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?
Bc says
Had an update today from the adjudicator, Vanquis have agreed that the over 6 year’s can be looked into, so he will now begin the investigation process, and hopefully he’ll be able to advise in the next few weeks, however once completed if either myself or Vanquis do not agree with the outcome it can be passed to the ombudsman for a final decision, should it go my way and Vanquis agree then hopefully would be early January, otherwise it could be a much longer wait.
Dave R says
Couple of promising results from the FOS regarding a Capital One credit card complaint and a Lloyds overdraft complaint.
Capital One – I complained to the FOS that they should have carried out more checks when offering me a credit card and part of my complaint was around how they recorded a lot of missed payments on my credit file when creating a payment arrangement for me, but they never made it clear to me that such an arrangement would be recorded in this way. They have agreed that they weren’t clear enough with the payment arrangements and have agreed to remove all missed payments from my credit file – they’ve also offered a gesture of goodwill payment of £150
My card was only a £200 limit, so I wasn’t sure if I would get anywhere with this but there you go… The investigator says he is waiting for more information from Capital One on the checks they carried out, to see if there’s anything else they should do to settle the complaint.
Lloyds – complained because in just over a year, they allowed me to increase my overdraft from £2k to £5k. Whilst I had pay day loans and bad credit all over my account statements the whole time. After waiting nearly a year, I had a note from an investigator to say that he is upholding my complaint and we’re just waiting to hear from Lloyds to see if they agree. Fingers crossed!
Elise says
Hey everyone would appreciate so much some help to work this out as they haven’t explained it in the letter
Took aqua card out not sure when but must have been around 2015 with initial limit of £250. limit was Increased 3 times
June 2015 from £250-1050
December 2015 from £1050 to £1300
then may 2016 from £1300 to £2300
Aqua upheld complaint only in relation to credit limit increase given in may 2016 which amounts to a refund of £2778
This is obviously a great outcome and seems a good offer problem is I have no idea what I could be looking at if they had upheld all of the increases? And how on earth would I work this out?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you can assume you would get quite a bit more money… but without detailed numbers no one can guess how much.
do you know how much you have paid in interest since May 2016? Is this £2778?
Elle says
Also can I ask if I go to FOS with this, is there a risk of them saying no aqua were fine to have given it you and undo the refund aqua have already offered? Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
In theory FOS can make whatever decision they think is correct.
In practice FOS tends to work from what the lender has offered and see if any more should be offered.
The only offers people tend to “lose” by going to FOS is if a lender has made a £50 “goodwill” offer while saying they think there are no grounds for upholding a complaint. This isn’t what has happened here – Aqua have accepted they made a wrong decision.
Ross says
Hi Sara,
Quick question please, if I may?
It appears another FOS investigator has taken over my complaint against Marbles (Newday). It appears that information I had sent over, to the previous investigator, hasn’t been passed on. Nevertheless, I have sent over the requested credit reports and I have advised that I will contact the bank(s) concerned, with reference to historic bank statements (I am with neither, since when the card was taken out and subsequent credit limit increases). However, I have had to point out that, with the number of complaints I have brought to their service, covering what I believe to be the timescales concerned, I have asked him to check the FOS databases for this information, as I believe they keep it stored? To the best of your knowledge, do you believe this to be correct? I really don’t mind having to go to the bank(s), but it’s then having to scan & upload statements. Again, I don’t mind doing it but, I don’t see the point if they already hold them on file?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They should have your old statements if you have already supplied them. And obviously the info you passed to the previous investigator on this complaint!
It is shame you did not say this when you sent in your complaint, but where you are it is often simpler to re-supply the info than to argue about it.
Steve says
Hi Sara, I complained to FOS Apr 2020 regarding overdraft complaint with Halifax. Essentially it’s an affordability complaint as I was gambling excessively through the same bank account they continued to increase my overdraft in. I would literally apply for an overdraft increase through my phone then continue to gamble, at times this happened multiple times a day. My limit increases reached around 3500 whereby I couldn’t maintain things anymore. I let Halifax know I was struggling Dec 2014. The FOS have come back to me Halifax have told us that you contact their Money management team in December 2014. As this is the case, I think you ought to have known if Halifax did anything wrong by agreeing to provide you with an overdraft when you started having problems with the account. The problem is I didn’t know I had PTSD and a gambling disorder (or label as you see fit). I also only realised recently I could complain about affordability and that in actual fact Halifax shouldn’t have really given me the increases anyway as I was clearly gambling with it and constantly living in the overdraft which I was never able to get out of. My question is how can I get this accross to the adjudicator effectively? I was basically paying around £150 interest monthly for a number of years before 2014, Halifax continued to loan to me with what seems like zero affordability or wellbeing checks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Before Dec 2014 had there been a prolonged period where you were in your overdraft every month?
What dates were the credit limit increases? What did Halifax do in Dec 14 when you contacted them?
Steve says
the account was always nearly at overdraft limit and generating maximum fees as back then they had thresholds. When I contacted Halifax they signposted to Stepchange and froze interest from that point on. They refunded some very recent overdraft increase charges but the majority of the account balance was built up on charges. Unsure on exact dates of increase but some were twice a day through their mobile app. As I’d literally spend the money gambling straight away.
Every time I got paid it bounced back into credit for a week or so typically
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok then this is a standardish situation that applies to a lot of affordability complaints.
You need to reply to the adjudicator that yoyu knew you were in finacial difficulty in december 2014 but at that point you did not realise the bank should have made sure the limit increases were affordable, so you did not realise the bank had dodne anything wrong and that you had a reason to complain.
Point out that StepChange never mentioned making an affordability complaint to you, or you would have complained at that point.
