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?
H says
Hi All,
I put in complaints on 7th April and am still awaiting a response from Wonga and PDUK and Paydayexpress.
I did however receive a random cheque from Halifax for £86 saying they’ve review their lending from 2013 and didn’t take the appropriate steps when lending and have refunded me the interest for a few months.
I didn’t even complain.
So my question is, would all lending from that time be irresponsible?
Complaint from QQ and P2P was rejected. They were only on a couple o smallish loans. Should I still send to Ombudsman?
Thank you- H
David says
As you know from my previous post I was successful in my claim against Mr Lender and have received just under 2k. The Mr Lender case was not escalated to FOS.
Payday UK offered to reimburse interest and fees on one loan so I escalated this to FOS in January. Yesterday I received the FOS decision at 6pm which is very interesting to read. They are of the view that the lending was irresponsible and have said Payday UK must refund interest and fees on 8 loans… Amazing news. One of the loans I deferred 23 times!!!
I also referred my Wonga complaint to FOS and a decision is due over the next few weeks.
I shall keep you posted.
Jackie says
Just had a complaint with paydaybuk rejected by the adjudicated as he says there were gaps in between the loans and they were all paid back and the credit checks were done correctly .
At the time I was in an IVA and was in arrears with both my mortgage and the large loan that was secured on my mortgage. I have just found old email from pduk saying “payment failed” and 2 emails from a debt collection company asking me to get in touch regards the arrears of nearly £1000 I had with pduk. The debt collection company say in their email “this could further damage my credit file” so I am reading it that it is implying my file is already damaged/poor. Surely these show my credit was rubbish and the proper checks had not been carried out?
Also The gaps in the loans were due to paying off the arrears over a longer period. I have sent it back to the adjudicater but if he still does not uphold it will I have a chance with the ombudsman?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“Also The gaps in the loans were due to paying off the arrears over a longer period.“ that sounds like the adjudicator has made a factual error, so I hope it is resolved at this stage. If not then definitely send the case to the Ombudsman.
Karl says
Complained to Payday Express about 4 loans I took out in 2013 whilst in a 14 month spiral with Wonga (Wonga currently been sent to Ombudsman). They are saying I entered a debt plan in 2009 (but it was 2014) and I should have known I could complain to them then or within 3 years and because I didn’t complain within 3 years they can’t look into any of my loans.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is total nonsense. I should just ignore what PDE has said completely – the loans were within the last 6 years, the Ombudsman will look at them. I suggest you send the complaint to the FOS and ask for extra compensation because PDE sent you a very misleading rejection.
Karl says
As I thought. I am complaining about loans I took out in 2013 – I then entered a DMP with payplan beginning of 2014. The email they have sent me is as if they have just made all the information up – it is not related to me at all! There’s something about DLC in 2009 and I should have complained within 3 years after the loans in 2013. I’ve waited 8 weeks for the final response to make no sense at all!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Oh in that case go back to PDE and say they appear to have sent you a reply that refers to someone else’s case and would they like to look at this again before you send it to the Ombudsman.
suzue says
Hi I got a email from the ombudsman saying My Jar would be refunding me all my interest i paid, this was over a week ago, had no contact since, how long does it take for a refund?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
My Jar are usually pretty quick. Have you supplied your bank details to them or to the Ombudsman?
suzue says
yes i gave my bank details to both over a week ago.
Eric says
Morning
WageDayAdvance upheld my complaint of refunding all interest on 11 loans with them which I confirmed I’m happy with to accept their offer.
But I just thought I’d double check and by my calculations the amount of interest added up is £78.80 more than they said.
If I tell them this will it affect my outcome and have to wait longer ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I can’t see how it could change the outcome. My guess is they would need a few more days to recheck the calculations.
Ange says
Hi after reading about this. I have asked for statements this weekend for all the loans I had. It worked out that I had 4/5 loans going at a time to cover all the bills and pay these lenders back. I got heavenly into debt and just getting out of it. My house was almost taken back by the council and at the time with 2 young children times were very hard. I am hoping that with any luck I can have some closure and some money back. So far Quid have responded with the statements so will be send a letter tomorrow.
Thanks a great site for help.
Ange says
I would like to know if they go more than 6 years back as Quick Quid sent me the statements I had loans from 2009-2011 totalling £1700. I have gone through all the interest which totals £1383. Do I stand a chance.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
QuickQuid won’t refund you directly but send your case to the Ombudsman who thinks they can look at these complaints. This will be slow, so settle in for a long wait. If you win the case in the end, you will get more than 50% extra back as the extra 8% interest really adds up on older loan cases.
Mark says
All the successful refunds I’ve had in the last year have been from lenders where I borrowed large amounts from 2011 to 2014.Since 2015 I’ve had smaller loans notably mainly from 247 moneybox where I borrowed ,repaid then borrowed again straight after repaying.Eleven loans I had from Aug 2015 until Octber 2016 all ranging between amounts of £150 to £330 .Unable to pay the fifth loan in full I arranged and repaid via a payplan then the following month they loaned to me again another six times until again ending with a payplan.I ve only been complaining to the big loan lenders I had but is it worth putting in a complaint with smaller loans
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Definitely! That 247 case looks very clear.
Mark says
Ok next for me it will be 247 i may aswell complain to the other small loans ive had from 2015 to 2017 from lenders such as Cashasap.Vivus.Ferraratum and Piggybank..Vivus and Cashasap were about £200 to £300 loans which both i borrowed and repaid then borrowed again for five consecutive months.
Thanks
Gary says
Morning Sara,
I have had a final response from 118 money in regards to 3 rolling loans i have had with them.
Initial loan was taken out over 2 years with half the payments made before accepting a new loan which paid the outstanding amount on loan 1, and again nearly half the payments made on loan 2 before accepting a third loan which paid off loan 2, again nearly half the payments have been made before lodging a complaint of irresponsible lending.
188 have advised that Loan 1 is not deemed as irresponsible lending however loans 2 and 3 have been deemed irresponsible, as such they will remove loans 1 and 2 from my credit file and have sent a rather complicated description of refunding the interest set against my payments and interest which now leaves me with a balance of only £550 due to pay, which im kinda happy with. However they have not included any simple interest calculated against the interest i have paid. They have amended my outstanding loan amount due already without accepting their offer and have advised that if i am unhappy with no simple interest being added i must go to the FOS where i have 6 months to do so.
