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. Provident is much the largest, but everything in this article also applies to the other lenders.
Contents
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 borrowing 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 loans on time, they could still have been unaffordable. Especially if you had several Provident loans at the same time or often had to refinance/top-up a loan.
Often the first few loans may have been just about affordable, but Provident should have realised their loans were making your life more difficult when you kept getting more loans. If you were struggling, your agent should have suggested that you could repay the current one a lot more slowly with no extra interest being added, not offered another larger loan. That was irresponsible lending and you should get a refund back of the interest you paid.
You are very unlikely 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 ask for a refund from Provident or other doorstep lender
For the last few years, 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.
And now people are having success with complaints about doorstep loans – see the comments at the bottom of this article!
The template letter here for doorstep loans is very similar to the payday loans, but it has some extra points that may be important for your provident claim.
Template letter to ask Provident for a refund
As I do not have all the details of my loans, I want you to send me a list of them, 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 if you already know all the details for all of your loans.]
You should never have given me these unaffordable loans. 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.
[If any of the following happened to you, add a couple of sentences describing this. If the problems didn’t happen for all of your loans, add the words OFTEN or SOMETIMES. Delete any that didn’t happen to you.]
- I have borrowed from you continuously for [say how many years]. Every time I repaid a few payments my collector encouraged me to take a top up and refinance it. My collector never explained I would have paid less interest if I just took a new loan and carried on repaying the old one.
- I missed several payments and the collector knew I was in difficulty as I had lost my job/had my hours cut/benefits reduced but I was just offered a new loan. I was never told that I could have a repayment plan for my existing loan instead.
- When I asked my collector if I could pay over a longer period, he/she said I couldn’t unless I took a new loan.
- 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.
- 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 didn’t know that the lender was supposed to check that I could repay the loan without having to borrow more. I only found out in March 2019 when I saw a newspaper article in the Sun/an advert on Facebook for payday loan refunds/my sister/friend told me about these complaints/whatever. [Only put this in some of your loans are more than 6 years old. Put this into your own words so it covers what happened to you, don’t just copy those words.]
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.
Contact details for doorstep lenders
- Provident & Greenwoods Use their online form: complaints to Provident and copy your complaints letter into the “message you want to send us” box.
- Morses Club & Shopacheck You have to write to them, see complaints to Morses.
- 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.
- Naylors Finance email with COMPLAINT in the title to admin@jrnaylors.com.
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.
How strong is your complaint?
The more loans you had, the better your case. Borrowing for long 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.
Some people have had Provident loans for a very long while. You can’t get a refund for loans before April 2007.
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.
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.
You should get a response in 8 weeks
This letter or email starts off the affordability complaint. The clock is now running and the lender has to reply to your complaint within 8 weeks from when you send the email, not when they acknowledge it.
Provident is being very slow about replying to complaints and they often don’t make a good offer. They may ask for two more weeks several times… I suggest you send the case to the Ombudsman straight away after 8 weeks.
If the lender says the loans are more than 6 years old so you can’t complain about them, ignore this and send your case to the Ombudsman who is looking at older loans (but not loans before April 2007).
Sending a complaint to the Ombudsman
The easiest way to send a complaint is to use their online application form because that asks all the questions they need to know the answer to (most of these are easy, such as would like to be contacted by letter, email or phone?)
You probably won’t get a refund back of all the interest you paid – most refunds are for recent loans. But ask for it all and let the Ombudsman make the decision about where your loans became unaffordable. You don’t have to calculate anything or ask for an specific amount.
What should you say?
You can just copy the complaint you sent to the lender. But here are some more things you may want to add:
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 can help to show the links between your loans if there were a lot of them. Something like this can explain your case:
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.
It is also worth emphasising if you repaid some loans early because you borrowed more that month from the same doorstep lender. This is sometimes called “refinancing” your loan.
In this case you may have paid more in interest than you would have if you had just been given an extra loan because of the way the “early settlement calculation” was done. If this wasn’t explained to you by your agent (and I bet it wasn’t!) then you paid more interest than you should have.
It is also worth pointing out to the Ombudsman if it was always your agent suggesting you borrow more, perhaps because it was getting near to Christmas, or in August when you might need more money for new school uniforms, or because you had paid off a lot of a previous loan.
A lender such as Provident should only have offered you a loan if you had asked them in writing for it. The collector shouldn’t have sat in your home and offered new loans. So if this happened to you, mention it in your complaint to the Ombudsman.
Send your bank statements and credit report
Send your bank statements with your complaint. If you haven’t got them all, send ones you do have and set about asking your bank for the rest, then send those. You are more likely to win a complaint if you send them. Don’t wait to be asked!
Don’t be worried because your bank statements show a lot of gambling. Here is one case Ombudsman decision about a Provident case involving gambling which shows that FOS just accepts you have a gambling problem, you can still win these complaints.
Also get a copy of your free Credit Karma report and send it to the Ombudsman with your complaint. Don’t worry you can’t get an old credit report – the Ombudsman knows this isn’t possible.
