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?
Mike says
Hi Sara
Just a query if that’s ok.
I know each case is unique in its circumstances and how strong your case is, but would you say in general there is an acceptable percentage of money you may be owed that should be accepted when offered a refund?
E.g. If you paid £10,000 in unaffordable interest alone over many loans over many years, would you accept 60% if that’s what the lender offered you rather than go through the long and sometimes drawn out task of going through the FOS?
I may be in that position soon but not sure how to gauge any offer that could be coming my way unless it was blatantly poor or seem very generous.
Thanks Sara
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is entirely up to you and what seems fair. Remember that the 8% interest can add up to a fair bit.
At the moment provident offers seem to be on the very poor side, but I hope yours isn’t. Often people know as soon as they see an offer if it is acceptable or not.
Mike says
Thanks Sara
I shall keep you informed if and when i get an offer. Fingers crossed.
And thank you again for all your help. This site has been invaluable.
manxie says
Hi I have just found this thread. Is it too late to put in a complaint to Provident? I had payday loans of them from around 20 years ago, and kept renewing and renewing them to try and pay off existing loans, it got to a point where I struggled and was robbing Peter to pay Paul etc, and ended up going to the CAB and getting a debt relief order, I have no record of the individual loans. I also had Shopacheck loans at the same time and went down the same route.
I see Shopacheck is now called Morse. Is it too late to file complaints against both companies and what are my chances of getting anything back, as I paid loans until around Feb 2013, when I applied for the DRO. So could I claim for all payments I made up until Feb 2013? Thanks.
I would say all the below applies to me.
“he regulator says that a loan is unaffordable if you couldn’t make the repayments without borrowing again. This could be borrowing from the same lender, from someone else, getting deeper into your overdraft or by not paying a bill such as a utility bill.
So even if you always paid your loans on time, they could still have been unaffordable. Especially if you had several Provident loans at the same time or often had to refinance/top-up a loan.
Often the first few loans may have been just about affordable, but Provident should have realised their loans were making your life more difficult when you kept getting more loans.”
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can’t make a complaint about any loans before April 2007.
You can complain about provident loans from 2007 until 2013. If you had a loan to Provident included in your DRO, your refund from the earlier loans may be reduced because of this, but it is probably still worth complaining.
re Shopacheck, the same applies, but sometimes these complaints run into problems because of the takeover. Just send Morses your complaint and see how it goes.
Adrian says
Hi all..was reading the comments and it seems people were getting better results if they email Neil or Joe sweeney, so I thought I’d give it ago …mgot response back about an hour later..exact words were. Our decision is FINAL. That was it..think they may be getting fed up of people emailing them..
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes, I think that tactic now only works for people who have actually had a decision from an adjudicator or an Ombudsman.
How many loans did they offer to uphold in your case?
Adrian says
Hi Sara they only upheld 2 loans of 13..they sent me a list of my loans and the interest I paid and the interest alone amounts to just short of £20,000..😱
They offered me £2555.00
Sarah says
That’s exactly what happened to me too, but my reply was from someone in the complaints dept and not Neil. I emailed him on Monday and haven’t heard anything back. So now onto the nervous wait from the FOS to pick up my case. I’ve been waiting since April for FOS to respond, so probably waiting a good while yet.
Adrian says
Hi Sarah have you had an email from the fos saying there looking into it and have asked provident for more info…that’s the stage I’m at at the mo?
Sarah says
Hi Adrian, I’ve not heard anything at all from the FOS as yet. I submitted the form online in April, so just waiting. I’ve had my final response from Provident and they are not willing to look into it any further and no response from Neil. So I’m now doubting whether I should have just accepted their offer, even though I know they are lowballing me. I have no patience! Lol!
Kaz says
Just received this email from Neil @ Prov.
Thank you for your email and apologies for the delay coming back to you.
I’m afraid the outcome provided is representative of our opinion on the loans. I therefore feel this may have to be a case where we allow the Financial Ombudsman Service to adjudicate. I do note you would prefer to come to a settlement with us, but I do feel the outcome we have provided is reasonable, so I’m not immediately inclined to make any amendment to this. However, based on your email I take it you do have something in mind that you would be happy to settle for. Whilst I can’t make any guarantees, if you could let me know what you would consider an agreeable settlement, I’ll give it some some consideration and come back to you.
