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?
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 ?
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
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?
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
Las,
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.
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….
….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 %
Mike_p says
Has anyone had and luck complaint to PayPal credit? They replied to my complaint in a few hours saying the credit reference agency gives them a yes or no decision and they I should refer to the credit reference agency. That must be a fob off as it doesn’t sound right at all.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
indeed – send the case to the Ombudsman and let them get to the bottom of it.
Dominic West says
Good evening.
Does anyone have the email address for the Capital One UK Executive Team/office or even the CEO Lucy-Marie Hague?
I’ve wrote and emailed in relation to a refund for someone who passed away, unfortunately the executor passed away, and whilst I’m the new executor everything is still in the name of the original. I keep getting the customer service/complaints team for each reply with exactly the same (accept for senders name & date) written reply.
I did manage to speak to someone who told me the refund can not be processed until the Executive team give the go ahead
Scott says
Hi Dominic,
rob.harding@capitalone.com
He’s on the executive team and is the Chief Operations and Technology Officer.
Hope you get things sorted.
Scott
Amy L says
I’ve recently had a successful claim with very and tried to do the same with littlewoods. Littlewoods accepted my claim from when my account went from £1700 in July 2007 to £2000 in October 2007. They have calculated the redress for this as £44. I’m quite confused by it as I had further credit raises after this date until the account was closed in 2012 and the redress is so little compared to similar with very who gave a redress of £3000. Littlewoods claim that they are not an interest account (although I’m sure I paid interest) and because I had a ppi refund that would have taken some of the redress?
Mr and Mrs C says
I have just managed to get a telephone number for the The Financial Services Complaints Team 0345 026 3899 for JD Williams. Good luck to anyone else waiting for their calculations and reimbursements.
First logged complaint 06/06/2018
FOS decision 08/02/2021
Still waiting for reimbursement.
Xubo says
Has anyone made a complaint against Vanquis credit card, this was my first ever credit card, at first I was able to pay the balance off then I spent more and my limit increases, I’m now in a DMP plan, had numerous payday loans to help pay minimum balance.
Im just curious what they are like to deal with
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Vanquis are the same as most credit cards at the moment , they reject many good complaints. Send your case to the Ombudsman if this happens to you.
Andrew says
Hello does anyone have a complaint email address for Grattan PLC and Freemans PLC
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry I didn’t see your question. Try customer.services@grattan.co.uk and customer.services@freemans.com
loulouports says
Hi i put in an irresponsible lending complaint with Very Catalogue 5 weeks ago, iv’e not received a final response letter yet but iv’e just logged into my account and its saying the following: Available to spend£10,111.61 Credit limit£4,600.00 Balance-£5,511.61. Until today my credit limit was £4,600 and i owed just over £500, so does this suggest i’m being refunded £5.511.61? Thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes i think it does! Fingers crossed…
Katie says
Anyone have an email address for Very?
Lee says
No email address for very. Wrote my letter and phoned Very customer services to obtain the email to send my Complaint letter to. Told me compliants have to be filled in over phone. I got my Complaint letter and just highlighted my key points to lady on phone who read it back to me and gave me a reference number. I also asked at the time for my subject of access request and form also completed over phone. Not happy with this process but she covered everything in the letter that was good to go so we will see what happens. Had my very account since July 2015 and lots limits as high as £4500 at one point. Is £500 balance now but gambling win it allowed me to bring it down a year ago. But lots of debt at the time and still around me from other providers. Will keep you posted of my progress.
Lynne says
I complained to nationwide about the removal of my overdraft. Aftet 6 weeks they say they’re still investigating but they say they understand my complaint to be that I request a refund of any fees and reinstatement of my overdraft.
They go on to say ‘if you have any thoughts on what you’d like as a resolution of your complaint, please don’t hesitate to let me know’. Is there an opportunity there to ask for compensation do you think ?
A bit of background – for many years I had an overdraft. Suddenly they decided to revoke it and an agreement was made to reduce it by £20 per month. I told them that wasn’t affordable. They said the minimum they could reduce it by was £10 per month but based on my income and outgoings they said I could afford £20!
When the o/d got down to £200 they took it all off me in one go. This was the same month that I’d lost my job and had to take a lesser paid one, meaning not only was my income reduced by £500 a month but the ‘safety net’ of the £200 o/d was also not there.
I realise this is a long shot but I do think it was handled badly.
Vicki says
Has anyone had experience with a Studio account?
Also, I paid ALOT in unplanned overdraft fees with my Lloyd’s account is this something that could be pursued? I.e they should not have allowed the payment to go through as it put my in more trouble having to repay it and the fees.