What about your current loan?
If you are still repaying a doorstep loan, you can still complain. If you tell the doorstep lender you want a payment arrangement, they will allow you to pay less each week over a longer period without adding any more interest.
But if you have other problem debts as well, talk to StepChange and they can see if a debt management plan would help. You can still complain if you are in debt management.
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!
Comments or questions?
Hundreds of readers have posted comments below about how their Provident complaints are going and the successes they have had. If you have a question, ask it here!
Payday loan refund template letters
Too high a credit card or catalogue limit?
Borrowers are getting refunds from Amigo
Cj says
Hi I’m a little concerned with provident I’ve had loans for ages now with top ups and new ones .I’m worried if I put I a complaint then they will keep coming round the house.
kate says
I too had lots of Provident loans back in the day, however, I phoned them today and they said they have never put insurance on their loans I also have a friend that worked for Provident loans she also said no insurance was ever dealt with by provident. But… of course check that out yourself with Provident.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Kate, I think Cj is thinking of an affordability complaint, not a PPI complaint.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Cj,
I assume you still owe some money? In your complaint you can say you would like an affordable payment arrangement for the outstanding balance and offer what you can really manage to pay eg £20 a month. provident won’t add on any more interest if you do this. And it won’t harm your affordability complaint.
Jay says
Hi Sara,
Its 56 days since my nans complaint today and they haven’t sent the holding letter. I’m raising to FOS anyway.
I spoke to provident on the phone today and asked if they were going to meet the deadline and the guy actually laughed and said “we are way over day 56 at the moment. You can wait for us or go to FOS”
Just a heads up so we know their latest position!
Debbie says
Hi Sara
Can you tell me how likely it is for an ombudsman to agree with an adjudicators decision
Sara (Debt Camel) says
are you unhappy with the adjduicator decision and would like it improved, if so can you say something about how many loans and the rest of your case?
Or has a lender objected, if so which lender?
Debbie says
The lender objected (provident )
Asked for it to be looked at by an ombudsman
Debbie
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, so you don’t need to provide any more information. The Ombudsman’s most common decision is to agree with the adjudicator, but sometimes they tinker with the number of loans to be refunded, deciding that more or less should be. If you borrowed a lot, it’s unusual to get a very different decision.
joan reilly says
hi i had Provident for at least 15 years but paid off all in 2002 the reason I had them so long was i could not get anew loan without paying some of it to the old one also the collector filled in the forms changing what was required to get a new loan i had about 4 ?lan a run in at the one time in both my husband’s and my name.
what are my chances of claiming
j
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am sorry but you aren’t going to win a complaint for loans before 2007.
Julie says
Hi, my mum aged 74 has had 5 loans from provident totalling £5000 (including interest) in less than a year which has put her in unaffordable debt so I am in the process of putting a claim in. My problem is that within the same year she asked for a further loan but was told she owed too much but the collector said he could put one in my name which he did there and then. I didn’t know anything about it till my mum told me so it is fraud. If I complain about that loan what are the implications for my mum who acted naively and on the advice of the collector?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can I ask how long ago this was?
what happened to the debt in your name – was it repaid?
Julie says
Hi Sara, the loan in my name was taken out in August 2017 but there is still one payment outstanding due to my mum having to miss so many because of the amount of debt she is in.
Julie says
Hi Sara, the loans in my mum’s name were taken out on 8/11/16, 29/11/16, 12/4/17, 30/5/17 (outstanding amounts from previous 3 loans plus additional borrowing) and 17/10/17. Does this constitute irresponsible lending?
The loan in my name was taken out on 22/8/17 and there is one payment outstanding due to several missed payments. There is also a balance outstanding on the other loans.
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think that sounds like a good reason to make an affordability complaint.
The loan in your name will be harming your credit record – unless you want to pay this off, then your mum needs to tell provident what happened and you can say you knew nothing about the loan.
Julie says
Thank you for your advice.
Angela says
F0S upheld my complaint against Provident and gave them until 05/07/19 to respond.I have heard nothing from either Provident or the FOS . I emailed adjudicator last week but not had a reply.
Anyone else in a similar situation?
Lauren says
We still haven’t had our claim picked up by an adjudicator yet. Been with FOS since november :( long wait for potentially nothing.
Angela says
Be prepared for a wait. Mine was sent to FOS Nov 17 and picked up Jan19 as some loans over 6 years old . Then had to wait for another adjudicator which was allocated march 19
Lauren says
Its just the fact its this super long wait, and an adjudicator could still look at it and say its worth nothing. Other than that the wait wouldnt bother us so much.
ste says
hi angela,
im in a similar situation to yours. FOS also upheld my complaint for 12 loans and gave provident until 14th June to reply.
they did eventually (after a nudge from my adjudicator) reply albeit 3 weeks late, they replied on the 3rd July rejecting the adjudicator recommendations. they’ve offered to refund only 1 out of the 12 loans. i refused that offer and now have to wait for an ombudsman to make a final decision.
the adjudicator gave us both until 18th july to submit any further info. ive heard nothing since 3rd July so i guess my file is in a massive pile on ombudsman’s desk :(
in the meantime ive sent an email to the financial conduct authority and my local mp outlining my disgust in providents complaint handling. i even copied in their CEO malcolm le may and provident customer care team to the email thread.
the FCA and my local mp replied back to me via email. guess what… no reply from provident or their CEO : (
they obviously dont give 2 hoots to complaints lol.
ste says
my reply from the FCA..
