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?
Stephen says
Hi Sarah
Only stumbled across this site couple of months back, never knew I could claim anything back, so thank you, a was in a serious debt spiral with payday lenders over many years…. I had an email from PDUK today after my initial compaint 6 weeks ago. 1st loan responsible lending (which I accept) othet 18 are unable to determine, and I have to send in bank statment for certain month’s, am OK doing this, however some of these months I have alot of debit card payments in River Island and Zara will this affect my complaint.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s hard to tell, sorry it depends on the details of your case.
Louise says
Hi,has anybody had any success through the fo with money shop loans over 6 years old?. Thankyou.
Casey says
Hi so today I got my response from sunny .. 1 day away from deadline day. They said they did do credit worthiness checks ext however they said they are partially upholding my complaint as they said there were indications at different points in time where they shouldn’t of allowed me to borrow. on 18 loans out of 56. The loans they have chosen are random and include the the first loan .. bizarre. They are offering just over 500 pound but I have calculated that on all loans it would be nearer 2800 so don’t think it’s a fair offer.
The loans were over a 2 year period .. top up loans .. taken a few days later concurrent loans with other providers on credit file etc
To the ombudsman ?
Anyone else have partial upheld complaint and take to the ombudsman ? If so what was the result in the end ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Oh I think that sounds like a case to ask the ombudsman to look at. It’s common to take a poor offer to the FOS. In case you are wondering, if you could end up with less, that doesn’t happen!
Casey says
Thanks so much for your advice Sara. I will. I’m so glad I found this forum. .. it’s excellent!!
I will keep you posted.
Thanks again
louise says
Evening all – well we are 4 weeks on and the FOS have still not received my case file from PDUK – they gave them another deadline of the 1.5.2018 and still awaiting – I even sent them my bank statements PDUK and I called them they said they couldn’t read the account no clearly – They didn’t bother to let me know so I could have sent fresh ones!
They seem to do what they want when they want these payday lenders – not adhere to timescales and get away with it but quick enough to take the money and loan after loan!
Eric says
Hi all
I sent in complaints to several lenders 6 weeks ago and haven’t heard anything back. I’m looking back at some of my emails and thinking I could add more detail to my complaint now I’ve thought more about it. Is it best to leave it as it is until they respond or send a follow up email adding additional information?
Thank you
Liz says
Hi all,
So glad I have found this forum – I have been struggling with borderline personality disorder and payday lenders for years and years. I am now on the road to recovery, but this is the hardest door to shut. I had no idea I could get a refund until I stumbled upon this, and was going to attempt to live off less than £100 a month an hour ago! So thank you!
I have had to take out two personal loans in order to attempt to fix payday loans, but still owe Sunny, Piggy Bank and My Jar. As Sunny are the most irresponsible (lending up to four loans to me every month for the past three years), I have used the brilliant sample letter provided here to put a complaint forward.
I have also recently separated my (unfaithful) husband-putting me into even more financial hardship.
How likely do you think it is that I will receive a refund from Sunny? And does anyone know how long they take to deal with a complaint?
C says
Welcome Liz
You’re not alone with your troubles as I’m sure you’ve read through the old posts.
Sunny can come in low initially, so you may be in for a wait through the FOS but from what you’re saying, you appear to have a good case.
All the best and keep us posted and keep asking if you need advice and support.
Cheers
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You will probably get a reply from Sunny in 6-7 weeks.
If you still owe money to Piggy Bank and MyJar, put in complaints to them straight away. Also you can complain to the personal loan lenders – I’m guessing these were at high-interest rates?
And tell your bank to stop the CPA to Sunny, Myjar and piggybank so they can’t help themselves to your money leaving you needing to borrow again.
Liz says
Hi
I didn’t borrow from a piggy bank as regularly as sunny – unfortunately sunny was my go to because it was so easy!
This is my first loan from my jar, so doubt that I have a case with them?
This forum is a god send!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is always worth complaining about any loan where you have a balance – sometimes these are the easiest complaints to win as the lender may remove the interest so you have a lot less to pay. And as the loan from Myjar was recent, they should have seen the other personal loans on your credit record and realised you couldn’t afford their loan.
Liz says
Finally got an e-mail back from Sunny saying that they have received my complaint and it takes up to 8 weeks.
I have now got a change of address, should I reply telling them this? I don’t want baliffs showing up at my landlady’s house is all!
Also, will my account be frozen for the ongoing of the complaint – or will I have to do this myself?
I have not yet contacted PiggyBank or MYJAR regarding this, as I am still unsure as to whether I will have a case – as I only took from MYJAR once and this loan is still ongoing (now I am seperated I will struggle to repay this) and I did not get a PiggyBank as regularly as others.
Would it be worth filing a complaint with Peachy as well, as I did not take from them as regularly either? My loan with Peachy is currently completely paid off.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
A bailiff isn’t possible until the lender has gone to court for a CCJ – and that won’t happen while a complaint is ongoing, including if it goes to the ombudsman.
Also see https://debtcamel.co.uk/debt-stop-bailiffs/ which I wrote when another reader here has asked the same question!
But it is always a good idea to tell your lenders of a change of address.
You can ask Sunny to freeze the account or offer them an affordable monthly payment. Some lenders won’t take any payment, some insist you have to pay something. You should cancel the CPA with your bank for all lenders – get back in control of what comes out of your bank account.
I always think it’s worth complaining about any loan where there is a balance or you borrowed from them more than once. Myjar, Piggybank and Peachy should have seen all the lending on your credit report!
Casey says
Hi Liz,
I put in a complaint with Sunny and they took 1 day short of the 8 weeks to get back to me … just the other day.
My case is similar in that I have 2 years borrowing with them every month. 56 within an 18 month to 2 year period. They only partially upheld my complaint (offering £500 including wiping a current loan of £360. I think they thought I would take his offer as I had explained I was in financial difficulty and due a baby at the end of this month … but when I had calculated it to approx £2800 including interest) and the loans they chose were very random so I submitted to the ombudsman yesterday on Sara’s advice so have a wait on my hands but would rather wait and know it’s been fair. So be prepared to hold out so you know you did yourself justice
Liz says
Would this affect my balance though? Would I have to tell sunny to freeze the account until the complaint had been dealt with? I’ll give PB and MJ a go. Just fed up of being stuck in this! Being newly single and rid of an asshole but constantly repaying debt so having no spare money is soul destroying. I feel like I’m gonna be stuck inside until I drop dead!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think it would be good for you to contact StepChange and ask for a debt management plan for all your debts – then any affordability complaints can proceed but you know you will be financially safe. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/help-payday-loan/
Liz says
Hi! I did speak to step change and they said they couldn’t help me :/
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Is this because they say you do have enough money to repay your debts? What is your credit rating like?