Katie says
Hi.
I put in a complaint and they turned it down saying I have passed the “time limit” as I opened the account t in 2008. I responded that the account was still with them in 201, but had no response, so I have taken it to FOS.
Steve says
Hi Sarah
Do you have an email contact for Aqua? As I could only find a telephone number or write to them the only high card I had Vanquis was easy to complain too.
I had great success with your sight on my payday loans got over £6000 back so totally in the black again
Mike_p says
I couldn’t find one so I wrote to them. I posted the letter two days ago and they have just sent me a confirmation by text saying they will write to me soon. I hate the way companies do this though, for other queries their app has a messaging function.
Gary says
Hi
Does anyone know the email address of Royal Bank of Scotland to make an affordability complaint please?
Many thanks.
Katie says
customer.relations@rbs.co.uk
Lee C says
Hi I am currently looking at putting in complaints to Very regarding my previous high credit limits that at the time were £4200 at one point (around 2016 / 2017). My account is now at £500 account limit as I did decrease it over the last 4 /5 years but was heavily in debt at time and had gambling transactions they allowed me to increase my limit multiple times which I feel was unaffordable and irresponsible.
Do I ask Very like my previous payday loan compliants lodged to provide me dates and amounts of the account increases as a starting point before I put my compliant letter into very?
Just wondered if anyone who has complianed to Very recently can give me some pointers how to approach this one.
I have Advant
Vanquis
118 Loans
And Nationwide overdraft to do after this.
Thanks Lee
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do I ask Very like my previous payday loan compliants lodged to provide me dates and amounts of the account increases as a starting point before I put my compliant letter into very?
No! Use the template in the article above, that starts your complaint and asks them to send you the dates and amounts at the same time. You know enough about what happened to be able to complain now, there is no need to delay a month to get the numbers. Very know the exact numbers, they don’t need you to tell them.
I have Avant, Vanquis, 118 Loans And Nationwide overdraft to do after this.
After this, this weekend? Fine!
But don’t delay with getting complaints in, you don’t want to try to finish one before starting the next.
For Avant and 118, use the “large loans” template on this page https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/
Franky says
My complaint is with ombudsman over my halifax account. Am on benefits but they let me increase my overdraft to 1000 with no checks. Plus my credit score is average but I have had to pay the higher rate of nearly 50% interest on my overdraft. I think this is also unfair.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
sorry for the delay in replying.
How large was the overdraft before? if it was 800, they didn’t increase it a lot. If it was 400 then they more than doubled it…
Also how much of your time did you spending your overdraft before the increase? Was it just the odd day each month? Or were you in the overdraft for most of the month? If it was most of the month, how long had that been going on for?
These complaints can take a while to go through, FOS is often not fast. I suggest you should look at getting a different “basic” bank account with no overdraft facility, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/bank-accounts-after-bankruptcy/. Move all your income and STOs and DDs over to there and essentially abandon the Halifax account, just paying £5 a month to it (or whatever you can afford). Ask Halifax to freeze the interest on the account so you can pay this off more quickly. This is in addition to your complaint, you can do both.
Lou says
Hi all, I have taken my jd williams complaint to the ombudsmun…. however there was a delay I passed it on to them in November and a investigator had only just picked up 5 weeks ago, at this point they were still waiting for jd williams to get back to them in the mean time I sent all of the information they had requested from me. Also insisting that I had all of my file from them on paper, today I decided to chase up my investigator as I have heard nothing 5 weeks on no update. I received this….. Thank you for your email. I’ve been looking at the issues around your complaint a little closer and from what I’ve seen another team will need to look into it.
I’m going to pass the case over to them today and once it has been allocated someone will be in touch.
Has this happened to anyone else, I thought my complaint was already with a case handler, I’m really confused any advice would be great. And just to confirm jdwilliams deny any wrong doing that increases were done from there own data and not from credit checks etc….
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How long ago were the increases?
Matt says
Thought I’d provide hope for people battling against unaffordable overdrafts. After a long drawn out affair I have had a final decision issued in my favour partially upholding a complaint against Halifax. I complained that in a short space of time between November 15 and March 16 mainly due to a gambling problem I was granted regular limit increases from 0-£5000.
Initially Halifax rejected and sent to the FOS. The investigator sided with Halifax but I requested the Ombudsman look at it and made the points that since the overdraft increases
I relied on the overdraft facility to meet all my expenditure. That resulted in overdraft charges totalling at least £180 per month. This wasn’t an isolated occurrence and
It meant the only way I was able to meet my repayments was by relying on the overdraft facility. I said this is not a sustainable way to repay debt and disagreed with his findings.
