UPDATE: The Morses Scheme has failed. See Morses – what is happening to loans and refunds
UPDATE: in March 2022, Loans At Home went into administration. There is no money to pay any refunds. Any remaining loans have been written off and you should not make any payments to them.
UPDATE: The Provident Scheme has now closed and it is too late to make any Provident complaints.
Doorstep lending – also called home credit – is where a collector comes to your house to collect the repayments. Many people have been borrowing from the same lender for years.
If you had doorstep loans, 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.
Contents
What is an “unaffordable” 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.
So even if you always paid your loans on time, they could still have been unaffordable. Especially if you had several 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 the lender 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. But too often people were just 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 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 home credit lenders
Here is a template letter you can use. Change it so it tells what happened to you.
Template letter for doorstep loan refunds
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. I would like you to send me a complete list even if you consider that some of the loans are too old to be refunded. [delete this if you have all your loan details.]
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 [say when and how you heard about these refunds – article in the Sun? Facebook advert? friend told you?]
Also include your customer reference number if you had one. And explain if you have moved address or changed your email so they can locate your account.
Contact details for doorstep lenders
- Cockle email enquiries@cocklefinance.co.uk with Affordability Complaint as the title
- Compton Finance email mark.phillips@comptonfinance.co.uk with Affordability Complaint as the title
- GR Finance email grfinanceltd@gmail.com with Affordability Complaint as the title
- Mutual email to complaints@mutual.uk.com.
- Naylors Finance email with Complaint in the title to admin@jrnaylors.com.
- Pinewood Finance C0 email tracy.evans@pinewood-finance.co.uk with Affordability Complaint as the title
- Short Term Finance (Birmingham) Use their online form and copy your complaints letter into there: complaints to Short-Term Finance.
- Skyline Direct complaints@skylinedirect.com
- Swift ivan@swiftdl.co.uk
- Valleys Finance admin@valleysfinance.ltd.uk with Affordability Complaint as the title
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.
You should get a response in 8 weeks
You may get a list of your loans on its own. This is NOT the response to your complaint, which will arrive later. You don’t need to do anything with the list of loans, just keep it. If the lender makes you an offer, it will help you to see how good or bad it is.
The lender should reply to your complaint within 8 weeks from when you send the email, not when they acknowledge it.
Lenders may be 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.
How strong is your complaint?
Very large numbers of these complaints are being won at the Ombudsman – in the last quarter of 2020, 84% of doorstep lending complaints were won by the borrower.
In all of those Ombudsman cases, the lender had either rejected the complaint or made a poor offer.
So don’t be put off if this happens to you, send it to the Ombudsman!.
Three useful guidelines are:
- 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.
- It can be hard to win a complaint for just a couple of small loans.
- It’s normal to not get the first few loans refunded. If a lender has offered you a refund on loans 5-12 that is probably a good offer. But if they have offered a refund on just loans 10-12 it probably isn’t.
- The larger the loans became, the better your complaint is.
- The Ombudsman will usually look at loans that are over 6 years old, but many lenders just refuse. You can go back to 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 you like to be contacted by letter, email or phone?).
You probably won’t get a refund back of all the interest you paid… but ask for a refund on all loans and let the Ombudsman make the decision about where your loans became unaffordable.
You don’t have to calculate anything or ask for a specific amount. If you don’t yet have a list of your loans, say you have asked for one but the lender hasn’t sent it.
What should you say to FOS?
There isn’t a separate template for this. You can just copy the complaint you sent to the lender. But here are some more things you may want to add.
- Say if you had a poor credit record, especially if it got worse as you carried on borrowing from the doorstep lender.
- Say if you repaid some loans early because you refinanced your loan. Here you may have paid more in interest than if you had just been given an extra loan. 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.
- Also tell 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 in your house should only offer a loan if you had asked them in writing for it. 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, especially if you only had a few loans.
If you have borrowed for many years and the pile of statements would be HUGE, it’s still a good idea to get them all now, but you could then wait and see what the ombudsman asks for.
Don’t worry if your bank statements show a lot of gambling. The Ombudsman just accepts you have a gambling problem, you can still win these complaints.
Also get a copy of your free TransUnion Statutory Credit report and send it to the Ombudsman with your complaint. Don’t worry that you can’t get an old credit report – the Ombudsman knows this isn’t possible.
Do you have a current loan?
You can complain when you are still repaying a loan. If you tell the lender you want a payment arrangement, they should 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 also still complain if you are in a debt management plan. But don’t bother if you are in an IVA, bankruptcy or a DRo.
Need some help?
Your local Citizens Advice can help with these complaints.
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 what happened and a claims company doesn’t!
Comments or questions?
Hundreds of readers have posted comments below about how their complaints are going and the successes they have had. If you have a question, ask it here!
Are you struggling to pay car finance?
Is your credit limit too high? Not affordable?
Can you get an overdraft refund?
Kelly McCandless says
Thanks Sara. I do expect this to drag out if the provident cases are anything to go by. I am in it for the long haul though. I have nothing to lose. Will keep you updated. Thanks again
CHRISTINE says
Hi everyone, just a quick one. Can anyone share any experience with claims at Morses Club please, I am just about to start mine with them. Any info much appreciated.
Julie clarke says
I have just started mine too with morses . My agent keeps coming round and told them till my complaint dealt with I am not paying anymore .
