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?
Louise says
Hi Sara – My adjudicator has email me again to say Avant have not responded to him and he has had to chase them up – they owe me money! how long will this take and do they get penalties for this as they have the cheque and the additional interest I paid. I hope they have to pay extra – does this happen? Many thanks as I am frustrated and think this is a joke. I even tried to call them myself and requested a call back I was so angry!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I’m sorry but this isn’t a normal case and you are disputing what the correct payment is. Obviously they should be handling it better, but there isn’t much you can do except sit back and wait. your adjudicator will be getting pretty fed up too…
Louise says
Thanks Sara – No it is unusual and messy. I think he is getting annoyed with them TBH. They are just absolutely useless this company and he gave the deadline and they have ignored this. He has chased them but the more time they take the more interest I get – I am now seeing it like that as interest is on money owed at 8%.
Josh says
Hi Sara.
I’ve had a quick look through the comments pages but not found anything.
I had a quick final response from Cash Convertors (within 3 weeks of complaint). My complaint was for a ‘personal loan’ which was paid back over 6 months then rolled over for a larger amount. Within 2 days of first taking out the loan I took out ‘cash advances’ (what they call pdl I guess). These cash advances grew each month and I was borrowing from other lenders to make repayments on the personal loan, make the interest of the cash advances and to have money to live off, each month.
When I first contacted to ask for records of my loans, I had the info within a few days, for all of these personal loans and cash advances. All sent to me from CC.
So on my final response CC have said that they reject my complaint for the 2 personal loans. But the cash advances were underwritten by Money Solutions Ltd and that I would need to log a complaint directly with that company regarding irresponsible lending.
Is this right? Bearing in mind when taking both types of these loans I only ever dealt with one woman within a CC highstreet store. When I was also on my borrowing limits she was also urging me into a logbook loan. When I finally worked enough to get out of the whole (working a ridiculous amount of overtime) she was still trying to loan bigger sums when I was asking for gradually decreasing amounts.
Josh says
Also many thanks for your work on this site Sara. Just wondered if anybody has ever pressured you to shut it down because your help must be expensive for these companies. Obviously not as expensive as their ‘help’ for the desperate and naive.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
haha one day I will tell all…
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Cash converters are trying to wriggle out of refunds at the moment it seems. I suggest you send the complaint to the Ombudsman and please let us know how it goes.
Josh says
Thanks. Straight to the ombudsman without first contacting ‘Money Solutions Ltd.’? They seemed very helpful to start with, been quick so far.
I have another complaint with the Money Shop. 3 weeks and still no record of loans but they are investigating my complaint, although I never officially made a complaint, just informed them I was preparing to complain, as per the 1st template. Oh well since they have begun investigating (yeah right) I will start the 8 week counter with no record of what I loaned.
Many thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you have never dealt with Money Solutions, then yes, your complaint is against Cash Converters.
Debbie says
Cash converters rejected my complaint on the final day of the 8 weeks.18 loans in 14 months. They stated that because I had primark and supermarkets such as tescos on my statement that I couldn’t have been in a debt spiral.bearing in mind I have 7 children and still needed to feed and clothe them.they also said the advance loans were from someone else even though I just dealt with the same person in the shop every time.I have sent mine off to the ombudsman
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Tesco and Primark! OK, let us know how things go at the Ombudsman.
Mike says
Hi Sara
I have seen people expressing their gratitude to this site and of course yourself. You often say when people want to show their gratitude to make a small donation to CAB. How would I do this ?
Cheers and thanks
Mike
Sara (Debt Camel) says
google for your local Citizens Advice website. Each Citizens Advice is a small charity and many of them are suffering badly with cuts to their funding from the local council.
Lou7 says
Ooh that’s a great idea. I will google and make a donation too. It’s been an amazing site.
Mike says
Ok will do!!
Curtesy of Morses!! And SNC and MY JAR!!!
Lol !!
Debbie says
Sent case with WDA to ombusman. It went through the adjuacator first. The adjuacator has now messaged me to say WDA have agreed with him and are going to refund £652 to me. I have sent adjudacator bank details as he asked and am now waiting to hear from WDA regarding refunding money. Does anybody know what is meant to happen next. Should they just refund money straight away or will WDA contact me. Kind off in limbo. Do they write to you or is there a time they have to pay it. Please can someone advise who has experience with WDA refund timescale and procedure now
Thanks in advance x
Shannon says
They get 28 days to pay out. I had the same with WDA. 5 days after accepting I got email to say was passed to refunds team and received the refund two days later.
Lauren says
Hi,
I took out several payday loans from Wonga, Quickquid, Peachy and Speed Credit back in 2011-2013. I used the help of a company called Debt Reverse when the lenders started sending letters out when I couldn’t afford repayments and they helped me clear the debts. I made all the lenders aware I was seeking help from Debt Reverse and that I was on a payment plan but Speed Credit kept sending threatening letters and ended up adding on at least £500 of interest and fees. I’ve tried finding contact details for Speed Credit but they no longer exist, does this mean I can’t make a claim against them?
I also have Quickquid chasing me for £12, I finished my payment plan in 2015 and they only contacted me 2 years later via a debt collector saying I still owed them £12, I’m not sure if I should reply to them with a complaint about the irresponsible lending?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Speed Credit were closed down in 2013, you won’t be able to make a claim against them. But I suggest you make a claim against all the others, including QuickQuid.
John says
Just started the long process myself had quick response from quid market saying upto 8 week whilst they investigate ????.. 1st template letter sent to 11 payday loan companies so I sit and wait in anticipation.. one question wage day advance ??? We’re they under Different name previously?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Not so far as I know. They have Juo Loans, which is a guarantor lender brand. The parent company is Curo Transatlantic ltd.
MATT says
Hi All
Another update
7 weeks 1 day after complaining and UNCLE BUCK have come back with an offer of As a resolution, I am proposing to refund the interest and charges, plus 8% statutory interest per annum for the final rollover of loan two. This would result in a refund to you of £215.32. Interest paid for to these guys was £1100 and they have refused to negotiate so I have sent to FOS.
African Queen says
Hello All,
I would like to share my update on my complaint with Quick Quid.
As I posted before, QQ rejected my complaint so I went to the FOS. After 3 weeks, I got a call from the adjudicator on Monday of this week saying that they had offered on the loans that were less than 6 years old..They left one out and the adjudicator went back and fought it for me, without me asking and I received a call from him today saying that QQ had included that loan in their offer.
Details are:
Interest : £6280.10
Interest at 8% per annum (less tax) – £1924.43
Tax on interest at 20% – £473.86
Total Refund repayable – £8175.53
I have just sent the adjudicator the signed settlement form and I will let you know how long it takes to get the funds in my bank account.
Please keep fighting, be patient and remain positive. We will win in the end.
Huge thank you to Sara and as soon as I get the funds, I will be making a donation to my local CAB.
Good luck again to everyone and don’t give up xx
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Excellent – you can also get back £200 of that tax deducted if you are a basic rate taxpayer, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-payday-refund-get-back-tax/.
African Queen says
Thank you so much, Sara.
Hope you are out enjoying the lovely weather. I’m still at work but hope to get out soon :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes, sitting in the garden most of the day – the pleasures of working from home!
John M says
Hi Sara,
I received the following email from 247 Moneybox today:
Thanks for your email. Slight error with your calculation as the 8% interest is calculated as simple interest and so this would be significantly less than the £303.23 quoted.