Then explain how and when you found out about these complaints – did a frioend tell you? Did you see an advert from a claims company? Did you see an article in a newspaper?
Lucy says
Hi Sara,
I was hoping for some advice.
Nationwide Overdraft – After a messy break up from a relationship that involved some financial abuse (according to my therapist) I got a Nationwide overdraft to help cover costs. I was getting paid around £1600 a month, had other debts to pay left over from the marriage and my basic living costs too. I got approved for £500 Nov 2018, by Jan 2019 they had allowed me to extend this several times using the app to £2000. They are saying this was not irresponsible as they didn’t know I was potentially vulnerable and that I was eligible for £2000 when they first approved the £500 but didn’t take the full amount so it is not irresponsible. Shouldn’t the fact that I repeatedly, over the course of a couple of months, asked for extensions on my overdraft have prompted some form of safeguarding?
I was trying to manage my own finances for the first time in my adult life and was really struggling. I think this is very clear. Plus how would I ever pay off a £2000 overdraft when getting paid £1600 monthly and rarely ever coming out of the overdraft? I was usually either at the end of my money or coming to the end of it when applying for each of these extensions.
I have since worked my butt off to pay this off with a DMP but looking back feel it was irresponsible on their part.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can you go back to November 2018 and look at your credit record and your bank statements for the three months before – what do they show your debt payments were?
Then go back to Nationwide and say you do not understand how they could approve your for a 2k credit limit when your monthly income was only 1600 and your monthly debt payments were £270 (or whatever)… that shows that if you had used the 2k credit limit, you would not be able to get back into the black the next time you were paid and that you would then be using the overdraft for all your essential payments such as rent, heating, food and paying other debts.
Send this to the Financial Ombudsman if they do not change their mind.
J Lloyd says
I lodged an affordability / irresponsible lending complaint with M&S Bank re a Mastercard. M&S increased my credit limit when I was unemployed. M&S rejected my complaint so I escalated it to the Ombudsman. Yesterday an Investigator called me he was very friendly the downside is the call lasted a couple of hours which I did not expect. He said he is awaiting further information from M&S but expects to make a decision within a few days once he has all the information. He also M&S had sent him copies of call recordings. Will let you know when I get an outcome.
Graeme says
An update on my case, after a couple of weeks of NewDay stalling for time, they have refused to accept the adjudicators findings. It is not unexpected as the refund to me is around 6k. Although I suppose on their books at the rate I am repaying the debt (minimum) it is probably worth over 20k to them. Having read through the last few months of their decisions at the ombudsman I am confident for success, I suppose they are just retrying their luck, it’s not as if one more complaint going to the ombudsman will mean anything to them. Hopefully it won’t take another 9 months but I am not hopeful of a quick decision.
Mike_p says
What would you say is too high relative to income? I had a combined total of £33k on cards with an income of £48k, but the investigator has just ruled that it was ok for MBNA to give me a card with a £3900 limit. The other cards all had multiple cash advances on them.
Background: There were three cards and they were all at about 98% utilisation. The total balance hadn’t gone up significantly in the previous 6 months, it had been gradually rising for about 7 years and I applied for more when I got to the limit.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ok so I don’t think there is a simple total debt to income ratio that is useful.
But having 3 cards at 33k of debt and 98% utilisation suggests that you were already unable to repay your exisiting card debt within a reasonable period so it seems likely that an extra £3900 of new debt would be unaffordable.
That would be my argument based on what you have said. Ask for it to go to an Ombudsman if the investigator does not change their mind.
Steve says
Hi Sara- the adjudicator has come back to me and is pretty insistent that I should have recognised Halifax did something wrong when I went to their money management team- not sure how they come to these conclusions. At that time I was experiencing PTSD and I don’t feel the onus should be on the customer to recognise affordability complaints from a mainstream lender? It’s automatically gone to an Ombudsman and he’s given me until the 10th Dec to add any further points. I feel like he’s completely missing the point, I would have more faith if he spelt words correctly or proof read his responses too. Just thought I would update, thanks for your advice.
Mike_p says
The investigators seem to be a bit of a mixed bag. I’ve had two investigator respomses this week, the first went into detail about all the points I’d made and why he thought they were or weren’t relevant, the second was a brief response that could have been copy and pasted from anywhere (even referring to me and MBNA as B and C instead of using our names)
The investigaor said this when looking at a complaint for me which maybe gives some insight into their thinking:
“I’ve also reviewed the information you provided and I can’t see any evidence of discussions
between you and the consumer about affordability and financial difficulties over three years
ago and I can’t see any historic missed payments on his statements. If I could see evidence
of this, I would suggest Mr x should’ve been aware he could complain at that time, but
since I can’t, it’s plausible he wasn’t aware. “
Max says
Hi Sara,
I’m almost over the line on my complaints versus Aqua and Marbles and their large credit limit increases as I received a provisional decision from the actual Ombudsman in my favour this week.
I’m going to accept the Aqua one, but ask that the Marbles one is looked at again as my initial complaint was against two credit limit hikes.
I didn’t realise at the time I could request the FOS looks at whether the card should ever have been issued.
What’s interesting is that NewDay admitted to the FOS they didn’t actually access my monthly credit report prior to early 2016, so given my Marbles card was opened a few months before then, I feel I have a strong case on that point – especially as Ombudsman’s Aqua decision stretches back to a limit increase in mid-2015.
In case it helps anyone, it was just under two months from adjudicator to Ombudsman provisional decision. I’ll post full details once decision is confirmed.
I do have one question though, as I still have large balances on both cards (about £6k combined), to what date will the interest and charges be refunded (assuming provisional decision becomes a final one)?
Is it to when NewDay accept the final decision, or to some other date in the past/future?
