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?
Michelle says
So I made a complaint to provident in around November 2020 and since then all I have been receiving is generic emails saying that they are working on an investigation however yesterday I received a DSAR email stating that the hope to have this resolved in 30 days. Has anyone received this email and if so when did you receive a response after it? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
have you sent the case to FOS yet?
Michelle says
Not yet – I wanted to wait to see what they offer before taking it to the FOS
Lisa says
Hi, I made a claim from Provident on behalf of my mother. They have confirmed she’s had 12 loans from them but have only said 1 of them was mis-sold even though her criteria and earnings were no different on all loans? She was only on a state pension and got herself into a lot of debt but felt she had to always pay Provident as they were her only source of funds, plus she felt uncomfortable having to deal with the collectors face to face if she couldn’t pay, so always tried to pay them but at the detriment of other things. Will her regular payments have an issue on whether they think she could afford the loans or not?
I’ve gone to the Financial Ombudsman but am yet to hear anything after 6 weeks – could you advise how long a reply/decision would usually take as my mother is of ill health and is suffering from secondary cancer.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The fact she paid the loans on time does NOT mean they were affordable – FOS knows this.
Have you told FOS about your mum’s health problems? It sounds as though they should giver her case priority.
Lisa says
I’m going to give them a call today
Karen says
Hello I put in a claim with Provident though resolver and I didn’t hear nothing….then I got a email from Provident saying they sent me a response but didn’t get the response letter from Provident….so I took it to the ombudsman but it was out of the time frame….so I got another email from the ombudsman saying Provident didn’t do nothing wrong as the ombudsman look on there postal system and the letter was sent out…but in my resolver it states that Provident or still dealing with the claim even thou a response letter went out…..I rang Provident up saying I was haveing a bad time and they give me 30 days and told me they would ring me back after the 30 day never did ring….i rang Provident again and was told it’s now gone to a debt collector without any warning letters…Is there anything else I can do about Provident
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That all sounds very difficult. It is important to make sure you get a response from a lender and send the complaint to FOS in time if you don’t. It doesn’t sound as though there is anything you can do here.
Do you have other problem debts?
Staci says
Hi i sent last week my affordability complaint to morses as its just got too bad to keep up with. Their response was this. Would anyone be able to reccomend what i do if they cant place account on hold …????
Good afternoon,
Thank you for your email, I can confirm you complaint has been received and is being investigated.
The Financial Conduct Authority allow us 5 working days to issue an acknowledgment up to 8 weeks to investigate a complaint in full then issue a Final Response Letter, the due date for your Final Response is 11/03/2021
Unfortunately we are unable to put in place payment holidays therefore we would require you to speak to your agent or customer relationship manager regarding this as they will be arranging collection on your account.
Please be aware that any missed/late payments may effect your accounts arrears and negatively affect your credit file and we will not be able to request an amendment to remove any negative information should your complaint outcome be not upheld.
Regards,
Morses Club
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Tell them you need a payment arrangement as you can’t afford the repayments. This has nothing to do with whether you have complained or not.
Staci says
Thanks sara i have got back to them stating i will need to set up a payment plan affordable if they cant place a hold. I just know main bills are able to wasnt sure if something non important like a door stop loan would be. Its just got too much borrowing from one to pay another and now household income is down due to impact it has me grey :( its impacting my sleep etc with worry and its just not do-able anymore to keep borrowing
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Quite right to insist on a payment arrangement. Ask for interest to be frozen. Your health is the most important thing.
Staci says
Yeah has me a little worried they just going show up at door demanding payments or calling consistently but my anxiety and depression i just sometimes dont feel like communicating this way not sure what i can do other than try and keep them best informed via emails and text i never ignore just dont feel like speaking face to face and feel i may be forced
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then tell head office about your mental health problems and that you want to communicate by email and no longer want to be visited by the agent which increases your anxiety. They aren’t going to keep coming if you refuse to discuss it on the doorstep – it wastes their time.
Staci says
Thanks will let them know this see what they say.
Staci says
There response is very abrupt so i will just have to wait from my agent if they knock i will just tell them to go away as i did advise my mental health is impacted and asked for a hold till i sort out a payment arrangement
Reply
Good morning,
Thank you for your email, as previously advises, we are unable to put a hold on your account and this is to be actioned by your agent or your customer relationship manager.
I have contacted them today and asked that they contact you directly as we can not put a 30 day hold on your account from head office.
Thanks
Morses Club
John says
Hi Sara
My partner claimed back 1800:from provident plus had her outstanding payments cleared.as they were like saying it’s not our fault but just sort of a good will gesture.I don’t believe this to be true.I spoke to them on her behalf and they said if she’s still not happy she could still cash the cheque and put a claim to the ombudsman as well. To be honest we had the cheque in the post within about a week after there letter.so never had time to think things over about the offer. So would we still be ok to send her claim off to the ombudsman even if she has put the cheque into her account.or were they just saying that just so she would cash it and lose the right to take it to the ombudsman. ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If they have told you it is ok to cash the cheque and send this to FOS then it should be OK.
How large is the cheque? How large was the write off?
Does she know how much interest she paid?
Mary Middleton says
Hi I am grateful to come by your site … I had a prudent loan for years and the lady that used to come out always talked you in to another loan before you finished with extra to pay that one back and as desperate for money at the time did it …
I would like to fill the template letter in …
What email address or where do I send it to for provident please …
Mary
John says
Refund claims
The amount the check was for is £1807.58..it says interest paid towards the account £1288.52..plus 8% interest £648.83. Plus 20% hrmc deduction.£129.77. Saying refund due after 20% hrmc deduction is £1807.58.
Your account calculations
Upheld interest remaining (that we write off) £134.68 total balance outstanding £134.68
Theresa Dorrington says
Hi has anyone put in a complaint against mutual?
Thanks
Theresa
Sarah mitchell says
What is the time period you can claim for or cut off period, my mum had this through the 80s 90s and early 00s
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry the cut off is April 2007.
Elizabeth Thomas says
You have to go to the ombudsman service about older loans like myself. 1980-2000
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you had any of those upheld by the Ombudsman, Elizabeth?
Kelly McCandless says
Hi All,
I am sorry this has probably been asked many times before. It’s about 8% simple. Some places say you calculate on days and others say years. I have had adjudicator decide loans from provident 8 to 25 were unafordable. I have broke them down to individual loans and year they were taken out but just wanted to check I am calculating correctly.
Loan 8 was taken out june 2010
Loan £800 interest £608
8% of £608 is £48.64
For this I have rounded up to 11 years
11X £48.64 = £535.04 simple
Add that to the interest paid
£535.04 + £608 Total £1143.04
Is this the way you calculate for each loan?
For instance loan 16 was only £150 with £114 interest. This was taken out 9 years ago
8% of £114 = £9.12× 9 = £82.08 simple
£82.08 + £114 Total £196
Thanks
Kelly
Claire says
Provident have confirmed my cheque is in the post, just over 13k, with the cheque I had for the 3 original loans that they upheld in October makes the total refund just over 17k. I started the process in July 2020 and never dreamed this would be the result. Sara, thank you for answering all my questions, I am so glad I stumbled across this site, its life changing. Good luck to everybody still fighting your complaints x
Ruth says
Hi Claire
Did you just keep your original cheque after sending to the FOS?