Liz says
No, they said I needed to get it below £5000 before they could help me so I borrowed money from my family and then they said I didn’t have enough debt?!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
get what below £5,000?
Liz says
Get the debt below £5000 – so I borrowed money from family in order to do so and was then told I didn’t have enough debt!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I have emailed you.
Casey says
Update from my jar (today is 8weeks) today saying that they do not uphold my complaint as they did credit checks and how I managed other commitments and that I only had one loan a month for 5 or 6 months and they said the loan amounts were low (up to 350) They said I did not contact to say I was in financial difficulty The amounts went up each time .. they was regular borrowing…
I may only have had 6 loans with them however on my credit file over the same time period I had over 40 outstanding payday loans … does that not count as they would see that there is reliance on other loans as well as there’s ?
They also reminded me that I am due them 71.81 and that normal interest will be applied even though I have told them I am in financial difficulty.
I’m going to send to ombudsman as not satisfied with their response
Casey says
Another update re lending stream 8 weeks up to tomorrow .. called to remind them and was told that they do not have my complaint despite it being raised through resolver ? They said they don’t accept complaints through resolver and I would need to start again. Can this be correct ?
Allison says
I submitted through resolver. Never heard from them at all but it’s now with the FOS who have accepted the complaint and are investigating. So … I think it’s more bad form from LS.
Casey says
That’s great to know Allison. Fingers crossed for you for a. Good outcome
H says
So week 4 of the Wonga complaint and they say they’re still looking into the complaint, but due to a high volume of complaints it’s going to take longer.
Is this a bad sign?
Also, I noticed the email was sent to me and CC’d this email address emailtosalesforce@ne0ktosuuumec81txry8uxp3iwqwcm5vn0bbdgf3m99atrrk2.2-mrf2eac.eu1.le.salesforce.com can anyone advise who that might be? And why they’re copied in?
Thank you- H
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is a standard email at 4 weeks, it has no significance, it is likely no one at Wonga has yet looked at your complaint.
H says
Thanks Sarah :)
Will keep you posted.
Thanks for all of your information and continuous question answering and support :)
H
Callum says
Hi sara
Just after some help. I currently have a logbook loan with about 18 months left to pay off. I am up to date with the payments at present. I have rolled this over 4 times now and paid about £2500 in interest so far on a £1000 loan. Is there anything I can do with this? Or because it is not in default is there nothing I can do.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It doesn’t have to be in default, you can still make an affordability complaint. You may only win it for the last two or three rolls but that could make a huge difference! Take the payday loan template letter and change it to talk about the details of this logbook loan, when you borrowed, when you rolled etc. Don’t be surprised if the complaint is rejected, send it straight to the Ombudsman. But while the complaint goes through you still need to be making the payments or the car will be at risk :(
Casey says
Hi Sara is there any advice on avant credit loans? My friend took a 6000 loan out in 2015 paid back 9000 and they are asking for a further 6000 which can’t afford. He says he received a letter from sheriff officer saying that they were taking to court but I thought taking 6000 and them charging for 15000 was a lot and not sure if that’s allowed ? Or is it ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Is he in Scotland?
Casey says
Hi Sara yes stays in Scotland
DK says
Different rules for Scotland? :-|
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Same affordability rules, very different court processes
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ok he needs to talk to National Debtline on Tuesday (as Monday is a bank holiday) and discuss this letter. I don’t know if this is a warning of court proceedings being started or if they have already begun. If court proceedings haven’t yet started, he should consider making an affordability complaint immediately and informing the solicitors and any debt collector about this complaint to AVant Credit and asking they to snot start court action until the complaint is resolved. If court proceedings have started National Debtline can discuss his options.
National Debtline know about affordability complaints so he should tell them he is considering one.
Casey says
Hi Sara thank you I will pass on your advice to him. He says paperwork is called simple procedure notice if claim and the claimant is asset collections and investigations on behalf of avant. But I’m confused as it says for disputes with less than 5000 on paperwork but the outstanding debt is 5785.16? So can they even pursue via this avenue as it’s only for debts of 5000 or less?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I’m sorry but I don’t know the answer, I live in London and I never deal with Scottish court processes. I am not going to guess – National Debtline have Scottish experts to help.
Linda says
Hi sarah i have now received answer from mobile money saying loans older than six years except last one which they agree all checks done but also they are saying that credit referency agent checks were and still are not regularity requirment when applying for loan should i send to ombudsman
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“except last one which they agree all checks done ” just checking if there is a typo in there as the sentence reads rather oddly?
Linda says
They looked into last loan which was after six years and are saying all checks where done correctly so no refund for any my dad paid last loan as i was in financial difficulty
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ok then I suggestt you send the case to the Financial Ombudsman. Even if the FOS only looks at the last loan, they should take into account the previous lending. Mobile Money should have taken into account your previous lending and the number of loans suggests that they were not affordable for you. The fact the last loan was repaid is not relevant, what mattered is whether MM should have know theloan was not affordable when they gave you it.
rob s says
would i still be eligible for compensation if i gave false statements about my expenditure (other loans)?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes but obviously it makes it a bit harder. Read https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/ for some details.
If you are complaining to a payday lender so the loans were quite small, it may be that the lender couldn’t tell the first few were unaffordable because your application looked OK. But if you kept borrowing, then the lender should have realised something was wrong and either stopped lending or looked more closely and realised what the problem was.
But if the borrowing is from the lenders who giver large longer-term loans at very high rates of interest (118 Money, Avant Credit, Everyday loans etc) then they should have cross-checked your application against your credit record and realised it was not accurate, so lending to you was irresponsible.
Casey says
That’s ok Sarah I will get him to call and he can take it from there.
Mandy says
Hi guys,
Does anyone know the complaints email for Vanquis? I have searched the Debt Camel website but haven’t come across it.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Use customer.relations@vanquisbank.co.uk and out COMPLAINT in the email title.
Did you ever pay for ROP on your Vanquis card?
