay my refund, but didn’t bother to pay off the outstanding loan. In fact they didn’t get in touch for 3 months, farmed the loan out to Moorcroft and marked my credit file as defaulted, which has caused me a number of issues with other credit accounts like credit cards. Since then I have been battling to get this amended and find out why it happened and why they never bother to get in touch with me once
This brings me to LS who are my very last lender with a complaint. To say they have been slow is an understatement. Complaint went to the FOS in September and I’ve just had my complaint upheld by an adjudicator from loan 4 to 14 (I offered to take from 7, so….) Based on my experience and that of others i’m not expecting them to agree, so think i’m still in for a long wait. I’ll update when I have something new
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“Since then I have been battling to get this amended and find out why it happened and why they never bother to get in touch with me once.” Are you battling with Wonga? Or through your adjudicator, assuming your Wonga case went to the Ombudsman?
John C says
Hi Sara, its with Wonga. I did pick up with the adjudicator as soon as I had Moorcroft on to me, who got back to me pretty quickly. Wonga have admitted they were wrong but investigation is in the “8 weeks of nothing” bit at the moment as its deemed as a separate complaint. I was told to raise as a new complaint to the FOS if I wasn’t satisfied with Wonga’s response (from the adjudicator as it was so long after my original complaint had been completed back in September). It has all been noted on my Wonga complaint though. So far I have had a credit card and store card suspended due to “adverse information on my credit file” and had my bank threaten to pull my overdraft. The credit card is the one I used for work purposes as I travel a lot, so that made the end of December and this year a bit difficult to say the least. Not what I needed just before Xmas
Come the 15th Feb I am back off to the FOS if I haven’t had anything back. And the FCA and probably a national newspaper. Wonga can not be allowed to get away with the complete mess they have made of my complaint
John C says
I also should note that the loan on my credit file shows a month in arrears 4 months before I even opened it! Then 2 months, 3 months 4 months and then 4 months where is shows AP before defaulting. Having just noticed this, I’ve emailed Wonga again (getting a response since Jan 3rd has been impossible) and included Tara Kneafsey on the email. When I logged into my Wonga account to get the last loan date I can actually borrow again! This despite the fact I asked for my account to be blocked and it was part of the deal when I accepted my loan.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you should be asking for additional compensation for this.
let us know how it goes. And if you do fancy national newspaper coverage, let me know as I have some contacts.
John C says
Thanks Sara, I will let you know if I need a bit of help with that ;-) I’m not aware of anyone else in this situation so hopefully it’s an isolated case, however they just don’t seem to care and I can’t get a reply to anything I send them. It’s all going in a big file to the FOS once finished.
As for compensation, I have no idea what is a suitable offer? Like I say I haven’t seen anything similar.
Jon says
Hi Sara, Just a quick question, does the 8wks start from when you complain or from when the company acknowledges the complaint. Thanks Jon
Helen says
It starts when you complain.
Michael Chadwick says
Hello
Can anybody tell me what the situation is regarding the timebar wonga have set with loans over 6 years? Will they ever be paid out/picked up?
Many thanks
Mike
Jen says
Mine are with FOS, all over 6 yrs last time I called them it’s gone to the juratiction team, waiting game I think 1st complained to Wonga may 17 then to FOS June 17, how long have u bn waiting
Sally says
My first complaint to Wonga was August 2016 and then FOS Oct 2016. Wonga offered me a refund on 3 out of 26 loans February 2017 and I turned it down. Last email from FOS last week was the same story … now movement from Wonga yet. I’m wondering if I can complain to the FSA. I think they’ll have to cave in at some point and then there’ll be a massive backlog. In the meantime 8% interest in building up nicely!! Let’s see what 2018 brings :)
Michael Chadwick says
I sent off for 8 complaints in july last year. All settled bar wonga now. I lent over £11k so worth the wait.
Thanks
Ray says
if you had settled with lenders that didn’t take into consideration loans over 6 years old can you chase them with the ombudsman?
, I had settlements with Quick Quid, Payday Express, Payday Uk, Wonga, Wage day Advance.
All went back 6 years to the date I complained. I accepted on the bases I couldn’t claim for anything over 6 years.
Clairey says
I would be intrested in the answer to this Wonga have paid me out on 5 out of 10 loans 5 the others they say were over 6 years so are not willing to do so.. can I pursue the loans over 6 years.
Thanks in advance of any advise this site and feed have been a fantastic source of info.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You are dependent on the goodwill of the lender here – in accepting a settlement you agreed that it was in full & final settlement of your whole complaint.
It’s worth going back to the PDE and PDUK now as they have changed their policy so why not ask?
For the others, well you can try going back to them or to the Ombudsman but I would be surprised if this works. It may be better to wait until you see a lender is paying out on older loans and then go back to them at that point.
Ali says
Hi
Im on the process of sending my bank statements to the FO. I had 2 bank accounts at the time over a 2 year period and both were used to have funds deposited in. (lots of statements :):):) )
My question is – although not necessary unaffordable at times – I became reliant as I was spending money elsewhere (mainly bingo hall slot machines..) I had part time income and a decent amount of maintenance – plus money put into my account from others (more loans from friends) and loans from lots of payday lenders………… Do I have to justify every credit in my bank that’s not my wage ? I feel sick just looking at my statements. I have not had any payday loans etc for over 4 years now thankfully and don’t put any money in slot machines !!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It will probably help if explain what the extra credits are in general terms. I would be surprised if you have to explain every credit over a 2 year period.
Ali says
Are they likely to have seen this scenario before? There were a few pay day loans on there that I honestly didn’t know I had used – looking back before 2014 I can believe what sort of person I was or how desperate I was to have money. I really don’t know how I functioned normally. Its actually pretty scary. Or more than anything – im totally ashamed and hate the thought of someone else going through my statements – though I do know this has to be done. I have thought of ‘letting it go’ purely for this reason.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suspect the FO are pretty used to people who can’t remember clearly what was happening… Many people are astonished at how much they borrowed and what the interest added up to.
It’s normal to feel ashamed, especially with gambling in the mix as well. But the thing to remember is that there was very clear guidance from the regulators about what “unaffordable lending” is and it is the lenders that broke these rules by continuing to lend to you. You may feel foolish, but it was an addiction. They were the ones who behaved irresponsibly – it was wrong to give you those loans.
Ali says
You have put my mind at ease a bit – thank you. I have nothing to loose really by sending them.
I agreed to settle with Myjar and they offered me £109 and a balance write off – which I was happy with as I didn’t borrow ‘loads’ from these. (Wonga was my main one/swift sterling & Provident). 2 weeks ago today they said I would have money in my account in 5-10 days and I have had nothing. They are now not replying to any email. :(. I will give them until Friday – is there anything I can do if I don’t receive the money ? Id heard they were good at paying out. I have checked I have sent the right bank account details etc…..
