Have you had a catalogue, credit card or store card where your credit limit was too high? So high that the monthly repayments were hard to manage and you got into more debt?
Many people were originally given an OK limit, but the lender kept increasing them.
You may have a good complaint that the lender was irresponsible in allowing you to borrow so much that the debt was unaffordable.
This article explains how to complain and ask for a refund of the interest you paid
Contents
What is “affordability”?
The following is my summary of the regulator’s rules:
- a lender must check if credit is affordable when you apply for it. A mortgage lender will ask for bank statements, but a catalogue offering a £200 credit limit doesn’t have to go into so much detail;
- a lender should also make new checks when deciding to increase a credit limit;
- credit isn’t affordable if paying it leaves you short of money for your bills,everyday expenses, and your other debts;
- if you have to borrow more most months, this would not be affordable. This could be borrowing on the same account – making a credit card repayment but then using the credit card to pay for food so the balance never drops is “borrowing more”;
- you have to be able to repay the balance within a reasonable period of time. Paying the minimum amount is OK for a short while, but not for a prolonged period.
How to complain
Good reasons to complain
If the lender could see any of these on your credit record, they should probably have declined your original application:
- recent credit record problems: defaults, missed payments, or arrangements to pay, mortgage arrears, payday loans;
- you already had a different credit card with the same lender where you were only making minimum payments and were using it for essentials like food and petrol. If you were given two credit or catalogue accounts by the same lender, often the second one should never have been given.
- other credit cards where you were near your limit and persistent overdraft usage. Here is an Ombudsman decision saying Zopa should not have given quite a low initial limit in this situation;
- a level of borrowing that looks too high in relation to your income.
Your credit limit should not later have been increased unless you could afford it. In addition to the points above, the following should have also warned the lender you were in difficulty already:
- making minimum payments for a long while;
- using a lot of your limit for a long period;
- a lot of gambling showing on the account statement;
- recent missed payments or an arrangement to pay on this account;
- your overall level of debt on your credit record has gone up a lot.
You don’t need all the details to complain
When your lender increased your credit limit, you don’t need the exact date. If all you can say is “you increased my credit limit several times” that is fine. You don’t need to ask for copies of all your statements – you would get a ton of paper!
But getting your credit record can help. You can’t go back and see exactly what your credit score was in say 2018, but take a copy of your current credit record as soon as you complain (get your free TransUnion statutory credit report). That will show what the pre-2018 problems were that the lender should have spotted.
Template to complain & the email address to use
The best way to complain is by email. It’s free, instant and you have a record of what you sent and when. Here is a list of credit card and catalogue email addresses to use.
In the suggestions below, I’ve invented some examples for the bits in italics in brackets. Change/delete these to tell your story.
I want to complain about irresponsible lending by you for my Barclaycard account number 987654/444. My date of birth is dd/mm/yy. The email address I used for this account was myaddress@whatever.com.
Then say they should never have given you the account:
You should never have allowed me to open an account with such a large credit limit. When I applied in 2015, you should have checked my credit record and you would have seen I had recent missed payments to a credit card and a default only two months before on a loan.
Or say that they should not have increased your credit limit:
You should never have increased my credit limit in 2015. At that time I had only made minimum payments on this credit card for a long while and/or I was using a very high level of my credit limit.
If you had properly checked my credit record before increasing my limit, you would have seen that in the two years since my account with you was opened, I had got additional late payment markers and defaults and/or taken out a lot of other credit. This should have warned you I was struggling with my finances and it was not responsible to lend me more. By increasing my credit limit you made my financial position worse. Instead you should have offered me forbearance by freezing the interest on the card.
I do not know the exact months of these credit limit increases. In your reply to this complaint, please tell me the dates and amounts.
If the lender should already have known you had problems with your account, mention these
You should also have realised that I was having difficulty because:
of the late payment charges you added to my account
of the gambling transactions showing on my card statement
I had missed two payments to you the year before in 2017
I had already asked you on the phone if it was possible to stop adding interest for a while.
End with asking for a refund:
I would like you to refund me all the interest I paid and any late payment charges from the point the account was opened
OR
I would like you to refund me all the interest I paid and any late payment charges after you increased my credit limit in 2018.
I would also like any late payment and default markers to be removed from credit records after this point.
I understand that if I take this complaint to the Financial Ombudsman, 8% simple interest is usually added to a cash refund.
Points to think about
Timing
These complaints can be made if your account is still open, or if it is closed and settled, or if it is with a debt collector (NB the complaint goes to the original lender, not the debt collector.)
You can complain if you already have a CCJ for the debt. Add a sentence to the template saying you want the CCJ removed as part of the settlement of your complaint.
If you have had an IVA or bankruptcy after these problems, or if you are still in a DRO, then ask in the comments below, as this can be complicated.
Old accounts
The Financial Ombudsman (FOS) can only go back to April 2007, when the law changed to allow these complaints.
Many lenders will reject complaints about something that was more than 6 years ago and say the ombudsman won’t look at them. But FOS will often look at old problems if you have only found out in the last three years that you can make the complaint.
If your account was opened in 2015 but the lender increased your limit in 2018 and 2019, then the two limit increases are within the last 6 years and can definitely be looked at.
However, complaints about things that happened more than 6 years ago may be hard for you to produce much evidence for. But if you feel you have a strong older case and you have some evidence, then take it to the Ombudsman and let them decide!
An alternative approach for old accounts
If your account was opened a long while ago and you defaulted and still owe a balance, perhaps in a DMP, think about asking the debt collector to produce the Consumer Credit Act agreement for the account.
If the current creditor can’t produce a proper copy of the agreement, the debt cannot be enforced in court and you can simply stop paying anything to it. This applies to all credit cards, store cards and catalogues.
It may be that the balance on the account is larger than any refund you might get. In which case if the CCA agreement cannot be produced, you would be better off.
Is a refund what you really need?
This depends how large your current financial problems are.
Complaining about newish debt will often only get the interest removed – you still have to repay what you borrowed. Don’t spend months arguing with lenders and going to the ombudsman if you will still be in a mess even if you win.
So phone National Debtline on 0808 808 4000, tell them you are thinking about affordability complaints but you would like to know what your other debt options are.
Poor reasons to complain
You can’t complain just because the interest rate was high or because you have paid them a fortune over the years.
A poor credit score on its own isn’t a reason why you shouldn’t have been given an account. But if your credit score was poor because you were having a lot of problems with your existing debt, the account should have been refused.
You won’t win an affordability complaint if something unexpected went wrong later in your life. If you had been managing a credit card fine for years but then you lost your job or separated from your partner and you defaulted, this isn’t the lender’s fault.
Don’t be put off by a rejection or a poor offer
Lenders often reject good cases
If a lender rejects your complaint or offers a low “goodwill” gesture, don’t be fobbed off – they want you to give up.
In particular, if the lender says you had made all the payments to them on time so they had no reason to think you had problems, you can ignore this. Or if the lender dismisses your complaint as the account was opened over 6 years ago.
When you have a Final Response from the lender – or after 8 weeks if you haven’t had a Final Response – send your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). Don’t delay doing this!
Is a “partial uphold” good enough?
If the lender says they should not have increased your credit limit in June 2018 when your limit was increased and they will give you a refund of interest for balances over the previous limit, that may sound good. It is sometimes called a partial uphold or a partial refund or proportionate interest.
But often the amount of money refunded in this situation is a lot less than you might expect. So tell the lender you want to consider their offer but need to know how large the refund will be.
Often you were already in a difficult financial situation at that point, with cards close to maxed out, being used for everyday essentials and only paying the minimums. At that point the lender should have stepped in and offered to help you by freezing all interest. That is why a partial refund is often not good enough, you should have all the interest refunded from that point.
How to send a case to FOS
Send FOS a complaint using their online form. You can use bits of what you put in your complaint to the lender. If the lender has rejected your complaint or given a poor offer, say why you think this wrong.