Caroline says
I have just received a response to my complaint with Wage Day Advance. They have partially upheld my complaint. They agree loans 7-30 were not affordable but are saying loans 31-37 were. They are clearing my outstanding debt with them and have offered me redress of £1861.71. Which includes 8% compensatory interest. I’m happy with the amount offered but don’t agree that the last lot of loans were affordable as I was unable to pay it back. They also haven’t mentioned if any amendments are to be made to my credit file,any advice?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Why did they say the later loans were affordable? HAd your income gone up? Or were they all smaller or something?
Do you have missed payments or defaults on loans 7-30? Or 31-37?
Nancy says
Hi Sara,
Response from myjar today. Saying that as all my loans are older than 6 years (2011) that they don’t have to consider them and that they also don’t have to send me the details of them?! I expected to have to go to the ombudsman due to the length passed but surely they still have to provide me with my personal info?
I’ve replied asking them to reconsider with an offer under the basis i’m well researched and feel very confident of my chances with the ombudsman and that they have until tomorrow before I go the ombudsman. Worth a shot!
In your option, is this a waste of time for me or shall I go ahead and pitch in for the long Hall?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well if they don’t reply, then definitely send it to the Ombudsman – what do you have to lose?
After 25 May – so less than three weeks time – you will be able to send MyJar a Subject Access request and they will have to send you full details without charging you anything. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/free-access-data-gdpr/. But don’t wait until then, get yourself in the Ombudsman queue.
Dan says
Hi,
So I had an offer from Peachy for £180 (1 loan interest) refund, the interest I paid over 8 loans was around £850 area.
Should I bother going back to them or is their final response really a final response, and I should now go to the ombudsman?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Some people have had success going back to Peachy and getting other loans included.
Eric says
Hello
I’ve been getting constant texts and emails from various payday lenders asking to me paying my loans even though I asked them to cancel the CPAs until my complaints are dealt with. One of them replied saying this isn’t a reason to withhold a payment and that my debt wasn’t their problem.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is often easier to offer a payment arrangement whilst your complaints go through. It doesn’t harm your complaint and doesn’t mean you will be worse off at the end.
Dana says
So after discovering this website earlier this year I decided to give it a shot and complain to the companies to try and get some of that interest back from when I was going through hard times and I basically had no choice but to keep robbing from Peter to pay Paul.
4 weeks ago, I sent the emails to the 6 companies I was using at the time from 2012-2017, outlining my situation, I’d worked out all the loans by going through old emails and bank statements, I worked out how much interest I’d paid to each company, it’s quite shocking.
QuickQuid came back to me last week refusing the complaint, so that has gone straight to the FOS, fingers crossed they are on my side.
I got a letter from Satsuma this weekend with a cheque for £170. I’m tempted to accept this because I only used them 3 times. It’s the companies I was using regularly that I want the vast majority of the money back, those companies being Sunny, Wonga, Quikquid, Lending Stream and PayDay Express.
This page has been so helpful, and reading everyones experiences has encouraged me to go ahead with this.
Neil says
Hi Dana,
Satsuma did the same to me, but i worked out that the interest i had paid them over the three loans i had with them was closer to £900, so i sent mine to the FOS
Neil
H says
Hi Sara,
On 7th April, I sent all of my statement requests to all of my previous lenders.
I have received most statements and acknowledgment of complaint from all, except PaydayUK and paydayexpress. Should I still give them until week 8?
I have also sent them a reminder email, but had nothing back.
Thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s unusual not to have heard anything from them I suggest you ring 0330 024 1642 and ask them to confirm your complaints have been received.
PAYDAYUK REFUND FOS says
Hi,
The FOS have advised that I am out of time due to not responding during the 6 month period in PAYDAY UK’s final response.
I did not ask PAYDAYUK for a refund of all interest charged but agreed to remove all traces of the loans all 45 of them from my credit file.
2 years down the line i find this website and write to them again requesting a refund of all interest charged and they responded advising that they wouldn’t be prepared to do that and referred me to the FOS. PAYDAYUK have advised the FOS that they believe I am out of time and the FOS agreed.
I am now in limbo with potentially £6-8000 unrecoverable in interest.
Can anyone advise what my next steps could be? Is there a way of forcing PAYDAYUK to allow the FOS to review my complaint? or do i need to issue a letter of claim against PAYDAYUK?
I look forward to receiving your thoughts……
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Is there a way of forcing PAYDAYUK to allow the FOS to review my complaint?” not that I can think of.
“do I need to issue a letter of claim against PAYDAYUK?” I would strongly suggest you should take legal advice before doing that. You accepted PDUK’s offer in final settlement of your complaint. I am not sure what grounds you would have for trying to reopen this? Was Payday Uk’s offer to you misleading in some way? Did they tell you in 2015 that you had the right to go to the FOS?
PAYDAYUK REFUND FOS says
I accepted their offer in 2015, but did not specifically ask for a refund of interest. Despite me not asking for it or pursuing it they told they were prepared to remove all the entries from my credit file. Which at the time i was happy with as it allowed me to apply for a mortgage. Yes they told me i had a right to go to the FOS but didn’t follow this up as they removed the entries from my credit file which is what i asked them to do.
It wasn’t until 2017 that I started seeing people were getting refunds of interest and FOS decisions that I decided to contact them again and pursue a refund of interest that was charged.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well what did you ask for in 2015?
Robert says
Hello all,
I sent a complaint to Safety Net Credit and tomorrow (9th May) is the final day, i have had no response as of yet. Do i just sent straight to the ombudsman or should i email them to ask for an update?
Thank you for all the great information on here, brilliant work
David mallory says
How many loans did you have Robert I had 60 over 9 months and sent my complain to them 3 weeks ago and heard nothing back at all yet.
Robert says
I borrowed initially £250 and they increased my limit on a monthly basis up until £850 where I was borrowing the full lot and having over £1k coming out my bank each month. They should have known as they can see your bank account that I had other payday loan repayments aswell so it was so wrong to give me £850!
Still no response so tomorrow is the day, I feel they aren’t going to respond
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you don’t hear tomorrow, I would send it to the FOS and email SNC to tell them you have done this.
Robert says
I have received a reply and they are offering £1.2k including the 8% back, this is near enough what I had worked out so I am delighted
Just the other 12 complaints to go!
Thank you so much for your help on this site it really is a god send
Sara (Debt Camel) says
good to get one sorted!
David says
I complained to Mr Lender two months ago. They offered to refund just over £1,000. I objected to this and emailed on Friday. This morning I have received an email offering me just under 2k.