Mandy says
Ali don’t be scared to send your bank statements to fos . I had lots of gambling on mine plus money put into my account that I had borrowed from family members etc, the ombudsman never asked me to explain where the excess money came from and he upheld my complaint .
A says
so today was the final day for Wonga to respond to my adjudicator decision. lo and behold they have a backlog… anyone else had this issue and how long did you have to wait past the original Final response day?
Thanks
Link says
My complaint was the same. They were given until 3rd January. Then a week and a half later I received a letter from my adjudicator saying My complaint has been passed to Ombudsman as Wonga have not responded. . Not heard anything since.
Marty says
Wonga were due to reply to adjudicator by 8th december. Still nothing. Im now in the ombudsman queue too. Really think there should be a penalty for a company that does not comply.
Acee says
Tomorrow is the final day for Wonga and Lending Stream and 247 have another week not expecting any response from any of them all will go to the Ombudsman I think. PDUK have taken over 2 weeks after agreeing to refund £1800 and I’m still waiting I imagine they will pay on the 28th day
Sam says
Hi, Just after a bit of advice regarding Mr Lender. They have offered £2732.65 out of £4541.70. There has been some negotiation to get to this point. They have reached this figure by offering to refund all the interest of the rollovers that were outside the original loan terms and 50% of the last loan I had with them. I have asked them to add the 8% interest but they say that because this is something the FOS may suggest when upholding a complaint that is escalated to them and Mr Lender aren’t upholding my complaint in full they won’t add it.
Do you think it’s worth me trying to pursue this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds like you could get quite a bit more by going to the Ombudsman. Was your borrowing continuous – that is did you have a loan every month – for how long a period? How many years ago was this?
Sam says
This was from 2012-2015. I continuously borrowed from them during this time and had to rollover the loans many times. I would pay off a loan and take another one out the same day. Yes I think I could get more, they make you doubt yourself. This website is amazing, thank you
Rich says
Update on my complaint to PDUK. From my original complaint on 19th December, I received their final response yesterday and an offer of over £2.5k (they included the statutory 8% interest) and it’s all due to this site. Thank you very much, Sara
Kara says
Well done, Rich. Was this the full amount of interest you paid? I submitted a complaint 6 and a half weeks ago and haven’t had a final response yet, although they did sent my SOA through. Were any of your loans older than 6 years?
Ella says
I put a complaint in against PDUK and didn’t include 2010 however when they made me an offer, they sent me a list and they included 2010 so it made a good offer because of the 8%. They responded at 7 weeks. If and when you get a response, sent the reply acceptance letter (if you accept) by email as we sent it by registered post and know that they received, however, they denied that and accepted the emailed one instead. Still waiting on their payment but it has only been a week. Hope that helps :)
Kara says
Good advice, thank you Ella. Hopefully I will receive an offer that I can accept!
Gary says
Hi Sara,
Could you please give me some guidance on my complaint with 118118 money, im looking to submit the complaint however i am slightly confused in regards to figures due to taking out 3 loans, each paying off the one before:
Loan 1:
Amount of loan £2000 over 24 months
12 payments made of £152.88 totalling £1834.56
Loan 2: Top up and settlement of Loan 1
Amount of top up loan £1400 plus settlement of loan 1 at £1329.70 totalling £2729.7 over 24 months
7 payments made of £209.09 totalling 1463.63
Loan 3: Top up and settlement of Loan 2
Amount of top up loan £2400 plus settlement of loan 2 at £2232.17 totalling 4632.17 over 24 months
4 payment made of £362.28 totalling £1449.12 – Current amount remaining to pay over next 20 months £7245.60
As iv only made 4 payments towards loan 3 im having difficulty working out the interest iv paid across all 3 loans and the amount im due to pay if 118 decide to settle the complaint by deducting the interest and paying outstanding capital. The current remaining balance of loan 3 totals £7245.60 which includes the next 20 payments and interest.
How should i go about complaining?
Thanks
Gary
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You don’t need to make your complaint that complicated! Just say you have had three loans, the first 2 years loan you had to refinance after a year and the second 2 year loan you again had to refinance after just 7 months. Ask for refund of all interest you have paid to date and for interest to be removed from your current loan.
Gary says
Thanks Sara,
If 118 were to agree to this, does this affect your credit file, do they put you on sort of payment scheme. Im worried as im looking to get a new mortgage soon.
Thanks
Brad says
They might offer to write off part or all of your interest. As long as you keep up to date with repayments it shouldn’t negatively affect your credit file
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, you should ask for a repayment scheme. Well not if you can manage the repayments, but then you don’t really have an affordability case, do you…
If you win your complaint, any problems should be removed from your credit record.
My guess is you aren’t in a good position for a remortgage anyway, with this 118 loan and presumably other debts as well? You may well fail affordability tests.
Gary says
Thanks Sara / Brad,
I have numerous other complaints with Payday loan companies currently with the FOS which are being upheld, so im due a number of refunds most likely amounting to circa £8000+, my plan was upon receiving the refund money from the various payday loan companies, set aside the money and submit a complaint with 118, if my complaint is upheld with 118 and the interest is taken off the current balance, i would then use my refunded payday loan money to pay off the outstanding 118 loan. I take it this is a positive thing to do?
Thanks
Jampanda says
Drafty/Lending Stream has anyone had any luck with this sort of a loan.
scott says
Hi Jampanda
SNC is a similar product to Drafty abeit SNC have the ability to see your banking transactions.
As Drafty is an opened- ended, running credit agreement I would suggest the key to having a irresponsible lending complaint upheld would be if when the agreement was opened did Drafty check your ability to repay in a ‘reasonable’ period while being able to afford other living expenses and repay other debts without having to borrow further to service the debts. In other words did you have another money coming in to pay them back without having to borrow to pay them.
This is my view – I may even by totally wrong. Start looking at your bank statements and credit report in the months before you opened ‘Drafty’ and see if you would have lent money to yourself.
AR says
Hi all,
Received an email from my adjudicator today regarding SafetyNet Credit & they’ve agreed on a partial refund & interest totalling nearly £700. They’ve given SNC until February 6th to respond – has anyone ever been to this stage with them? Do they normally take the full 2 weeks? And then how long will it take them to pay out if they agree?
Thanks!
AK says
Hi, I am after some advice, please. When adjudicator sends their findings to the business copying me in do I need to have any input at that stage? LS is the lender. I am pretty sure that they will either ignore or question the adjudicator’s findings but I also think that couple of more loans should be included in the redress request. What is the ‘procedure’? Should I just wait what business says or answer that I disagree with the findings straight away and ask the case to be sent to the Ombudsman?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you aren’t happy with that offer, you should tell the adjudicator and explain why. Even if LS also object, it’s important for you to get it noted that you disagree with the decision.
