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?
Xubo says
I sent a complaint to Fashion World on April the 13th, I had a lettter/email saying they need more time but have heard nothing again from them, is this normal practise from them
Siobhan says
I have debts such as very, Vanquis, PayPal credit, NatWest credit card all in a DMP. All the above raised credit limits over time. Very raised it from £200 to £2500 within 12 months. If they are all in a dmp (sold to debt collector) can I still put in a complaint? The interest would wipe out the debt for very and Vanquis so would be very helpful!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes you can still complain. The complaint goes to the original lender, not the debt collector.
Keith says
Hi
Here’s how I’ve done – keep going people!!!
Aqua – complained about unfair credit limit increases / affordability – rejected, went to FOS, investigator rejected, 18 months later ombudsman upheld and I was refunded £3160.
Vanquis – complained about unfair credit limit increases / affordability – they rejected, FOS upheld – awaiting interest refund and £100 comp.
Marbles – complained about unfair credit limit increases / affordability after Aqua was resolved – they immediately upheld – £600 interest back.
Capital one – complained about unfair credit limit increases / affordability on 2 cards with £1500 / £400 limits – upheld and got all interest back £1800 / £257.
Barclaycard – complained about unfair credit limit increases / affordability after they sent me ‘that’ letter – rejected but upheld by FOS – awaiting interest refund and £75 comp.
Tesco – complained about unfair credit limit increases / affordability – rejected and with FOS.
Avant – complained about affordability over 3 loans – rejected but upheld by FOS – £1100 interest refund.
Payday UK – complained about affordability – rejected but upheld by FOS – £1500 refund of interest.
Wonga – complained about affordability – £2800 upheld straight away – £2800 refunded.
118118 loans complained about affordability – upheld immediately – £2200 refunded.
Hitachi loan – complained about affordability – they immediately upheld last week – awaiting refund due by end of week – about £800.
Keith says
Please, don’t give in if you are rejected. If you write detailed, well – constructed letters, and have a good case – keep going – it may take 2 years like Aqua did, but you’ve nothing to lose! The only one I accepted the rejection from the FOS on was for overdraft fees amounting to £2000 – knowing now what I didn’t know then, I went have asked an investigator to send to ombudsman. Gutted as I don’t think I can do anything now.
Sorry for long post, I hope everyone sees it and gets back every penny you deserve. We of course must be accountable for our bad behaviour with credit – for whatever reason – and I have been – I paid every penny back to them without DM / IVA etc. But they must be held accountable too. As the FOS wrote in the response to Aqua (when they upheld) “I understand Mr P had the option to opt out of the increase, but was it even right for you to offer it in the first place when you were aware of his circumstances?”.
GOOD LUCK
Jade says
Well done Keith, what was the complaint you sent to 118118? I took a loan out with them in July last year as was struggling with money and constant borrowing for pay off other borrowing
Keith says
Hi Jade – it was an affordability one – they gave me a loan same time as Avant did. Together with my credit cards it left me permanently in my overdraft with little disposable income – FOS especially frown when debt is used to pay debt. 118118 went the full 8 weeks – i contacted them on the last day and he was like “yeah, we’ll refund you it – we could have done more to help you”… got the money 3 days later. They front load the interest too – whilst that is bad at the time, works out well for the refund you get, if you get me? Have you written to them? Feel free to ask me if you need some pointers!
Jade says
Thanks Keith, Were you refunded all of your interest payments? I am going to write to them, they let me take out a loan with them when I had recently took another one out with Bamboo and also additional credit card and then I had a recently credit card limit increase and borrowed to pay off the other debt, they would have seen in had maxed out cards and a number of recent credit applications (sad face) literally borrowed to pay off other borrowing! Any pointers would be great
Keith says
Hi Jade
Yes – in all cases I mentioned all interest was refunded.
In the case of credit cards, interest was refunded from the date of the unaffordable limit increase.
For the loans – it was all interest paid from the start to settlement (or to date) plus you can ask for 8% simple interest per annum to be added on to that which, depending how long ago it was, could result in a fair whack.
I would also ask for comp, I have only ever received it on 3 occasions, but it’s better than zero occasions!
Oh, and any late / over limit fees you’d get back too.
And one final thing, the FOS ask them to remove any negative reported on your credit file marked by them. So your rating could improve a little too!
Ljc says
That’s amazing . I had several credit cards from 2000 onwards with huge increases over several months . How did you put to them about the increases because I wouldn’t have a clue of when any of them had increases. I can’t even remember all the cards I had .
Keith says
Hi Ljc – get your credit file. You can only claim for last 6 years – you can try for more, but every time I did, they rejected anything older – and they are allowed too. The good news is if the increases were within 6 years – you can ask them just to look at the increase and not the account as a whole. I did with the Vanquis one. Opened in 2008 – got increased to £750 in 2012 then £1500 in 2014, then £2500 in 2015. I was just in time for the Jan 2015 increase to 2015, so they are refunding any interest I paid over £1500 – it’s called “reworking the account” as FOS put it. You also get 8% and I had £100 comp too – if you ask for it of course – which you should!!! Feel free to ask any questions – wanna help as many people as I can!
Ljc says
Thank you that’s great .
I think it’s too late for me though , since 2011 i haven’t had any credit cards , used any etc as around 2010 I arranged to pay them the minimum amounts and they stopped adding interest as I was in a financial mess and sorted out my finances via step change etc
Ben says
Hi, good to know that about 118118. I complained and same as you just before the 8 weeks they uphelded the complaint. Just waiting on the refund now, hope it’s quick like yours
NICO says
Hi – did Capital 1 accept the FoS decision first time round please?
NICO says
@Keith – any thoughts on my question above please?
Mr and Mrs C says
Hi Keith – do you have an email address for capital one that you used, I have tried complaintsResolutionUK@capitalone.com but they havent even acknowledged my email sent 2 weeks ago.
NICO says
Hi Keith – can you recall how long Capital One took to pay you out please?
Thanks
NICO
Troy2 says
Just got this text from Barclaycard, anyone else had the same ?
During your payment holiday, we charged interest in line with your T&Cs. Your account is in persistent debt, meaning you’re paying more in interest, fees & charges than paying off your debt. To help you, we’re refunding the interest we charged during your payment holiday – we’ve sent a letter with more info. Your Barclaycard team
Sara (Debt Camel) says
oh that’s interesting – haven’t seen anyone else reporting that.
