Have you had a catalogue, credit card or store card where your credit limit was too high? So high that the monthly repayments were hard to manage and you got into more debt?
Many people were originally given an OK limit, but the lender kept increasing them.
You may have a good complaint that the lender was irresponsible in allowing you to borrow so much that the debt was unaffordable.
This article explains how to complain and ask for a refund of the interest you paid
Contents
What is “affordability”?
The following is my summary of the regulator’s rules:
- a lender must check if credit is affordable when you apply for it. A mortgage lender will ask for bank statements, but a catalogue offering a £200 credit limit doesn’t have to go into so much detail;
- a lender should also make new checks when deciding to increase a credit limit;
- credit isn’t affordable if paying it leaves you short of money for your bills,everyday expenses, and your other debts;
- if you have to borrow more most months, this would not be affordable. This could be borrowing on the same account – making a credit card repayment but then using the credit card to pay for food so the balance never drops is “borrowing more”;
- you have to be able to repay the balance within a reasonable period of time. Paying the minimum amount is OK for a short while, but not for a prolonged period.
How to complain
Good reasons to complain
If the lender could see any of these on your credit record, they should probably have declined your original application:
- recent credit record problems: defaults, missed payments, or arrangements to pay, mortgage arrears, payday loans;
- you already had a different credit card with the same lender where you were only making minimum payments and were using it for essentials like food and petrol. If you were given two credit or catalogue accounts by the same lender, often the second one should never have been given.
- other credit cards where you were near your limit and persistent overdraft usage. Here is an Ombudsman decision saying Zopa should not have given quite a low initial limit in this situation;
- a level of borrowing that looks too high in relation to your income.
Your credit limit should not later have been increased unless you could afford it. In addition to the points above, the following should have also warned the lender you were in difficulty already:
- making minimum payments for a long while;
- using a lot of your limit for a long period;
- a lot of gambling showing on the account statement;
- recent missed payments or an arrangement to pay on this account;
- your overall level of debt on your credit record has gone up a lot.
You don’t need all the details to complain
When your lender increased your credit limit, you don’t need the exact date. If all you can say is “you increased my credit limit several times” that is fine. You don’t need to ask for copies of all your statements – you would get a ton of paper!
But getting your credit record can help. You can’t go back and see exactly what your credit score was in say 2018, but take a copy of your current credit record as soon as you complain (get your free TransUnion statutory credit report). That will show what the pre-2018 problems were that the lender should have spotted.
Template to complain & the email address to use
The best way to complain is by email. It’s free, instant and you have a record of what you sent and when. Here is a list of credit card and catalogue email addresses to use.
In the suggestions below, I’ve invented some examples for the bits in italics in brackets. Change/delete these to tell your story.
I want to complain about irresponsible lending by you for my Barclaycard account number 987654/444. My date of birth is dd/mm/yy. The email address I used for this account was myaddress@whatever.com.
Then say they should never have given you the account:
You should never have allowed me to open an account with such a large credit limit. When I applied in 2015, you should have checked my credit record and you would have seen I had recent missed payments to a credit card and a default only two months before on a loan.
Or say that they should not have increased your credit limit:
You should never have increased my credit limit in 2015. At that time I had only made minimum payments on this credit card for a long while and/or I was using a very high level of my credit limit.
If you had properly checked my credit record before increasing my limit, you would have seen that in the two years since my account with you was opened, I had got additional late payment markers and defaults and/or taken out a lot of other credit. This should have warned you I was struggling with my finances and it was not responsible to lend me more. By increasing my credit limit you made my financial position worse. Instead you should have offered me forbearance by freezing the interest on the card.
I do not know the exact months of these credit limit increases. In your reply to this complaint, please tell me the dates and amounts.
If the lender should already have known you had problems with your account, mention these
You should also have realised that I was having difficulty because:
of the late payment charges you added to my account
of the gambling transactions showing on my card statement
I had missed two payments to you the year before in 2017
I had already asked you on the phone if it was possible to stop adding interest for a while.
End with asking for a refund:
I would like you to refund me all the interest I paid and any late payment charges from the point the account was opened
OR
I would like you to refund me all the interest I paid and any late payment charges after you increased my credit limit in 2018.
I would also like any late payment and default markers to be removed from credit records after this point.
I understand that if I take this complaint to the Financial Ombudsman, 8% simple interest is usually added to a cash refund.
Points to think about
Timing
These complaints can be made if your account is still open, or if it is closed and settled, or if it is with a debt collector (NB the complaint goes to the original lender, not the debt collector.)
You can complain if you already have a CCJ for the debt. Add a sentence to the template saying you want the CCJ removed as part of the settlement of your complaint.
If you have had an IVA or bankruptcy after these problems, or if you are still in a DRO, then ask in the comments below, as this can be complicated.
