If you had doorstep loans from lender such as Provident, you may be able to get a refund of the interest you paid if the lender should have realised the loan was unaffordable for you.
Doorstep lending – also called home credit – is where a collector comes to your house to collect the repayments. Doorstep loans are used by over 1.3 million people in Britain. The four largest lenders are Provident (includes Greenwoods), Morses Club (includes Shopacheck), Mutual and Loans At Home.
What is an “unaffordable” doorstep loan?
The regulator says that a loan is unaffordable if you couldn’t make the repayments without borrowing again. This could be from the same lender, from someone else, getting deeper into your overdraft or by not paying a bill such as a utility bill.
So even if you always paid your Provident loan on time, it could still have been unaffordable.
If the lender should have realised the loan was unaffordable they shouldn’t have given it to you – that was irresponsible lending and you should get a refund back of the interest you paid.
It is difficult to get a refund for only one loan. But if you borrowed several times and especially if you took out a new loan when you were having problems paying an existing one, then complain.
How to complain about doorstep loans
For the last 18 months, lots of people have been getting large refunds from payday loans, see How to ask for a payday loan refund. The good news is the process is exactly the same for doorstep loans – the regulator’s definition of affordability is the same for all sorts of lending.
That article has template letters for complaining and it describes what you need to do and when to take your case to the Financial Ombudsman. And at the bottom there are thousands of comments from people making these claims, so you can see how it works in practice.
Here are some points that often crop up with doorstep lending. If any of the following happened to you, add a similar sentence to the standard letter in that link:
- “My collector said I needed to change some things on my application otherwise it wouldn’t be approved”;
- “My collector filled out the application and gave it to me to sign, I didn’t have time to read it”;
- “I told the collector I had lost my job and she offered me a new loan to tide me over”;
- “When I asked my collector if I could pay over a longer period, he said I couldn’t unless I took a new loan”;
- “I have borrowed from you continuously for four years. Every time I cleared some debt, I was offered top ups”;
- “I missed several payments but you kept lending me more”;
- “For the first loan my collector looked at my payslip but after that he never checked and never asked if I was getting the same money – I wasn’t.”
Those are all bad but pretty common. There are some horror stories of bad lending and collection in this recent Citizens Advice report: Debt on your doorstep.
Contact details for doorstep lenders
Include your customer reference number if you had one. Explain if you have moved address or changed your email so they can locate your account. Keep a copy of online complaints or letter sent – if you email it to yourself it’s easy to pass on to the Ombudsman if needed.
- Provident Use their online form: complaints to Provident and copy your complaints letter into the “message you want to send us” box. (Same for Greenwoods).
- Morses Club You have to write to them, see complaints to Morses. (Same for Shopacheck).
- Loans at home email with COMPLAINT in the title to customerservice@sd-taylor.co.uk.
- Mutual email to complaints@mutual.uk.com.
- Short Term Finance (Birmingham) Use their online form and copy your complaints letter into there: complaints to Short Term Finance.
How good is your complaint?
The more loans you had, the better your case. Borrowing for prolonged periods by taking out new loans or refinancing existing ones shows you were dependent on the loans.
The larger the loans became, the better your complaint is. The first few loans may have been affordable but if they kept going up, that is a sign of increasing trouble.
If you think you have a good case, don’t be put off if the lender rejects it. People are winning these cases at the Financial Ombudsman. The payday loan refund link above describes how to send your complaint to the Ombudsman, what details to include etc.
Don’t be worried because your bank statements show a lot of gambling. Read Gambling and payday loans complaints for examples of how the Financial Ombudsman handles this sort of case -it is hardly ever a problem.
If you are offered a small amount, don’t worry you will lose this offer if you go to the Ombudsman. We have never seen this happen.
What will the Ombudsman say?
You can take cases with doorstep loans more than 6 years old to the Ombudsman. The lenders may say they haven’t kept the records of the credit checks for these older loans … but they don’t seem to be very good at producing the records for the more recent loans either!