Rebecca says
I had this too, I had a text and then a letter – it’s been refunded onto my account already – which is a little win in itself as my complaint against them is with the FOS.
Nick says
Hi Sara,
I recently had contact from Natwest who I hold a credit card with and a balance of around £2000. I never miss payments although I usually do tend to stick around the minimum requested which around the time of this instance was in the region of £60-70 per month. Around 2 years ago I received a statement from Natwest requesting an increased minimum payment of £130 – something I had not been previously informed of and subsequently struggled to find the extra money to cover.
Their recent contact was to acknowledge that they had made an error in their systems in increasing the minimum payment and asked if I struggled in meeting them, after confirming they said I may be entitled to compensation. After a week or so they contacted again to say that after looking into this further I was not eligible to any compensation, but they would make a goodwill payment of £50 for the inconvenience. I was going to take this to the ombudsman as I find it weird that they would contact me only to conclude that I had no case with them, what do you think?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
has your balance tended to go up after the minimum payments did? or did balance on other cards or an overdraft rise?
what I am looking for is something you can point to and say – that shows that increasing the minimum payments caused me problems.
Turtle says
Barclaycard replied to my Affordability complaint Today stating they can’t uphold it because of the time that has elapsed since your account was opened.
Very frustrating as they were charging me overlimit charges and late payment charges each month just last year.
Any point going back to them or straight to the FOS?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
when was the account opened? did they increase the limit? if so, when?
Turtle says
The account was opened in 2007. Several credit limit increases. According to the letter, the last increase was March 2014 (probably correct but I need to double check with info my side).
Works out just outside the 6 years but they were pummelling me with over limit charges and late payment charges on a monthly basis just last year.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you should send this to the Ombudsman and make the point that you have only recently found out that a credit card lender should have checked limits increases were affordable so you are complaining within 3 years of becoming aware of this.
turtle says
Thanks Sara. This is true.
Going through statements I can see I was charged £12 41 times (may 16 – july 19) for over limit charge and/or late payment. Pretty much every month for over 3 years. My balance was constantly at the limit and I was only paying what i could (the minimum) every month.
Very difficult when Barclaycard practically didn’t read my complaint and sent me a half arsed response.
Ill start the FOS complaint.
Justin says
Hi,
Started a complaint with new day regarding an aqua card.
There was quite a few credit increases whilst only paying minimum and going over limit charges.
They have written back rejecting my complaint and have now stopped the card so no further use can be made.
Is it worth taking to the FOS?
Thanks for your time and advice
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you think the credit increases lead to you having more debt than you could manage, then yes! Many lenders reject most of these complaints at the moment, it doesn’t mean you have a weak case.
Keith says
Hi Justin
I had exactly the same experience with Aqua, though not sure if our circumstances were similar. It was rejected by aqua AND the FOS investigator but upheld by the Ombudsman. Keep at it. Some important points the Ombudsman raised, which you may want to include if appropriate, is
– your disposable income after all bills / debts were paid.
– did you make payments to Aqua whilst using your overdraft (i.e using debt to pay debt)
– did you have any missed payments / go overlimit in the 6 months prior to increase? This shows you weren’t managing your existing limit poorly (I’m not judging btw – this is how FOS see it!).
– were you constantly near your limit?
– were you always making minimum payments?
– did you take out any additional credit around the time – especially payday loans
If any of these are applicable – put them in your letter. Along with the usual stuff like level of debt etc.
frogman says
Hi Keith,
Please how long did it take from you sending to Ombudsman till when you got a decision?
Thanks
Charlie says
Hi Sara
Charlie again from March. (A few years ago I had a Vanquis card (now sold on to DCA) close to a £500 limit.. -affordability complaint/irresponsible lending now with FCA)
The debt buyer has now issued a default on my file (which is part of my complaint that the original lender never did).
Should I just leave this for now or contact them stating this is under a complaint with the original lender & fca and it should be removed until this is resolved? Or not.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I’d the debt collector is unaware of your complaint, I suggest you tell them. They are unlikely to remove the default until the complaint is resolved, but this should stop them taking legal action against you if they are threatening that.
Michelle says
Morning Sara ,
So with your help I’v made many complaints and won all of them so far ( including the dreaded amigo lol ) I have many credit card and haven’t yet made complaints to any of them , my main one of concern is Vanquis , only problem is I can’t remember when I opened the account or when the credit increase was , my starting limit was £500 it’s now £3000 and iv had to call 5 times over the years to have reduced payments as I can’t afford the minimum payments ( around £190 a month ) Iv never paid more then the minimum payment and am currently on a £40 a month reduced payment break for the foreseeable, can I still complaint without knowing dates and amounts ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes you can.
The template letter now asks the lender to send you full details. But you don’t need to know these before starting your complaint.
Sam says
Afternoon All.
I’ve spent the last 4 weeks sending emails via Resolver, to Very/Littlewooods and have received no response.
Has anyone got a contact email for them or can anyone point me in the direction of where to send my affordability complaint to please?
Thank you.
Steve says
Hi Sam,
My partner complained to Littlewoods through resolver around 4 weeks ago. Zero acknowledgment however received a letter yesterday stating they would refund part of the account. We like you didn’t think the complaint was being reviewed however it was.
Sam says
Hi Steve.
Thanks for that. Great to hear you got a positive response. Will give it another week or two in that case.
Cheers!
Chris Mitchell says
Good Morning – Has anyone got the Capital one email address for affordability complaints please?
Tyrone R says
complaintsResolutionUK@capitalone.com
Chris Mitchell says
Many Thanks.
Chris says
Heard from the Adjudicator again re J D Williams. They finally accepted his ruling from February 21st! The case was going to the Ombdudsman. I am asked whether I want to accept their ‘offer’ of settlement without actually knowing what the settlement is. Anyway, I am assured that if I am not happy with their figure, I can raise it again with the Adjudicator. Will keep you posted. The case so far has taken 2 years.
Pippa says
Hi Chris…I’ve started a complaint with J D Williams…I defaulted on my original JD Williams account yet they still allowed me to open another THREE accounts (Marisota, Fashion World and another JD.) They kept upping my credit limit and in the end the limits were £1200 each. I was only able to pay minimum payment and it’s been four years and my balance is still roughly the same due to the charges and interest. In the end I have had to go on a payment plan with them and now they’ve sold my debt to Debt Managers. The ironic thing is just last week they allowed me to open yet ANOTHER account with themselves (which I only applied for to help my case as surely this shows how irresponsible at lending they are!) They have sent me an email in response to my complaint asking for proof of unaffordability, ie bank statements, credit score and other evidence! Have you any tips at all?
