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?
Lynn says
Hi Sara
Just had final response from Provident.
Off the 21 loans ranging from 300 – 2000 they said only one was lent irresponsibility and are paying a redress less outstanding balance owed to them on my current loan in the form of a cheque. They are also removing all negative comments from my credit report
Do you think I should send to ombudsman to look at the loans they rejected
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
definitely! I am afraid that means not cashing the cheque.
Lynn says
So I can’t accept cheque for the one they agreed on whilst asking ombudsman to look at the rejected loans even though they said the one they are paying out on was irresponsible
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Put in the complaint to the Ombudsman [known as FOS for short) and then ask FOS if you can cash the cheque. You may be able to if Provident didn’t ask you to agree it was in full settlement of your offer. You may be able to get 10 times as much or more by going to FOS … Provident really shouldn’t be making such poor offers.
Lynn says
Thanks Sara I will do as you suggest and see what happens.
Andrew says
Thanks MnM & K for your kind words & support, appreciated 😃
I took onboard what both of you suggested and rang Provident late this afternoon, it is the first time I’d done so.
I asked the first guy if I could speak to the internal FOS team and was given the rather condescending response ‘the Internal FOS team don’t exist, for future reference’. I was then passed to a second chap who offered to give me the telephone number for the Financial Services Ombudsman (at which point I think I burst out laughing).
Thankfully the third man seemed to be ‘on it’. He explained my case was in a queue to be reassessed due to the scale of the overturn (of Provident’s own decision that I was owed nothing) and the number of loans involved. He actually asked if it was ok to put me on hold while he spoke to someone in the Internal FOS team about it. This was helpful and pretty remarkable since the team didn’t exist 15 mins prior to that 🙄.
Anyway, the upshot of this conversation is that I’ve joined a new queue. Unfortunately being in it entails a minimum wait of two weeks if the team reviewing my case accept the adjudicators decision, possibly a futher one or two if they don’t.
K. says
Hi Andrew
You never do get a straight answer. It’s so frustrating but keep with it and keep pestering them. Hopefully you get your decision sooner rather than later 😊 take hope that people are getting good decisions.
No cheque as yet for me so still patiently waiting as I won’t believe it until it’s in my hand 🙄
Andrew says
Hi K,
I know, you’re right, they are totally frustrating. I hate the waiting around and uncertainty of the whole thing. Even when I know I’ll probably be like you, stressing and doubting the cheque will ever turn up. I think we’ll both need a holiday after this lol 😀
MnM says
Pleased you rang Andrew and hopefully they’ll get you your refund soon.
I shall definitely be booking a holiday if I get what I’ve worked out I should get.
K hope you get yours soon too 😁
Cj says
I have had a provident account for years now .the used ti offer refinancing when I was over halfway though the loans and one point I had three with them then the amounts got bigger .then a year ago they said I was no longer eligible for a loan this is when I started to sort my life out with payday loans etc ..provident is one of the last to sort .I’m a little concerned in doing so whilst I have a amount outstanding..I pay monthly but I’m not paying the correct amount yet no one has questioned it or said anything …but I’m worried they may start to hassle me and come round more if I pursue this before I finish paying what is owed
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you out in your complaint what yiu have sad – that your agent always offered refinancing, that the amounts got larger and you often has several loans at once. Also say you had payday loans at the time.
Just put a line in your complaint that says you need a lower payment arrangement. Provident are usually fine about this, much less trouble than people expect.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
PS you didn’t say how long you have been borrowing from them. But some of these “borrowing for many years” complaints get VERY large payouts.
If Provident offer you will your wons and give you A small amount back, ask for a list of your loans and the interest you have paid before accepting as they may be trying to settle this very cheaply.
Cj says
Probably 10 years always had something on the go with them. And every loan I had with then had a degree of arrears on them..and alot of then were refinanced to include the arrears.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then that could be a very big claim. One person here got a cheque for £5000 today… don’t let provident say they can only go back 6 years, the Ombudsman will look at older loans. This may all take time but kick it off and just persevere.
K. says
Agree Sara my loans dated back to 2009
K. says
OMG can’t believe it I am actually shaking 😊 postman just delivered my cheque for over 5k. I like others thought this would not happen for me. For all those still in the process don’t give up it will be your turn next 😁. Thank you Sara this site has been amazing.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
brilliant! Encouragement to all the other going through this process.
Julie says
Fantastic K!!
How long was the whole process for you from first complaining? Did you need to go via the Ombudsman?
Andrew says
Enjoy your money K, I’m so glad you you lass, couldn’t happen to anybody nicer 😘
K. says
Hi Julie mine started last Aug 19 so just over 6 months in total 😊 just be persistent and believe the outcome you want will come 👍
Thanks Andrew I will be watching on here for your good news hopefully sooner than later 😊
Andrew says
I kind of hoped you would, don’t worry you’ll be the first to know K, I’ll be the one bouncing around like Tigger lol 😀. Joking apart you may as well grab a month in the sun and check back then. Doubtless I’ll still be gnashing my teeth at Provident and will still be moving up the ‘mother of all queues’ at a snails pace. Either that or they’ll send me a cheque for £1.50 for my pains 😂🤣
Ria Parker says
I’ve just sent my letter today fingers crossed I’ve been having lans off them for over 20 years what do I do once they reply to my letter
Andrew says
Hi Ria, wait and see what they say first, they may make you an offer but it’s more likely they will tell you that you don’t have a claim. If they tell you the latter you can then contact the Financial Ombudsman Service with details of your complaint against them. Remember to keep the email Provident send you as FOS will probably request that you forward it on to them, they did with me anyway.
K. says
Positivity Andrew they say you manifest your deepest desire so hang in there 😊 request it, believe it, receive it 👍 worked for me 😁
MnM says
Wow that’s fantastic K so pleased for you. How long did it take from being told decision from FOS to receiving your cheque?
K, says
I had my decision from adjudicator on 5th Feb so it just over 2 weeks to get cheque, I had to make a lot of calls to provident.
Andrew says
Hi K, I’ll keep the faith as you suggest and just pester them each week until this matter is resolved. Really I’m just anxious for things to be settled once and for all so that I can move on and put it all of this behind me.
Jackie says
I got an email from FOS saying they can only go back to 6th April 2007 as that’s when the sale of consumer credit became regulated so couldn’t go back further. FOS said Provident wants to settle the whole amount of interest, interest, as well as 8% simple interest. They’re also removing everything from my credit file. By the time I’d received the email he said they done it themselves and that they’d already started the process. I’ve had 14 loans
Roly says
Am starting to get a little frustrated. Made initial complaint to Provident in Jan 2018. Credit file was sent for by FOS in July 2019, received an email in October saying FOS wanted more i fo from Provident, then when I chased in January was told they were still at least a few months away from deciding my case. I do have loans going pretty much all the way back from 2017 to 2007, so appreciate it is a big investigation, but I just want it all to be over! When I see that people who submitted so much more recently than me have already received their cheques, I get so frustrated. It doesn’t seem fair that so many of us have to wait for so ver long when others are done so quickly.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I understand your frustration but when a backlog of cases is being settled, this always seems to happen. The good news is that a lot of cases are being settled. I hope yours will be one of them – if it isn’t the fact that hundreds of others are going will mean yours should be looked at sooner.
Andrew says
Hi Roly,
Those are my sentiments exactly, the time you’ve been waiting is almost exactly the same as mine so I understand your frustration. I, like you, just want some closure to all this uncertainty and to be able to move on. I can only recommend you make frequent phone calls to all concerned to keep the spotlight on your case and the fact that you’ve been waiting longer than most.