I have accepted and been advised that I will receive the funds in 3 – 5 working days.
C says
Is the refund a good one.
I had two counter offers but was still £2k shy of my £8k (very conservative) estimate.
If it’s decent, good job, just be careful the offer matches what is a true reflection????
All the best
Chloe says
This isn’t about payday loans but I was wondering if anybody would be able to help me. I have a debt with EE the phone company from 2015. It is obviously in default and I assume has been passed on however I have no idea who to or how to find out?
I cannot remember the number and I have no paperwork to help me other than an account number. How would I find out how to pay this debt off?
Thanks
Ben says
You will need to do a credit report check, the three being Clearscore, Noddle and Experian.
This will tell you where the debt lies and who with, it is likely to have been sold on to a debt collection company.
Good luck,
Ben
Jack says
Can anyone help me with an e-mail address or postal address for ( MINI CREDIT) as am trying to contact them for a Payday Loan refund but can’t seem to contact them anywhere! Anybody any ideas please ?
Cheers
Jack
Sarah says
Hi,
Minicredit went into administration. You won’t be able to get a refund now. I had exactly the same problem. The debt was sold to to kapama then opos. I went to the FOS who had £85 taken off the £400 which was all interest as I had paid the original loan. They took the £85 off for attempt charges I still have to pay the rest. Sorry to disappoint
Dave says
Hi! Response from lending stream today basically listing my 29 loans claiming each one checked for affordability!! Going to Fo now. Anyone had success with FO and lending stream!?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
loads of success – but LS are very slow to deal with the FOS and drag everything out, so settle in for a long one.
Dave says
Hi! Yeh I’m fully prepared for that, I’ll wait forever if need be I’m not giving up. So frustrating because I’ve had refunds from Wonga,sunny,mr lender,northway,and payday express who all lent me money at that time. Only LS and uncle buck disagree
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What a surprise. Not.
Dave says
Shall I send the bank statements with the FO forms? I’ve got 10 years of statements already sorted
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, and a copy of your credit record. Most people don’t have an old one, so your current one will do.
If you are sending more than one complaint, you only need to do this with the first one. If you are posting them, send recorded delivery and keep a copy.
Mark says
Hi,I had 25 loans with Lendingstream.Sent my intial complaint to them last June.They responded with a goodwill gesture of £300 i went to the Fos and only finally last week i received a refund on all loans apart from the first three.Its been along wait but worth it
Sara (Debt Camel) says
hi Dave, did LS tell you what a great Experian score you had?
Graham says
Hi,
Can someone give me advice please.
I have a outstanding loan with QQ what was in a payment plan. My complaint is currently with the ombudsman, My Adjudicator Agreed with me that 20 loans was unaffordable over a 4 year period.QQ rejected the adjudicator findings so the wait is on. The biggest problem I’ve got is the account has now gone in to default due to QQ cancelling my payment plan. If I pay off my loan will it affect my case? Just don’t want a default due to looking at getting a mortgage in the next 6 months.
Thanks again for the all the help in this site. Over 15k in refunds so far.
Cheers
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What does your credit record show at the moment? When did you take this last loan out?
Graham says
Hi,
Last loan was taken out in October 2017. Credit rating is at 520 at the minute. But all loans was cleaned 2 months ago other than the QQ one.
Thanks for the help.
Dave says
Thanks Sara! Just a Thankyou for this site and all the advice! It’s literally changed my life. With the refunds I’ve got I was able to quit a job that made my mental health really bad and get a new one that I love!
Nick says
Just an update for the person asking about Forces Loans (VGates ltd) I heard from my adjudicator last week who upheld my complaint against VGates Ltd, refund would have been over £5000 unfortunately they company has been dissolved as of today so nothing more they can do. It’s so frustrating looking at the company director his companies always get dissolved how do they get away with it.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
:(
thanks for letting us know.
louise says
Hi Sara, Was just wondering i have had a response from Myjar they have offered a partiel refund of a few of the loans not all and to wipe of the debt and advised they partially upheld my complaint, what i was wondering is they have said they can not completly remove it from credit file? is this correct? that they can only mark it as satified closed and paid? Any advice would really be appreciated :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are there any late payment markers or defaults on it?
Do you want a quick check on how good the myJar offer is? If so can you say:
– how many loans you had from them? how many are they refunding?
– how much interest have you paid on the settled loans (excluding the last one that is still owing?)
– how much are they refunding?
– the last loan – what did you borrow? have you made any payments to it?
Louise says
On clear score i have like 10 myjar marks on there and showing as an open account if that makes sense? Just seen other people have had removed from credit file so didn’t know if they are trying to fob me off?I feel it’s a fair deal cause owe them £244 and they offered to pay me the highlighted amounts and wipe of debt saying would give me 75 yet the amounts total 90 quid. Here’s what they sent me and I sent back. Just Wana know if it can be removed from file? Thanks for help and reply didn’t see this reply sorry.
1758455 25/02/2015 £100.00 £2.40 £101.60 28/02/2015 27/02/2015
1768643 16/03/2015 £100.00 £12.00 £109.60 31/03/2015 28/03/2015
1780361 08/04/2015 £125.00 £22.00 £146.00 30/04/2015 29/04/2015
1794376 04/05/2015 £100.00 £20.48 £119.20 30/05/2015 28/05/2015
1820099 17/06/2015 £100.00 £10.40 £108.00 30/06/2015 27/06/2015
1834658 10/07/2015 £100.00 £16.80 £116.00 31/07/2015 30/07/2015
1863966 27/08/2015 £200.00 £51.20 £252.80 28/09/2015 29/09/2015
1884157 29/09/2015 £100.00 £24.80 £124.00 30/10/2015 29/10/2015
1901627 29/10/2015 £125.00 £32.00 £154.00 30/11/2015 27/11/2015
1918767 27/11/2015 £125.00 £34.00 £147.00 31/12/2015 19/12/2015
1933662 19/12/2015 £275.00 £162.88 £305.16 31/03/2016 Outstanding
Mark says
Anyone know the length of time it takes the OAFS to investigate complaints (are they quicker than the Fos)I got a goodwill gesture of £ 374 from Northway Financial so sent all my documents off to them and received a mail saying they will start to investigate,that was 4 weeks ago.