AK says
Thank you, Sara. I can’t say I’m unhappy, the adjudicator upheld 60% (exactly) of total paid interest but I would be better of if another two big loans would be included. Both of them are the first ones after the gaps in borrowing, so, I can see the logic behind their findings, but also can argue that they were taken when I already had a number of other payday loans utstanding.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you tell the adjudicator that you will be happy to settle for that if LS agree, but if they don’t and it has to go to an Ombudsman, you would like it noted that you feel loans X and Y should also be refunded – because they were large loans and the other payday loans you had outstanding at the time should have made LS realise they would not be affordable.
AK says
Couple of weeks ago I asked how long does Satsuma take to pay after the completion of the settlement form. I sent my settlement form on 2nd January and received the cheque on 17th January. The negative information already removed from my credit file as well which made my credit score jump by 100 points. ;)
Richard harrison says
I’ve sent both LS and WDA cheques for £10 each for information regarding my payday loans is this normal practice?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Not really – the firms will eventually send you a list of your loans without you paying them anything. But never mind – hopefully you get a good enough refund that you won’t care!
Elizabeth says
Fos adjudicator has not upheld my lending stream complaint! Even though I had using 5 payday loan companies at the time, which all others have been upheld! Think I’ll send an email back and ref to ombudsman:(
C R says
If my DRO finished 5 years ago, (still showing on my credit file for another few months), would I be eligible to reclaim from payday loan companies, not including the amounts owed to them that were wiped on the DRO?
So Wonga for instance, I borrowed for a good few years before I went into DRO, which ultimately led to me going into the DRO. I think the amount was about £700 when I went into the DRO, however I had loans costing me thousands before that.
Also with many others!
Also now I am struggling again, with loans that they haven’t checked my employment or anything (I can see where it says I’m employed and I haven’t worked there for 18 months….., I even live the other side of London……..)
Because I have a serious gambling problem and have borrowed thousands to cover my losses and scrape by each month.
I currently owe about £2k in payday loans (I earn 1500 a month but my rent and bills are £1k a month). and that’s after having most of them cleared a few months ago through a family members help.
Any help will be appreciated as I am screwed….
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, you can complain about the pre DRO loans. However, they will be over 6 years old – only a few lenders are paying out on those loans at the moment and not Wonga. Complaints about these older loans are likely to take a VERY long while at the Ombudsman.
I am sorry you are back in a mess again. You need to get out of the spiral of having to keep borrowing. Cancel the CPAs to all the lenders and then contact StepChange about a DMP, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/help-payday-loan/. Then you can think about complaints.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I have put together your two comments into one. You HAVE to stop gambling before making complaints. Otherwise it is all just pointless, getting a refund will just give you a happy month and all the money will be back in the bookies pockets.
Read https://debtcamel.co.uk/gambling/.
C R says
Thankyou. I am now gamblefree, albeit for a short time. I am scared of DMP because my credit rating will be shattered again. I am at an age where I need to focus on looking towards a mortgage etc.
I know it’s a big ask but another 6 years will ruin everything.
Thank you for your quick reply.
I think I’ll just stick to the loans since (there have been so many!!!)
Including loans now, where companies haven’t even checked the slightest detail. There was one who phoned my work to check I worked there, and as such I won’t be complaining against them as they were responsible!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can you make all the next months debt repayments without borrowing again? If you get a default now from a payday lender and win a complaint against them, then the default gets deleted.
C R says
I can’t no. Id have to reborrow to survive.
I had 2 sick days which are unpaid (200quid short). So even worse off.
Can i put my car as a fair living cost? My insurance rocketed as I had a write off to no fault of my own (my tyre blew 2 weeks after passing my mot and flew into a barrier).
Thanks so much for your help!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you have to stop borrowing and so you have to stop the payments. Even if this does impact your credit record. Thinking about mortgages is fantasy land at the moment, don’t let that stop you getting out of the current mess.
Yes, car insurance is a normal everyday expense.
Jon says
I finally went through my bank statements. I was almost in tears. I’ve broken them down by tear with full details so Wonga should consider them.
Overall my lending with Wonga between Feb 2012 to Nov 2017 totals £27,226.00 with rollovers and top ups galore. I’m absolutely horrified.
Bev Nelson says
PDUK Have actually agreed to re-open my case from Jan 2016 in relation to older loans from 2007- 2010. My initial complaint to them in 2016 was rejected on the grounds of it being ”time barred”. I didnt take this to the ombudsman at the time because in their rejection letter they advised me that even if I did complain to the FOS they werent obliged to respond!!
From June 2007 I had 10 loans from them – 7 consecutively month after month – as soon as one was cleared on payday, a further loan was requested- either the same or next day, with the amounts increasing over time. Admittedly, compared to other PDL’s i had at the time, these weren’t huge amounts – starting at £80 and rising progressively to £250 over nearly 3 years.
From the 7th Loan deferrals became regular, some being rolled over for up to 6 months and then, when these were eventually cleared, a further increased re-loan was sought from them.
From cases I’ve read, and not wishing to pre-empt their response,I have a feeling they will deem the loans affordable because they weren;t huge, however I had around another 5 PDL’s ongoing at the same time.
Would the fact that loans from PDUK were repeated and ongoing for almost 3 years and rolling over in between still be classed as irresponsible despite the amounts being fairly small? Is it the fact they kept repeatedly lending and allowing deferrals the point in case as opposed to the amount?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well they cant say “oh its only £80”, it depends on your situation whether £80 was a little or a lot!
Let’s see what they come back with.
RJL says
Hi, I’ve got current loans with swift sterling and sunny that I’m really struggling to pay. On both occasions I’ve repaid them borrowed again like the next day (stupid I know). I could probably scrape and borrow and just about make the repayments but it’s taking its toll on me. If I complain now do I have to keep making repayments, and how does this affect my credit file?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Cancel the CPAa, tell the lenders you need a payment arrangement and then put in a complaint that you have been given unaffordable loans.
Don’t let worrying about your credit record stop you from doing this. Borrowing again is making this worse, not a solution. Many people here have been trapped for far too long, it’s incredibly stressful.
If you win the complaint, any late payments or defaults will be removed from your credit record.
Ange says
Hi Sara
I have recently had a complaint of irresponsible lending rejected by Wonga, and I am about to take my case to the F.O.
I took out 40+ loans, on a weekly basis in 2014 with Wonga, and although I have paid back every penny I owed them on time, I still feel they were irresponsible with their lending practices, as the way I applied for these loans should have implied I was experiencing financial problems.