Chris says
The only thing I can really say is to hang on in there. They take forever and even though I have waited 14 weeks for them finally to accept the Adj’s ruling, I am expecting it to take another 14 weeks for them to work out the redress! It sounds as if you have a case here – bizarre they let you open another account when they had already sold your old accounts to a DCA. Anyway I don’t think you need to provide all the evidence. Just make the complaint and wait for them to respond. They will reject it and it will have to go to the Financial Ombudsman, I’m afraid. Good luck! In two years time – let me know how it goes :)
Pippa says
Thanks Chris, they have requested proof of my financial hardship etc which I can provide to a point. It’s not easy getting old credit scores though and you would have thought they would already be in possession of that info as wouldn’t they have had the credit score at the time of application. It’s probably their way of making things difficult!
Isobel Izzy Kilgallon says
Hi there im currently waiting also been 4 weeks now ive been contacting them via twitter weekly , its nearing the end hopefully been a long few years
Chris says
I will let you know how it goes – will probably be waiting for a few months yet :)
Mr and Mrs C says
I have been waiting since Feb for some decent kind of offer, they have been told to refund all charges and interest since 2009, but they haven’t been forthcoming with any decent calculations yet. I have sent them back to the FOS twice asking to show their calculations and why they they are not adding on 8% interest when FOS said they should.
Lara says
Hi has anyone done a claim against Bamboo loan for irresponsible lending, I have done one but they rejected my complaining and offer give me a goodwill gesture payment, Which is significantly low I don’t know if to excepted or go to FOS
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Loans from Bamboo are normally discussed on this other page https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/
They have a habit of making a low offer but can often be persuaded to increase it… Can you say something about this loan, what you have paid and what they have offered?
Lara says
In 2018 £3,000.00 I paid it off £4,176.00, and a top-up loan in 2019 £3,344.00 Part of the top-up loan cleared off the 1st loan, Poor credit score I had to take out alot of payday loans to make payments with Bamboo loan. They said they where not wrong.
But offer me a goodwill gesture of £649.00 if I Withdraw my complaint
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How much cash did you get from the top up loan? And how much have you paid to the top up loan – is it cleared? what is the balance?
Lara Goodridge says
Both loans are cleared now, top up loan £3,344.00 I received £1,300.00 and the remaining £2,044.00 cleared the first loan
So I paid back loan 1) £4,177.34
Top up loan I paid back £4,657.00
And they offer me a goodwill gesture of £649.00
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am assuming that when you said you paid off the first loan with 4176 this is the total of the monthly payments you made plus the amount from the top up loan.
so you have paid 1176 in interest to the first loan and 1313 to the top up loan – a total of £2489
An offer of £649 sounds very poor. The question is, what figure do you think would be acceptable?
It sounds clear that they should have noticed the top up loan was unaffordable if you had recently been taking out payday loan so you were struggling with the first loan. So you could ask for a refund of the interest on the second loan, so £1313?
Or you could say the total interest you have paid is £2489 plus 8% statutory interest but you would be happy to accept £2,000 as a speedy compromise?
I suspect if you want much more you will have to take this to the ombudsman.
Not going to the Ombudsman also saves them the £650 FOS fees (which funnily seems to be what they have offered you…) but you don’t need to point that out to them. I am just saying it so you realise they have an icentive to reach an agreement.
Lara says
Yes that’s correct
Lara says
Thank you so much Sarah,FOS has agreed that bamboo loan lent Irresponsible, and Bamboo agreed with their findings
In accordance with the recent adjudication from the Financial Ombudsman Service regarding your complaint, we can confirm that you are due redress of £1,281.21.
Lauren T says
Hi all
I finally received my refund cheques from JD William’s today after 2 and a half long years. Keep positive and patient everyone :)
Mary says
Congratulations, did they make contact with you at all to tell you how much you was getting and how it was calculated, and did they also include the 8%.
Lauren T says
I didnt receive any correspondence at all, but I kept nagging them via Twitter. They told me the calculations on Twitter via a DM, and it’s taken about 28 days to receive the cheques. I received more than I thought, plus the 8% so was very happy in the end.
Mary says
Oh wow, I be your glad its all over now. Can I ask how long did it take from JD Williams agreeing with the FOS to you actually receiving your refund please.
Pippa says
Hi Lauren,
Do you mind me asking what refund they gave you? Was it what you expected?
Lauren T says
Hiya,
Sorry only just seen these replies….the Ombudsman agreed in early March and I received the actual cheques last week. My total was £8300, I paid the debts off two years ago and were over 3 accounts since 2013 so the interest was crazy!!
Good luck guys
Bill J says
Hi
Does anyone have an email address for AQUA?
There is nothing on their website that I can find.
Ross says
I suggest doing it via Resolver.
Lara says
Hi could I put in a claim against lending stream the loans were in 2011 and 2012
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes you can.
See https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/ for the template to use and further comments are best on that page.
Lara says
Hi I’m trying to get the contact information for Speedloan Finance, I did contact H&T but I was told they never heard of speedloan
Sara (Debt Camel) says
what does this relate to – cheque cashing? loans? pawns?
Lara says
I had a few loans with them in 2011 to 2012
Sara (Debt Camel) says
H&T only took over the pawn business.
Speedloan finance still exists – try emailing annie.williams@speedloanfinance.com. If that bounces back, try writing to the directors: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/04332476/officers
Ross says
Unsurprisingly, Newday have rejected my complaint about my Marbles account. They state everything was done correctly. Off to the FOS we go.
Ali says
They did me too..mine was affordability, no increases. Newday rejected, adjudicator upheld but ombudsman not upheld in provisional decision,waiting for final decision in the next week or so but guess it’ll not be upheld, hopes were built up when adjudicator upheld…
Lynne says
Has anyone had any luck with John Lewis finance partnership card? I put a complaint in via Resolver 2 months ago and heard nothing from them which is a bit surprising.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
have you phoned them up and asked why you have not had a reply?
Fred says
Hi Sara,
I have a complaint with New Day thats now with investigator.