Samantha says
I’ve just had my complaint upheld with morses. Didn’t need to take it FOS they agreed I shouldn’t have got the loans. All interest refunded and refunded
Julie clarke says
Can I ask how long it took please ? . X
Sam says
About 8 weeks x
Andy says
Did it say how they were repaying you was their a cheque attatched ?
CHRISTINE says
Nice one, I just hope mine is as quick as that. I had my Provident claim upheld by Fos and had a payout in November last year. My Morses was running alongside the Provident ones, I used to get one loan from one company and basically paying the other company with it. I know it sounds bad but then my situation was bad then. Morses has bought up the local loanshark that I borrowed of from 2009, I don’t know if they are now counting that in or if the claim would start from when it was just Morses. Early days yet as it has only been a day. So fingers crossed and thanks for the advice. Good luck to you all with your claims.
CHRISTINE says
Hi Samantha, how long did Morses take to respond to your claim and what info did they ask for?
Danielle Bird says
Hello, I used the provident contact form to submit my complaint but I haven’t received and acknowledgement or a automatic reply of the sort to confirm my complaint has been received. Does anyone have an email address I can use?
Aaron says
Hello does anyone have any experience with how long Morses club take to pay out refunds? Just had 12 loans upheld by the ombudsman at final decision level.
Caroline Hill says
Hi Has anyone complained to skyline. They refused 7 loans so I’ve sent it onto fos. Just wondering if was upheld and how long it takes.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You are only the second person to mention them and the other was just a week ago, she sent hers to FOS too.
Shebs says
Hi Sara skyline don’t even know how to deal with complaint I would advise anyone claiming them to email there chairman mr Ian geary but to be honest he is hopeless to they come back with stupid offers and won’t add the 8% you are better just going to fos and let them sort it out they are just like provident but seem to think they are untouchable
Shebs says
Yes I’ve been rejected to but my daughter was upheld came back with a stupid offer of loan 11-13 refund challenged them on this as I had 15 loans in total would not give the statutory 8% totally refused then 30 mins later came back with 448 redress no explanation as how they came to this amount my daughter went to god I had 15 loans with NO income and agent just put in figures using my husbands income after contacting there chairman Ian geary they said they would telomeres at case if I sent in the proof of no income but as I gave up work through I’ll health and was not in receipt of benefits and was awaiting early retirement which took 2 years to sort out I had no income so went to fos
Jacqueline says
Hi I was just wondering if you any one can help am dyslexic and am trying to write out a irresponsible lending letter but am struggling as its a bit of a weird case..
I have had over 8 provident loans all paid and can see them in my credit file.
When I went to get the loans am on a pension of 77. 00 pounds a weeks so what the provident rep said to me when she came out to carry out or supposedly carry out is that on my pension I would not be able to get a loan as my income is to small so she said “I can take your husbands income but it would be in my name the payment book the signed contract for the loan, so technically they have pushed me into getting loans off them with myself not realising that taking my husbands income and not mine but without anything to do with my husband, he didn’t sign the contract his nans wasn’t in any payment books they just wanted to lend to me without doing any checks ie credit checks or advise me about debts management companys etc,,.
Are they allowed to do this as this is fraud on there part (please tell me if am out off my debth)
So my pension off 77.00 wasn’t enough to lend to me so they Kent to me with my husbands income and my signatures..
Thank you so much
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This isn’t fraud but I do think it’s irresponsible lending. If Provident had wanted to take your husbands income into account, they should also have asked about his expenses and debts – I bet they didn’t.
Are you using the template letter on this page? If you are Finding it hard you can go and ask your local Citizens Advice for help with this.
Kelly Baker says
Me and my husband have had provident complaints with the FOS for 14 months yet when contacting the ombudsman, was told that it hadn’t been assigned to an adjudicator yet. Why are they likely to be assigned? We both have small provident loans each, is that the reason for the delay ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you both call once a month and enquire.
The loans you have aren’t causing the delay. Are you making payment to them?
kelly Baker says
I will do thank you, is it worth contacting provident or just the FOS? I know provident are dealing with complaints slowly and it can take over 2 years for some people to have their claims settled with them.
Yes we are still making payments to our loans with provident so I’m not sure what the delay could be.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Just FOS.
But if the loan payments are causing you problems, tell Provident you want them reduced to a lower more affordable amount.
David says
My understanding is the FOS brought a test case against Provident, which proved Provident where operating outside of the agreed standard. This could of caused a delay
I know because I have a case open with them which has been going on for two years. And the company I used has been keeping me updated I am waiting for a refund package as we speak. Provident have tried contacting people outside of the claims companies and offing lower amounts than the ombudsman has suggested. Which is causing further delays
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am expecting a final decision on at least one Provident case to be published at some point. There is always a delay of a couple of months after the decision has gone final before it appears in the decision database.
I think Provident has settled more than 500 cases since start of November in line with FOS decisions. Quite a few have been reported here. It sounds as though yours is one if these. Some very large settlements!
As a result I am expecting other FOS cases to start moving much more quickly through the system..
Kym says
Hi Sara Can I have some information will provident pay back the interest charge at the rate when I took at loans or what it is now and all so the 8% is that per year since I had them in 2010 and 2011 and 2012 I ask this as the FSO have said that they have to pay all interest back and 8% until they make me offer so that is about 11 years since I had the loans . 2 loans I remember are for £400 and £600 I dis havecothees but Can t remember how much and FSO said across all loans they have to do this
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The interest being refunded is the actual amount of interest you paid.
The 8% added is then 8% per year since the date of the interest repayment. So if a loan was repaid in 2011, that is about 9 years ago so 72% interest would be added.