Claire says
Hi Ruth, I did keep the cheque and once I was assigned an adjudicator at the fos he asked provident if I could cash it and they agreed x
Mike says
Hi Clair not to be nosy but I also have a claim going through I had over 25000 in loans of which 12000 was interest how much did your loans total just trying to get an idea of how much they will return to me well done on getting your money back
claire says
Hi Mike, The total amount of interest I paid was £11,072.32 with the 8% and HMRC deduction I got £17,204.40.
Mike says
Thank you Claire I hope I have as much luck as you as I paid over 12000 in interest
Carly says
Great news Claire, how close to their deadline did they let you know, and was it via email, thanks.
Claire says
I called on Friday and they confirmed the outcome, the letter arrived today. The 28 days were up on 26 January.
Laura Stafferton says
Hi Claire
Was that through provident direct or for
I wrote to provident and had a reply on the 15th jan saying they were still looking into it. I havent recieved a breakdown of my loans or anything yet
Thanks
Vickie b says
Hi there,
I started my complaint with fos back on the 10/11/2020. I emailed just before Christmas to see if there was an update with my case at all just to make sure I wasn’t getting lost in the pile and got an email on the 05/01 saying they have my case file from provident now and it’s just waiting to be assigned an audjudicator. I was just wondering if anyone else got to this point and how long it took to get assigned someone? And also when your case gets assigned an audjudicator do they email and tell you or do you just get an email once they’ve reached a decision? Thank you in advance guys!
John says
Hi Vickie b
Did provident make you an offer before you took your case to the ombudsman. .?
Vickie b says
Hi John,
Yes provident admitted to 1 out of 10 loans and sent me a cheque for around 2,500 pounds which they told me I could bank and if FOS said I was due more they would sort the rest. Just waiting on FOS to get back to me now.
Joanne Wood says
Hi all,
So after initially complaining to Provident in Nov 2019, I am finally close to the end! I complained to FOS in Feb 2020 and had the standard “can’t help straight away” due to amount of claims. After a couple of requests for further info and a huge delay due to Provident not providing the case file, eventually in Nov 2020 I had a decision to uphold my complaint on loans 6-18 and Provident accepted this decision in Dec. I allowed the six weeks for Provident to contact me and then phoned and chased them on Monday for an update. I finally had an email today to say my check had been calculated and will be sent out so I should receive in the next 14 days! The £3,500 pay out will allow me to pay off all my remaining debt as well as a bit left over, meaning I will be debt free for the first time in a long, long time! So thank you so much to everyone on here, especially Sara for the tips and advice. I still have 2 complaints in with the FOS but this was my biggest one.
One final question – has anyone every tried to request a bank transfer instead of a cheque? It’s such a pain to get to the bank and mine doesn’t have cheque pay in from a smart phone.
TIA
Pat clark says
Hi Joanna well done on your window similar happened to me just got my cheque today i did ask if they would do bank transfer as it was for over 15k but they said no had to be cheque and i have the paying in on my phone but can only pay up to 1k so i had yo take to bank hope this helps.
John says
Hi Joanne wood.
If you have had a settlement off provident about your loans. They will have also written off your outstanding debt to them. As they did with my son and partner.
Sam says
Hi Joanne, well done in finally reaching the end with them, my story is very similar to yours. I got an email from the fos to say provident agreed to their decision on the 15th Dec and that fos didn’t have any calculations from them yet, they said provident would be in touch but I’ve still not heard from them yet. Is it worthwhile chasing them up? If so do u mind giving me the number you called? I can’t wait to have it all over and done with. Thanks so much and enjoy your payout x
Pat clark says
Hi sam my date was also the 15dec and once the 28 days where up i got on to them but they kept fobbing me off saying they where busy so last friday the 15th i emailed the CEO and on mnday i got my redress and my cheque came on Friday so yes definitely phone provident and good luck.
Sam says
Hi pat, thankyiu for your reply, do you have an email for the CEO please? Thankyou!
Pat clark says
Morning sam it is Malcolm.lemay@provident financial.com
Jane says
I know this has been asked before but would be grateful for comments and advice from those who have been in similar situations. We put a complaint into provident early in 2020 and eventually they in august they responded with an offer of compensation on only 1 out of 15 loans. They included a cheque for £2500 but I wrote and told them we were not happy with this and would refer the case to the ombudsman. We referred to the ombudsman soon after provident response but the ombudsman are yet to deal with the case, they have been in touch saying they will deal with it but it will be some time yet. Our dilemma is the cheque which I still have but the 6 months timescale for cashing cheques will be up in February and we don’t know whether to cash it or not as we don’t want this to be seen as accepting it as a final offer from provident. I have seen a number of other comments about same and wondered what others have done? I have emailed provident but with no response.
Jayne says
I didn’t cash the cheque and It ran out before I’d received my redress, provident had reduced the total amount I was due, minus the cheque I’d not cashed, I called them and they issued a new one. Others have asked if they could cash them and I believe they’d allowed it, not much use though if they’re not responding for you to ask them
TP says
I did cash the cheque however I inform them in writing that The offer of full and final settlement was rejected, I will be keeping the money as part payment only and not any acceptance of full and final payment settlement. They have never replied… my case went to FOS and I am now waiting for the final cheque to arrive. I have raised my complaint since Mar 2020 and still not closed off. Good luck everyone. Great advice from Sara
Karen says
I’ve had loans in 2003 to 2008 how far back can you claim please
Sara (Debt Camel) says
only from April 2007
Ruth says
Hi
An adjudicator has just picked my complaint up – how long is it normally before I hear of an outcome?
Cj says
They picked mine up this week also..thrhbhave given provident to the 3rd feb to send details of account etc so they can look into it …but I’ve no clue after that
John says
Hi
How long did it take since you sent your complaint to FOS before it was picked up?
John
Ruth says
Hi John
I sent mine to FOS in September and it was picked up yesterday
Cj says
Also provident have not even looked at my complaint yet
Cj says
I sent mine to fos in october..and then 2 weeks ago they emailed to say they have now asked provident for details of my loans etc..which they have until tomorrow to let them know ..
David says
im in the process of putting a claim in with provident but could anyone tell me if i have a right to file for a refund for my mums loan even though she passed away 2 years ago ???
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can if you were the person that dealt with her affairs after she died.
Sarah says
The FOS now have all the info from Provident for my hubby’s case. It was sent over on 8th Jan and we are now in a queue for an adjudicator.
Mine was done really quickly so I’m not sure how long this will take. Has anyone got any experience of how long it’s taking just now?
Provident didn’t uphold any of his, so hoping the FOS disagree. We had our loans running at the exact same time, but I know they can’t take that into consideration as the are not joint loans.