Loans total = £5,648.58
Interest total = £4,700.83
Total £10,349.41
I know they only pay out the interest plus 8% but as I have said I would be happy to settle without the ombudsman what does everyone think would be an acceptable amount to settle for? Any advice is appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
what were you offered? how old are these loans – the 8% is per year so it can add up to a lot
Kaz says
Oh I didn’t realise that. My loans started Jan 13 and ran side by side to Oct 16
Kaz says
They offered me £1309.18 and I owed £2673 to which they said as a gesture goodwill they will write off the balance so I am not actually receiving anything.
Kaz says
If my interest alone was £4700 would asking to settle at £3,500 (excluding what has already been offered) be too ambitious? After working out the 8% on top over 3 years the total would be almost £6,000. Appreciate any advice.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry when you say “excluding” do you mean an extra 3500 on top of the 1309? Or 3500 instead of 1309?
Kaz says
Sorry should say including
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So that is asking for 3500 instead of their offered 1309….
I think that is a good compromise. You would probably get more by going to the ombudsman but if you would like to settle sooner for less, then I hope provident will accept that.
Kaz says
Thank you fingers crossed
lisa b says
hi Sara, this morning I have received a settlement from Provident and they are upholding 3 our of 5 loans and have offered me £3050. they have said if I have any further evidence why the other two were unaffordable to send it. The other two loans at the time I was in a DMP and have proof of that and I also had a guarantor loan at the time. Do you think this is enough “proof” that it was unaffordable?
it says in the letter to send it to an email address which will be provided but it hasn’t so do you think it would be worth me sending all my evidenc to the Neil person that other people are talking about in this thread or shall i try and get in touch with FOS (i sent my complaint to them 4 weeks ago and still don’t have anyone looking into it).
thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so 3 out of 5 loans sounds like a not so bad offer, unless the other two loans were much larger?
But it’s definitely worth arguing that the other two were unaffordable – I suggest you phone them up and say they said to email an address but it wasn’t provided.
Lisa b says
The other two were for £1000 and £700, I’ve found an email so I’ve sent proof of being in a DMP, the loan and I also had quite a few defaults that showed on my credit file at the time so fingers crossed, it says they’ve already sent a cheque so I suppose the worst they can say is no 🤔
Thank you
Lynne broad says
Was with provident shoppscheck greenwood’s & Bright House for many years still paying off debts to provident & greenwood’s 7 years later via lowell
Many thanks lynne
Kelly McCandless says
Hi Claire, congratulations. So glad the decision has gone in your favour. I had similar in May. The day I received decision from ombudsman I sent an email to
complaints@loansat home.co.uk.
Dear Sir,
I am writing about the above complaint, which the ombudsman reached a decision on (insert date)
I believe you will contact me with a breakdown of redress which will include all interest fees and charges on loans 5-30. In addition 8% simple interest on individual payments made to the date the complaint is settled.
I would also like a certificate showing how much tax will be deducted. In light of the current Covid 19 epidemic and the restrictions it has caused, can I ask that this is sent to me via email as I have not been receiving anything through the post.
Could I also ask that you reply to this email to confirm you have received it.
I had a reply from them within 24 hours with my breakdown, they also requested my details to do a bank transfer. I had the money in my account within 4 days of ombudsman decision they also sent my tax certificate so I could claim tax back. Good luck.
Gary says
Will the provident provide you details of all the loans you have had from April 2007 till present?
James says
Hi Gary, I believe they do as with any other company who hold your personal details.
Once you have requested all details including loans, keep the pressure on with phone calls and e-mails. If you have several loans without big gaps, or you have top ups or loans at the same time you will have good chance of irresponsible lending. If so, I would lodge claim with Financial Ombudsman now. (You don’t need all details at this point).
Gary says
Hi James so do I request them from them or will I ring them tomorrow asking how many loans I’ve had since 2007 and how much each loan was for thanks?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No you don’t need to do this before you complain to Provident, that will slow things down.
Use the template letter in the article – this includes the sentence “As I do not have all the details of my loans, I want you to send me a list of them, showing for each loan when it was taken out, how much interest and charges you added and what I repaid – this will enable me to assess any refund you offer me.”
James says
Hi Gary, please do what Sara said, that would save time. I can let you know what happened to me when I requested the details from them. They did reply within a few weeks stating they take these matters seriously, however it took them months to supply me with the details. When they did come it was about 20 pages long showing every payment and date I made it. it was cumbersome and hard to understand what loans were what. However, when Ombudsman requested my file from Provident, It was very well detailed, each and every loan separate, date when taken out, date when paid up, very very simple. Some people have had redress within 8 weeks, my personal claim has been in for more than 15 months, so bear in mind just how long these things can take. Good luck.
Gary says
Can they tell you there and then how many loans you have had like over the phone?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Who knows if they can, but they won’t.