They requested information form New Day since the end of December but when I emailed them a few weeks ago they did said they finally had they all needed but haven’t looked at my case yet. I don’t like to pester them too much but next month will be a year since I orignally complained to New day so it’s very stressful. Everyday I hope today is the day they will get back to me. And I think from reading the comments about New day they tend not to agree with the investigator (if they find in my favour) it goes to the ombudsman which will take even longer.
my case is they gave me one card with too high a limit where I had to continuously take out loans to make my payments. and then New day gave me 2 further cards later on almost at the exact same time.
When is a fair time to complain that this is taking too long? Thank you. I have had several other complaints in with the ombudsman and it has never take this long one they picked up the case.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are you still making the normal payments to this? What is the rest of your financial situation like?
Fred says
I had a payment holiday as I was working reduced hours,
The first holiday they still charged me interest so was pointless. the 2nd one they didn’t (however it seems on the 2nd one it is messing up my equifax report as they saying I have missed payments but when in reality they are under Query) so I contacted equifax about this seperately.
I am still paying them every month. they have blocked my cards so I can’t spend on them. I am still making the minimum payments at the moment but doesn’t really make any sort of dent in them. I don’t really have the excess cash to pay them off at the moment and was really hoping my complaint will be successful. If it is I would have thought it would clear all the outstanding balances.
I still have other debts but they are managable. All the other accounts I had I had successful complaints and cleared them and my credit file is now completely clear of any negative info such as payday loans. If you where to look at my credit file today you wouldn’t have seen any problem with lending to me. However before I opened the 2nd and 3rd cards I had about 30 payday loans in a short time, 2 massive loans with barclays 1 with avant and about 5 other credits cards maxed out and 3 catalogue accounts.
Fred says
also to add I am trying to clear up everything as am trying to apply for mortgage with my partner.
Forgot to add I also had loan with 118 money.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How is clearing the payday loans off your credit records going – have all the Sunny ones gone now?
Have you made a complaint to 118?
Being very practical, if you can’t afford to be paying more than the minimum each month to this card, how are you going to save up a house deposit?
Fred says
I successfully removed all of the sunny entries. I had to go a bit back and forth with the credit agencies but a bit of persistence got rid of them. I found you have to be quite frank with the CRA’s when they reply as they just come back with the normal responses.
Myjar agreed to remove the entries very easilly. it was 1 email
Provident did too.
and Peachy,
The only ones I still have on there are some entries from onstride who won’t remove them. but will query again when they stop reporting data to the CRA’s I don’t think they are listed as Payday loans
I did complain to 118 previously and was successful didn’t have to go to the obmudsman.
I know it sounds weird about buying a place when I am still paying some debts. my current flat is under my wifes name and we will make quite a good amount of profit if we sell which will be the deposit for the house.
Fred says
so she wants to do this together and I am just trying to tidy it up as much as I can in preperation for this. Where I can I will pay extra to try to clear the new day cards, But the amount of borrowing I had to do previously was crazy. and it was all due to trying to stay up to date with payments as was scared to damage my credit file with payment arrangements and late payments, so I have always been upto date.
Ironically I had a massive problem with JD williams I posted recently when they incorrectly sold my account to a debt collector when it was totally up to date. I thought just my luck but it’s nearly sorted now.
Jade says
Hi Fred, what was your complaint with 118? I have just submitted one to them
Fred says
I had one loan with them and after 3 months they offered me more money and cleared loan one and opened a 2nd.
They refunded me the interest as I don’t think they did proper checks.
Rachael Reed says
Hi can anyone help I want to put an affordability claim into marbles for the credit card I have but can’t find details anywhere to send an email??
Ali says
I used resolver..
Marbles refused, adjudicator upheld but marbles refused again so went to Ombudsman who didn’t provisionally upheld,just waiting on final decision in the next week or 2 which will probably be not upholding as no further info to provide :(
Fred says
complaints@newday.co.uk works.
Maria says
Hi Sara,
I have received a letter from shops direct giving me a list of my accounts and saying they did not have PPI. This has surprised me as l did not raise a complaint for PPI. The payments were high and l did struggle for years to repay them. Do you think it worth raising an irresponsible complaint with them and do you have an email address l can write to.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So this letter just came out of the blue?
Maria says
Hi Sara yes out of the blue listing all account numbers they have on record I had a littlewoods and Kay’s catalogue
Sara (Debt Camel) says
oh! If you think they raised your limits too high, give it a go.
Try suzanne.edmondson@theverygroup.com – let me know if that works.
Or use Resolver.
LAS says
Hi Sara I used the above email to complain about my very account and they came back with an acknowledgment of email right away, it came from executive complaints department and said they were looking into it straight away, so thanks, let’s hope I get a good outcome
Maria says
Thank you Sara I have emailed a complaint and will keep you updated
Xubo says
I put a complaint in at fashion world, they rejected my claim, said all checks were done correctly, but during my time we the fashion world I had payday loans, Littlewoods and very accounts, I’m now in a DMP, should I take this further or accept there decision
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How large was your credit limit? was it increased?
Xubo says
It started off with £250 if I remember then it went up to £2500 over time, but I also had over £2000 with little woods and very.
Very upheld my complaint but little woods and now fashion world say they followed out the proper checks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
then send those rejected complaints to the Ombudsman, article above explains how. It’s easy to do this and you may get a good result, so why not!
Xubo says
Perfect thank you I will do, just find it funny that only very upheld the complaint
Jess says
Hello,
I got a loan with 118118 money last year for £1000 and a month later got a £1200 credit card from them. I ended up getting another loan in jan/feb to pay off the 118 one so I’m trapped in a circle with everything. At the time I have got around 4/5 different credit cards where only the minimum has been paid and I’m sure I had payday loans aswell. Do you know how I would complain. Would I complain separately or together for them both?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
One complaint for both of them. I suggest you use the template on the large loans page https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/ but change it to say you had this loan and then you were given a credit card and you are making an affordability complaint about both.
Ryan says
Good morning, I need details on why I shouldn’t complain to Barcalys after the high limits left me no option but get professional help please?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
overdraft limit or credit card limit? what sort of professional help? how did that work out?
Siobhan says
Does anyone have an email address for Very? I’ve tried three different ones but all are bouncing back and one said email address so not longer used.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
can you list the ones that haven’t worked ao people don’t suggest those?
Adrian says
Many thanks to your site as I pursued Barclaycard in 2020 when they cut my credit limits and put me in the persistent debt category. I started to look into their behaviour
They had increased my credit limit from £4200 to £15200 in the 12 months from 2015 to 2016 without fair and reasonable investigation as to my ability to repay.