Thank you for contacting the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). I understand from your email you have concerns about irresponsible lending regarding loans you’ve previously taken out with Provident Personal Credit and also mentioned concerns regarding your credit file. I can appreciate this must be distressing and I’m sorry to hear about your experience.
Provident Personal Credit Limited
I’ve searched the Financial Services Register (FS Register) for Provident Personal Credit Limited and have located them as an authorised firm. This means that the firm are bound by our rules and guidelines.
What I will do with the information..
Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. I will be logging this information against the firm on our records and this information will be made available to our supervisory team. Just to set expectations, when you provide us this information, we wouldn’t be able to provide you with an update to what we do with the information you’ve provided us due to the restrictions on the information we can share. I can appreciate this may be frustrating but please rest assured the information will be reviewed carefully.
I hope you found this information useful. If you have any further queries, please don’t hesitate to contact us again quoting case reference number:xxx
if we all complain to the fca, they may start issuing fines to provident, fingers crossed
Nicky says
Hi. Im in same situation. Adjucator upheld my complaint and gave Provident until the 12th July to reply. Have heard nothing since end of June.
Nicky says
Hi Angela.
Have you heard anything yet? Im in same position, adjucator upheld my complaint and gave provident until 12th July. Had email today from adjucator saying no reply from provi n that she did chase them up but still nothing. Its now going straight to ombudsman for final decision. X
Michelle says
I’m in same boat too. Provident had until yesterday to respond. I’ve heard nothing yet. How long does the ombudsman take if provident haven’t responded within timeframe I wonder.
Angela says
Hi
No i have heard nothing from Provident or my adjudicator. Its now 3 weeks since Provident should have responded. Im going to Phone FOS on Monday as they have not replied to 2 emails. So getting fed up now.
Nicky says
Hi. Yeah defo fone FOS. I was the same, emailed aducator n heard nothing for 3 weeks until yesterday. Looks like it will be another few months before picked up by Ombudsman for me. Fingers crossed for everyone waiting.
ste says
i sent FOS a pm on facebook and the adjudicator emailed me back within a couple of hours
Julie Clarke says
How did u do that . Didn’t even know they had a fb page lol
ste says
julie,
just search for financial ombudsman service on facebook then send them a private message with your reference number, they are very responsive replying. office hours only though i think.
Dawn says
Hey, Just some advice please. I have had 29 loans from 2008 to 2017 from provident..I wrote to them regarding irresponsible lending and they have just sent me a letter saying they don’t believe that they are at fault and that the loans were affordable. I was literally getting loan after loan.. paying off and taking another one out. Where do I go from here? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Dawn
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send the case to the Financial Ombudsman. That is a lot of borrowing over a very long period.
tony says
had my adjudicators decision provident to pay back all intrest on 8 out of 12 loans however provident rejected my adjudicators decison so ombudsman has now got to look at it what are the odds that he will agree with his adjudicators decision.
thanks
tony
ste says
looking at past ombudsman decisions, i would say very likely they will agree with adjudicator recommendations. worst case scenario, they might tinker with it a bit, say 6 or 7 out of 12 to be upheld for redress. that is unless provident come back with more evidence that they didn’t supply to adjudicator showing the lending was affordable (highly unlikely)
Tony says
Thank ste
My argument was that they did not carry out proper checks on my credit file as i had ccj they said that they needed to ask agent for documents
I said any documents should have been sent with subject to access request they could not reply wait and see oh quick one how long does it take for decosion by ombudsmathanks for the info
ste says
not 100% sure how long it takes, im in exactly the same boat as you waiting for ombudsman to decide after they rejected my adjudicators recommendations. although from previous posts on here with doorstep and payday lending complaints looks like approx 3 months wait from adjudicator passing it to ombudsman for a final decision.
best of luck with your case.
emma says
hi i have had loans from provident for over 22 years dont know how many i have lost count it has got me in to debt i had to borrow of family to get food ect. i made i complaint to provident and asked for my interest to be payed back and explained they have got me in bad debt. they sent an email the next day stating they do not add ppi to loans and closed my case i emailed back stating i was not talking about ppi i have refered it to the fos what do you think will happen now and do i have a case against provident ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like a good case to me. Do you still owe them money?
emma says
i also have got in to debt with loans at home were i was paying 140.00 a week in payments and had to reduce them to 80.00 a mth and thats still to much for me could i claim against them to sara ? and the provident loans i have one that i just pay 5.00 a mth i am just stuck in a rutt i cant seem to get out of its causing me stress and deppression i cant see any end to it.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s good that you have an affordable payment plan for the Provident loan – the ombudsman cases can take a long while.