Old accounts
The Financial Ombudsman (FOS) can only go back to April 2007, when the law changed to allow these complaints.
Many lenders will reject complaints about something that was more than 6 years ago and say the ombudsman won’t look at them. But FOS will often look at old problems if you have only found out in the last three years that you can make the complaint.
If your account was opened in 2015 but the lender increased your limit in 2018 and 2019, then the two limit increases are within the last 6 years and can definitely be looked at.
However, complaints about things that happened more than 6 years ago may be hard for you to produce much evidence for. But if you feel you have a strong older case and you have some evidence, then take it to the Ombudsman and let them decide!
An alternative approach for old accounts
If your account was opened a long while ago and you defaulted and still owe a balance, perhaps in a DMP, think about asking the debt collector to produce the Consumer Credit Act agreement for the account.
If the current creditor can’t produce a proper copy of the agreement, the debt cannot be enforced in court and you can simply stop paying anything to it. This applies to all credit cards, store cards and catalogues.
It may be that the balance on the account is larger than any refund you might get. In which case if the CCA agreement cannot be produced, you would be better off.
Is a refund what you really need?
This depends how large your current financial problems are.
Complaining about newish debt will often only get the interest removed – you still have to repay what you borrowed. Don’t spend months arguing with lenders and going to the ombudsman if you will still be in a mess even if you win.
So phone National Debtline on 0808 808 4000, tell them you are thinking about affordability complaints but you would like to know what your other debt options are.
Poor reasons to complain
You can’t complain just because the interest rate was high or because you have paid them a fortune over the years.
A poor credit score on its own isn’t a reason why you shouldn’t have been given an account. But if your credit score was poor because you were having a lot of problems with your existing debt, the account should have been refused.
You won’t win an affordability complaint if something unexpected went wrong later in your life. If you had been managing a credit card fine for years but then you lost your job or separated from your partner and you defaulted, this isn’t the lender’s fault.
Don’t be put off by a rejection or a poor offer
Lenders often reject good cases
If a lender rejects your complaint or offers a low “goodwill” gesture, don’t be fobbed off – they want you to give up.
In particular, if the lender says you had made all the payments to them on time so they had no reason to think you had problems, you can ignore this. Or if the lender dismisses your complaint as the account was opened over 6 years ago.
When you have a Final Response from the lender – or after 8 weeks if you haven’t had a Final Response – send your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). Don’t delay doing this!
Is a “partial uphold” good enough?
If the lender says they should not have increased your credit limit in June 2018 when your limit was increased and they will give you a refund of interest for balances over the previous limit, that may sound good. It is sometimes called a partial uphold or a partial refund or proportionate interest.
But often the amount of money refunded in this situation is a lot less than you might expect. So tell the lender you want to consider their offer but need to know how large the refund will be.
Often you were already in a difficult financial situation at that point, with cards close to maxed out, being used for everyday essentials and only paying the minimums. At that point the lender should have stepped in and offered to help you by freezing all interest. That is why a partial refund is often not good enough, you should have all the interest refunded from that point.
How to send a case to FOS
Send FOS a complaint using their online form. You can use bits of what you put in your complaint to the lender. If the lender has rejected your complaint or given a poor offer, say why you think this wrong.
The FOS form at the end asks you to add supporting documents. Don’t worry if you don’t have A copy of your credit or finance agreement – lots of people don’t and the lender will supply a copy to FOS if FOS asks for it. Don’t delay sending a complaint to FOS while you try to get this from the lender.
If your credit record shows that you had other debt problems, send FOS a copy of it. If you have kept some, send the oldest one you have, otherwise send the current one. Also get your bank statements if they will support your complaint and send those to FOS too.
FOS is a friendly service but not fast. Just use normal English, not legal terms. Using a claims company or a solicitor doesn’t help or speed this up.
Ask questions below!
There are hundreds of comments from readers who are using this template. It’s a good place to see how these complaints often go and to ask any questions.
FAQs about Affordability claims
Can you get an overdraft refund?
Could a Debt Relief order help you?
Tiffany west says
Hi, I made an affordability complaint to lending stream about 4 payday loans. They have partially upheld the complaint and will refund two of the loans interest and also remove two of the loans from my credit file. If I went to FOS and it was declined by FOS do I risk losing lending streams offer completely? Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how large were the loans? Were there any significant gaps between repaying one loan and taking out the next?
Katie says
Hiya, I’ve been reading everything on this website over the past week because I have been on a DMP since 2019 and never knew about affordability complaints before, so thank you so much for helping raise awareness about this and all the useful advice on this website.
I’ve sent off affordability complaints to all my lenders as in 2018 I was constantly borrowing and paying off with new credit.
I’ve not had anything yet but as I say just sent them so will wait for a reply.