Fingers crossed for a good response 🤞
lorraine4820 says
Hi,
An adjudicator picked up my partners case last month and 13 days ago recommended that Provident refund all interest paid on loans 5 and 6 plus 8% simple interest, he had 6 loans in total. Provident also didn’t uphold any of his loans, Provident were given 14 days to respond to the adjuciators decision (14th day tomorrow) As of yet the still have not responded to the adjudicators recommendations.
Mo says
Hi, my morses club complaint has just been assigned an adjudicator at fos, anyone know how long this process takes? Many thanks
nichola says
Morses have just sent me a copy of all my loans and said if I need anything else to email did you get this if so what did u email back saying
Mo says
Hi Nichola,
Yes I did, I got my loan list and then a letter stating when I would have my final response letter. To be fair they did send the final response on the date they stated but it was a very poor offer so I sent on to the fos who have just assigned my case to an adjudicator. Good luck with yours!!
nichola says
I emailed morses club over my loans they have sent me a copy of all loans and statements and a letter stating anything else just email I don’t know what to email back to get them to give us a refund thanks
Sam says
I’m a newbie with all this, so I’ve sent a email to provident on 30/dec , one for myself and one for my partner , we’ve both had a email showing our statement ect I’ve had a email today saying they will get back to me within 28days – when I looked on both our statements I didn’t realise how much we actually took out! 😱
I noticed X3 loans was taken out in the same month all three was £300 each!! Two under my partners name and one under my name!
Should I wait till the 28days is over or should I contact them before that? Thanks
Mike says
You need to wait I also put mine in on same day I contacted them today and they said they would have an answer for me on 14th feb
Sam says
Did you just send them another email?
Mike says
No I called them yesterday they said it’s been assigned to an agent and will come back to me on 14th
Laura Stafferton says
Hi mike
I wrote to provident before Xmas and had usual email acknowledging complaint and another reply on the 15th jan saying they were still looking into it. I havent recieved a breakdown of my loans or anything yet have u?
Thanks
Mike says
Hi Laura I had a break down of all my loans before I made the complaint I phoned them and asked for every loan I had had and every payment I had made and got them to send it via email took about 2 weeks they use an online portal so you can just down load it all
Paula says
I put a complaint in with provident on the 5th of November and had a reply saying out of 27 loans I had between 2007 and 2016 they have only upheld 1. I always renewed loans either early or as soon as 1 was paid off. I had to borrow money from family to get these payments paid each week as I was a single parent on tax credits working 16 hrs per week. In total the interest came to over £21,000. My agent always filled in the finance part and just had me sign. I was in financial difficulty all the time I had these loans. I have sent my complaint to the financial ombudsman, could you tell me if I have a case, I haven’t paid the last loan off as I am still in financial difficulty because of this. Many thanks.
John says
Hi Paula,
my case was just like yours. Provident refused me too. And I sent them to the ombudsman. And they said provident gave me 13 loans they shouldn’t have. So they are asking them to pay me the interest back on these loans.with 8% I worked it out to over £12.000 so don’t give up on there response of one loan.
Paula says
Thank you John I won’t give up.
Siobhan says
My agent did exactly the same thing with filling in the finance part!!!
Lottie says
Hello Sara, I have today heard back from FOS whom have confirmed that Provident have agreed with FOS’s findings, and what they should do to put it right. FOS were able to confirm my loans 4,8,9 & 10 should be addressed.
Do you know how long this would take approx?
Also loans 4,9&10 were never paid in full and were passed to collection agencies which I did pay, but I have no clue if they were paid in full. Loan 8 was paid in full in – which I took out on the 16.6.13 @£700 with £574 interest that was paid up on 30.08.2013 – so this shows how they leant in June -and then leant again, paying all the interest and a further loan for £500 ( this is how desperate) I got for cash. They have agreed to pay all interest paid, plus 8% and redress on the amounts I paid to collection agencies. They also need to remove any negative data from my credit file. The letter from FOS says they can still reduce any outstanding balances but not show negative on my credit file. I am now panicking as I can not afford to pay any of this, I am in so much debt – ( but managed by a DMP) for them now to re- instate old debts! Have your heard of they have done this to people.? Many thanks
Kerry says
Hi everyone I received a letter today from provident saying they have given me a new payable balance after deductions which amounts to £880. Also it says something about claiming from HMRC for any income tax deducted. Has anyone claimed this from HMRC and if so how do I do it? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Kerry,
how many loans did you have from provident and how much interest have you paid?
I am asking because sometimes Provident makes very poor offers and you could get a lot more by going to the Ombudsman.
Provident should have told you how much of your balance deduction was a refund of the interest you paid (which isn’t taxed) and how much was 8% extra interest added (which is). How much was the 8% part? Are you a basic rate taxpayer?
Kerry says
Hi Sara thanks for your reply. In total I have had 12 loans from provident, they are pin pointing 3 loans. The interest comes to £1665.49. The 8% comes to £318.96. I work for myself but very little hours so I am not paying tax.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So that doesn’t sound a good offer. You may want to think about going to the Ombudsman and see if some more loans are refunded?
if the 8% was 318, you would have had about £60 deducted in tax. As a non tax payer you can claim all of this back, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-payday-refund-get-back-tax/
Susan Dunn says
Hi there Sara
I have a complaint with loans at home and have sent it to the onbusman… I have today received an email from them saying that they reject my complaint as they are all time barred and when I did get the the loans the information a gave them never give then indications that I was financially suffering…. Do I take this dicusiin as black and white or do you think the onbusman will come to a different conclusion.
Many thanks
Sue
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I have today received an email from them saying that they reject my complaint
I assume this email is from LoansAtHome not FOS!
It is not up to LaH to decide which cases are time barred – that is FOS’s decision. FOS is likely to ask you when you realised you had problems with these loans. Many people knew at the time that they were difficult, leaving short so you had to take another one. But they didn’t know LaH should have checked the loans were affordable, they thought it was their own fault for being bad with money and taking the loans… so they didn’t realise they could complain until recently.
The fact you never told them you had a problem and may always have made your payments on time, isn’t relevant if the loans went on for years.
Jo says
What dose (time barred) mean on the loans? I’ve had a copy back from loans at home and this is on more than the first half of my loans.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It means the loans are more than 6 years old.
BUT this is misleading of Loans at Home to say this as it knows the Ombudsman will usually still look at these older loans.
How many loans did you have from them? How many have they offered to refund?
Jo says
I’ve only just put in the complaint for it but got a copy of the loans. There’s 37 in total and 27 say time barred. Not had an offer as of yet. It totals to about £6500 interest for all.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, so you are forewarned – LaH may make you a very poor offer, ignoring all the older loans. But you are likely to get a much better offer from the ombudsman.
Jo says
Ok do I have to wait for the offer from them first? As it’s only been about a week since first emailing the complaint.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes you have to wait for LaH to reply first. You can go to the ombudsman after 8 weeks if LaH haven’t replied.
Jo says
Ok thanks Sara. I guess that’s where it will end up if they don’t consider the older loans. Do you know how long it takes with the ombudsman?