Yes you can also complaint to loans at home – and tell them you need the monthly repayment reduced to a much lower amount as well!
emma says
hi sara how long will it take now i have passed it to the ombudsman to sort out?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
it could be many months. Don’t expect to have a reply in under 6 months .
emma says
hi sara i still have a loan with provident that i pay 5.00 a mth on thats all i can afford also i have had loans from loans at home that i was paying 120.00 a week for i now pay 80.00 a mth and thats still to much for me could i make a complaint about loans at home aswell as provident?
emma says
thank you sara i will let you know how i get on.
Malcolm Briggs says
Hi. My father who passed away 2 years ago had multiple loans over the years from Provident and Greenwoods. They seemed to keep getting extended when he was struggling to pay the previous one. Can i as his son make a claim against Provident.?
I contacted Provident about this and they said i require a Grant of Probate and Letters of Administration which i don’t have. I just want to check that this is the case and if i do can i get them after his death?
Thank you for any help or advice?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes you can do this. See https://blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2019/07/martin-lewis–how-to-urgently-reclaim-ppi-for-a-deceased-relativ/ which looks at what to do for a PPI claim and a refund from Provident would follow the same pattern.
I assume you were his next of kin – he wasn’t married? And that he left little money? It may be problematic to try to get letters of Administration here as this would cost £215 if the estate is over 5k and it may be that the claim against provident – of unknown value – is the only valuable asset?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I’ve just seen this article, which could be helpful for you: https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/experts/article-7277799/ASK-TONY-Tesco-Bank-wont-let-late-husbands-3-400-PPI-compensation.html
Having read that, I think you could reasonably say to Provident that as this claim is the only asset your dad had [I am assuming that was the case], you can’t get probate or letters of administration until there is some evidence about how large the claim is. So you would like Provident to reply to your claim and if it turns out to be large – over £5,000 – you will sort out the necessary paperwork when there is a value and you can complete the forms.
Malcolm says
Hi Sara. Thank you very much for your help. I’ll update you when i have made any progress.
Mally says
Hi Sarah.
Hi and thank you for your reply.
Provident have said that I need to provide Letters of Administration before they look at my claim. Is this something that they definitely do need or is it their way of stopping me trying to claim?
I have been on the official government website to try to get the letter but I have to declare several pieces of information e.g. the amount of tax etc. which i’m willing to do but i don’t know how much this will be until Provident let me know how much the claim is worth. I have already asked Provident if they can let me know the amount then I can go ahead and get the letters.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you can reasonably say that the refund is likely to be the only asset in the estate so you can’t apply for Letters of Administration until they have given you an idea about the claim value. If they refuse, send the case to the Ombudsman.
Angela says
3and a half weeks since the date Provident had to respond to adjudicator discussion.
This is the response to the email I sent to adjudicator requesting an update ,so still no further
I can see that Provident hadn’t responded so we sent it a chaser to which it still hasn’t replied to date. I do understand they have a bit of a backlog at present due to a shortage of staff which it has made us aware of and this is probably the reason for the delay. I know we have been in discussions with it over our approach on not only your case but others and whilst there is always the option to progress the case to the second and final stage of our complaints process which is ultimately for an ombudsman to review the matter I hope we won’t need to go down this route. I will chase up with my senior colleagues on timescales for how long we anticipate it will be before they respond, or until I can pass it through to the next stage of our process.
Julie Clarke says
Same As my situation, I thought the fos had more clout than this . Mine been going on for 2 years nearly . Provident were like we are behind l I said tbh I don’t care that’s not my fault . I’m. Very frustrated and feel like they are laughing at the Fos . I’m sure If they were owed money they wud want it to be sorted ,
Angela says
I totally agree Julie. What is the point if FOS giving Provident dates to respond by just for them to be ignored, i could understand maybe week to tens days but mine will be 4 weeks on Friday and nothing, im also expecting them to disagree with adjudicator and so that will be lots more waiting. Like you my case has been with FOS for almost 2 years 😡
Julie Clarke says
I agree and the fos told me on the phone that they are an impartial service and have to give companies AMPLE time to respond . Why give them a cut off date when they know they don’t have to respond by it and where is their Loyalty to us the consumer ?? Cus it looks like provident can do what they want.
Jen says
Angela & Julie I’m also 2yrs in and got my adjudicator decision 2day but some of my loans were time bared that’s y mine took so long are provident still dragging their heals, how long have u been waiting for a cheque 4
Julie Clarke says
Hi I am no where near my cheque being issued . Had my adjudicators decision over a month ago now. Provident still not replied and fos in no rush to make them in the near future. I thought it wud be clean cut From now on but more waiting . Provident still not said they agree or disagree yet . Time frames do not seem to apply to them .
