Have you had a credit card, store card or catalogue where your credit limit was too high? So high that the monthly repayments were hard to manage and you got into more debt?
For some people the limit was too high at the start. Others were originally given an OK limit, but the lender kept increasing it. or it was OK while the 0% offer lasted, then unmanageable.
You may have a good affordability complaint that the lender was irresponsible in allowing you to borrow so much.
This applies even if you made every payment on time, as you may have borrowed more elsewhere.
This article explains how to ask for a refund of the interest you have paid.
Contents
What is “affordable”?
The regulator’s rules
Even if you made every payment on time, the debt may still have been unaffordable.
The following is my summary of the regulator’s rules:
- a lender must check if credit is affordable when you apply for it. For a very low limit, not many checks are needed;
- a lender should make similar checks before increasing a credit limit;
- credit isn’t affordable if paying it leaves you short of money for your bills, normal expenses, and your other debts;
- if you have to borrow more most months, this would not be affordable;
- you must be able to repay the limit set within a reasonable period. Paying the minimum amount is OK for a while, but not for a long time.
Good reasons to complain
If the lender could see any of these on your credit record, they should probably have declined your original application:
- a level of borrowing that looks very high in relation to your income; or
- you had a different credit card with the same lender where you were only making minimum payments; or
- 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; or
- recent credit record problems: defaults, missed payments, or arrangements to pay, mortgage arrears; or
- recent payday loans or a lot of recent credit applications.
Your credit limit should not have been increased unless you could afford it. In addition to the points above, any of the following should have also warned the lender you were already in difficulty:
- making minimum payments for a long while;
- often taking cash out on the card;
- making a minimum repayment but then using the card to pay for food or petrol so the balance never drops;
- using most of your limit for a long period;
- significant gambling the lender was aware of;
- recent missed payments or an arrangement to pay on your credit record;
- your overall level of debt on your credit record had increased a lot.
NB many cases are won when someone has never missed a payment.
You don’t need to know the dates and amounts of any limit increases before you start your complaint – my template asks for these.
0% balance transfers
Here the lender should check that you would be able to repay the whole limit within a manageable length of time (say 5 or 6 years) taking into account that interest will be charged when the 0% term ends.
So if you were ok during the 0% term but then you couldn’t afford the payments when interest started being added, you can complain. Ask for any interest to be refunded and to be able to repay the rest with no interest. Don’t make a complaint about a BT that is still at 0%, it’s much easier to wait until the 0% has ended.
Do I need to know the limit and date details?
No. My template below asks for these. The lender already knows the details so it doesn’t help your complaint by listing them. Don’t delay making a complain trying to find these out.
Think about these points before complaining
You can complain about open or recently closed accounts
These complaints can be made if your account:
- is still open; OR
- it is closed and settled within the last 6 years; OR
- or if it is with a debt collector and you defaulted within the last 6 years (NB the complaint goes to the original lender, not the debt collector.)
If you have had a DRO, IVA or bankruptcy after these problems, ask in the comments below, as this can be complicated.
Old accounts
Many lenders reject complaints about a card opened more than six years ago and say the ombudsman won’t look at them.
FOS may look at these “old” accounts if they have still been open within the last six years. But you are much more likely to win if there have been limit increases in the last 6 years.
If your account was opened in 2017 say, but the lender increased your limit in 2021, that limit increase is within the last 6 years so it can definitely be looked at. You can always get bank statements going back six years, even from closed bank accounts.
A alternative for old defaulted accounts?
If your account was opened over 6 years ago, 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 asking for this rather than making an affordability complaint.
Is a refund what you really need?
Any refund sounds good, but is your problem much bigger than this?
Complaining only gets the interest refunded – you still have to repay what you borrowed. If the debt is newish, you may still be left with a large, unaffordable balance.
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.
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, this isn’t the lender’s fault. But you may still need help to get interest stopped on the cards – talk to StepChange or National Debtline about getting new interest stopped when you are in difficulty.
How to complain
The email address to use
The best way to complain is by email. Find the email address here:
Credit card and catalogue email addresses
Start with this template
I’ve invented an example so you can see how a complaint could read.