To clarify, for example, I would borrow £300 on Friday 10th January, pay it back on Friday 17th January, then apply for another loan with Wonga of £300 on Friday 17th January. This weekly pattern of paying back a loan, then reapplying for another loan immediately on payment of the original loan, continued for over 40 weeks. Surely this is irresponsible lending?
My question is, based on the information I have given you, do you think I have a good chance of success with the F.O?
Regards
Ange
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds like a very good case to me!
scott says
I have requested that the debt collector who look after the mini credit bill, reduce the payment because of affordability. I had £100 loan and the interest went to £699. Do you know if the government cap on charges applies to old loans? Because this loan was taken out in 2012.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Unfortunately the rules were not “retrospective”. But your complaint to the Ombudsman can still be upheld because the loan was unaffordable, it doesn’t matter that the interest is a lot more than the cap would allow.
Lisa says
Hi All,
Ive just had an ombudsman decision on my Ferratum complaint. Neither the adjudicator or the ombudsman found in my favour. 5 loans, 4 consecutive loans and another 9 months later, 4 other PDLs running at the same time, gambling, defaults galore, marketing texts offering money via text message etc.
however, they have advised that as I would not have admitted to the gambling when asked, then the checks were fair and in proportion and loans were leant responsibly.
Just a word of caution, the original £150 good will gesture that was made, has been revoked, so by going to the FOS to challenge, I am £150 worse off.
I have had enough upheld that this isn’t a major blow, however, I thought best make you all aware!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry you lost the case. Gambling cases do tend to need more lengthy borrowing from the same lender to win because your income tends to look good enough for the amount you are borrowing. 4 loans then a very long gap and 1 more was always going to be a difficult case.
Nick says
Sara
I had 2 out of 12 loans upheld in October by the fos… They didn’t look into my older loans due to be over 6 years. However, the adjudicator who dealt with my pduk loans looked at all of them and upheld all 20 because after speaking with me she found out about my husband being critically poorly at the time I was borrowing so was not aware I had been leant to unfairly… Can I now go back and challenge quick quid for the older loans ?
WULLIE says
Hello Sara, could you please advise on how long an ombudsman takes to reach a decision when a case is referred to him after a company don’t accept a decision and what is the likely decision, will he will agree with the adjudicator.
I had four loans with Pounds to Pocket (Casheuronet), two have been upheld and I am due approx. £1500 refund, PTP have offered a £1000, would I be better taking it.
I hope you can advise.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The £1500 – this includes the extra 8%s?
Timings vary, but usually 8-12 weeks. QQ in particular sometimes makes an increased offer during this time!
The most likely decision is that the Ombudsman agrees with the adjudicator. My estimate is that this happens in 80%+ of cases. The Ombudsman can also decide to vary what the adjudicator say by refunding in your case more loans or less… but QQ’s offer is now effectively a “floor” for what you might get.
WULLIE says
Thanks Sara, yes that includes the 8% and deducted tax at 20%. A big thanks to your site for the information and guidance.
laura says
Hi
I have recently been given a CCJ from MMF UK Ltd, for the reason of outstanding balances on at least 5 loans from Lending Stream all were taken out in 2013 in a short space of time together. However, I feel I can not do anything about the CCJ and continue to make the monthly repayments. Can I still approach and make a complaint to Lending Stream for the unaffordability claim?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
it is a great shame you didn’t try this before the CCJ – I assume you did know about it, it wasn’t a default CCJ at an old address?
Yes you can still make a complaint to LS. You may only be able to get a refund for the loans before the 5 that went into a CCJ, a few people have also got CCJ loans included but this seems unpredictable.
laura says
I went to my local CAB for advice when it looked like official court papers and they just advised me how to fill them in really. Wish I had known about this site and information before hand.
However, I’ve since seen the template letters to ask for refunds from other payday lenders. In 2012 I had 8 maybe more Wonga loans, running constantly on a monthly basis to get me by which I have sent a letter requesting a interest refund today and also 12 Payday UK loans running along side Wonga on the same months, which I could clearly not afford. I am sure these loans were even taken out before 2012 but my credit report only went back 6 yrs so couldn’t check any further. I have printed a copy of my credit report dating back this far from all 3 credit check reports, do you think I stand a good chance of a refund? or am I in for a headache?
Regards
Laura
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like a lot of borrowing so well worth complaining. Payday Uk will also loom at loans over 6 years old. Wonga at the moment are being difficult and refusing to.
Allison says
I’m in the middle of complaining about several lenders 38 loans over 18 months all rolling over or being taken out to repay another. All were paid back except three (QQ) where I got to the stage with depression and my marriage self destructing that I closed the CPA card and hid. It actually was in one way an awful idea and in another great because without the payday loan even as a new single parent I was able to cope financially. Awful: because when I did get kinda straight and approached them they were unsympathetic and told me it was already being passed to debt collection agency. Debt agency chased and the old depression hit again .. they wanted all or nothing. Eventually they got their cherished ccjs against me and upped the anti. I get three calls a day to my mobile, three calls to my landline. All consecutive. 6 – 9 emails a week, and three letters a week.
I contacted them -TMLegal by email informing them that I had a complaint lodged and would they take into account yet again my depression and stop hounding me until complaint resolved. They emailed me back saying I couldn’t complain to QQ but if I wanted to complain to them this was their address. This was last week.
Now they’ve upped the calls and emails. Giving me 24 hours to accept an offer of reduced settlement or else the Baliffs are coming to enforce.
Any advice please. Do I complain to them or hold fast that my complaint is with QQ and for them to stop.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Dreadful story. Who is the DCA that got the CCJ? Do you know if TM Legal are collecting on their behalf?
It’s good you have complaints into QQ and the other lenders already. It can take some time for these to go through though.
–
Allison says
It’s the three loans with QQ. That have all gone ccj. These guys didn’t waste any time at all and now they hound and hound. One of them is only for £86 .. all default fees not actual loan or interest. The others together are under £1000 if I accept the immediate settlement offer, but I can’t afford to pay it.
QQ are also the only one so far to have demanded bank statements and payslips from the times the loans were taken out. It’s scary when I look back. But I’ll keep plodding on. Hopefully if I get something back can redress my council tax arrears. ????
Allison says
Sara
I’ve tried looking through my correspondence but I have to admit that I threw most of it away and my credit file doesn’t show any name against the creditor on my report just amounts.
Tm legals emails all say original creditor nothing else.
How do I find out?
Since I sent the one email saying I was complaining they’ve really upped the anti in contacting me. I’ve had to block their phone number 9 calls in twenty minutes .. stopped for an hour then 9 more .. at that point I hit the off switch. Emails are now 3 daily and I’m sure letters will arrive through the post. I was doing well until they started again.