Kelly McCandless says
Hi Sue,
I put a complaint into loans at home in 2018. I had 30 loans going back to 2013. Loans at home rejected my complaint and it went to ombudsman. They upheld loans 5 to 30. When I put my complaint in u made it clear that I had just found out that loans at home should have carried out the correct checks that the loans were affordable. I didn’t know I could complain until I came across Sara’s website. Loans at home initially offered me £900 for 2 loans they couldn’t find the agreements on. The ombudsman desision means I got just under £9000 back. Good luck.
Sue says
Hi Kelly
That’s really good to hear…. I had about 20 loans are from 2007-2014 SO they only looked at the 2014 and said the income and outgoing info I give them at the time of getting the loan that I could afford it so they rejected…. Sent the copy to ombudsman now so 🙏🤞… But brilliant news for you
Laura says
I have taken 4 loans out with provident from 2018 and my husband has taken out 3 loans because we got into financial trouble. Do i just email them about a refund or do i get one of them companies to help me. I am still paying my loan every wk but its a struggle and dont want things to become awkward with the person that collects my money every wk
Carly says
Hi Laura, use the template letter at the top of this page and complain to Provident yourself. I was worried about my caller being off with me, but he didn’t know until I phoned him to tell him the Ombudsman had ruled in my favour. He was fine, and wished me luck.
Carly says
Just thought I’d give another update. Today was the deadline for Provident to provide me with my redress, I rung them this morning and surprise surprise, nothing has been done. Its so frustrating! I have emailed Neil, if he doesn’t reply, what would be the next steps? TIA x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
this was from a FOS decision? tell your adjudicator what has happened. If nothing happens in a week I suggest you email the FCA and tell them.
Carly says
Yes they agreed with the recommendations on the 4th Jan. I have been ringing every week for an update, and was told each time, I will get a response within the 28 days. If I dont hear from Neil by teatime I will drop my adudicator a email. Thank you Sara.
Andrea says
Hi Carly,
Have you heard anything yet? Mine was also agreed on the 4th of Jan , haven’t heard anything, tried calling, emailed Neil and the FOS but still nothing.
Carly says
I emailed Neil and my adjudicator on Monday and have heard nothing from either of them. I rang provident again this morning and I couldn’t quite understand what she was trying to say. She said something along the lines of their ombudsman department hadnt picked it up yet, that has confused me. So I have now emailed malcolm, who I think is the CEO.
Its getting frustrating now as my agent told me to stop making payments because my refund will more than cover what is left to pay, and now I have the debt team calling me everyday. It seems their communication is shocking. Hope you have more luck than me lol :)
John says
They have a team at Provident that deals with the all the FOS cases and their recommendations. Lasts year my dad complaint FOS stated on their finding provident had 6 weeks to send there redress calculations and resolve issue. They did after 5 weeks. Girl dealing with it explained it take the full 6 weeks or sometimes longer if they have to contact any 3rd party debt agency to work of the final calculations. Then once they have final calculations there sent on to team manager to approve then that’s when you sent email or letter to confirm amount. Then depending on when that happens your cheque should be issue on the next Thursday as that when the cheque run is done.
John
Carly says
Thank you for clearing that up for me John, I was very confused. On the 4th Jan my adjudicator told me they had 28 days. Hopefully it won’t be much longer now :)
Andrea Denny says
Thanks for your response Carly. I was told the same thing when I eventually got through on the phone but they also said that they thought that the ombudsman team were up to date with paying out so she was surprised that it hadn’t yet been done. Fingers crossed we will both hear soon.
Carly says
Any luck yet Andrea? I’m sick of calling and being told there’s no updates :(
Andrea says
Hi Carly,
Yes I had a call on Wednesday and discussed figures and was told a cheque would go out on Thursday so fingers crossed I’ll receive it over the next few days.
Hope you hear soon
Linda says
Hi Sara,
I’ve just had a call from FOS saying they agree that I had been mis sold most of my loans from provident and they have wrote to provident and given them 2 weeks to agree. With their decision do they normally agree with the FOS or not. Another step closer been going on for months now and it is a lot of redress so really will be happy when all over, also how long after they agree will I get a cheque.
Lottie says
Hi, I have been told Provident have agreed to FOS findings and they will be offering me redress in accordance.
Does anyone know how long this will take? Also they sent me a cheque before Christmas as final settlement which I couldn’t bank as it would been seen as accepting their offer. Can I bank this now, and they pay remaining amount?
Or do I have to wait for them to send one new cheque and discard their previous cheque?
John says
Hi lottie
How long did it take from you sending your complaint to FOS?
Thanks
John
Lottie says
Hi John, I sent my complaint in Sept, and just been advised Provident will pay all my interest and 8%.
John says
Hi lottie
Thanks i just wanted to get an idea how long they are taking.I sent my complaint to them at start of jan and got email on Last week saying they have asked Provident for my complaint information.
My dad got his paid out September last year it took 5 weeks for Provident to follow FOS recommendations they were given 6 weeks to do so by FOS so did do it within time allocated.
John
John
Lottie says
Hi John,
Good luck with your complaint- I know FOS have been inundated with claims, and thats the reason for the delay. For me with Provident, I wasn’t able to get redress on anything pre 2009 – and my main borrowing from them was 1997-2007, then a break until 2009. They will only consider 2009 onwards to 2014 which was when I stopped borrowing. It’s still redress. And I do have some other complaints going through , hopefully they all come to fruition in my favour. I urge anyone in this position, to still with it, and see it through to FOS. Think FOS are getting through their backlog now, so hopefully you won’t have to wait long! Good luck 😉
Nigel says
I have just lodged a complaint last week with Provident, as I recently only just found out that you could complain about unaffordable lending. My loans with provident stretch back to early 2002 till around 2014. I received an email from the complaints department yesterday 01/02/2021 asking me if I had any evidence to support my claims while they investigate. In 2010 to 2012 I was also using other payday lenders and have just been recently been contacted by the administrator who are working on behalf of quick quid which has now gone bust. Part of these loans were upheld and some rejected. Should I use this as evidence? I also used your letter template and requested all the loans that I had with provident, should I again ask for these and then ask for my response to be extended so that I can rely in more detail to back up my complaint as they have only given me 10 to respond or just leave it and let them investigate. I know I only can go back to 2007. I have also since moved on a number of occasions so most paperwork and loan books were thrown away.
Any advice would be most appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You don’t have to do anything. It isn’t clear if Provident pay any attention to what you send them – often their decisions seem pretty random!
I would not suggest you ask for any extension, the last thing you want to do is delay thus process.
Nigel says
Thanks Sara that’s great.
I still haven’t received a breakdown of all the loans that I took out as stated in your very helpful template letter. Do I give them time or atrat chasing this with them.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You could reply you are still waiting for the list if your loans.
Nicola Price says
I have sent a complaint to morses regarding a loan from around 2013.
They have replied stating that my details have been purged from their systems. They have given me further address if im not happy .
Just wondered what should I do next? Any help appreciated, thanks
Nickie
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you have the details of this loan? Was it large?
nicola says
Both myself and my husband had a loan each probably around 500 each but I dont have any account details it was a shopercheck loan but Morses are saying the wont have any details, so unsure of what to do next? Is this a tactic of theirs?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It may be or it may be the truth.