You probably won’t get a refund back of all the interest you paid. But ask for it all and let the Ombudsman make the decision about where your loans became unaffordable. You don’t have to calculate and ask for an amount.
It’s worth emphasising if you had a poor credit record, especially if it got worse as you carried on borrowing from the doorstep lender.
It is also worth emphasising if you repaid some loans early because you borrowed more that month from the same doorstep lender. To the adjudicator this can look at first sight as though the lender was fine to carry on handing out loans as you weren’t in trouble as you had repaid loans early. It’s important to try to show the links between your loans. So:
I took loan 2 out as soon as I repaid loan 1 and it was for a larger amount. I then took out loan 3 whilst loan 2 was still going. After a few months I couldn’t afford the payments so my collector suggested I took out a loan to repay off the loans 2 and 3 and spread the repayments over longer. So loans 2 and 3 were repaid early only because I borrowed more. etc etc.
Need some help?
Your local Citizens Advice can help with writing these complaints, that will be free.
You don’t need a lawyer or a claims company. They take a LOT of your refund and you can make a better claim on your own than they can. A good claim involves telling your own story, you know it and a claims company doesn’t!
If you are still repaying a doorstep loan, you can still complain. If the repayments are too high, talk to StepChange and they can see if a debt management plan would help. You can still complain if you are in debt management.
Comments or questions?
I suggest you add a comment on the payday loan refunds page as they are read by so many people.
Asking for a refund for payday interest
Is a credit card or catalogue limit too high?
Do you need a lot details for refunds?
GMA says
Decided to call provident this afternoon as their 8 weeks was up yesterday and was told someone will call to update me tomorrow, anyone else experienced this? Thanks
GMA says
they asked for another 14 days on 25th August so I am hanging on….
GMA says
Called again yesterday and have been promised a final response by Friday, they are over the 8 weeks but am hanging on trying to save everyone a bit of work, am I being naive?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
A week here or there doesn’t really make much difference. Provident have adopted a policy of sending a cheque with an offer – nice in some ways but don’t accept it if you think the offer is really too low, however tempting it is! You can’t cash the cheque and then try to go to the ombudsman for the loans they didn’t offer a refund on. If you aren’t sure, come and ask what other people think?
GMA says
Here is my list of accounts, scary reading! Will hang on tell Friday and see if it comes close, assuming they make an offer. Quite a few link on to the next date so remain hopeful.
Date taken Paid Back Amount Charges ESR
11/05/09 13/07/09 £300.00 £165.00 £84.82
09/07/09 17/05/10 £500.00 £355.00 £19.28
24/12/09 08/11/10 £100.00 £75.00 £0.53
17/03/10 04/07/11 £550.00 £412.50
08/11/10 30/07/12 £400.00 £300.00
30/07/10 18/03/13 £300.00 £225.00 £27.63
15/10/12 05/08/13 £400.00 £328.00 £12.28
18/03/13 03/03/14 £400.00 £328.00 £0.05
05/08/13 05/03/15 £700.00 £574.00
03/03/14 28/07/15 £400.00 £328.00
10/09/15 16/10/15 £300.00 £180.00 £119.09
08/12/15 21/06/16 £500.00 £247.50
12/01/16 05/07/16 £300.00 £180.00 £6.95
05/07/16 09/06/17 £600.00 £492.00 £0.67
£5,750.00 £4,190.00
Sara (Debt Camel) says
what does ESR stand for?
veronica moss says
Early settlement rebate
Sara (Debt Camel) says
thank you!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok that is a lot of borrowing. And you often had a couple of loans at the same time.