I guess I poked the bear. ????
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ok, I suggest you use the Trust Online system to look up some details of the CCJ https://debtcamel.co.uk/do-you-have-ccjs/. That will give you dates and court details. Then you need to phone up the court with those and ask for details of who the Claimant was.
In the mean time, keep on with the QQ complaint and try to ignore the contacts from TM Legal.
Allison says
Thank you. I’ll go for that this morning.
So if it’s not QQ do I complain to the holder of the ccj?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, your affordability complaint goes to the original creditor. But you need to know who is the current owner of the debt to be able to put in a complaint about the way you are being harassed by BW legal.
Nigel says
Hi
I have received a decision from Sunny today saying that they partially uphold my complaint and agree that the very first loan should not have been offered but no others. I was given loan after loan for over 2.5 years ending up with 4 loans being constantly paid off and taken out again. Total of around £4000 interest. They have offered me around £400 which they will take off what I still owe them.
My question is, surely if they have agreed they should not have given me the first loan then also all of the subsequent loans should not have been offered either?
I have emailed them back asking them to reconsider and also pointing this out.
Any advise would be appreciated.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send it to the Ombudsman if they don’t come back with a considerably improved offer!
Ash says
Hi,
How long did Sunny take to get back to you?
Nigel says
They emailed me back the day before the 8 weeks was up!
Simon says
I am reading through all the comments and it looks like I may have grounds to complain to Sunny.
I have setup and thankfully scrapped through paying off loans with Sunny and Lending stream and have just about managed to get through unscathed. I am now finally free of payday loans! Although with both companies I had multiple loans with them both companies sometimes 4 loans spread across both companies.
I know that I have brought some of this on myself but would have grounds to complain for irresponsible lending, or am I clutching at straws?
Thanks to whoever set up this website. Its excellent.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds like you shouid complain to both Sunny and Lending Stream if you have struggled to repay the loans and had to borrow more. Even if you only get a refund on the last few loans, that could be good size emergency fund to prevent you needing to borrow again from these firms.
Simon says
Hello
Thank you very much for getting back to me. I have sent in the complaints after following the above steps and I will see what happens over the next couple weeks. Thanks for this website! Brilliant!
Louise says
Could anyone tell me how long Wonga take to respond? I sent my initial email requesting my account details (I stated that I was making an unaffordability complaint) on Friday 1st December. The 8 weeks is up this Friday.
Thanks
Kerry says
I have had a reply today and that was just over 6 weeks from the date I sent in my complaint. I requested statement of accounts on the first and then received them a week later and sent my complaint in on the 11th December and just heard today
Louise says
Thanks Kerry. Out of interest, did they accept or reject your claim?
Kerry says
They have accepted it on some of the loans but not others I calculated around £2000 at least paid in interest and they offered me £520 which tbh with I was happy with however they are now demanding repayment on a current loan so hoping they will re evaluate and write this off otherwise I will take to financial ombudsman. I have also heard from QQ today too
Bev Nelson says
Just a query, why do a lot of the lenders uphold complaints from say the 3rd or 4 th loan? If they’re admitting irresponsible lending they surely it applies to all of the lending not just some?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
For a loan to be irresponsibly lent, a lender has to have been aware that it probably wasn’t affordable before the loan was made. Often the first few loans aren’t very big and a lender isn’t expected to do a large number of checks before approving a small loan. But if you then borrow again, and again and again, they have to take into account that fact… which suggest the loans weren’t affordable. So it’s from that point that a refund is made.
Lenders are taking this approach because it’s what the Ombudsman often decides.
Nigel says
So if Sunny have decided that my first loan of £500 was unaffordable any idea why would they not say that further loans were? They lent me a further £100 6 weeks later while still paying the first one then another £150 a couple of weeks after that. It went on from there, more loans bigger amounts! In the end I had a total of 4 loans constantly being paid and taken out again
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Trying to guess why a lender made an apparently random decision is pointless. It happens all the time. Just send it to the Ombudsman if they don’t offer a LOT more.
Acee says
So the deadline for Wonga to respond to the adjudicator has passed and unsurprisingly they haven’t responded. It won’t help me but may help others if I complain about it who do I complain to? Still waiting for PDUK to payout 2 weeks have passed since agreeing to refund me and Lending Stream and 247 still haven’t replied to the adjudicator I’m dealing with the dregs of the payday loan world at the moment it seems.
Ella says
Have you contacted PDUK to check they received your form. If they haven’t they wont pay out until they receive it and then it can take 10 days. I posted mine and emailed it and they took a total of eight days from the day of offer.
Acee says
Hi Ella
I’ve spoken to them about something else to which they replied to straight away so I asked them there and then about the refund and they said between today and 8th Feb.
MISS T says
So my case with QUICK QUID has been going on since April 2017. I feel that I should be receiving a bigger refund as i had several loans from June 2012 until April 2015, totaling up to £4,400 plus an extra £896.56 interest charges.
Do you think the response I got was fair. Each time I took out a loan it was getting higher and higher.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I’m sorry but that was incredibly long so I have deleted most of it. I assume this is a final decision by the Ombudsman? In which case that, I am afraid, is the end of the line. there really wasn’t a lot of information in there (despite its length) so I can’t really say if I agree or not.
Pete says
Just got an email from Lending Stream offering me about £100 in response to a formal complaint I sent using template from here. Their email makes no mention of my right to go to FOS if I am unhappy. I have asked them for a proper final reply so that I can take them to the Ombudsman. Hopefully they’ll come to their senses and make a proper offer.
Link says
This must be a common occurrence for Lending Stream. In both of my rejection emails (I asked them to confirm that it was their final response and they resent the same email two weeks later still with no reference to final response or right to go to FOS). So I waited 8 weeks to be up and put in a compaint to FOS.
Pete says
I imagine it’s to buy time. I understand the FOS would reject a submission that hadn’t had a final reply.
Linda says
Hi I had the same. If the 8 weeks passed though as Link says forward to the FO regardless as to whether you’ve had a final response or not as they’ve had their allotted response time. I have submitted several complaints with no final responses which have been upheld. I send a copy of the last letter or email they sent me and as long as it’s over the 8 week timescale the FO will pick up your complaint.
white cafu says
Hi,
Great site by the way.
Just wondered if anyone had a similar scenario..
My claim with QQ is with the Ombudsman, who replied to me yesterday, QQ have agreed to refund me interest/charges on my final 3 (of 12) loans I had with them. The first 9 were taken out longer than 6 years ago from time of claim. It seems to me they have accepted they were in the wrong (as they have agreed to refund interest/charges for the final 3 loans), so it seems a bit unfair that even though they have accepted they shouldn’t have loaned me the funds, simply because the other loans fall slightly out of that timescale they don’t have to include them.