Rosemary says
Can I make a claim for interest on provident loans
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, if the loans left you so short of money you had To borrow from them again… and again… how long have you borrowed from them?
Jo says
Hi
I had numerous Provident loans but in 2013 I defaulted on all the outstanding loans I had with them (6 in total), stuck my head in the sand at the time hoping the mess with payday loans would all go away and eventually ended up with a CCJ in 2016. I am currently paying £1 a month on their outstanding total of £6777. I wrote to Provident and as part of my email I made a SAR, but they have sent no info.
I have since found a credit report from Noddle that I saved in June 2017. It shows 5 settled provident loans with amount borrowed, dates and weekly payment amounts. I borrowed around £5000 over 5 loans but paid back close to 3 times that amount by the time they were settled. And that doesn’t include the payments I was making to the ones that were defaulted on. The credit report only shows loans back to May 2011 due to the 6 year cut off. Is there anyway I can see loans prior to this date without the SAR?
I can now take to FOS – will they accept the 2017 credit report as evidence of the loans? (It’s littered with payday loans and defaults so shows just how bad my finances were). Will the FOS force Provident to provide information on every loan I took with them, i.e. the ones I don’t have any evidence for.
Thanks
Steven says
Really impressed with morses club accepted my offer on Jan 15th and got my cheque Jan 23rd
gillian says
hi sara a just a quick update on my welcome finance case I downloaded the proof of debt form to send to the liquidators and the day after I received a letter from the liquidators saying I could be a creditor and they included the proof of debt form so I filled it in and sent it off so just a wait now to see I also sent a request to reclaim the tax on I paid on the 8 percent intrest for the year 2018 to 2019 and I received a cheque today for 305 pound it only took 8 days from filling the form in online to receiving cheque so thank you again
Craig says
Just started a provident claim for me and my wife, hope this goes well as we have both has loans for the past 10 years. fingers crossed.
Shirley says
Anyone know how long average prov refunds are taking. Mine is going on for eight months. I know some have waited a lot longer but just wondering the process is getting any quicker. Thanks
kimberley says
Hi Sara how do I make a complaint against morse club shopacheck greenwood and provident
Sara (Debt Camel) says
sorry I didn’t see your question. The article above explains how these complaints work and has a template letter you can use.
david sultana says
hi.i have had 6 provident loans dating from 2000 to 2018 with the interest being just over 2000 pounds any rough idea what they should pay back.its being dejt by the fos.thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
were there any large gaps in the lending when you didn’t have a loan?
david sultana says
sorry sara was from 2012-2016 no gaps just continous borrowing.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I would hope you get a good pay out from that. You probably won’t get the first few loans refunded but the 8% interest added can make up for some of that.
Sam says
Provident are now sèttling debt by calling all its customers and offering them a proposal to settle… please don’t accept this offer go to fos u will get much more money
I work for them their extorting it’s customers by calling them it’s ridiculous someone advise the fca of this
David says
I too just had a call to settle over the phone. Been badgering them via resolver for last 7 months! Apparently the sheer volume of complaints, most haven’t even been allocated to a case handler yet. Mine they offered £1950, which I’m told will be due any day now by cheque. What I however find odd though, my wife also put a complaint in, however no uphold – even though circumstances are identical! We’re going to wait for mine to be settled and then pursue further.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
do you know what interest you paid on the loans? In other words, are you sure £1950 – while very welcome I bet! – is enough?
David says
Well from what the guy said this was based on 75% of the loans issued, however did not state about 8% on top. Simply stayed full and final settlement. What I am concerned with though is how they can single out my wife’s identical complaint with same scenario but settle mine.
We also had morses, they were very difficult to deal with and only settled £450 on loans 12-15 and stated 1-11 were not their problem but that of welcome finance. Welcome finance however it appears love to pass the buck back to morses..
David says
Hi Sara
Have just had follow up from provident for my wife’s complaint. They’re of the assumption that because wife entered into Iva, she should have complained before entering Iva. Their final addition response they’ve classes her account as status barred.. Speaking to them over the phone they’ve admitted my claim was on the lower end and encouraged forwarding onto ombudsman. In regards to wife’s claim, freeman jones don’t seem bothered with her continuing with claim which is something at least. Provident did agree that although circumstances were identical, as she was in Iva they don’t consider it irresponsible lending.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is a very strange argument by Provident. I can’t imagine the ombudsman will agree with them.
is your wife still in the IVA?
David says
Hi Sara, she was discharged from it last year. I think they are just trying to fob us off. Morses club are also being awkward, had final response today for her complaint and they deny any irresponsible lending. I find it so bizarre that they can uphold my complaint, however completely fob off my wife’s. The loans were all taken out pretty much the same time as it was the same lady who loaned each time.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I have heard lender try to argue that going into a DMP means the borrower must have had debt advice so should have complained then. So far as I can tell, the ombudsman has never agreed with this argument.
Andy says
Sent off my complaint form to the ombudsman today after morses rejected my complaint.
Some of their reasons were crazy. They said that they verified my payslips and income and considering I’m self employed and don’t have payslips I found that unbelievable 😂😂.
Apparently I earn £600 a week. If I did I wouldn’t have needed to borrow such small amounts (to start with).
Has anyone else takes morses to the ombudsman and if so how long has it taken?