We do not believe we have done anything wrong, and are confident in the checks carried out.
From loan 4 onwards, you have paid an interest amount of £583.63.
As a gesture of goodwill, I can potentially submit to the payments team a request that we offer the £583.63 as a refund.
As long as you are able to confirm this acts as full and final settlement.
Best regards,
Last loan was 24/10/2011 so I believe my 8% calculation is correct. Is this a diversion tactic to make me take the interest only or are they correct and it will be minimal? £300 is not an insignificant sum of money. This is still in FOS queue I am just talking to 247 Moneybox as they wanted to resolve this. Your advice on the interest would be appreciated.
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well I can’t see how you calculated the 8% interest so I can’t say that £303 is right, but it doesn’t sound wrong to me at all!
I don’t know if Moneybox 247 are paying out on over 6 year loans through the Ombudsmna. If they are disputing it, you may need to settle in for a very long wait to try to get the 8% extra.
Faye Oliver says
Hello
I’ve had a response from WDA today saying:
We would be grateful if you could confirm why, in view of the media focus and reporting on the payday lending sector since 2013, you believe you were unaware of the issues and your option to raise a complaint at that time.
Is there a right or wrong response to this?
TIA,
Faye
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The right response is to say exactly when and how you first heard about an affordability complaint. Did a friend or relative tell you? Someone at work? Did you see a Facebook ad for getting a refund and googled for it?
I guess you had never heard of an affordabilty complaint in 2013 – because almost none had. If you went to a debt adviser in 2013, they would not have suggested you made an affordability complaint. And if you had heard of them in 2013, point out that you would have complained – why would you have delayed?
Faye Fenton says
Thanks, Sara! Have replied using your advice above. Will let you know how I get on!
louise says
Hi Faye – what week did you get asked this how long into the complaint? my complaint is 8 weeks next week and they haven’t asked me this yet but I believe they are asking quite a few this question – WDA.
When is your complaint up? Many thanks, Louise..
Faye Fenton says
Hi Louise
About 7 weeks in, I’m 8 weeks this week so hoping for a response any day this week.
I pretty much said what Sara had commented above so will let you know how they respond to me.
Thanks,
Faye
Jonny says
I have raised a complaint against payday uk that is now with the FOS.
They have written to me asking for further info.
I had a spell of payloans with them in 2009 and then again in 2015.
I have received 2 letters from FOS with a complaint against mem consumer finanace and instant cash loans limited.
Does this mean that in the separate occasions I borrowed from them they traded under different names?
Looking on my bank statements in 2009 it was being debited by month end money and in 2015 debited by instant cash loans.
Is this then 2 separate complaints?
Thanks in advance
Shannon says
One is Payday UK and the other is Payday Express. They were two separate companies.
Jonny says
When i asked PDUK for SOA they sent for both 2009 and 2015 though :s
Shannon says
They were owned by the same parent company but traded individually.
John says
anyone dealt with ferratum??? Are these normally quick to reply.. so far replies from satsuma, WDA , uncle bucks, moneyboat and quick quid, early days I know but atleast their responding ????????????????
MATT says
I sent a complaint and request for a statement on 28/2/18. I have not had a response for either (other than 4 weeks in acknowledging my complaint)
Steve says
Hi, within the initial email template do I need to include a breakdown of my monthly expenses (which they’ll have already). I have previous gambling issues, therefore it won’t be a true reflection of my expenditure. Also, should I mention gambling.
Thanks in advance for your advice.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can change the template how you want, just deleting any bits that either aren’t relevant or you don’t think help explain your case. You can mention gambling if you want but many people don’t want to discuss this with a payday lender.
Jam Black says
Good morning,
I’ve sent through my complaint with Pay Day UK and today they have sent me an email requesting a bank statement from when i took out the loan and also a copy of my credit report. Is this normal practice? they have also mentioned failure to provide this information could effect my refund request. Many Thanks
Chris says
Hi Jam
It seems to be the norm with pduk and pdexpress. You don’t have to supply the detail, I did and got decent refunds back. Others haven’t, either way. You can send your case the FOS of the offer is no good.
Cheers
Chris
J b says
Any one had any luck with Piggybank and how long did it take for them to get back to you.
Pras says
Hi J b,
Piggy-bank replied to my first email including all loan details within 2 days. They wrote me their final response with a very good offer within 5 weeks of my second email. I accepted the offer and sent them my bank details. They replied stating that the refund will be processed within a week and will also have my credit file adjusted accordingly. I hope this helps. Good luck with your case.
Pras
Helen says
I only had two loans with PiggyBank but I thought it was worth a shot as the second loan was taken out the same day as the first was paid off.
I asked for repayment of interest for the second loan.
They refused, emails went back and forth, and in the end I put it to the ombudsman.
They found in my favour for both loans, very unexpected!
That was £450 I never thought I’d get, it’s definitely worth a shot at all the lenders, the worst that can happen is you don’t get anything.
DK says
Hello,
Currently waiting on 5 coming back. One of which I only had two with so not holding out much hope, although both were running alongside three other loans. I’ve sent a spreadsheet to all detailing how much I borrowed and repaid month by month;
Wonga (biggie!) b £16,705 p £20,456
Sunny b £4,438 p £6,903
Pounds to Pocket b £2,250 p £3,224
QuickQuid b £1,425 p £2,225
WizzCash b £600 p £873
Had 2 from PayDayUK as well but can’t find emails. Negligible amounts of £100 and repaid £129 or something and believe they’re slow at replying so assuming not worth the hassle to probably be rejected anyway.
It’s been two weeks since I complained to all 5. I’ve had acknowledgements and been told they have 8 weeks. I’m just curious, how would I know what a good offer is? I don’t want to to accept an offer to then realise I’ve shot myself in the foot…
I’ve been consumed by these since 2011. It’s ruined my credit file. I can’t get a car. I got rejected for a mortgage with my fiancé. I can’t even get a decent credit card. I’ve been unable to afford Christmas and birthdays. And the hardest bit, I can’t even afford our wedding. I literally own nothing in my name. My OH has everything and I pay him every month. It’s embarrassing. Still have one payment left with Wonga and three with Sunny. Should they stop taking repayments while this is ongoing?
Any advice on where I go from here wouldn’t be greeeeatly appreciated!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
A good offer would be to refund most f the interest you have paid, perhaps all except the first few loans. Make sure you ask for any negative information (late payments, defaults)to be deleted from your credit record. Why not come back here and ask if you are not sure?
If you can’t repay Wonga and Sunny and have enough to live on without borrowing again, then you should cancel the CPA to them at your bank today, don’t cross your fingers and hope a payday lender is nice…
DK says
Thanks so much Sara. Assuming we mean all except the first few from each individual company? Interest and charges in total at the minute is sitting at £8,265 so even 70-80% of this is a huge amount. I agree, I think I’ll come back and get some advice if they do offer anything. Although, had 9 Wonga loans totalling £4,030 and repaying £5,062 between June 2011 and March 2012, with repayments ranging between £187 and £910 each month when my salary was roughly £1000 per month. I believe it’s likely these won’t be considered for refund because of their age? Are the FOS likely to consider them? Or am I wasting my time for roughly £1000ish of a refund? Don’t want to take the Mick!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes the FO are considering cases over 6 years but these case will be VERY slow with Wonga who is arguing with the FO.