Stavros says
Having a nightmare with Lending Stream. Ombudsman ordered them to refund me on 26th March been ringing everyday for the last 2 weeks keep getting told the money will be in my account within 24 hours then when it’s not I ring back and get told the same thing and told 100% it will be in my account and it never is. The Ombudsman haven’t been much help just saying they are waiting for a response. Won’t let me speak to a manager keep saying they are all busy can anyone offer any advice?
Simon says
Hi Stavros,
I had a similar problem with them not paying when they had been told to. I emailed the FCA on consumer.queries@fca.org.uk with all the information and asking them to investigate the company for failings etc, I copied lending steam in on the email and the Ombudsman and 2 hours later they paid me by faster payment. Might be worth a try.
Good luck
Simon
Stavros says
Thanks Simon already tried that but they still haven’t replied to the Ombudsman. Going to wait until 5pm see if it goes in then if not I’ll have to ring up again and not leave the phone until they money is in my account. They said last night they would email me and the Ombudsman confirmation that the money would be with me today and they haven’t done that either.
Mark says
Have the Fos contacted them on your behalf.I waited 5 weeks but the day after the Fos contacted them the money was in my bank.
Stavros says
Hi Mark
Yes the FOS have contacted them but said they are awaiting a response. So annoying when LS keep telling me I will have the refund within 24 hours and it’s blatant lies they just keep saying ‘I can understand you’re not happy’ and ‘don’t worry it will be in your bank within 24 hours’ then keep blaming the accounts team.
Mark says
Are their any successes with 118 money.I was given a £2000 loan over two years in Dec 2017 ( im still repaying every month £194).I was in a desparate situation at the time and so was very supprised when they agreed to loan me.I know they loan people with poor credit and my score would have been very poor at the time.Also at the time i had payday loans with five lenders which combined to about £850 repayment the next month.My wages were £1450 but 118 did not ask for any payslips or bank statements only a online application follwed by a phone call to confirm.
Kaz says
Hi Mark,
I was successful with 118 Money and only had the one loan off, I had defaults removed and interest paid back.
They were one of the better companies I had dealt with.
Many thanks
Mark says
December 2016
Eric says
Good afternoon
I have a complaint in with ferratum (I’m in the last week of the 8) regarding irresponsible lending. Over 30 loans totalling £8000+ in the last 18 months with 1 still outstanding. I’ve asked for the payment to be cancelled until the complaint is sorted and I’ve now been emailed by a legal company on their behalf? What do I do ?
Becky says
Hi, I took my complaints to the FOS in December 2017 (about Sunny, Wonga, Lending Stream, WageDayAdvance and Quick Quid) So far all of these except Quick Quick are still waiting to be allocated to an ajudicator, is this normal?
Also my only complaint getting anywhere (Quick Quid) has been waiting for an Ombudsman review for 10 weeks now, does anyone no how long it usually takes for cases to be reviewed by the Ombudman? I am getting a bit dishearted feeling like i’m not getting anywhere :(
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No it isn’t normal for so many complaints to be waiting so long – do any of them have loans over 6 years old?
The Ombudsman queue is typically 8-14 weeks, yours should be soon!
Becky says
They have all been under 6 years (2015-2017)
The only one thats older is the Wonga complaint (June 2012-2014) so will only just be under the 6 years, bit worried now that they are taking so long do you think its worth me contacting the FOS about them?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, I think that’s worth a phone call.
Kenneth says
Hi Sara,
Thank you for all the useful information on this website.
I have just received a final offer from PD Express for a return of £1334.44 for interest and charges paid on 5 loans. This equates to £1744.38 with the 8% interest minus tax. In total I had 9 loans with total interest and charges paid amounting to £1727. So they are paying back around 77% of what I initially paid in interest and charges. Just wanted to know if you think this is a fair offer considering many on here have accepted around 80% refunds at the FOS level.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think this is a very personal decision. You are getting back more than you paid in interest because of the extra 8% added on – many people think that’s fair. But if you think there is a very clear reason why some of the 4 loans not refunded should have been, take it to the FOS.
(It’s not relevant to your decision, but you can probably claim back the tax they are deducting from the tax up – for up to £200 each tax year, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-payday-refund-get-back-tax/)
Sarah says
Hi Sara, just wanted to let you know that I have received my calculations if refund from payday express so hopefully won’t be long to receive. But anyone that has taken loans from them can get the £15 faster payment fees back but payday express system doesn’t actually show these so just like I had to people may have to send their bank statements for proof they paid this, I did and I covered my other transactions and they have added this to their calculation. Just want to make sure everyone gets back what they’re entitled to
Sara (Debt Camel) says
thanks!
Becky says
I sent the initial letter out to one of the payday loan companies asking for my statements, they replied that the loan had been passed onto lowell and i should request my statements from them. What should i do?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Did you only have 1 loan from this lender?
Becky says
I think i had 2 seperate loans with them as they replied to my email with 2 different emails with different reference numbers, but i think i rolled over the loans a few times. It was a while back and i had so many different payday loans that its hard to know for sure.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, well the lender is right that if you want an up to date statement for the loan you will have to ask Lowell. But if you want to make an affordability complaint, go back to the lender (who is it?) and say you are making an affordability complaint about all your borrowing from them, including the last defaulted loan. This is a standard affordability complaint, use the template letters above.
Hananh says
Has anyone has any luck with everyday lending also known as everyday loans. I have sent this to the FOS but wondering if anyone has had any success?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
There haven’t been many cases reported. On 2 May Louise said “I had a settlement with Everyday and 5k interest removed”.
Annie says
Hi, I have a complaint in with payday uk, I only had a couple of loans with them. I have received a final response saying the first loan was affordable and the others undetermind due to the fact I did not sent them bank statements. I emailed them at the time and sent my credit report and told them I could not sent bank statement as these are already with the FOS. Any idea what I should do now. I have already had a payout from Wonga and QQ has been referred to the FOS and March 5th and waiting for that to be picked up. Thanks
Annie says
An other question sorry, I still owe QQ for my last loan which they would not let me make payment to due to complaint but it is now showing on my credit report as arrears and my credit score had dropped significantly. Even though I have had a lot of loans since 2012 I have never defaults on any. What can I do about it? Can I ask QQ too remove the negative data.
Thanks
And does anyone know the latest time scale for FOS
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds as though you had a lot of borrowing from QQ? So it is VERY likely that you will get a refund from the FOS.
Could you actually afford the repayments on the recent loan from QQ and not have to borrow any more?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest sending the complaint to the FOS.