The FOS form at the end asks you to add supporting documents. Don’t worry if you don’t have A copy of your credit or finance agreement – lots of people don’t and the lender will supply a copy to FOS if FOS asks for it. Don’t delay sending a complaint to FOS while you try to get this from the lender.
If your credit record shows that you had other debt problems, send FOS a copy of it. If you have kept some, send the oldest one you have, otherwise send the current one. Also get your bank statements if they will support your complaint and send those to FOS too.
FOS is a friendly service but not fast. Just use normal English, not legal terms. Using a claims company or a solicitor doesn’t help or speed this up.
Ask questions below!
There are hundreds of comments from readers who are using this template. It’s a good place to see how these complaints often go and to ask any questions.
FAQs about Affordability claims
Can you get an overdraft refund?
Could a Debt Relief order help you?
Paul says
Had my first setback at adjudicator stage today. Rejected my complaint against Vanquis stating they feel Vanquis carried out reasonable checks when increasing my credit limit. I don’t agree with this as I was living at the end of my credit limit at the time, making minimum payments for a long period of time and I had to borrow from payday loan companies to cover the minimum payments. The adjudicator says that Vanquis wouldn’t have been privy to this information and as far as their records would be concerned, I’m still making the payments.
Is it worth arguing this?
Becky says
Hi paul
Yes it is deffo worth arguing this,do as much reasearch as you can regarding lending standards and send them back to them.i had this with capital one…adjudicator didn’t uphold my claim but ombudsman did…keep fighting TIL the end
Paul says
Thanks Becky, that’s really useful!
I’ve gone through the Lending Standards Board and UK Card Association policies and guidelines and I’ve been able to put across a detailed and in my opinion, strong case of appeal. I’ve shown some strong evidence in support of my claim and why I disagree with the adjudicators decision. So strong that it’s 9 pages long so I don’t think he’ll look forward to going through all that today! Fingers crossed now.
Becky says
Hi paul
Well done you, that’s exactly wha5 you need to do … just keep positive and keep fighting hopefully you’ll get the results you are hoping for
Kindest regards
Becky
Peter says
Just want to say thank you to Sara for all the advice and to anyone complaining about Shop Direct (Very) keep battling , they rejected my claim initially for unaffordable lending over a period of time they increased my credit limit from an initial £250 to £10000 (thats not a typo it really is 10 thousand pounds) and now after a long period of it being with the FOS they have agreed to refund all my interest and charges from January 2014 to present and close the account the refund is over £12000 while I will receive a small amount in form of a cheque after the outstanding balance is cleared. I am very happy that I carried ongoing.
These companies seem to just reject as a matter of course to either drag it out or hope that people give up/don’t have the right information to fight it
Sara (Debt Camel) says
£12,000 – wow! Well done.
Carol says
That’s brilliant. I have one with very for 4000.
annie says
Can I ask when you sent this to the FOS as my case has been waiting now since December 2018. Just for an idea of when I can expect it to be looked at. Well done on your refund
Peter says
It had only been with the FOS since June, it wasnt an FOS decision though it was a settlement which Shop Direct offered so god knows how long I would of been waiting if they had not.
sadly the FOS seem overwhelmed and also these companies try to drag things out in my eyes
Will says
Mine was around September 2018 I sent it to fos and very have just accepted adjudicators decision this week
Shaun says
Hello everyone,
Apologies in advance for the long message but thought I’d include as much detail as possible. I have submitted irresponsible lending claims to 4 credit card issuers I was with – HSBC, Barclaycard, Tesco Bank and Nationwide. All 4 companies unsurprisingly have rejected my initial claims. I then requested all my statements via FOI requests and sent them off to the FOS.
I am currently in a DMP and still paying off money I owe to these 4 companies (£10,000 in total) and will be for the next 3 years. I became overwhelmed with my debt due mostly to online gambling and escalation of payday loan borrowing.
My question is – in everyone’s experience, are these claims processed in any way different from payday loan claims? The reason I am asking is because I have had brief discussions with 2 adjudicators in the FOS for 2 of my claims (Barclaycard and HSBC) and I have offered to send my credit reports and bank statements but on both occasions they seem reluctant to take them from me – instead saying they have everything they need but this is only the credit card statements I sent them.
I will of course wait until they come back to me again which they have said could be a few weeks or so but thought I’d check in the meantime what everyone’s experiences are in dealing with these types of claims and is there anything I can do in advance to prepare for the next stage?
Thank you for any advice you can offer or experiences you can share.
Regards,
Shaun
William says
Just to keep u updated just had success with a very catalogue complaint limit was increased multiple times even with late payments and lots of BNPL. Don’t give up!
Becky says
Hi I’m just about to put my complaint in to Aqua regarding irresponsible lending,I have in my possession letters that they sent to me advising that I had only made the minimum payments for a period of time and that it could look like I was at risk on being in debt ( the standard ones they send that include details for debt charities ) then 18 days later they increased my limit by £1000..nothing had changed I had still only made the minimum payments and the same thing happened 3 months later…this time I recieved the standard letter stating that I had only paid minimum payment for 6 months and again they increased my limit 18 days later by £1250 …I’m not expecting them to admit irresponsible lending but I’m ready for a fight..I had only paid the minimum payments was withdrawing large/multiple amounts of cash and was completely maxed out on more than just one card..I complained to capital one and won a few years ago but it was such a stressful experience I couldn’t face doing this one until now..I’m hoping for an easier ride this time.i suffer from really bad anxiety which isn’t easy..what are your thoughts do you think ve got a good case ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Becky,
I’m sorry i didn’t see your comment before.
I think that looks like a good complaint. Increasing your limit TWICE after sending you a warning letters!
Can you let us know how this goes?
Anxiety can make life difficult for you, but just take this a step at a time, and hopefully you will get a good result.
Shaun says
Hello everyone,
Apologies in advance for the long message but thought I’d include as much detail as possible. I have submitted irresponsible lending claims to 4 credit card issuers I was with – HSBC, Barclaycard, Tesco Bank and Nationwide. All 4 companies unsurprisingly have rejected my initial claims. I then requested all my statements via FOI requests and sent them off to the FOS.
I am currently in a DMP and still paying off money I owe to these 4 companies (£10,000 in total) and will be for the next 3 years. I became overwhelmed with my debt due mostly to online gambling and escalation of payday loan borrowing.
My question is – in everyone’s experience, are these claims processed in any way different from payday loan claims? The reason I am asking is because I have had brief discussions with 2 adjudicators in the FOS for 2 of my claims (Barclaycard and HSBC) and I have offered to send my credit reports and bank statements but on both occasions they seem reluctant to take them from me – instead saying they have everything they need but this is only the credit card statements I sent them.
I will of course wait until they come back to me again which they have said could be a few weeks or so but thought I’d check in the meantime what everyone’s experiences are in dealing with these types of claims and is there anything I can do in advance to prepare for the next stage?
Thank you for any advice you can offer or experiences you can share.
Regards,
Shaun
Laura says
As Sara says with the exception of capital one, aqua and marbles, they are very difficult to win. You can search decisions on the FOS website and see they are very few and far between. I won all my cases for payday loans x 4 ,car finance and capital one credit card however I wasn’t successful with Barclaycard despite a very high credit limit. I found that hard to accept given all the other debt was deemed unaffordable but was told that was because they do do what is expected/required of them. Might not be what you want to hear but wish you well
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think it is worth pursuing good cases against the non high interest cards though.
One test would be to imagine yourself describing your situation to a stranger down the pub or on a bus – if you just have to say “they raised my credit limit to £8000 even though I only earned x / my account showed huge amounts of gambling” and the other person looks astonished and shocked, go for it. If you have to spend a while explaining your situation and they look sympathetic rather than shocked how your debt got too large, then your case may not be so good.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Oh and cases are being won against all the high interest cards and catalogues, Very, Vanquis, Littlewoods etc not just the ones you mention.
Shaun says
Hi Laura,
Thank you for taking the time to respond – I really appreciate any advice or feedback.