I approached Barclaycard to address this issue and received 2 curt letters saying that they had investigated and checked my ability to repay and were not going to repay anything.
I went to the Financial Ombudsman and after 4-6 months of delay and absolutely atrocious communication issues I today received a letter to say Barclaycard had repaid £7300 of interest and charges from over a 5 year period 2015-2016.
The Ombudsman Service were understanding, communicative and offered clarity whilst Barclaycard were clouded, vacuous and have the worst communications of any large company I have ever dealt with.
It all started with a Debt Camel article that piqued my interest and amazingly 6 months later I am debt free from Barclaycard and will never deal with them again.
Michael says
I’ve had a similar issue, however FOS aren’t upholding my compliant.
Adrian says
Hi Michael,
I had a default notice on my credit report at the time they increased the credit limits and also missed lots of payments on other bills.
I guess it can be a bit of a lottery as to how the FOS perceive the circumstances?
Sianyyyy says
Still waiting for JD Williams to provide my refund calculation. They have exceeded the 4 weeks allowed by the ombudsman but don’t seem to be in any hurry to provide the details. Ombudsman aren’t much help either, just saying they are aware of the delay
Is there anyway to take this further?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how late are they?
Sianyyyy says
6 weeks from the ombudsman final response – gave them 4 weeks to send calculation and make
Payment but now at 6 weeks apparently an issue senior management is aware of but can’t give timescales
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok well let me know if they don’t find a calculator in the next two weeks.
Mr and Mrs C says
Hi Sara
I have been waiting since mid Feb for my calculations, they have forwarded them once about a month ago and I didnt agree and sent it back to FOS – its been there a month now and no one is getting in touch with me – is there any way to take this further, all I hear from FOS is once JDW have provided more calcs they will be back in touch.
Gary says
Hiya
I’m in a similar situation they agreed with the adjudicator as it it was off to the ombudsman and the letter of agreement was sent by the adjudicator 1st April I was advised give them 6 weeks. I went back to the adjudicator after that and advised similarly as yourself they are aware they are busy and struggling.
Still awaiting calculations and JDW haven’t answered any communications I’ve had with them since so I think it’s literally a waiting game…. Again!
Been going for over 2 1/2 years easy now.
Mary says
Hi Sianyyy,
I’m still waiting for my refund too, my 4 weeks from the FOS are up tomorrow but I am still waiting for JD Williams to give me any kind of calculations for my refund. I do message them weekly on Twitter to remind them but it has got me nowhere. It’s a bit annoying since I first sent the complaint into JD Williams in May 2019, surely the ombudsmen should be looking into why its taking JDWilliams so long to calculate the refunds.
Mr and Mrs C says
I have been waiting since Feb for the calculations and refund.
Nick says
NewDay are just as bad. The FOS adjudicator found in my favour over an Aqua card and awarded compensation, which NewDay agreed to. That was over 8 weeks ago. Not a word from them since, even though I’ve chased it up with the adjudicator twice.
Romsey says
Just wanted to say thank you to this site! I’ve had numerous refunds from payday companies which has allowed me to pay of my debts and find myself in a much better financial position and hopefully going for our mortgage by the end of the year. The last thing I had that was outstanding on my credit file was a defaulted overdraft with Halifax. They let me increase it time and time again even though I wasn’t paying enough into my account and was under going mental health issues at the time. This amount arose to £1800 and was referred to a debt collection agency. I wrote an affordability complaint and today received a reply to say although they carried out the proper checks and felt they were fair to me. They have agreed to wipe the debt and record it as settled on my credit file! I’m so happy that I’m now no longer in debt and can finally look to the future!
Isobel Izzy Kilgallon says
Well finally after nearly 3 years received letter with cheque enclosed today £5120 ! For 3 accounts since 2016 ..been messaging them on twitter for 5 weeks . Adjudicator from ombudsman contacted me last week saying jd williams had accepted there outcome and would be in contact with me directly within 6 weeks .low and behold cheque arrived . Delighted as had paid off my accounts last year .
Good luck everyone .
Mary says
Hi Isobel,
Did JD Williams get in contact with you first to tell you how much you would be refunded or did they just send the cheques.
Michelle says
Hi Sara ,
Quick question , I’m doing my complaint for my Vanquis card , looking at my statements I used my card for many many many gambling transactions, should I mention this in my complain ?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
did they increase your credit limit when gambling was obviously a problem for you?
Michelle says
Yes , I started with a £500 limit maybe with a few gambling small transactions, then more increases then my gambling got worse and worse
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok then definitely mention this as a problem in your complaint.
V says
Hi Sara,
I was just wondering if you make a complaint to a company about a credit card which you still have an open account with do they close your account afterwards meaning you are not a customer with them anymore or are you still able to use the card and remain a customer?
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That depends on the credit card. But realistically if the repayments are unaffordable, you should not mind if the card is cancelled, because getting out of your huge debt mess is the most important thing.
If you win the complaint, any negative marks are removed from your credit record.
V says
Hi Sara,
Yeah thats the most important thing, I was just not sure as one of the lenders I finally managed to clear this year so I no longer hold a balance with them and just wondered if they would still close the account. But if they do it it’s fine either way, just wanted to check.
Thank you!
LAS says
Hi xubo can I ask about your very complaint being upheld, did they ask you for documentation to prove anything , should I get bank statements etc printed?how long did it take and wat was the outcome did they just refund your interest?
Thanks in advance
Xubo says
Very were very good and quick, I never had to send anything, I did mine through resolver
It’s Littlewoods and fashion world I’m not happy with as they both said they did the correct checks, I’m sure out of all 3 companies it wasn’t just very that didn’t comply
Las says
Yeah that’s unfortunate, did very take the interest from your balance, just wondering what to expect if I am successful?
Thank you
Xubo says
They cleared my outstanding balance then sent me a cheque off the remainder I was due
Gary H says
Hi,
Does anyone have an email to send a Barclaycard complaint to? I’ve tried searching the site, apologies if I’ve missed it.
Adrian says
Hi Gary,
I sent my initial complaint to odrsupport@barclaycard.co.uk
They responded fairly quickly, logged the complaint and forwarded it to the relevant department.
Adrian
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you have an open account, the best thing is to complain using their secured messaging.
The ODR email was used for a pretty useless piece of European dispute resolution that no longer works at all after Brexit – I would worry that emails sent there will not always be correctly routed.