Regular and persistant phone calls does seem to have worked effectively for some people that I’ve got to know on here, as they will no doubt tell you themselves. I had long believed that being patient and not bothering people was the right way to go about things but it certainly didn’t work for me, in fact when I did eventually call I found that they were unaware of my case, and even when found that no real work had been done on it.
Bizarrely even Provident themselves advised me to ring on a weekly basis for frequent updates so I can only suggest you make enough of a nuisance of yourself that they settle your case as a priority, if only to be rid of you 😉.
K. says
Totally agree Andrew it’s seems to be those how shout loudest get a better result. Pester them until they want rid of you lol 😂 K.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think at the moment there is just a large amount of confusion as they are attempting to settle several hundred complaints at the same time.
Andrew says
I’ve heard nothing yet K. Trying to give it two weeks before I call because they said ‘defo not less than two weeks’ but its so difficult lol. Has your cheque cleared yet? 😃
k. says
Hi Andrew it cleared this morning 😁 still can’t believe it is actually sitting in my account. Going to pay of some debt and finally be able to just breathe for awhile. Keeping my fingers Crossed you don’t have too much longer and this will end with your money resting in your account 😁
Andrew says
They are doing my swede in now K, every time I call them now I’m told my case has been worked on and that its half done. Why would you start on somebody’s case then not finish it? What is the point of starting a case then leaving it and doing somebody else’s case instead. Why not finish mine? Is it too hard to work out? Are the numbers stacking up alarmingly? Shall I go up to Bradford with my pen and paper and a calculator and finish it for them? I really don’t know K, they are just an arrogant, weird, awkward bunch this Provident lot 🤪😒
K. says
Hi Andrew at least they are doing some work with your case and hopefully they will get your decision soon. Have you worked out how much you are roughly due in total, could be yours is for a larger amount than mine and this could be causing the hold up??? I agree with you if you start something then finish it. Sending positive vibes your way and fingers crossed Provident get a move on and send you what your owed :) Don’t let them discourage you, just a thought have you tried telling them how this is effecting you personally? They need to remember they are dealing with real people and these long delays can have an effect on you mind :( Stay Strong and hopefully this will all come good for you soon :)
Andrew says
Hi K, yes they are slowly working their way through my case, slowly being the operative word lol. No I haven’t the slightest idea how much it will be because when they sent my adjudicator details of my 10 loans they apparently hadn’t separated the capital sum from the interest, he tried to give me a rough idea from the figures they’d provided but he simply was unable to do so. I’m really hoping it is somewhere in the region of what you got, that was a very nice return for you imo and I would be totally ‘over the moon’ if I got that much. I do only have modest wants really, the main thing I’d like to do is get my credit file cleared once and for all and my car through its MOT. If there was anything over I think I’d spend it on my home and garden as travelling doesn’t seem very appealing, for the moment at least. You are a very positive and soothing influence in my life K ( you may be a keeper lol 🤣🤣). Joking aside it is messing with my head though. I do not react well to prolongued uncertainty, I’m a very forward thinking chap so I like to get things settled and move on. The situation they have put me in isn’t allowing me to do so when I next call them I’ll take your advise and emphasize that I’m not being impatient but just that it’s my anxiety issues. A big thanks K, for your continuing care and support, you’ve been such a big help x
Roly says
Thanks, unfortunately I am autistic and have extreme anxiety so constant calling is difficult for me, but now I finally have the adjudicator’s decision, I may start bombarding provident with emails!!
Roly says
I hope yours gets processed and sorted soon, too Andrew! It has been a long old slog on this one! keeping all crossed for you that it will be positive.
Em says
I complained to provident in sept 2018 which was rejected. Sent to FOS Nov 2018 and have been waiting for it to be allocated an adjudicator since then. Had an email last week to say it’s still waiting.
Then out of the blue yesterday I receive a letter from fos to say that provident has confirmed they are going to settle my complaint. In ALL loans (I had 10 between 2009-2011).
The letter also said provident has already started to process my offer!
Any idea how long it takes from now?
Andi says
Email from FOS been assigned to adjudicator, which I’m a little confused about as they said back on 7th Jan my case was being treated as a important/priority due to wanting to close the estate, after submitting 27th Nov.
Since 7th FOS have tried to get the business file.
In this email from adjudicator it states that he will chase them for the business file..
So approx 6wks on, no further forward.
Say if Prov supplied the end of mth, how long does adjudicator take to review?
Prov have confirmed 30 loans 2006 -2014 and they are not upholding my Complaint (said was affordable)
Lisa G says
Hi all,
A quick question, I’m sure it’s been asked before but can’t see anything recently… I won a case with the FOS against Provident in January this year (I think I agreed on 13th thereabouts). Negative marks on 4 loans were to be removed from my credit file, or the loans were to be removed completely… as yet I haven’t seen anything to suggest either has been done.
How long does it take these companies / the credit reference agencies to update your credit file.
2 loans I had outstanding with Provident were both in the negative and then default for approx 6 months, they’re not doing my file any good, especially as anything else on there I’m trying to repay on time 🙄.
If anyone has experience of timelines please reply!
Thanks
MnM says
Hi Lisa
Previous experience of this happening for me although the companies confirmed they had informed the credit reference agencies it took up to 3 months for the agencies to update my records. Doesn’t tend to happen very quickly.
Lisa G says
Hi MnM,
Yeah, that was my worry. Ah well, I’ll sit back, wait a few months and keep my fingers crossed it’ll happen.
Thanks for the reply 👌
Kim Hall says
I started a claim with Provident in November 2019 and I am getting no where with them
I have a small amount still to pay and I had to use other loans to keep up payments and I did an initial template letter and I have referred the matter to the Financial Ombudsman I called about 10 days ago and spoke to someone at Provident but didnt get any where. How long does it usually take to receive an offer. I had many top up loans over the years.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you tell Provident you want To reduce your payments to an affordable amount.
Kim Hall says
Thanks I have asked them for that but the two departments work separately. I did yesterday for an update. I see that my claim has been with provident 125 days already!! I have sent proof of the dates of my pay day loans to enable me to pay back at the higher level hoping it will add some weight toy case. I sent it across to financial ombudsman in January but it’s in a really big queue
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Just stop paying and say you need a lower amount.
Caz says
Hello all
Just a quick update I put in a complaint on 19/01/2020 with the complaints link and as it had been 4 weeks with no confirmation that provident had received my complaint I sent a new email asking how it was progressing well I got an email back and they have said they never received my complaint so had to start again only this time I have asked for a confirmation.
Julie clarke says
Hi I have had an email off morses re irresponsible lending who say they will respond with final letter only by post as they don’t respond by email. It seems a bit of a fob off and I am expecting a big fat NO lol !. Has anyone got a postie outcome within the 8 weeks deadline this way by post ? . I am ready to send it to FOS as I did with my provident . My loans from morses ran the same time as provident . Neither company checked my credit score of if I had any other loans.