Thanks :-)
Linda says
Just had a call from provident offering me £500 because they are late in dealing with my claim saying if it goes to investigation I might get nothing and I can have this cheque within a few days and the case is over. My feelings are if they can offer this it has to be a bonus to them if I take it. Has anyone had this offer ? Any advice ?? Also do love to shop vouchers get included in a claim ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
oh dear god, they should not be doing that.
Can you say how many loans you had from them? Or over how many years if you don’t remember?
Linda says
She says from 2007 38 agreements but mostly shopping vouchers. Finished with them around 3 years ago. I had been with them over 30 years.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s been a while since anyone mentioned these shopping vouchers. I think they gave you £50 of vouchers and you repaid £60? something like that? Were the amounts quite small?
And how many “real loans” did you have, they were presumably larger?
Kym says
Hi they didn’t uphold my complaint so went to the FSO and it took 9 months but upheld my complaint so now waiting to see How much they offer… I heard they are calling people making offers to customers . there was a comment in last couple days from someone who works for them saying don’t take it as they are ripping off people look down the posts on hear and you will see it. They know that FSO are upholding people complaints and it’s costing them so much more going through the FS0 good luck
Louise says
I was talking to my mom about these refunds and she used to have a lot of provident loans years ago (late 90’s early 00’s), is it worth her putting in a complaint now for those? She doesn’t have any details about them anymore as it’s been so long.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can’t make claims for loans before April 2007. There is no way to go back earlier.
Ken says
My mother had numerous loans with Provident over many years until her death in april 2011.
For at least 3 years she was allowed to keep taking loans for herself and her granddaughter’s
knowing that she was terminally ill with cancer. Can i make a claim on behalf of my mothers estate?
Andi says
Only if you hold the proof that you are the executor or hold the Letter Of Administration… They won’t acknowledge you without this.
I’ve had to do the same for my grandmother, despite obtaining the Letter of administration and providing it to them, they still failed to provide any info or address my complaint within 8wks.
It’s currently with FOS (sent Nov 19) so it’s a waiting game now.
Kelly says
Many thanks Sara,
Saw this link through your Wonga page I have been following recently. So I’ve sent over my complaint to Provident. Let’s see what they say!
Sharon says
Just an update on my complaint:- I received a phone call from my adjudicator this morning saying provident have agreed with their proposal, in December provident tried to throw something into the fire regarding me by sending additional information but adjudicator said that it didn’t make any difference. Phoned both provident and fos last week and the lady who I spoke to at fos was very helpful and said I should here by end of this week. So I’m over the moon refund of £19000.00 minus what I owe is been sent by cheque and provident has said should receive by end of next week.
So please everyone be patient as it’s worth the wait
😊😊
Caroline says
How long did you wait for? I just sent off online complaining hopeful recieve good new
Gemma says
Hi Sharon I put in a complaint and they have just asked me for any additional information to help my case and any evidence is this what you got?
Sharon says
Yes sort of try put your case across as strong as possible, also did your agent split the loans down as this was only for their benefit not yours , made it easier to reload to you on a smaller amount than larger one .
Georgina says
Hi,
I wasn’t aware been able to get a refund covered doorstep loans. This is were my journey into debt started. Giving loan after loan usually to pay off last one leaving me with a small amount but large balance. I was unemployed looking after my young children at the time and the collectors were very persuasive at getting me to take more credit.
I finally managed to pay them all off back in 2014 but that’s only because I started on the dreaded payday loans instead. I had accounts with Naylors (got email address from this forum to start claim) and CLC. Anyone know complaints procedure for CLC?
Val says
Thanks to Sarah
Letter today provident written off £365 owed
Thankyou one less worry
Sara (Debt Camel) says
have you just sent in a complaint? How many loans did you have from them? If you had a lot, that may be one of their VERY poor offers.
Val says
Had only two
First was about 6 years ago
Second 2018 an this is the written off
Didn’t uphold complaint but took so long to sort was offer of goodwill
Happy with that really as they could’ve said keep paying it
Sara (Debt Camel) says
sounds good for just 2 loans!
Joanne Ingram says
Hi.. how did you do the that with provident. Im new on here and have had loans with provident that have been passed onto debt agency’s sowoukd be great if i could get help with them or even wiped off?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
loads of huge refunds from Provident – template letter to complain and all details on this page: https://debtcamel.co.uk/refund-doorstep-loans/. don’t let them fob you off with a few hundred pounds if you should be getting thousands!
All questions over on that page please.
Lucy says
Hi Sara my ex partner and I had joint loans from provident he left me (can’t be found) and I was left to pay the bill! One thing lead to another and the debt for provident was passed on to a debt collector the provident and the debt collectors have no care that I’m left to pay this I’m a single mother of three children and pay a measly £10 a month to the debt collector is there anything I can do? Is it possible to claim even though the debt was passed on to a debt collector? It’s approx £2,700 it’s unfair me me to pay it all :-( over the last 5 years I have constantly had payday loans (it just gets deeper doesn’t it) to pay for the debts my ex left! I just don’t know what I can do !