Gary H says
Unfortunately they seem to have locked my account – hence searching for an email. Thanks though everyone.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well try the ODR email but if you have heard any acknowledgment in a few weeks, find another way. Eg Resolver.
Maria says
Hi all I need to contact Aqua by email not via their website does anyone have an email address for aqua
Gary H says
Hi Maria,
I used aqua-complaints@aquacard.co.uk and they acknowledged that in writing, so it worked this time last year.
Regards,
Gary
Jodie says
Hi Sara, sorry to bother you but please can I ask you to look at my redress calculations from Littlewoods? Thanks to this site I’ve had an affording complaint upheld. They have said:
We are upholding your complaint from 20 September 2008 when your credit limit was increased from £1800 to £2300. Accordingly, SDFC will calculate the redress from the point your balance exceeded £1800.
The redress calculations are detailed below:
Buy Now Pay Later deferred interest: £1074.19
Administration charges: £756
8% simply interest £1117.65
Have told me to expect a chq for £3001.84 within 21 days.
Am I being silly or is there not actually a line in that calculation for the interest I paid that wasn’t bnpl?
Thanks for this site and all you do, it’s helping turn my life around!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you are right – did you pay much interest that wasnt on BNPL?
Jodie says
Thanks for responding :-) Super efficient!
Yes, rarely used the bnpl only for a couple of larger items. Majority would be non-bnpl.
I’ll give them a call on Monday then, just didn’t want to embarrass myself if I was being dim.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how much were you hoping for?
Jodie says
I’m not sure really, just however much I’m entitled too I suppose…. We spent a fortune with them over the years, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was over £15/£20k spent with them since 2008. At one point my credit limit was £8k!
If it’s all the interest paid since 2008 that should be included in that calculation then I’d expect it to be a lot more. But £3k is a HUGE sum to me regardless. Just not sure they’ve missed a line out on their calculations….
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well worth asking why there is not a separate line for the other interest then,
Lynne says
NatWest have now paid me for the mis-selling of a packaged Bank account however I had a separate complaint in about the overdraft being unaffordable and their response is that it’s too late to complain as I haven’t had it since June 2013, making it over 6 years and too late to do anything about it. Is that right?
They also say I should’ve realised 3 years afterwards!
I just checked and my NatWest account was closed in 2015 not 2013 so they’ve got the dates wrong
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The Ombudsman will often look at cases over 6 years, but go back and point out it was only closed in 2015.
Lynne says
Yes I’ve done that.
It’s a bit odd they paid up on the packaged bank account fee but not the overdraft and I had the same account for the same amount of time. Also the packaged bank account took 6 weeks to investigate and settle, whereas this separate o/d complaint was 5 days from start to finish!
Ali says
I did a bank account switch a few years ago to natwest who gave me an overdraft of £1250. At this point I had ongoing payday loans,credit card and catalogue debts of over £5000.
I was in the overdraft fully from the moment I opened my account to when I managed to pay it off and close it just over a year ago.
I put it an affordability complaint which they didn’t upheld last year and been waiting for it to be picked up by an adjudicator since around October last year, was hoping to hear within 4 months so chased up in Feb to be told it was still awaiting to be picked up by an adjudicator and nothing since.
I was just wondering if I should be holding out much hope on this one? I’ve had refunds from the other usual payday loan lenders so this is my final hope.
Thanks
Ali
Sara (Debt Camel) says
these cases are all very “individual” – it’s not like payday loans where if you had borrowed a lot from the same lender you could guess roughly what FOS would say.
Lynne says
I have an unusual story about NatWest.
A few years ago they sent me a cheque out of the blue for £8,500. There was a letter in there which explained that they shouldn’t have been honouring the continuous payment authority from the different payday loan companies and that this was my refund. I couldn’t believe it. Earlier that day before the letter and cheque came I had £1.50 in my purse and had to decide whether to get bread OR milk!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
wow.
I don’t suppose you still have that letter? I would LOVE to see it!
Lynne says
I honestly don’t as it was 2016 and I moved house etc since then. I recall the letter outlined all the payments that shouldn’t have gone out (Wonga being the biggest) and they apologised and said that they should’ve cancelled the CPA and the payments shouldn’t have been made. I was going through a particularly tough time – my dad had passed away and my car broke down which cost me £600 so the cheque arriving was like a gift from God!
Ironically I didn’t bank with them anymore at that point so I paid the cheque into the nationwide lol.
Ali says
Wow amazing story…well done you.
Ali says
Thank you for your opinion. Hopefully I’ll get a response soon but I was extremely surprised when they offered me an overdraft facility at all due to my past and present borrowing issues at that point…nevermind for £1250!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Oh I agree!
Ali says
I’ve been waiting 7, nearly 8 months now, had a lot of replies from others within a couple of months so not sure why this is taking so long. Do they(adjudicator) gather the information before sending me a reply first ?!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you go back to the adjudicator and ask if there is any further information you can help with.
Ali says
I’ve emailed the ombudsman service today to ask if they require anything from me to speed up the process although in the last email I had them from in Feb they said ‘I can assure you that your complaint is progressing here at the Financial Ombudsman Service. We have obtained the file of papers from the business to complete your case file and to avoid further delays at the assessment stage.’ So it makes me think that there is just a delay with passing to the adjudicator if there’s a lot of cases maybe?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like there isn’t yet an adjuidcator.
Ali says
That’s what I thought too, guess I’ll just have to be patient. I’ve been used to other files being picked up pretty fast that were around the same time as this one originally.
Jo says
A couple of weeks ago I made an affordability complaint against Shop Direct. I’ve received a letter saying they’re investigating my complaint, however I’ve discovered that since making a complaint they’ve done a head credit search, and I’m just wondering if this normal.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They should have made an admin search not a hard credit search. Contact them and complain and ask for the hard search to removed from your records.
Paul says
Hi,
I need advice please.
I won my case against my credit card provider the Ombudsman ruled in my favour to refund all interest, fees, charges and add 8% statutory interest. I have 2 cards with the provider. I think one card will be cleared but I will still have a balance on the other about £3000. The provider says they will close the account and arrange a payment plan to clear the balance.
I have a fair credit score and no missed payments for 29 months. I have been told that they have to report this to the credit agencies.
Will they put an AR on my file (arrangement to pay) will this have a negative effect and is there anything I can do to stop this.