DK says
Thanks so much Sara. Assuming you mean all of the interest after the first few loans for each company individually? I agree, I think I’ll come back and ask if any of the companies make an offer. The only other thing is, 10 of my loans were between June 2011 and March 2012 meaning they’re older than 6 years. I’ve estimated the refund on these to be around £1000 and one of these, I paid £910 from my £1000 salary that month. I believe Wonga won’t look at older than 6 years. Is it worth taking these to the Ombudsman if that happens?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest looking at each case individually – what the offer is, how many loans before the 6 year point, what interest you paid before the 6 year point, what interest you paid after. No pointing in doing this now until you get responses.
Kaz says
Hi All,
Some advise would be great, Money Boat have come back and have only advised that the two of the loans out of six where un-affordable.
I have reviewed my accounts and 4 of the loans were un-affordable with the other two being affordable.
They are at present refusing to add the 8% interest either and not willing to negotiate further. Does this sound like I should take this further or accept? They have offered £552.00 when I have paid over £1000.00 in interest.
Many thanks
Kaz
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What does the interest on the 4 you think are unaffordable add up to? Were all the loans repaid on time?
Kaz says
Hi Sara,
The amounts add up to: £803.16. Loans were all paid on time baring the last one where I entered into an extended pay term but all interest was paid from what I understand.
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you are arguing about £250 plus whatever the 8% interest would come to. It’s up to you if you think it’s worth going to the Ombudsman for that – it’s not small change. Have they offered to remove the default / late payment marker from the last loan? That’s important for some people.
Kaz says
Hi Sara,
Thanks for coming back to me.
They haven’t agreed to removing anything from my credit file as they feel they lent to me correctly :(
I will go back to them today to see if this will be something they would consider also.
Many thanks
Michael Seabrook says
Hi there
Just a bit of an update. I complained to paydayuk, wageday advance and payday express in April 2017 about loans from 2010/2011
They said that it was too late as they were over 6 years ago.
Over a year on and the FSA agree about the 3 year extra time as I was not aware that I could complain. So they are now looking into my complaints :) fingers crossed
Emma says
Hi
Has anyone dealt with 247 moneybox? Are they classed as a payday company. Unsure if I can put a claim in with them?
I have had 11 loans over 11 months increasing the amount. It is being paid back on the 25th reissued on the 26th every time.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They are definitely a payday lender! Lots of people have won complaints about them. A loan every month for 11 months with the amounts increasing and no gaps between the loans sounds like an excellent case! Do you still have a loan outstanding?
Emma83 says
Hi Sara
Yes I still have a loan outstanding. Sorry have only just seen your reply.
I am in the process of sending everything to the financial ombudsman about pduk and then this is my next case to fight.
They loan amounts are increasing every month.
Thanks to this page as they have helped me so much with pduk
Ben says
I didn’t even have to go to the FOS with these they writ off my outstanding balance within 2 weeks of sending them a complaint email. I had 5 loans over 6 months so go for it!
Emma83 says
That puts my mind at ease so much! The stress of these loans are horrible! I took them as I couldn’t see away out when I was on maternity and it just got out of control!
I’ll defo be putting in a complaint with them too. Fingers crossed
lee says
Hi Debt Camel,
I have 3 claims pending since July 2017.Wonga has not been picked up and looked at yet but it’s Lending stream & QQ that are becoming a real pain. QQ claim in the ombudsman pile as QQ just blatantly ignored all emails to the FOS even though the adjudicator found in my favour on all my 16 loans. I am owed around £3500 with the 8%.
With Lending stream I accepted the FOS adjudicators findings on just 2 loans out of 12 although i didn’t agree with the findings and have worked out that i should be due £1000 out of about £2270 i was claiming. I only really accepted as my partner is in the process of losing her job as her company is insolvent. Lending stream are refusing to answer any correspondence as yet and the date set by the FOS is 24/04/2014. It makes my blood boil that these companies in question just ignore the FOS and the FOS seems to let them.
The lenders won’t leave you alone if you have any credit left and especially if you miss a payment, but if it’s the other way around no word from them.
Once i receive my money i am buying a new wig to replace the hair i have pulled out in this process.
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Wonga – I guess there are loans over 6 years in your case? Are they an important part of the case or just a few at the start and most are after 6 years?
Quick Quid – if they haven’t so far rejected the adjudicator decision, they may still either accept it or make an offer. Otherwise Ombudsman cases are taking 2-4 months at the moment and at least the 8% interest is adding up!
Lending Stream – if LS don’t accept this, I suggest you tell the adjudicator that you only agreed to the award to speed things up and that if it goes to the ombudsman you would like all 12 loans to be considered for a refund. LS could end up having to pay you a lot more money if the Ombudsman decides more loans should be refunded – this really does happen.
I know this must seem long, but it’s money that you had no idea you could have got back a year ago.
lee says
Hi Sara,
On the Wonga claim, the FOS said if i agree to knock the 3 that are older than 6 years they would start the ball rolling. I have agreed to this as these few loans were quite low anyway.
QQ had until 9/2/18 to reply to the FOS with its findings as they were sent the FOS findings the 1st week in Jan, so its been over 2 months awaiting an Ombudsman. Yes it’s just a waiting game.
Thanks for the reply.
Stavros says
Out good friends at Lending Stream. Initial complaint went in July 2017 been through the adjudicator and now the Ombudsman who have upheld my complaint and ordered them to repay 14 out of the 17 loans I had. It’s been 3 weeks now and no surprise LS haven’t contacted me despite me being kind enough to email them my bank details to speed the process up. They now have until Thursday to reply are they likely to reply by then or will I have to contact the Ombudsman to say LS have ignored their deadline?
John C says
Expect to see your refund on Wed / Thurs as they really do leave everything to the last second. Maybe drop them a little reminder copying in your adjudicator, I found that helped. Well done on your win
Stavros says
Thanks John I dropped them an email 2 weeks ago and nothing so sent them another on Saturday no reply as yet. They’ve got Until Thursday to meet the Ombudsman deadline.
Chaz says
Hi,
I had loans with:
5 X sunny 2015 b £1200 p £1800
6 X satsuma 2015-2018 £2000 p £3000 ( some balance still outstanding)
2017-2018 Quick quid 3 x b £1000 p £1500 ( some still outstanding)
2017-2018Ferratum 5 X b £600 p £1000
2017/2018 My jar 4 x b £2000 p £3000
2017 piggy bank 4 b £1600 p £2000 ( some outstanding)
I have lodged complaints with all lenders and I feel I have a strong enough case that these were unaffordable and all have acknowledged and I’m in about the 4th week now.
But I’m wondering what an ideal offer would be as I have no idea what to accept if/when I hear back from my lenders.
Many thanks
Chaz.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The “ideal offer” for a lender where there is no balance outstanding is a refund of all the interest you paid (That’s the difference between what you borrowed and what you repaid) PLUS 8% simple interest on the interest amounts PLUS removal of any negative marks (late payments, arrangements to pay, defaults etc) on your credit record.
The ideal offer where there is a balance is a bit more complicated. Separate all the loans to that lender that have been repaid in full and work out the interest paid on these, plus 8%. Then take any unpaid loans – often this is just the last loan – and work out what you borrowed and deduct from that what you have paid – this will give your “true balance if no interest is charged”. Then the interest you worked out on the repaid loans is first used to repay the tru balance and you get a refund of any extra – that (plus getting negative marks removed) is your ideal offer. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-refunds-defaulted-loan/ which has some examples which will make this clearer – and that article also covers important things such as cancelling the CPA with your bank and informing any debt collectors that the balance has been sold to.