James says
Hi Gary, they will probably not tell you, data protection act etc, just get the letter in, or phone them, they must provide you with details of your loans by law. (GDPR) I think. My advice would be to constantly contact them and make sure you get your response asap. I did not do this in the beginning and just let things take there course, I think I paid for that, as after 15 months and letters and e-mails going missing at their end, I am still waiting. Good luck.
Kaz says
Would really appreciate some advice on what to ask for would like to get this email to Neil sent today. Thanks in advance.
Paula says
If they have offered you £1390 plus goodwill £2673 so that’s a total of £3982.
And you wanting to ask for £3500 on top of that so you be a total of £7482
So how much is your total loans the plus 8%? The 8% also is taxable so they will withhold 20% of that to pay hmrc.
Kaz says
No they offered £1390. I owe them £2673 so they said they will deduct the £1390 and the remainder they will write off as a goodwill gesture so refund to me at the moment is £0. Total loans including interest and 8% is £12,833 but obviously deduct what I still owe.
Paula says
I think what you asking for is very fair. As giving you £3500 and wiping off your remaining debt would save them quite a lot if you went to the ombudsman. As I put in my complaint for my mum in March and case was allocated end of April and provident finally sent her case file to them 11th of June and they upheld her complaint for all loans on 16/06/2020. We’re just awaiting now for a response.
Kaz says
Thank you, I’m just hoping I’m not being too hasty by not waiting for the ombudsman. I have no idea what a fair amount is to be honest. Just want it done with, my hubby also has a complaint going thru and we also both have complaints going thru for Morses. Hope you get yours sorted soon.
Paula says
Hi
I have been dealing with Provident on behalf of my parents. The FSO case handler dealing with my mums complaint upheld her complaint on 16/06/2020 and sent their recommendations to the company and provident had until 30/06/2020 to respond. I know there is a backlog but how long are you likely to wait for a response from provident? Would be great to hear from other who went through this experience.
Thanks in advance
Angie says
Provident probably won’t respond to be honest my adjudicator upheld my complaint on the 8/06/20 and gave them a deadline of 22/06/20 to respond ( they didn’t) and now I’m in a queue for a final decision with an ombudsman im so fed up with the whole thing. Hope they respond soon to your mum.
Paula says
The adjudicator dealing with my mums emailed me on the 30/06/2020 and said it was now being put into the queue for the final decision with the ombudsman. He did state he may contact me at a later date with a response from Provident as they have been taking longer to respond due to what’s going on the now with the coronavirus. So just got to wait and see what happens next.
Natalie says
Hi There , I had agreement via Fso on the 1st june who said Prov would be in contact with the breakdown of the offer within 5 weeks.
To date I have not heard anything, no reply to email only the generic we are operating with fewer numbers so have a backlog.
Gary says
Just off the phone to the complaints team at provident they heave informed me that I have had 9 loans total borrowing 6k since 2007… And have informed that all loans will be dealt with asap…. I think I still owe them about 2k so fingers crossed I get something or a reduction
tom says
Hi, Just received cheque for £947 from Provident on Friday for compensation. I emailed Neil just a week ago after putting my complaint on the 29th March 2020. I only had 3 loans in total, so very happy with the outcome. Just want to thank everyone here for their help and guidance.
Tom
Nicky says
Hi there I need help I’ve had 45 loans from provident from 2007 to 2014 the total amount of loans equals £24000 I’ve just had my final response from provident saying there only upholding 10 out of 45 loans as unaffordable and have offered me £4500 as final payment my complaint has already been sent to the FOS back I. April my question is do I contact provident and decline there offer or contact FOS or even take the £4500 I really dont know what to do please help
Andy says
I have just received my Data that I requested under SAR and I have some concerns over the figures in particular the amounts paid weekly.
Has anyone else had missing payments, worried as this was paid weekly in cash and don’t have the books anymore to evidence.
Jo says
Hi Sara, I’ve now submitted my complaint with Mutual! I know the process as had amigo upheld few wks again so not about that! I know 8 wks from yesterday is only the start usually! I’m just wondering about the company! I see provident mentioned a lot and online there is lots but I can’t see anything negative about Mutual anywhere! Just wonder if you know much about complaint law being upheld and how big a company they are! I’m assuming relatively small with not much to go on! I’ve been dealing with them for yrs so they are not new and I see the main office is Leicester! I’m Northants and know the local Branch has been there for many yrs!! I’m woffling on! I just want to know if people have had positive outcomes or not basically lol
Jo says
Complaints being not complaint law 🙄
Teresa Machin says
Hi everyone has anybody had dealings with Morses, sent letter had response saying they cannot find any details for me. So sent another letter informing them my problem was when I was a Shopacheck customer.