Thanks
Paul
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Go back to the Ombudsman and ask them to explain to the lender that that should not mark your credit record as being in arrears or a payment plan.
Paul says
Hi,
This is what the Ombudsman sent to me.
the understanding your credit card accounts will be closed and you’ll enter into a payment plan to clear the debt..
Thanks
Paul
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, but that payment arrangement should no damage your credit score.
Paul says
Hi,
Why would they suggest this and if the Ombudsman doesn’t agree what options are left.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
because your credit record should not be harmed because they raised your credit limit too high – I can’t guarantee the Ombudsman will agree but there is a reasonable chance so give this a go.
Paul says
Hi,
Well the Ombudsman said its out of his hands.
Credit card have given me 4weeks to clear the balances if not cleared I have to do a payment plan.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, but if they mark your credit record as being in a payment arrangement, start a new complaint about that!
Andrew says
Hi I put complaints in about all my cards I had 7 all together at height of borrowing all with fos
2 cap one 200 and 1000 limit adj rules against me waiting a ombudsman
2 (marbles and aqua) and 1 vanquis with same adjudicator she picked up quite quickly and was about to publish decision now with a gambling team after I disclosed it wondering whether disclosing it has ruined case she said to me 4 weeks wait for this team to ratify her decision she has it typed up just waiting her approval
Limit on marbles 3200, aqua 1600 , vanquis 800
Barclaycard 250 and 2000 I have had a payment of 106 paid into my current account by them today already had a payment last year as they admit they made mistakes this is still in queue for adjudicator
Is this delay for the new day and vanquis cards a good thing or likely to go against and has anyone had this payment from barclays ?
I had loans out at time and also payday loans
Thanks for your help in advance
Andrew says
Sara or anyone has gambling transactions affected the outcome and has anyone else had to had adjudicator decision ratified by a separate team (not a ombudsman) before its sent ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
your comment was the first I had heard of a “separate team”.
Normally gambling transactions showing on something the lender should have been aware of help your complaint.
Andrew says
Yeah she apologised as she said to me the decision was ready to send, then she said it needed to be looked over by a team who look into gambling etc
Even if they say it was lent responsibly, I would argue they would be able to see gambling transactions on the card when they increased the limit
Jade says
Vanquis just upped my credit limit by £1000 with the option of interest free bank transfers even though I had defaulted on my recent payments and then if they had checked properly would of realised that I have a gambling problem (sad face) I am in the process of complaining as they have definitely not helped and I am about to go into a DMP
Fred says
Hi Sara,
If I were to clear the balances on a credit card that I have a complaint in with the ombudsman currently.
Would this possibly work against me. the complaint is taking a very long time but I have family member willing to clear the balance in the meantime.
Should I inform the investigator if I do this.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No it won’t harm your complaint. Yes tell the investigator what has happened – point out this doesn’t mean the balance was affordable for you.
Steven says
Hi, I currently have 6 credit cards and each of them have spiralled to max limits. Am I able to complain even tho I still have the cards open with big balances on?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Were the limits increased at a time you think the lenders should have known that you would not be able to afford them? eg when you were already only making minimum payments?
Are you struggling to pay all the minimums at the moment?
Steve says
Yes struggling with minimums at the moment, they allowed me to increase limits while taking out further loans etc
I just want to know if i complain against a current credit card provider that I have, will they terminate my usage of the card and demand the balance paid immediately?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They may close the account but they can not demand you repay the balance immediately.
If you are struggling, I suggest you talk to StepChange about putting these debts into a debt management plan, so interest is frozen. See https://www.stepchange.org/how-we-help/debt-management-plan.aspx. This harms your credit record but if you win an affordability complaint the negative marks are removed.
This allows you to relax while the complaints go through – these things are not fast, with 4 cards the chances are some of them will have to go to the Ombudsman for a decision.
Nardia says
Hello I was given higher credit limits as my credit score was really good for my age. I’m 25 years old and on benefits, they didn’t check if I was able to afford the limits they just gave them to me. I then had to borrow alot of money from my nan to pay them off but then a few years later I got myself in a mess again. I’ve got my first ccj and I’m not scared they are going to take my children’s things or my TV etc. I’m on disability now I suffer with ptsd and also physical disabilities that now prevent me from working. The ccj is for over 6 grand but in total I have over 20 grands worth of debt and all of them never checked if I actually earnt enough money to pay them back.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I’m sorry to hear about your health problems.
I’m not scared they are going to take my children’s things or my TV etc
was that a typo for “I’m now scared”?
rachel says
hi there do we have a link or email for jacamo catalouge ? ive also been declined by satsuma ferratum and also can i apply to 02 for contracts as they was loans not contracts when takimg outy the contracts all 8 of them there was 2 agreements one for handset and one for the sim card many thanks rachel
Sara (Debt Camel) says
satsuma, ferratum, how many loans did you have and how large.
UI have not seen anyone win an affordability complaint against O2
Katie says
New Day update.
Letter through today stating the my old Aqua and old Marbles cards were “issued appropriately”, however my most recent Aqua card should not have been issued, so they have refunded all interest, fees and stat interest to the outstanding balance which bought it down by £600. Now just waiting for credit file updates. Thanks for the advice!
Ross says
I’ve just submitted my Marbles complaint to the FOS and, having read their final response again, I am surprised at a few points they have made. They have acknowledged that, at the time of applying, I had a defaulted loan for £9000. Would/should that not set warning bells off, when approving a credit card application? Also, they state that there were NO payday loans showing, on my credit record, when applying. This is definitely incorrect. I used Wonga, PDUK, Payday Express, Wageday Advance, QuickQuid, and Pounds to Pocket, to name a few. I appreciate they may use different CRA’s but would none of these show on one particular CRA? Also, they have stated that it is my fault I didn’t ‘opt-out’ of further credit limit increases.
We’ll see what the FOS opinion is, on this?
Dave L says
Sara any suggestions nearly two months ago I won an affordability complaint against 118118 money for a credit card account for unaffordable lending and they agreed to refund my interest well charges on the account of £168. They had sold these two off whilst the complaint was being investigated and it is being dealt with by BW legal.
During that time they have made no effort to pay the £168 to that account, they have not contact BW legal and they told me to wait sixty days originally for this to be done . I have emailed them without reply , other than escalating this to the ombudsman, is there anyone else I can contact to resolve this ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
try emailing siwan.jones@118118money.com
Dave L says
Thanks Sara really appreciate that
NICO says
Hi Sara/All,
Yesterday I had a complaint upheld by FoS for Capital 1, which right now is good news. It will now go back to Capital 1 for them to review.