kym says
Hi Lucy that’s what happened to me provident sold it to Lowell and we went to court and I got payment plan in place . The mediator at the court told me to make a complaint and I complained to provident they said I didn’t have a case … so went go the FSO and it has taken o months but the FSO upheld my complaint and now provident have to pay all my interest back from 2010 and any court fees and amend my credit file and pay me 8% per year from 2010 .. I am waiting for provident to send me a letter with an offer which will take about 2-3 weeks .. the only thing is that if provident try to buy the loan back from Lowell they can’t as my agreement is with Lowell and the court and FSO know all about Lowell and the court. I would make a claim what have you got to loose good luck
Lucy says
Hi Kym wow thank you so much. There may be possible light at the end of this awful dark tunnel! It’s like rubbing salt into the wound to make us pay for their part of the loans too! I think it’s diabolical in all honesty we both signed and he done a runner and got away with it. Very sound advice you have given me I can’t thank you enough I’ll be starting to roll the ball tomorrow like you say what have I got to lose hey! Once again many thanks much appreciated, Lucy xx
Kym says
Hi Lucy just an update .I received my cheque from provident . I did have to pester them and they are all so settling my account with Lowell and sending me another check for the money I have paid Lowell.. Lucy make your complaint and go to the FOS.. My check arrived on Saturday for 1543 don’t let them get away with it
Paul Wakeman says
So, almost a year to the day after complaining to Provident an Adjudicator has emailed me today saying my complaint has been upheld and the interest on loans 5-24 should be refunded by Provident along with 8% statutory interest added, calculated from the dates I made the payments to the date the complaint is settled. As these loans started from 12/09/2008 and the last one was taken on 25/02/2017 I’m guessing just the statutory interest will be quite a nice sum let alone the refund of interest paid over 9 years. One thing I would ask though is that when I originally complained to Provident they only provided details of loans from 2013 onwards and stated I had x amount of loans prior to 2013. The Adjudicator hasn’t listed all of the loans but as I’ll want to see a breakdown of all of them should I ask the Adjudicator or Provident?
David Reid says
Hi I put a complaint in 3 Months ago and keep getting emails saying we are looking into your complaint and will reply ASAP. How long does it take really?. Its been 90 days now. Shall I just send to th FOS or wait a bit longer. I had loads of loans that were issued irresponsibly. Just need a bit of advise what I should do.
Shirley says
I would send to the fos now. Sent mine beg of Jul and to fos beg Sept still not heard anything. Good luck
Georgina says
Could I have some advice please. I sent in complaints to my 2 doorstep lenders yesterday Naylors and CLC finance. I’ve just had the local agent call at my property asking me to sign a bit of paper to say I will not be perusing them. I asked why would I do that to be told well we only have an account for one loan in 2015 as dont keep records for anything longer so is pointless.
How would I proceed with this. As payments were collected on the doorstep and they never put up to date info on my credit report I can’t trace the other loans I had previously.
H says
Hi
I didn’t have a lot of loans from provident but did have 3 fairly large ones, initial was 500. Then as soon as that was paid off I took another out for 600 the 3 months later I took one for 700. I have sent in my complaint but have no details of the loans other than whats on my credit report. How successful have people been with provident??
I’ve had a couple of success so far with safetynet and 247 money box but those loans have been over the last year… it was easier and quicker than using provident!
CHRISTINE K says
Hi all,
I have started my complaint with Morses. They have asked me to send evidence i.e. bankstatements and so on. I have asked them to give me a time scale as to what dates they want the evidence to cover. They have not given me an answer yet and they have given me a deadline as to when to supply the evidence and if they haven’t got it by then they won’t deal with my complaint. I have 10 days left until their deadline so should I just send whatever I think they need or should I wait for a answer from them?
Kee says
Hi Sara, put in a complaint to provident Tuesday, had an email back today saying the want additional evidence, what do I send them as evidence? Also they didn’t send me a list of loans like I requested
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can you copy out what they have said about more evidence please?
Kee says
This is what the email:
In support of our investigation, you are welcome to provide any evidence you feel is relevant to your concern(s). In order to avoid any delay, please can you provide us with any additional information / evidence within the next 10 working days via email at newcustomer.complaints@provident.co.uk, in writing using the address at the foot of this letter or ring us on the number below. However, should you require more time, please contact us within this timescale to let us know.
If throughout your journey with us you inform us of any sensitive information regarding your health or changes to your personal circumstances we will only use the information to help us review your account; it will not be used for anything else and we will only share this information with third parties who help us to manage your account. If you do not wish us to hold this information please let us know and we will remove it or if you want to discuss your circumstances in more detail please contact us on the number below.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, that is just guff, you don’t have to do anything…
But you could reply “I have asked you for a list of my loans. I can’t provide you with any more information until I have those loan amounts and dates.”
Kee says
Ok thank you
Alyson says
Hi Sara I made a claim for unaffordable lending to provident in August 2019. I had a couple of emails back saying they were looking into it and then nothing since October 2019. About 2 weeks ago I escalated the complaint to the financial Ombudsman Service. On Monday of this week I had a telephone call out of the blue from provident saying that it could take months for my complaint to be looked at and then it could be refused but they would like to offer me £600 to settle the complaint and write off a balance I have with Lowell of £550. After a few supposed discussions with her supervisor she came back with an offer of £1000 which I stupidly accepted. They said the cheque would arrive within 5 days. Since then I have found paperwork with interest totalling £1600 from 2013 and there were 4 other loans in 2007 and the more I think about it I realise that I shouldn’t have accepted the offer and feel I have been conned yet again by provident.
Today I have received a form from the financial Ombudsman Service to fill in regarding my claim and I don’t know what to do. Am I too late to carry on my complaint or should I just wait for the cheque and move on. I think I was just caught unaware when I received the call and wasn’t really thinking straight and at the back of my mind was the worry that if provident went into administration then I would be left with nothing.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry not to reply before.