Thanks,
Max
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If the decision is that all interest should refunded from some date, then when this has been done, any remaining balance should still be interest-free. So i don’t think the “To date” has any meaning here?
Turtle says
Barclaycard got back to my FOS handler today. They disagree that the FOS should be able to look at my complaint (over 6 years old). Now this goes in the queue for an ombudsman to look over.
I’m not surprised (considering the lack of complaint handling procedure at Barclays) but why drag this out even longer.
Anyone been in a similar position? Hoping not to be in for year plus wait.
Mike_p says
I’d be interested to hear how you get on as I’m in a similar postion. Barclaycard rejected my complaint due to it being over 6 years since the limit increase but the investigator has decided they can look at it. The inevestigator gave Barclaycard two weeks to come back to them so I have a feeling that they will reject it like they did for you.
Steve says
Overdraft affordability complaint – Dec 2014. Adjudicator saying they can’t look at this because of time passed and I should have realised something was wrong back then. I’ve explained I only found out when discussing finances with a friend which was within the past 3 years. Any advice on how to get a complaint over 6 years looked at? I had no idea I could complain about the overdraft affordability back then, Halifax also never offered to see if they behaved responsibly. Any advice would be hugely appreciated
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If this is from an adjudicator, say you want this to go to an ombudsman.
Natalie says
Please can I ask some advise?
I had my marbles complaint upheld and interest refunded and late payments removed. I am currently paying on a payment plan each month towards the balance left. I have not missed a payment Marbles have closed my access to my app and yesterday have registered a default on my credit file – are they able to do this? I was under the impression that all negative information was removed not added and they had to treat me sympathetically now.
Please help I’m gutted.
This was by the ombudsman who made the final decision and told marbles to refund interest, treat me sympathetically with the remainder of my balance payments and to remove all negative marks from my credit record. I rang Marbles yesterday as I couldn’t view my app thinking that the balance of the account would now be showing the amended amount £5500 down to £1500 only to be told that I would not be able to view my account anymore and that a default would stay for 6 years.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, go back to your adjudicator and say what has happened…
and send marbles a complaint saying they should not have done this and they need to remove the default.
Lynn says
Hi Sara,
Just a little update I have now heard from the ombudsman that is now dealing with my case and she has agreed to look at the complaint as it was Cabot who applied the ccj and not newday. She has said if I have any further information to pass it over to her that I would like her to take in to consideration. Thanks for your help.
Andrew says
So frustrating dealing with fos sometimes they seem to make a rod for their own back had 2 cards with new day (aqua and marbles)
Adj partially upheld saying from May 2016 both cards the limits should not have been increased and refund all interest from then
New Day disagreed so Ombudsman made the potential redress bigger saying the aqua card should never have been opened and gave me a provisional decision and nothing sides up to 29th Nov to put anything before ombudsman the decision wil be final
New Day haven’t responded and now the fos are mo ded to give them a extension as “maybe they never received the decision”
I said they are ignoring and I would not be happy with this extension they have never met a deadline all the way through
Anyone that has something similar from adj to ombudsman looking at it less than 3 months
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If the Ombudsman has changed the decision from what the adjudicator said, they will want to give the lender a chance to respond. It’s a slow system but a fair one.
Andrew says
They did they gave them four weeks and not even a acknowledgement so why a extension ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I know, everyone feels irritated by this sort of thing.
Becky says
Hi Sara
Do you have any idea how to work out how much 8% interest will be on a refund for unaffordable lending on a credit card .i think I’ve paid £2771 in interest in total over a period of 7 years ,my case has been upheld by an adjudicator but my guess is aqua will disagree and send to an ombudsman
Sara (Debt Camel) says
8% interest should be paid from the point when your balance would have been cleared from the refund. If the refund leaves a balance owing, there will be no 8% interest
Chris says
Hi Sara, Please can you advise
I made complaint to Barclays about increases on my overdraft.
They have increased my overdraft limit in September 2012 and again in February 2013. Before September 2012 my overdraft limit was £1520 and it was increased to £2270 and then again in February 2013 Barclays again increased my overdraft from £2270 to £3020. now I explained to Barclays that I only find out I can make complaint about this back in 2020.
I explained to Barclays that before each increase increased I was always using my overdraft to maximum, had my Barclaycard used to a very high level of my credit limit. I had only made minimum payments on this credit card for a long while. Before 2012 I had some extra charges for going over my overdraft. I also have been using pay day loans on regular basis paying one off and taking another ones to make sure I have enough money to survive to end of the month. I also asked for refund of all the interest I paid and any charges after you increased my overdraft limit in 2012…
Chris says
…. today I received letter from bank telling me that they are sorry to hear that I made complaint about my overdraft limits and about my Credit Card limits ??!?! (Customer service person informed me that they logged complaint to Barclaycard on my behalf as well ?!?!?! never asked them to do that I only complaint about my Overdraft to Barclays, and he said that Barclaycard will contact me).
they also said that they will not upheld my complaint as the fees applied to my current account are correct. (not sure if they misunderstood me ? they stated that ”Bank and other institutions were taken to High Court over bank charges in November 2009 and that court ruled that bank charges applied to personal bank accounts were justified and correct. Barclays says to me that they stand by this ruling and they would not offer refund. In final response letter They never mention my overdraft increases / any information about increases itself in 2012 & 2013.
thanks for your help
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you send your complaint to the Ombudsman straight away. You were not (I hope) complaining that the charges were too high, you were complaining about the increases to your overdraft limit when the bank should have realised you were already not managing.
You could add that as Barclays should have realised you were in difficulty in 2012 and no increased your overrdraft, they should have also looked at your Barclaycard position and offered forbearance as your had then been only making the minimum payments for so long.