Sharon Richardson says
Hi, I have just been reading all of the comments in this page and really don’t know where to start. Am I right in saying I can’t claim for any loans prior to 2007. I do not have any paperwork or account details but know I have had a lot of loans over the past 20 years. Lots of them were before 2007 and only a few afterwards. Is it possible to get a list of all loans I have had from provident? If so where do I start. I’d be great Fik for any advice. Thanks Sharon
Hayley says
Just an update, received a response through the post today upholding only one of my loans out of 6. Two loans were within 6 years and the rest were over 6 years old. provident accepted that prior to giving me my last loan there was numerous missed payments in the 12 week period on the previous loan so was irresponsible to offer me another loan without the balance being cleared .
£480 interest refunded with 8% on top
Not going to bother with FOS for the 2nd loan as happy they upheld the complaint in the first place. A cheque was sent with the response letter.
Michelle says
Hi – My claim has not been upheld apparently but I am receiving a cheque for £30 in relation to the wait times i have endured trying to get through. I am definitely taking my claim to the Ombudsman once the formal final response letter is received.
Bella says
I’ve emailed provident to request refund but they ignored my emails , it’s only been a week since I emailed them but how long do I wait and how do I get in touch with the ombudsman? And what info will I need for them , I had 3 loans starting from £300 paid off with second loan off £500 paid off with 3rd £800 , still paying of £800 one but with interest it’s £1700 ? Is it worth it?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You need to wait 8 weeks until you go to the Ombudsman. Read the How to Ask for a Payday loan refund link in the article above – that looks at sending a complaint to the Ombudsman.
Stacey Reddick says
Who’s received pay back from Provident? – I’ve had a few provident loans over 4 years. I was not accepted for them the agent , asked there manager if we could authorise? Is this a good case?
GMA says
Still waiting, they have another 6 days, I have spoken to a nice chap in the complaints department who asked me a few questions, like I had made a couple of larger payments to clear the loan, I explained it was so I could get a bigger one and I had borrowed from a friend. He assured me I would receive a response within the 8 weeks, 5 days to go! I had 14 loans in total
Hayley says
I have received a refund from my last loan, the person who was dealing with my case said what he was looking at was the time period of 12 weeks prior to a new loan being offered and whether you was making payments on time. I didn’t pay anything for the weeks leading up to my new loan so he felt that it wasn’t responsible to offer a new loan. Cheque was sent with decision letter
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Some Provident complaints are being upheld at the Ombudsman.
Picking a few decisions at random:
http://www.ombudsman-decisions.org.uk/viewPDF.aspx?FileID=153550,
http://www.ombudsman-decisions.org.uk/viewPDF.aspx?FileID=127545,
http://www.ombudsman-decisions.org.uk/viewPDF.aspx?FileID=142079.
If Provident send you a cheque, think about whether it is large enough! It is possible you could get more by going to the Ombudsman.
Hayley says
Yes all my loans were back from 2008/2009/2010 my last loan that they upheld was taken out just over 6 years ago so was happy to accept
veronica moss says
I waited 8 weeks and never even received my loan details off them. Didn’t even get 4 week update or 8 week decision.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Is this Provident? Have you sent this to the Ombudsman?
veronica moss says
yes it was provident, i emailed ombudsman but they have wrote to me saying its something they cant look into as they wasnt covered during time of sale in 2005, but yet provident have been mithering sending agent offering me loans since then and still ongoing. They have had about £10k in interst since 2009. Is it worth recending to ombudsman changing the date to 2009 because since then all my loans taken were renewals as when i got balance down to less than half of original amount they would text me offering to renew loan and clear out of it.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The Ombudsman won’t look at pre 2007. But if you have had loans since then – and certainly if you have had any loans in the last 6 years – put in a complaint to the Ombudsman. The fact that the loans were refinancing earlier loans doesn’t matter.
veronica moss says
will they still look into even if they have wrote to me saying otherwise if i change the dates
CC says
Hi Sara my Provident case has been with adjudicator at the FOS and she is insisting that they won’t look at loans older than 6 years?
keith says
Hiya Sara can I ask for your advice again I have been helping parents with there complaints to shopacheck / morses I did there complaint posted last Thursday and today there agents manager keeps ringing them today wanting to come out to discuss there accounts as head office has the complaints is this allowed? should head office been doing it?