A year later and I have had a final decision. Saying that lending from 3k and above should not have been approved so they must refund the charges and interest on that amount. Better than nothing and will reduce my balance that has since been sold to a debt collector.
Stick at it
Lou says
Years ago Sara, I had the account back in 2015 then from there they whacked it up pretty much every month, no credit checks I’ve had all my paper work from them.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I asked because complaints that happened about something more than 6 years ago often have to go through a separate check first – that check usually isn’t a problem, but it can delay things. But if your credit increases were after 2015, this isn’t relevant.
NICO says
Hi All – £2756 cheque through this morning from my Littlewoods complaint, cheque is from Very. Keep going everyone as I have got to this point without needing to go to FoS and Very were helpful and responsive.
They are also removing adverse notes on my credit file.
Sara – thanks for all the help you gave me and others on this site.
Tom Halbert says
hi Guys,
just heard back for investigator on my claim against Newday. She has sided with Newday on most of the charges against me, with an outstanding debt of around £4000 to pay. I obvioulsy don’t agree with her findingd and have replied asking for an ombudsman to review my case.
Just wondering how much success anyone has had at this stage of passing the complaint from the investigator to the ombudsman?
Thanks for all replies in advance, Tom
Sara (Debt Camel) says
These cases are all very individual. I always say follow your instinct – if you know your limit was raised to too high a level, then take the case to the Ombudsman.
Lou says
I’ve ask jd williams for a refund due to irresponsible lending. They’ve replied and asked me to send
Bank statements (please delete all personal information)
Credit report
Details of any creditors you may have had at the time your account was opened/credit limit increased
Any other evidence that you feel may support your complaint.
I don’t have any of this information anymore
Should they not be able to check all this if they did the original credit checks that they state they do ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how long ago were the limit increases you are complaining about?
Lynn says
Hi Sara,
I hope you will be able to advise me on the right direction with this one.
I put a complaint in against new day September 2020 I have just been assigned an investigator from the fos.
They have asked me for further information regarding letters about increases, I started with a limit of £300 and ended up with a limit of £5000 within a 2 year period. I have replied and advised I remember receiving one letter for the increase from £300 to £1200 but that was it. He has them come back to me and advised that I requested the second increase from £1200 to £1800 I have advised them that I had increased the card as after the first increase my debt had started to spiral and I was trying to cover payments and also that I had a marbles credit card at the same time that they were also increasing the limit on. Do you have any other advise ? I have advised them my circumstances had changed e.g I had another child and started paying childcare during the increases.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Also complain about the Marbles card
Pippa says
Hi,
I submitted a complaint to JD Williams and they have just responded rejecting my claim. Is this normal or do most complaints get accepted?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s normal for good cases to be rejected :(
If you know the repayments caused you problems, send the case to the Ombudsman.
Lynne says
Really not happy Nationside have not upheld my complaint over the overdraft.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Most overdraft complaints have to go to the Ombudsman.
Michelle says
Hi , could you tell me how credit card refunds work ? Vanquish didn’t uphold my complaint , on your advice I sent another email with argues against their reasons for not upholding , the same day I received another email saying they are re investigating my complaint ,
Account opened feb 2013 £500 limit minimum payment £22
1st increase jan 2014 to £1000 £46 minimum payment
2nd increase April 2014 to £1500 min payment £71
3rd increased august 2014 to £2000 min payment £92
4th increase June 2015 to £2500 min payment £113
5th increase feb 2016 to £3000 min payment £140
6th increase November 2016 £3500 min payment £190
Always only paid min payment , been paying £190 ish for about 4.5 years and still owe £3460
If I win and it’s a big if how will it work ? Loans complaints are a lot easier to understand lol
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Looks like a good case to me. You should ask for a refund of all the interest you paid after the point the limit became unaffordable.
NICO says
Hi Sara – good news today that Capital 1 have agreed with my FoS upheld complaint –
The main thing to emphasise is that Capital One will be reworking your account on the basis that it can only add interest and charges on the balance up to your initial credit limit of £1,100, and any interest and charges incurred after the limit increase must be removed.
Any remaining balance after the account has been reworked in this way, will be reduced by your repayments in the six years prior to when you first brought the complaint to this service in March 2021, up until the present time. If this adjusted balance leaves any funds remaining, these should be refunded to you along with 8% interest calculated from the date of overpayment to the date of settlement. Plus negative credit file marks removed.