Has anyone had any from over 6 years successfully claimed?
Also, possibly not for here but will add anyway… in offering the final 3 loans, they claimed this would be used to reduce the balance I still owed them. I was in a trust deed which was completed a couple of years back, QQ were included in my creditors and received the penny in the pound deal all others did, so as far as I’m aware I’m no longer due them anything?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
QQ isn’t yet paying out on loans over 6 years old.
re not owing QQ any balance after the trust deed – I agree with you. I have heard rumours of inconsistent decisions on this for PPI refunds from the ombudsman but I myself haven’t seen this.
white cafu says
Thanks Sara,
I was given the 3 options below from the ombudsman –
Consider jurisdiction of loans 1-8 (he was going to liaise colleagues in jurisdiction to confirm what our current stance on such cases – over 6 years)
Proceed with investigation – loans 9-12 only
Accept QuickQuids offer
I went with the first for now, but if that’s a no go, I guess I’ll have to accept QQs offer, as long as they don’t put it against a balance they deem I still owe…!
Thanks again,
Roy
PAYDAYUK REFUND says
Hi Sara,
I have got my bank statements for the periods i took out loans which was over a 46 month period consistently, and am due to send them to the FOS. There is a lot of gambling transactions every single month, some months with large wins bigger than the loans. One month I won over £7000 and then gambled it all away again with in a couple of days/weeks. How will the FOS view this in relation to the payday loans?
PAYDAYUK REFUND says
Also in addition, i previously complained about this to PAYDAYUK back in 2015, but revisited the complaint in NOV 17 and specifically asked for a refund of interest after seeing things online about refunds which i didn’t iask for in the original complaint i just asked for the loans to be removed from my credit file so i could get a mortgage which they did. They referred me to the fos again this time and have supplied the business file, can I assume on that basis the fos will accept my complaint and review it? When i spoke to the fos they said it might be out of time as I didnt go to them back in 2015?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I can’t guess what the FOS will decide here.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you borrowed from the same lender for a prolonged period, then gambling doesn’t stop you winning your complaint, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/gambling-payday-loan-refunds/
Tasha says
Hi, I need some help/advice.
My current situation is I have about 2k left to pay on a few creditors, but I haven’t paid them as I was unaware they were even there, this was due because of finished DMP and realising some had fallen off due to be sold and me not being better aware (checked credit file). All of the remaining debts are “sold on debt” and currently outstanding.
Any help on the following questions I have would be great!
1. Can I start a claim on ones I am not paying but still owe money too? On top of that to contact the original company or who the debt is now sold on too?
2. Wonga already wiped off my debt, but I never saw penny? Do I claim or no?
3. How do I find the information I need?
4. How easy have people who have been in this situation found making these complaints and getting refunds?
5. Has anyone had an experience with Kapama? Originally Minicredit, 150 loan now 800 and something constantly defaulting on my credit file yet I never got one email from them, only one email last year when Kapama sold it to another company, im confused and yeah any help and advise on this one as well would be great!
Liam says
Just had some really good news which i thought i’d share from Sunny:-
T am able to inform you that we conducted creditworthiness checks, assessed your ability to afford the repayments which would fall due under the proposed agreements, and we considered how you were managing other debts at that time. Based upon these checks it was considered responsible to advance credit to you. However, having reviewed the information you have provided, there are indicators that the product may not have been suitable for you and with this in mind, I uphold your complaint.
In line with my decision, and to return you to the position you would be in had you not been granted a loan, I would like to offer the following:
• A full refund of all interest and charges paid in respect of your loan, totalling £480.38 (you borrowed £893.02 and repaid £1373.40)
• Simple interest at 8%, calculated on the above figure, totalling £143.44
• The record of your loan will be removed from your credit file; we will update Equifax, Experian, and CallCredit.
Please can I ask that you provide me with your bank account number and sort code, so I can arrange for the above payments to be processed. Once we are in receipt of these details, we will process any due payment in 3-5 business days.
————————-
Am i right in thinking this is a good deal and i will get £480.38 plus £143.44
Kerry says
Can I ask how long after your complaint did you hear back from sunny?
Liam says
Hi Kerry,
I emailed them around the 30th October and never heard anything back, i then emailed them again and they sent me an email telling me how i could login to the site however it wouldn’t show me any loans.
I then replied to that email on the 28th November for a 3rd time which they then replied to straight away, i used the template about irresponsible lending and then got an email just before Christmas saying they have until the the 29th Jan of this year to provide a response (not 8 weeks)
After 8 Weeks i didn’t hear anything and went to the Ombudsman who i am waiting to hear back from but today i have received this email but i’m unsure of the amount they have offered me
allan furness says
Ok so an update with my cases, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Shamefully I have had payday loans with lending stream, sunny, quidmarket, pounds to pocket, mr lender, mini credit, payday uk, payday express and quickquid.
But the good news, sunny and payday uk have made offers. All the rest are with the FOS. Please note mini credit have gone bust so no redress against them but this website has given me a hope that I can start to get out of debt that to be honest is my own fault.
Nigel says
Can I ask was your sunny offer anywhere near the interest you paid?
Liam says
yeah the £480.38 is the exact amount of interest i paid, but i’m sure about the next bit with the £143.44.
Does this mean the final amount i will receive is £480.38 + £143.44 (£623.82)?
I’m not sure how the 8% comes into it because £480.38 plus 8% isn’t that figure
Steve says
I think its 8% year on year depending what year your loans are from, so
£480 + 8% £38 = £518 for year 1
£518 + 8% £41 = £559 for year 2
And so on….
Sara (Debt Camel) says
no, it’s 8% “simple” interest, so you don’t then get interest on the interest. So in your example, it would be an extra £38 for each year.
Annie says
Anyone had any experience with cash 4 u now? I have sent them email 1 and they replied asking me to call them, so I replied back saying I don’t want to call them, I just want a statement of my accounts and they came back asking me to call them again. I told them I don’t want to discuss the matter over the telephone and if they continue to withhold the information I am requesting then I will contact the FOS. I know I can’t contact them really until I have a final response from them, but hopefully the threat will get them to pull their finger out. Has anyone else experienced this?
Alan Thorpe says
Hi Sara
Your site is a god send and has opened my eyes to the PDL industry.
I am working my way through the lenders I have dealt with, I have a loan from Advant Credit which are not a PDL as such…however I was in a DMP when I borrowed from them, I have send an email suggesting the loan was not responsible and they have emailed back saying that affordability checks etc suggest that they did lend responsibly….would you take this further?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The afordability rules for Avant Credit, 118 Money, Everyday loans etc are the same as for payday lenders. Worth sending to the Ombudsman if the monthly repayments were too high for you to manage without borrowing more elsewhere
Julze says
Text a loan (myjar) refused my claim. I sent back an email saying I was sending my complaint to fso. They replied today saying they re looked at my case and they are standing by there decision.