janet says
Provident totally refused my complaint so I’ve sent it to the FOS they mentioned all checks were made including credit report, if they had done that then they would have seen all the other debt I had with defaults and lots of late payments. In just less than 18 months they approved the following:
Weeks Weekly amount
01/12/11 £600 106 £12.00
27/01/12 £600 106 £12.00
27/01/12 £600 106 £12.00
08/05/12 £650 60 £19.50
18/06/12 £300 50 £10.50
22/10/12 £277.13 63 £9.69
19/11/12 £600 84 £14.40
11/02/13 £700 10 £14.00
08/04/13 £600 63 £18.00
05/07/13 £500 110 £10.00
05/07/13 £500 110 £10.00
At one point my weekly payments were over £90 I used other borrowing and new loans to meet the payments until I couldn’t do it anymore and have been making token payments for 3 years but still owe £1500, almost £6000 borrowed in this period :( anyone had any luck with Provident ?
I already have had successes for my Payday loans with Wonga, Uncle Buck and Payday UK.
Janet
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes, some successes with Provident at the Ombudsman level. A few decisions picked at random:
http://www.ombudsman-decisions.org.uk/viewPDF.aspx?FileID=127545
http://www.ombudsman-decisions.org.uk/viewPDF.aspx?FileID=132212
http://www.ombudsman-decisions.org.uk/viewPDF.aspx?FileID=142079
There have also been some people with apparently good cases who haven’t had their complaints upheld – it seems a bit more random than payday loans. But it looks to me as though you have a good case so it’s definitely worth pursuing and take it to the Ombudsman level if you don’t win at the adjudicator level.
Chris says
Had a email from my adjudicator today advising that he has written to Loans At Home and advised them to pay out on 7 loans so here’s hoping for a resolution soon
Chris says
Loans at home have rejected the claim so it has gone to the Ombusman.
keith says
HI Sara, can I pick your thoughts / help on this.
been doing my parents complaint for shopacheck / morses there have had total of 16 plus loans for 4 years upto £9000 with interest £5000 plus
I did there complaint letters posted 14days ago then after 6days they kept getting phone calls saying they want come out to talk about it, I took over again saying write to them today they sent them letter asking for bank statements for last 4 years, am I right they shouldn’t need / have to send them?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Many people don’t want to send these personal documents. You could just reply that you want them to consider your parents’ complaint on the basis of what they already know, and that your parents will supply any further information to the Financial Ombudsman if requested.
GMA says
Provident have asked for a 14 day extension on the 8 weeks should I wait or forward to the FOS? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well 14 days isn’t long, but if you sent in a full complaint, it’s pretty simple to send it to the Ombudsman now. Up to you.
Provident have a habit of sending out a cheque when they make an offer. Which is good on one level, but they are doing this because they know many people will be unable to resist cashing the cheque even if the offer isn’t good. You can’t cash the cheque and then take the complaint about the loans they didn’t refund to the Ombudsman – the cheque is to settle your whole case.
Mike says
Need a bit of advice. In 2014/2015 I took out several provident door step loans.
I paid 3 successive ones off and all was alright. I got made redundant and the firm I was working for went insolvent and were unable to honour my wages so I had to claim these back through insolvency service andemployment tribunal court which too ages. Thats another story.
As I was totally broke and claiming job seekers allowance £70 off a week or so.
My provident rep said she would lend me £500.
It took me a while to get back to work as I have to fill in CRB because of my job.. anyway..
I fell behind with the payments, it defaulted and went to ‘vanquis’ as debt collectors. I owed them £800 on a £500 loan which I haven’t paid or aknkwlenged. Is there a method to get this loan gone? As the rep told me to put that I was working on the application and lie about my income in order to be accepted for the loan there for leanding irresponsibly.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
it’s pretty unlikely this loan will be written off because the Ombudsman will say you were given the money. But you can ask for the interest to be removed, which would reduce your balance to £500 (less any payments you have made, but it sounds as though there may not be any.)