But a less than ideal offer may still be very good!
None of your loans are very old, so the 8%s won’t add up to much. If Ferratum offered you a refund of all interest that would be £400 and the 8% interest would be less than £20 probably – not worth caring about!
Also the Ombudsman will often not give a refund for the first few loans. So if a lender offers you a refund for loans 3-8 that is probably a good result. Unless loans 1 & 2 were large and you have a good case for saying why the lender should have known that loan 1 was unaffordable, it may not be worth the delays of trying to take that to the Ombudsman.
But why not come back here if you have an offer you aren’t sure about? It is very annoying to realise later that you could have got a lot more.
John says
Anyone manage a response off ferratum?? says they have to be emailed from original email which I no longer have ??? I’ve sent on my current email address but somehow don’t think they will respond ? And suggestions ?
John says
Just had reply saying can’t discuss any thing as not from correct email address .. just not looking forward to questions in the phone off them ????..
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well you have to talk to them in this sort of situation. Ask them what information they need from you to identify you – date of birth, National Insurance number whatever.
Sean says
Can you ask payday loan companies to write off the debt on loans you are currently paying back as being unaffordable if you claimed to be in employment but were actually unemployed and only in receipt of benefits? Do they not have a responsibility to check the details being supplied are correct?
They were taken out in February and March of this year. There are six different lenders (Lending Stream, Mr. Lender, Piggy Bank, Satsuma, Wage Day Advance and Wonga) and I only borrowed once from each lender. They were amounts ranging from £300 – £1000.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is harder to win a one loan complaint, especially if your loan application was not accurate but:
– it is always worth making a complaint about any loan where you have a balance outstanding.
– the fact that loans are recent means they will definitely all have been on your credit record, so you will have a stronger case against the lender who gave you loans in March than the first couple you borrowed from as the later lenders should have seen your recent payday loans that were still outstanding. But if your credit record would have showed a lot of debt and missed payments or defaults before February, that will help with all your complaints.
– size does matter here, a lender only has to make “proportionate” checks. So you have a stronger case for the larger loans.
You won’t get the loans written off if the Ombudsman decides they were unaffordable, but the interest would be removed so you only repay what you borrowed. If removing the interest would still leave you with a lot too much debt to ever repay, then you should take some debt advice now rather than spend month pursuing refunds only to find you still need a Debt Relief order at the end of it.
With so many lenders, I suggest contacting StepChange now, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/help-payday-loan/
james r says
Advise required.
I have submitted irresponsible lending claims against 14 payday companies. I have had a number of good refunds the most being from PDUK and Payday express totalling £5750. Despite this refund only half of my loans were upheld. They asked for bank statements to consider the other loans. I did accept PDUK and Payday UK ‘ s offer in full and final settlement. I explained I could not supply bank statements as the loans were from 2008 – 2011. Natwest told me today they can supply statements going back 8 years (which I didn’t realise), so I could supply the statements I didn’t think I could. Can I reproached PDUK and Payday express and ask them to reconsider the “unable able to determine loans” even though I have accepted and received refunds from them as a final settlement???
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well it’s worth a try!
Lee says
Hi All,
I’ve handed two complaints to the FOS and I am waiting for them to be looked at one is with Lending Stream and the other is with PDUK. Lending stream refused my complaint point blank so I went straight to the FOS PDUK said the final 3 were irresponsible offering me £544 off an £800 balance. I’ve worked out in total on all of the 7 loans I had with them I paid approx £1350 in interest before I defaulted and left a balance of £800 of which the loaned amount was £640 I actually rolled one loan of £540 over 5 times before paying the balance of £700. With the interest of 8% and taking away the balance of £640 would anyone be able to tell me what I’m likely to get back i it is upheld with the adjudicator? The loans are from Aug 2011 to May 2012. The second question I have is the FOS have asked both for my business file and neither of them have replied after the cut off date so what would happen now?
Just to end on a positive note I’ve already received a payout for Mr Lender of almost £500 and had a balance of £800 with them wrote off. I only googled to see if payday loans had PPI and came across this website it’s been really helpful and addictive reading how all our guys have been getting on with your claims. Good look guys!
Andy M says
Hi, please could you help>. Basically, few weeks back received an offer from Sunny to refund all interest plus 8% [total of approx. $950] following my complaint, but I didn’t agree with them re the interest calculation. Emailed them back and they responded with explanation that the 8% was calculated from 25/11/16 when I took the loan. I knew this to be wrong as the last payday loan of any sort I had was in June 2013. I emailed to query this . Worryingly they have responded to apologise and to say they made an error and said the info that they have based this complaint on are particular to another customer and not based on any account I held and that they were first made aware of the error when i questioned the dates provided. They say they have no account in my name. As an offer of redress/compensation they have offered me £50 compensation for the time and inconvenience caused and assured me my details haven’t gone to any 3rd parties.
I just wonder what I should do now. should I take it no further and just accept the £50 or should I be taken this error further? Without checking my bank statements which I don’t have, I’ve no way of confirming if I ever did have a loan with them, though I suspect on reflection I may well not have as I sent out letters to various lenders as I’d had loans with several and couldn’t recall all of them due to passage of time and the sheer volume of them! Please could you help?? Thank you
Hazel says
Hi Guys
If im not interested in the money, but would like the defaults removed from my credit file (i have 8 defaults from various PDL companies inc Wonga, Ferratum, Wageday, Provident and Myjar) do you think it would be appropriate to make that point in my contact to the lenders.
Obviously the money would be great but im really focused on trying to clean up my credit file and put this awful mess behind me.
Are they more likely to settle if it doesnt cost them anything?
Thanks all
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, they are not more likely to settle. Just put in a standard complaint and if a lender makes you an offer don’t accept it unless it includes the removal for the defaults.
Roger Waters says
Hi,
I have complained to Ferratum on 27/02, on the same day I have received an acknowledgement email with timelines stating that they should provide final response within 8 weeks at a latest. I have received another email from them on 25/03 saying: “Further to my email acknowledging your complaint. We are still investigating the detail of your complaint. I apologise for the delay, and thank you for your patience. I will write to you again as soon as possible, and at latest within eight weeks of the date we received your complaint. This is within Financial Ombudsman guidelines.”.
Today is the last day of 8 weeks and they haven’t responded yet, what should I do?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send it to the Ombudsman and email Ferratum telling them you have done this. It may kick them into action.
Chasabeth says
Hi guys,
After referring my complaint against QQ to FOS in early September last year I finally got a response from the adjudicater finding in my favour on all but 1 loan. Mine had to be referred to a certain adjudicater as I had a flexloan. They emailed me at the end of last month to tell me this and gave QQ 2 weeks to come back to them.
I finally heard from the adjudicater today and she said that she’s waiting to hear from QQ about the best way to resolve my complaint!! I thought that as they found in my favour then the next thing was to pay me the money they owe. (Not sure how much it is as the adjudicater didn’t include a total in her response letter to QQ).
Is this QQ just delaying things? Has anyone else come across this from them or the adjudicater? I emailed straight back saying surely them paying me the money they owe would resolve the complaint?!