Do you or anyone have any experience is how Capital 1 normally respond to these please? Go with the FoS decision, drag things out, etc.
Waiting for FoS is so painful especially when they have found in my favour – I have 2 others now at final review with FoS after the lenders rejected the decisions, just trying to prep myself for maybe 1 more here.
Thanks
NICO says
Anyone have any thoughts on this please?
Mr and Mrs C says
It has now been 4 months since the FOS decided in my favour against JDW – and I still dont have a figure or the settlement. I email the FOS every two weeks for a progress update and am always told they will come back to me when they have further information. Is anyone else in the same boat?
Mike_p says
Hello Sara,
I have a Barclaycard with a lmit that was increased to £9100 in about 2015 and is now almost at it’s limit. The card was originally taken out as an Egg card in around 2001 and was taken over by Barclaycard some time later. Do you think I’ll be better off making a complaint about the increase or should I try asking them them for the original credit agreement?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you defaulted on the card?
Mike_p says
Not yet, but I’m considering setting up a debt management plan which would mean I do default on it/
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you ask for the CCA agreement, I don’t know whether it can be produced. But if it isn’t, although the debt becomes unenforceable it still legally exists and will be reported to your credit records as defaulted for the next 6 years.
If you think the credit increase was unaffordably high – and it should have been clear in 2015 that this was the case – then I suggest you complain about this. If the limit was fine in 2015 but since then your situation has got much worse, you won’t win this complaint as it is a test when it was taken out.
If you are thinking of doing this don’t delay. You can make complaints about events more than 6 years ago but the complaints will often take much longer than is the event is under 6 years. It sounds as though you aren’t sure of the date of the limit increase and it may be marginal – don’t dither worrying about this or waste time trying to find out the date, if you know the increase was unaffordable then kick off the complaint now.
A DMP is often a very good option while affordability complaints go through as it takes the immediate pressure off you, gets interest stopped and is completely flexible. If you win an affordability complaint the size of the debt in your DMP can drop dramatically so it will be repaid much faster. You should not delay starting this hoping to win an affordability complaint instead, as this can take a very long while because most cases have to go to the Ombudsman at the moment.
Mike_p says
No I’m not sure exactly when it was increased, but it was sometime around then, I looked in my account but that only goes back 12 months. My wife gave up work in 2010 when our first child was born and we started using the card to cover expenses each moth. The balance increased most months until it was close to the limit that was something like £5000, and then they increased it to £9100.
I’ll get the DMP and complaints sorted out soon. Thanks to your help we have got out of our payday loan mess but we have a number of cards we have been treading water with and need to get sorted out.
Graeme says
I have today received a letter from Barclaycard out of the blue – “ We’re giving you a refund of some default fees on your account”
I had the account from approx 2016 to 2019 and was during a period of very poor financial management on my part. I was in a mess, thankfully I’ve managed my finances impeccably since 2019.
The figure is £132 but there’s no calculation enclosed. The letter says that I may have been adversely financially affected by the charges (I most certainly was)
What I am wondering, if there is some acceptance of liability with regards to the mess I was in, would I have any recourse in getting the late/missed payment markers from my credit file? There’s loads of them.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Had they increased your credit limit to a very high level?
You could ask them how many default fees you had been charged during this period?
Graeme says
Hi Sara,
No it was never raised above its initial limit of £400 I don’t think.
This letter appears to be slightly different to those regarding credit limits. The only other post I can see who has the same letter is this post…
https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-catalogue-credit-card/comment-page-20/#comment-411606
Just don’t know how to proceed. Accept their £132 or ask for refund of interest given what appears to be acceptance of liability on their part.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think finding out how many times you went over the limit and the total charges would be a good starting point.
sjp says
I had put in a claim for affordability with shop direct and not having any response i contacted The financial Ombudsman and now i have finally had an offer from shop direct i have accepted the offer but i wanted to know if anyone could any some questions i have.
Does anyone know what the timescale is for receiving the cheques?
Is tax deducted from the amount they offered?
Do i still have to pay my monthly bill until the accounts are closed?
Any help would be appreciated.
Las says
I’m waiting to hear from them too, how long did they take to come back to you, I thought the limit was 8 weeks? Are they closing ur account and refunding 8%, I know every case different was just wondering how they work it out
sjp says
it has taken 9 months for them to make me an offer the time limit is supposed to be 8 weeks. They made me an offer for each account i have with them.
Shop Direct have offered to refund interest and charges applied to my accounts, along with 8% simple interest, in full and final settlement of my complaint. They have offered me an amount for each account and taken of the balance i owe them and are sending me the rest in form of cheques and closing all my accounts.
Im not sure if tax is taken off or if i need to continue paying the accounts till they are closed.
Leanne says
Hi Sara,
Just thought I’d ask if you had any idea if phone contracts can get refunds. I had a phone from EE back in 2016/17. It was Sim Only, which means that I buy the phone and then have a monthly bill. The only trouble was I went into nearly £700 of debt because I was using my phone to gamble. There is gambling sites that let you credit your online account and then they charge you via your phone, so even though I had no money I was just gambling using my phone and adding more to my bill. They must’ve been aware of this. I just wondered on the off chance if you think I have a chance. I am with EE now but only pay as you go and I cleared all the remaining balance, which took 3/4 years! Thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t know of anyone that has tried to win a complaint like this.
Turtle says
Like a few people, I also got a refund out of the blue from Barclaycard for £400 last week along with the “ We’re giving you a refund of some default fees on your account” letter.
This is just a couple weeks after Barclaycard responded to my affordability complaint by saying my account is too old for an affordability complaint.
Quite ridiculous they deny my complaint but then refund me £400 worth of default fees.
My complaint to the FOS went straight in after they responded to my complaint in a unsatisfactory manor.
Surely this refund just highlights the extent of irresponsible lending….
Turtle says
….This Reminds me a lot like when Wonga wrote to customers in a similar manor. They refunded me £200 for irresponsible lending then later down the line worked out it should have actually been a £11,000 refund but at this point the directors had already sucked all the money out and went bust so they only had to pay a tiny %
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I’m pretty sure Barclays will last several more years :)
Turtle says
No doubt if they continue accepting cash from Russian money launderers and rigging libor rates!