Paul d says
Hi Sara, it’s me again (paul dodd,) just dawned on me i took quite a few provi loans out when i was on the dole the last one they got debt agency i paid it in 2013, may put complaint in as the loan was for five hundred, paid remaining balance of other loan and received 300. Over the years I’ve always used provi and shopacheck. Not bothered about shop as way over 15 years since I used them. But how would I know about how many loans I had with them, think at least ten loans easily. May give them a ring….. Even if I get an apology its something
K M says
Hi Success again provident!
I have just completed an offer to have £1567 refunded from provident for interest on 3 loans. This amount will be used to clear off the balance I hold with them – finally there is light at the end of the tunnel! Thanks you for ALL your help.
Stacey Reddick says
Hi Guys , I’ve had numerous Provident loans.
I called provident following my first email regarding all my previous loans.
I followed this up with a phone call as i had received nothing. They stated their system suggested my first loan was Dec 2015 , I moved into my flat in 2011 this is when i started the viscous circle of the provident world!
What can i do? Anyone else had this?
Gareth says
credit report will give you more insight as any from 6 years ago should be on file and as you said you started in 2011 any you had should be on there as long as you get the report today so any after sept 2011 don’t drop off your file
Stacey says
Right , my credit report has said i had 14 loans from Provident from 2011 – 2017. Amounts to around £9000. Have i got a good start?
They also never accepted me the credit agency they use , the manager passed me anyway. Does this lie in my favour?
Thanks
Stacey
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like a lot of borrowing – good luck with the complaint and take it to the ombudsman if they don’t offer a good refund.
Wendy says
I sent my complaint to the fo 2 weeks ago I’m wondering how long does it usually take I’ve heard nothing yet not even to say they have received my complaint thanks
GMA says
I sent my complaint on the 25th July and got a response on the 22nd August with forms to filling from the FOS, nothing since, just a waiting game, good luck
Wendy says
I emailed yesterday just to see where upto and the adjudicator has emailed back saying provident sent reply on the 7th September so I should have a answer next week. Fingers crossed please as I could do with some luck lately x
tony says
hi
I requested that provident looked at my loans with them and asked them for a refund of intrest due to irresponsible lending
however all these loans were over 6 years old and they replied that they would not consider it as it was time barred
do you think I would have a good chance if I sent the file off to the FOS
thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I wouldn’t say a good chance, but it’s worth a try?
CC says
I have sent my claim to the FOS and my adjudicator will not look at loans over 6 years old, even though I’ve stated I didn’t realise I could claim to until this year. I’m taking it to the next step for the Ombudsman to look at
gillian says
has anyone had any success with refunds from short term loans limited. i have had over 15 short term loans over the past few years all around 16 weeks with continued rollovers the next loan paying the arrears of a previous loan. i am really worried as in the past they have become aggressive when i have told them i am struggling to pay and the agent only becomes friendly when they rollover the loan to pay off the last one.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Gillian, do you have any more information on who this lender is? Is it online, through a branch or home credit, where someone comes and collected the payments?
gillian says
hi sarah. they are based in birmingham they are called short term finance and provide home credit loans. when the agent comes to the house they always sign up the loan for continuous card payment. when you fall in arrears and they are not able to get payment by card the agents starts coming every week until your balance reduces. does this help.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Gillian, first time anyone has mentioned them. I have added their details for complaints to the article above.
They sound unpleasant –
– make sure you put COMPLAINT in caps at the top of the online form
– make sure you cancel your CPA so you are financially safe
– keep things very short and professional. Ask for a reply to your complaint by email or letter. Say you do not want to be visited by an agent and that you will be sending the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman if you do not get offered a satisfactory refund within 8 weeks.
They shouldn’t harass you when you have put in a formal complaint – and it is unlikely that that will try. If they seem difficult, keep a record of all visits and telephone calls by writing down afterwards what was said and the date and who you spoke to. These will form part of your complaint to the Ombudsman.