Tina says
Hi Julie i am waiting for an answer too just rang morses but they culd not conect me to complains my 8 weeks are up on friday customer service only said i should hear back layest by then so hopefully i will get an answer soon or it will go to FOS first ting monday morning
Julie clarke says
They sent me a final response letter today and offered to look at only loans 2018 to date . I have had so many loans back to 2014 . They also says they made appropriate checks but my credit score is awful and I can’t even get a mobile phone contract so how can they make relevant checks ? Also they said I signed document etc and the agent filled most on before he even came round and was counting my money out and rushing me which got me fulstered. Also they were well aware I also had provident loans as the agent used to work for them. Also said that it was never noted about abt changes to circumstances , I gave these verbally to agent as had no contact with office so Surely he should sent info off on my behalf if I told him about other mounting debts . All lies
Sara (Debt Camel) says
sounds like a strong case :(
Julie Clarke says
I just hope it doesn’t take three years like provident did lol . Will the FOS link my claim with my previous one as obviously the basics are the same like my credit file etc
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can tell FOS they already have your credit record (and bank statements?) from the previous case.
Sam says
Hi Sarah I just spoke to person dealing with provident claim for loans BK to 2006 he has all information needed and details from Lowell’s on outstanding 3 loans .he says he has come to a decision but can’t tell me until it has been signed off and he should be able to email by end of week with outcome.does this sound promising or are they just fobbing me off again been going since oct 2019 and I have escalated to fos Nov 2018 thanks
Sam says
Any thoughts on this situation or is that just provident been normal
Thanks
David says
Just had this from prov – dsars however they can’t seem to locate my account!?
I write further to your complaint and your Email sent to us on 20 February 2020.
To clarify accepted £1950 however now looking through paperwork, looks like redress is based on three loans and not 15.. not entirely sure what they mean in their response
I can confirm during your telephone conversation with us on 27 January 2020, you informed us your sold accounts had been repaid, therefore an account recourse and balance write off was not neccessary.
Further to this, I have submitted a DSAR on your behalf. Please allow up to 30 days to receive the relevant information.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am not clear which bit of that was said by provident and which bit is your comment.
What has happened to the loans that were sold?
Have you accepted their offer of £1950?
David says
Sorry Sara here it is again without my comments
£1950 was accepted, however seems they only upheld a couple.
I write further to your complaint and your Email sent to us on 20 February 2020.
I can confirm during your telephone conversation with us on 27 January 2020, you informed us your sold accounts had been repaid, therefore an account recourse and balance write off was not neccessary.
Further to this, I have submitted a DSAR on your behalf. Please allow up to 30 days to receive the relevant information.
Peter says
Morning Sara, have made a complaint to the provident regards my loans, and have had data protection portal sent to me, is this how I communicate with them, I have asked for my details of all the loans I had with them, is this what they call DSAR. Reading the post and hearing bank accounts mentioned, I paid £90 to £150 every week cash to the agent whether I had 3 or 5 £1000 loans with them, and I did not have a bank account. I hope they have records as I have no payment books with them. Was trying to sit down and work out how many loans I have have with them and think it’s about 30-35 and each one for £1000 so recon have paid £40k in interes.
JULIE WHEELER says
I’ve had my complaint in since the end of September 2019 and they email me every few weeks to say that my case is still ongoing. I’m just waiting for their final response as it can take up to a year or so with the FOS
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send your case to FOS now! You may not get a good answer from Provident, so get yourself on the FOS queue now.
JULIE WHEELER says
thank you Sara I will do :)
Julie clarke says
So got my reply from morses what a joke . Figures took my partner as paying my Rent etc which is a lie and says I have childcare which I don’t . So I can prove figures were changes to fit criteria . Said that they were not aware of my other debts including provident . That’s a lie as my agent moved over from provident and went to morses and talked me into comimg with him, so he was very aware I owed provident thousands. The fact that over 6 years I had loans after loans after loans and no break going up to 110 a week and I was on benefits should have rang Alarm bells . So I’m sending it to FOS jus5 hope it doesn’t take three years like provident did
Amanda Eilertsen says
Yer I spoke to them yesterday.not even interested.think they want everyone to go to fos instead of them doing anything ..and provident exactly the same
Roly says
Am delighted to say I finally have some movement!! Adjudicator email just came through, supporting loans 3-30, full refund of interest plus 8% and removal from credit file. I know this may not be the end, but it is at least a really positive step in the right direction. Am really hoping that as they are settling a lot of claims more quickly now that mine will be one of them – but 27 loans over 12 years is a lot of money and a lot of 8% to be added, so I won’t be surprised if there is a little bit of pushback! This could absolutely change my life completely. My other complaints got us debt free. This one could mean we actually get to retire in a few years, rather than having to work until we drop!
Andrew says
Hi Roly, I’m glad you’ve had some good news, good for you 😃
Yes you probably can expect a pushback alright. I was told my case most certainly wouldn’t be done in less than 2 weeks, comment was made about ooooh what a large overturn of their original decision it was and ooooh how many loans were involved etc etc etc. I only had 10 upheld not 100 so why they’ve singled me out I have no idea 🙄. Honestly, you’d think they had got to pay me millions rather than a few thousand, most of which will no doubt go towards sorting out any outstanding debts and getting my credit file in reasonable shape in any case. I’m afraid that since you have 27 you can reasonably expect them to drag their feet like crazy and put you towards the back of a very long queue 😔.
Anyway let me know if you make any more progress Roly, I’d be very interested to know.
Roly says
Hi Andrew, I will do! It is so frustrating, knowing that they willl drag their heels and that things could still be continuing onwards for months! But I am now a step closer, and every step closer means that I’m almost there :-) Hope yours gets sorted soon, too! Thank heaven for this forum to keep us all sane while we go through it so we can have a bit of a rant when things are dragging their heels :-D
Andrew says
Hi Roly, yes I agree that this forum of Sara’s really does help with all the advice and support it gives, its a real life saver. Even when my case ‘eventually’ gets resolved I think I’ll still be inclined to use it just to see if I can make contributions that help others as I myself have been helped. It always gives me great satisfaction to read that people I’ve chatted to have got a cheque. Their happiness and relief that its finally over always give me the biggest psychological lift ;)
Jools says
Thanks everyone, following what Ive seen on here I’ve decided to just copy my complaint into the ombudsman today instead (4 week after contacting Provident), all I’ve had off Provident is that they received my complaint. Initially they said they couldn’t find me so I sent a copy of a loan agreement and heard nothing since. Fingers crossed the Ombudsman will sort this and it not take years, I had provident loans for about 14 years and it got to £90 a week payments at the end so it was crippling me. To get some of this interest back would be amazing.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
unless you have a rejection from provident, FOS will not look at the case earlier. You are just giving FOS more work to explain to you that Provident has to have it for 8 weeks.
Maria says
Hi
I have used your template and sent in my complaint to Provident, over 22 days ago. Just received a response from them stating the following:-
We are sorry that we have been unable to resolve your complaint at this time.
We can assure you that investigations are still ongoing and this matter is receiving our urgent attention.
We aim to have completed our investigations within the next 28 days.
I will just wait and see what happens
Danielle says
I got the same Maria, I am going to call them this afternoon and start chasing them as I’m in the last week before I can send to FOS! x
MnM says
Hi Danielle,
I wouldn’t hold your breath at getting a final response from Provident. As soon as the 8 weeks arrive take to FOS.
Danielle says
Hi MnM, you are right! I called them and the short story is I will not get a response from Provident and to forward to FOS. I shall set a reminder to forward to FOS and leave it in their hands :)
Patrick says
Hi all, I have received a letter from FOS saying that Provident have agreed to refund the interest and fees on all of my loans, however, when I ring Provident they say that they have no record of this. Has this happened to anyone else?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Tell your adjudicator!