Change/delete the bits in italics to tell your story. Miss out any dates if you don’t know them, this isn’t a problem
I want to complain about irresponsible lending 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.
Put this in if you think the lender may have an old address for you
I have moved and my home address is now xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Please do not send any letters to any older addresses on your system.
Put this in if you don’t know some details
I do not know the exact months when the account was opened or any credit limit increases or decreases. In your reply to my complaint, please tell me the dates and amounts of all limit changes, even if these happened over 6 years ago.
Then say IF they should never have given you the account:
You should never have allowed me to open an account with such a large credit limit.
On my income with my regular household expenses and other debts I could not manage to repay that amount in a reasonable time.
[if you had already missed payments] When I applied, you should have checked my credit record and would have seen I had recent missed payments to a credit card and a default only five months before on a loan.
[If this started as a 0% transfer: You should have seen that I would not be able to clear the balance in a manageable length of time, and that after the 0% period ended, I would struggle to pay the higher minimums once interest was being added.]
AND / OR say that they should not have increased your credit limit:
You should never have increased my credit limit. 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 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.
If the lender should 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
I had missed payments to you in 2023
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 2021.
OR
I would like you to refund all the interest I have paid since the 0% period ended and allow me to clear the balance without adding interest.
I would also like any late payment and default markers to be removed from my credit record. (do not mention this if the credit record for this card doesn’t have problems)
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.
Here are some bad or irrelevant comments lenders sometimes make when rejecting a complaint:
- you made the payments to them on time – that doesn’t mean you could manage a higher limit;
- the account was opened over 6 years ago – if it was still open in the last 6 years the Ombudsman may look at it;
- you accepted the limit increase – that doesn’t make a difference! The increase should not have been offered if it was unaffordable.
You know if this card or catalogue has caused you difficulty – it’s easy to send a case to the independent ombudsman. Don’t delay doing this!
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 bother to send A copy of your credit or finance agreement – the lender will supply that if FOS asks for it.
Send FOS a copy of your credit report, they always want to see it. If you have any old credit reports, send the oldest one you have, otherwise send the current one. You can download a statutory TransUnion report for free.
Also get your bank statements if they will support your complaint and send those to FOS too. Do not wait to be asked by FOS for these.
Ideally you want them 3 months before and three months after the account was opened and before /after any limit increase
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?
Simon says
Hi guy hope you could help me out? I have made complaint against Marbles 7 weeks ago about unaffordable borrowing. I started with a small credit liked of £500 then quickly went up to £3000, I made the complaint saying I had struggled before I got the credit card and also missed a few payments.
So today I went onto check what my balance was and I found that marbles have reduced my balance by just over £1000 pound, it says it’s a interested credit adjustment.
I did say to marbles I wanted all my interest and late fees paid back to me and all negative areas of my credit file removed and if not I will be taking it to the ombudsman. Is this credit adjustment got anything to do with my complaint???
Thanks Simon
Paul says
How much interest do you think you have paid in total? If you owe a balance they will only reduce the balance and not pay you directly
Tracy Sowerby says
Hi
I’ve recently had a complaint upheld by very and they have removed the negative information on my credit file. The balance was written off and this is reflected on my account yet the amount owing is still showing on my credit file. Will this be updated later? Thankyou
Fred says
Hi Sara.
Just wanted to ask what you thought was a reasonable time for the investigator to retrieve info from New Day?
They picked up my complaint in December last year, for many months they where waiting for more info from the company. They finally sent it now about a month ago they asked for my credit file and again when I asked for an update they always say they are waiting for the company to reply.
So roughly it’s been 5 months since they started to look at it.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is unreasonable in my opinion. I suggest you email the FCA and copy New Day in on htis. the FCA will not look into your individual complaint but hopefully New Day will not like the FCA being told and there will be some action.
To do this, email consumer.queries@fca.org.uk and copy this to executiveandmediacomplaints@newday.co.uk and regulatoryenquiries@newday.co.uk
Subject: Why will New Day (690292) not send my file to FOS?
Give your New Day customer number or complaint number.
Give a very brief summary of your complaint – no more than a couple of sentences.