I think if you haven’t cashed their cheque, you can just tell FOS you have changed your mind and would like them to continue with your complaint and not accept this offer.
Provident should really only be making offers that are in-line with what FOS would decide.
Can I ask if FOS have all this paperwork you have just found? If not, you should send it to them.
David says
Hi, we had a very similar reply at the time of our complaint. I did reply and included additional supporting evidence. It was more the fact that they continued to stall each month.. I think realistically my complaint considering my personal circumstances from when taking out the finance, added to the now reality that fundamentally funding should not have been provided to me has settled to £1950. On a side note though they seem perfectly happy to settle over the phone, however I had been promised payment by 31st Jan, but still no payment! It’s really worth kicking up a fuss if they continue to stall your complaint. To date we have had £1k from Safetynet, £395 morses club, £126 my jar, £226 piggy bank. Still have to wait on paydayuk, the paydayexpress – (both with administrations), QuickQuid, peachy and cashasap.
It is however unfortunately the Wonga redress is so small, my only hope is QuickQuid and paydayuk/paydayexpress don’t also just provide pennies!!!
Sharon says
Sara would just like to say a huge Thankyou to you and this site, so lucky to come across this 18 months ago, provident have now accepted adjudicators decision and agreed to pay the interest for loan 6-38,
Can’t Thankyou enough
And good luck to everyone it is well worth the wait 😊
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sounds like a good result! Hope you ge the payout soon.
David says
Please take ur cases to FOS the complaints team at Provident are useless. You will get a bigger pay out with FOS guaranteed. Theres a big backlog which they claim but all lies. I strongly recommend after 56 days go straight to FOS. I work for provident.
Jay says
3.5k offered by provident before it went to FOS, 22.5k offered after it went to FOS. I think that settles some of the questions people are asking
Jimbo says
Hi Sarah,
I’ve recently made a complaint to Provident as I was in a terrible state a number of years ago due to depression and gambling.
I made no bones about hiding this from my agent who basically told em what to do and what not to say (none too subtle suggestions etc).
This was a while ago when my annual income was about £16k and my rent and bills and other debts was basically everything I earned…
I carried on like this for several years with the loans becoming larger and more frequent, often re-borrowing to repay an existing loan etc. I went on a Step Change DMP about 7 years ago and finished it 3 years ago.
My problem is that at the start of the DMP I basically flipped and destroyed all loan documents, bank statements and obviously changed banks too for the DMP as I had debts with my old one which was then included in the DMP.
Over the years of borrowing I must have paid close to £10k in interest to Provident, has anyone ever reported similar circumstances and won anything back?
I’m concerned that they’ll fob me off and if I go to the Ombudsman then I have no evidence of this time in my life – what can/should I be doing?
Thanks,
J
Sara (Debt Camel) says
All you can do is start a complaint and see how it goes.
Jimbo says
Thanks, I’ve done some more digging and have been able to find a couple of old account numbers which I had with them and also a list of the addresses I’ve lived at over the years…
Time to sit back and wait I guess!
J
Jules says
Thanks so much for this, I have just this week contacted Provident using chunks of the templates, adding in all my name/address/customer number details, etc and they’re already dragging their heels asking me to provide all of those details which I’d already put in there. I feel it’ll be a long process. I may just contact the ombusdman this week.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
if they are just asking you to provide more evidence (see this comment earlier from Karen https://debtcamel.co.uk/refund-doorstep-loans/comment-page-15/#comment-343203) then that can be safely ignored. But if you think they haven’t identified what your account is, you have to help them through the process even though you think you have already told them a lot.
You can’t send it to FOS until they reject your complaint or say they can’t find any loans for you. And if it’s the latter, it’s better not to go to FOS until you have persevered with Provident first.
Will says
I had many replies from them asking for previous addresses when I’ve lived here 30 yes so I can only think if the rep put down an exs address so I fwd my exs addresses and got the standard reply asking for supporting evidence within 10 days and the same as the template guff you posted above, but they still didn’t send me details of my loads which I asked for so I emailed them again with all the same details and they sent me links to an online portal to log on to telling me that they can’t find me and can I give them previous addresses, which I supplied all in one email to them. I get the feeling they are just messing me about so how long should I wait until going to the FOS? 56 days after that reply template I had? Because I strongly feel they are just messing me around tbh
Sara (Debt Camel) says
56 days from your first complaint.
gillian says
hi sara I have read on the page welcome finance have about liquidation and it says on the 4th of December 2019 directors have made inquires into the company assets and formed the opinion that the company will be able to pay any debts reasonably likely to be admitted in full with intrest at the official rate within 12 months and non scheme creditors will be paid in full before scheme creditors will this mean I may get my full refund that the adjudicator upheld for loans 7 to 12(about 3000 pound with the 8percent intrest)thank you again
Emma says
Hi Sara,
Firstly I’d like to thank you for all your help and support with wonga. I have never commented but have kept up to date with alot of these threads. Could I ask for your advice on a couple of things. I had constant doorstep loans with 2 companies from around 2003 until 2016. One was morse club who I havnt complained to get, the other was a local leeds company called clc finance, i put a complaint into clc finance at the same time as my wonga complaint in October 2018, they rejected my complaint and only sent me a fraction of the details of my previous loans. The letter did state that I had 6 months to tske it to the ombudsmen but I didn’t bother as i didnt think I would get anywhere with the complaint. Is it too late for me to re apply for a complaint with them? Also sometime between 2005 and 2012 I purchased around 5 separate items from brighthouse, can i put a complaint into them also? Thanks Emma x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“The letter did state that I had 6 months to tske it to the ombudsmen but I didn’t bother as i didnt think I would get anywhere with the complaint. Is it too late for me to re apply for a complaint with them?”