Patrick says
Thanks, they are going to contact Provident for me
Paul Wakeman says
Have just had a long chat with Neil on the FOS team at Provident (didn’t even have to ask to be put through, a lady on Complaints team transferred me automatically!) who has stated that they have a lot of complaints outstanding and they are working on them in date order from when they have received them from an Adjudicator. He also stated that if they agreed with the Adjudicator decision they wouldn’t bother going back to them and would just do what was required of them (I.e send cheque, adjust credit file etc) and then if I didn’t agree with amount etc I could then go back to Adjudicator and argue a case for more if necessary and then if Provident agreed another cheque etc would be sent. He couldn’t give me any timescales but as they were given 2 weeks to reply 4 weeks ago, I case I’ll be contacting my Adjudicator today requesting case goes in a queue for Ombudsman.
Gemma says
Oh dammit do I have to send a another claim to provident for Greenwood’s as I had both but I’ve only sent provident claim will they be together or do I have to send another claim through?
Kat says
I know the ultimate answer is to contact PayPlan but am curious if anyone had a similar situation as I can’t get to my paperwork.
Briefly:
Adjudicator has said that my provident loans 4-26 where unaffordable. Taken out between 07-14.
He knows that I had an Iva and wants me to find out if they have an interest in any refunds I get.
The loans were taken out before, during and after IVA but never included in the IVA Itself.
I have a completion certificate and IVA ended 2013.
Am I likely to see any money? Has anyone had anything similar?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Refunds for any loans taken after the IVA ended must come to you.
I don’t know what Payplan will say. as its over 6 years ago, I don’t even know if they will have your paperwork.
Why didn’t you include the loans in your IVA?
Kath says
Just finished paying one before Iva.
Agent then came and led me to believe that under £400 I could still have one even in Iva and it would be good for my credit rating.
I was in such a mess then that you could probably have sold me a chocolate fire guard.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, I would be interested to know what Payplan say.
Roly says
When I contacted the supervisors for my IVA they said that anything from before the IVA would be due to go to them, ours started in 2005, completed in 2008. Essentially, these refunds are classed in the same way as PPI, as “an asset that existed at the time your arrangements were proposed and as no-one knew that the asset existed it was not excluded from the terms of your arrangement” and that the court ruling covering this “covers all financial irregularity claims on any products you had up until the start of your arrangements”.
So it is valid on any financial products you had up until the start of your IVA. However, I am still trying to clarify with them whether or not refunds from loans taken out whilst we were in the IVA need to be sent to them, or not.
We were with McCambridge Duffy. PayPlan may of course say something different!
Andrew says
Hi Roly, very possibly your IVA supervisor can claim anything of this nature up until your IVA was officially terminated. Any asset you were unaware of at the time that you entered into your IVA is without any doubt an asset and they will almost certainly claim it for your creditors. Furthermore its very probable that any asset, (even though you weren’t aware of it at the time that your IVA began) can also be legitimately claimed by McCambridge Duffy as an after-aquired asset if it is evident that it existed before the date that your IVA was terminated. Unfortunately things like miss sold PPI, inheritace, life policies, competition/ lottery winnings, all fall into this category. I really hope Sara tells me I’m wrong Roly, because nothing would please me more than to read a post from you saying that I am wrong and that you’d got a massive amount in compensation. Stay in touch buddy, let me know how it turns out 😉🤞🙏👍
Roly says
I have had confirmation from them that anything after we had completed is ours, which is 24 out of the 27 loans. I wouldn’t have started the claim if the bulk of any refund wouldn’t be coming to me – but despite asking for clarification a number of times about the 3 loans we took out while we were in the IVA they’ve not said anything more than what I put in quotes above (that it is relevant to things at the time the agreement was signed) which would mean we get all of them! I’m an honest girl, I have no problem paying whatever comes back from the 3 that we had whilst still in the IVA to them, I just want to be sure whether I need to!!
Joanne Cameron says
Can anyone help re sending bank statements etc to FO re Provident complaint? They have asked for bank statemts going back over 10 years if I can provide them. Has everyone had to do this? There will be hundreds! Also a copy of my credit report, how do I get one backdated to when I first took the first loan out 10 years ago? Or if an upto date one will do how would that show my financial position 10 years ago? Thanks 😊
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Just send your current credit report, it’s all anyone can do.
How far back can you get bank statements? Normally in cases of very prolonged lending FOS will be able to reach a decision with statements.
Joanne Cameron says
Thanks for replying. I can get the statements from 2010 to date but they asked for 3 months worth before the first loan was taken out in 2009. The only thing I can think of doing is I have asked careers allowance to send me a letter stating when I first started receiving from them (caring for disabled son) which was 2009 which I’m hoping should prove my income to some extent as you couldnt earn more than a certain amount to claim careers. Is it common then for people to have to send years and years worth of statements? 🤔
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So I suggest you reply saying that you may be able to get statements from 2010 but that would be an enormous number of statements and could this be reduced?
Something about carers allowance may help.
In practice if all your loans from 2010 are refunded then that will probably be a great result!
Joanne Cameron says
Thank you! Provident have just sent me over a list of all of my loans plus interest etc. I have paid £18500 in INTEREST only over 10 years on 19 loans! Is there a slight chance I could actually get all that back? I can’t believe I’ve paid that much in interest alone! Thanks for your reply’s
Sara (Debt Camel) says
wow. Well you don’t usually all your loans refunded, but if you miss off the first few and add 8% statutory interest on that should be a very decent refund!
Claire says
I paid over £26k in interest from 2007 to 2017 😞
Joanne Cameron says
How would I do a rough calculation regarding the 8%? Just to get an idea
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
you need to add up how much interest you paid in each year (roughly) Then for the year 10 years ago you add on 8×10=80% interest. For 9 years ago you add on 8×9=92% interest etc. of you could just say that on average you took the loans out 5 years ago so add on 40% interest overall – but that wont be very accurate and could be a lot too much if the later loans were larger than the earlier ones.
Piggy says
Is it worth complaining to Loans at home, they have Lent me over £1,000 in 3 separate loans in 3 months and likewise with my girlfriend. We are currently paying back over £100 A week between us and are both on benefits. Interest over both accounts is nearly £1,500 and we have lots of other debts which are getting put off.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
£100 a week sounds likely to me to be unaffordable if you are on benefits. I suggest you both put in a complaint
You could also ask for an affordable payment arrangement for the outstanding loans but it may well be better to talk to stepCahnge about a debt management plan for all your debts, including these loans at home ones. https://www.stepchange.org/how-we-help/debt-management-plan.aspx
Piggy says
It is very unaffordable but we are relying on them to pay everything else. I can settle some of them early for a large rebate, but I know if I do that I will just get more. I am certain they don’t do any credit check as they only want proof of income. What is the success rate of complaints against these guys and how long do they usually take?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is why a DMP for all for your debts is the best way forward. An affordable payment to the DMP every month. A chance to get your lives back together again.
Paul Wakeman says
Loans At Home are the easiest Company I have dealt with (and PiggyBank before they went in to administration) and I didn’t even have to go to FOS. My Partner and I both had loans with them as the agent moved across from Provident and at the time it was just easier to get money as we knew her well. Last year, when stumbling across this site and using the template on here I complained to them about irresponsible/unaffordable lending (between me and my Partner we were paying £150 per week! and not paying priority bills :( ) and sent a complaint in the post. About 2 weeks later we had responses from a lady called Carly on the Complaints team requesting further information (Bank statements for 1 month?) so that was sent along with another letter. Whilst all of this was going on I spoke to the area manager and had payments placed on hold until the case was resolved. As it was, both of our complaints were upheld, our outstanding balances written off, we both received refunds and are now awaiting our credit files to be amended. From the date of receiving the final response to date of receiving a refund was no more than 10 days. By far the best Complaints team I have dealt with thus far. Definitely get a complaint in and Good Luck.