The FOS should return your bank statements at some point if you sent paper ones to them, but I wouldn’t wait.
Annie says
I could have afforded the QQ loan as I had just received a £4200 refund from Wonga but they never took the payment. I phoned them to pay and was told they are not allowed to take payment once a complaint has been lodged. Now I’m worried that, if they don’t offer a refund that I won’t be able to pay it,
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then I suggest you should add this point onto your complaint to the FOS. Even if the FOS thinks all your loans were affordable, it is still unreasonable of QQ to refuse a payment from you and have arrears on your credit report.
tom price says
Update – sent complaints to 14 companies 7 weeks ago
QQ/P2P – upheld complaint and refunded me £4553.33
PD Express – asked for statements and credit file – which I sent got final response yesterday saying that unable to determine – going to FOS
MR Lender – said they lent responsibly – going to FOS
Wage day Advance – said they lent responsibly – Going to FOS
Sunny- Upheld complaint – refund of all interest + 8% – £1077
The 8 weeks is up next Monday for the remaining so we shall. I only put the complaints in due to seeing this forum – so already got back £5.5k which I wasn’t expecting.
Wonga/MyJar and Safety Net credit were the 3 largest lenders to me so will be interesting to see the outcome although I am expecting them to go to the FOS
Just Quickly on QQ/P2P – they were the best ones to deal with and had no problems and complaint was resolved and closed within 6 weeks…
Lou says
Hello all
Just looking for a bit of advise/encouragement really. Please forgive me as these questions may have already been asked and answered.
I have recently had a flat out rejection from QQ/P2P. I have seen that a lot of people on here have said they had good offers from them so I am thinking although I have started the FOS process I am not likely to get anywhere. I had at least 24 loans with them over the last 6 years borrowing about £3k. I was using other payday loans at the time to pay off other payday loans and cover bills.
So my questions are, has anyone had a flat out refusal and then been successful with the FOS?
Also I have recently had an email requesting bank statements and credit file from the FOS. I sent all the information last week, what is a usual time frame to hear from them after doing so please?
Thank you in advance :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
LOADS of people have had a flat-out refusal from QQ and won at the FOS. Don’t be discouraged!
Lou says
That’s good to know. Thank you :)
Allison says
I had a flat out refusal. Whilst in the queue for adjudicator I’ve had an offer to refund all my p2p loans but none of the QQ ones. Surprise the refund is £23 after they pay off the outstanding balance plus interest due on the last QQ one. My adjudicator who knows my history told me about the offer by phone and to refuse it and let the FOS look as he’s going to pick up the case. So don’t despair .. I’m
Going to have faith in the system.
Ben says
I just thought I would update you on my progress and where I am with the FOS.
Payday UK –
Requested statement in late January said they hadn’t got them, told me to go to BW legal, they didn’t have them. So I made complaint regardless. Got a very wishy washy reply after 3 weeks (no dates/accounts numbers etc) saying I only had one loan and it was affordable according to them. Sent to Ombudsman and they requested some additional information on 18th April which was sent off, assuming I’m waiting for an adjudicator now. I had 3 loans with them.
Payday Express
Requested statements in late January received early Feb – sent my complaint and received a final response on week 5. All loans affordable. Sent of to the FOS currently awaiting to be picked up by an adjudicator. Its been with them 8 weeks so far. 6 Loans with these and refund of £450 expected.
Ben says
Wonga
Requested statements in January as per others, received about 2 weeks after – sent in complaint and received there final offer 7 weeks after. They had offered a refund on half of my loans to the value of just over £2.5k. The others they refused to look at, as they are over 6 years old. I sent them of to the FOS straight after so they have been there for about 8 weeks. FOS updated me last week to say that I am in it for the long haul they don’t have a timescale and I have been added to the list. I’m in no rush so I will wait this one out.
Cheque Centre
Obviously had no reply due to them being in administration, so after the 8 weeks sent it of to FOS who replied in a week. They said as they are in administration there is nothing they can do, the advised me to contact the administrator. Which I did, they sent me a claims form and said they could see I was owed about £3.5k. I completed a claim form and have been added to the list of creditors. They didn’t know how much I would get back if any, there thoughts were 5% of the claim.
Capital One
Basically palmed me off after sending the compliant after one week, saying I know what I was doing and they did everything they should. I’m going to the ombudsman with this one, so i’ll see what happens.
Kevin says
I have a question, I had a massive amount of payday loans from your usual suspects. At the time I was on a base salary of 1250 but made commission which was not guaranteed so when I gave my income I gave them an average and two lenders have come back stating my outgoings were 400 pounds which I highly doubt I would have stated they were that low the 400 would have covered rent only and monthly I had loans coming out of my account on average 2k to 3k per month along with all my other expenses making my good salary in a very poor state. If I got to the FOS will they say I lied as i don’t remember putting outgoings so low but regardless I had to rollover and reborrow the minute I repaid any loan for years. Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Read https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/. Using the same lender for month after month and the lender should have realised there was something wrong with your income and /or expenses.
Nick says
Hey guys, another update for anyone who was held up on TMS cheque based lending, my case was sent to FOS in Sept but TMS were fighting it so it was a waiting game, I heard back from my adjudicator today with a decision upholding my complaint so fingers crossed everyone’s will start moving again
Sara (Debt Camel) says
good to know! do you know on what ground the Money shop were fighting this?
Nick says
They were fighting it because it was cheque based lending it did not have to conform to the same regulations as pay day Loans and as the interest worked out less the PDL it was “fair” and “just”
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ha!
John says
Hi Nick, thanks for the update and congratulations. I am one of those who had cheque based loans from the Money Shop and they refused my complaint in Jan this year and the reason was that they had incomplete records since some of my loans were from a long time 2008 and therefore investigated whether they had treated me fairly and concluded they had done so. Sent to FOS in March and still in que. lent 69 loans with TMS continuous rolling and new ones over 3 yr period.
John says
Fantastic news!!
Steve says
Hi John, can I ask have received any updates about your TMS case? Mines currently with them and its fast approaching the 8 week deadline. I would love to know whether they pay out or not!
Stavros says
This time last year I was 16k in debt which was almost a years salary thought my world had come to an end but today I’ve had my final refund and I am now clear of debt for the first time in over 10 years thanks so much to Sara and the wonderful people on here.
Nick says
Hi
Complained to about 10 lenders and had my first response back from My Jar
Flat out refusal, so rang FOS and they are going to look into it.