But one loan cases are not that easy to win anyway.
Cj says
I had email from fos saying hey have now asked provident to send details of loans to them and that they have til 3 /2/21 ..how long do they normally take after this
Ruth says
Hi
Provident had til 23rd November to send mine over and FOS received them on 29th December
Julie says
Hello.
Does anyone have a complaints email address for morses. I can not seem to find it.
Many Thanks
Jo says
You have to go on the website for this and fill in the form, follow the link at the top.
Leelee says
Hi as an existing customer I
Recently sent in complaint to provident asking for refund on all loans I had took out over the years, I never had customer number which I told them I no longer had but gave them all information needed to locate account also gave my collectors name & 4 times they’ve sent me email requesting customer number, may I email I sent them I told them my mother & sister recently complained never had customer numbers, sisters had offer but refused & mum has also had reply from them, anyone know I can just go straight to ombudsman???
Nigel says
I had the same situation as it was around 2014 I last took a loan and since moved. They should be able to find you from either previous/current address and Date of Birth. I had the same problem as they said they could not locate me as I gave my current address instead of previous address where the loan was taken out at. Once I sent my details I received an email with my complaint reference number. Hope this helps.
Leelee says
Hi thanks for reply, I did make the mistake by giving them my address when making complaint
but after they contacted me asking for previous address I then remembered my Collector had me down at mums address when she signed me up for account it was opened without any checks done to prove that was my actual address, so I gave them the information requested & they’ve sent 3 more emails asking for address that I’ve sent back 3 times 😡
Jo says
Sara can I just ask Something?
I’ve had a copy of my agreements from morses but it’s only from 2015, have they done this because that’s the 6year limit?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Possibly, you need to ask them! I suggest you reply asking for the details of your earlier loans as well.
Jo says
They replied saying they only hold details for 6years due to there data cleansing policy! Is there anything I can do?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
do you have records of the earlier loans?
Jo says
No nothing.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then it may be hard to claim back any futher :(
See what response thay give your for the later loans.
Gina says
Good Morning, I have a complaint against CLC finance with an adjudicator at the FOS. Its taken a long time to get to this stage. My adjudicator called me this week to say they are upholding loans 9-33 as I have no bank statements for the earlier loans to show my finances.
After they had contacted CLC they advised it looks like it will have to go to an ombudsman as CLC are strongly disagreeing with the outcome. They deny any wrong doing at all and the adjudicator said the are being very difficult to deal with. The adjudicator has given them until 16th February to respond. My question is if this does go to the ombudsman, how long is it taking at the moment to be picked up? I originally sent my complaint to the FOS in June 2020 and just been picked up this week. Will it be roughly the same amount of time for the ombudsman to look at the case.
margaret says
I contacted GR finance on !st Feb using your template letter and just received a call from them offering to pay off the outstanding amount. Was told I could accept this or if I took it further they had would contest it as they had evidence to prove I could afford the loans and they did not agree with things I had said in letter. He wanted a quick settlement and I asked for time to consider. As my accounts are with Stepchange on a DMP the money would pay this off. I am new to this so would be grateful for any advice.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
do you know how many loans you had from them and how much interest you have paid on the previous loans?
The current loan – what did you borrow> how much have you paid so far? And what if the current balance?
Margaret says
I had 9 loans total interest for 1st 5 loans was £1144. These loans were cleared using further loans from them to clear balance and give me remaining money. Last 4 loans were only partly paid then I sought help from stepchange. These loans totalled £1900 and interest £1060. I was told they would pay off balance to stepchange of £1275 . Only mentioned 4 loans
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so the last 4 loans – in total you borrowed £1900. How much have you paid to the loans, either to GR finance dirct or through StepChange?
Margaret says
Manager said I had £1275 outstanding with stepchange so I had paid £625.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That doesn’t sound right . If you borrowed 1900 they would have added interest. You said 1060. But they may have added more interest later?
If the interest was 1060, then if you have 1275 balance left you have paid them 1685. By offering to wipe the balance, they are effectively removing the interest from the last loans (good) and giving a small refund of £215 from the interest on the previous loans.
You would probably get some cash refund if you went to FOS. Possibly for loan 4 and pretty likely loan 5.
You could decide you are happy to have the balance gone and to settle now. This isn’t a dreadful offer.
Margaret says
Thanks for your advise. I will accept the offer and get rid of the debt.
Timbouk says
I had my complaint rejected by provident and was told they would only look into my complaint further if I could provide new evidence. I asked provident to provide the transcripts of my last three loan applications ( all in 2019/2020) and they have come back to me today to say they are unable to find the transcripts (even the person in the complaints team sounded surprised). Is it worth me making a new complaint about them losing my recordings as I believe they are meant to hold on to them by law for 5 years? A bit worrying what other data might have been lost!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How many loans did you have from them? How large?
And why did you ask for those recordings what did you know was on them?
Timbouk says
I had 11 loans over 14 months and never fully paid one off as the new loan paid the old one off each time. At the time I had a lot of credit card debts and I was never asked about any credit cards or debts. I believe the agent saw my credit or outgoings on her phone and just said ‘I see you have other payment but I guess you are sorting that separately’. I just said yes as was desperate for the loan at the time. The fact they do not have the recording seems strange. Reading more they are meant to keep them safe for six years.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you tell them that unless they agree to refund the last 6 loans you will be sending your case to the ombudsman. You may get more than 6 refunded at FOS, but it’s a reasonable compromise offer to save you time?
Mo says
Hi all,
Finally have my decision on my morses club from the fos and they have upheld loans 7 onwards. Morses club previously agreed loans 10 to 14 shouldn’t have been lent but I forwarded onto fos for them to take a look. The letter states loans 7 8 and 9 shouldn’t have been lent so will morses include loans 10 to 14 automatically as it says in the letter they have already agreed they shouldn’t have been lent. Sorry but just want to make sure I’ve got that right. Morses have til 19th Feb 2021 to reply to fos. Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
An adjudicator normally doesn’t spend time thinking about the loans the lender has agreed to refund – it sounds as though that us what has happened here so if the adjudicator decision is accepted by Morses (🤞) you will Get a refund for 7-14
Mo says
Hi sara,
Thats brilliant thankyou, was very lucky, took 2 months to allocate an adjudicator and 2 weeks for him to reply with his findings. Fibgers crossed everyone else gets some good news and thanks again Sara, without you I wouldn’t have done anything at all 😊
Maggie says
I recently sent mutual a complaint email a few weeks ago and I’ve not had a response off them. A family friend who told me about this said they had one back in 5days. I’ve now re-sent it again but when do I start my 8 weeks from that first email or when they respond?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
the first complaint – but you have made things complicated by sending anew one. Phone them up and check they had received the first one and explain the second one was just repeating the first one.
Maggie says
Oh ok, I read they have to send an acknowledgment email with in 5 days this is why I re-sent it. It’s like they ain’t acknowledging it for some reason.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It would be good practice to acknowledge but not all firms do.