My question is will this effect their final decision and is it safe to go to the FOS to complain about the fact that no simple interest was provided, i dont want to have the two loans deemed as irresponsible be over turned by the FOS?
Thanks Gary
Mark says
Gary, the offer they give you should be 100% secure.Ive never seen a offer from a lender be turned over by the FOS.
About 118 Money ,I took a £2000 loan with them in 2016.Still have three months left of £194 a month.At the time they give me the loan including the £194 for 118 i had payday loans and monthly expenses which exceeded my next monthly wages.The concern i have is with the £2000 loan i could have cleared all the outstanding payday loans i had but i never,i had a gambling addiction which my bank would have shown and thats where the money went.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“as such they will remove loans 1 and 2 from my credit file ” did you mean loans 2 & 3?
Have you worked out how much the 8% is worth? Some of this award is presumably removing interest from the outstanding balance – as you haven’t paid this no 8% is added on that.
Gary says
Apologies Sara, yes i meant loans 2 and 3. And yes some of the award was removing outstanding interest on the balance, i understand no 8% interest would be added on that, however the payments i did make and the interest added to loan 2 should have the 8% added i think? all excluding loan 1.
Thanks
Gary
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“the payments i did make and the interest added to loan 2 should have the 8% added i think?” well the part of your payments that related to interest, yes. Not sure what you mean about “the interest added to loan 2” – you only get a refund on the payments.
My point is, how much does this 8% come to? For these recent cases it usually isn’t a lot.
Kaz says
I originally sent a complaint to Payday Express on 18th Sept 2017 about 13 loans. They replied on 4th December 2017 disagreeing with me so I sent the complaint to the FOS. An adjudicator picked it up in Feb 18 and agreed with me on 12 loans. PE had until 12th April to reply. I was told by PE they finally replied to FOS on 11th May with their response. I rang the FOS to ask what the response was and was supposed to get a call back. I am still waiting.
All very frustrating when the original complaint was so long ago!
Jen says
Hi just a note to anyone who has got a refund from 118118, I double checked what they said I was due in 8% interest, used google search and added up month by month, turns out they only use the date that payment was last made to caculate it, works out around £30 short for me. I’ve now asked them for a breakdown of how they work it out pointing this out
Jemma says
Hi
How many loans did you have with 118? I’m waiting for my reply back off them next week hoping for a positive response as I’m still paying them money.
Thanks
Bob says
Hi, just received the adjudicators findings. In the space of 6 years I had 150+ payday loans with 6 of the major companies.
4 of the complainants have been upheld (appx 70%) buy 4 different adjudicators but today I’ve had one regarding PayDayUK.
Out of 14 loans the adjudicator has only upheld 1 of the early loans (£400) but the other 13 were affordable. Bearing in mind the last 3 were for £2000 each. But surely if the other complaints on the payday loans all running together are upheld and unaffordable surley this one should be?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Is this the final decision from the adjudicator or just the first provisional one?
You can’t argue that you won the other complaints, but you can look at why you won the other complaints and make similar points to those to this adjudicator. And if this is the adjudicator’s final decision, ask for the case to go to an ombudsman and also write out in detail why you disagree with it.
Bob says
I guess it’s the final one. This was in the letter they sent to the business.
Most points are the same in all complaints.
I’ve disagreed with it and asked for it to go the ombudsman.
George says
Hi,
This is the response i got from SafetyNet Credit which in my opinion seems like a fair settlement. Would you agree with this?
We are writing in response to your complaint received on the 27th March 2018. The basis of your complaint is that we should not have lent to you as you could not afford to repay.
Having investigated your claim fully it is our view that your complaint is valid. In circumstances where the Financial Ombudsman Service finds in favour of the complainant they normally propose that a full refund of interest plus an 8% statutory interest repayment is made to the customer, with the principal outstanding balance being deducted from this amount.
Therefore we propose that we refund all the interest that you have paid (£978.22), plus statutory 8% interest (£73.26). In line with HMRC guidelines we will deduct 20% (£14.65) from your statutory interest and pay this to HMRC, meaning that you will not have to declare this redress in your tax returns.
We will then write off any interest on your outstanding balance (£83.78) and deduct your principal outstanding balance (£524.78) from all the interest you have paid. This will allow us to close your account, discharging your liability with SafetyNet Credit, and leaving an amount of £512.05 payable directly to you.
Any adverse markers in relation to this SafetyNet Credit Account will also be removed from your credit file.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how long have you had an SNC account for?
George says
Since Sep 2016 from what I can see they have refunded every single interest payment even including the first time I used them. And does this make it likely that I will get refunded from other lenders if these have refunded me?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok well that’s one sorted :)
That doesn’t mean other lenders will do the same, but it suggests that you will have a strong case at the Ombudsman. T
louise says
Hi Sara,
Avant credit saga continues – in line with the missing cheque the agreement with the adjudicator and the loan only for 30 months not 17.
Today received payment into my account – no breakdown nothing and surprise surprise it is short on my figures by £900 have charged me interest on the full 30 months even though paid in 17 and more besides. I have signed nothing I have emailed constantly and I have had no email with any breakdown. I have advised the adjudicator and told him take this to the Ombudsman. I am just fed up of this company their incompetence I have nothing. Even the figure paid doesn’t equate to the amount without the interest back.
However, they have paid some money into my account – I didn’t even give then the account details. Thoughts please? Why have they done this?
Thanking you as always, Louise.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I guess they think you might stop complaining if yiu get some money? But who knows. £900 is a lot f money, definitely go to the Ombudsman if you aren’t happy.
louise says
I have told the adjudicator that I want what I have paid out and entitled to – he cant understand it either. I have told him to raise this to the next level as I don’t have a breakdown, there is nothing at all and it is short of my calculations. Thank you.
Lisa says
Hi,
It was day 28 today for my 24/7 moneybox complaint and still no calculations or refund. The ombudsman service are saying that they allow 4-8 weeks. Has anyone else experienced this with 24/7 moneybox.