I have accepted this. Do you have any experience of what C1 do now in terms of communicating a figure back with me and the timescales?
Regards
NICO
Rose says
Hi, Sara,
Please may you advise on JD Williams? Following the brilliant advice you’ve given on payday lending that I have used, I put in a complaint with them: I opened a credit account in 2012 (despite having evidence of defaults in 2011, from short-term lending) and it was with them until it was sold to Lowells in 2017. During this time, they regularly increased my account, despite only making minimum payments, despite the fact that I was reliant on other short-term lending, and also had three defaults from payday lenders in 2013 also.
They have sent me their final response today and aren’t upholding my complaint at all. Essentially, they say:
1 I applied for an account, signed and agreed the paperwork, and knew what I was committing too
The evidence I have shown them of issues before 2015 doesn’t count, as it took place more than 6 years ago, and it’s more than three years ago that I “should have realised there was a problem” (I’m not quite sure what that means: I only realised last year that it was possible to complain about this sort of thing, when I found your website after trying to work out why Wonga had put money in my bank account) so it’s “outside the time limits set by DISP 2.8.2R(2). ” (I thought this related to when you realised you could complain, not when you should have made the complaint in knowledge of the process, but this might be wrong)
They are only considering the two limit increases made in 2015 and 2016 (I don’t have all the info – I’ve since made a DSAR, so I have no idea how accurate this is, but presumably, it is so) as a result, but because I had a good credit score (I don’t see how that could objectively have been, since at that time, there would have been at least six defaults on my credit record) and was “managing my credit” (I had numerous late payments, rollovers and deferrals of other loans at this time also) and also had high scoring on their internal system, AND they didn’t give me the full credit limit I was eligible for, this is OK. Apart from the questionable issue of my CRA records – and the fact that there was plenty of evidence of extensive use of payday loans, even if the deferrals and late payments weren’t on there – I was only ever making minimum or partial payments on my account: so I am not sure why they would think that was “good”
Sara (Debt Camel) says
FOS will usually look at decisions more than 6 years ago. As they aren’t offering you anything for the decisions within 6 years this is an easy decision for you – send it to FOS!
See the article above for how to do this. Put a couple of sentences into your FOS complaint which say that you only found out a lender should have checked credit was affordable in 2020 when you received an unexpected refund from the Wonga administrators, so you are complaining within 3 years of finding out JD Williams has done something wrong so you had cause to complain.
Pippa says
Hi Rose,
I’ve have just had a very similar response from JD Williams as you have had. It almost sounds as if they have cut and pasted the same comments. My credit was also bad, with numerous defaults yet they said my internal and external score appeared positive! They asked me for details of my credit scores at that time but I refused to send that info as I said they should have already been aware had they done their checks. I sent screenshots of the payday loans I had but they didn’t comment about those.
I’m taking mine to FOS and am just getting everything ready to send. Please keep us informed how you get on.
Rose says
Hi, Pippa,
Thanks so much for responding – that’s really interesting to read, especially as your situation sounds really similar to mine: they probably have a form letter that they just change the dates on, from the sound of it (did they also say that as you kept using credit, it meant there wasn’t an issue?!) I am also just pulling things together for FOS – I imagine it’s going to be months before it’s allocated, but I still think it’s worthwhile: good luck with yours too – and let’s swap updates on here down the line!
Anita says
Hi Sara,
This is a calculations I have recived from JDWiliams.
Interest and Charges £903.72
b 8% interest £41.60
c 20% tax on interest -£8.32
d 8% minus tax £33.28
e Total (a+d) £937.00
Could you please give me your opinion one the 8% interest calculation. I have opened the account in 2011.
Your help is much appreciated.
The adjudicator said that D Williams should remove any interest and charges incurred during the
period from 29 September 2011 to 4 March 2014
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you think the
Interest and Charges £903.72
line is correct?
If these were the charges between 2011 to 2014, then I don’t understand how the 8% interest can be so low. It sounds as though there should be at least 6 years of 8% interest added – so about 48%…
Go back to JD Williams and ask how they calculated that.
Can you also ask them for a copy of your statements over that period. A list of the purchases and the payments you made will be sufficient. The £900 may be right but it sounds low, less that £20 a month in interest over that period.
it is much more important to get this right than the 8% number which will always be much smaller
Kelly says
Hi Sara,
I raised a complaint with HSBC regarding the carelessness of providing me with a credit card and overdraft even though I could not afford it and kept increasing the balance. They have said that due to it being over six years ago then they cannot do anything. Is this right? Would it be a waste of time taking it to the ombudsman? It was around 10 years ago.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how large were the original limits? did they increase these?