Mike says
The adjudicator at the FOS upheld loans 6-19 from my Provident complaint and Provident have accepted his recommendation. I think I’m due roughly £5,500 in redress from the interest alone. Do you know roughly how much the 8% interest will tally up to. The 14 loans concerned were taken between 2015-2018.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
no, it depends when you paid the interest on each loan. But likely 25-40%
Amie says
Hi Mike, did provident tell you these figures or have you worked them out? Provident have agreed with the adjudicators view but not figures presented which annoys my a little because I know how to work it out to a certain extent but don’t want set my heart on a figure to be told it will be much lower if I have done it wrong if that makes sense lol
Debra says
Hi
I sent the template letter and Provident have sent me details of all my loans.
I have replied and asked them to make me an offer that I can consider.
I’ve paid over 3,600 in interest, what is the average offer I can expect?
If I don’t like the offer do I just inform Provident that I am going to ask the FO to look at my claim?
Regards
Linda says
Hi
Ive got an ongoing complaint with morses/shopacheck. Ive accesed my credit report and found these
Date. Monthly term
21/07//2018 0 @ £108
24/06/2018. 0 @ £75
21/11/2017. 0 @ 108
16/05/2018. 12 @ £75
24/01/2017. 7 @ £58
18/10/2016. 22 @ £60
29/06/2016. 7 @ £64
07/04/2016. 12 @ £75
05/01/2016. 12 @ £45
08/10/2015. 12 @ £60
23/04/2015. 11 @ £0
20/01/2015. 7 @ £0
15/01/2015. 11 @ £45
15/01/2015. 11 @ £0
21/11/2014. 11 @ £0
21/11/2014. 11 @ £60
24/11/2014. 11 @ £0
Can anyone tell me why some are shown with £0 please I dont understand it
Thanks Linda
Abbie says
Hi I’m new to this so I sent in my complaint tp clc finance in December id not had a reply until last week when I send a follow up email asking what was happening as the 8 weeks is nearly up then I got an email today saying
I am working on your complaint, as they was a delay in us receiving it I have prioritised it to come back to you as soon as we possibly can. To let you know, I have asked for your loan paperwork to be retrieved from our manual archives which are based in our offices. There are 36 loan agreements in total and due to COVID we are operating with very limited office based staff. We will endeavour to retrieve these by the end of this week or very early next week and contact you again once they have been reviewed.
So do I leave it to see what they reply or do I just take it to the fos? I don’t have my paper work any more so I have no idea how much my lones or the interest was I do know that when I’d taken them out I had other lones from other companies I was on benefits and really struggled I had more money going out than in and the person who used to do my loans never looked or asked to see my bank details
Also has anyone made a complaint to clc finance before?
Gina says
Hi, I’ve got a complaint ongoing with CLC finance at the moment. I first made my complaint back in March 2020 and their final response was that they had not given any loans that were unaffordable. I forwared my complaint to the FOS in June 2020.
I have only just heard back from the FOS in the last couple of weeks. The adjudicator has upheld loans 9-33 but did indicate that CLC are being extremely difficult to deal with and believes it may have to go to an ombudsman. They were given until the 16th Feb for their response but have requested an extension until the 26th.
Abbie says
Hi gina oh it sounds like they like to be difficult then fingers crossed you get a response soon all together how long as it taken for you to get this far? If you don’t mind me asking did they make an offer to you to start off with? I’m asking cos I still have lones out standing and they keep asking me if I want more im getting texts and phone calls ever few days and the door stop caller turning up to ask if i want more the weekly payments are making it financially difficult I don’t no if I should keep paying them
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Abbie,
do you have other problem debts as well as these?
Abbie says
Hi Sarah yes I do im slowly trying to pay it all off but its a big struggle
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can I suggest you talk to StepChange then about all your debts, including these doorstep loans? When StepChange set up a debt management plan for you, they take over dealing with your creditors and you just make one affordable payment per month, see https://www.stepchange.org/how-we-help/debt-management-plan.aspx. And interest is frozen as well – that isn’t 100% guaranteed but these days it is what usually happens.
A DMP will get you in a safe financial position while your affordability complaint with CLC goes through the Ombudsman which can be slow. Then if you win the case, this will mean your DMP will end massively sooner.
Gina says
I first complained to them in March 2020 and they refused to uphold any of the 33 loans. I then sent it to the FOS in June but due to Covid was a long wait to get assigned to an adjudicator. My complaint was picked up at the end of January 2021 and told me their findings about a week later. Just waiting on CLC now to respond to the ajudicators findings and see if it needs to go to an ombudsman. So far its been nearly a year since I first complained to CLC. Hopefully be all over in the next few weeks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you may as well wait until end next week and then send it to FOS if you haven’t had a reply or its a poor offer/rejection.
Abbie says
Thank you for your reply I think thats what I will do how do I contact the FOS I don’t think they will make an offer as they have taken so long to even look at my complaint
Sara (Debt Camel) says
See the Sending a complaint to the Ombudsman section in the article above.
Amie Timmins says
Hi, so the adjudicator saw in my favour regarding my complaint against provident they gave provident until the 10th (today) to contact them and to provide any other information if they wish. Just wondering if provident do stick to their time frames and what happens if they don’t?
Thank you 😊
Mike says
Hi Amie
Once Provident and you both agree with the adjudicators outcome, Provident have 28 days to send you a breakdown of what redress should be forthcoming. I’m in this 28 day period now (due breakdown by Feb 26th). From what Lynne says below, I’m guessing this can drag on abit but you can get in touch with your adjudicator to chase them up if it goes beyond 28 days. How long it takes for the cheque to arrive beyond that is abit of a step in the dark for me but hopefully this is the final hurdle! Good luck. Mike
Amie says
Thank you for your reply! I’m so glad the end is near for you. It’s such a long battle isn’t it lol.
Lynne says
Here’s my update: On Dec 12th I posted that Provident had agreed with the adjudicator to pay redress in line with the decision. Yesterday I finally had the breakdown of the redress and the added information that the calculations were made to include all the interest to 17th February and that my cheque would be be sent to me. Hopefully not much longer to wait. Good luck all.
Amie says
Brilliant, glad it’s finally coming to an end for you
Alyson says
Hi, I am just asking for my sister, she sent her complaint into Naylors this morning she received an email back that says they can not find her, could you advise what she needs to do please, thankyou
Chris says
So I’ve just had a copy of loans from provident, but I’m sure I had at my old address and they have only sent for my previous address. Is this something they usually do? I have asked for info from old address and told them what it is so waiting to hear back now!
David says
Hi I had loans with provident and green woods can I claim for both at the same time
Jo says
Sara can you help me please?
So provident have a portal and there was a request open and asked for my date of birth so I sent it. Then was 2 and I didn’t take any notice of the other as I had already sent the information asked. It got closed yeah so I emailed asking how come and got this as a reply today……
We emailed you on the 26th January 2021 requesting information from you to enable us to deal with your rights request, making you aware that failure to provide the requested information within 14 days would results in your rights request being closed.
We have received no response from you and therefore we are writing to let you know that we have now closed you rights request with the reference S92QKSFGBW.
Anything else I can do? As I believe this may be my older loans from my previous address!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
reply to them saying you had already provided your date of birth to their previous request. repeat that you still want the copy of all your personal information. I assume you have also given them details of your previous address?