Rick says
I’ve just submitted a form for provident.. working it out in the last 3 years they have had £2.400 in interest off me £3.3k if you include my current loan. I hope to God they get it sorted quickly I could do with just some of it back would be a real blessing if I got all £3k …. wish me luck I’ll keep you posted.
GMA says
Just had the final letter and they are not upholding my complaint. 3 pages long, key points;
They made reasonable attempts to obtain information about other debts
They cannot be held accountable if i didn’t declare the full extent of my additional commitments
I settled the last loan early with a lump sum so it contradicts my affordability complaint (2 loads were settled early)
Although late payments I never dropped below 68% in the 12 weeks prior to taking out a new loan
FOS?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You borrowed a lot over a long period. There were a couple of short gaps but I think it’s definitely worth sending to the FOS.
GMA says
Thank you, have sent of evidence and information to the FOS copying in Prov, will keep you updated.
GMA says
Just had a response from the FOC saying information received and they will respond in 4 weeks, very fast response from them, fingers crossed. Just one thing, they have not sent me a form to fill in like i have received from the other complaints forwarded, just stated they had enough information.
Becca says
I too have just approached short term finance, I had continuous loans for three years, sometimes paying off one and only receiving small amounts of cash back after paying off the balance. As I had three different loans at the time, none of this was checked for affordability. Silly of me but still I would’ve thought guidelines would’ve been followed.
Also I agree with the person that spoke of harassment, I went through a period where I informed them that my circumstances had changed and that my payments needed to be smaller for a short period, this led to many many phone calls from managers, customer care, and the agent still demanding more- it was quite shocking.
Today I’ve had two responses from them both asking me to contact them by phone, I have responded saying that I prefer to discuss via email or post so there is a paper trail. Any advice with dealing with this company would be appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
General advice in dealing with difficult companies:
– cancel the CPA with your bank
– keeping things in writing is a good idea
– you do not have to talk on the phone if you don’t want to. or to any agent they send round to your house.
– make it very clear that you have put in a COMPLAINT, what you want them to do (presumably to issue you a REFUND of interest? or WRITE OFF your current loans) and that you will be going to the Ombudsman 8 weeks after your original complaint if they don’t make you an acceptable offer. (The CAPS are there because it’s good to use these exact words with a lender who is difficult.)
– if you still owe them money, ask them to FREEZE INTEREST and NOT ADD ANY CHARGES until your complaint is resolved.
– read the article above in detail and think which points apply to your case
– also read the Citizens Advice report Debt on your doorstep which is linked to. you are looking for problems that may also have happened to you.
– also read https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/blog/payday-loans-what-to-expect-from-your-lender-if-you-re-struggling-to-repay which is about payday lenders, but see if any of the bad practices mentioned there happened to you when you told Short Term Finance you were in difficulty.
Becca says
Many thanks- will update once I get a response.
grace says
I had a letter from the FO in the post on Friday saying 4 out of 29 loans yes 29 loans were unaffordable and they are asking Provident to do no more – does this sound fair? Surely 29 loans shows a cycle of debt and more than 4 loans were unaffordable – any advice?
Wendy says
OMG that’s shocking how long was the loans taken out over. I’m not holding much hope for my 19 loans then. I should hear this week my adjudicator said x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Grace’s is only an adjudicator decision at the moment, so it’s not final. And the 4 loan refund is £3,600 so it’s not too shabby!