Chris says
Hi Sarah, thanks for quick reply
I complained about irresponsible lending by Barclays for my overdraft. I informed Barclays that they should never have increased my overdraft limit in September 2012 and again in February 2013 as it was unaffordable to me.
I explained to them that increased I was always using my overdraft to maximum, had my Barclaycard used to a very high level of my credit limit and I had only made minimum payments on this credit card. I also have been using pay day loans on regular basis paying one off and taking another ones to make sure I have enough money to survive to end of the month over my overdraft in some occasions before 2012 and I had extra charges applied to This should have shown you that I could not repay my balance within a reasonable length of time, so you should not have let me increase my overdraft more…
Max says
Hi Sara,
!!This is finally done and dusted.!!Ombudsman final decision today confirmed her provisional one from 10 days ago, meaning about £5,700 of credit (combined across the two cards) should not have been offered.
NewDay have to refund all interest and fees charged from 6.5 years ago on one card; 6 years on the other, plus simple interest at 8% and remove any negative credit file information.
It’s slightly bittersweet as in my original complaint to NewDay for the Marbles one, I only complained from the first credit limit hike, not the actual issuing of the card. The ombudsman said it would be unfair and delay matters if it was to be looked at now, so dismissed my request on that point; which I understand as I stupidly got my dates mixed up (2014 rather than 2015).
Timeline for my case was: March 2021 = Complaints made x 2 via Resolver.co.uk; May 2021 = NewDay rejected both claims; August 2021 = adjudicator ruled in my favour x 2; November 2021 = picked up by Ombudsman; December 2021 = provisional and final decisions by Ombudsman.
I’ve SAR’d NewDay so will spend festive season calculating redress from scores of statements, but as they’re lower than a snake’s belly, I feel the final chapter may yet have a few pages left to run.
Max
Ali says
Hi,
Can anyone offer advice on what to say if the Financial Ombudsman nvestigator asks why you didn’t bring this to their service sooner? They have come back and said to me that “Capital One have not given our service consent to review the opening of your credit card on 22 February 2012 and the increases which took place on 30 July 2013 and 29 July 2014 as you raised the complaint on 4 May 2021. Please can you provide the reasons why you didn’t bring the complaint to our service sooner. Please explain if there were any extenuating circumstances we can consider.”
Other than not having a clue I could do this until speaking to someone I knew who was in the same situation and then researching it further I’m not sure if that’s a good enough reason.
Has anyone been asked this before and what did you say?
Thank you in advance
Ali
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes that is a good enough reason. But give some more details – did you speak to a friend or your sister or a colleague at work? And when did you hear this? And how did you research it – google and found Debt Camel? Just give more details as it makes it sound like the complete story.
Steve says
I recently had an Ombudsman ruling in favour of Halifax as I, like you, didn’t complain within the timeframe allowed. In my personal opinion the Ombudsman are not taking on anything they don’t have to, due to workload. Having said that, they are all very different and you may get a decent one. The better your argument as to why you didn’t complain in time will determine if they take it on, answer within time but think it through carefully.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
have you now had a decision from an Ombudsman that they can’t look at your complaint? or are you still waiting?
In my personal opinion the Ombudsman are not taking on anything they don’t have to, due to workload.
That isn’t right. Most people here have older cases picked up, it just takes time.
Siobhan says
Vanquis have sent me a final response letter, first they say they sent me a final demand letter in March 2016 because I was in arrears, then they have said they raised my credit limit in Oct 2016 because I was a good payer and have never missed a payment so they won’t be upholding my complaint.
I’ve sent this to FOS today. How could they contradict themselves that much? I took numerous payment holidays with them and have always had issues with debt, I had a CCJ when I took out the card in 2015.
Have many had success going through FOS for Vanquis complaints?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is an exceptionally poor response by Vanquis :(
People are winning Vanquis complaints at FOS.
One thing to look out for is that sometimes adjudicator decisions are a bit vague – and lenders interpret this in a way which means they may out less…
Lynn says
Hi Sara,
Just another update on the newday case. The ombudsman’s has now made a provisional decision on the case and agreed with me !!! Increases from dec 2015 onwards which is between £1200 and £4750 as unaffordable!!!
I can’t thank you enough.
Tracy Sowerby says
Hi Sara
The saga that is vanquis has been temporarily put to bed as I was getting nowhere between them and the adjudicator. I have reluctantly agreed to their calculations but will be taking the matter further under a separate complaint.
However, today i received a statement from Arrow whom have bought the debt from Vanquis. It still has the full amount showing as due 3573.04. I rang arrow and they said they have no records of vanquis even contacting them for a figure.
Vanquis redress letter of the 22nd September states they contacted arrow confirming same amount and that it had been refunded to the account!?
I have for some weeks been disputing their calculations but relented and was was paid the remainder on the 28th November.
Surely this should have been paid off by now?
Thank-you in anticipation
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send Vanquis another complaint!
Mike_p says
I’ve just had a good result with my Tesco credit card. They rejected my complaint as lenders often do, but the FOS have said they should refund all interest since my 2018 increase and back date the default to then. The refund is only £200 but it means the default will drop off in 2024 instead of 2027. I have some other complaints in progress so hopefully some of them will get good results too.
Mike_p says
I wonder if I could have some advice on a complaint that I have made against Barclaycard. The FOS investigator found in Barclaycards favour as they said I had been making significantly over the minimum payaments. That’s true but I was using the barclaycard for all my spending, so I might have paid £1000 off it when I got paid but then spent £1200 on it over the monet. I can’t see how thats much different to making only the minimum oayment and using my debit card for daily expenses instead. The net result was that my balance increased steadily from £700 in 2010 to £8400 in August 2014, during which time they increased the limit three times when I got close to it. The investigator also said my repayments would have paid the balance off within a year which they said was reasonable. Again I was living on the card, so if I stopped pending on it I’d only have been abke to afford a small repayment. Do you think I have grounds to ask for it to be sent to an ombudsman?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you make a list by month from 2010 to 2014, does it show the amount spent, the amount you paid and the balance all tending to go up every month?