I am going into these claims not holding out much hope but also feel I have nothing to lose as I am already in a DMP with these companies. In all occasions each company kept raising my limit and I kept maxing those limits out so hopefully the FOS can see something there but I do understand that these claims will be much harder than the PayDay loans I claimed for in the past.
I will however keep you all updated here on my progress.
Thanks again,
Shaun
Laura says
Hello,
Quick question. I went to pay my credit card tonight as it was due today 19th jan. Totally forget but when I logged in there was a “late or failure to pay” charge posted today! Is that even allowed?!! Of course they will say it takes “days to clear” but we all are aware that’s nonsense
Sara (Debt Camel) says
My advice is send in your credit records report and bank statements, even if you have not been asked for them
And if the adjudicator rejects your case, come back here. You can argue to get them to change their mind – it does happen And go to the Ombudsman if they don’t. It may all take time but that’s why it’s great you are in a DMP.
Shaun says
Hi Sara,
Thank you for your responses – I really appreciate it.
I will forward my statements to the FOS and will keep you posted on my progress.
Regards,
Shaun
Dave says
Complaint against Aqua rejected by Adjudicator.
interaction with the adjudicators with these complaints have been very cold and very unsympathetic, unlike interactions with adjudicators when complaining against payday loans.
They looked at if the 4 credit increases (£900-£3,550 in 14 months) took place in a fair and reasonable way and state that Equifax showed I was eligible. Hasn’t been mentioned but my outgoings were more than incomings before each increase, maxed out on 4 credit cards, minimum payments on all for 15 months+, overlimit on multiple occasions on other cards and fees occurred because of this, on top of a shed loan of payday loans.
Adjudicator said “It isn’t their (Aqua) process to obtain and look through income and expenditure” as they recognise I sent Aqua a list of incomings and outgoings when I complained directly to them. Surely this is nonsense? Why wouldn’t Aqua look at a persons expenditure and incoming before increasing a limit? How do they know I’d be able to afford it? Stupid statement in my opinion.
Dave says
“Wouldn’t expect a business to search for financial hardship” – surely this is nonsense as well? You wouldn’t lend somebody in the street you barely know £3,550 without looking at if they can afford to repay would you? What about Risks in not getting your money back if you did?
Adjudicator says I had the option to decline the increases and the “responsibility is on you to inform the business if I felt the increases would have a negative impact on me”. What about their responsibility when negligently lending without detailed looks at my financial situation? The card was maxed out with gambling transactions with no other transaction ever recorded apart from this; is that responsible to do so? Red flags at all?
Also refused to take negative markers off the file.
Interestingly though, they end by stating that Aqua believe they shouldn’t have increased my limit on the 4th occasion all of a sudden and the adjudicator states that Aqua have offered me £1007.
I don’t. don’t feel the adjudicator is impartial at all. The wording is as if I’m the one who’s done wrong entirely. I’ve looked through the FCA handbook and I think I’ve got grounds for appeal.
Shaun says
Hello everyone,
Just thought I’d provide you all with an update on my case with Barclaycard – no surprise but the FOS do not think Barclaycard did anything wrong by lending to me or increasing my credit limits over the years. My bank statements showed that I was constantly overdrawn by an average of £5,000 for many years as I struggled with debt and a gambling addiction.
However, the FOS said they did nothing wrong and all their checks were in order. I can’t really see that as my credit score was shot to bits and my debt was much more than my income but I guess I’ll have to accept their findings and hope I have more luck with my other claims.
Thanks again everyone for your feedback and advice. I really appreciate it.
Shaun
Emily b says
First time poster here!
See when you tell your credit card companies that you can’t afford the minimum repayments and are raising an affordability complaint should they freeze the interest? Without the sob story my husband died last year and I have had to go part time which has obviously had a massive effect on my finances. I only have two credit cards but the minimum payments are £210 a month any advice appreciated
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you should talk to StepChange about getting a debt management plan in place: https://www.stepchange.org/how-we-help/debt-management-plan.aspx
you can still make the complaints but they can take a very long while to go through if they have to go to the ombudsman. So a DMp gets you into a safe financial place.
Jamie Fleming says
Hi Sara
Just wanted to pass my thanks again.
I put in a complaint against Capital One for irresponsible lending on the 15th December 2019.
I heard back from them last night confirming they have upheld my complaint and applied the following refund immediately to my balance:
This refund is broken down by:
Fees: £117
Interest: £210.62
They have confirmed they are reviewing whether to clear my remaining balance of £1076.35 over the next 28 days.
Slightly confusing as to how they have upheld the complaint and refunded all charges so far but not the actual loan amount which is the foundation of the complaint given the irresponsible lending.
What do you think my chances are of having this remaining balance cleared?
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
oh – sorry, it’s hard to guess!
Normally you have to repay what you borrowed and you only get the interest and fees back. But they are reviewing it, so they must have some reason to think they may do more.
If they don’t decide to wipe the balance, you could ask them if you can pay it off with no more interest being added?
Jamie Fleming says
Thanks Sara
I went back to them via phone today and they have agreed to submit a request to the relevant team for the remaining balance to be cleared but apparently it has to go to a final department for the final decision.
Fingers crossed.
Shaun says
Hello all,
Had a strange phone call from the FOS agent handling my Barclaycard complaint and was wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar? The agent handling my complaint asked me “At what stage did I realise I was in trouble financially and what was the ‘earliest’ time I realised this and ‘could have told Barclaycard’ about it”. I answered that I had been in difficulty for years and tried to manage the situation myself but ended up in a DMP because it all eventually got too much for me as I was struggling with an online gambling addiction and juggling a lot of different debts. I also answered that Barclaycard didn’t ask me any questions, didn’t ask to see my statements etc. when issuing credit cards to me or raising my credit limit.
As always, many thanks for any replies, advice or guidance on this, I really appreciate it.
Shaun
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are you complaining about credit limit increases more than 6 years ago?
Shaun says
Sara (Debt Camel) says
January 22, 2020 at 12:36 pm
Are you complaining about credit limit increases more than 6 years ago?
Hi Sara,
Thank you for replying. Some of my statements were more than 6 years ago but the agent did point out that these cannot be investigated and it would only be statements after this time that would be examined. I am just a bit perplexed as to why this question was asked. The agent did say that I will have an answer in a couple of days but I am just a bit puzzled by it all. I have success with PayDay loans in the past and was never asked this question.
Thanks again for all your help.
Shaun
Dave says
How often does an Adjudicator overturn their original decision based on your response to their conclusion of the complaint?
The reason I ask is because in the conclusion to complaints, they state at the end of the decision that if I do not agree, and if they cannot resolve things, then an Ombudsman will take a look. I took this to mean they’ll reconsider if I make any further points, is that right? If so, how long does this take and how often do they go back on their original conclusion?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes the adjuidcator will conside the points you make. this can be any length of time – sometimes it means the adjuicator completely rethinking a case!
Anonymous says
Hi sara I currently have a complaint with the fos about a Barclays resolve loan that was given due to payday loans my complaint is the amount of interest and charges I’ve paid I was in a iva at the time but the bank said they didnt do credit checks on resolve loans as i owed the bank the money i no i shouldn’t have got in debt while in a I’ve but just wondering if i have a good case due to been in a iva thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you were in an IVA, took out payday loans, got into an overdraft with Barclays and they offered you a resolve loan? Is that what happened?
How large & how long ago? When did your IVA finish?
Anonymous says
Yes that’s what happened ended up overdrawn due to continuous payment authorities from payday loans so resolve loan was set up with approx 2 grand interest still had 2 years to go on a iva as of 2015 thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, well obviously you did break the IVA rules with the payday loans.
I think you have a case. You can argue that even though you were already in debt to Braclays, then should have checked you could afford the repaymebnts on the loan they were proposing, as freexing your debt and not adding any charges would have been more appropriate.
I don’t know if you were asked to sign anything when your IVA ended which might let your IVA firm claim any money you are repaid. It’s a possibility.