Mr and Mrs C says
Can anyone help me regarding JD Williams – the FOS decided in my favour in Feb, I am still waiting for a payment 5 months later. JDW says they are waiting for FOS to check calculations, FOS say that they are waiting for JDW to come back with calculations. I believe I am owed approx 2k inc interest. I am at my wits end now with who to contact so sort this out, as no one is giving me an answer never mind the payment. I fear JDW will go into administration and I will be left with nothing once again after being in this situation with both Wonga and Quick Quid. Is there anyone I can contact higher up in FOS to take this on? I am just dealing with an administrator who I feel is fobbing me off now.
Rose says
Can you maybe email that adjudicator (whichever one said that your complaint was upheld, and if you hadn’t heard from JD in 4 weeks, get in touch) directly (it should be their direct email on the message, if you went through the FOS site – I don’t know how it works through Resolver though, if you did it that way), copy JD in to the same message, and say exactly what you’ve said here – ie it’s been 5 months, JD are saying it’s FOS, FOS are saying it’s JD, you don’t know what’s going on, and you would like to know when you can expect payment to be made? If you’ve already got them in the same email trail, have you tried ringing FOS as an alternative? They may be able to tell you how to escalate it.
Kelly says
The original balance for my credit card was £300 which got increased to £500 and I cannot remember the original overdraft limit but it did get increased to a thousand pound. I was heavily gambling at the time. I ended up with a CCJ from them. I managed to clear all the debt with them in the end.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Those are small amounts so it would be a difficult claim to win if it happened three years ago. I doubt you have much chance as it is so old – for example you probably don’t have a copy of your credit record at that time.
Mik says
After receiving a letter from Barclaycard regarding irresponsible lending I decided to challenge other lenders that I felt must have done the same. I was initially rejected by NewDay (Aqua) and Vanquis. However, upon escalating the NewDay complaint to the FOS, and providing both with a full break down of the last 6 years (using my credit file) to highlight my limit and balance and how I was almost always just within, or over my limit for the majority of my time with each lender when they made these increases they agreed they were in the wrong. Today I received a refund from Vanquis of £4k (my total limit was £4 but has since been closed so I can use this pay off my outstanding debt), and yesterday the FOS decided in my favour that Newday must also pay me back all interest, charges, etc since the first irresponsible balance increase. But most importantly, my credit file has been completely cleaned, with no late markers, APs or defaults showing. I took a lot of persistence so don’t give up.
Col says
Hi Sara,
I have an affordability Complaint sitting with the Ombudsman against MBNA for increasing my limit to 4500.
The issue is the increase was on 14/05/14 and i sent the complaint in on 20/05/20 so 6 days out side the 6year limit.
The Ombudsman has given a preliminary decision in MBNA favour because of the time but has given an extension to provide further information.
Would the fact that there was a global pandemic and due to months of lockdown and furlough where i had no access to a laptop or printer to assist in my complaint to MBNA be an exceptional reason to why the complaint was late in being submitted?
I get the feeling that the Ombudsman wants to rule in my favour but the date issue has caused the stumbling block.
Thanks
Col
Sara (Debt Camel) says
i sent the complaint in on 20/05/20
was that the date you complained to MBNA or to FOS?
Did FOS ask when you became aware you had cause to complain?
Col says
Hi sara
I sent the complaint to MBNA on the 20/05/20. They did mentiin the 3 years and because i got a loan out in 2016 which i used part to clear the balance they said the 3 years should start from then so doesn’t qualify for the 3 years.
I thought the fact that i was only a few days over the 6 years and that i was stuck in the house for months with no access to a laptop etc may be considered as exceptional circumstances as to why the complaint was over the 6 years.
Thanks
Col
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They did mention the 3 years and because i got a loan out in 2016 which i used part to clear the balance they said the 3 years should start from then so doesn’t qualify for the 3 years.
did MBNA say that or FOS?
is this decision from FOS from an adjudicator or an Ombudsman?
I suggest you go back and say [assuming this is all accurate for you of course!] that although you knew you were in financial difficulty when you cleared the account with the laon you did not realise at that point that MBNA should have looked at whether the limit was affordable for you. Say when and how you found out about this and say the 3 year rule should run from thag point as before you did not realise you had cause to complaints.
david simmons says
Hi Sara, I hope you are well. I would appreciate your advice concerning the FCA rule that requires the lender to carry out regular reviews of the borrower’s financial situation over the many years credit card agreements last. What regular checks are required and can a credit card company claim that they were not aware of financial difficulty if the minimum payment was meet over a long period when no review was made of the changing financial situation. Appreciate your help. David.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so they didn’t increase your credit limit during this time?