Steve says
That would resolve the complaint, yes. But the adjudicator’s findings are just their opinion on your complaint. They go back to QQ to see if they agree with the adjudicator’s findings. If they do, they will refund what the adjudicator has suggested (or make an offer to you). If QQ disagree, then it will be sent on to an Ombudsman. You could perhaps chase up QQ to respond to your adjudicator in line with their deadlines?
John says
after 2 hours of waiting for a ferratum call centre agent answer phone explained I’ve no longer got same email address or phone number to get into my old account .. she updated and said that’s fine she’ll send details to my new email address.. just had email back saying they need my old email address password and old phone number which I’d explained I hadn’t go no more.. back to square one ?????
Sara (Debt Camel) says
reply saying this!
Sally says
So fed up!
Tomorrow is the last day LS have to pay my refund and still I have not had a break down of all the interest and charges they are paying back to me! I have had no contact from them at all. This complaint went all the way to the Ombudsman! Now I’m unsure if I’ll even get the refund on the deadline! Don’t know how this company is still going!
Any advise please on how to deal with this.
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
if the refund doesn’t arrive tomorrow, inform your adjudicator. If it arrives but you aren’t sure it is right, tell your adjudicator and ask for a breakdown.
John says
Atleast sunnys replied with list of payday loans I’ve taken out the interest is shocking when you look at it ???? just the 8 week wait now for a response whilst they decide ????
Sara (Debt Camel) says
the 8 weeks started when you asked them for a list of your loans
John says
Great stuff Sara thanks for the info ???????? just had reply from payday uk n wow ???? can’t believe what I took out and paid back from 2013 n 2016 it’s shocking ???? .. glad I’m out of that hole now but be interesting if they drag their heels ????, 2nd template letter gone in tonight asking for refund ????
Adele says
If i put in a complaint to Piggybank whom i have just agreed a payment arrangement with will it compromise the arrangement? I appreciate them helping me and agreeing to an arrangement but was hoping i could wipe out most of the balance if a complaint was sucessful. Opinions please :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No it won’t affect the payment arrangement. You can add a sentence to the template complaint letter if you want saying you are happy to continue with the agreed repayment plan.
Carol says
Morning Good People, Wage Day Advance are becoming somewhat “a pain in the bum”. Just received this. Unfortunately we have no records of any loan being granted to you on our system.
If you have a copy of a credit agreement or any further details pertaining to this complaint, please send this to us to investigate further.
They came back with this before I supplied 2 of the additional things they wanted e.g. DOB, 1st line of my address and postcode. They have my customer ID, agreement number and e-mail. They are beginning to really annoy me. What shall I reply with please? Thanks, Carol
I’m beginning to think they don’t want to pay me anything and don’t want to do any work. They don’t know me though!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you have a bank statement showing a loan from them?
Carol says
Hiya Sara, I have ripped the house to pieces and found a credit agreement (thank goodness I’m a hoarder)
Liam says
Good Morning
I should start by saying I have a serious gambling addiction which I’m on the road to beating, 2 months clean.
I’ve taken out numerous payday loans with various companies over the last 2/3 years which I’ve put in complaints to but I was wondering if 118118 fall into the same category as these regarding complaints? I borrowed £1,000 back in March 2017 paying back monthly £110 for 18 months. I came clean to my family in December who helped me clear a number of these loans but I’m ashamed to same I wasn’t strong enough to stop and fell straight back into gambling. In January I received numerous texts from 118118 saying I was a great customer and that I could borrow another £1,000 (1/4 of what I owed in other debts) but I thought it would help ease my monthly payments so I took out another loan, less than 40 days paying back my other one.
I claimed my expenditure was less than it was to make sure I got accepted but if they done a check on my credit file they would of seen over 80+ payday loans and roughly 5 personal loans in the last 2/3 years.
L says
Hi Liam. I complained to 118 explaining I thought my 2nd and 3rd loans from them were lent irresponsibly (I said I thought the 1st was reasonable because I’d told them it was for debt consolidation). They replied on the last day of the 8 weeks agreeing with me and wrote off interest on both – over 4k. This is the only one I haven’t had to take to the FOS so definitely worth a try. Good luck.
MATT says
UPDATE
Ferratum replied (this is their last day of 8 weeks).
Standard bull but with this added…. You built up an excellent credit record with Ferratum and are a valued customer. So much so, that when you applied for our premier Plus Loan product we were able to approve this. This loan is only available to our very best customers who we are confident can afford the monthly instalments.
Again the two Plus Loans were paid early. Both were scheduled to be paid back over 5 months but one was paid over 3 months and one over 4 months. Again suggesting that the payments were made without any issues.
I have reviewed the loans and cannot agree that Ferratum lent irresponsibly. Interest is the cost of borrowing money and Ferratum have not acted unfairly in charging this. You had the benefit of the loans. All charges are detailed in the terms and conditions of the loans provided and agreed to at the time of application. This documentation forms the legal basis for what was agreed at the point the loan was provided.
However, as a gesture of goodwill and in full and final resolution of the complaint we can refund £300.00 to you. If you provide a bank account number and sort code this will be sent by faster payment.
I have sent to the Ombudsman. Being one of their “very best customers” I am not sure is a compliment :-)
Roger Waters says
Hi Matt,
When have you sent initial complaint to Ferratum? I mean what date? 27 February? Because in my case – I have complained to Ferratum on 27/02, on the same day I have received an acknowledgement email with timelines stating that they should provide final response within 8 weeks at a latest. I have received another email from them on 25/03 saying: “Further to my email acknowledging your complaint. We are still investigating the detail of your complaint. I apologies for the delay, and thank you for your patience. I will write to you again as soon as possible, and at latest within eight weeks of the date we received your complaint. This is within Financial Ombudsman guidelines.”.
I guess yesterday was the last day of 8th week.
MATT says
Hi Roger
28th FEB
I sent them a gee up email saying if I do not hear today I will refer to FOS and an hour later they responded.
MATT says
Hi All
Another update and a very Happy one.
QUID/SUNNY have upheld my complaint to the sum of nearly £3k. They have agreed to pay back in full the difference between what was borrowed and what was paid. In their words to “to return you to the position you would be in had you not been granted a loan”.
Sara I cannot thank you enough for this page. I still have a long way to go but light at the end of the tunnel has just appeared after years battling crippling debt.
louise says
Well – awaiting WDA the 8 weeks is up tomorrow. Is this a positive if they haven’t responded with an update before this time. I presume they will respond tomorrow. What happens if they don’t? They are aware it is up tomorrow.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No news is no news. It’s not good or bad.
If they don’t respond, send the case to the Ombudsman and tell WDA this.
louise says
Thank you Sara – I will I am on it Close of play tomorrow and I hope I have a positive outcome or it is FOS and I will email them to advise of this.
J says
Hi Louise – if it helps, WDA took the full 8 week’s and replied to me on the last possible day. I was very shocked to receive an offer to remove all loans from my credit record, refund all interest on all loans below 6 years and pay 8% stat interest on top – to the tune of £3.5k.
They are looking at some cases properly it seems, but I know a lot of people have received very random offers on here.
I hope they get back to you tomorrow – as Sara says, if their doesn’t make sense or seem fair, then just take it straight to the FOS. Good luck with it.
Benjamin Harding says
Hi Sara
Here’s one for you I had a loan with onstride last year which I fell into arrears on, I made a complaint to them regarding affordability stating I was a compulsive gambler and my parents were having to to take equity out of their home to pay off the loan…..they didn’t uphold my complaint which is fair enough as it was just the one loan. This didn’t go to the ombudsman as I had many others that were better cases with other lenders.