Piggy says
Thanks for that Paul,
I know it sounds daft but we get on with the agent really well and know we can always get more money, whereas we can’t get money elsewhere. I do want to get rid off these loans and the state of play at the moment is we owe them nearly £2,500 but have paid back most of what we borrowed (without interest) with the exception of the last 2 £500 loans
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, but if you have a DMP then you don’t need to keep borrowing money to repay other debts. You can’t carry on juggling money.
It’s up to you, but an affordability complaint is not a real answer to your whole situation here.
Paul Wakeman says
It’s like Sara has said you can’t keep on juggling. I was exactly the same, I got on really well with the Agent as I had known her since 2007 when she worked for Provident. Ironically I have just a case against them upheld as well but I’ve now realised that she was just trying to get as much commission as possible so you have to let go of that relationship. I was in a bad situation financially last year and with the help of this site I’m almost debt free now and it’s a wonderful feeling, especially not having to pay £150 a week in loan repayments to 1 Company. As for getting money from elsewhere, if you go in to a DMP etc you won’t need to get money from elsewhere as not only will you be paying less to Creditors but you’ll also have that breathing space to send off affordability complaints etc.
Piggy says
Thanks Paul, fortunately I did 90% of my affordability complaints in 2016 and received thousands in compensation before declaring myself bankrupt. I don’t want to go down the dmp route as it has taken me 3 or 4 years to rebuild my credit score. I will put a complaint in but do you think I should settle balances b4 I do. Can you complain through their site
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This doesn’t really seem to make much sense. If you went bankrupt in 2016 you can’t have have rebuilt your credit score. Yes you can make affordability complaints against Loans at Home, but obviously you can’t expect them to carry on lending to you afterwards. Even if you wait until the loans are repaid and then complained, you couldn’t go back and borrow more. Your need to get out of your spiral of debt borrowing, not just save a bit of interest now and carry on.
MnM says
I personally found Loans at Home easy to deal with too. They upheld my complaint for 3 loans as they could not retrieve the paperwork. Payment was very quick too.
Good luck with your complaint.
Amanda says
Has anyone ever complained to everyday loans ?? I’ve only ever had one loan of them .and struggled to pay it back every month .worst mistake of my life getting that …borrowed £2000 most months payed £205 the normal instalments some months I couldn’t afford it paid nearlythe £2000 Back but owe £3000+ interest .so annoyed with myself for even getting it .what an idiot I was
MnM says
Hi Amanda
I’ve had one loan and my complaint was successful. However I went down the irresponsible lending as they overruled the computers decision, had bank statements with proof of returned direct debits and gambling transactions, and they fudged the figures so my loan could be given. My loan was for £2k and after complaining was left with £300 outstanding and no interest. They abided by timescales and easy to deal with.
Good luck with your complaint
Em says
Hi all,
I received a cheque this week from provident as they upheld my claim on all of my loans from 2009-2011. They deducted an amount still owed to Lowell and tell me they are now repurchasing the debt from Lowell. However Lowell are unaware of this and as far as they are concerned I still owe them.
What should I do?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Tell Lowell and stop paying them.
Joanne Cameron says
Hi Sara, I’m still panicking about getting bank statements to send to the FO re Provident. As said before they can’t go back before 2010 and also my husbands wages etc have always been paid into my account. Has anyone had any success who couldn’t send bank statements in?
Jo
Deb says
Hi Jo
I started my journey with provident in May 2018, took until September 2019 for the FOS to pick it up but I was never asked for bank statements. I sent the stuff provident had on me to the FOS and they agreed from the pattern of lending that it was irresponsible and unaffordable… provident finally agreed and paid me out in December 2019. But I never ever got asked about statements or any sort of proof that I could afford the loans and it wasn’t irresponsible.
Have you specifically been asked to provide bank statements?
Joanne Cameron says
Thanks for the reply. It was just a standard email asking me to fill in the complaint form and send as many of the following documents as poss such as bank statements, credit report etc. Apart from the fact I’m struggling to get bank statements in my husbands wages etc were paid into that bank account and I’m worried that it’s going to hard to distinguish between his and mines transactions
But equally I don’t want it to effect any claim I might be able get back for irresponsible lending.
Thanks !
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you send the statements that you have. Don’t worry about this! The adjudicators are used to trying to sort out bank accounts. And you have had so many loans, I doubt they actually want to look at every loan in detail!
Joanne Cameron says
Thanks Sara, should I wait and see if they mention getting the bank statements again before I go to the hassle of getting them? Is there any other ways for me to help them understand my finances at the time of taking out the loans? Looking at the loan statement I have from provident there was often loans taken out one month after the other and on my credit file it does show all the missed/late payments I just want to make sure if I have a chance, I’ve covered all angles
Andrew says
Hi Joanne,
It sounds as though they are being rather pedantic if they are asking for bank statements going back that far. Surely your claim, like mine, centres on an identifiable pattern of borrowing that shows that you had become overly dependent on these ‘doorstep loans’ due to your financial circumstances leaving you very little alternative. I mean it’s not rocket science for them to work out that if your financial position was in a good place you would have been getting finance from a more reputable lender who was charging you much lower rates of interest on each loan. The fact that you had a series of immediate reloans which Provident didn’t flag up or refuse to give you seems to suggest that they were well aware that they were unaffordable and therefore they failed in their duty of care to you as a customer.
Joanne Cameron says
Hi Andrew, I’m hoping they can see through the lending pattern that they were unaffordable without having to worry too much about the bank statements. My total I paid back over 10 years was over £36,000, surely they will see the pattern of borrowing to pay back. I actually had to loans on the same day renewed more than once. I thought they were maybe just asking for bank statements etc as a standard requirement as in just in case. Did you have to send a credit report off?