Had 4 loans between 12/12/16 and 11/01/17,
350
200
100
1600
Problem is I paid back the first three within days of receiving them, due to getting other loans/gambling and getting myself in a bigger hole. I explained this to FOS, so they are going to look at it.
In a DMP for the last one (1600) as a part of Stepchange. What’s the most likely outcome??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I would say that that pattern of borrowing within a month should have looked very odd to MyJar and they should have looked at the last much larger loan very closely. So I would hope that the last loan will be considered unaffordable and the interest should be removed from the balance in your DMP.
I can’t say how likely this is. Gambling can make it difficult for a lender to see what is going on. It may depend what your credit record was like during this period.
Nick says
Thanks Sara
My credit file was most likely poor then (clearscore states around that time it was at 199/700 which is poor) plus I would of had at least 4 other loans at the same time.
Because there was little interest on the earlier loans (most paid a day or two after receiving) do you still get the debt wiped off credit file?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Even if you get a refund on a loan, if it was repaid on time it isn’t always deleted from your credit record. The Ombudsman says that negative marks (late payments, arrangements to pay, defaults) should be deleted. Some lender simply delete the debt as it’s easier.
Thankful! says
I found this site in October last year when I was looking for info about a letter of intended court action I received from Motormile Finance about a PayDay loan I had defaulted on in 2012. I had defaulted on several loans after being made redundant. I proceeded to complain to all my previous lenders and these are the results:
Mr Lender – Refund of £700. I didn’t owe them anything. Settled directly within 3 weeks.
Payday Express – Refund of £1100, write off existing debt of £1050 (which was sold to MMF) and removal of negative information on credit file. Settled directly after sending them certain bank statements and credit report after 8 weeks.
Payday UK – They requested statements which I didn’t have at the time so referred to FOS after 8 weeks. Just heard back from adjudicator that PDUK have agreed to refund £2000, write off existing debt of £900 and remove negative info on credit file. It has taken 6 months in all.
I still need to complain to QuickQuid and Wonga, but both of these were for loans over 6 years so will prepare myself for a long wait.
I am so thankful to this site and everyone here – I have received £3800 in refunds so far plus another £2k which has been written off. In addition to these complains, I also made a PPI complaint which was also upheld and I was refunded £16k! So, just to say, without Motormile Finance’s threat of court action, I would never have been in the position I am now in! Thank you Sara – this has been a godsend!
DK says
14 loans from QQ and Pounds to Pocket (totalling £3675) between April 12 and December 15, paying back £5450, amounting to £1775 in interest and they’ve come back telling me they’re not upholding because I had gaps and sometimes borrowed less than the previous loan. Said that if these were unaffordable, I’d have increased the amounts every time and would have taken them with less gaps between meaning I wasn’t relying on them from month to month. Thing is, most months I borrowed from three or four different lenders. Not just them. Since June 2011, I’ve literally had 4 months in total where I haven’t had to borrow or repay to a payday loan company. Have borrowed a total of £25428 and paid back £33683 across 5 companies since June 11. Is it worth sending this one to the Ombudsman? Or will they just say the same. What do the Ombudsman deem an unaffordable amount to be left with after paying these companies back, as well as bills? I’m worried they’ll look at my salary compared with how much was going out in pay day loans and laugh. My sister always asks how I can possibly struggle so much and I’m wondering if they’ll say the same. Also, do I raise the complaint with the Ombudsman for CashEuroNet as they’ve called themselves in their email?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like QQ and PTP’s standard “fill in the gaps” reply to a complaint. You borrowed a lot from them so this is well worth sending to the Ombudsman. you can say you are complaining about CashEuronet or QuickQuid and Pounds to pocket – the Ombudsman will know who you are talking about.
The Ombudsman will look at your bank statements to decide if the loans were affordable. Of course you may just have been struggling because one payday loan led to a spiral of high cost borrowing.
Lou says
Hi DK
I asked a similar question on here earlier. I have had almost the exact same reply from QQ/P2P. I was wondering if I would get anywhere sending to FOS.
I have sent bank statements and credit file to them as they will be able to see that although I paid them back I was borrowing from other loan companies to do so. Once you are stuck in the spiral it seems really hard to get out of. I kept thinking “next month will be better” and it never was.
I’ve thought about it and apart from a bit of time getting together bank statements and credit file what do we have to lose?
Good luck :)
Jane Thingy says
Same here, and my husband has just had the same. Apart from the actual numbers the wording is virtually identical.
I took my case to the FOS and despite some hard wrangling by the adjudicator they’re still arguing the toss and so it’s now going to the ombudsman. Now about to start work on hubby’s case for FOS. As DK says, what do we have to lose?
Craig says
Hi Sara, hope your well, I’m waiting on my last case now against Cashfloat that is waiting for an ombudsman, I’m nearly at the end of my StepChange plan with just over 2 payments left so I rang the last 2 creditors to check balances, and Cashfloat came back with £260 more than what was on plan, so they’ve been adding more charges and interest while I’ve been with StepChange! They are also reporting a default every month to CRA whereas the others registered it as in an arrangement and was up to date? I emailed them for a list of all the extra costs and questioned the CRA reporting and they came back and said they would reduce the debt by £130 but wouldn’t change the CRA, but never sent me any details of what the extras were. Is it worth sending these details to add to the ombudsman a file at all? They’ve been awful to deal with throughout and had the largest payments on StepChange throughout. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You are entitled to a statement of your account for the outstanding loan, showing all interest and charges added. These cannot come to more than the amount your borrowed because of the “payday day loan cap” – so ask what these are and if it seems that the extra £260 would have breached the cap or that the extra £130 they have kindly reduced it to breached this cap, inform the FOS and say you would like the extra charges removed and additional compensation for this.
They are entitled to register a default, and once this is done, a “new ” one is added each month, but actually the later ones don’t mean anything and they are ignored in calculating a credit score.
If you win the case against cashfloat, then the defaults will all be deleted.
kevin says
Hi Sara
I am going through all of my credit
Lloyds have me down for owing £586 this was due to allowing a payday loan lender to take the funds even though I had no direct debit set up and the card I used was cancelled. this now has my account is in a minus of -£586 – can I do anything or claim anything for this error
also Natwest have me down for £885 owed as I had an overdraft and couldn’t afford to pay and they are adding interest- can i do anything about this?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Payday loan repayments are usually collected through a CPA not a DD. Did you tell Lloyd’s to cancel payments to the lender?