Anonymous says
I remember Barclays saying theres no credit check on a resolve loan it’s with the fos at moment with emails back and forth thanks for your reply
Lisa says
Hi Sara / Anyone
I have had quite a bit of success with winning cases about payday loans and then I saw the news that Gambling transactions will not be able to be placed on credit cards, which I am so in favour of. I had a bad gambling addiction and got into alot of debt with payday loans and credit cards.
I was just wondering if i had a case agains Tesco and Virgin Credit Cards. At the time I applied for these cards I had the following on my credit file:
2 defaults
4 late payments on a loan with 118118 money
3 late payments with Oakbrook Finance
Current provident loan £800
MyJar loan £1000
I had two capital one credit cards both at 98% use
I had a vanquis card at 96% use
I had only just paid off an amigo loan the month before with a gambling win.
I had various payday loans in the 6 months prior to getting these cards approved.
I havent struggled to pay my due amounts each week but I am worried that when my promotional rate ends that I will. The virgin card gave me a limit of £5900 straight away which i used for balance transfer for half and then gambling transactions for the rest. Tesco gave me a limit of £2,200 straight away which i used for gambling. I was at 95% usage on both cards within 5 months.
It just fed my addiction being allowed to take out the cards. I have stopped gambling and reducing the balances and so Tesco have lowered my limit by £200 as a credit check!
Do I have a case?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I know you have just won your Amigo case (yay!) and have a case against 118 at FOS. Have you also complained to Provident?
Had your Vanquis & Capital One limits been increased over the years?
If the Virgin card was for balance transfers, you must have had a pretty good credit rating?
Lisa says
Hi Sara
No I havent complained to Provident as it was only one loan with them and I only had it from the month before I got the credit card to the month after as I had a cash transfer offer with the card. I used the cash to pay the provident loan and a Satsuma loan that I had also had for a couple of months. Then gambled further on the Credit card.
No my credit score has never left the “very poor” status so no idea how i got these cards approved especially with the balance transfer and a cash transfer which i did straight away to pay payday loans. I went on there thinking I would get offered a Capital one card for £100 and ended up getting the two cards one with Tesco and one with Virgin.
One of my Capital one cards has been increased from 200 to 500 in Aug 17 and my vanquis card was increased the same month from 500 to 1000. At the time I constantly had payday loans with Wonga and QQ.
Lisa says
Is it worth me putting a complaint on to the cards even though I have kept up with payments? Although I have had to take out further loans. I have been robbing Peter to pay Paul as they say
lisa says
I have put in a complaint against Virgin Credti card as I had all of the above on my credit file at the time. My score has never been higher than 485 on credit Karma and always in the very poor section.
Has anyone ever won a case like this?
Louise says
Hi Sara,
I have an affordability complaint in with JD William’s and I’m due a final response by 3rd Feb.
I’ve just received a text from them with a settlement offer – pay off half my balance (£750 out of £1500) by 12th Feb and they will write the rest off.
I think the text is because my payment is late rather than my complaint but I’ve never had this sort of offer from a company and it doesn’t sit right.
I won’t be able to pay it anyway but what are your thoughts on this?
Thanks,
Louise
Ed says
Hi Sara,
About 18 months ago, I was up to my neck in Credit Card debt (around £50k spread across 7 cards) – I took out a 2nd Charge Mortgage to consolidate these debts.
Following on from there, and having paid off all credit cards, I then began getting offers from the credit cards stating that I have new rates for balance transfers and 0% purchases etc, basically it was like having brand new cards from them all again. At this time I was able to pay the 2nd charge mortgage and all my other expenses. Sloly but surely money became tight and I rememebred I had all this free money being thrown at me so, whilst at a vulnerable point in my life, I started to use the credit cards to help with day to day living.
Moving forward 18 months on, I have used all the credit on these cards again, and can now only afford mimimum payments as the “introductory ates” have now expired and I find myself in a mess again. I am paying back credit, only to use it again to buy food or for day to day living. I am in a vicious circle.
I am now in the process of trying to secure a further 2nd charge mortgage to pay off this debt.
A colleague I have discussed my situation with said that those credit card companies should never have given you all that credit when you aid them all off the first time and it was totally irresponsible lending.
So my question to you, is, do I have a case to claim monies back for irresponsible lending?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This sounds like a classic case of why consolidating onto a secured loan is often a disaster.
Don’t make the same mistake again! Phone Stepchange and talk about a debt management plan – it’s like a consolidation loan but the interest rate is zero and you only pay what you can afford each month https://www.stepchange.org/how-we-help/debt-management-plan.aspx.
I am not sure you are going to get anywhere with an affordabilty complaint though. These complaints work best when a lender is increasing your limit, but in this case, they didn’t do anything, you just used the limit that was already there.
Lisa says
Hi
I had a catalogue during a time when my mum was ill I wasn’t getting out so started ordering things for
Her and I they kept putting my credit amount up. Soon I had another one from same organisation and again credit amounts went up this was little woods and very. I ended up in a mess and they put all the debt on one which had the high rate on it I now owe around £10k because of lots of charges these were sold onto the debt agency who are chasing me i was paying £50 per month but I just can’t afford it is there anything I can do about it these debts are from around 2007 but they have chased me for a long time
Sara (Debt Camel) says
when did you last make any payments to these debts?
Marie Collins says
Hi Sara I’ve got an ongoing ppi on a cooperative bank credit card on 26th Sept they said they acknowledge my claim and within 8 weeks they would reach a decision, when the 8 weeks was up they said because of the high claims due 2 the ppi deadline they was allowed 2 extend 2 a further 20 weeks however they wrote 2 meet last week stating they now won’t reach a decision for a further 16 weeks are they allowed to keep extending this deadline as 6months seems a long time for a decision..
Sara (Debt Camel) says
you could ask about this on a specialist PPI forum : https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=169
Alex says
Did anyone ever managed to win an affordability complain against Amex? I am currently under a re-payment program with Amex through a third party and after reading the above I realized I can now put a complain in as I have struggle so much financial.
Em says
I put in an irresponsible claim against capital one. I had 2 cards with them and they gave me the second card whilst in arrears with the first. They came back within a couple days saying they lent responsibly, etc. As the first card was taken out just over 6 years ago they won’t look at that but did look at the increases (went from £200 to £1000 within a year). They state however that they wrote to me before every increase giving me x amount of days to reject it and as I didn’t they don’t believe it was irresponsible. The 2nd card started with a £500 limit and increased to £1000 within 6 months. Anyone had any luck taking it to FOS?
Becky says
Hi yes send it to the fos .. capital one really dug three heels in but I won after it went to an ombudsman because adjudicator sided with capital one and said they hadn’t done anything wrong.. it’s stressful but quote the rules on lending and keep going
Good luck
Edward says
I have a default on my file for barclaycard and capital one from 2015 and 2016, during this time I was on a debt management plan one has been paid and one is still outstanding with a debt collector, I have different accounts with both these lenders that I currently use, my question is should they be allowed to give me a new account considering I have defaults from the last 6 years?
Anonymous says
Hi sara had my reply thought I would get a answer this week been waiting months allready do you no why my adjudicator now needs to pass to some one else thank you
Thank you for your patience while I considered the further information provided post my assessment on your complaint.
I write to inform you that we’re going to review the merits of this complaint again to fully address the points raised by you. To do this, we’ll have to ask Barclays for some extra information in order to be able to provide you with an answer on your complaint.
As we need to ask for this information from Barclays, I am arranging for your case to be passed to another team for this to be done. It’s likely that it’s going to be a few more months before we have all the information, we need to give you an answer on your case, but once we do, we’ll be in touch with you. I’d like to assure you we’re doing everything we can to get you an answer on your case as soon as possible.
If you’ve got any information you’ve not sent us already about your finances at the time of your loan(s) – particularly in the early stages of your borrowing – please send this to us. It will help us build an accurate picture of your circumstances to help us decide what the lender should have thought about before lending to you.