Low and behold less than 3 months after making the complaint I received an email from them saying I was eligible for another loan, despite my previous complaint and them being made aware of my situation they leant me £2000 causing my gambling to spiral out of control once again….back to square one I am behind with the payments and they have once again not upheld my complaint dispite all the previous warnings I had given them about my personal circumstances….not a clue where to go with this one!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
To the Ombudsman!
Benjamin Harding says
My issue is this loan is only a few months old so the refund on interest paid will be pennies…could there be a case where they are made to offer more compensation than what is the norm?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The norm here is for them to remove the interest from the outstanding balance – which should be quite a lot! You can ask for the loan to be written off, but that would be very unusual.
C says
Evening all,
Another success this week.
Refunded approximately 70% of what I worked out to be refundable with 8% interest plus every loan to be removed from my history.
Over £15k refunded by 4 lenders (pduk,pdex,wda,sunny) before the ombudsman had to get involved.
One with money shop is at 8 weeks tomorrow and another four already at the FOS.
I’ll keep you posted and a handsome donation is being made to my local CAB in thanks to Sara.
All the best everyone????
Pacman says
Hi Sara
Had some good news today safety net credit have accepted my offer at the adjudicator level so that’s brill. Almost 6k back.
I have sent my letter of acceptance back to adjudicator.
My question is do you know roughly how long they take to process the payment?
I just want to say thank you so much for your help on this it has really helped get my life back on track.
David mallory says
Well done Pac-Man.
I have one at the moment with them 60 loans or times I’ve borrowed since June.
What was
Your story?
David
Pacman says
Hi David,
I’ve been using them since 2015 with a total of 402 loans / borrowed.
I borrowed around 33k and paid back about 39k
So that is a nice win. Certainly brightend up my day :-)
David mallory says
And with all that they still made you go to the ombudsman?
Pacman says
Originally they offered me 2k but wouldn’t budge anymore then that so I then took it to the ombudsman.
It was worth the wait
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well done! SafetyNet Credit usually pay out quite quickly (see https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refund-payout/) but I don’t remember anyone coming back aand saying recently – could you?
Pacman says
Hi Sara,
As soon as I find out I will let you know.
Thank you :-)
Dan says
Hi Pacman,
I received a refund from SafteyNet recently and it took around 7 working days. They did say in their initial email it would be processed with 24 hours but followed it up with a second emailing stating it would take 7 working days due to the high number the were currently processing.
David mallory says
Hi Sara
I had an email from the I think the ombudsman today saying he thinks out of my 4 loans I had with QQ the following.
Saying loans 1 and 4 they would need more info. 3 QQ looks like they have agreed and 2 he believes they should refund my interest and 8% on a long dating back to March 2012
Do you know what happens now?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds rather odd – is this an ombudsman or from an adjudicator at the FOS? Is he asking you (or QQ?) for any more info on 1 & 4?
David mallory says
Hi Sara it’s from adjudicator
In the section how to put things write it reads.
Loan 2 refund all interest and charges that mr xxxxx pains on the loan
Pay interest 8% a year on all refunds from the payment date
Remove all negative information on credit file
Offer on loan 3
Refund all interest on loan equating to £587
Add 8% interest £244
20% tax deduction £48
Redress to be paid to you £783
Relive all from credit file
With loan 1 and 4
If mr xxxxx would like to provide us with addictional information by 4th May we can look at these loans again.
Lon 2 please get in touch by 4th May you let us know if you agreee with me and willing to settle the complaint in relation to loan 2. I have outlined above how to put things right.
If you disagree with what I have said about any of the loans please let us know why and send any additional information you have
You can also ask the ombudsman to make a final decision but unless you have new information. It’s unlikely their decision will be different to mine.
If we don’t hear back from you by the 4th May an ombudsman will make the final decision based on the information we have so far.
That’s basicalky what they have said Sara so is that what they have sent to quick quid and I’m just to wait until I hear more or do I need to email them/ring them to go though things
Regards
David.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK I suggest you read the previous stuff from the adjudicator about loan 1 & 4 – why was he unclear about those loans? What do you think would help him to make a decision? This could just be you writing about them in more detail or he may want to know something specific or see something specific.
I can’t see why he is treating loans 2 & 3 differently? It may just be that QQ has already agreed to refund 3, if that’s the case and you are happy with loans 2 & 3 you can just say yes. But as he has said he will look at more info for 1 & $ I suggest you try to provide that.
David mallory says
It’s becuase I have been unable to supply them
With bank statements. He basically says all are unaffordable but then goes on to say he unable to say if better checks would have made a difference.
But that he belives 2 was unaffordable and I can only assume they have made an offer to the adjudicator on Loan 3 already.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well you either have to get the bank statements or accept the offer
embob says
hi any advice please.i had 10 loans witj lending stream from march 2016 to sept 2016.i sent them a letter for a refund of interest due to irresponsible lending.i had a reply saying they have done nothing wrong as they done all the affordable checks and therefore refuse my claim.any advise as to what to do next?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send it straight to the Ombudsman! That is a lot of loans in a short period – after the first couple Lending Stream should have asked themselves if you could really afford the loans … because they were probably making your situation worse!
Jayne Smith says
Hi
If possible if I could have some advice please? I have a number of payday complaints in process at the moment but I have had a reply from SafetyNet Credit. Briefly over a period of 7 months I borrowed a total of £6,213.92 (32 transactions) and repaid £6,024.56 (interest £1,142.71). I am default with them and they are staining my outstanding principle balance is £975.37.
They are offering me the following:
Interest refund £819.31
8% Interest £78.38
Offer to write of remainder owed £77.62
Should I go back to them with my calculations (taken from statements) and ask for a reconsideration or go directly to the Financial Ombudsman?
TIA
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how much was the last loan? have you made any payments to it?
Jayne Smith says
Sorry Sara, unsure how to answer as I see Safety Net is an accumulation (top up) loan is that correct? Between Jun-Nov 16 I struggled but kept on top of payments. After that I took another £1,606.41 in 6 separate transactions repaying £730.06 leaving the outstanding balance of £975.37.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, let’s look at this from a different angle as actually your case mey be starightforward….
Do you agree the following is accurate? “I borrowed a total of £6,213.92 (32 transactions) and repaid £6,024.56 ”
If it is, then so far you have repaid less than you borrowed. In this situation an offer to wipe out any outstanding balance is a good one and I suggest you accept. This way of looking at it ignore what is labelled as interest and what 8% interest could be added on, but for recent borrowing it is a good way of approaching the problem.
But you do need to be sure that the figures are correct.
Also if you have any late payments or defualts on your credit record, you need to ask LS to remove those.
MATT says
UPDATE
So all my complaints sent 8 weeks ago are now with the FOS.
I settled successfully with Peachy (within a week offered £800 and negotiated to £1100 about 75 per cent but happy as responded quickly and without fuss) and yesterday with QUID/SUNNY for the full interest (very happy with this one.
Question. How long does it usually take for an Adjudicator to pick up a case, or is it a case of a piece of string? Happy to sit back and wait as without this site I would never have known I could claim anything! Just interested to know the potential timescales from here on in.
Thanks
Matt
Ben says
I submitted a complaint to the FOS back in September – Adjudicator upheld my complaint in February, lender disagreed, got sent to the queue for the ombudsman and got picked up on the 12th April, the end is insight – be prepared for potentially a long wait.