I’m so shocked by this. I provided them back statements showing how many loans with different providers I had.
Hopefully the ombudsman sides with me.
Madeline Clelland-Harris says
Hi I am about to log a few claims with the FO. With regards to giving them bank statements how many months before and after do I give? One lending I had loans with pretty much for the entire year. Also will they accept excel files? That seems to be the format my bank will allow me to download then in.
Linda says
Hi in my experience the FO were always specific and told me the months they wanted. They usually covered the entire lending period. Weird about the excel file, mine downloaded as PDF files, others I had to go in branch as they were from an old account. Id give the FO a call and ask and explain thats the only way you can download them, If not I think your bank will help you with this if you tell them the dates you’re after.
Shannon says
With all of mine they requested bank statements from 3 months prior to first loan being taken and one month after last loan was repaid.
Han says
I made a complaint to PDUK I had 23 loans in total over 18 months . I have used the letter template and they have acknowledged this and have a few weeks to get back to me with a final response. Do you think I will get a refund ??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I hope so – that is a lot of borrowing!
Han says
I am unsure what the interest was on them
But they where around £300 a go. How do they come up with a figure?
The last loan I took out with them was £400 which I couldn’t afford to pay back so was past to a debt collector BW legal which I pay back monthly. The others where always paid back then I would reborrow Will this effect any refunds? Thanks
D says
So a quick update. Satsuma loans have still not responded since 21/10/2017. Ombudsman has this one. Payday UK offered a settlement for all my loans, I got just short of £300. Only had 3 loans as well. Payday express was a straight no so went to ombudsman. Sunny wrote off almost £1000 so that one is now done. 247 moneybox wrote off loan as well. I think I have another 4 or 5 with the ombudsman. In it for the long haul now. Oh and lending stream was a straight no as well. It’s currently with the ombudsman. Thanks to this site, a huge burden has been lifted off my shoulders. Thank you so much
Linda says
Sarah can I ask please I’ve had a complaint upheld by both an adjudicator then, when the company failed to respond, by an Ombudsman. As an Ombudsman decision is legal and binding can I now stop making payments to this company? There is a small outstanding balance but it is a lot less than the redress I will receive so presumably they’ll deduct this before the refund is made? The company is 247 Moneybox so no doubt they’ll leave it until the last minute (it’s been only been 10 days since the decision so they still have time) but there’s a payment due soon and wondered where I now stood as I think they’re still adding interest to the outstanding amount even though I’ve been paying it off for an age. Any advice would be helpful.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Assuming the last loan is included in the redress (it almost always is) then yes, cancel the last payment. If you aren’t sure, ask your adjudicator.
Linda says
I haven’t had the settlement figure from 247 as yet so left in limbo, but it’s what the Ombudsman has recommended in their decision and I’ve done some rough calculations of my own. It will just be nice to get another debt off my DMP. Thanks for the quick reply.
Joe says
I had a DRO in the past which has now finished. I was wondering if I could put in a claim against several payday loan companies I used. I feel the out of hand loans are what forced me I to getting a DRO as I could not afford to repay them due to paying all the interest and charges on them. The loans combined with other credit I had in the past crippled me, sometimes using the payday loans to make payments to credit cards. As far as I’m aware all the loans ended up being sold to debt collection companies, bit I read that the dispute is with the lender.
Could anyone shed some light on this and know if I could put in a claim?
I have very little information from the previous loans but I can remember who they were with.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes you can complain and yes the complaint should go to the original lender. Good luck!
Nigel says
Has anyone received a large refund from Sunny? I paid over £4000 in interest and they have only offered me just over £400. I feel that it may be due to the large amount that they don’t want to pay out
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Just send it to the Ombudsman. It doesn’t matter why Sunny hasn’t made a reasonable offer and it doesn’t matter if other people have had large offers, you can overthink these things.
Vickie9 says
Finally, Lending Stream have actually got round to refunding my money. The ombudsman agreed with my adjudicator said they had to pay the full amount back in November. I sent the paperwork back on 13th November confirming I would accept and finally today I have the refund in my account. Lots of to and fro as their were three outstanding amounts with MMF which took LS an age to claim them back and sort out any money still owed which fortunately for me was only £359. So I have just received £5448 and feeling pretty pleased. Lending Stream originally offered me £100 as a gesture of goodwill after telling me they weren’t at fault as I had a good credit score (haha not!). It’s been a long, hard process with them and they fought me every step of the way, including me having to contact them several times by phone to chase the refund up, however I got there in the end. To those of you just starting out the process with them, keep your wits about you and don’t give up. You will get there in the end. Thanks Sara for all of your support, this site is amazing.
Eva says
An update in TXT loan/MYJAR. Complaint emailed 28/11/17. Heard nothing till Wednesday 24/01/18 with desicion they upheld most of the loans and offer of repayment plus 8% interest. Emailed them back saying more loans should be unaffordable and they agreed. So out of the total interest I paid (£1305) I got refund of (£1252). No Ombudsman involved so very pleased. They were actually very quick to respond to my quiries. I did send them all my bank statements and credit reports to speed it up and think it worked. In my case it was worth negotiating final settlement. Good luck everyone with yours.
Richard says
Hello Can I ask a question. PDUK have upheld my cases post 2012 around £500 in redress and offered to clear my credit file.
This leaves a debt of £300 from the amount I borrowed.
What happens to the credit file and the remaining £300, should I put it in my DMP? Is this normal practice?
Thanks Richard
Jen says
They usually clear the amount owed £300 from your redress so you should get £200 back plus 8% interest and your credit report fixed, so don’t put it in2 your dmp
Richard says
Sorry Jen I might have confused things. I owed £800 and they are refunding £500
Linda says
Well after a long wait and a long difficult complaint (7 months) against Lending Stream Ive agreed a refund amount formally through the FO, all done and dusted. Sounds good? Nope Lending Stream emailed me direct (to an old email address they had on file NOT the one i’d been using to communicate with them throughout the complaint and discovered by chance) with a refund breakdown asking me to send them a ‘bank statement’ from my new account to verify the account I want the money paid into with my name, address, account details etc on in a non-editable format (as I told them the account they have on file is closed). My adjudicator had never heard of this before so she called them and passed on my account details for me, not good enough it has to be a statement (sigh!). The adjudicator has been really good with calls to them and has never encountered this before. I bank paperless so the best I can do is a screen shot or print out but with my bank when you log on and/or print off or view statements it doesn’t include your name and address etc just account information. It’s all getting a bit stressful now. The image I sent the adjudicator to pass on is just the bare minimum which she agreed. Checked today, still no refund. I’ll call again Monday see what’s what. I’ve never had this before and have had money paid into a different account to what the lender had on file the FO just let them know. Pain!