Thanks
John M says
Hi Lisa,
I submitted my complaint in January. They came back after 8 weeks saying they had done nothing wrong. I sent it to the ombudsman and told 247 moneybox that’s what I had done and they have been negotiating with me ever since. They have finally agreed to refund me from loans 3-11 plus the 8% statutory interest just waiting for them to tell me the amount. So it has taken 4 months to get to this position but keep pushing because you will get to the right outcome but it takes time and a whole heap of effort with them.
You must keep pushing them. They hope that if they don’t respond you will give up. Don’t give up!!!
Lisa says
Hi John,
Thanks for your reply. 24/7 ignored the Adjudicator so it was sent to ombudsman who upheld and gave them 4 weeks to refund. I have chased them continually for my calculations and today was the final day of the 4 weeks given for them to pay. So I have been back to FOS and they have said they grant an extra 4 weeks. It seems such a joke that they continually just don’t comply and get away with it. I hope you have better luck than me with them paying out your refund.
Kara says
I had an update on my complaints with the FOS today:
Payday UK – they haven’t sent any info since it was requested 2 months ago. I’m hoping that the lack of info from them goes in my favour as I don’t have bank statements for the entire period of lending. Plus, they made me an offer when I complained to them initially. Apparently they are particularly busy right now.
Wonga – still waiting for an adjudicator to look at the file since I agreed to drop the loans older than 6 yrs.
Quick Quid – this has gone nowhere since I submitted in early feb. The FOS guy said there’s still a delay with QQ and older loans but it’s potentially not as big as with Wonga. I don’t know if that means that they’ve made some progress?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you tried to get your old bank statements?
Kara says
Yes, many times. The Cooperative Bank haven’t cooperated! The last time i asked them they took £10 and still didn’t send them. I have wage slips for pretty much every month throughout the loans and statements from a second bank account that I use for direct debits that shows several returned payments etc. They also show Wonga taking about 10 small payments on 1 day, presumably when they had rinsed my main account!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Put in a formal written complaint to the Co-op! Sorry but you may find this very difficult to win without these statements so you need to keep on trying.
Becky Rayfield says
Hello everyone.
PaydayUK have deemed my first two loans affordable and are undecided on the third.
They have requested a bank statement for June 2012 and my credit report.
I have both of these – but I feel a little concerned sending over such personal information- credit report especially as it contains previous addresses and all sorts.
The thing is sending this will most likely sway decision in my favour as it’s clear from both my finances were (and still are unfortunately), a complete mess and that the loan was MOST CERTAINLY unaffordable.
I’m not sure what to do…can they keep my information secure? I feel very uneasy sending it off. Anyone got any advice?
Pras says
Hi Becky,
They asked exactly the same documents from me. It wasn’t easy to get hold of old bank statements but I found them eventually and sent them over to PaydayUK. They clearly saw that I was struggling with multiple payday loans and shouldn’t have lent me in the first place hence my complaint was upheld. Good luck with your case.
Pras
Karol says
Hi Sara,
First of all thank you for all the help you’re providing! The Adjudicator has rendered 2 of my 6 loans with QQ unaffordable but had informed me that the business is not agreeing with the decision. The case went to the Ombudsman now. My question is how often does the Ombudsman actually dismiss the Adjudicator’s decision and favor the buisness disagreement? Or is this something that never happens? Thank you very much
Regards
Karol
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Adjudicator decisions are usually upheld. Sometimes the ombudsman changes the number of loans awarded. Were you happy with only being awarded 2 out of 6? If you aren’t, I suggest you send your adjudicator an email saying that you were prepared to accept the decision to settle the case, but you think you should be getting a refund for more of the loans and you would like the ombudsman to look at the whole case.
Jemma says
Hi Sarah
I have made quite a few complaints some I am still waiting to hear back from and some are with the FOS. The FOS have asked for my bank statements during the times I had took out the payday loans and through all this I had a £4000 overdraft will this help my case as the lenders should of seen this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Not directly. But running a large overdraft usually suggests financial problems which usually suggest that the loans were unaffordable for you.
Jemma says
Thanks Sarah,I also had several Personal loans and payday loans aswell so hopefully will get some refunds!
Liam says
A little bit of advice please.
I have been working on my payday loans for a number of years and I am almost there. I have been successfull with wonga, sunny and quickquid. All of which have been ruled to refund and deleted all loans from my credit file which they have all done.
However I have been having lots of issues with lending stream and their many barriers.
Anyway I have finally had the ruling from the FOS that 25 of 28 of my loans were deemed unaffordable and that they should refund all interest and ‘remove any adverse entries’ against these loans on my credit file. However based on my past experience with this, this meant that any loans they were leant to me that were deemed unaffordable should be removed from my credit file as this puts me back to a position should I have never been leant these loans. Which makes sense to me in that if I should never have been leant a loan then it should not be recorded on my credit file and I should be put back to a position had they have not leant to me irresponsibly.
Now lending stream being the most difficult of all payday lenders have just removed adverse entries from the loans on my credit file but not actually removed the entries.
Can someone help with where I stand legally with this approach?
Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The Ombudsman usually only says that adverse marks should be removed. Many lenders take the easy way and just delete the loans but they don’t have to.
In practice payday loans over a year old and which have been repaid on time (ie your loans with any adverse markers removed) do not hurt your credit score. So there isn’t a need to be concerned about this.
Liam says
Hi Sara. Thanks for your swift reply.
My main concern of this is that I have read that I will struggle with my mortgage application as mortgage providers see payday loans as poor money management so have 28 loans on my file I would assume will have a bad effect on my application.
Is this no longer the case?
Thanks again
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How old is the most recent payday loan? And what does the rest of your credit record look like?
Liam says
Hello. The last payday loan was updated on 10/01/16, lending stream is the only company showing on my account. My issue is why have all other companies deleted their loans from my records yet lending stream are refusing. I was on the understanding that any loan that is deemed as unaffordable has been leant irresponsibily so the lender has the responsibility to put the consumer back to a position had they not been leant to in the first place. To do this they will need to pay back all interest for the loan plus 8% interest and remove the loan from the customers credit file this would leave them in the same position as they were before the loan was issued. I have spoken with a couple of mortgage brokers and they said I will have trouble getting a mortgage with a decent rate because I have payday loans on my credit file which indicates poor money management. My credit file had been clean for well over a year, I have not taken out any payday loans in the last 2 years and I have no credit on my file except my mobile phone contract. My Experian score is 989. It’s just so frustrating, do you think I have a case to put back to FOS to get them to remove the loans on my credit file or will I have to wait it out another 4 years?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“do you think I have a case to put back to FOS to get them to remove the loans on my credit file” No. Sorry.