Angela says
Once adjudicator sends discussion to Provident they can still disagree with what adjudicator says. Unfortunately not as simple as a cheque arriving after deadline day
Jen says
Hi Sara not been on for a while hope alls good just had letter back frm Fos regarding provident loans how is the 8% worked out is it daily
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Jen, hope Provident accept the decision!
yes the 8% is in theory worked out daily. Each payment you made would have had an interest component in it, its that amount times 0.08 time the number of days from the payment to the cailcuation date divided by 365.
hope it works out to a LOT for you!
Jen says
Fingers crossed, they have accepted that 19 loans before 2009 irresponsible lent already £6060 before 2009 plus interest, 2nd part adjudicator says loans 22-25 also think that’s around another 2-3k plus interest since 2016, I’m thinking 10-12k back, it’s been a long time waiting, will let u know when I hear anything, thanks for all you help over last 2 years 😀
Julie Clarke says
I’m thinking the same as you in payback . Good luck with yours l
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Angela & Julie (and Jen if Provident don’t accept the decision)
if you are very fed up, one thing you can do is tell the FCA, who regulates provident what you think of their very slow complaint handling.
This won’t help your case directly, the FCA will not investigate it but t’s a simple email to alert the regulator and there is a chance it may kick Provident into action…
If you want to do this, email consumer.queries@fca.org.uk and copy this to joe.sweeney@provident.co.uk. Subject: Provident doorstep lending (700144)
Give your Provident reference number, your FOS reference number and your name and address.
Then summarise your long borrowing from Provident in just a few sentences – when you started, how the loans grew, how long you borrowed from then. Say [provident have rejected my affordability complaint and objected to the Financial Ombudsman looking at loans over 6 years old. they are just dragging everything out as long as possible. On dd/mm/yy I had a FOS adjudicator decision saying I should have a refund of loans x to y. provident are just ignoring this, so this is taking even longer. i don’t think this is a responsible way to handle complaints. I have sent my case to the Financial Ombudsman, and I know the FCA will not look into the details, but I wonder how many other customers, some vulnerable, would be put off by provident’s rejection and then give up on their complaint as it takes so long at FOS?
Julie Clarke says
Thank you I will try that if no joy in a week or so
Julie Clarke says
I have done this today as I have heard from fos that they are escalating to ombudsman which could change the decision and will take months .
AM says
Thought I’d give an update with my complaint from Provident, thanks to this site and Sara.
Original complaint went in January 2018, Provident to be fair were quick and responded within 4 weeks saying all loans taken out over 6 years so not looking into it, but provided all Loan agreements and schedule of payments I made. In total 5 loans taken from late 2008 to early 2010. Each Loan was rolled over and no breaks.
Sent to FOS in June 2018, got an email today from Adjudicator who has Upheld all 5 Loans, refund of interest and 8%.
Quite happy with result just hoping Provident accept the decision.
It takes time at FOS but hold in there and you will get a result eventually.
Sue says
Hi Sara, I complained to Satsuma, I borrowed 3 times a total of £700 however at the time Provident had sent an outstanding debt of mine to Lowell for about £3000. I complained to Satsuma that they shouldn’t have lent to me with Provident issues. Satsuma haven’t responded yet well only to say sorry for delay but Provident have (I didn’t even complain to them). I was beyond shocked to see how much I paid to them over 5 years around £6000 and often the interest on the loan was higher than borrowed amount. They upheld complaint so I’m going straight to FOC. My question is shall I join together the Satsuma and Provident complaint in one or do 2 separate? I still pay Lowell monthly with a debt of £1200 left for Provident
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Not seen this happen before. how long since you put in the Satsuma complaint?
Sue says
Satsuma complaint sent 8th May. They do email saying still investigating weekly but yes odd that Provident responded first with me complaining! What do you think?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I would send the Satsuma complaint to FOS to as its well over 8 weeks.
Jay says
Hi Sara,
Provident called me today r.e. my nans loans. I quizzed them heavily over whether they would look into all since April 2007, and they said they would.
The complaint handler was very very empathetic towards my nans situation and I have a feeling they might just have started to meet their FCA obligation to learn from FOS. I’ll keep you posted!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That would be very good news…
alison says
Its seems Provident are taking around 4 weeks longer than they should. Seems to be happening to everyone.
My adjudicator agreed 18 of my loans were unaffordable and initially gave Provident until the 4th July to respond. They didn’t. I chased up after this date but he had not heard. I then chased again and he advised he had rung them -and that they had a lot of cases to look through and said it would be around another two weeks or so as they were dealing with them in date order. I emailed again yesterday and he had not heard anything – But he had had some responses from other cases he put forward to them only just before mine so he anticipates it shouldn’t be much longer……… He said if was over a month down the line he would pass to ombudsman as they would agree we had waited long enough – however at this stage the ombudsman would still want a response from them and it would not make the process quicker.
Seems they are replying – but very slowly. :(:(:(:(
Sara (Debt Camel) says
thanks for the update!