That may include bank statements from the time, or details of what you were spending on food, travel, utilities and any other regular
Hol says
Hi, total newbie here. I got an Aqua card in 2018 with a starting limit of 900. Over the space of a year, they had increased my limit to £2600. I was pretty much making minimum payments each month, occasionally a little more, and the majority of the time my balance was at 90% or more. I have since gone into a DMP. Just wondering if re: the balance increases and minimum payments/large balance supports a claim? Thanks
Mr AC says
Hi Sara,
Can you please advise if you have a case against credit card issuers like Capital One if they issued you many different cards under their many different brands? I was maxed out on a Capital One card but was then later issued additional cards with Luma/Ocean/Think. The same goes for Newday who issued me with Marbles/Amazon/Aqua cards.
Should these companies not be ensuring that they only issue you with one card and one limit, instead of allowing you to build up your debts with numerous cards, or is each brand seen as a separate company?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you can argue that they should have looked at the COMBINED credit limit across all their cards when they decided to give you another card or increase the limit on an existing one.
Alex says
Hi Sarah,
Do you know if the above instruction regarding affordability complain would work with Amex? I am currently under a re-payment program with Amex through a third party and after reading the above I realized I can now put a complain in as I have struggle so much financial.
Susie123 says
Hi
I sent a complaint to FOS as i had two credit cards from NewDay Ltd – aqua and marbles. I read something about having two credit cards by the same company can be seen as irresponsible lending and i also complained about the credit limit increases as i was in debt and believe they were irresponsible. However the adjudicator has not ruled out in my favour regarding the second credit card by the same company and only agreed they should refund me all interest and charges paid on the second card. Does that sound like a good result? Or is there anything i can do? Thank you
Andy says
Hi Sara
I have had a Jacamo (JD Williams) account since February 2011. My credit limit was periodically increased when I approached/exceeded my then limits. It is now £3000 and my minimum monthly payments always exceed £120. I know that my spending habits with the account are to blame in terms of owing so much but my question is this: if I had a series of Wonga Loans and Mr Lender loans around the time that they were offering me extra credit do you think I am in a position to make Ann irresponsible lending claim? Wonga have offered me the 4.3% like everyone else so they saw that their practices were irresponsible in your opinion are JD Williams irresponsible lenders too?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you always pay the monthly minimums? Have your other debts increased over this time?
Andy says
Hi Sara. I’ve never been able to afford more than the minimum payment. I’ve missed the odd payment and had to pay double the following month meaning that I’ve been stretched elsewhere.
And yes my other debts have risen.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So that is your argument – you never paid more than the minimums and your financial situation was getting worse, so they should not have increased your credit limit.
Andy says
Thank you Sara. We’ll see how it goes. Thank you for all your hard work on here. I followed the Wonga updates you gave religiously and your take on debt and the advice you give is refreshing and helpful :)
Paul says
Hi,
Looking for advice. I have 2 Tesco credit cards. I was given one in 2016 limit £6400. My credit file showed payday loans, previous missed payments, mortgage arrears but still got the card. Then I applied in 2018 and they gave me another card limit £3600. Both cards are at their limits but I only pay the minimum, should I make an irresponsible lending claim.
Thanks
Paul
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think they should have considered that application for a second card very carefully. And indeed the first card limit sounds VERY high for someone with mortgage arrears.
These complaints aren’t easy to win, but this sounds like a good case so complain and send to FOS if Tesco reject the complaint. Be persistent.
BUT this is going to take a long while to go through. Unless you are comfortable at the moment with all your debts, I suggest you talk to StepChange about a debt management plan https://www.stepchange.org/how-we-help/debt-management-plan.aspx
Paul says
Hi,
Thanks, complaint sent to Tesco they say they will get back to me this week with an answer.
Michelle says
I just received a response from Vanquis and part of the no we do not uphold your complaint is because they gave me a default in 2016 which they have put in writing is more than 6 years ago 🤣🤣🤣🤣 clearly the complaint staff do not know how to add up
Now sent to the FOS
Hazza the jazza says
Hi sara, I’ve just made a complaint to NatWest regarding irresponsible lending regarding my credit card. I did this via phone and they Stated they will investigate.
I opened the card in 2010, with a £4900 limit, and immediately maxed it out through gambling. Consequently all I’ve done since then is pretty much make minimum payments. And in 2016 they increased the limit to £6000 and I maxed it again through gambling, then 12 months later they increased it to £7400, and I maxed it again with gambling. So all I’ve ever done is make minimum payments, currently paying £195 per month in a 18 month payment plan. Gambling on credit cards is illegal from april, my account would have included plenty off missed and late payments. Just wanted your opinion on my case.
Thanks as always, you are amazing!
Cheers mark
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t think they should have increased your credit limits. I think you should get refunds on the additional credit limits back to 2016. If they don’t agree, send the case to the Finacial Ombudsman.
I think the chance of getting refund back to 2010 is much less.
PS are you still gambling?
Hazza the jazza says
Most of my payday loan refunds went on gambling. Call it thousands. But I’ve really calmed down in the last 2 months and hardly gambled at all. So I’m now going to start saving money, thanks to you I’m £1200 a month better off, and I promise this will be used to save, and not gamble, it’s a fresh start. Just my credit card debt now. And a satsuma complaint with ombudsman.
Thanks sara
Anon says
I need to do this too with one other lender, despite me having other cards and mon payments once my first card was almost full (1K) they invited me to a second one.
Struggle on for almost a year then token pay etc, had kept In contact too.
Then it went out to a third party who just wasted my time, it’s now back with the CC company who want new budget sheets, very same ones I sent to the third party collector. Told CC to ask their collector company to forward it to save me post costs but no reply so plan on just now sending the CC firm an unaffordable complaint along with some other bits of papers new DMHF etc.
My question is this: Are they more likely to take or try to take actions (more third parties or themselves) if they know you are asking for an unaffordable complaint ?
One lesson learned with time and money wasting collect agents: if it happens in future I will confirm they are just acting on behalf of and do not own the sum then inform them will only deal direct with CC company otherwise you’ve wasted time chasing your own tail as I did , the third party soon dropped it and actually returned my letter to them ( ! ) when it was clear there was nothing to give.
Becky says
Anyone had any luck with irresponsible lending claims against Aqua / newday…I’d love to hear your stories good or bad so I know what I’m up against.ive just had a letter saying they will investigate mycomplaint and come back to me,do they have a certain period of time to do this ? Not holding ou5 much hope to be honest,don’t expect them to go down without a fight.but feel that I’ve sent plenty of evidence.tbey sent me the warning letters on a few occasions pointing out that it looked like I could be in financial difficulties and included the debt charity number then increased my limit 18 days later on at least 2 occasions..that says to me that the warning signs were there..please let me know hoe you all got on dealing with this company
Regards
Rosie says
They were by far the worst company, I have dealt with. Registered default and sold off to debt company while complaint was with FOS. Were obstructive the whole way even with the FOS and most of the time would not reply to FOS correspondence. FOS eventually partially upheld by complaint and had £1.4K cleared off my balance although default still registered and still with debt company.
Joseph says
Hi Becky, I won AQUA credit card complaint a few months ago. Worst credit card company out of the 3 I dealt with was New Day. Very obstructive and even dragged out my compensation, they paid me on day 31 of a maximum 30 day wait.
Becky says
Hi Joseph
Thanks for your reply ,doesn’t surprise me that they dragged there heels,think they will do the same to me..can I ask did they uphold your case or did you have to go to the fos ? And how long did it take ?
Kind regards
Becky
Bev says
Hi Becky, I have just had my irresponsible lending claim upheld against Aqua. I originally complained at the beginning of October. I had received 2 letters to say that they had a high volume of complaints. I called them up on Wednesday as I still had not heard anything and they advised me that it had been upheld. I still have not received the final response letter but the lady I spoke to read it out to me and said it will take 7-10 days to arrive in the post. They refunded my interest from from December 2014 when my 1st credit increase was applied to my account. From Dec 14 they increased my credit limit 3 times to £3.300 and I was only making minimum payments and had a lot of other debt. There has been no FOS involvement and I wasn’t holding out much hope either but the refund has cleared my outstanding balance, so I wish you the best of luck.