Laura says
Hi I started the process through Resolver a year ago, Provident wrote to me in November to state that they disagree with my claim of irresponsible lending so I referred it to the ombudsman. I’ve received a reply back from the Ombudsman today saying that they uphold my complaint. I have had 12 loans with provident since 2010. At one point I was paying back £120 a week. I had gotten myself into such a mess financially. My agent offered me a loan to pay off my previous but would give me a few hundred pounds in my hand. I stupidly accepted. Lesson learnt! The ombudsman have written to provident advising them that they should not have lent me loans 6-12 and they have 2 weeks to reply. I’m still paying off some of the loans through a DMP. How long roughly did you wait for a reply after the 2 week deadline? Thanks hope all of this makes sense 😁
Andrew says
Hi Laura,
In my case the adjudicator for the ombudsman upheld my complaint for my last 10 loans with them. He wrote to Provident on January 27th and gave them 2 weeks so they were meant to make me an offer by the 10th Feb. I’m still waiting 😔. However I rang Prov today and they said it should be sorted within a week, I’m not taking them at face value but they’ve not set themselves a timeframe until this afternoon so we’ll have to wait and see. I do know that one lady on here got her cheque really quickly but she did admit that she rang them frequently and so now I’ve taken her advice and ring them at least once a week. I waited very patiently to begin with but that was a mistake on my part because they totally overlooked me and only first looked at my case while I was hanging on the phone. My advice is wait a few days after your 2 week deadline passes without contact from them (and believe me it will lol) then call them weekly until they get so sick of making excuses to you that they pull your case file out and do the necessary work on it just to get rid of you. Good luck 😉👍
K. says
Hi Andrew glad to hear your sticking with it and phoning regularly 😊 I seam to have got really lucky with mine ( never been lucky before ) and I am truely grateful. It does not seam fair that others waiting longer than me have still not had their payment. I will keep my fingers crossed they stick to their word and I will be reading on here real soon they have sent your cheque 🤞🏻
Andrew says
Hi K, yes you are the lady I was referring in my post to Laura 😃. You have gained rather a mythical status on here as being the last known person to actually get a cheque off Provident lol. Seriously though, it has gone a bit Bjork (oh so quiet) regarding people getting payments. Last month there seemed to be a promising little run of people getting cheques on a daily basis but I think you were one of the last, if not the very last person I remember getting one. Maybe Provident do them monthly, in batches, maybe they have monthly targets, like a set amount of cases to get through or a certain amount of money they can pay out at any one time. Anyway I’ve had a little hint from them that I’ll get a resolution within the week so if they keep their word (and I’m not at all counting on this) it will be interesting to see if there are others that get their own good news around the same time. Thanks for your good wishes by the way K, keep watching this space 😉👍
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Provident are making offers and accepting sone adjudicator decisions at the moment. There procedure for calculating the amount and sending them out is not, shall we say, speedy. But the cheques will arrive!
Paul Wakeman says
Hi Laura. I began my complaint in January 2019 and on the 29 January this year an Adjudicator wrote to Provident informing them they should refund all interest on loans 5-24 and pay 8% statutory interest. The Adjudicator gave Provident until 12 February to reply, which they didn’t. I emailed my Adjudicator on 19 February and they informed me that Provident had informed them that they were busy with the number of complaints and had asked for more time so the Adjudicator gave them until 24 February. On 26 February I rang Provident for the first time since the decision was made and I spoke to a man called Neil on the FOS team. He advised me that due to the sheer number of complaints/decisions they had received my case had not even been looked at and he could not give me a timeframe. I went back to my Adjudicator with this information, requesting that my case get put in a queue for an Ombudsman and the reply I received was that the contact team at FOS deal with senior people at Provident and the Adjudicator would update me with further information on 28 February. I haven’t received that further information as at today but I’m pretty confident that Provident will not respond within 2 weeks with regards to your case. Hopefully for you they will but Provident don’t seem to care about timescales given to them. Good Luck
K. says
As someone who has been through this process I just wanted to encourage everyone who thinks they have case to stick with it. Don’t let this company fob you off or discourage you. Send your complaint and if you do not get a response send it straight to the FOS. Stay in regular contact via email and even when you get your complaint upheld you should then start ringing Provident direct. Make sure they know you are a real person and not just a reference number on a spreadsheet 😠 good luck to all on here, stay positive and hopefully your cheque will be with you soon 🤗🤞🏻🤞🏻 Thankyou again Sara
Andrew says
Hi Joanne, no nothing like that, I didn’t even use a template from this site because I wasn’t aware of Sara or this forum at that point. Initially I just wrote a horrendously long and rambling email to Provident about my woes and blamed them for everything. They wrote back and basically exonerated themselves of any blame. To be honest I accepted their explanation and I would have left it at that but they made the fateful error of selling the balance of my last loan to Cabot Financial who started to pursue me for the debt. In desperation I contacted FOS for help and they emailed me to ask for Provident’s assessment email which I forwarded to them. Five months later I received an email saying they had overturned Provident’s decision and were upholding 10 loans. They also stated Provident should either buy back or settle the debt they’d sold to Cabot and reimburse me with any interest from all 10 loans plus 8% simple interest. They were supposed to do this by the 10th of Feb but haven’t due to a backlog of complaints. To date I haven’t supplied Provident or FOS with any bank statements, credit reports, or anything of that nature. That’s why I find it so odd that they are asking you.
Joanne Cameron says
Hi Andrew, did you supply them with a list of the loans etc? I wonder if that’s all they really need to see the lending pattern 🤔
Andrew says
Hi Joanne, no I supplied no details of any loans to FOS. It was FOS who emailed me something along the lines of “we’ve now asked the business to send us the information they have about your complaint so we can look at what’s happened…once we’ve received this we can investigate”. I take it the actual thrust of their letter to Provident was a request for them to provide details of all my loans and the amounts from 2007 onwards. They must have eventually provided this because, in his decision letter, my adjudicator was very specific about how many loans I had running at any one time and how many times I’d struck a new loan in order to partially pay off an old one. So in answer to your question, no, I just complained and the loan history Provident provided sealed the deal in my case. It is a good thing for me they did because I had no list of loans, my collector always spirited those away with her when they were full, anyway she’d long retired by the time I defaulted on my final loan.
Andi says
Hi Andrew.
21/02 Provident sent me through a final response email (complaint went to FOS 27/11/19 after 8wks)
In their final response they list 30 loans from 2006 to 2014 and end dates for each (last being Dec 2015). All barring the 2014 loans were settled by ESB, so that would indicate that additional Interests were applied to an amount that already contained their high interest – there is no proof that early settlement reduced the amount to pay.
Since Dec 19 FOS have been requesting the business file. Same day Provident sent their final response, the case has been assigned an Adjudicator, whom despite requesting the File via their higher team has failed to obtain this.. they just seem to either ignore or fob the FOS off just like they did with me.
How long did you find that Provident took at sending the info through to FOS?
Sarah says
Thanks to finding this site I have now started my journey with seeking a refund from Provident and Greenwoods. I hope that this will be my best chance of a refund, but if nothing comes of it then nothing lost. Both myself and my hubby were signed up and we were paying silly amounts each week which we could barely afford. I told my agent that I had lost my job and his suggestion was to take out more loans to cover the existing ones and give me a little extra cash. I stupidly took it as I couldn’t see any other way out and ended up the beginning of the end as we had to default on them. Our loans go back to 2004 and started when my hubby signed up when they speculatively knocked on his door.
I’ve had an email to us both acknowledging our complaint and asking us to send in any supporting documentation if we have it. But neither of us are with the same bank that we were back then and have no access to old documents, so hopefully it won’t hamper us by not having anything to show. We were financially crippled by these and couldn’t see any way out, so anything that we get back would just be a bonus.
I sent my complaint on the 26/02 so I guess that is the start of the 8 weeks for them to respond to us?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes, that is your start date.
You won’t be able to get refunds from any loans before April 2007.
Do you still owe them or a debt collector any money?
Sarah says
I think everything will be statue barred now on the Greenwoods ones. We don’t owe anything on the Provident ones as they were all paid off I think. I’ve just checked my credit file but I can’t see anything on there regarding them now. But will making a claim start them up again?
Ok, I didn’t think I would be able to go that far back, but we had a a lot up up to around 2014, so hopefully we will get a good result. Nothing ventured nothing gained.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, loans that have dropped off your credit record should never reappear.
Sarah says
Oh that’s so good to know, as I had a slight panic there that it might restart collection activity again on them. Greenwoods were the only ones who weren’t open to us paying less to get them paid off, so that’s why we ended up defaulting on them.