Apart from only making minimum payments were there any other warning signs on your account – was the account maxed out? did you withdraw cash? considerable amounts of gambling showing?
jo says
I recently made an affordability complaint to the Very group. They gave a final response within a couple of weeks. The response contained incorrect information, such as when i open the account my initial credit limit was £1000, it wasn’t, it was £250 and i have the proof. They also cited they had no concerns because i had been paying minimum payments each month. My thinking is that this should have been a concern, as i was only making minimum payments. They never carried out any credit or affordability checks either.
So, I’ve made a formal complaint to the FOS, and won’t hold my breath whilst i’m waiting for a response from them, as i know it takes some time.
Jax says
Hi, I put in an affordability complaint to Very a few weeks ago. I usually get emails and texts from them in the few days before my monthly payment is due but I’ve not had any this time. Is this usual when you have an on going complaint or just a coincidence please?
Chris says
Mr and Mrs C
My Adjudicator decided in my favour in February. JDW took 14 weeks to accept their decision. They were then given 4 weeks to finalize the redress – that was 6 weeks ago. I got in touch on Twitter to complain. They told me that the 4 weeks deadline was the FOS’ and not theirs (implying they were not bound to stick to it) and they then said they would not give me a timeframe for when they would work out the redress. I complained to the Adjudicator who got in touch with JDW. But…at the moment…I have no idea when this will be sorted out. For a complaint that has been running since May 2019, this is ridiculous.
NICO says
Hi – third time I have posted this so would appreciate it if anyone could respond this time please.
Anyone had any experiences with the timescales of Capital One responding with settlement figured for upheld complaints please?
Many thanks
Rose says
If they’ve upheld a complaint you made, they should give the figure in their message, so I am assuming you mean where it’s been upheld by FOS: they have four weeks to contact you, after which you can contact the decision maker if you haven’t heard. Based on other posts about other lenders, this isn’t a failsafe to a swift solution, however, if they don’t, but I’ve only seen JD Williams mentioned in this context.
I haven’t made a complaint against Capital One, *but* based on recent cases I’ve had that the FOS has upheld, some companies move super-swiftly (thank you, Lending Stream) and others string it out to the eleventh hour (SafetynetCredit) with most at the 1-2 weeks mark. I’ve not seen anyone complaining that C1 have taken more than the four weeks, though.
Natalie says
Please can you help
Me in April of last year I filed against Newday for the credit increases they had given me. In July they wrote back and said they would stop any use of my card and they said they had acted appropriately , I then sent this to the FCA. This has been with them now and it has been with a case handler since January. In the meantime up until 2 months ago I had been making the minimum
Payment of
Between 180 – 200 a month and then redundancy happened. I messaged new day and have sent off my income sheet and my reduced proposed payment and have heard nothing until today when I have a letter telling me that they have terminated my account and I am now petrified of debt collection they have been so difficult to deal with on top of stress of paying bills. I have contacted stepchange however this would see me in an arrangement until I’m elderly! What can I do next I have emailed the case handler and told
Him
About new days treatment of me
Sara (Debt Camel) says
are you now out of work and living on benefits? Your mortgage and utilities take priority. It sounds as though your credit cards including this Newday one should either go into a debt management plan with Stepchange or you should be making token payments to them, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/token-payment-debt/
It doesn’t matter how long this DMP or payment arrangement will last, it is just a holding situation to allow you to pay the priority debts (mortgage, council tax, energy bills) while you are out of work. When you are back in work you can increase your payments. And if you win the Newday complaint, that will reduce that debt.
PS debt collectors are often a lot nicer to deal with than the original lender!
Ali says
Can anyone share any positive stories regarding overdraft affordability claims?
I’m trying to keep my spirits high and positive as its my last possible claim. Had a few refunds from catalogues/payday loans a couple of years ago but been waiting for an adjudicator to contact me regarding a £1250 overdraft I had with natwest. They didn’t increase but gave it me on an account opening during a time I had several other debts amounting to £10k. I’ve now paid it off but they didn’t uphold so sent to Ombudsman in October 2020. Been chasing but keep being told it’s waiting to be picked up by an adjudicator…should I have any hope??
Thanks
Ali
N says
I have an overdraft claim with fos. I put the claim in last june and it still hasn’t been picked uo by adjudicator. My bank didnt agree either and i had a £1600 overdraft which i was in for nearly 2 years. They let me increase mine almost everyweek. Im feeling positive about this one as i banked with them they could see my income and outgoings. The fos said these claims are taking longer than expected
Ali says
Hi there,
Firstly, the information here has been invaluable, so thank you.