Dan says
Hi Sara
Wonga refused my complaint. So I will take this to the FOS.
They have asked for my statements 3 months before and 1 month after all loans taken. I was gambling all day every day with my loans. Will sending statements completely littered with horrible gambling transactions hurt my case? (Do they make judgements against gamblers)
Neil says
It shouldn’t make a difference, i’m in the same position as you. but what do you have to lose? If you don’t send the information you get nothing back. If you send it in you might get something back.
Steve says
Neil is spot on – excellent advice. Mine were the same and they were considered as part of the case and actually counted in my favour. I stopped gambling a few months before putting in these complaints and would suggest you do the same – otherwise anything you get back will just end up in the bookies’ pockets!
Dan says
Im in the same boat, but you need to look at it this way.
If you had a gambling issue, you clearly shouldn’t have been lent any more money. So where they doing the necessary checks?
I can tell you for sure they never asked me about gambling etc, and it was an issue. Would a gambling addict admit to the issue, meaning they were refused a loan? No, they would lie to get the cash.
Your lending pattern should indicate there was an issue, as mine did. With 3/4 lenders.
Give it a whirl!
Dan says
Thanks guys. Helpful!
And yes Steve, I’m happily 5 months clean or gambling and counting :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Here is an article which has links to some published Ombudsman decisions where gambling was an issue – it should reassure you! https://debtcamel.co.uk/gambling-payday-loan-refunds/
Stavros says
Today was the deadline for refund for Lending Stream they emailed yesterday morning with the amount and asking for bank details to which I replied straight away. Still no sign of the funds be amazed if they are in at 5pm tonight so I’ll be straight on the phone
sally says
My deadline was 25th they sent me a breakdown on the £25th the day my refund was supposed to be processed! I called them and they said refund should be with me on Friday or latest Monday! ????
Gary says
Had the same with lending stream, deadline was the 26th and still no sign of the money. When I call them just get told 24-48 hours.
Also had the same with payday uk, deadline was the 26th, no sign of money, they are now lying about the date I sent through my confirmation and say the payment deadline is another two weeks!
Sally says
My deadline was 25th and I called today and they said wait another 24-48hrs which is ridiculous!!!
They said they are having some technical issues I have informed the FOS. But I don’t think LS are bothered.
Steve says
Hi, could anyone tell me any experiences they’ve had with claims against ‘Drafty’? Just not sure whether to send a claim as it’s not really a payday loan, more of an overdraft situation. Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They are pretty small, but there has been a lot of success against QuickQuids flexi loan product which I think is similar.
louise says
Help Help Help please Sara!
Response WDA – this afternoon week 8 – final day:
Uphold my complaint – for loan 3 and loan 4 but loan 1 and loan 2 are time barred (2011) as over the 6 years.
Figures are:
Total paid £2074.05
Total borrowed £925.00
Interest paid £1149.05
In her final response she said “refund of all charges and interest on loans 2 and loan 3” – think an error due to the rest of the email in line with time barring and can’t redress for loan 1 and loan 2. Looked at loans 3 and 4.
My argument is loan 2 – was rolled 7 times (month after month) and interest for that loan is £767.04 : so I want this one included and I was in an IVA at this time and I have provided proof of this.
Redress is: £450.81 on loan 3 and loan 4. What do I respond as said that the first 2 over 6 years – should I respond and how?
Calculations: £330.00 interest
8% interest £120.43 ( this is from 2012 loans)
Minus tax £-30.11
Total payable £450.81
What are you thoughts? The loans for 3 and 4 were from 31/5/2012 and 29/6/2012 I am unsure if her figures are accurate. Thank you so much.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you want a refund for loan 2 – and being in an IVA and rolling it 7 times sounds like a good case! – then you need to send the case to the Ombudsman. The case is likely to be slow.
louise says
I was going to respond and ask for this as well? what do you think they will say? I can live with loan 1 as that was small but was in an IVA then too – I thought I could negotiate with my figures etc and then say or you can settle loan 3 and loan 4 and loan 1 / 2 will go to the Ombudsman>
Do they do the negotiations?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I’m not sure what you are proposing to suggest to them? They are refunding 3 & 4 in full, aren’t they? So then the question is should they refund loan 2 – is that what you would propose? If it is, well you can try, it will only take a few days.
louise says
Yes as loan 2 was a rolled loan for 8 months? I thought I will give it a whirl – and email with a proposal. Yes 3 and 4 in full I can let loan 1 go but loan 2 – it is obvious this was lent irresponsibly – interest and 8% for this one is £1000 alone.
DK says
Louise, do you mean if you accept the resolution on loans 3 and 4, does that mean you accept that they’re not upholding 1 and 2? Because I thought if they came back with a resolution you were comfortable with for loans 3 and 4, you can accept this as well as accepting loan one isn’t being upheld 1, and then take loan 2 to the ombudsman if you felt it was also unaffordable. Might be wrong tho! Help would be appreciated!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So far as I know, only Payday Uk and Payday Express are letting people split cases, agree a settlement on some loans and still pursue a complaint on others.
louise says
Yes DK – I will accept loan 1 to take off they have accepted loan 3 and loan 4 so if I accept they reconsider loan 2 or can I accept 3/4 and take loan 2 to Ombudsman? but Loan 2 I want this also as I have reasons for this one it is obvious so I want to accept now loan 3 and 4 but loan 2 I want to not lose?
This is a cop out I think this 6 year and didn’t complain within 3 years – this is the highest loan with roll over and they decide on this rule they wont pay it – shocking??
I have emailed the complaint officer who sent it me and put my case forward – given a few solutions so I will let you know. I have explained if she can respond accordingly in the final response they want me to contact them with my bank details for a quick redress?
louise says
Well email from Money Shop apologies we have not reached our deadline of 8 weeks but we are continuing with our investigations?
Still awaiting my statement from these people? Do I just wait as I have no information on them?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I would send it to the Ombudsman. In a month’s time you can send them a Subject Access Request without paying a £10 charge (see https://debtcamel.co.uk/free-access-data-gdpr/) if they haven’t yet supplied a list of your loans.
louise says
Thanks Sara – these loans are old ones though also does that matter? As if I had known Id of submitted this earlier? I don’t have the information but I know they do but they are going on about time barred.
louise says
Great thanks will do that tomorrow and await there response. Do they usually do this and take longer?
Josh says
Hi Louise,
Similar for me with the Money Shop.
Emailed them to ask for statements, they replied that they would investigate my complaint (i hadn’t made a complaint but informed them I was preparing to make a complaint). I replied that I am still requesting a statement of all loans. No reply to that, nothing posted to me (cash converters replied and sent statements within 3 days)
4 weeks after initial reply I got this:
“Although you were advised that we try to issue our final response within a period of four weeks from receipt of your complaint, we are sorry to inform you that our investigation is not yet complete.
As per the complaints procedure enclosed in our previous letter, a ‘Final Response’ to your complaint will be issued to you in writing once our investigation has been completed. You will receive our ‘Final Response’ within the eight weeks timescale permitted by the Financial Conduct Authority.”
Looks like they’re struggling to meet 8 week deadline or more likely delaying and hoping we forget or give up!
C says
I’m waiting for MS aswell, today is my 8 week stage and of to the ombudsman it’s gone. ????