I don’t expect that we’ll get very much if anything back, but if it wasn’t for your site then I wouldn’t even have known it was possible! So thank you for all your help so far. Fingers crossed I get a good result, but I know that I’m in it for the long haul. Have contacted H&T and Ablemarle and Bond also, as I was constantly rolling over payday loans with them only paying the interest. So will be interesting to see what they come back with.
H&T at the time actually told me that I was not authorised for further loans but a member of staff overwrote it and let me get into more debt. It was a real low point for me as I can remember to this day that my loans were due to be rolled over or paid back on the day that my Mother in law suddenly passed away and I had to try and leave my hubby and run to the shop to pay the interest to ensure that they didn’t take the full amount. So I would like to hear from them, as they did convert my loan to a different loan that I could pay off when I complained, which I did pay off, but it took such a long time to get them to help me.
David says
We too have just had requests of bank statements, along with credit report to fos. Not sure if bank will be able to assist now though as this was 2011?! Requested dsars, however they can’t find me on file anymore and state the 6year data holding rule. Have managed a dsar for Lowell, so can forward this to fos at least. They seem keen to get sorted however they’re apparently snowed under at the moment!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Just tell FOS what bank statements you have and what you don’t. You don’t have to have these to win a FOS case but they always ask as it makes a case simpler if you do.
Shirley says
Anyone had a refund from Morses please
Andrew says
Hi Andi, I’ve checked the emails I’ve received and the time line is as follows. I received an email from FOS on the 28th of August last year saying they’d requested the business file from Prov and that somebody from there (FOS) would contact me within 12 weeks. Me being the impatient so and so that I am I chased FOS for an update way before the 3 months was up (11 Oct by email) and got no response. I kind of knew I’d chased this way too early so I then left it until 4th December before I rang FOS. The person I spoke to was very chatty and informative, he basically advised me that Provident hadn’t yet provided the information but said that they, and a couple of other companies (he didn’t specifically say who these others were) had become notorious for submitting information late. He said that this was quite usual and that there was ongoing dialogue between FOS and Prov regarding why their submission of requested documents was always after the deadlines given. A week before Christmas I rang again and was told Prov had provided the information but due to the nature of the information provided it had been passed to a specialist team within FOS. On the 27th of Jan I was informed my complaint had been upheld on my last 10 loans. Hope this helps 😃👍.
Andi says
It does thanks
I’d been given time.scales of weeks for them to send the file through but it never materialised. Just hoping the adjudicator and specialist contact team have more umpf, but Prov have already broken 2ndates already.
Thanks again
Danielle says
Morning everyone,
I just want to say Thank you Sara for running this advice/ discussion page, it really helped.
Finally after sticking to my guns and insisting the calculations were wrong on Providents part. Yesterday I got an agreement and I will be fully paid in the next couple of weeks and all adverse credit information removed from my credit reports.
If you know it’s wrong stick to your guns guys.
Thank you again
Andrew says
Nice one Danielle, this gives the rest of us hope too 😃👍
H says
Started my provi claim and had the generic response after 28 days. Do they generally send a final response by the end of the 8 weeks? If not do I still send to the FOS without the final response?
Andrew says
Hi H, they did in my case, not that I particularly wanted to receive it because basically it just told me I was getting nothing 🙄. I think somewhere at the top of this page Sara has put that you should wait the 8 weeks out then send straight to FOS. I doubt they would look at it any sooner though because they’d probably take the view that Provident hadn’t had sufficient time to reply. Personally I’d just wait the 8 weeks out and send your case to FOS regardless of if you have received their final response or not, apart from in the unlikely event that they make you a fantastic offer in their response of course. 😃👍
Miss Elizabeth Mclean says
Thanks andrew, I was having a look through and it seems provi are very slow. I’m happy to wait the 8 weeks but wasnt sure if I could send to the FOS without a final response.
Andrew says
Yes you can Elizabeth, they are very good, even if you did send it too early they would be very understanding and help you out with all the information you needed going forward. I can honestly say that whenever I’ve called FOS I’ve always been impressed by how very friendly and informative they are. They do give excellent customer service and take the time to explain the process in depth. I’ve never felt that they’ve brushed me off, even if I was the 99th caller that day asking exactly the same question that the previous 98 had. By the way, before anybody asks me, no I don’t work for FOS 🤣🤣.
Shirley says
My update from Jul 2019 from the FOS we are still awaiting the business file from provident. Grr takes forever doesnt itx
Andrew says
Hi Shirley, yes it does, probably because Provident do everything at half speed and in fairness FOS don’t go at lightning speed themselves. Sounds like you’ve been waiting an exceptionally long time there though Shirley, maybe its time to start putting in regular calls in to Provident yourself to try and see if you can hurry things up a bit.
Shirley says
I would Andrew but I went through a company as I did not know any different didn’t even know I could claim. Since 2012 till 2015 paid them back over forty thousand approx 23k in interest. Thats the ones I can see on my credit. I have been having continuous loans since 2000. Like many others got trapped in the cycle morses welcome payday uk had them all. But hey ho. I know the claim company take a lot but they have been helpful and I had not seen this site at the time. Thanks for your advice I might actually ring them anyway👍
Andrew says
Oh you’re not alone there Shirley, I had a claim against Wage Day Advance before they went bump and I used a claims management company too. I think they took 25% or 30% of the £1,600 I was awarded but, having said that, I didn’t really begrudge them their fee because their updates showed they had chased WDA very hard on my behalf, plus it was money I never really expected in the first place so anything at all was a bonus really. If I was in the position of having to pay a percentage to a CMC now though, I would expect them to be really chasing Provident constantly and just as hard, even if only to justify their percentage of anything offered.
Shirley says
Thanks Andrew and good luck👍
Andrew says
Thanks Shirl, the way my case has been progressing I’m gonna need all the luck I can get lol 🙄😉
Gaynor says
I lost my house because of provident. I was paying them over £100 a week
I had been with them about 20 years and paid them back nearly £91.000. I couldn’t mortgage so I had to sell it below market value and rent it back. I’m disabled in the end they even started to take part of my monthly disability money. I’m still paying off a loan i had 6 years ago I had a 500 loan and the caller put it over 18 months so the interest was over a £1000 .they then put me in to a debt collection agency for a loan i never had now I have a court order my disabled son was also assaulted by one of providents managers in front of witnesses. I swear every thing I’ve said on here is the truth is have no reason to make it up in have proof of all my payments on my provident cards. Can anyone help me please. .thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Gaynor,
I bet you wish you had never taken that first loan from them :(
What you need to do now is put in a complaint to Provident. There is a template in the article above you can use, just change it so it is right for you.
You are asking for a refund of the interest you paid on the loans.
You won’t be able to get a refind for loans before April 2007 – but that that should still be a lot of money!
Provident then have 8 weeks to look at this, after that you can send your complaint to the Ombudsman. That’s pretty easy, just come back here and ask if you aren’t sure what to do.
Good luck!
Gaynor says
Thank you for replying so quickly I’m very grateful
H says
Requested my DSAR from provi, I got a reply saying it would be sent out in30 days. Do they take that long or are they quicker?
Andrew says
Hi H, I’ve yet to see them be quick about anything apart from appearing on someone’s doorstep to loan them money they can’t afford to repay or to collect it if a payment is due. I’m afraid that getting anything out of them is like trying to get blood out of a stone but you may be one of the fortunate few who who get a rapid decision and a cheque in the post. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you🤞.
Julie says
They sent me my DSAR on Monday, 26 days after they accepted my request for it.