I have a complaint in with Shop Direct for my Very and Littlewoods accounts, they have had it for just over 8 weeks and I received a letter about a week ago saying they needed 2 more weeks. I will wait until the end of this week before taking it further but just wanted some advice. My debt was sold to Lowell ages ago and I have a payment plan with them but my payment this month never came out. I just called them and they said that Very requested the debt back due to an affordability complaint. He said that they usually only do this when they are at fault which sounds very promising to me. What do you think? Is this a good sign?
NICO says
Hi – I had a good outcome from Littlewoods/Very – cheque out the blue 2 weeks ago. It took the same path as yours did in your post – good luck.
Michelle says
Hi Sara,
I had great success with my littlewoods claim . My husband wants to make a claim on his too , his limited is over 10k and they have never checked or asked anything about his income or expenditures since opening the account in 2011 , my question is if he LOST the claim will they still removed his option to use the catalog ? I won my claim and they have closed the account as it’s now clear thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t know. But does it really matter? plenty of other places to buy stuff.
Is it hard for him to make the repayments?
If it is, I seriously suggest you two should be talking to StepChange about a debt management plan. Get the interest on these debts frozen and you can make one affordable repayment. This will get you in a safe place while your and his complaints go through – these can take a very long while at FOS so don’t try to muddle through hoping for the best.
HB says
Hi Amanda, congrats on the claim! I have done one myself, I logged in yesterday to see the c£250 balance had been wiped to £0. I have just read your comments and then checked my transactions which read:
– Administration Charge Amendment £108.00
– Interest Charge Amendment £642.89
– Payments Refunded £539.47
Does this mean im just getting £539.47 or all of the above?
Kim says
Hi, I’m trying to get hold of my credit report from September 2018, the financial ombudsman has asked if I have a copy of it to help with a compliant they are looking at. I had an online chat with Experian who said they can’t hold reports from 3 years ago because of GDPR. Is the right?
Thanks Kim
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Just send a copy of your oldest credit report – that may be the current one! It will still show a lot of data pre 2018 so it will be fine.
Joseph says
Hi, No communication regarding final decision from VERY yet, but balance has been wiped from £250 to £0 and on my transactions it reads;
– Admin Charge Adjustment – £108
– Interest Charge Adjustment – £643
– Payments Refunded – £539
Has anybody had anything similar? Am I due to recieve £539-Balance?
Anth says
That sounds more like you’ll get £1040 rather than £530 minus the balance. Each of those transactions is separate, so you’ve got £108 in admin charges refunded, £643 from interest charges refunded along with a refund of £539 payments you’ve made. So that’s £1290, or £1040 if you take off your outstanding balance.
Jo says
amazing thanks for the input Anth, I have been trying to figure that out. Calls for the pub!
Natalie says
Marbles card
After a year and several different case handlers yesterday the FOS came back and ruled in my favour that all 5 of the increases were given without looking any the increased debt levels and problem markers.
They also said that they failed to identify or ask me at each problem stage if I was having difficulties.
She has given them till 27/07 to respond , she said it may be they suddenly find some new response and then a further investigation- has anyone had any success with marbles. After two months of trying I finally got a reduced payment accepted although I was told I’m on day 65 of 180 before it may be sold to DCA …
Sam says
Hi all.
I’ve seen a lot of comments about Very so I thought I’d throw my experience in to the ring. Made a complaint about 5 weeks ago. No correspondence at all. Logged on my account to see the account balance has changed, quite dramatically. Presuming these are final changes, (have emailed for confirmation) I will have received a refund of just over 7K. For context, this doesn’t quite write of the balance, but it’s as good as there.
If you have put in a complaint, log in and check your balance.
Also, a word of thanks for Sara! Your website has been invaluable to me in fixing dire mistakes made when I was younger. As a ballpark figure, your website has helped me reduce my debt from £22,000 to £9,000. (Supposing that the Very refund is confirmed!) Real light at the end of the tunnel and around 2 and a half years until being debt free.
Thank you so much. And to anyone who is thinking about it, do it!