That is too late I am afraid.
“Also sometime between 2005 and 2012 I purchased around 5 separate items from brighthouse, can i put a complaint into them also?”
You can’t complain about items bought before April 2007.
Do you think the later items were “unaffordable” – having to make the repayments caused you to get behind with bills or take out more debt?
Emma says
Yes i was also in debt management with Gregory Pennington at the time. I wasn’t wasnt working and only receiving state benefits. What about morse club? I think it was around 2006 when i started getting doorstep loans and this continued until 2016
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like a good claim against Morses – again only from April 2007. Make it now and if they say No, send it to the ombudsman staright away.
For BrightHouse see https://debtcamel.co.uk/brighthouse-refund-complain/
DIANE says
Hi Sara (Debt Camel),
I was wondering if you could help, I have been with provident for more years than I care to mention (at least 20), and have had various loans ranging from £50 to £1250 normally borrowing more to pay off previous loan to be left with small amount of cash at hand, all of which were payed off except for the last two which I am still paying, but at a reduced rate of £10 per week as my husband sadly passed away and they allowed this. During this whole time I was not working and they used to use my husbands benefits as my income he aslo had loans in his name which were wiped out after his death , they repeatedly offered new loans sometimes I had 3 going at the same time. At the same time I had loans with greenwoods which is now part of provident. I am worried if I put a claim in they would then start being funny about my payment plans that I have in place, would I still be able to put in a claim even though I am still paying for my last two off.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
20 years, you must be one of their best customers :(
You can only complaint about loans from April 2007 – but that probably still adds up to a lot of interest.
They won’t start being difficult about the payment plans in place. The regulator would not think that was fair and no-one has had this problem.
Good luck and let us know how you get on! If they make you an offer to settle and you aren’t sure about it, come back here and chat?
Mark Wells says
Hi All
I first complained to Provident on the 18th September 2019, with various emails received from Provident over the following 8 weeks stating they are investigating, the last email received on 8th November 2019 stating i can forward the complaint to FOS as its been 8 weeks, for which i did.
After a few emails from FOS saying their very busy, today i get this:
Your complaint about Provident Personal Credit Limited
Thanks for getting in touch with us. We’ve contacted Provident Personal Credit Limited to tell them about your complaint – so they have a chance to put things right for you first.
Provident Personal Credit Limited should get in touch with you soon. If you need to get in touch with them, their contact details are:
Provident Personal Credit Limited,Provident Financial, No. 1 Godwin Street, BRADFORD, West Yorkshire, BD1 2SU
Next steps
Provident Personal Credit Limited should give you their final response to your complaint – in writing – within eight weeks at the most.
At this stage, Provident Personal Credit Limited should also let you know that you’ve six months from the date of their response to come back to us if you’re not happy.
We won’t take any further action unless we hear from you again – and I hope Provident Personal Credit Limited can resolve things for you.
Do you think someone has got their wires crossed? Is this their new way with provident?
I have wrote back to FOS, but just thought it was very strange.
Mark K says
Hi Mark ,
I’ve had the same since waiting for a response from July and escalating to the ombudsman . So I called provident and they advised me that I will have a final response within a couple of weeks . Let’s see …
Mark
Gemma says
Can someone please help with who they contacted at Morses to make a complaint as I sent a complaint to the online request page and to there dpo email address but not even received an acknowledgement?. Hi
chris c says
Hi Gemma i am currently using mcl.complaints@morsesclub.com to complain to them and am getting replies I did make sure I ended my emails with please confirm receipt of this email so they reply back good luck Chris
Gemma says
Thanks Chris good luck to you too
Marl says
I was with shopacheck pre 1986 is there any point trying to claim, I think I read somewhere about years ago not sure
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No sorry, nothing before April 2007 can be claimed for.
Simon says
Hi, left a complaint with Morse over a week ago thanks to information gathered on this site. Up to yet no reply and my customer login page is currently unavailable? 🤔 any1 else dealt with morses?
David says
Morses are quicker to settle than provident. If you had agreements with shopacheck, probably be a bit tricky to claim back – I believe welcome finance has now shut up shop. Don’t bother doing complaint via resolver for morses as they don’t bother to reply, however funny enough the clout of resolver seems to work fairly well with provident.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Resolver has no particular “clout” with Provident, no more than emailing them yourself.
Darren says
Just an update ombudsman sent me email on 15th January saying 15 loans have been upheld and provident had till 29th January to contact ombudsman with there response as of today they still haven’t responded does anyone know how long they usually take thanks.
Shirley says
Could I just ask how long thats taken please. Mine went to the Fos in Sept still not heard anything. First complained to prov beginning July last year not heard anything. Thanks
Sarah says
Hi, have you heard anything from this yet? I am waiting too and just wondered how long after the deadline they are taking.
Sharon says
Just letting you know Sara that it took provident less than a week to send cheque out agreed on 29/1/20 and received chq today so they are certainly getting quicker
Dean says
If I only had one loan with satsuma for £500 . But also had 6+ provident door step loans totalling £3300 and a vanquis credit card which I believe are all provident products. All taken before the satsuma loan and have defaulted on the credit card. Will the ombudsman just look at the satsuma case individually or will they class it all together? Thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think these are all handled separately. Certainly, Vanquis is done through a different legal entity.