When you say all your spending was on this – what does that include – groceries? petrol? utility bills? council tax?
Jax says
Result! After Barclays rejected my complaint, I asked them to review it as they hadn’t addressed my points in the original complaint. But that was about 6 weeks ago and heard nothing until last week when they left a voicemail – they have reviewed their decision. Offered me a refund of all charges for 6 years today. I agreed and almost 4k in my account within an hour! Happy Christmas!
Mike_p says
I made a graph in Excel and the balance increased steadily over the four years. The amount I repaid tended to be about the same, and the amount spent went up. The Barclaycard went up from £700 to £8400, but I had two other cards too and the total balance went up from £5,800 to £19,100.
The spending was day to day things – petrol, groceries, clothes etc. Bills and council tax were all
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So I suggest you show your adjudicator that chart and point out your balance was going up even though you were paying more than the minimum and that your credit record would have showed that your other debts were going up too.
What was your monthly take-home income at the end?
Did you also have an overdraft? with which bank?
Mike_p says
I did send them the chart with all the debts on, the Barclaycard one was going up by about £160 a month for four years. The investigator just looked at what I repaid vs the minimum payment but didn’t consider what I was spending on it. My take home pay was about £2500 and I had a mortgage of around £1000 a month.
I didn’t have an overdraft, I used three credit cards for my borrowing.
I wasn’t able to supply any bank statements as they are not in my online banking, but I’ve sent Halifax a dsar to see if they can supply them.
Samantha says
Hi Sara, I previously got intouch regarding my vanquis credit card and irresponsible lending, they have replied this morning stating they have reason to believe they have done all the necessary checks before increasing my limit and that I could have declined the limit increase but didn’t, what do I do now? Do I appeal? Is this right? Just sounds like they do not want to accept responsibility
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The fact you did not decline the increase is irrelevant – what matters is whether Vanquis should have offered it.
There is no point in asking Vanquis to look at this again, if you know your credit limit was raised to too high a level then send the complaint to the Ombudsman.
Kelly says
I raised a complaint with the FOS after Barclaycard refused to repay me. FOS have wrote to Barclaycard and this is some of the letter /
I don’t feel Barclaycard carried out reasonable and proportionate borrower focussed checks. And as a result of this, I feel Barclaycard didn’t act fairly when it made the decision to lend to Miss Hughes.
Where credit has been provided when it shouldn’t have been, it would be fair and reasonable for the lender to refund any interest and charges paid by the borrower (if there were any). And the borrower would be expected to repay any remaining amount of the funds they were given.
I can see Miss Hughes has already paid back the funds she was lent as the balance on the account is £0. This means Barclaycard should refund all interest and charges paid by Miss Reid while the account was active. I’d also expect Barclaycard to remove any adverse information they’ve reported to the CRAs about this account.
Is it likely Barclaycard will agree, also is there a rough way of doing a calculation of what the interest/charges would be or is it just a waiting game?
Cheers x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Barclaycard do normally accept adjudicator decisions, fingers crossed they do for you.
The charges/interest would have been shown on your statements – there is no way to guess at these.
Chris says
Hi Sara. I have had an overdraft with the same bank for 20 years. For most of that time, the overdraft of nearly £3000 has essentially been ‘maxed out’. My question is, considering that the bank never increased the overdraft limit in recent years, would I have the basis for an affordability complaint in that the account was essentially always in significant overdraft, even after my salary and I was paying significant fees for this? I also had lots of payday loans, etc., which were showing on the bank’s statements. Any advice would be appreciated. I don’t want to ‘rock the boat’ with the bank if you don’t think this is a strong case as my salary is paid into this account and I don’t want the bank to freeze the account or anything. Thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes you can complain about this. Being continuously in your overdraft all the time, not even getting back into the black on payday is an indication that you are in difficulty. Not a problem for the odd few months, overdrafts are there for short term problems, but for a prolonged period eg over a year, No. many banks review overdrafts once a year (you may not have been aware of this), others should still notice if you are in a difficulty for a long while. Do you remember when the overdraft limit was last increased?
Chris says
Thanks so much for your reply Sara. The account was in pretty consistent overdraft for the best part of 20 years. Most of the original overdraft limit increases would have taken place prior to 2010. I believe that there would have been one limit increase maybe around 2016/2017 when the bank removed their “emergency borrowing” feature and this limit became part of my standard overdraft limit. If I do complain, is the bank likely to freeze my account or remove the overdraft limit as a result of the complaint? I am slightly concerned as it is my main bank account. I have finally improved my situation in the past six months (thanks to all of your wonderful advice) so I am finally not currently using the overdraft. Thanks again Sara.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s unusual that people report problems with a bank closing an account but it isn’t imposssible.
If you are worried, then it may be a good idea to open a new bank account now? A lot of people love Monzo and Starling bank accounts…
It’s up to you if you want to make a complaint of course, but this could be a large refund. Surely worth the minor hassle of switching accounts.
kate says
Hi, i sent an affordability complaint over to aqua over a year ago now on the basis of irresponsible lending due to always being near my credit limit and still applying increases to my account up to the value of 4k, they rejected my complaint and soon after closed my account down without informing me, i have since cleared my balance and as far as i am aware the account is closed, i didn’t mention in my complain to them that the reason i was in difficulty is because of a gambling issue, although they should of noticed gambling transactions on my account, do you think i should send another complaint over on this basis? or will they reject it straight away because i had already sent one over a year ago?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think they will reject it – I am sorry but you should have sent this straight to the ombudsman where you may have won the complaint :(
Bc says
Hi Sarah, had this request from the adjudicator regarding my Complaint to Vanquis,
Thank you for your patience while I have been looking into your complaint.