Yon says
Hello Sara
I have a credit card with my bank (Halifax ) the limit is £1,100. They gave me the card in June 2020 and have been struggling to pay the minimum since then because of my unexpected reduced hours at work. Would they be able to clear my balance and close my account as this has been effecting me from paying bills. Thanks
Paul says
Were the unexpected reduced hours at work before or after you got the card? Have they ever increased your limit? I doubt they would clear your balance but maybe its possible to get the interest refunded but if the hours changed after you got the card and they havent increased your limit since then it would be a hard case to win
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well they could, but as Paul says they may not wipe your balance – it isn’t the bank’s fault that your hours were cut, that doesn’t mean their original lending decision was poor
However if you are on reduced income and are struggling to pay important bills, you should ask Halifax to allow you to make a lower payment and freeze interest. If necessary this can just be a token £1 a month payment. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/arrangement-to-pay/
James says
Hello Sara,
I’d first like to express my gratitude for the work that you’ve put into this site. I know I speak for many others when I say that you’ve made a real positive impact to those of us who’ve fallen victim to unscrupulous creditors.
I have a query relating to an Aqua credit card that I took out three years ago. My initial credit limit was £900, within 6 months it was increased to £1900 and I was maxing out the card, often going over limit and being charged fees. Approximately 12 months later the limit was increased to £2600, and 12 months after that I’d fallen behind to such a degree that the account was sold to Moorcroft. Aqua also accepted me for a £2000 loan in the intervening period, prior to the card account being sold.
I would like to complain about the increases to my credit limit and possibly the provision of the loan. My only concern is that, although the card is now with Moorcroft, Aqua haven’t registered a default on the account. I keep up with my regular repayments and I’ve been informed that they have no intention of defaulting.
My question is, would my complaint prompt them to default the account, and if so, would the default be applied from the date it was sold or the date the complaint was received? Also do you think it’s worth complaining about the loan on an affordability basis? I know these questions are somewhat speculative and may be difficult to answer, but any help is appreciated.
Many thanks,
James
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If Aqua gave you a loan when you were in arrears on the credit card, then you absolutely should make an affordability complaint about that loan.
Is the card showing as in arrears? a payment arrangement? or what?
James says
Hi Sara,
Thanks for your prompt reply. Strangely the account is listed as up to date on my credit file and the outstanding balance is now well under my credit limit. When I login to the account on the Aqua portal, I’m notified that the account has effectively been terminated and that it remains open only for the purposes of receiving payments through their intermediary, Moorcroft.
Thanks again, James
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then this is an odd situation as they are incorrectly recording it at the moment if you were in arrears…
At any point they could look at this and correct it. This could happen if you complain but equally it could happen if you don’t complain…
Your story of increased credit limits after being charged over limit fees sounds like a good complaint to me. If you complain and later win the complaint, ANY negative information should be removed, late payments, defaults whatever.
Mr and Mrs C says
5 month plus and still waiting for the redress from JD Williams that was decided in my favour from FOS in February.
Todays excuse is “at present the calculation breakdown request is with its Senior Manager to review and provide but they say he is currently on annual leave and they will update me on his return”
These people are a joke!
Jo f says
Can I ask what they decided to give the redress on? I’m waiting for months on the FOS to respond for irresponsible lending, not sure what my chances are
Anita says
I recived final decision rulled in my favor in April. They say silly things to adjudicator as well. Just excuses. How do you contact them?
Asl says
Hi Sara
Looking fir some advice before I contact very tomorrow. Like others I haven’t had a final
Response just logged into see my balance.
My credit limit was £7200 but the balance was £7629. So obviously over due to charges. Today I have logged in credit limit is still the same but it’s saying I have £4219.00 to spend and a buy now pay later balance of £2981.00. My goal here is to just get it paid off and shut down so my question is, can I ask them to use the available to spend to clear it, I don’t want credit with them anymore, as much as I would love some extra cash if I could? it would be nice to pay other bills with the rest.
Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
can I ask them to use the available to spend to clear it, I don’t want credit with them anymore,
I don’t think so. That “available to spend” I think is just your unused credit limit. If you “spend” that, then you will have to repay it.
I think you are just guessing at the moment. Wait until you know what their decision is. If you think it should be more, you can send the case to the ombudsman.
What other debts do you have at the moment? Are you making the normal payments to them? Are you behind with any bills?
Asl says
Yeah I have a few more debts amigo being one and credit cards, all minimum payments or arrangements. Just thought I’d ask because I thought I saw another post from you on here saying you don’t have to spend it with them they can ask for the refund.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is if your account has a positive balance. I am not sure from what you have said that your will. But wait and see!
Anita says
Hi. Is there any way to force JD Williams to fullfil FOS decision? I had a final response in April. Seems like even the adjudicator Has no power to do so. Very frustating.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
they have accepted the decision but not yet paid out?
what does your adjudicator say?