Richard C says
Hello,
Not sure if I have a case for a refund but would like some advice.
I opened a Barclaycard back in 2011 and was given a limit of £18,000.00 and I made a couple of balance transfers taking it up to near the limit. However, time went by I lost my job at the time and got myself into a muddle where I was taking out payday loans and other credit. However, I have been taking cash out every month on my credit cards to cover the minimum payments and this has been going for about 8 years. So the interest has just kept building. I recently received a letter from Barclaycard to increase by payments each month and this has resulted in me borrowing more but Barclaycard keep letting me withdraw cash. I never missed a payment. So my question is do I have a case for unaffordable boring against Barclaycard? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So at the time the credit limit was increased, you think the repayments were affordable, and your difficulties only happened later?
And, as an aside, have you looked at whether you can win any payday lending affordabilty complaints? See https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/
Richard says
Hello Sara,
Thank you for you reply.
I suppose my question is Barclaycard at fault given that I was up to my limit very early on and knowing that i had payday loans before I was given the 18k credit limit and that I have been withdrawing cash from my Barclaycard every month for years to cover my monthly payment. Surely this should have been picked up if proper checks were done on me initially and on a periodic basis by Barclaycard
Yes I have won various payouts from the payday loans that I had.
Many thanks for your advice.
Richard
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You would normally be up to your credit limit very soon if this was an account taken on for balance transfers. If at that time the amount seemed affordable, then you may find it hard to argue the limit was too high.
If you only got into trouble whne you lost your job, that was not a reason for thinking the limit was originally too high.
Once you already had that limit and had used a lot of it, any periodic checks wouldn’t have shown much, would they? It may be you should have asked them for a payments arrangement then, not taken cash out on a nother card tio carry on making the minimum payments. But once you have a a large limit and have used it and are repaying it, it’s you who has to tell the lender of you are in difficulties.
Louise says
Hi sarah,
Can i have some advice please, i have a complaint with simplybe the 8 weeks is up today, they have told me they need another 8 weeks to investigate, i also requested a credit agreement to be sent in november never received.
Im complaining as i opened this account 1 month after i entered a debt relief order august 2017 (i checked i was able to do this with the insolvency team and was ok as the limit was under £500 which is allowed) i cant remeber the exact dates my limit where increased but my credit limit as of February 2019 was £1800 always made minimum payments, i then started to struggle paying and it has since gone to a debt collection agency balance £1033.
I was discharged from my DRO in august 2018 with no issues. Where do you think i stand with this? Not so much opening my account during a DRO which is visable on my credit report, but the fact my credit limit was increased all very quickly during the year i was in a debt relief order. Im currently making £1 token payments.
Also i cannot be 100% sure if i did tell simplybe i had an active debt relief order probably not, will this be a problem? Even though it was on my credit file?
All i want is the interest removed as it will reduce my debt by half.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you have other problem debts?
You can send this case to the Ombudsman now if you want, you don’t have to give them an extra 8 weeks. In theory you should have declined any credit increases over £500 while your DRO was still going. But SB should have seen the DRO on your credit record and not given you the account in the first place.
Louise says
Nope i have no debt what so ever all gone, even had successfull payday loan refund from LS, not allot just over £100.
Yes im not sure if the limit went over £500 in the year i was in a debt relief order.
I never requested an increase and i was never notified, it was just seen when i logged in, it was everytime i got close to a limit it was upped.
My dro was aug 17 to aug 18, simplybe was opened october 2017 2 months after dro, ive requested 3 times the details for the dates they where in increases and a copy of my credit agreement which has not been issued, requested this in december.
I have sent to ombudsman service today.
Louise says
Oooh no this wont affect my dro will it? Ive been discharged since August 2018 and have not had debts since apart from the catalogue £200 manageable but £1800 not for me.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You asked the OR before you took the account out, didn’t you? It’s incredibly rare for closed DROs to be affected by anything – like 1 or 2 a year> This doesn’t feel that serious to me at all.
Louise says
Thankyou, yes i informed them, advised they didnt need to know as was a small amount, didnt seem to interested to be honest.
Louise says
Hi sara
Well simplybe rejected my complaint took 9 weeks, ive sent to ombudsman they claim they didnt lend irresponsibly
I have dates my credit was increased
Ocober 2017 account opened £150 credit limit
18.11.17 limit increased £250
16.12.17 limit increased £350
13.01.18 limit increased £500
10.02.18 limit increased £700
10.03.18 limit increased £1000
20.10.18 limit increased £1500
Only ever paid £100 28 days after my first purchase the rest min payments.
They advised they checked my credit file in which they would of seen the DRO and numerous talking over 100 payday loans and credit card accounts. But they say they feel like they upped responsibly.
They also throw in the fact i had a DRO so should of advised them when my credit limit went over £500 know theres the problem i was not allowed credit over £500 during DRO but when i opened it was at £150 (i did advise the insolvency service i had a catalogue) i also never requested an increase.
Surely they were acting irresponsible increasing my limit month and month on min payments, i assumed they would wait 6 months not 1.
I have already sent the ombudsmen but worried about the DRO credit increase they had put up.
Is it worth pursuing? The interest i paid and late charges would pay most of the debt i have which they sold.
Becky says
Thanks Richard ,thought .that might be the case,thankfully I managed to get a loan and have cleared my debt with them so they have nothing to sell and any register anything bad about me ..this was one of the things that put me off making the claim whilst I still had a balance with them.nit holding out much hope but I’m feeling strong and ready for a fight with them..I’ll keep you all posted
Susie123 says
Hi, can I please get some advice? NewDay came back to Adjudicator and said they don’t agree with their decision. Adjudicator said that New Day should refund interest and charges on the first credit card after the first credit limit increase however New Day don’t agree. New Day agree that they shouldn’t have given me the second credit card Marbles and are happy to refund interest and charges and 8% interest on payments over the contractual minimum payments. I don’t really understand what that means, however this credit card limit was only £450 so the refund would be very minimal. I am more bothered about the first credit card. Would you said I should go to FOS? Or is it likely that they will agree with New Day and what would happen then?
thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
New Day agree that they shouldn’t have given me the second credit card Marbles and are happy to refund interest and charges and 8% interest on payments over the contractual minimum payments.
Is that all for the second card? So no refund at all on the first one?
Joe says
I’ve started a complaint against JD Williams for irresponsible lending/credit increases. I put in a SAR and they’ve responded today with files, which can only be opening using software on a Windows computer, I am on an apple machine. They said in this case they would send the information recorded delivery to me. It’s come from N Brown, who I believe are the owner of JD Williams?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes that is right.
Danny says
Hi, If I could get some advice please.
If starting from 04/2015 to 11/2018 I had accumulated loads and credit of the following;
Loan £12750 – 06/2017 – consolidated with LENDER A
Loan £1000 – 2018 – cleared
Loan £2500 – 2015 – consolidated with LENDER A
Loan £1850 – 11/2018
Overdraft £1000
Overdraft £4000 (increased on 10/2017) consolidated into refinance
Store Credit £4100 (increased over time) – now paying a lot of interest on an outstanding balance of around £2750
Credit Card £9200 Limit – Applied 04/2018, heavily in debt and was given £9200 limit and maxed in 4 months used to pay other cards etc
Credit Card £6000 Limit – 12/17 upped from 4400-5500 and again since to 6000
Credit Card £3500 Limit – Closed now, can’t see statements bank refinanced (already had large o/d and 2 loans with them as well as this credit card which was refinanced to circa £23k – LENDER A)
Credit Card £1000 Limit – Opened 09/16 but never used until 05/2019, activated and maxed
Credit Card £500 Limit Opened 10/2018 and maxed
Barclaycard gave me a credit card in 04/2018 with a £9200 limit when I was earning around £30k, before deductions, whilst I already had 2 loans, 2 overdrafts and 3 credit cards.