“I have no credit on my file except my mobile phone contract.” that isn’t going to be doing your chances of getting a mortgage any good at all! Lenders like to see that you are handling credit sensibly, not avoiding credit. Apply for one credit card (not two or more). With that good a credit record you should be able to get a good one but check on a soft checker eg https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/eligibility/credit-cards/ as you do not want to be refused. Then when you get the card use it every month for something small eg a tank of petrol and repay it in full every month so you are not running a balance and not paying any interest.
How large is your deposit?
Alan says
Hi,
One month loan have come back to me and I need some advice, they haven’t upheld my complaint for the one loans of £300 however as a gesture of goodwill they will refund the interest of £192. I’m quite surprised Adi only had the one loan with them but should I push back and ask for the 8% interest – I wasn’t really expecting to get anything – any thoughts?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Personally I think getting the interest back on one loan is a good result but it’s up to you.
tom price says
So on the 8 weeks deadline – I got a response from lendingstream, saying that even though I had complained through resolver and got a response from lendingstream acknowledging this. They cannot process my complaint as it was not through my registered email address? I replied saying that this is a well known delaying tactic and I would be sending to the FOS and complaining to the FCA. To which they then said they would investigate it?
is this normal – I appreciate they seem to be the worst of all PDL companies and try to annoy you that much that you give up
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You aren’t the first person to say that LS have rejected a complaint through Resolver. They are just being obstructive. You have done the right thing. I suggest you send your complaint now to the FOS.
I will also let Resolver know.
Casey says
Tom I had the same thing just last week so I sent in to the ombudsman.. I emailed and called to say I was doing this then less than a week later they said they investigated my complaint and did nothing wrong .. the same info is repeated several times… I had 6 loans open with them at one time and top up s but they didn’t even fully answer ththe complaint so I’m progressing with the ombudsman
Eric says
Good Morning
Eight weeks up today for 6 of my complaints and thought I’d give some insight to my dealings so far:
Wonga – 10 Loans (8 Top ups) in 2 years, even emailed them saying I was having money difficulty but was able to pay off my previous loan and take out another one 10 days after emailing them. – Complaint Rejected saying they received no notice of me having money problems yet acknowledged my email. Sent to FOS.
Uncle Buck – 6 Loans in 18 months (3 Month Instalments) – Borrowed on the same day as paying 4 of these off but because I paid back early twice they didn’t see any financial difficulty. Sent to FOS.
Wage Day Advance – 11 Loans in 2 years (Rolled over numerous times) – Rejected irresponsible lending but upheld my complaint due to multiple reasons which shows if they done the correct checks they would of seen that I should not of been lent to. Refund of interest on all 11 loans.
Ferratum – 30 Loans in 18 months – Roughly £500 a month – No final response as of yet – Last day of the 8 weeks.
CashASAP – 15 Loans in 6 Months – No final response as of yet – Last day of the 8 weeks.
MyJar – 7 Loans in 18 Months – Borrowed on the same day as paying off for 6 of these increasing in amounts every time – No final response as of yet – Last day of the 8 weeks.
Hope this helps others.
Angus says
Hi,
Does the interest rate cap apply to loans2go? they are asking me to repay 4 X what I originally borrowed. the loan was taken out at the end of last year so the rules were in place. they claim that as the loan was repayable over 18 months the rules do not apply. is this the case?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Unfortunately the cap only applies to short-term borrowing :( Debt campaigners such as me want this extended, but what loans2go are saying now is correct. BUT they still had to make affordability checks to ensure you could make the monthly repayments without hardship or borrowing more elsewhere.
African Queen says
Hello All,
Quick update on MyJar. I had 15 loans from MyJar from 2013 till last year. From my calculation based on the loan summary they sent me, I have paid interest of £8617.50.
After 7 weeks, I received an email from them yesterday saying that they are partially upholding my complaint. The offer is for £508.80. They have just picked random loans. I had to stop myself laughing out loud!
I have written to them to say that I am rejecting the offer and sending my case to the Ombudsman.
I will update on progress as I get it.
Keep fighting everyone. We we all be free of payday loans soon xxx
Eric says
Thats a shocking offer! I’m in the last day of the eight week deadline and haven’t heard back from My Jar.
I had 7 loans all increasing each time and taken out the same say as paying off the previous roughly £1500 interest in total but seeing your response makes me feel like I will be taking it to the Ombudsman.
African Queen says
I know, Eric. I wrote them a very polite email asking them to reconsider and that I will be taking it to the Ombudsman as I wasn’t happy with the offer. As soon as I hear back, I will post an update.
Eva says
I had the same but went back to them and they upheld all except first 2 without going to FOS. Very easy to negotiate with and very quick to receive money in my bank. Good luck
African Queen says
Hello Eva,
Based on the emails I had been getting from them, I honestly thought they would be easy to deal with. I was really disappointed as there is no logic to the loans that they upheld.
Let’s hope I get a response to my email. I’ll keep you updated.
Thank you and my best wishes to you always
Eva says
I had not even half of the loans upheld 2 here 1 there two there. Hopefully they get back to you with better response.
Eric says
Just had my final response from MyJar.
Complaint not upheld as they believe my loans were affordable and due to them being short term loans additional checks were not needed to be done (Ranging from 1 month to 6 months) even though I was borrowing from them same day as paying off my previous.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
straight to the FOS!
Nat says
Can I ask whether TXT loan became MYJAR? Or do I have to do I have to do a separate complaint for both? If so does anyone have contact email details for TXT loan?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I would send a single complaint.
Mike says
Hi
I was on a payment holiday with lending Stream for my three loans. I have it clearly stated that I would not accrue any further interest on my loans until the end of my payment holiday 30-Apr. The amount to make the next payment now was far lower than the amount it would be to pay on 30th April and this amount to pay now did not change for over a month as I would expect. One day though it did start increasing on one of my loans calculated at the standard daily rate of interest. Then my other couple of loans started increasing the amount to pay closer to the final monthly settlement amount. I spent 1 hr 20 on the phone to lending Stream who firstly denied I was ever on a payment holiday which I said I have emails and screenshots showing I was. Then they said the “not accruing any interest” was a standard template and that they never freeze interest. I told them I don’t care if it was a template email, they made me a written agreement to which I would use in the case of any legal claim.