Roly says
Anyone received a phone call from Provident complaints dept after adjudicator has sent their findings and recommendations? I just did, but panicked (having a bad mental health day today) so asked if the man could put whatever he wa to talk about in an email – but now I’m stressed out as I have to wait for the email!!!
Andrew says
Oh Roly that sounds like it could be really good news, I’m betting he’s going to make you an offer. I really wish somebody from Provident would call me, on Monday they said my claim would likely be resolved within the week and I’ve been hopping from one foot to the other ever since. Fingers crossed for you getting some really good news 🤞🤞.
Roly says
I really hope so, it would be so good for it to all be over! But if it is, then I’m glad I asked for it to be put in writing so I can make sense of it. Black and white, especially for numbers, is so important for me. Really hope you do hear in the next day or so too, Andrew🤞🤞🤞
Andrew says
Thanks Roly 😃. I actually think that is a really good idea of yours, if I get a call I’m going to request it in writing too. That way there is no misunderstanding and they can’t make out you verbally accepted something lower than they actually offered. Plus if it seems like a really lousy offer you actually have their figures on their own email as proof and its easier then to forward it all on to FOS too 👍
Roly says
Must confess, even without the anxiety issues, am an old fashioned girl and prefer everything formal in writing. As you point out, much less wriggle room for people when it comes to what has been said and agreed. And in this case, as you say having things available in case it needs to be referred back to FOS is important – even if it now means I have a very anxious wait!! I don’t get why, if you were going to spend time calling someone why you can’t then use that time to send an email inmediately though! If still no word by the morning I’ll email them and chase it up.
Roly says
Hi Sara, Adjudicator ruled loans 3-30, so 27 in total from 2008 onwards, close to £24k in interest paid alone.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, well you could just reply by email that you aren’t interested in a long negotiation but if they want to make you an offer, you will consider it.
Roly says
I must confess, am tempted to send an email that states I am happy to accept and offer in keeping with the adjudicator’s findings, and am happy for it to go to an ombudsman if necessary – but may wait to see what he comes back with first! Provident is where our 11 year spiral into chaos began, so am not inclined to let them off lightly, but if the offer is reasonable, I will consider it as I would like it to all be over. When things are done, is it CAB you ask people to donate to, Sara, as I’d like to give some of what we’ve got back through using this site to somewhere you’d want it to go?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
A small donation to your local Citizens Advice would be kind.
Roly says
Hi, thanks Sara, I will make sure that happens when I get to the other side! Thank you so much.
Roly says
Despite my issues, I’m pretty tough (in my own way, can be very stubborn!) I’m just not tough on the phone! I know my strengths. I can write a snotty email and letter with the best of them. Thank you for being my ‘dad’, Andrew, it is good knowing I have people on my side here.
I am sorry for everything you’ve gone through, and everyone else here. We’ve all got so many reasons to be angry with Provident.
But, as Sara says, there is potentially an offer to be made I would consider and it is loans 5-30, as loans 3 and 4 were while we were still in our IVA, so it would make things easier if I don’t have to send our supervisors the money from those.
I have emailed saying I don’t want a long drawn out negotiation, that I am open to an offer but feel all that needs to be said has been said (and that they have had over a year to ask for further information), that I think the adjudicators findings are fair and that I would accept an offer in line with them. Now, I just wait and see!
Andrew says
Hi Roly, as Sara suggests it’s wise to just correspond via email and see what their offer is, but please don’t get bullied into doing any negotiations over the phone though. They’ve guessed you’re vulnerable and they will try and exploit this and work on you. You are a lovely, very honest and open girl and they (Provident) are a totally unscrupulous firm of loan sharks who owe you thousands. They know you have a large claim and that’s why they want to “negotiate” over the phone, because obviously they think they can take advantage and brow beat you into taking a far lower offer and that makes me quite angry. I don’t say this just because my son also has autism (well maybe that does make me feel more protective towards you) but mainly because I feel it is a morally reprehensible for a company to do business in this way. Don’t forget Roly, every person you’ve chatted with on here, myself included, are all victims of Provident’s greed ( for example it cost me my marriage and never having all my children sleep under the same roof ever again) so we all hope you’ll get every penny you are owed. Therefore its probably best to get their offer in writing and then let the Ombudsman make the final decision about if its a fair one?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think someone doesn’t have to necessarily get every penny to be happy with a settlement. The 8% will be a big chunk on top of the refund of interest yiu paid. If they offer you a refund from loan 5 not loan 3, you may think that’s fine and you just want this sorted. It will be interesting to hear what they done back and offer you.
Amanda Eilertsen says
Hi that’s exactly what I’m like .but did it sound promising that’s the question
Roly says
If you were replying to me, Amanda, I’m not sure! Was already too panicky just from the phone ringing, let alone being able to pick up tone of voice. Now been an hour and a half since he rang, no email and I’m more anxious than I was then! Hopefully the email will come soon
Amanda Eilertsen says
Yes roly it was to you lol… thing is none of us knew about this site well I didn’t till recent .so we were none the wiser now we are all nervous wrecks lol waiting to see if we are gonna get any thing back .i can certainly say I’m on my phone constantly waiting for reply’s lol
Roly says
Hope they come soon for you, Amanda. It is a long process, and can be stressful but it is worth it when it comes good!
Shirley says
I rang provident today who say they have no info any loans I had with. I am going through a claim company (first complained Jul last year). I rang the fos myself who also said theyve told them that. Fos have my credit report with 17 prov loans on along with morses lloyds bank etc so they have written back to prov. those loans only go back to 2015 and have been having loans since 2000. Those 17 loand work out at over £20,000 in interest alone. Madness. Thanks to Sara and Andrew i decided to investigate myself. Fos very supportive and helpful and contacting them again with my credit file so in for a further wait hey hox
Andrew says
Hi Shirley, yes stick with FOS for the time being, build a case with their help and then Provident will eventually tow the line. You’ll find that Prov are experts in muddying the waters and trying to convince you that you’re entitled to nothing, it’s just an illusion, don’t forget they’re fighting for survival so they wont make it easy. Just chip away and stay on Sara’s site and you’ll get there in the end 😃👍👍
Roly says
Well, email has finally arrived. Think they want to barter me down from the adjudicator’s decision if they can (not surprised really given how much they would have to refund!) Have requested he use email as I asked on the phone.
Email says:
I write further to my telephone call to you today
I was hoping to have a conversation with you regarding your complaint with a view to reaching a mutual understanding and making an offer to settle the case.
Whilst I do have some thoughts on your case, I felt it might be beneficial for us to discuss the case initially before committing to anything. For this reason I would still be grateful if we could arrange to have a conversation about your case. I appreciate you have explained this may present difficulties so I would also be happy to speak to a third party acting on your behalf if you would prefer. If this is something that interests you please let me know and we will arrange how you can provide the appropriate authority for someone to act on your behalf.
Failing that, I am happy to correspond via email. I am conscious this may make for a more protracted discussion, but also appreciate receiving communication in writing may be more appropriate for you. With this in mind I will be happy to follow up any verbal conversation we may have with a written confirmation of what was discussed before taking any further action if this would make things easier.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
what was the adjudicator’s offer?
Rachel says
Hi everyone,
Can anyone help me please?
I’ve rang provident for an update on my affordability claim and they say they can tell me anything. They say it has to be done by email to the complainant department is this correct or am I being fobbed off?
Andrew says
Hi Rachel, has an adjudicator at the Financial Ombudsman Service looked at your claim and made a recommendation on it yet?