Which creditors should I be writing to? I’ve written everything down in a spreadsheet and dated where I can when I was given increases/accepted for credit.
Regards
Chris says
Hello,
I had a complaint with capital one upheld, cleared the card and refunded me interest and charges. They do mention at the bottom saying that they cannot amend the credit file to remove the debt and this is factual and have to give lenders a correct picture.
Is this right, even if they agreed they shouldn’t have lent to me?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So does your record still show you owe money even though it has been cleared?
Chris says
Hi Sara,
They advised they would clear the balance so it will show as £0, but below is the quote from the email.
“This refund will be offset against your current defaulted partially settled balance of £178.38. This is in accordance with your credit card agreement and card terms and as detailed in the letter we sent on 13 July 2018, which confirmed the acceptance for your account to be partially settled.
The remaining amount of £95.03 will be sent to you by way of a cheque. You should receive this amount within the next 15 days if not sooner.
We can’t make any amendments to your credit file as it’s a factual representation of how you’ve managed your account. You can however, add a Notice of Correction on your credit file for the late marks and default we’ve recorded. ”
Chris
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They could change the credit record if they wanted to.
You could send this to FOS and ask for your credit record to be corrected – FOS doesn’t always say this. The refund sounds low – depending on the amount owed when it was defaulted it may be thought that a default does reflect what happened.
Rob says
Out of interest, how long did this take start to finish?
Chris says
I raised a complaint via Resolver on 16th December, but it never went through. I ended up chasing in the New Year and they gave me an email address. Upheld 5th Feb. So around 5/6 weeks I would say.
Joseph says
To give you a perspective if you do decide to go the ombudsman Rob, I submitted my capital one complaint December 2018 and only just had my ombudsman result about 2 weeks ago. In total 13/14 months. Was definitely my longest wait at FOS
Paul says
Hi,
I hope I don’t sound negative, I have already sent my cases to the Ombudsman but I read on their website past cases on irresponsible lending relating to Vanquis and Newday and it seems very rare that the Ombudsman finds the provider to be quilty why is this.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
90% of cases are settled at the first “adjudicator” stage and these are not published. You can’t assume you are seeing an accurate picture.
Paul says
Hi,
3 days it took Tesco to respond to my claim for irresponsible lending on 2 credit cards. They said everything done correctly, credit limits of £6400 & £3600, they also said I signed on the dotted line to accept. Onto the Ombudsman then.
Paul
Anita says
I have sent my complaint to FOS in Nov 2018 regarding catalogues. Still have not received any response. Just wondering whether anyone had similar experience.
Laura says
When you say you have heard nothing did you
Not get a acknowledgement and reference number? I’m
The same timeframe but was updated that all the cases were on hold while they tried to talk to the business to move things forward, haven’t heard anything since
TM says
Got this from a catalogue out of the blue, I currently have payment arrangement.
What’s happened?
The credit facility that we provide you with on your personal credit account can be subject to restriction when appropriate. We regularly assess customer accounts to ensure that we are lending responsibly and may put restrictions in place in certain circumstances, for example, where we believe there is a significant increase in the risk of you not being able to afford to repay us, we may restrict the use of your credit facility. These decisions can be temporary, lasting for a period of 28 days, or may be longer term if your circumstances do not change.
As a result of a system failure, the information used to make such decisions was incorrect.
How does the issue affect me?
This means that we have allowed you to place some orders on your credit account that would have ordinarily been restricted. This may have happened on more than one occasion.
How are you putting it right?
We are adjusting your account balance- your current balance is £xxxx we are adjusting it to £xxxx which reflects the amount of credit you have used that we gave to you in error, plus any interest and charges relating to this amount.
My credit score and situation was the same when they increased my limit as it was when I opened the account.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Not seen anything like that before.
Do you mind saying what the numbers are? What is your current balance and what have they reduced it to? What is your current credit limit?
Have you only bee making minimum payments for w while?
TM says
“We are adjusting your account balance- your current balance is £313.22, we are adjusting it to £214.73.” The current balance is now the £214.73. I don’t have a credit limit at the moment as I’m in arrears and I have only made 2 payments as part of the repayment arrangement. I think I opened the account n then they increased the credit limit fairly quickly.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Is the payment arrangement affordable?
TM says
At the moment it is, I was surprised they even gave me the account in the first place as my credit score was poor and I wasnt working, I was a student.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, so everything is now OK & you have just had this bit of good news to help you clear the account.
Paul says
Hi,
I’m looking for advice.
The Ombudsman have refused my irresponsible lending claim against Vanquis saying Vanquis done everything by the book. The Ombudsman basically said I always made my payments even if they were the minimum, only went over my limit by a few pounds on 2 occasions and not including mortgage and a secured loan my other debt was less than £6000 at the time, but they don’t mention the use of payday loans.
Should I disagree with the Ombudsmans decision or accept their findings.
Thanks
Paul
Sara (Debt Camel) says
did Vanquis increase your credit limit during this time?
Is this a decision form an adjudicator or an Ombudsman?
Paul says
Hi, it’s a decision from an adjudicator I’ve now asked for it to be passed on to an ombudsman. They never increased my limit when I went over my agreed limit but when I went under the limit they increased it. They also increased my limits when was only making minimum payments.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Good call to send it to an Ombudsman.
Joseph says
Hi Paul, same happened with me me and my adjudicator. Stress that even if it was £1 or £1,000 over your credit limit this is still over and should make them look carefully. I would also look over past cases on credit card irresponsible lending and see what other ombudsman are saying, if it fits use it in your argument. It’s time consuming but worked for me
JA says
How much did they increase your limits by? This sounds like a very similar scenario to my aqua complaint that my adjudicator upheld (Increased from £250-£1000 with late payments etc) Only annoying thing is aqua are refusing to adjust my credit file and remove the default so now waiting for an ombudsman (Sent in Oct 2019)
Paul says
Hi,
Thanks all for your comments.
I have now sent an email regarding my appeal and also sent them references to previous cases that look familiar to mine.
My increases were
04/2014 £1000 to £2000
09/2014 £2000 to £3000
05/2015 £3000 to £3500
11/2016 £3500 to £4000.
Paul says
Hi,
As my previous comment on the adjudicator not upholding my complaint I have received an email from him responding to my emails that I sent for the Ombudsman.
Anyway I mentioned in my email I had payday loans during the credit limit increases which I pointed out to him when I sent my credit report and he has replied could I point these out as he did not see any on my report.
I wonder if this happens to many people who lose their case.
JA says
The only thing I could think of here is that some of your payday lenders haven’t reported to the credit file agencies you’ve supplied the FOS?
I’d point them out to him as it may change his decision.
Paul says
I emailed back to tell them they were on my Experian report that I sent and gave him dates, also I sent copies of the payday loans I got removed last year, these also at the time of my credit increases so fingers crossed its over to the Ombudsman.
How long does it take for an ombudsman to reach a decision?
Thanks
Paul
JA says
There isn’t really a timescale on getting an ombudsman pick up cases atm. I’m currently 5 months in waiting for one to look at my aqua complaint after they disagreed with my adjudicator about correctly my credit file.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Bit of a random question, but if anyone here has had a “persistent credit card/catalogue debt” letter in the last 6 months I would be very interested to see it. Just reply Yes to this comment and I will contact you about it.
Becky says
I haven’t had a letter as such but they include a piece about it on all your credit card statements now saying to stop you being in persistent debt you need to pay this much instead of this much…
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That’s interesting, are you paying the minimum? It may be just a recommendation going to everyone, not targetted at you.