Julie Clarke says
Update. Fos not giving provident any more time so escalating to ombudsman now. I have a feeling that the ombudsman may have a different conclusion. So after waiting two years I will probably come out with nothing. All because of provident being slow and a pain all the way through my case.
alison cairns says
Its very very rare for the Ombudsman to disagree with the adjudicator. I would not worry
Andi says
Hi
I’m still have yet to submit claim on behalf of deceased grandmother, we have had no luck with the will, so therefore can not get a letter of probate.
Does anyone know if there is a legal limit to the value a person can seek when approaching a company before they ask for a letter of administration?
Suchas Tesco bank saying it’s not required 5k, though I do think my grandmothers claim will exceed this.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is more than 6 months old, why have you not put in a claim? The value of the claim is uncertain, if this is a large part of her estate. Unless you want to pay for legal advice on this, you need to get this underway, these things get harder the longer it is.
Andi says
Reason was due to family member disputing any claim and threatening action – yep Family + money is never a good thing.
We’ve let things calm down and now they are listening.
However we now need to apply for the letter of administration.
I did submit a claim to then but they are awaiting this.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
do you need a value on the claim to get the letters of administration?
Andi says
I was told that I need that.
But our biggest opposition was someone saying there was a will and refusing to hand it over. Now they say it was lost/destroyed. So no idea what to do.
I’ve submitted the IHT information and just printed off Probate without a will so see what happens.
Michelle says
Had an email today saying provident don’t agree with adjudicators decision of refunding me for the loans. It has gone to ombudsman for a decision. 😩😩. I hope he agrees with adjudicator. How long does the ombudsman usually take ??
Angela says
Hi Michelle
What date were Provident given by FOS to reply by.
Mine was 05/07/19 and I still haven’t heard anything. I contacted my adjudicator last week and he said Provident was short staffed so were behind with cases. He said he would speak to his senior to see how long to give them before sending to ombudsman. Im getting fed up know after almost 2 years it seems nothing is moving forward.
I have emailed FCA and received standard email back. Emailed Provident who said they were liaising with FOS
Julie Clarke says
Hi can I ask what email you emailed provident on . I’ve tried to email but had no response ( which isn’t surprising ) . Will try anything to get it resolved soon
Angela says
Customer.Responses@provident.co.uk this is the email i used to email Provident
Julie Clarke says
If it goes to ombudsman and they agree that a refund is needed. Can provident contest this and not pay out or take ages?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
An Ombudsman’s decision is legally binding and Provident will pay out within 28 days.
alison says
My adjudicator is away until tomorrow – so I will chase again this week.
However it is disheartening to see that a huge majority of claims being pushed to the Ombudsman level. Has anyone had Provident agree with the Adjudicator of Late ??? Looking back it seems to be from May onwards that more are being rejected for whatever reason.
Given the fact that the Ombudsman usually agrees with the Adjudicator – surely this is just stalling tactics……………..
Julie Clarke says
I agree it is stalling. My case gone to ombudsman today . I’ve also complained to FCA as Sara mentioned above . Provident need a shame up in my opinion. Just making things more difficult and ling winded for no reason but they are busy . In the end I presume it’s going to cost more in interest anyway so they will come worse off . But after two years I just want it over .
Tony says
Same bat the adjudicator agreed with my complaint provie didnt passed to ombuisman surley the adjudicator works for the ombuismn stalling tactics
alison says
Well still in suspense :):):)………….. Chased again today – asked the adjudicator for some good news on my birthday !! (he is actually a very nice guy and always responds).
He said that he had just spoken to Provident and they advised they have responded – but to the main FO mailbox – so he will have to wait a day or so for it to be sent internally to him and then he will let me know…………………
Cant shake the feeling that like nearly all others of late – it will end up on a pile for the Ombudsman as that seems the route they are taking at the mo…….. :(
Alison says
To be honest he probably knows but didn’t want to spoil my day lol 🤣🤣🤣
Chris says
After nearly 8 weeks since my original complaint, I’ve received an email from Provident. They say they are ‘unable to resolve my complaint’ but say that the matter is receiving their urgent attention and that they will provide me with a final response in due course. Talk about vague. The email goes on to say that I can forward my complaint to the FOS. So I have even though they haven’t officially issued their final response. Hope that will be OK.
I am not sure why they are unable to resolve my complaint. Have they got to it yet? Is it too difficult for them to resolve? Who knows! The debt is now in a DMP. If this takes as long as I think it will, the whole debt including all the interest will have been paid off (we are talking 18 months till the end of my 10 year DMP). All I really want is for them to cut the interest out of what I currently owe them. They have included the entire sum in the DMP including something like £3500 of interest alone. I’m perfectly happy to pay off the capital sum. They could make an offer now and save both me and them hassle. They would still have made lots of money out of me over the years.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
My guess is no=one has looked at it :(
Quite right to send to the FOS.