Karen says
I had loans with morses who at the time were Shopacheck. Sent my complaint and they have refused to accept irresponsible lending so I have escalated it to the ombudsman. Spoke to Morses before I did this and they said their decision was final. Good luck with your claim.
lauren says
I sent the template last week stating that I didn’t know how many loans I’d had etc since 2007, I received a reply within a few days stating they would look into. How long should this take, or how long should I wait before I chase it.
Thanks 😊
manxie says
After I found this site the other day, I contacted Provident using some of your template, I have just had an email, asking for my DOB as they say they need this to find my account, which I have just submitted. what should happen next? Thanks.
pam says
Hi Lee,
I contacted Neil Iverson directly at Provident. Explained the FOS had upheld in my favour. Within 20 mins I had a reply stating they would get back to me by the end of the following week. Fast forward to last Friday. I hadn’t had any response but after emailing again their complaints dept came straight back to me and said I would have an answer by the close of business. Lo and behold 20 mins later I got an email which of an offer of just under 13k. They didn’t argue or try to settle for less. I received everything the FOS asked for. Of course I agreed. I should say though..Provident initially turned down my complaint hence I sent it on to the FOS.
After contacting Provident I have to say they were very quick to respond and very courteous. Hope this helps.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is quite a comment pattern. Provident are making very poor offers, but are accepting adjudicator decisions.
Lee says
Hi Pam thanks for you reply I have just emailed Ian myself hoping to get it sorted soon the FOS upheld loans 6-9 and gave them to the 1st to get back to them provident initially turned down my complaint back in July last year it’s been going on for a while now hope it’s sorted soon glad you have finally settled yours
LYNN says
Well done you. I was in the same boat back in February. Initially provident only said they lent irresponsibley on one of my 33 loans and sent me a cheque for just over 1300 and cleared outstanding balance of around 2k. Complaint was raised with ombudsman who agreed with me that they were irresponsible with their lending and sent their findings to provident. Within days provident offered me 22k which they paid to me by cheque about 14 days later.
My advice to anyone seeking redress from Provident is see it through to the end don’t give up.
Tracey boardman says
Hi any help welcome I have just had my complaints upheld the refund was 3857.56 But the are only going to give me back 330.63 seems very low and no explanation as to why this was provident
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How many loans from them did you have? How many are they offering to refund? Do you still owe a balance on the last loan(s)?
Tracey says
37 dating back to 2007
Only paying out for six and not for most recent ones I have two that I am still paying 80 per week for two
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Those numbers don’t make sense.
But if they are only offering to refund 6 out of 37 loans, I suggest you should send the case to the Ombudsman anyway. And if making the current payments is too much (£80 a week!) then tell them you need a much lower affordable payment.
Tracey Boardman says
I will thank you
Sarah says
Hi Sara,
The FOS have now picked up my case and I’ve sent them all the details and my final decision letter from Provident. The FOS have asked for bank statements and credit report from that time. I don’t have these and have no access to them now. Will this harm my case? They said they’ve asked Provident for all the information they need, do you know how long it should be roughly before there is any progress?
Thanks so much as I would never have gotten this far without your advice :)
pol says
Hi Sarah, its just potluck with the FOS as to when your complaint is picked up. I sent mine in August last year and its only just been dealt with at the start of July. Others have been picked up a lot quicker
Christine Andrews says
Good afternoon
I’ve received a reply from provident ( through the secure portal) after asking for details of all the loans I had with them, they are saying they can’t find any account details, I no longer have my provident book and the loans ranged from 2013 -2016 any advice? I find it ridiculous that they have my full address ( we haven’t moved since)
Thanks
Lisa says
Good morning, provident have passed their date for me and I have received regular emails from them, stating they are still looking. Sorry for the delay, but I am now eligible to forward to the FOS.
How do I go about this? What is their email address and do I just state that I wish to escalate my provident dispute?
Thank you in advance.
Lisa
Sara (Debt Camel) says
See the Sending a complaint to the Ombudsman section in the article above.
Lee says
Hi Christine I never had any of my records either I did ask provident for them they didn’t give them me I got details of my loan from my credit file and passed that on to the ombudsman.
Christine Andrews says
Yeah thanks for that lee, can’t believe they haven’t got a record!!.. sadly if they think this will prevent me from going forward with this they are wrong!