Southern fool says
I just had a reply from wage day advance. Loans started in 2012 yet they have said on the letter they have only one loan with me in 2014? They even sent me account statement showing all of them. Wondered is this normal? Did they change product so investigate them separately?
Quickquid/p2p with the Fos as they allowed me to borrow off both of them at the same time. Borrowed thousands over a period of 4 years yet they said this was all ok.
Payday express were quick, friendly and easy to deal with as we’re the money shop complaints. Peachy we’re also really helpful.
My jar, sunny, wonga, 118 and unclebuck have 3 days left to give me final answers.
This site has so far helped me get 1,200 back so thank you for all the help on here it’s been great. I would like to think FOS will side with me and I’ll be due 4k from quickquid and I’m awaiting answers on the others.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
WageDay Advance – I suggest you reply asking why they have ignored the rest of your loans.
Eva says
My jar replied to me 2 days before the 8 weeks with their final offer but asking me if I agree with it. It was very easy to negotiate with them. Got 95% back of interest I paid and very quick replies to my emails. Hope you have the same luck.
Kim says
The adjudicator has upheld 34 out of 36 loans with Sunny – what’s other people’s experiences with sunny? Do they tend to agree within the two weeks that the adjudicator gives them? Thanks in advance.
Shannon says
They replied to my adjudicator within a week and accepted the findings. Hopefully similar for you.
Mel says
That’s good to know. Sunny have been given my adjudicators decision in my favour but I am waiting to hear from them. Did you hear back from Sunny direct or back through the adjudicator? And how long do they take to pay out?
NG says
Hi Mel,
I had the adjudicator rule in my favour for my Sunny complaint in December. They accepted his decision and communicated that directly to him within about a week.
The money was in my account a few days after that.
Claire says
Hi was just wondering if anyone could help, after making a complaint to cash Genie they have offered me a refund of £400 which I have accepted however because they have ceased lending and currently in a redress programme I’ve bern told I will get a cheque for the money when the company dealing with thecredress do the next batch of payments this was before Christmas , just wondered if anyone else had been in this situation and how long it took to get the cheque? Thanks
Jen says
I’m the exact same as you waiting on a Cheque, I’m sure someone posted a while back that the next Cheque run should be the 12 February, I’ve checked back but can’t find the post
Dan says
There was a cheque run early October, early December so next run would be due early feb (like 4/5th) but it must be getting close to empty by now. I was told 4th October and about 7/8th October received a cheque in post – paid it in asap!
fingers crossed for you
Eva says
Update on WageDay Advanced. Got final offer in the post (8 weeks was yesterday) that loans 1-4 not upheld. 5-6 they don’t think should be upheld but decided that they should have had asked more questions etc so upholding 5-16 with refund of £2970. Again send them bank statements etc with the complaint and so far seems to be working. Not mentioning about a credit file delete so have to go back and request that. Once they confirm they will delete this I will then accept their final offer.
Georgina kitchingman says
Hi I’ve had numerous pay day loans with various companies managed to get myself into a bit of a mess. At the time I was with a debt management company and they still lent to me! .Some of the loans Ive payed off in full and others I got a settlement figure and paid off in full when I drew a small pension I had due .My question is am I able to claim on these loans as I am unable to retrieve the information for some of them as my accounts have been closed down .Any advice would be greatly appreciated many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes you can. The lenders in the end will give you a list of loans, although some still try to drag this out as long as possible. If sone complaints go to the Ombudsman it is possible to get bank statements from closed accounts.
Dan says
complaints started in Aug/ Sept 17
Mr Lender – 50% interest refund offered/ agreed within a week -fair, (almost a) shame I never intend to use them again
Payday Uk – refunded £3000 (total max £3800) after 12 weeks (referred to FOS at 8 weeks but then cancelled as accepted offer)
Wonga, settled 2015 inadvertently – no recourse with FOS
QQ – over 6 years, only £350 but sat in FOS queue, not expecting anything
Cash Genie – auto refunded when complaint received, two mini loans, around £150 back
Pounds till payday – accepted £550 from a possible £4,500/£5,000 as over 6 years
HSBC -finally offered £200 compensation, paid into my wife’s account, even though not mentioned in my complaints, complained again and £200 paid into my account within 30 minutes – considering FOS complaint but also effectively £400 back, expected zero
Barclaycard – zero, with FOS but don’t feel hopeful.
Vanquis – zero, with FOS complaint rejected by adjudicator, complaint escalated to Ombudsman queue, complaint raised against adjudicator- failed to answer multiple questions (all reasonable). Complaint upheld, only action was adjudicator to answer questions as a priority (which happened) some still not answered
Likely Loans(oakbrook) – with adjudicator
WDA – adjudicator decision in my favour 100% refund (approx. £800)
One Month Loans/Fortress Loans/Tower – too late
Very (Shop Direct) – with adjudicator
Sara – can we make some babies? – thank you as ever, ‘Dame Sara Camel’ :)
AK says
Hi Dan, did WDA accept your adjudicator’s findings? How long it took to receive the refund? My adjudicator also found in my favour 100% last week. Would like to know what to expect from WDA?
Dan says
AK – Adjudicator contacted me early last week, I printed off and signed the form within about an hour, replied accepting offer then when adjudicator confirmed receipt I emailed WDA and outlined that I had accepted their offer and replied to the adjudicator with required forms and signatures, please could they let me know the exact amount and confirm if they required anything else from me. response within 24 hours stating that all received and they had passed to their payments team, 5-10 working days – money in my account within 2
not a huge sum so would expect higher refunds to require more approval but still £750 so decent amount
yes they did accept findings
Kyle Milne says
Little update
All loans are with ombudsman and first one picked up by legit the nicest lad Iv ever spoken to ! He asked me for more information about qq I explained Iv lived in dif countries and had multiple dif jobs so it’s difficult to answer and we came to a conclusion of answers on the phone
As some my loans were 2009 he was willing to look at them as they are compiling a case of 100+ loans to move older loans forward past the 6 years but he flat out stated this may take over a year for this to be repaid and they were your smallest loans and generally the first few don’t get accepted anyway as it’s the multiple lending times that should trigger further analysis so offered me to drop them and said he will speak to his manager to finish it off for me next week
Absolute stellar lad !
My question is credit cards I have had multiple credit cards what is the success on these? At complaint and fos level?
I’m considering doing my Tesco loan they gave me 15,000 aswell