Gazza says
Here we go complained to provident May 2017 rejected 5 loans i was complaining about sent to fos May 2017 .Two years 3mnths later fos agreed 1 out of 5 loans were wrongly given to me Prov to pay 586 back to me and write off the loan that was sold to Lowell totalling 786 so in total 1372 so to everyone waiting its worth it in the end so hang in there good luck.
kate says
I put a complaint in September 2018, finally after chasing 3 times the adjudicator has upheld my complaint and has given Provident till the 19th August to respond, it appears that reading above they are not accepting these decisions so guess will need to wait a few months more for the ombudsman to look at it, however this can only be positive as the interest should be more….. will sit and wait patiently :)
Connor says
Received an email today from my adjudicator.
She agrees that 13 out of 16 loans were lent irresponsibly, the detail she states is rather impressive.
So provident have until the 21st August to get back to them with more info or agree or not.
Why do I feel the end is in sight, but could still be ages as provident do seem to be very very slow with things.
Complained to Provident November 2017
Sent to ombudsman January 2018
First proper response June 2019
Waiting to be allocated Adjudicator June 2019
Adjudicators decision August 2019
Waiting on provident to respond by 21st August
Alison says
Well as expected Provident disagreed with the adjudicator. Wasn’t expecting any different to be honest based on the last few month decisions……
It could be up to six months. Who knows. But the adjudicator says they are very busy and have high caseloads. Why Provident are rejecting adjudicator decisions recently I do not know but that seems to be the pattern of late. More of a wait but I will sit it out :)
Angela says
I also got an email yesterday from adjudicator to say Provident had also disagreed with the discussion.
I too will sit it out after waiting almost 2 years to get this far im not giving up now
Wayne says
Finally had a update….. my adjudicator has advised I be refunded the interest of 12 of the 14 loans I took out with provident. They have until 22nd August to respond. How long does the process normaly take from here now? Are there any recent sucess stories? Made my complaint April 2018.
Angela says
Provident seem to be taking 4 weeks after the date they should be responding by and judging by comments in here they are disagreeing with the adjudicators discussion. Be prepared for another wait
Ann says
I got a similar letter, original complaint went to them September 2017, and to financial ombudsmen 8 weeks later, this had been the first there has been any slight progress. It said provider has til 19th August to reply
Julie Clarke says
Had this today
Another long wait ahead 😩
Dear Mrs Clarke
Thank you for your email dated 7 August 2019.
This case is currently awaiting to be reviewed by an ombudsman, who’ll issue a decision on your case.
The business hasn’t replied as of yet but if they do it’d be reviewed by the ombudsman. It’s up to the business if they wish to respond or not.
I’m sorry for the delay. I know you’ve been waiting a long time, but I’m unable to say how long it will take to resolve this case due to the high volume of cases we’re dealing with. We’re doing everything we can to resolve each case as soon as possible.
It’s important to make sure we look at each case in the order it comes in so that it’s fair for everyone involved. Once the case is picked up by an ombudsman they will review everything on your case before making a decision.
We’ll be in touch as soon as there’s an update on this case, but if you’ve got any further questions, please let us know.
Yours sincerely
Julie says
Hi,
I’ve only just heard that I could maybe put in a claim from Greenwoods/Provident. I’ve had loans from Greenwoods (and then Provident when they took over), since 1991. I understand there would be no claim from before 2007 but then the loans carried on until 2016 until my finances finally hit the skids and i was unable to make payments. When i first had a loan, the agent spelt my last name wrong on purpose to ensure i got the money and he got the business. This carried on until after 2007. I was on benefits alone at the time and was always encouraged to renew to pay off current loans to get more. He also didnt always check documents before giving me more and sometimes I had 4-6 loans all at once as they were all about £5 each to pay back weekly. The thing is, i dont know where to begin. I’ve read about Provident stating they don’t charge PPi so i guess it would be unlikely I’d get anything back that route so is it worth trying to reclaim anything and if so, what or where should i start please. I’m really confused but want to at least try if i can. If i get nothing, then I’ve lost nothing. I also dont think I have any reference or account numbers anymore for them to pin point me. Please can anyone advise me? Many thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Julie,
that was a well-timed comment. I have just updated the article above so it has a template letter you can use. This isn’t a PPI complaint, it is an affordability complaint.
If you don’t have your reference number, just put in other infomration eg your address and date of birth.
Good luck!
Julie says
Thank you! I’ll write today.
Fingers crossed!
Julie.
Petra says
Well this is a joke :
https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-provident-bonuses/provident-financial-plans-return-of-doorstep-lending-bonuses-from-august-memo-idUKKCN1TR1QB
Sara (Debt Camel) says
not a funny one…
claire says
i sent loans@home a complaint asking to look into all the loans i have had over the years, i still have most paperwork, i lost my house a 9 year ago yet they kept giving me loans even though i told them about losing the house, i received a final response, they state 6 year is the longest they can go back, they also say they were not aware of me losing my house and i must be getting the time wrong however they are upholding 5 out 51 loans and paying off what i owe now, (although they do not admit they were in the wrong) do i take it or do i stand a chance of getting somewhere with the ombudsman?
ste says
yes definitely take it to the ombudsman service as 51 loans is a LOT of borrowing. Regarding loans over 6 years, make sure you explain to FOS that you have only recently realised that you could make an affordability complaint due to stumbling across this website/seen a post on facebook ect which made you aware you could complain about loans taken out over 6 years ago.