Danielle says
Hi Sara,
I’m looking for some advice, I have sent my complaint to Provident and they haven’t upheld my claim. It’s been sent to FOS and an ombudsman has upheld loans 4-6 in my favour. He has given Provident 2 deadlines to respond too and they haven’t. Any idea what will happen now? Do we have to wait for Provident?
James says
Hi, If it was an Ombudsman decision then it is legally binding and I believe they have 28 days in which to settle with you.
Danielle says
Thank you James. It hasn’t reached the ombudsman stage just adjudicator at the moment. I will hang on and wait a response
LA says
Afternoon,
I’ve tried to email Neil from Provident with no success. Does anyone know Ian’s email address so I can try him instead please?
Deb says
Hi sara,
Could you advice me please. I’m at my wits end with provident, I had in total 150 loans most of which where 1000 to 1500 loans. I got in over my head and ended up borrowing off other companies to pay them(robining peter to pay paul). I put in a unaffordablity claim back in February and today I had a response. They have said that they are only up holding 5 of my loans due to they cant see any wrong on my credit file nor did I make the agent aware.
On several occasions I had to go on a a short term payment plan and i told the agent i was struggling, but they still offered me more and more. At one point the agent actually said ” I still get paid even if you dont pay”.
Can someone please advise me on what I can do please.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The article above explains how to send your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman – it sounds a strong complaint!
Jonny says
I was talking with him yesterday over progressing my refund. He did say he has been inundated over the past week with emails but is trying to get through them all. I found him very reasonable to talk too and it may be worth giving him a bit longer to reply. Just my tuppenys worth…
LA says
Thank you I will do
colleen says
Hi Sara, so after writing my complaint beginning of june, I’ve had a couple of emails saying still investigating. And then yesterday one saying that my data rights request has been logged. I logged in to the portal and they had asked for date of birth as have no record of me?! Is this just standard and carry on waiting? Thank you
Lee says
I received an email from provident after the adjudicators decision Today it says they have sent approval email to the head of department and she will send me final response within a week. Does that mean that they are agreeing with the adjudicators decision.
david says
Hi Lee how long did u wait after adjudicators decision to hearing back from provident ? They’ve gone past the 5 week limit with me and hoping its not going to be much longer
Lee says
Hi David mine was just over 3 weeks I emailed Joe in the end and then got a reply back from samantha from provident last Wednesday she has authorised cheque yesterday said I will receive it within 14days but she doesn’t know how much for yet said she will send me a full breakdown email in the next few days
stepeh says
hi
looking for some help i put a claim in for Provident a
had a reply saying only upholding 2 loans of many awarded 600 pound
as i was owing then still due to my difficultys they used it to pay off most of what i owed is this right or should i have had the option to have had this cash
thanks
stephen
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how many loans did you have from Provident?
stepeh says
i had around 12 loans over 10yrs
it seams they only upheld the 2 small loans and not the large loans i had with them
they took the awarded 600 pounds off the outstanding loan that i have a payment arrangement with them
is this the right way they do this
stephen
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s correct to take the refund off what you owe.
BUT it sounds like they have made you a very poor offer. They should have been refunding more of your larger loans as well 😠
I suggest you send your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman who will look at what a fair number to refund is. See the article above for how to send a case to the Ombudsman – it’s easy and lots of people here have done it.
Donna says
Hi Sarah
I put in a complaint to Provident in January 2019. I had the usual ‘we need more time’ emails so refererred to FOS in May. I received my final response from Provident last week They have upheld 8 of 59 loans spanning from 2007 to 2016.
They have sent ne a cheque for over 6k .
I sent my final response letter to the FOS and was advised they were waiting for the final response from the business.
I assume as I am unhappy about the final response I do not cash this cheque?
Should I wait for a response from FOS or contact Provident to say I dont agree.
Any advice would be most welcome
Deborah says
Hi
Can anyone explain the provident portal.I received it last week but haven’t a clue.My complaint went in around 14 weeks ago & already sent to fos at 8 weeks.Apart from this I’ve heard nothing .Thanks in advance
Jason says
Hi sara I recently got a letter from provident after 16 weeks stating they rejected all my claims and thats final stating I could afford the payments and I never made them aware I was on long term sick.
As the lender told me not to say that when applying for the 3 loans.
Now yesterday I got a email from the fos saying they just picked up my case should I just leave it with them now and wait for a outcome.
So they can have a look at it.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you told FOS about the rejection and why you disagree with it?