Dean says
Would they take into account the doorstep loans and credit card when assessing the satsuma loan complaint do you think? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t think so, I don’t remember anyone saying this happens.
David says
Hi Sara, we have received a long-winded response from provident re my wife’s complaint. Could you advise what would be best for us to do please?
————————————-
My understanding of your complaint is that you are unhappy:
* Provident lent to your irresponsibly without carrying out proper affordability checks prior to loans been issued.
* You were pressurised by your Agent/Customer Experience Manager (CEM) in to becoming dependent on loans by them offering further lending.
* You were pressurised by your Agent/CEM in to entering a debt cycle taking out loans to pay other Provident loans.
My investigation
As part of my investigation I found you had 15 loans issued by Provident. I have included details for the loans below. When considering complaints we follow the rules set out by our regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority.
A complaint is required to be made six years after theh event complained of, or if later three years from the date on which the complainant became aware or ought reasonably have become aware that they had a cause for complaint. This is known as the ‘limitation periods’. Where a complaint is made outside of these limitation periods, it is ‘time barred’ and we are not required to consider it.
As part of my investigation I have reviewed all of the loans issued by Provident, I am aware that all your agreements were issued more than six years ago. It would also appear that you sought independent professional debt advice on or around August 2014 such that you understood or ought reasonably have understood the obligations of lenders and rights of consumers from that point in time onwards.
As your complaint has been made outside of these time limits this is now a matter for the Ombudsman to decide. If the Ombudsman agrees with us, they will not have our permission to consider your complaint and so will only be able to do so in very limited circumstances (see below).
————————————–
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I have considerably shortened that. It’s good you have a list of your loans but it doesn’t need to be posted here.
What happened in 2014 – a debt management plan?
David says
Hi Sara
Thanks, sorry ever so slightly long winded!!
She was entered into an Iva which ended last year.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, who was the IVA with? She needs to ask them if she gets a refund, will they claim that money for the IVA? They may be able to do this even though the IVA has been closed – she has to ask to find out.
David says
Hi Sara
Thanks, Is this applicable even if the Iva was discharged over a year ago? It was only for the first four loans which were entered into the Iva as the others were refinanced via additional loans.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I’m afraid it is applicable whether or not the loans were completed before the IVA. Some IVA firm will be OK about her getting these refunds, some will want to take the refunds. She may as well ask now, not do all the work then lose it all at the end.
David says
Thanks Sara, we’ll contact freeman jones and see what the say!
Regards
David
Kym says
Hi Sarah Provident are stalling given me a final figure after FSO have upheld my complaint . they keep saying it’s with their finance department waiting for a figure. So I went back to FSO and they spoke to provident and apparently I will get a figure by end of this week.. some how I don’t think so .. FSO have said that if I don’t hear from provident by end of this week .. they will speak to them again .. I just think they are stalling giving me a final figure . I have had enough of them now does anyone have the director email of provident.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
try joe.sweeney@provident.co.uk
Kym says
Hi Sarah . I emailed Joe and received a reply to say it’s will be looked in to tomorrow. I did Cc Chris Gillepsie the Chief Executive in to the email as well. I will keep you Up to date. Thanks Sarah
Shirley says
Hiya Sara. Do the FOS only look at loans that are six years and less for provident please.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No! FOS is looking at older loans. Don’t believe what Provident say about this.
Shirley says
Thanks Sara, they say that giving someone your time is the kindest thing you can do as its something you will never get back, so thanks for all your time on herex
Danielle Bird says
I sent my complaint to Provident and entering the fourth week with no updates (optimistic I know)! Any advice on time scales? Sara your latest comments are giving me hope this can be dealt within a reasonable manner and not drawn out for months at end. I’ve had great success with every case I have raised and this is all down to you Sara :) I never thought I would be in the situation I am in now and cannot thank you enough x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
8weeks plus. Provident are slow! I am hoping FOS are going to be handling provident cases faster as there is less backlog but it’s best not to explect that things will be speedy…
Danielle Bird says
Thank you Sara, I’m going to set a reminder for the 8 weeks and forget about it until then
Amanda Eilertsen says
Hi I emailed morsesclub regarding shopacheck about all the loans I’ve had over the years .and it was irresponsible lending but apparently because I didn’t say any thing sooner so they have declined my case
Sara (Debt Camel) says
send the case to the Finacial Ombudsman then – they are looking at loans over 6 years old.
Amanda Eilertsen says
On the case as we speak .thank you
Peter says
Sara, I have had about 30/40 loans with provident since 2005 each one was for £1000 each and the last 5 years I had 3x£1000 loans running each year, guessing I should complain
Sara (Debt Camel) says
oh yes!
kym says
Hi Sarah I finally got a figure from provident . They have said that are going to settle and account with Lowell out off the redress amount.. When I spoke to provident they seemed shocked that I went to court with Lowell and I have payment plan in place .. can they do that as this is going to come out of my redress . Provident have said that they will send my original figure and speak to Lowell..Provident said that they will give the money back I have paid to Lowell. Can they buy it back from Lowell whilst I have court order with Lowell.. Thanks you so much you have been a brilliant help
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you need to be clear – you want Provident to arrange for the CCJ from Lowell to be “set aside” and for the amounts you have paid Lowell to be added to your redress from Provident.
(The alternative is that they have to settle the money and give you the cost of apply to the court for the CCJ to be set aside. But it’s simpler if Lowell organise this and Provident sort out their costs.)