Mike says
Eventually after multiple exchanges and being put on hold they said if I can provide screenshots with the values of the amount to pay now before the interest started increasing (which they said they didn’t have but I had already provided) they would reduce this amount again. They said it would be sorted within 24 hours. Over a month later, numerous emails and messages on twitter via Direct Message, they have still ignored me. As they didn’t respond with 24 hours I seemed emergency credit to pay off my loans in full to not occur any interest but this could of been achieved (at a rate of credit to CCs) without the additional £70 they charged me by saying I wouldn’t accrue any interest until the end of April.
Do I:
1) have a claim that they shouldn’t of charged me interest when they said they would
2) have a claim as they agreed they would remove this additional charge and have not done so in their timeframe given.
3) not have a claim as I made the payment in full otherwards?
My gripe is the £70 they over charged me as well as the deceit, wasted time and stress it caused daily seeing interest being charged when it shouldn’t.
Many Thanks for any help you can offer.
Kind Regards
tom price says
as the last day is today for my complaints it stand like this
safety net credit have upheld my complaint as refunded me £799.96
Sunny refunded – £1077
QQ/P2P Refunded – £5333.33
Mr lender – rejected will send to FOS
PdUK/PDExpress – rejected will send to FOS
Wonga – No response
Myjar – No response
Ladder Loans – No response
Lending stream – absolute @ssholes so gonna send to FOS
Wageday Advance – Rejected -so sent credit report and told them to reconsider with outlingin details will await response
Robert says
I complained to Ferratum and have received a response today just shy of 9 weeks later. They reject my complaint but as a good will gesture they have offered me £250.
Now this lender seems to be the only one where “a statement of borrowing” is not available on the my account section of their website so i havent got an exact figure of interest, Is it worth asking for them to send me a statement now? i definitely paid more than £250 but want to be sure before deciding to go to the FOS
John M says
OK update on 247 Moneybox
I sent my complaint on 22nd January and they came back after 8 weeks just saying they rejected my complaint but as a gesture of goodwill they would remove the loans from my credit history. These are from 7-9 years ago and I have a mortgage so this was irrelevant so I sent to FOS and told 247 Moneybox that I was sending it. My total interest was £878.86 but one loan they didn’t take payment for £200.00 (I took a loan out after that, talk about irresponsible lending!!) so the total interest then was £678.86. They offered to give me £500 which I rejected. They then offered the interest back which I rejected as it took them so long to reply each time that I eventually wanted to push for everything.
They have finally agreed to give 8% as well on top and are refunding £1,223.16 in total now.
If they reject your complaint keep pushing these guys. They are trying it on to see how far you are prepared to go. I pushed them all the way and am getting all interest back plus 8% interest. Worth it in the end but the last 2 months have involved a lot of pushing on my part.
Keep going everyone and thank you once again Sara. Got 5 left to finalise now. Wonga and Quickquid are with ombudsman and over 6 years so will be waiting a while. PDUK with ombudsman and Pay Day Express and cash Genie have 2 more weeks to reply to me.
Eric says
Additional Outcomes:
My Jar – Complaint rejected & given some absolute rubbish as an excuse so sent to FOS
CashASAP – Refunded interest on 10 out 15 loans which was about 80% of the overall. Happy with this outcome.
Still waiting on Ferratum.
Casey says
Well done Eric .. I’ve also had the spiel from Myjar…
Mr and Mrs C says
I have had a reply from Payday express saying that the loans were small and that they I should have been able to afford them, considering that they were low in value (£100-200) each time. They have asked for copies of my bank statements for April and November 2011, and March and June 2012. I have downloaded these and can see that we had loans with QQ, cash genie, swift stirling and Wonga at the same time as these loans. So… my question is do I dare send these statements off to Payday express, or just send the case to the FO?
Jane Thingy says
Your other loans will surely prove that you were already borrowing more than you could manage to pay back and that they should never have approved your loans.
I think you need to have a final decision from them before you can take your case to the ombudsman, so let them have the statements and make their decision. If they turn it down or if you’re not happy with any offer they make, then it’s off to the ombudsman you go.
Mr and Mrs C says
Thanks, I will send them in.
Kara says
Just had an email from an FOS adjudicator in relation to my Wonga complaint. I agreed to omit the 3 6yr+ loans and he has asked them to refund all interest on the following 4 loans. As I had hoped, he took the older loans into consideration in order to look at my repeat borrowing. I’ve only potentially lost about £300 in the older loans, and I think i’m due back around £1700 plus 8% (£800). They have 2 weeks to respond…
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Fingers crossed this gets sorted now!
Kara says
Just noticed an error. The adjudicator says I had no other payday lending at the time of loan number 5 from Wonga but I had an outstanding balance of £1600 with QQ / PDU. I’ve pointed it out to him in case Wonga don’t agree with his result. Does this kind of thing happen quite a lot?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Not often!
Sasha paton says
Hi I wondered if there is any updates on loans over 6 years witg the onbudsman some of mine have been with them almost a year now
Mike s says
I complained to the FOS in april 2017 about payday express, wage day advance and payday uk. These loans were from 2010/2011 the FOS has Just ruled in my favour on all 3. Using the 6+3 rule. It may take a while but it seems they agree :)
Paul says
Mike, was this at adjudicator stage or did it go all the way to an ombudsman? If it was at adjudicator stage did the companies agreed to the refund? Asking as I have complaints with the same companies and they raised the 6 year rule but my adjudicator has said they should be able to consider them under the 6+3 year rule and was wondering how my complaints might pan out.
Thanks
DK says
What’s the 6+3 rule you guys are talking about? I’ve never heard of this…
Paul says
My basic understanding is that if loans are older than six years normally you wouldn’t have the right to complain, but if the FOS believe you did not know you had reason to complain for example you did not know that a lender had a duty to lend responsibly (I always thought that if I applied for a loan it was down to me and the lenders didn’t have a duty to ensure I could repay without causing financial difficulties) then if you can show you only knew you had a right to complain within the last three years then the FOS may look at a complaint. Most of my loans are over six years old but I only found I had reason to complain last July when I stumbled across this fantastic website. It is not a quick process and most lenders are disputing the FOS can review these complaints but some are allowing them to be looked into and others the FOS are putting through ‘test cases’. Hope that makes sense but if not I’m sure someone can explain it slightly better.