Sarah Perring says
Hi
I have lost out to Sunny so my last remaining claim is Provident which of course they are dragging their feet with FOS they didn’t uphold my complaint in Jan 2020 so I sent it straight to FOS
My question is does anyone know how I can push Provident to send my file over to them
Many thanks
Sarah
Jeff says
It was 2 months before my file was sent
Christine says
Hi
I received a reply from FOS today upholding 7 of the 11 loans I had with morses. I am delighted by their findings and hope morses agree within the 14 days ? Has anybody had FOS agree with their complaint and how long did Morses take to answer ? I was in so much debt a couple of years ago and can’t thank this website enough !
Simon turner says
Hi Christine,
I had 7 out of 11 loans upheld by the adjudicator. Morses disagreed and is now waiting for a Ombudsman to make a decision. Morses are renown for making people wait but sit tight and let the Ombudsman do his job.
It will happen
Simon
Christine says
Thanks for that and good luck
Carol says
Hi, Can you try and claim an interest refund on loans from provident before 2007, I had loans from 1988 onwards.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, the Ombudsman can only look at loans taken after April 2007.
Did your loans continue after 2007?
Danielle says
Hi Sara,
I have received a reply from FOS that Provident have agreed in line with their recommendations and they haven’t needed to send to an ombudsman. They have 6 weeks to provide me a breakdown according to the FOS. I cannot thank you enough for your help and this site, im so happy to be at the end of this journey. I still have balance with Provident, so am I wondering do I continue to make payments or wait for their breakdown? My balance will be cleared by the redress payment owed to me. Thank you so much again :) x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you stop paying.
Danielle says
Thank you so much for everything – I have had great success with other companies all thanks to this site x
Paula says
Hi Danielle
Great that your now at the end of your journey. How long did it take for Provident to respond to the FOS after they sent their recommendations? I’m waiting for them to respond so wondering how much longer there taking.
Paula
Danielle says
Hi Paula,
The adjudicator gave them until the 3rd of July and then until 21st July – I heard back from FOS yesterday. From some of the comments on here I’m not holding onto much hope until I physically receive the cheque! Hope you get a speedy resolution x
Paula says
I’m dealing with my mums complaint and they had until 30th of June. Her complaint was put in queue for ombudsman as soon as it hit the 30th but adjudicator said they could still respond as there has been delays. We’re hoping them it won’t be too much longer to hear back.
Angie says
Hi Paula on Tuesday provident finally agreed to settle my complaint along with the fos recommendations it took them 7 weeks I had been told that I was in a queue for the ombudsman so am glad that it didn’t get that far I just want the bloody thing to be over just hope provident get back to me with my breakdown within the 6 weeks they have been given.
Paula says
Today the FOS contacted me and said provident have agreed with their recommendations. So now the wait begins again for a breakdown of the amount my mum will receive. I’m hoping they do this within the 6 weeks.
Paula says
Hi Danielle/ Angie
Have either of you received a breakdown yet?
Paula
Amanda Eilertsen says
I had a message from adjudicator this morning .saying loan 9 and 10 were unaffordable .so now waiting to see what happens next .although I haven’t heard from provident in years and still owed them thousands when I stopped paying .so think I might be opening a can of worms
May says
Do you know of any cases where an affordability complaint has succeeded on the basis that the doorstep collector previously worked for one company, and now works for a new one (the subject of the complaint)? In other words, where the individual collector’s knowledge of the borrower’s circumstances has travelled from Lender A (history of several loans) to Lender B (first loan, but in the context of repeat lending from Lender A)?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No.
Michelle says
The fos has confirmed receipt of my complaint, does that mean it’s with adjudicator, how long does this usually take. Thank you.
James says
Hi Michelle, it is a bit of a lottery as to when an adjudicator gets your case. My complaint was made in April 2019, and was assigned to an adjudicator March 2020, and the case against provident has still not been settled . Many other complaints have been settled a lot quicker than mine, but just bear in mind it could take a long time.
Michelle says
Thank you, its all so far gone quite quick compared to some, put my claim in in March 2020, had an offer 2 weeks ago which I declined so I’ll keep everything crossed it’s not to long.
James says
Hi Michelle, you have done very well to have an offer in such short time especially during 4 months of lockdown, as provident have used that as an excuse for not settling with me. Hope you are settled soon.
Adrian says
Hi all Got an email from fos with case number and saying they have asked provident for all info..it has been 2 week tommorow would it be ok to ring fos on Monday to see what’s going on or is that too early..any info would be appreciated.