grace says
I understand that Sara and in no way am I being ungrateful but 4 out of 29 something seems a miss or my thinking is if 4 were unaffordable would more not be :(
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well very probably! But not always – the 4 picked out could be a lot larger, or your income for those 4 could be a lot lower. Loan numbers alone don’t prove anything. NB I am not saying you should accept this offer – it does sound very low, but it needs to be disputed with your adjudicator by arguing in detail that you could not afford this loan, and this one, and this one etc
grace says
Hi Wendy the loans were over a 4 year period x
Wendy says
Wow mine were from 2009 to present they said I had 19 but I’m sure I had more and they ranged from 300 to 1800 I’m not holding my breath for anything but was worth a try xx
grace says
Hi Wendy
Have you heard anything yet? x
Wendy says
No not yet I got a email last Wednesday saying she had all the info from both sides so should hear soon enough xx
Michele says
I’ve received a statement listing all my loans & payments made from Provident but they’re saying they don’t have a copy of any information older than 6 years & that they’re legally not obliged to keep records after that time. The statement starts from 2011, shall I just go ahead and claim from that date or is there a way to make them get records from earlier loans I had?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You could send them a SAR (https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/personal-information/) but that will cost £10 and take 40 days… and if they don’t have any info it won’t find it… They have had the data in other case, but they have also produced it when asked, there hasn’t had to be a SAR.
Can you get the data from your bank statements? How long have you been borrowing from them?
In practice most Provident cases result in recent loans being refunded, not very old ones so you may decide to go ahead now.
Michele says
Thanks for your reply Sara. There’s no details at all on my bank statements as they were all cash payments. I’m pretty sure I had loans from them before 2011 but can’t remember the amounts unfortunately. Think I’ll just go ahead with the information they have given me, worth a try!
Rick Whitmore says
I’ve recieved an email back telling me they’re looking into it. Early days but will be happy if they settle all of them. 6 loans over 3 years I have already paid over £2.300 in interest with my current loan added as well goes up to 3.5k so here’s hoping….
drew says
Just a quick question, my mother in law has been using Provident for 30+ years, she usually gets 2/3 laons a year off then, constantly topping them up, she has always got a minimum of £300, do you think its worth her putting in a complaint, she hasn’t worked for last 8 years but she still gets loans every few month, they keep lending her.
Any advice??
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Good idea! She may only get a refund for the last few, but that could get her out of the borrowing and repaying trap that she is currently in.
You should also ask if she has other debts she needs help with – one of the reasons she may be borrowing from the Provi is if she has credit card or catalogue debt she can’t really afford – setting up a repayments arrangement with these and asking them to freeze interest may help.
drew says
Hi sara,
sorry I got this wrong, she hasn’t worked for last 18 years, I thought she said 8, but her last job was 1999
How far will provident look back at her loans?
thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Unlikely to be more than 6 years. But claim for the whole period she was borrowing.
drew says
ok, thanks Sara
I was just curious as I thought Provident should have asked if her circumstances had changed, I suppose also she probably should have told them she wasn’t working.
I don’t think she has any other debt, I think its just Provident, I suppose after 30+ years of borrowing then they et to the point where they just give you the money without doing correct checks..
Thanks
Claire says
Hi all,
I’m looking for advice. My mum has a mild learning disability & is now physically disabled, she had a minor stroke & has lung disease & uses oxygen for that condition.
She has been getting provident loans for over 20yrs but as she’s a vunerable adult i feel they are taking advantage of her by rolling on her loan & not collecting money’s some weeks! She owes them about 10k. She’s paying about £100 a week.
I am really worried about the situation as i only found out the extend of the debt a few months ago.
Advice would be appreciated.
Many Thanks
Claire
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It does sound as though they have been milking her … The fact they aren’t collecting the money at the moment though may be due to the fact that they have had a pretty chaotic administration change.
Does she have other debts as well? Is she renting?
Claire says
I don’t think so. I’m wondering if they are charging her for missed payments when it’s their fault!
She’s in a fold and gets D.L.A. She may need nursing care in a nursing home in yrs to come but because of debt, won’t be able to afford top up fees of £200 per month!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“She’s in a fold” – sorry, not sure what you mean.
Does she have other debts apart from this large Provident loan?
Claire says
I don’t think she has other loans. . A fold is sheltered dewling, they have buzzer if she falls & other people live there. Better than living alone.