Lee Sharratt says
Sara can u help me. My old bank has no record of my account, trying to get statements. What can I do please ?
They have no record of my account of 8 years
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you gone into a branch? Do you have any paperwork relating to it?
Lee Sharratt says
I spoke to them and in the branch . I need to go everything with a fine tooth
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Lee, if you haven’t made any progress with this I suggest
1) you should send your bank (was it the Co-op?) a Subject Access Request(SAR). This is free but may take a month. You need to provide as much personal information as you can to help them trace your account: name, addresses, email addresses, date of birth, NI number I suggest.
2) you tell the FOS you have done this and ask them to put your case on hold until you get a reply
3) also send a SAR to each of your lenders, even if you already have a list of your loans. It is possible that the info you get back may have your bank sort code and account number!
If the SAR from the bank doesn’t have anything AND the SAR from the lenders proves that you had a Co-op account, then go back to the FOS and show them all this and ask them to consider your case without your bank statements. This is a MUCH harder route to follow so it’s just the fall back if nothing else works.
Jane Tingy says
Doing well so far. Sunny (and Vanquis) paid out before xmas with no quibble. I took Wonga to the Ombudsman and their paltry £161 offer has been bumped up by the latter to nearly £1000, hopefully paying out any day now. They’ve just emailed to say they’ve adjusted my credit record. The ombudsman’s adjudicatorin that case was brilliant, kept me in constant touch and even called to let me know what was happening.
Pounds to Pocket/Quick Quid have been a different story, however. They initially turned my claim down flat so I went to the ombudsman. They’ve agreed to one part of the claim, approx £500 on their FlexCredit loans, but are still disputing a couple of top-ups to a P2P loan despite the adjudicator’s calculations and analysis. He called me today and asked if I would like him to forward it to the ombudsman, which I have agreed to. After all, I have nothing to lose. P2P/QQ have already said in writing that they shouldn’t have made the FlexCredit loans and so I’m unlikely to lose that. We just have to wait and see now what the ombudsman says. Hope I’ve done the right thing.
Now to take my husband’s case for the same company to the ombudsman because they’ve sent him exactly the same response. As that chap in ‘Dinnerladies’ says, I”ve got my dander up now!
Simon says
Hi Sara,
Please could you help, I agreed a refund with My jar on some of my loans in March 2017 and have just been re looking at there response and they have said the following:
You took out 21 separate loans with us. Kindly note that we delete any record older than 6 years as rules laid down by the ICO (Information Commissionaires Office) advises that firms must not hold on to data that it does not need, due to the risk associated with this we have set a retention period of six years. As such, we do not hold data about the first 12 loans which were requested and repaid more than six years ago from the date we received your complaint. Your last nine loans from us were taken out between 23 January 2011 and 30 August 2011. All of these loans were scheduled to be repaid in less than 30 days in one instalment.
Is it correct that they dont have to hold this data any more or was it a sly attempt to stop me claiming on these loans? I do have bank statement showing the loan and re payment.
Simon
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is up to the firm what data they retain. As you have all the details from your bank accounts, you could send those to Myjar so that they can consider your complaint! haha that isn’t very likely to work… but the evidence would (I hope) be enough for the Ombudsman.
If they offer you a good refund on the 9 over 6 years loans you will have to weigh up if it is worth sending the whole case to the Ombudsman. Do you know what interest yuou paid on the earlier loans? and on the later loans?
Kaz says
I have finally had a response from Payday Express through my adjudicator as follows:
Interest and charges paid: £1,816.52
8% interest: £665.49
20% tax deduction: £133.10
Total redress: £2,348.91
Outstanding balance: £1,419.20
Final redress to customer: £929.71
They have taken a balance of £1419.20 from their offer that they say I owe. This balance was sold to BW Legal and I paid it in full to them. I am so annoyed that after months this is their response and its incorrect! Anyone had any similar problems? Not sure what to do next
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Go back to your adjudicator and point this out. Is this a refund on all your loans? On the ones the adjudicator says should be refunded? or just an offer from PDE, if so do you think it’s a good one?
Kaz says
Its on 11 out of 13 loans which was the adjudicators decision. The £2348.91 is the exact amount I worked out that should be refunded so I am very pleased with this. Just unhappy they have tried to take a balance off this amount that I don’t owe.
Eric says
Anyone had any dealings with Ferratum?
My 8 weeks were up yesterday and I emailed them asking If I would receive their final response by close of play and heard nothing back. These were my biggest lenders over the last 18 months borrowing just over £8000 and nearly every single loan was taken out on the same day as paying off my previous.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send it straight to the Ombudsman!
Lee Sharratt says
I went through the motions 8 weeks, asked for a statement, tried fobbing me off. They responded with my statements , said they were affordable. Went straight to the fos, awaiting response
Eric says
Sent them an email saying I will be sending my case the FOS.
Disgusting really when looking back at my loans, roughly £500 borrowed a month, paying back £600+ for nearly 18 months straight even though my take home salary is £1400.
Was just stuck in the cycle and couldn’t break it
Mr and Mrs C says
QQ response – from the transactions I can trace we borrowed 23k, paid back 28k, so 4.6k in interest over the years…
Their offer?
Contractual interest and/or charges £637
– Interest at 8% simple £299.44
-20% tax withholding on interest £59.89
-Amount to be paid to your account £876.55
Do I just revoke the offer and send off to FOS or do I say, look this is what we have borrowed and paid back – up your offer?
Mr and Mrs C says
Sorry I should have mentioned that 16k of the loans are now over 6 years old and 6.2k of them are within the 6 year time frame
David mallory says
Good morning.
My adjudicator has give me some good news. Last wee quick quid have agreed to pay back 2 out of 4 loans. £1450 back to me.
How long do quick quid leave it before they pay a refund? And do I need to contact them at all?
Kind regards and donation will be on its way to CAB once they honour their promise.
David
tom price says
Wonga came back today 1 day late however. Upheld my complaint. Most of the loans with them were over 6 years old so wasn’t expecting too much but with an offer of just under 2k I’m pretty happy with that. Most of the complaints I have made have come back and upheld the complaint. offers have been reasonable and I have settled directly rather than wait for the FOS.