Say New Day rejected it so you sent it to FOS on dd/mm/yy. Say FOS tell you they have been asking New Day for your case file for nearly 5 months.
Say how stressful this is.
Say you think if an FCA authorised firm cannot deal with Ombudsman requests in a reasonable length of time they should have to stop trading until they staff their complaints function properly.
Jade says
Can anyone offer advice, I am in a place where I am borrow loans and credits to pay off credit cards therefore not missed a payment however recently took out a £5,000 loan with a company who actually reviewed my bank statements and saw I had taken out previous loans in July and November 2020 and an additional credit card in September along with 4 other credit cards at 95% usage limits and I even told them that I was using this money to pay off the other debts and they happily provided! Now I have more outgoings and debt payments, and no income for living costs! I can’t even afford to make the first payment back and I am going to slip with my other credit commitments, I’m in such a mess and in under my head, I’m desperate and know I have made a huge mistake, can I complaint? Any advice would be great! Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What are your total debts including this recent loan?
Have any of your credit cards increased your credit limits a long way – was this the cause of the whole problem or is that hard to identify?
Are you behind with any bills? Are you buying or renting?
Jade says
Hi Sara
Total about £25K (this £5K loan is £10.5K with all the interest on top) Aqua card opened in October 2018 and went up to £4.5K by Jan 2020.
This has been a rolling situation as loans and credit cards used to pay off each other for well over 10 years!
Defaulted and CCJ previously (mainly Payday loans) and not missed any payments for about 2 years as loans always used to make payments.
Currently rent and wanted to buy next year but no chance now as used deposit to pay debts and even gambling as I am due another baby in September this year!
I have drafted letters to complain about the loans from July 2020 and November 2020 and also 1 credit card from September 2020 ( which was increased to £1250 from £250 in 2 months) covid didn’t help the situation and they could all see that i couldn’t afford it especially lifestyle loans from April 2021 where they even looked at my bank statements and asked me to explain why I had taken those 3 in 2020
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Even if you still had the deposit you would have no chance of buying with this sort of debt level.
I think you should consider an affordability complaint to Aqua.
But affordability complaints on their own are not going to get you out of this hole because they take too long to go through. Not just 8 weeks but many months, sometimes more than a year.
I think you should talk to StepChange about a debt management plan: https://www.stepchange.org/how-we-help/debt-management-plan.aspx. there in terest is frozen so all your monthly payment reduces your debts.
This is not an alternative to affordability complaints, it is in addition to them. Winning affordability complaints will reduce the debts in your DMP so it will end sooner. And the DMP gets you into a safe place so you can let the affordability complaints go through properly. Otherwise you may feel you have to accept a poor offer from a creditor as you are desperate for a few hundred now, when you could have got many times more by going to the Ombudsman which would take longer.
I suggest you need to forget about a mortgage and trying to protect your credit rating for that. It is going to take many years to clear down the debt and then save a deposit. If you don’t get to grips with the debts you will never buy a house.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
Chris Mitchell says
Good Morning – Has anyone got the Capital one email address for affordability complaints please?
Tyrone R says
complaintsResolutionUK@capitalone.com
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.
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
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 :)
Mr and Mrs C says
Chris, I have been waiting since Feb for some decent kind of offer, JDW 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
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.
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 :)
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
Ross says
Unsurprisingly, Newday have rejected my complaint about my Marbles account. They state everything was done correctly. Off to the FOS we go.
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.
also to add I am trying to clear up everything as am trying to apply for mortgage with my partner.
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.
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??
Fred says
complaints@newday.co.uk works.
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?
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.
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!
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
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.
Sianyyyy says
Still waiting for JD Williams to provide my refund calculation. It’s now been 6 weeks, well over 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
These things do get sorted normally, butl let me know if they don’t find a calculator in the next two weeks.
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 .
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 ?
I started with a £500 limit maybe with a few gambling small transactions, then more increases then my gambling got worse and worse
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
definitely mention this. And send this complaint to the Ombudsman if it is rejected.
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.
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
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?
I would ask them why there is no line for non BNPL interest
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!
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.
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 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.
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.
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
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
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
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.
Mike_p says
Not yet, but I’m considering setting up a debt management plan which would mean I do default on it/