I need some more information to help me investigate your complaint.
What I need
Can you please provide me with a copy of your credit report? As a suggestion, there are credit reference agencies such as Equifax who offer free trials and allow you to download your entire report as a pdf file.
Can you please also provide me with your main bank statements for the following dates:
June 2015, July 2015 and August 2015.
November 2015, December 2015 and January 2016.
April 2016, May 2016 and June 2016.
August 2017, September 2017 and October 2017.
I have managed to download the credit report, but the statements will have to be requested via a branch as I do not have on line banking, I have emailed these reasons over and also asked question if it’s possible to progress without the statements.
Sarah, thanks for all the great advise you provide, wishing you a very happy new year.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You need those bank statements. As the article above says “Also get your bank statements if they will support your complaint and send those to FOS too. Don’t wait to be asked for these.“
Bc says
Thanks, appreciate your help, hopefully once the report and statements go over it won’t be too long for an outcome, Vanquis have agreed that the adjudicator can look at over 6 year’s as I opened the account in march 2014 and the first increase was October 2014, and since then it’s at the maximum £4000 with only the minimum payments being made, but not getting too hopeful yet but it would make hell of a difference, especially if it’s cleared with some left over.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
keep your expectations low but send all these cases to the ombudsman is my suggestion.
Ross says
Hi Sara,
Could I please ask your opinion? I sent a complaint, to the FOS, in June of this year. To cut a long story, short, I had held an Aqua Card for a number of years, which was always maxed out and had used for cash advances and gambling transactions. I had also, largely, only ever made minimum payments, which meant the balance never really reduced, owing to the extortionate interest rate. In November, 2015, I was in a desperate situation, what with Christmas coming up and trying to balance lots of PDL’s, other numerous high interest credit cards (all at their limit) and a £5000 OD, which was also always at its limit, and never back in the black, even after payday. In my desperation, I tried to apply for several lines of credit, without success, and then (as a last resort) I applied for a Marbles credit card. To my amazement, they approved me, with an initial credit limit of £900, which I maxed out nearly as fast as the card arrived.
On looking back, I thought it was totally irresponsible for them to approve this and submitted a complaint, explaining why I felt this was the case. Newday came back to me, not addressing any of the points I made, and declined the complaint. I explained to the FOS that, based on my existing relationship, with Newday, that the card should never have been approved. I’m still awaiting an outcome.
jimbob says
While comprising my complaint i have been following your excellent tips under the heading of-They should not have increased my credit limit. However i am very concerned with section about helpful to give detailed info why payments were unaffordable. I cannot work out how to monetarise situation in that way. All i have got is income was benefits only and went on care costs. Could this lack of detail be detrimental to the success of complaint
I mentioned being concerned about detail. Is this less important to initial complaint to creditor and more important to consider when dealing with Ombudsman. And thinking of latter do we prepare acquiring papers they may require e.g. Credit reports and bank statements.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes detail matters more to FOS. I think many lenders don’t really read what you write, it just gets handled in their “what we do with affordability complaints” way. Just say that all her disability benefits were being spent on care costs – her bank statements will show this.
Yes get credit record downloaded now and also get bank statements. Don’t wait to be asked by FOS for these as it takes time to get them.
Samantha says
Hi Sara,
How do I take my complaint to the ombudsman? I had a vanquis account that had credit increased after making my complaint they stated that they did all checks and that I did not decline any of thier increases so they feel they did nothing wrong, you advised that regardless if I declined or not is irrelevant and take it to the ombudsman, what do I say? Where do I start with it? Also is my vanquis account supposed to be held until the complaint is delt with as they are now asking for a £500 payment and I have been waiting about 6 weeks to hear back from the original complaint.
Thankyou
Sara (Debt Camel) says
See the Don’t be put off by a rejection – sending a case to the Ombudsman section in the article above for how to send a complaint to FOS.
Your account is not on hold. Can you afford the current minimum payments? Is this your only problem debt? If you are in financial difficulty and have more debts than this one, talk to Stepchange about a DMP
Nadia says
Nice start to the new year, thanks to your advice on here – a refund of just short of £500 and three late payment markers removed from my credit file by Very.
Great site full of useful advice
Happy new year!
N says
I have a complaint upheld by adjudicator regarding my santander overdraft. Do santander usually disagree to adjudicator decisons because i have been looking online and thats all i seem to find :(. I have waited almost 2 years for this. Santander have until 7th jan to reply :((((
Elle says
Hi all. I have had a Lloyds overdraft since Around 2012, it gradually increased and ended up being £3000 in total. I made about 7 applications to increase it within around a 7-10 day period, sometimes 2 were done in the same day and all we’re approved. I persistently lived in this overdraft until finally clearing it this year. Lloyds final response is they won’t even look at it because it’s over 6 years old and I should have known in 2018 i had a right to complain? No idea where they got this from I only found this website about 1-2 year ago and had no idea until that point that I could complain about an overdraft? Is this worth sending to FOS or are Lloyds right? Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes definitely send this to the Ombudsman. FOS usually does look at these older cases, although the odd reader has had a problem, most haven’t.
And for overdrafts there is also the argument that Lloyds should have reviewed your overdraft annually within the last 6 years – so even if FOS doesn’t look at the old credit limit increases (which they should – I am not saying drop the complaint about them!) then you may be able to get a refund for the last 6 years.