Considering 3 months ago I hadn’t heard of this site and wasn’t going to do anything about it. I Have now had over 7k back to me so every little helps. Only Myjar now and Amigo. These are the 2 that I have the biggest issue with but would bet they don’t uphold complaint!
tom price says
MyJar response – complaint upheld – 4k refund.
James A says
Hi Sara,
Thankyou for the useful information, I’ve just sent complaints to 4 different lenders, hoping for a positive outcome eventually! The effect on my mental health has been ridiculous but I’d never thought of complaining as I’d alwags thought well it’s your own fault for being daft enough to take them out!
James Alderson says
Prompt replies from H&T and Mr Lender both stating that their decisions were correct and rejecting complaint
H&T because it was in 2013 and subject to different rules, Mr Lender say they believe from the information I gave it’s affordable but offering a repayment plan?
Take both or neither to FOS? Both say it’s their final decision.
Any advice ?!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
would you like to briefly summarise how much you borrowed from each of these lenders, and over what period? How large a balance do you owe Mr L?
James A says
Current balance with Mr L is about £620 and the same with Lending Stream.
I’ve borrowed 3 times from Mr L over last 2 years.
Lending Stream is over 30 loans. Crazy really and depressing!
Lou7 says
Had email from onstride saying they did everything right but I had P2P and QQ at the same time as them as well as other bills. Is it worth going to the ombudsman? Advice would be appreciated. One loan for £2,600 the month after I had one from avant.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
that sounds worth sending to the Ombudsman. The Avant loan should have shown on your credit recor in addition to the payday loans.. Have you complained about the Avant loan?
Lou7 says
Hi Sara. Yes I sent a complaint to them too and within a couple of days they replied with the same old, we haven’t done anything wrong. That one is waiting for an adjudicator at the moment.
Chantel says
Peachy offered me a refund within 10days paid off outstanding balance and an additional £170 quid over £500 in total. Was really impressed. Thanks for your help, brilliant advice!
Bob says
Hi, QQ have ignored adjudicators findings. Gone to the ombudsman now. Is this a lengthy process?
Lisa says
Hi Bob,
I had the same situation with a different payday lender. I had asked that the loans over 6 years were disregarded to prevent long delays and it took the ombudsman 3 weeks to reach a decision.
Good luck
Eric says
Good morning
Sent off complaints that were rejected to the FOS.
Had letters via post to confirm that they have received my complaint and to forward my bank statements and credit file to them. Happy to do this but I was wondering how long the process takes from this stage? Roughly?
Thanks
Shannon says
2-3 months depending on how quickly the lender provides their information and answers any questions the adjudicator has.
Jordan says
Hi Sara
The adjucator has upheld my complaint and has sent their response to Payday Uk. Do payday uk normally agree and from agreement how long does it take for a refund ? I have no loans with them now but the redress will be around £1100
Charlotte Ford says
Just had a complaint rejected by Drafty as below – should I just go straight to Ombudsman now? Thank you
Affordability Checks:
We confirm that an affordability analysis is conducted for all customers (existing or new) and on each application. Our advanced analytics and underwriting processes review the information provided by the customer, all public information, and details held by Credit Reference Agencies before making a decision.
Your Experian score was 722. This was factored into our proprietary underwriting and deemed acceptable
At the time of application, you were employed full time
Your monthly income at the time of application was £3250.00.
We could observe a sufficient disposable income, which denoted that repayments towards the account could have been made without any financial difficulties
You were approved only for the amount you were eligible for
In lieu of the overall situation, we believe that Drafty has behaved responsibly in approving your account and has dealt with it fairly.
We consider this as our final response to this matter.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You should ignore the comment that you had a good Experian score – Drafty is a sister company to Lending Stream and they seem to just make these credit score numbers up!
Would you like to say some more about this complaint? how much did you borrow? should Drafty have seen you were in trouble?
Charlotte Ford says
their credit check should have shown that there was borrowing from many payday loan companies at the same time, also was suffering with depression – is it worth me responding on either of these points to Drafty? Thank you Sara
James Alderson says
Mr Lender responded again today and offered to freeze interest on my outstanding loan and put in place a repayment plan as full and final settlement.
I had 3 loans with them
£250 – £195.20 interest
£200 – £179.88 interest
£400 – £151.20 interest paid with £627 outstanding.
Does this sound a reasonable offer given that at the same time as taking these out I had a history of borrowing each month from lending stream often with 3/4 loans open at the same time? Should that and the increase in amount borrowed have shown I would struggle financially?
Accept this or continue with it at FOS level?
H&T was a total no as loan was from 2013
Lending Stream and Payday Express have just sent generic “we will investigate within 8 weeks” responses
Thanks
James
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Mt Lender are not legally allowed to charge you more than £400 interest and charges on a loan of £400. So this offer to freeze interest, which will mean you pay £378 interest is hardly generous! What were the gaps between the Mr Lender loans?
“H&T was a total no as loan was from 2013” and what does that have to do with it? Unless they have a better reason than that, I suggest you send the case to the FOS.
James A says
Hi Sarah,
What Mr L seem to say is that I will save £240?
“Your current balance stands at £387.00, this can be split into monthly affordable payments and will mean you pay £240.00 less than the contractual balance agreed to upon application. “
H&T can also go to FOS then, they seem to just be saying “oh well things were different then” I have asked them for a better offer and noted that they caused me stress and embarrassment by repeatedly phoning my workplace (an emergency service control room!) when I missed a payment.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, that is rather more than “freezing interest” because they are quoting your balance as £387 not £627. If you agree to this, you will have paid £151 + £387 – £400 = £138 in interest.
What were the gaps between the Mr L loans, the time from replaying loan 1 to taking out loan 2, and from loan 2 to loan 3? Mr L should definitely have seen your other Lending Stream loans on your credit record. and, as you say, the third loan was a lot larger.
Mr L are one of the better lenders for really thinking about your situation if you reply with a reasoned argument about why they should do more. One obvious thing to ask for is for the balance to be reduced to 400-151 = £249 so you don’t pay any more than you borrowed. And also for no negative marks on your credit record for the last loan.
James A says
Thanks for the reply :)
There was 6 months between each loan.
I think my best case will be against Lending Stream to be honest.