I am however having problems with Shop Direct (Very and Woolworths). I had accounts opened with them in 2011 when I was still at uni and only getting a wage of £400 per month but constantly living in my overdraft at NatWest.
I’ve emailed them using the triage email and put in a complaint however, I also called them today to try and get SRA and statements. One of the accounts they found but the other they found it but said the date of birth was wrong and won’t discuss it with me because they have said I can’t pass security.
This debt was on my credit file and is still being paid via a debt collection agency., both accounts defaulted in 2015. I’m at a loss where to go from here, I think it could maybe strengthen my case as they clearly didnt do thorough checks if they opened it with the wrong date of birth but also I can’t get information because of it.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think it could maybe strengthen my case as they clearly didnt do thorough checks if they opened it with the wrong date of birth
This is unlikely to help an affordability complaint. The ombudsman would not expect a lender to ask for your birth certificate to verify your date of birth.
Do you still have bank statements for this period? It is a very long while ago and without them it may be very hard to win these complaints. As the article above says, with old accounts it may be better to use an alternative approach.
Katie says
I’ve tried to get bank statements but unfortunately because of the time lapse NatWest have confirmed they no longer have them :( ahh yes I did read about asking for the Consumer Credit Act Agreement. Can I do this after the affordability complaint result? Thank you so much again for all you do :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can do. But these complaints are 99% likely to have to go to the ombudsman because of there age. So you may be waiting a long while before you get any answer, as the first step is for FOS to decide if it can look at them.
D says
Hi
Was your current account still with NatWest in 2011?. If so they will definitely have them but you will need to apply by way of a DSAR. If you simply call them, you will be told that statements only go back 7 years. If you are now with a other bank, still apply for a DSAR with NatWest as you may still be able to get them.
Good luck
Ciaran says
Hi folks, I’ve had a complaint against newday for limit increases and second card upheld by an adjudicator. Anyone know how newday tend to behave in such situations, will they push for an ombudsman decision?
Maria K says
Hi all
I made an affordability complaint to Very which they did not uphold. I stressed I previously was on a repayment plan with littlewoods who I assumed were the same and they should have seen this before giving me £1000 credit. My question is can I send this to the financial ombudsman
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The repayment plan – how long did it finish before they gave you the very limit? And how large was the Littlewoods limit you got into difficulty with?
Maria K says
Hi it finished in 2020 and the new account opened in 2021
Sara (Debt Camel) says
then yes i think you should send that to the Ombudsman
Maria K says
Thank you I have had a look on the financial ombudsman website but not sure which option to tick. Is it financial products
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes. and later on select the “Loans and other credit, like car finance, or debt collection and financial difficulties”
MK says
Hi all just an update on my Very complaint. The ombudsman found in my favour on 4th March they told Very to refund all interest and charges and update my credit report. They said as I had previously struggled to make repayment they should not have given me another account and increased the credit limit. I hope Very refund soon not sure how long Very take
s says
hello
asking for a family member. my family member a exceded or up to his limit on 4 high interest card supposed to help rebuld your credit, hes working full time he based his borrowing and him doing over time. we have told him that wrong he his only managing to pay minium required which dosenot cover the interest. my aunt advicsed him needs to pay over these. he cant afford to i have advised him to step change but not really dealing with and hes getting no where. i dont know what hes has used the cards for i did catch him withdraing cash and told him worst possble thing he could do. i dont think he really under stands he also has moderate learning disabilty. and his credit terrible. i would say irrspronceble leading?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well possibly. But the first thing is to get his situation stablised so he doesn’t have to take money out to make the minimum payments. Can you help w=him with going to Stepchange? After that you can help him make affordability complaints which will really speed up the DMP.
Mollie says
Hi, I had a MBNA credit card from 2016 and they put the credit limit in 2018. I was paying minimum payments with interest until 2021 before opening up a 0% balance interest account but still have not paid off. I can’t remember my account details as I close the account – can I still raise the issue without the account information? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes you can. Get this is NOW – the case is easier if the credit limit increase was in the last 6 years. But you don’t need to find this out first – my template in the article above asks for the details of the credit increase.
Charlene says
Hi,
I had an over draft limit and loan totalling 6k on a very low income. Repaying this caused severe hardship and when the interest charges changed to daily charges it was near impossible. I suffered anxiety as a result and had to close both accounts which were sent to debt collection agency. Lloyd’s bank then put me on to a specialist team where I was told I can’t make payments or set up a plan as I didn’t have enough income. My accounts defaulted and will fall off my credit report this year. Can I still make a claim against irresponsible lending? My bank account opened in 2012 and closed 2018. The overdrafts were given in around 2016/17 or there about.
My mental health declined considerably. My income was very low and I was a single parent. Do you think I have a chance at claiming the interest I paid, back?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can complain about the loan – see the template on this page https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/ and about the overdraft – see the template here https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/
In each of the complaints, refer to the other one at the start eg “I am complaining about my Lloyds overdraft here, but I am making a separate complaint about my Lloyds loan”.