Mark says
Hi
I currently have a compliant ongoing with Barclaycard over irresponsible lending that the FOS is looking into to see if they can review(outside the six year, but not three year rule)
However, just today I saw two interest refunds on my account that have been applied without any dialogue with me at all, no letters, anything. Upon calling there “Remediation’s” team, after a protracted conversation, I was finally told they related to interest charged during a payment holiday I opted for during the pandemic.
Has anyone else come across this at all – admittedly my car finance provider froze interest, so I knew of it but never thought to question any other Credit Card or Loan providers
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The regulator’s rules allowed you to defer making the payments, they did not stop lenders continuing to add interest. It may be that Barclays has decided to waive the interest here – I haven’t heard of this happening, I will keep a lookout for it.
Chris says
Hi Sarah
happy new year!!
just a question,
before I have sent my complaint to Barclaycard I have asked them (in inquiry) about my historical increases on my account (opened in 2005) as I knew that I had 2 increases in 2014 (from 5.5k to 6.5k & 7.5K) and 2015 (8.5k) and 2016 (9.5k) . in reply for my inquiry they replied that they can only go back 7 years to see what increases I had.
I have sent my complaint to Barclaycard only for increases from 2014 as I didn’t have more details. Today I have received letter from Barclaycard and it looks like they had look at my account from time it was opened, mentioning another increase in 2008 which I’m not to bother about, but I discovered that I had 4 increases in 2013 (May, July, October and December) not sure by how much as they not mention this and I can’t remember and also I cant access my barclaycard statements. Barclacycard obviously reject my complaint as it is over 6 years ago but I only found out I can make complaints about this back in 2020 when I made my first FO complaint and I saw some articles on your website and FO website.
my question is.. when I will send this to FO can I mention increases in 2013 to FO and ask them to investigate this as well ? as my original complaint to Barclaycard had it from 2014 but like I mention above its look like they took all increases on my account from the beginning as they said that will not investigate 2008, 2013, 2014, 2015. ) but they investigated 2016.
thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes. tell FOS that Barclaycard only originally told you about increases after 2014, but since then they have told you about earlier increases and you want to complain about them all. Say that you knew the car balances were getting high but you did not know that Barcalycard shoyuld have checked that they were affordable so you didn not have any reason yo think you had cause to complain. Explain how and when you found out about these complaints and point out this is within 3 years of you making the complaint.
Andrew says
Hi Sara
So ombudsman has made the provisional decision final and stated New Day agreed with provisional decision so really don’t get what the wait was to make final
So the have been ordered to remove all interest form one card which will wipe the balance and possibly a slight refund
Other card ordered to removed from May 2016 to present (account was closed early 2019 and default registered with 3500 owing) has anyone a clue how New Day work the interest
Dave R says
Hi Elle,
Definitely complain to the FOS, Lloyds rejected my overdraft complaint and gave me no reason whatsoever other than “they felt they had acted fairly with the increases”.
My overdraft went from £2,300 to £5,000 in 12 months, with multiple amounts of same-day limit increases as well! Living in it for years and paid thousands in charges
Took nearly a year to get an adjudicator but they recently upheld my complaint fully and I’m just waiting to hear back if the bank agree or not. Lloyds dragging their heals annoyingly…
AL says
Hi Sara
An adjudicator has picked up my case against barclaycard. I thought I had had increases on my account prior to 2019 (account was opened in 2010) but the adjudicator has said he can only see that the limit was only ever £5320 from opening up to 2019 when they raised it and I have no way of checking this as barclaycard have said it’s over the time frame and they can’t check. My question is could I complain about it even if it wasn’t raised and that I felt the £5320 was too high as I was only ever in a significant overdraft also with barclays bank. Could I ask that they should have reduced the amount knowing I lived in my overdraft amd therefore claim back all charges since 2015? I say 2015 as this is as far back I can evidence with bank statements that I was in significant overdraft. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes you can then say that they should never have given you an account with high a credit limit.
Did they increase your overdraft limit during this period? At that point were you only making minimum payments to the card? How bad did your overdraft get – were you in it most or all of the month? Sis you exceed the overdraft limit and so pay high fees?
AL says
Opened barclaycard in 2010 and i mostly only ever paid minimum payments. I had overdraft increase in 2012 to £1200 and then again in 2013 to £1600. Was mostly only ever in the red and maxed out. Wages would go in and woukd be back to max by the end of the week and sometimes over overdraft limit and this was a weekly cycle for nearly the last ten years. I have also made a complaint in relation overdraft that barclays rejected and is waiting to be picked up by an adjudicator
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK then your argument is that Barclays should have looked at your Barclaycard when considering whether to increase your Barclays limit – they should not have upped the overdraft limit and they should have offered to help you with both the overdraft and credit card by freezing interest and charges. Ask for your Barclaycard complaint to be considered at the same time as the overdraft complaint.
frank says
Hi I recently applied for and opened about 6 credit cards with low limits like £300. I told them I was self employed even though I’m on benefits. But they kept increasing my limits without any checks. 3 of my credit cards now I owe about £1500 on each. 3 others have about £500 on each. I cant pay them now. Do I just not pay them, let them go to collections and say im on benefits and offer £1 a week. If it goes to court can I offer the same? Or can I make complaints against these companies for not checking if I can afford them? Even if I get interest written off I dont think I can afford to pay the rest now. Or would I be better to contact citizens advice or stepchange?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Apart from these cards, do you have other debts? Are you behind with any bills?
What is the total amount of your debts and arrears on bills?
Are you still out of work? Any prospect of this changing?