I will ask them to consider reducing the balance and removing any credit marks. Fingers crossed!
Eric says
Good afternoon
Wonga complaint rejected and sent to FOS. FOS have replied saying they have contacted the business, do they have 8 weeks to reply to them as a new complaint? or does it carry on from my original date?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, the FOS is just asking for Wonga’s file on your complaint so the adjudicator has all the information before they start to look at it. If a lender refuses to provide this or ignores the request the FOS can proceed without the lender’s file, but it’s much quicker to do it this way and Wonga will hand over the file.
Cat says
Had a settlement offer last week from Sunny- when I asked for the total breakdown of the loans, I could see that the 2.5K they offered me (including interest) was about 80% of the total lent to me, so I accepted on Friday. Funds were in my account on Tuesday!!! Can’t fault them, pleasant to deal with and so quick.
Successes:
Wonga £3300 (used a claims company so it was actually £4500), would rather have the full amount but hadn’t found this site back then!
Sunny £2500
Payday UK- have offered £2000 but also asked to see statements so hopefully might go slightly higher
QQ_ rejected outright so have referred to FOS
Thank you so much for all of the help on here- and keep sharing the good news stories- it helps to know that this process can work for anyone thinking of complaining :-)
Bob says
Hi Cat. How long did Sunny take please from your initial complaint through to resolution?
Cat says
it was just over 7 weeks :-)
Mr and Mrs C says
Have referred QQ to the FOS. After their offer yesterday:-
Contractual interest and/or charges £637
– Interest at 8% simple £299.44
-20% tax withholding on interest £59.89
-Amount to be paid to your account £876.55
They sent a statement showing from 2010-2013 we have had 29 loans borrowing 24k paying 6.7k of interest. The loans over the 6 years alone amounted to 3k of interest – a little insulted with their offer. Fingers crossed.
MATT says
I was offered £60 odd quid for £9k interest :-)
Mr and Mrs C says
Does this mean that we have to wait for a decision to be made on loans older than 6 years ? and that the ones under 6 can not be considered separately?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes & yes
Kara says
I was offered £12 for £8k!
Eric says
Ferratum are yet to reply to my complaint despite going over the 8 week guideline. Yet come home to find a debt collection letter and a default.
Love how they are quick to send these yet don’t fancy replying to a ‘customer’ that has taken out 31 loans in 18 months borrowing over £8,000 who is in need of help.
samantha says
a year later…
27/7/17 I got the outcome from Sunny which was to close off all open loans I had left. £500 worth, which I still didn’t think was enough I borrowed thousands over years borrowing more on the same day I was paying… I went back to them, I went to the FOS and apparently I am still waiting on a review from the ombudsman?
does it really take this long?
thanks
Zlat says
Hi Sara
Thanks for this site and your advice. I have received a response from Sunny although they have never sent me an account history. They say I borrowed in total £1147.55 and repaid total £2002.39.
They have offered me full refund of interest and charges £854.84 and simple interest of £302.04.
What do you think?
Zlat says
None of my loans are more than 6 years old. Probably 5/6 years max. No adjudicator this is directly from Sunny? What do you think?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry my question was to Samantha, not you.
Unless you think the Sunny numbers are wrong, then you are being offered a full refund – great! If you had any late payments or defaults on your credit record you should ask for those to be removed.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are any of your loans over 6 years old? Have you had a decision from an adjudicator/
samantha says
me? none are over 6 years old, yes had a decision from them but I still disagreed so asked for an ombudsman decision
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That’s unusual. From your previous comments you sounded as though you had a strong case, so hopefully the ombudsman will see this!
Carly says
Hi I’m wondering if anyone can help me with my situation with Wonga,
So I complained back in September 2017 and they rejected the claim, I didn’t feel confident to take it further and was going through some personal issues, I was borrowing off more lenders etc, after I complained they let me borrow again a few month later, I know I shouldn’t of but I was at a low point, I then couldn’t afford the repayments as I had outstanding loans with another 7 companies at the time.
I decided to complain to wonga again beginning of april and they rejected it again so I sent it to the FOS, I have had a letter from them today stating they are unsure if they can help me due to it being more than 6 months from the first time I complained
I wasn’t aware there was a time limit but it does say on the letter that they still may be able to help me if I can explain exceptional circumstances as to why I have taken so long to send it to the fos.
Any ideas what I can reply back?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
For exceptional circumstances, they are looking for you being in hospital or something.
BUT you obviously have a complaint they should look at about the recent borrowing – that wasn’t covered by your previous complaint, so you can insist they look at that.
JBOY says
Hi
I Currently have a case with QQ that FOS have upheld my case , I have signed and returned the final decision letter on 23rd April the 28 days are up Monday 21st May , I still havent seen the breakdown off the settlement form QQ.
Has anyone experienced this and what happens after the 28 days ?
JBOY says
Hi
I currently have a case with QQ that the FOS has upheld , I have signed and returned the Final Decision , this was sent April 23rd and i have still not received the breakdown off the settlement , the 28 days are up this Monday 21st.
Has anyone experienced this and what happens once the 28 days are up ?
Regards
Jessica Woods says
Hi All,
I have put a complaint in about Lending Stream and Wonga. The adjudicator has found in my favour against Lending stream for loans 4-11. I cant work out how much this would mean in return – it would be loans to the value of about 1800 all between 10-18 months old. I would be due back all interest,charges and stat interest – how do I work this out?
Thanks,
Jess
Rebecca says
Had a final response from Sunny today, with an offer of £799.51 + £250.51 in interest (I paid a total of £2,930 of interest to them all up). So, off to the Ombudsman I go! I already have a case with the FOS against Wonga, and sent all of the documentation (bank statements and credit reports) by registered post yesterday – a huge pile of paperwork. My question is – do I need to reprint all of my bank statements etc to include in my Sunny complaint as well? Still waiting on responses from PayDay UK, Avant Credit, Everyday Loans and Lending Stream.
Kara says
I only sent my printed documents in once and they copied the files over to each complaint. I think I called them a few weeks after I sent the stuff in to ask that they could share it across my cases.
Casey says
Hi Rebecca I’m the same we Sunny .. I calculated 2800 and they offered me just over 500 pound. I counted 56 loans in 18 months .. top up and day or days after month on month. I progressed to the ombudsman so waiting