Has it now been 8 weeks since you sent your complaint in?
Jo says
Thanks sara I will. Yes I have given them all that, No not yet it’s been about 4 weeks! If they still don’t send me what will happen when I send to the ombudsman?
Manxcat says
Hi
I had an email from the FOS in November asking me to forward certain information, they gave me a deadline of Dec 1st (I think) to submit everything. I got an email acknowledging the statements and stuff I sent by email, but thats been it. I have heard absolutely nothing, I don’t even know if they have started on my claim, has anyone else waited this long since submitting information.
Amie says
I waited a while, at least 3 months until I herd from the adjudicator and I herd 2 weeks ago and they have emailed provident saying what’s fair and what they should do and provident had until the 10th of Feb to provide any other information and to give their opinion on the adjudicators decision of course I haven’t herd anything and it’s now the 12th. I’m wondering what happens now lol. Hang tight or drop them an email because it’s usually the lenders that hold the case up by not providing the information that the adjudicator asks for so they can look into your case.
Karen says
Hi sara
Just wanted to ask when I put in for a refund from Provident in 2018 for 5 loan 3 in 2016 and 2 in 2017 I was told by Provident I could not claim anything back in refunds as the new law for lending loans came out in 2015 and my loans was Affordable at the time….But I just read the new law came out in May 2017for lending…So i just wanted to know is this right …..and my loans was took out between 2016 and 2017….I took it to the Ombudsman but because my letter never came I missed the died line…..even though I got a message on my resolver that Provident was still looking at it on the 2/2/2018 and on the 5/2/2018 but according to Provident it was posted on the 2/2/2018….with the final decision i was paying little but got it financial difficulty witch I could pay they give me 30days and when I rang Provident they sent the loans to a debt collectors……I think I was treated unfairly by Provident and the Ombudsman is there any thing else I can do please
Thx
Sara (Debt Camel) says
There were no new laws that matter to these cases – the legal underpinning goes back to 2007 and the FCA regulations to 2014.
When did your complaint go to the ombudsman? When did FOS say they couldn’t look at it?
Karen says
Hi Sara
I put a complaint at the end November 2017 with Provident rang them in December 2017 was told it was still being looking at in January 2018 rang again still looking at it then on my resover on the 2/2/2018 and on the 5/2/2018 Provident wrote still looking at it….But according to Provident they sent a final decision out on the 2/2/2018 witch I didnt receive though post so rang Provident up and was told the loans was a affordable at the time as the law changed Provident would not send me another finle decision ….So when I took to it to the FOS I was out of date as it was over 6 months betime I could get something of Provident witch I did months later though my email dated the 9/2/2018 the final decision but still FOS could not do nothing as FOS looked on Provident postle system and told me it was posted out so I got nothing now Provident sent it to a debt collectors with no letters letting ne know they was going to send it to a debt collectors…..Witch Provident said they did send letters out about this I got none….there’s not just me gone though this I know lots of people in same situation as me….Got no refund from Provident…just wanted to know if there anything else I can do as I can’t take it to the FOS its to late all though Provident mistake can I not take it to the FCA for Provident
Thx
Karen
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so rang Provident up and was told the loans was a affordable at the time as the law changed Provident would not send me another finle decision
what date (roughly) did you phone them up?
did they refuse to send you another copy of their decision?
did they tell you on the phone that you had to go to FOS within 6 months?
The FCA will not look at an individual complaint.
Karen says
Hi Sara
I rang Provident on the 5/2/2018 and was told my complaint was still being looked at and I should hear in 14 days was never told to take it FOS….So I rang Provident 14 days later for them to say they sent a final response out…on the 9/2/2018 witch I never received by post so I ask for it to be sent by my email….after lots of phone calls and stress Provident sent me the final response letter…..On the 4/10/2018…and the final response letter was dated 9/2/2018…..In another letter from Provident the final response letter was sent out on the 2/2/2018 witch is so confusing Because I only rang them on the 5/2/2018 and was never told a letter went out….And in the letter states my loans was obtained after July 15 though a new system called the lending App….I got my loans in 2016 2017
So before I got that final response on the 4/10/2018 I took it to the FOS in September 2018 witch I waited month I was out of time for them to look at it but FOS still asked Provident to send details over
Thx
Karen
Karen says
Hi do you think I would be better to send this to the CEO Provident as I have all emails who sent me emails from Provident saying there still looking at my loans on the 2/2/2018 and the 5/2/2018…Then on an email a copy of the final response dated 9/2/2018 it states they only send one letter out and it was sent out on the 2/2/2018….can understand why when I rang Provident on the 5/2/2018 they was still dealing with it….and I just found another email stating it was still being delt with on the 1/2/2018
Thx
Karen
Sara (Debt Camel) says
when did you get the decision from FOS that this was out of time? Was this from an investigator or an Ombudsman?
Karen says
Hi Sara
I put it to the FOS in September 2018 in October 2018 I got an email from an Investigator saying it was out of time then it went to a Ombudsman for them to say the same I was not happy so this when on till November 2020…..to me they invesgated as they got on to Provident for evidence and postle system to see if Provident sent the final response out…..and screen shot saying the letter from Provident went out on the 9/2/2018 and not the 2/2/2018….I have an email stating the argenal letter went out on the 2/2/2018 and Provident only send 1 letter out not 2
Thx
Karen
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so is it too late to explain to the ombudsman that you had told provident you never received this but it took them many months to send you a new one?
Karen says
Hi Sara
Yes it took many mouth for Provident to send me another final response but I did tell Ombudsman this but it was still a no go with Ombudsman…..my case whet to so many people at the Ombudsman I did ask to complain to the Ombudsman but keept being put off with them..According to FOS I should have put my claim in around August 2018 and I put it in September 2018
So is there nothing I can do now are can i take this to the CEO of Provident
Thx
Karen
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I’m sorry that looks like a bad decision by FOS. You can email Provident’s CEO but I don’t think this often works.
Siobhan says
Nearly 10 weeks after complaining I finally received their final decision today. They sent me a list of my loans, including all the dates I took them out and the dates I paid them up. My agent kept offering me bigger loans and that is clear on this list as I was refinancing the old ones with the new ones. I’ve paid over £13k in interest over 21 loans yet they’ve not upheld my complaint. Surely this isn’t right. Any advice?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds very poor. I suggest you send it straight to the Ombudsman.
But also, this is so bad I think it’s worth telling the FCA, Provident’s regulator, how unreasonable they are being. The FCA won’t look at your complaint but they should know how badly Provident are handling complaints.
Email the FCA at consumer.queries@fca.org.uk and copy this to joe.sweeney@provident.co.uk and Neil.Iveson@provident.co.uk
Subject: Rejection from Provident(700144) after 21 loans
Give your name, address, email address and a Provident reference number if you have it.
Say a bit about your complaint – 21 loans over [how many] years. Say your agent kept offering you larger loans to refinance loans. That you have paid over £13,000 in interest.
Say you know the first few loans wouldn’t be refunded but you were astonished when Provident rejected your whole affordability complaint.