J says
I’ve had exactly the same as Josh – called to chase up yesterday and was told they still had until 12/05 to respond, and would hopefully respond by then.
Also haven’t received a list of loans despite emailing to chase that up, and as Josh said, they are investigating my “complaint” without me having made one – only ever having asked for my loan details.
Definitely the most annoying ones to deal with so far for me.
Let us know how you get on, and good luck.
louise says
Thankyou guys – Ive sent to the Ombudsman re money shop! I won’t be giving up I’m fighting!
C says
I found this helpful when challenging time frames with some of the the lenders delay tactics.
https://handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/DISP/1/4.html?date=2006-08-31
All the best
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You appear to be looking at a very out of date version of DISP. The current one is here and is quite different: https://handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/DISP/1/4.html
C says
Thanks Sara.
Good old google.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Indeed! I hadn’t realised how the rules have changed. The old ones are obviously the reason some firms still send out holding letters at 4 weeks.
Mark says
After a year of complaints to numerous lenders with great success my last one is with Safeloans with whom I had loans every month for 3 years..They were smaller amounts compared to the other lenders i had at the time but 3 years seems a very long time to keep lending.Sll responded saying they did nothing wrong so have sent the case to FOS.I wondering how it will unfold with them because i have not seen any complaints to them on here.
Also what is the deadline on awaiting for refunds from Lendimg Stream.I received a mail from them 3 weeks ago asking to confirm my bank account of which i did ASAP but as yet nothing has happened
Sara (Debt Camel) says
LS are very slow.
Eric says
Good Morning
I sent in my complaints roughly 5/6 weeks ago and in my email I asked my lenders to cancel any collection activities while my complaint is being looked into. They all replied saying they had acknowledged the complaint. Today I’ve looked at my bank account after being paid to see that 3 of these have ignored my emailed after saying they acknowledged them and have taken the payment. Leaving me with next to nothing to get through a whole month.
Where do I stand with this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is a shame you didn’t cancel the CPAs with your bank! Never trust a payday lender to do the right thing…
Cancel the CPA immediately and phone the payday lender up and complain and ask for the payment to be returned.
Stephen says
Hi, I am totally new to all of this and while reading most of the articles online and IM still struggling where to go with this..
I started taking wonga loans out here and there around 2011 since then the odd £20 a week escalated up to £700-£1000 per month it got to a point where I was taking a loan out immediately after being paid. it got that bad where I had to use other lenders such as quick quid, lending stream, sunny, pounds to pocket amongst others sometimes at the same time after I had already defaulted with Wonga as I couldn’t afford the repayments each month. This essentially lasted for a good 2-3 years other debts such as council tax, energy bills spiraled out of control to a point where I became severely mentally ill and have since ended up with countless defaults and CCJ’s from catalog bills. I’ve managed over the years to bring my debt down from over £15000 to over £5000.
My point is this worth trying as I believe since stopping paying these payday loan companies I believe most of my payday debts where written off or would I still have a case for applying for any refund or compensation for any amount I did pay to them over the two years I was regularly paying them? Also, I cannot for the life of me remember my original email used for these accounts or the reference numbers associated with them what personal information should I give to them so they can find my details.
Any advice what to do next would be great?
Thanks
Stephen
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Wonga may well have written of your last loan but if you owed the other lenders then those debts will probably be sold to debt collectors and you may end up being taken to court for a CCJ. Making a complaint may “wake up” these old debts, but it’s pretty unlikely they will have all stayed asleep.
You probably have good cases for refunds, it will depend on the case against each individual lender. Your name is pretty unusual, that and your date of birth should be enough to locate your loan records.
louise says
Email this morning from the Ombudsman (on a Saturday) to state they have my Onstride financial complaint and are now looking into it – says on the email Euronet Cash LLC T/A On stride financial.
Will keep you updated. Think it may be a long wait but Ive lost nothing so I will wait.
African Queen says
Quick Update:
A week and one day after I returned the settlement form to my adjudicator accepting the offer made by Quick Quid, I have received the payment in my account this morning.
Donation made to the CAB.
Anyone waiting – please don’t be discouraged. Hang in there xx
louise says
Well done African queen – can I ask how long since submitting your complaint is it picked up by an adjudicator looked at and a decision made. I know it depends on the individual case.
Many thanks
African Queen says
Hello Louise,
3 weeks after submitting my complaint, I got a call from the adjudicator saying that he had received an offer from QQ for some of the loans. He then said he was going to ask them to consider another loan as he felt they were being unfair. He called back 2 days later to say that QQ had agreed – the difference to the refund was another £3.5K. I accepted the offer and sent back the settlement form. A week and a day later, the money is in my account. I know the waiting can be hard but it will be worth it in the end. Good luck xxx
louise says
Hello African Queen,
Thank you for the information. That was quite quick then the FOS are still awaiting PDUK information – This was over 3 weeks ago that they received my information and I also sent my statements to PDUK so I chased them up on Friday – here is hoping. It was 7k I paid in interest with PDUK. I have other ones with FOS at the moment but they are mainly loans (larger amounts) I think these are quicker.
Did you submit all your bank statements and credit file? Well done! xxx
African Queen says
Hello Louise,
My pleasure – we are all in this together :)
I sent my bank statements and credit file by post to the FOS. Not sure if it helped, but I highlighted all the payments to QQ on the statements. That may have made it easier for the adjudicator to spot, perhaps? As they say, every little helps :)
Interestingly, my complaint to WDA has just been declined so I will be sending it to the FOS tomorrow. I will let you know what timelines I get with this one.
Fingers crossed for you and hoping to hear your good news soon xx
louise says
Hello African Queen,
I did this for PDUK to FOS and highlighted also the other payday loans for those periods along with my incomings – I also sent to PDUK.n I am still awaiting as they haven’t sent the information over to FOS after 3/4 weeks so they have chased it up!
WDA settled with me loan 3 and loan 4 – loan 2 I am gutted I lost out on as had been rolled so many times but I called FOS and they said due to the timescale over 6 years – may not be able to do anything about this so I made the decision.
Yes – we all deserve some money back I am keeping on fighting will let you know the outcome good luck also with yours xx
Richard says
I’ve recently had a result from WDA,they have offered me a settlement on 1of 10 loans for a total of £789.jow lone does it normally take for payment to be made?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That doesn’t sound like a good offer at all! Unless there were very long gaps between the loans, I suggest you send your case to the Ombudsman to look at.
Richard says
I have accepted £651 and 8% interest = £138 total £789.36,that all my interest and fees paid back on all of the 10 loans,gotta be happy with that because all the other amounts were small loans.how long does payment normally take?
Took Wonga to the FOS for 54 loans from nov 2013 to may 2017 totalling £16900 in loans and £2100 in interest and fees =18958 altogether,hoping for a result around late June early July.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, sorry you wrote “a settlement on 1of 10 loans” and that didn’t sound good!
WDA are a bit erratic on payout timings, it could just be a few days, maybe longer but they don’t drag everything out for 28 days routinely.
Fingers crossed for your Wonga case !
Matt boddy says
Hey there , I had a email off MyJar saying that they would refund some of my loans and clear my existing loan . Which I am happy with in there email they didn’t say what to do how to get the refund ? I have sent a email saying I accept the offer but have heard nothing back from them ? Anyone had any issues
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They are normally fine – how long is it since you accepted their offer?
Lee Sharratt says
Agreed a £1330 with wonga, how long does it take to pay out anyone know?