Kelly says
Just want to give people some hope if they have a claim with Provident. I made my complaint with them back in oct 2018, they denied it in November 18 and I sent it to the FOS in January 19. After waiting 14 months I heard from the FOS on 25th March 20 upholding my complaint. Provident as usual took their time to respond and finally agreed with the FOS findings. I finally received my cheque from them on 12th July for £9,054. After years of being a provident customer I’m now free from them. So the moral of this story is keep fighting against provident because you will succeed eventually.
Danielle says
Hi Kelly, that’s great news! From provident agreeing to uphold the fos decision how long until you received a cheque? And did they send you a breakdown beforehand?
L says
Hi Kelly,
As above how long was it before you received the cheque from Provident?
They have agreed to repay all my interest fees also.
Thanks
L
BRENDA HILL says
Provident have contacted (email below) me asking for further evidence. Any idea what I should reply with other that what I already told them? Thanks
Thank you for contacting us to tell us of your concerns.
We do take your comments very seriously and we are committed to resolving your complaint quickly and to your satisfaction.
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.
Sarah says
I received this too, I replied with “ I will send further evidence when you send me full details of all my loans between the said period “ I also put it in to include the 2 loans that you (provident) sold on to Lowell’s debtors. I then got the reply we are investigating please allow us 56 days then a week later a letter allowing 28 days. Hope this helps
Sarah says
I sent email not post
Cath Mackey says
Hi Brenda
I am at the start of my hopefully not very long journey. Like yourself, I received the same email/ letter (which I didn’t reply to as they should have all me information; I provided my customer number, then one at 4 weeks saying they would try and resolve my complaint within 4 weeks! Surprise, I received an email and letter today saying they needed more time. On this basis and after reading through previous comments, I have lodged my complaint with the financial ombudsman today. Will keep you posted on how I get on. Good Luck!
Also, thanks so much for this site! I wouldn’t have started this process if I hadn’t have come across it. :)
Thanks and take care
Cath
James says
Hi Kelly, I would like to agree with your sentiments and urge anyone with multiple loans from this company to make a complaint. Like you, my complaint was rejected, then sent a cheque for interest on 2 loans as full and final settlement, which I rejected. Ombudsman upheld 8 loans and ordered them to settle. My complaint went in on April 2019 and as yet not settled, but as adjudicator has advised them to settle with me, I hope that they will. I know that some people haver been settled in a matter of weeks, but think it wise to know it might take longer than you think to be settled.
This site has been a great source of information to people like me and had guided me through the process. Don’t give up, and don’t accept poor offer from provident. Let the Ombudsman look at your loans, and let them decide what is fair.
Good luck to all.
Sinead says
Hi
Looking for some advice (again) I sent my letter to Morses regarding my shopacheck loans, received a reply today… didn’t include any of the info I requested just told me I’d left it too long to complain & they won’t be investigating and this is their final response. Is this correct? I didn’t realise until recently that I could even do any of this. Help appreciated. Thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send it to the Financial Ombudsman, who is usually looking at loans over 6 years.
And tell Morses you still want them to send you a list of your loans and that this is a Data Subject Access Request.
Susan says
Morses club has said some of my loans that was closed at 9th march 2014 thay can’t deal with so told me to speak with welcome finance I have emailed them and I got automated email to say that it has been passed onto a liquidation company. Would this mean that I won’t be able to claim for them loans?
DIANE S says
Hi Sarah, I applied to provident to look at my lending back in march 2020, the last e-mail i received was on 23/3/20, stating that they hadnt yet made a decision. So I was totally surprised yesterday 31/7/20 to receive a letter with a cheque for £4402, there is no breakdown, letter in full just says Please find enclosed cheque for £4402.81 in reference to compensation awarded via 3rd party(FCA FOS ect). I phoned my agent as i still had debts of nearly 4000 which i was on an agreed payment plan with provident. She has informed me that my debts have now also been taken off, so I gather in total, I must have been awarded around £8000. I am more than happy with this and just wanted to say thankyou, as until earlier this year I wasnt even aware you could apply. very happy
James says
Hi Diane, you have done incredibly well being settled in such a short time, and most of it through lockdown and provident having a lack of staff . My complaint was made April 2019 and still waiting. Glad you are happy with amount too, as the company is well known for poor offers. Enjoy your freedom from their clutches.
david says
Just leaving a comment to let you all know of my experience. I submitted a complaint to provident for irresponsible lending in 2017, provident rejected my complaint and I sent it to the ombudsman. In September 2019 I received correspondence from the ombudsman to say provident have agreed with decision that the ombudsman made. To this day I have no correspondence from provident which is approx 11 months. I have emailed the ombudsman numerous times and they just keep giving provident further extensions. I’m at a loss as to what to do
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is absurd.