Say you think Provident is trying to take advantage of vulnerable people who will just give up.
If your situation is especially difficult at the moment, say this.
Say you know the FCA will not look at your individual case and you are sending it to the Financial Ombudsman but you thought the FCA should know how badly Provident is handling complaints, ignoring what the Ombudsman is likely to do.
Siobhan says
That’s really helpful. Thank you. I’ve sent that email to the FCA.
I sent this to the Ombudsman before receiving this decision as they kept asking for more time so I followed above advice. Is it worth sending another complaint to the Ombudsman with this update?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Don’t start a new complaint at FOS, just say you now have the rejection from Provident so you want to add it to your case record.
Siobhan says
I’m still awaiting a response from them so don’t have a reference number to add to just yet.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ok so wait until FOS gets back to you with that number
petra beecham says
Hi Sara
I sent my complaint to Provident 1st February and got the following response which I did not reply to. What do I do now
CCCD10236338
Dear Miss
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.
Siobhan says
I received exactly the same thing when I sent my complaint over. You’ll get a couple more saying they’re still working on it etc. Then, after 8 weeks they’ll either send you a decision or another ‘I’m sorry this hasn’t yet been resolved’ email. That email informs you you’re entitled to pass it to the Ombudsman. My advice is to pass it on as soon as you get that email.
Joanna says
Hi Sara, I’ve just found out my 81 year old mother in law has been getting loans off mutual for the last 15 years! She only on pension money and they would have known this at getting the first loan, does she stand a chance of getting anything back?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes she does.
Affordability complaints can go back to April 2007, so most of her borrowing would be within this time.
Can you suggest she makes a complaint? You can help her draft this using the template in the article above. If she doesn’t use email, could set up an account for her?
You could also make a complaint on her behalf if you think this would be easier but then you need to get a letter of authority from her saying you can make this complaint on her behalf, so it’s a bit simpler if she does it. My mum at 81 would have been fine doing this, my mother in law probably not…
Does she still owe them money? If she does, she also needs to ask for a more affordable payment arrangement so she can pay it back much slower and so not need to borrow any more money from them when this ends.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Also can I check, “she is only on pension money” – is she getting pension credit? See https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/money-legal/benefits-entitlements/pension-credit/.
Joanna says
Thanks for your help.
I will draft it for her as she has a email address and is still ok to deal with things like this. I think she said she owes them £700 still as her loans are £1000-£1500 each time.
Yes she is getting the pension credit. I just think it’s terrible they would let her borrow money at her age!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, then she should definitely ask to repay this at a much more affordable level. Say £5 or £10 a week?
Kerry says
Provident can’t find any of my loans on a previous address in my maiden name but found loans in my current address In my married name. What can I do? I know I had more loans in my old address. How have they not got that information?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
All you can do is send your complaint to the Ombudsman. Sometimes other loans seem to turn up when FOS gets involved.
Laura says
I am in similar position. Provident are only saying they can find my 4 loans since 2016. I had about 10-15 loans from 2006-2016 and they are not acknowledging them. My case is with the ombudsman and they have said if I can’t find proof my end there is nothing they can do. So I am guessing Provident are using this to their advantage. So I think many of us will be in the same boat unfortunately.
Kerry Mullinger says
Surely that’s all provident have to do now is not acknowledge the loans so they don’t have to pay how is this fair? They should have all the loans on file not part of them. I’ve even told provident my old providents name. Surely they have all the loans she gave out on file? Doesn’t make sense, I guess this is the start of them not finding loans to get out of refunds!
Laura Kilgariff says
Yes there doesn’t seem to be much we can do if they say they can’t find our records. They are now basing my claim on only those loans and nothing I can do about it.
Heather says
Hi Sara
I put in a complaint to Provident in August20 having had loans from 2007 I had to chase them up and finally on Dec 8th got a standard rejection letter with so many wrong things in it I appealed
I then received a email back saying they were re looking at it and could I send further info I sent proof I had had to pass all my debts StepChange in oct 2012 together with a copy of my first statement in December2012 and my last Statement from Jan 2021 I will not finish repaying all my debts until Sep 2021
They then backtracked and offered me a refund of the 2012 loans a total of 4 with interest from 2012 plus interest coming to 3.400 aying it was clear that these were unaffordable. However they are that saying that the earlier loans were affordable as I repaid them without problems I am sure that the loans from 2011 should be counted as unaffordable but they are refusing to include them
17/12/2010 600
21/02/2011 1200
06/02011 600
05/08 / 211 1000
14/102011 250
16/12/2011 1.200
Most of these loans involved rolling over or paying 2 loans at the same time
Many thanks for your great advice on this site
John b says
Hi heather.
I know you don,t know me but I was in the same situation as yourself. They said I wasn’t entitled to anything. And wanted more proof. I didn’t send them anything. I just sent my case to the ombudsman. And then they sorted it. Provident backed down. And followed what the ombudsman said. Now I,m waiting for a cheque for about £12000..so don’t give up.
Robert says
Congrats You done very well to get a change of mind from them. My situation was similar to yours, a standard rejection, I appealed, they asked for more evidence, I sent a copy of my CAP UK creditors plan, they still declined. Also cc’d in Neil Iveson on all my correspondence, not any reply from him.
I have now sent it to FOS today but am not hopeful as have been getting more rejections from FOS.
Heather says
Hi Robert
It was amazing that when I copied last Email in to the CEO of Provident how quickly I got a reply
and even more amazing is that the cheque for £3400 arrive this morning this more so a week after I had copied him in
However the cheque has arrived with no paperwork I had been emailed a a copy of breakdown for 2012 repayment so I know tis is correct but nothing to say that if I cash cheque I then can’t take the previous years to the FO so what do I do .
Sara (Debt Camel) says
has any of the paperwork you have been sent used the phrase “in settlement of your complaint” or something like that?
heather says
No Just says I can go to FO if unhappy no mention in email of it being a final settlement just says it is upholding the 2012 ones
I replied regarding the earlier ones from 2011 I thought should be included and was told that I could afford them as I had never missed a payment and there was a gap between loans ignoring the fact that I had refinanced loans every time or was paying 2 loans at a time surely a sure sign I was struggling I would like plainly to cash the cheque and still go to FO re 2011 Can I email them and say this and get hopefully a E mail reply to saying it is ok I am amazed that I have not had anything in writing with the cheque to make plain what their rule regarding this is
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So the risk now is if you ask them they will probably say the cheque is in settlement of your whole complaint.
If you are sure it doesn’t say this anywhere you may think it’s better to cash the cheque now and send the case to FOS. If Provident then try to argue you have accepted there offer, you can point out that you were never told this.
Claire says
Hello does this seem right Sara?
My last contact with the ombudsmen was that provident will be in touch about my refund as provident have agreed to uphold my complaint. I emailed the ombudsmen back and said ok that’s great news. So I have been waiting for provident to send me a breakdown of what I am owed according to the ombudsmen direction.
Today I recieved a cheque in the post for a much lower amount than I calculated with no explanation as to what will happen to my loans that were sold to collection agencies.