The financial ombudsman service can not look at any loans borrowed before 6 April 2007 – this is the date consumer credit providers came under their jurisdiction.
Whilst you stand a very good chance of a substantial refund based on the number of loans, Be prepared for a very long wait for your complaint to go through the process. My complaint against provident has been ongoing since september 2017 and im now waiting on an ombudsman to review my case after provident rejected the FOS adjudicators recommendation to refund all interest on loans i had taken out from 2007.
Good luck.
claire says
thanks have sent my complaint to the ombudsman, fingers crossed and for yours too
Andrea says
Can I complain I had 11 loans from providential do you deal with them did they have ppi attached thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
11 loans sounds like a lot! Read the article above which sounds how to complain and ask for a refund of the interest. Provident do not charge PPI.
alison says
It would be great if the those who are waiting for the Ombudsman to pick up their case after Provident rejected the Adjudicators decision – could update on here the timescales once known.
Provident still have until 22nd August to come back with any further info before it goes in the queue for an Ombudsman. So in effect I assume I will be in the queue from that date (as such). I do know there are others in the same situation.
Im at a loss as to why they are practically rejecting all adjudicator decisions of late……
Ann says
My original complaint went to them September 2017, sent to ombudsmen 8 weeks later. Only recently got email from adjudicator saying they were to refund all interest etc on loans from 2007 totalling over £6000 On interest alone. They have until 19th to respond. Not holding my breath as it seems they are rejecting all of these and dragging it out as long as possible
alison says
yes they seem to be rejecting most – but remember all cases are individual…………….
I was told the Adjudicator to Ombudsmen could be up to six months. Don’t think anyone recently has been appointed an ombudsman as yet after the Adjudicator level
Tony says
This seems to be the case nowdays provi using stalling tactics better if ombuisman gave provi a levy charge to look at the a percentage of the amount owing and provi made to pay that
jan says
Im totally fed up with provident mine started january 2018 it was passed on to Adjudicator sept 2018 they have came back to me saying they agree that Satsuma loans should not of been given , eh wait i wasnt claiming for those it was Provident as in home loans , provident did send me an offer in nov 2018 i rejected , but when the FOS has asked them for the details they only listed the Satsuma loans , i have sent copies to FOS and they gave Provident till 22 July to relpy still waiting :(
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so now they are going to refund you the Satsuma loan I hope?
jan says
i have no idea whats happening untill Provident get back to them , but i would say so , they just seem to get away with everything Provident that is , hopefully some day soon i will get updated , when i asked the adjudicator they said i had to wait till they heard back from Provident on the other loans that they never confirmed to them :(
Sharon says
My adjudicator has agreed that loan 6-38 should not have been given and has given provident till 30th August to respond. I don’t suppose provident will agree to this so does anyone know how long I will have to wait for ombudsman to look at it and make a decision
alison says
I was advised can be up to 6 months due to the current workload :(
Sharon says
Thankyou I’ve waited 14 month for adjudicator to look at it and to get a decision so what’s another 6 month lol hopefully will ombudsman will uphold it too x
alison says
From around May – it seems Provident have disagreed with a vast amount of Adjudicator decisions. I have heard its very rare for the Ombudsman to disagree with the Adjudicator -so it seems stalling tactics for some reason :(
Dane says
I thought I would leave some information I got from the ombudsman.
We have been waiting two years for our case and it has now been through the adjudicator and the dates have been extended to allow an extra two weeks for both cases. The adjudicator said today that it would be between the three and six month wait for the ombudsman depending on how long your case has been waiting to be seen, they take that length of time into account as well. The adjudicator has also said that Provident have agreed some cases at adjudicator, usually after being given a time extension and also that Provident have said they are behind with the workload (yes we know lol).
Hope this helps. We won our case and they are to refund all loans except two from 2006, the rest are from 2007 to 2013. These are large sums and 8% is calculated from the date each payment was made – I have a rough idea – it took a spreadsheet to work that one out !!!
If anybody is thinking about whether they should make a claim – just do it – you don’t know what will happen – we were thinking it wouldn’t win but we did win.
Good luck with your cases.
Sharon says
Thankyou that’s good to know adjudicator has given provident another 2 weeks till 30th August to send ant other information otherwise will go to ombudsman. So let’s see what happens
Ann says
Thank you for the information, this sounds really good for me. My case has been with the ombudsman for 2 years and the adjudicator just recently said to provident to refund interest from loans 4-14 as others were before 2007. They had until today to respond, which I haven’t really expected them to do judging by what I’ve read on here. It’s great to hear someone saying they finally got somewhere and to have a rough idea of the timescale we are looking at too.
Congratulations on winning your case, happy spending when you finally get your cheque :)