I suggest you email Joe.Sweeney@provident.co.uk and Neil.Iveson@provident.co.uk and say you were told in September 2019 that provident had accepted the adjudicator decision but you still haven’t had the settlement.
If that doesn’t get a good response in a week, phone up the ombudsman and say you want to put a complaint in.
Sarah Perring says
Hi provident still haven’t sent my file to FOS does anyone have an email to the managers etf I can escalate to please
Thanks
Sarah
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How long has the case been with FOS?
Sarah Perring says
Since January 2020
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you email Joe.Sweeney@provident.co.uk and Neil.Iveson@provident.co.uk and say you understand lockdown has caused some delays, but your case has been with FOS for over seven months and they have still not sent FOS your case file and that is unreasonable.
Sharon says
Hi Sarah
I have had 16 loans from loansathome4u, they did not uphold my complaint, so I took it to the ombudsman, who has said they are not willing to assess it, as the last loan was 7 years ago, so it seems that they will not look at loans older than 6 years, has anyone else had this happen?
Thanks
Sharon
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Go back to the ombudsman and say you only found out recently that a lender should have checked affordability and before that you did not realise you had any reason to complain.
Give details of when and how you found out about these complaints. It doesn’t matter if this sounds anecdotal, just say what happened to you:
eg “In february my sister told me she had heard that people had won complaints against provident”
“At Christmas I saw an advert on Facebook from a claims company so I looked into what an affordability complaint was.” etc
Amanda Eilertsen says
Hi everyone just had an email off the Adjudicator said morses have made an offer .asked if I wanted to except it .so I did except it and it says payment will be paid into my bank with in 28 day .does that normally happen within 28 days or is that just a fob off ???
Christine says
Hi
I’m in the same boat accepted morses offer last Friday, just wondering when I will get refund ? Their offer is a lot less than I expected but just want an end to this and get my credit report cleared of them.
Does anybody know what happens next with morses ?
Amanda Eilertsen says
Has morses contacted you yet or just adjudicator ??
Amanda Eilertsen says
And do you still owe them anything
Christine says
Hi
Just the adjudicator I still owe them but after they have taken that I’m still left with a refund ?
Ta
Amanda Eilertsen says
Hi Christine you had your pay out from morses yer ?
Sharon says
Hi Sara
Thanks for your response, but I have already said all of this to the ombudsman, and he has stated that it is out of their jurisdiction, because of the time scale, I have however stated that I am not happy, so the adjudicator has said, that an ombudsman will review the complaint, I have have sent all information I had, but loansathome have not sent my file to the ombudsman.
Thanks
Sharon
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, that sounds like the right thing to have done.
Sarah says
Has anyone had any response from Neil at Provident recently? I emailed him back a few weeks ago when I initially rejected their offer and haven’t heard a peep, but I see people were getting emails and calls from him, so just wondered if he’s looking at only certain cases? I don’t want to bombard him, as I know he’ll be busy and obviously I want to be on his good side!
Also, I sent my hubby’s complaint to the FOS initially in April and again in July when the final response came through, but we’ve had nothing from FOS to pick up his case, but mine has been and was submitted on same day? Is it worth contacting them again? Also, we emailed Provident and asked them to relook and had no response from them either. I’m not sure whether I need to just wait patiently or be proactive and get back in touch.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so far as I can tell, people no longer get a good response from emailing after an initial poor offer from provident.
But some people are having success by emailing him if provident are failing to respond to an adjudicator decision or not paying out on a final Ombudsman decision.
Sarah says
Ah ok, so prob best to just wait it out?
The FOS have advised they have request all info from Provident for my claim, so hopefully they won’t drag their heels on it too much and give the FOS what they need.
L says
Hi my mum has had been with provident for years. She had a store card debt that provident took over and pretty much since then each time she’s just about paid it off they encourage her to take out more. I’ve told her to put a claim in and she said she emailed them an email complaint a few weeks ago but hasn’t heard anything, not even an acknowledgement. Is this normal or has she sent to wrong email? Where does everyone tend to send their complaints to?
Thanks
Deborah says
Hi Amanda
Have Morses they asked for your bank details.
I accepted my offer on the 17th July .Money was in my bank on the 28th if that helps.
Amanda Eilertsen says
Hi Deborah it wasn’t morses who messaged me it was the adjudicator from ombudsman .just said they agree with what the ombudsman said and give a breakdown .its For £1400 and asked if I except which I did then she said morses would be in touch to ask for bank details.but not sure I will receive any of it because I still owe them more than that .?? Just said refund £1400 .any ideas what will happen now ?