Are you renting?
jimbob says
Hi. Recently spoke to you about unaffordable lending. I have been doing some calculations. Credit card balance 3.6k. Interest paid from 1st increase 2.9k. Should i be looking at them to come up with similar calculations and move it to FOS if they are way apart. And this plus 8 percent figure i see when does this come into scenario.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you wait and see what they say. Once again you are trying to plan too far ahead! the chance of them making you a good offer is very small.
Samantha says
Hi Sara,
I made my complaint to vanquis they stated they had no reason to believe they have been irresponsible i have sent my complaint to the FOS, I have rang today as I have fell behind with my payments again they requesting a payment of £589 this month and last month’s payment I cannot financially afford to keep paying this it’s more than my mortgage a month i have already taken out a loan £250pm to clear this debt and maxed the card again, they said that I cannot go on a short term plan because I have already used this however I set the plan up paid the first month £42 as agreed then paid the whole £800 outstanding, they said the plan has been completed even after I explained and she could see that I paid one month then paid the arreas off in full so plan has not been completed and should still be available to me! I want a plan so I could minimise my payments whilst the ombudsman looks at my case the only option they gave me was to go on a long term plan, I will pay a monthly amount until the balanced is paid then the account will close and it will be on my credit file! I’m not worried about them closing account as this was the worse mistake of my life I just don’t want it on my file for years and is this the best thing to do? Will it effect my complaint with the ombudsman? I refuse to get another loan to clear it as I cannot keep having these debts! Vanquis has ruined my reputation and my financial situation! How do I get away from these!!!!
Samantha says
Hi Sara,
I have a PayPal account £2000 that has had holiday payments etc I got a 10,000 loan from Hitachi to clear the vanquis card and another loan but maxed the card again, I also have a capital 1 with £1,450 this limit has never been increased its been the same for years but vanquis saying that the had lent to me after doing checks etc, I became a full time student in 2017 so never had the income I did do when working full time surely they should have seen this on thier checks??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds as though you should be looking at a complaint to Hitachi, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/
It also sounds as though you have much too much expensive debt to make the repayments. There are no temporary solutions that will protect your credit record for the long while these complaints can take to go through.
I think you should either be looking at payment arrangements with all of your creditors, including Vanquis. Or you can take the shortcut and talk to StepChange about a debt management plan for all your debts.
If you win complaints this will clear parts of your credit record and massively speed up repaying the DMP.
jimbob says
Just had an email from insolvency service confirming date of DRO revocation. And comment of 7k inheritance over 2k limit. Does the IS inform the creditors of these figures and does it affect affordability complaint we are in the process of.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
your affordability complaint relates to the affordability at the time the credit was given, not your ability to repay it now.
jimbob says
Good news. Sorry for thinking ahead but i was working along the lines of possible reduced balance with successful complaint. Thus clearing all debts with money to spare. Thanks for help
Frank says
Checking now, I owe nearly £3000 on aqua, £2000 on fluid £2000 on amazon. 500 and 350 on two capital one cards. 420 on a level card. Plus 850 on halifax overdraft. Halifax told today to refund me interest from sept 2019. I am caring for my wife and claiming benefits. House is rented.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, so your income is unlikely to increase in the next year or two.
So thats £8000+ on the cards.
At the moment you don’t know what the finsl refund on the halifax card will be.
You don’t have to choose between offering a £1 a month to the debts and making an affordability complaint – you can do both.
And there is no need to stop paying and wait until they go to collections – just phone them up and say your only income is benefits and offer a £1.
So You can do that, it gets you into a safe place , and then you can make affordabilty complaints and see how much the balances are reduced to.
Your other option is not to bother with any of this hassle but go for a debt relief order – see https://debtcamel.co.uk/debt-options/dro/. If you think you will be left with balances you can’t pay, you may decide not to go through this hassle and just go for a DRO now. You could talk to National Debtline about this choice – phone 0808 808 4000.
frank says
If I never signed any agreements with my credit cards, how would they produce a cca agreement for my accounts all opened last year or two.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can agree to (“sign”) a credit card agreement digitally now. There doesn’t have to be a piece of paper with what the lawyers call a “wet ink” signature on it. There is no chance that a credit card lender will not be able to produce a valid CCA agreement for an account opened that recently.
adele says
Hello Sara,
I had a standard bank account, no overdraft etc. I’ve never really had a very good credit rating so due to this only the basic of accounts were available.
Anyway I was gambling online and the next thing I knew I was nearly 3000 overdrawn. My account was then closed by the bank and I am paying them back via Stepchange. I raised a complaint with them as I feel this shouldn’t of been allowed, however they did not uphold my complaint.
Do I have a case? I got lost with my spending but usually when I don’t have enough, then it’s declined, even if it was 10p, but for some reason my deposits wasn’t being declined and caused the overdraft.
I strongly believe they are to blame.
Thanks,
Adele
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Presumably they charged you for this unauthorised overdraft? How long was it until they closed the account?
You were making deposits with gambling firms?
Also this DMP – what is your total debt in it? how large are the monthly payments you are making?
Adele says
They did charge at first, yes, but then I contacted Stepchange and they have been very helpful. They contacted the bank on my behalf and I am now paying them via Stepchange and the bank have now stopped all interest and charges.
I am just paying the overdrawn balance monthly, I think it is around £2800 at present and I just pay back £10 a month. This will take a few years but it’s comfortable for me at the moment and realistic.
The bank account was closed within a week of me going overdrawn.
I’m just amazed that it let me as I got lost with my gambling.
Thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well you get a refund of any the interest and charges applied after the DMP started at the least.
Apart from that, you are asking for a refund not of interest, but if the capital they paid you. FOS doesn’t often agree with this – but I think you have some case here, where you were allowed to run up a huge unauthorised overdraft with no checks at all. Worth a try, but keep your hopes low so you don’t end up disappointed.
Is this the only balance in your DMP?