Do you have other problem debts as well?
kevin says
I wasn’t aware of the CPA ruling so I assumed cancelling my card would stop the payment
what would you advise?
yes I have alot of debts outstanding
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry, it’s not Lloyds fault if you didn’t cancel the CPA :(
With a lot of debts I suggest you talk to StepChange about a debt management plan. You can include the overdrafts in this. Get yourself a new basic bank account with a lender you don’t owe any money to, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/bank-accounts-after-bankruptcy/.
kevin says
Thanks for replying
so If I have outstanding loans how do I cancel the CPA to prevent this happening again
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Contact your bank – phone or secure message.
Eric says
Good afternoon
Second complaint responded, Uncle Buck, which was not upheld.
6 loans taken out in the last 18 months all over 3 months, and on 3 occasions borrowed on the same day as repaying previous. Told me due to paying back some of these early and taking my expenditure in good faith there was no sign of money problems. Also said there was no sign of problems on my credit file (no defaults) even though I’ve taken out 100 loans in 2 years.
To the Financial Ombudsman I go.
Eric says
Finally some good news!
I’ve received a response for my third complaint, WageDayAdvance.
Agreed to irresponsible lending and refunded me ALL 11 loans from them in the last 2 years! Didn’t expect them to refund all but so happy, payment to be refunded on Monday.
John says
Hi Eric how long did the process with WDA take??
Eric says
Sent my complaint to them on 20/03/18 and I received a response by post in the last few days of the 8 week period with a 10 page report outlining what they done wrong.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
10 pages! Gosh, the record I have seen so far is a 3000 word epic from Uncle Buck.
Eric says
The funny thing is these were the smaller loans I had taken out roughly £100/£200 at a time but kept rolling some over every month and they’ve refunded all! Whereas Uncle Buck and Wonga were my bigger loans and they replied saying they’ve done nothing wrong
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am afraid there is just a big random element here. A cynic would say bigger cases are more likely to be rejected – but a few big ones are paid out directly.
Carol says
I contacted Wonga and asked for the list of loans I took out with them a couple of years ago. I have no record of these on my emails unfortunately.
Wonga replied that they have never had a record of me on their database. Can they get away with this? Is there something else I could do without going through old bank statements?
Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think your bank statements will be the simplest way to do this.
Ella says
Wonga did that with us and we found out that it was under an old email address and they responded to it immediately once sorted.
Becky says
What happens if a company requests statements that i can no longer get? Payday Uk requested one from me for August 2011, i was with Barclays then. I have had an online chat with a Barclays advisor who said they only keep statements for 6 years so there is no way for me to get it.
John M says
Hi Becky,
I am with Barclays and it was a struggle to get statements but if you make a subject access request on their website then you will get your statements eventually. Be prepared to wait about 40 days but they do come through.
Good luck
Becky says
Ok i’ll try that, thank you
However thinking about it Payday Uk said i only had 28 days to send these statements so waiting 40 days wouldnt be any good :(
diane says
I was with barclays, went into my old branch told them what i wanted them for and the printed them out for me from 2011, so maybe try going into branch
Kerry says
Well day 28 has passed and still no money received from Lending Stream! Not surprising I know but it baffles me that they agree to settle and then just don’t pay!! After reading all the comments on here it amazes me that they continue to get away with it! I aim to email the FCA and have emailed my adjudicator. Anybody had a settlement from LS recently and if so how late out of the 28 days was it?
Sean says
Well LS are an absolute pain to deal with. After several calls with them this week they finally stumped up today, 7 days later despite “promising” on each call it would be that day.
Don’t give up and persevere with them. I’ll be submitting a complaint to FCA next week
Jake says
Don’t know whether this is good news or just an admin error. Received this email from QQ at 5.30 this morning;
Thank you for your recent payment to QuickQuid. Your account is now considered paid in full*. You may continue to receive mailed notices from QuickQuid about your balance over the next several days. Please disregard these as they were sent before your final payment was received.
You can access your cost of borrowing statement by logging into your account here
———————————————————
I am on a DMP and haven’t paid them anything apart from my normal payments (around £6 per month from step change) and when I went on the link it said payment received for interest and balance totalling around £320, which hasn’t been paid.
I did complain about irresponsible lending by them and P2P but that wasn’t upheld and I sent it to the ombudsmen on Monday/Tuesday so am thinking nothing would have been done that quickly with them.
Could it just be an admin error or do you think they actually know they were in the wrong so have wiped my dept?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hard to guess! Admin errors do happen…
Jake says
But the website is saying my loan is paid off too. Shall I contact step change and tell them the same thing or just leave it a few days to see if anything comes back?
I don’t really want to contact QQ to make them aware it was an error then they reopen the loan, when I could (fortunately I must say) get away with paying the remaining balance.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The question is, is wiping a debt of £320 a good answer to your affordability complaint? If it is a great result, then you could cross your fingers and hope they never notice the error. If you borrowed a lot from then before and the last loan should be wiped AND you should get a refund, then you need to let the ombudsman case run, not just accept what they have done.
Jake says
The case is with the ombudsman so will let that run its course. They rejected my complaint so would see anything as a positive but see what you’re saying.
By not saying anything at the minute wouldn’t hamper my complaint with the ombudsman though would it?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Oh you can just ignore this. If it is an error, it will all be spotted and resolved as part of the Ombudsman complaint. If it isn’t and that is their offer to you, you will probably hear soon via the Ombudsman and you can then say it isn’t enough and you want your complaint looked at.
Stephen says
Hi, has anyone dealt with Albemarle Bond, have sent 3 emails had no response to any of them, approaching the 8 week dead line next Friday.
Also would like to thank Sarah and this forum, had a successful refund from payday uk this week, just waiting on a final response from The Money Shop, dead line next Friday, fingers crossed I get my final response by then.
Honestly never knew a could claim these unaffordable loans back, only wish I knew about it when the cheque centre was still in business, as this was my biggest lender and would have been due back thousands.
Thanks again everyone this forum has really encouraged me to claim back what I can.
Katie says
Hi, I put my complaint in to Money Shop on 8/3/18.
Deadline 8wks passed and received an email saying they would not meet the 8 weeks.
Now passed 9 weeks and heard nothing yet.
I have sent to Ombudsman.
Stephen says
Thanks Katie, I did phone them last week for an update, and was advised they had a backlog of complaints, likely I will also have to send to the Ombudsman then.