Becky says
I think it’s a new thing been on there for approx 6 months they automatically take the new recommenced payment amount unless you call them an£ say no…I was only ever paying the minimum and as they added this on it took my payment to over £260 a month..I had to get a loan and clear it…have now put in irresponsible lending to them as they really were..fingers crossed they agree
Susie says
Yes I have from MBNA was very vague and non informative but more or less saying you have to pay more
Emma says
I had one from Kaleidoscope however was slightly confused as I paid over more than triple my monthly payments for a few months then 2 months of minimum and then got the letter about persistent debt. Only owe £100 to them and it stated they would review the account in a year. Threw the letter away though x
Becky says
Hi has anyone had there cannot plaint against Aqua upheld without having to got to the fos ? Mine has been with them for nearly 4 weeks now,they tell me they have 8 weeks to look at it..they sent me letters pointing out that I had only made minimum payments for so many months ect,the letters included details for debt charities and helplines if I was struggling,then 13 days later they increased my credit limit…nothing had changed..so in my eyes they knew I was struggling..this happened on at least 2 occasions and I’ve sent copies of the letters to them and pointed all this out.on top of that I was always very close to my limit and withdrawing cash as well as high credit utilization on all other credit cards which would have shown on cra ..I’m sure they’ll be arkward and deny deny deny..just wondered what other people’s experiences were I’ve heard they are the worst to deal with
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think increasing your limit after sending those letter is very poor and gives you a very strong affordability complaint.
But these complaints usually take a long while to resolve. You can’t count on getting this resolved for a very long while.
I suggest you talk to StepChange about all your cards and other debts. It sounds as though a debt management plan would be helpful for you, where interest is frozen (almost always) you make a single affordable monthly payment which Stepchange divide between your creditors. This gets you into a safe financial position, not struggling and having to borrow more, while the complaint goes through. Then any affordability complaints you win will really speed up your DMP. StepChange can also explain if there are other debt solutions you could look at.
Katie says
Mine was upheld by adjudicator last June but Aqua disagreed so went to Ombudsman got picked up in December and I now have a provisional decision they are due to reply next week.
JA says
Was your ombudsman decision different from your adjudicator?
Katie says
Yes it was. Adjudicator said remove interest and charges from 2nd increase and remove default. This has now been worked out differently and no mention of default I have queried both and my message has been sent to Ombudsman.
JA says
Very interesting, Can you keep us informed on the out come? Thanks
Katie says
Update to this as Ombudsman now made final decision. Will not remove default saying I was already in financial difficulty! Writing off 50 per cent of amount owed from 1st increase. If it’s putting me in position I would have been ie with £250 credit limit I wouldn’t have had the default from them
Louise says
Update…. I have already sent to the ombudsman service, but i want to cancel it all, do i just email? I do believe simplybe where irresponsible but the threat of them saying my likit should of stayed under £500 due to DRO is making me so worried i think i will leave and carry on paying the debt collectors.
Hi sara
Well simplybe rejected my complaint took 9 weeks, ive sent to ombudsman they claim they didnt lend irresponsibly
I have dates my credit was increased
Ocober 2017 account opened £150 credit limit
18.11.17 limit increased £250
16.12.17 limit increased £350
13.01.18 limit increased £500
10.02.18 limit increased £700
10.03.18 limit increased £1000
20.10.18 limit increased £1500
Only ever paid £100 28 days after my first purchase the rest min payments.
They advised they checked my credit file in which they would of seen the DRO and numerous talking over 100 payday loans and credit card accounts. But they say they feel like they upped responsibly.
They also throw in the fact i had a DRO so should of advised them when my credit limit went over £500 know theres the problem i was not allowed credit over £500 during DRO but when i opened it was at £150 (i did advise the insolvency service i had a catalogue) i also never requested an increase.
Katie says
J D Williams have got back to adjudicator today saying they don’t agree with her decision. They should have replied 2 weeks ago and asked for more time. Looks like a long wait for the Ombudsman again! Only just had provisional decision this month for my Aqua complaint that has been with them 7 months!
Laura says
They should start charging for the ombudsman’s time if they also find against them much like lawyers do. Just a delay tactic. What was your adjudicator decision if you don’t mind me asking?
Katie says
Refund all interest and charges from 2nd increase so would have been good. She did say J D WIlliams have provided some additional information they need to go over. I don’t know what it is but if they’ve already turned it down can’t see it will make much difference
Laura says
That’s brilliant, well done. I’m waiting on ombudsman for my very case. Glad to hear yours has been positive!
Paul says
Just an my appeal to an adjudicator rejected for a 2nd time after Id provided them with a 19 pages and arguments with my complaint against Aqua after the adjudicator had initially found in favour of Aqua.
Not exactly feeling the love this Valentine’s Day from the adjudicators.
Last step now is to escalate to an ombudsman. I have a question, I’ve already given the adjudicator 19 pages worth of facts and argument so I don’t think there’s anything left to say from my side. I can not believe based on the information I provided how they haven’t found in my favour tbh. Before I go back to them, so people usually add more to it when escalating to an ombudsman?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You don’t have to add more information. If you want to, a 1 page summary may be a good idea!
Emily says
Yes, Ive had a few. Most recent one being MBNA, the letter was confusing but from what i understand, they will be reducing the monthly interest % charged. I also had one from Natwest telling me about their upcoming overdraft increase in interest % in April, apparently this will not be applicable to me to help me pay it off sooner.
Ciaran says
Hi Sara,
I’m going to submit a complaint to newday about unaffordable lending and credit limit increases.
Can they view this as grounds for issuing a default if I do?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
they can’t default you if you are making the minimum payments. But can you afford to? And unaffordable lending complaint suggest that you can’t… if every month you are getting deeper into debt it’s best to also ask the card for an affordable payment arrangement at the same time as complaining.
Ciaran says
Can entering in to a payment arrangement mean a default?
I’m just about making the minimum payment but it’s becoming more of a struggle.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It depends on how low the payments is and how long you are paying that little. So if your minimum id £98 a month and you can only afford to pay £5 a month you are much more likely to get a default than if you are paying £5.
Read this: https://debtcamel.co.uk/credit-rating-worries-debts/ – that looks at several cases , that may help you to decide what is right for you.
Laura says
Quick query. When I first complained to shop direct (very in sept 18) I asked the interest be frozen as I could no longer meet the payments ~£380 a month at that time. I had things on BNPL that were due to be added on the nov. I offered to pay £100 a month as I was due to go onto maternity leave, they refused and that really placed my under huge pressure if I’m honest as I didn’t want default. The interest got added in the November and I’m still paying just that left it was something crazy like £800 however I’m still waiting on FOS and that’s been over a year. I’ve won every single case with the exception of a barclaycard and I’m confident this will be a good outcome. Should I update the FOS that this is how they are dealing with me? It is this the normal practice?
Natalie says
Hi Sara,
Can you help me with a Marbles Credit card ?
I have had the account for a few year s and they increased my limit up to £5500 now .
It is currently around £3700 my balance I had to use a cash transfer to cover my bills in January – I really had no other option.
They refused me a amarbles loan about 18 months ago and my credit rating is still poor.
I am now worrying as they are sending me persistent debt letters and want to put my payments up by another 200 odd pounds – I pay £100 a month a present by DD so I dont miss but it is a struggle now let alone having to pay them £300-350 – its making me feel very ill.
As my account is still open and live will it go against me and my account if I try and claim my interest back – I feel so silly for getting myself into this mess – Thanks for your help.
Natalie
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Natalie,
I think you urgently need to talk to a debt adviser, not just about this marbles card but about your whole financial situation. Paying bills using a cash transfer from a high cost credit card is a very slippery slope to disaster. Phone StepChange https://www.stepchange.org/how-we-help/debt-management-plan.aspx and they can help you look at a DMP and whether you have any better options.
If a debt management plan is right for you, then you can still make an affordability complaint to Marbles. If you later win it, it will really speed up your DMP. But affordability complaints can take a very long while to go through., so you need to get your finances into a safe place where you don’t have to borrow more while the complaint goes through.
JA says
I would highly recommend stepchange , I used them a few years ago when I got myself into a little financial mess. You will feel a massive weight off your shoulders once you have a DMP set up.
Ljc says
I used step change too and they were great and it is a huge relief
Claire H says
Has anyone put in a claim against Aqua? I was wondering how long it took for them to reach a decision, I have sent a messaged asking for an update but not heard anything back since they replied to my claim.