As the problems happened more than 6 years ago, Lloyds will almost certainly reject both complaints so expect these to have to go to the ombudsman. The ombudsman can decide to look at complaints over 6 years old if you have only fopund out in the last three years that you can make a complaint about affordability. If you have any evidence about your mental health that may help to explain why you couldn’t complain earlier.
debbie says
Hi Sara I have been communicating with you on and off since last August? My last update regarding my complaint to Barclaycard and affordability, made to the Ombudsman. Their, provisional decision, I received from them, said they wouldn’t consider my complaint, as I was ‘out of time’ also this was based on a letter, I had written to Barclaycard,
over a separate issue, where I queried credit checks. The ombudsman felt I had a clear understanding etc. which I didn’t. Based on your response, I went back to the Ombudsman, submitted a more detailed account of dates and incidents which majorly impacted my mental health and the chronic gambling addiction I was living with at the time. I had a telephone call from a FO caseworker. Who was very helpful this was 17 Jan 2024. I today have received an email, the ombudsman wrote to BC regarding my additional info, and they have agreed to consider my claim, even though I was ‘out of time’ I did not expect that and as relieved although still not certain of the final outcome. I’m glad I went back and challenged it as you advised, regarding ‘the letter’ thank you for all your much appreciated help. I shall let you know their final decision 🤞
,
ads says
I’ve now sent my irresponsible/unaffordable lending letter off to New Day.
Done it on the grounds of they shouldn’t of reactivated my marbles account after being on a payment plan, giving me a fluid card, increasing credit limits when 80+% Limit in use/going over limit/account suspended, increasing limit to £1900 a few days after rejecting me.for a £1000 limit and also how an agent tried to get me to pay more than I could afford/that step change had set.
Can you tell me, when they increase limits do they do credit check? and if so what would they appear as in search history? My TransUnion only shows NewDay entries for Identification checks, waiting on my Equifax & Experian as I’ve locked myself out of the accounts.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
A lender has to make adequate checks to make sure an increased credit limit is affordable for you. If you had been on payment plans or only making minimum payments then the checks should have been more thorough.
JJ says
Dear Sara
I have had a reply from an Investigator at F.O.S.. I could ask them this question but I thought I would ask you because your reply may be useful to others who are going through the process.
My investigator has decided that my complaint against Tesco Bank requires investigating and has written:
If both parties accept, they must tell us by DATE. The bank must provide it’s file by that DATE if it hasn’t already, or we will investigate based on the evidence we have. If either party disagrees and wants an ombudsman to decide if we can investigate they must inform and submit further
evidence.
I don’t quite understand the process. Does this mean the investigator can check a complaint and can either uphold or deny any claim, but if either party does not wish this to happen, the case goes straight to the ombudsman.
Many thanks
The
Sara (Debt Camel) says
At the moment this is not about upholding or rejecting the complaint, it is just whether FOS can look at it – usually because you are complaining about something that happened more than 6 years ago.
The investigator is asking if Tesco disagree that FOS can look at this case – if they do, that decision goes to an Ombudsman. no one will actually start looking at the case until it is agreed that FOS can look at it or their is a decision from an Ombudsman saying FOS can.
Louise says
Looking for some advice, my complaint with MNBA was not upheld by them as they said based on the information I gave them at the time(salary and monthly outgoings) it was perfectly reasonable to issue me another credit card. I wasn’t honest with my financial situation at the time, as I already had multiple credit cards and was struggling with gambling, so I’m not sure if it is even worth passing it on to the ombudsman as I wasn’t completely honest about my situation ? If they had asked for bank statements or checked my file to see what other credit I had then they would have known straightaway that I was an unsuitable candidate, but would I be right in thinking the ombudsman would side with MNBA if I wasn’t truthful
about my outgoings from the get go?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
had you only been making minimum payments on your first card?
Louise says
Yes all at full capacity and only making minimum payments on them
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then I would send this to the Ombudsman. MBNA should have checked your credit record as you were only making minimum payments on the first card.
Olivia says
Hi Sara, another question please! Vanquis have upheld the affordability complaint I made to them and refunded interest paid so far, but have said they will continue charging interest and I’ll need to keep paying the usual payments unless I enter into a payment arrangement in which case they will stop interest but the account will default. They said the defaults will be removed once I have paid off the balance but this is likely to be years away. I am not keen to do this because I have already been in a DMP since 2019 and the defaults I already have are over 4 years old now and I don’t want to go back to the beginning. Can I check if this is right? I also had a complaint upheld with Tesco and in the end they said I could pay an affordable amount interest free and they would not report any arrears to the credit reference agencies, so unsure why Vanquis can’t do this too- I have referred to the FOS but I want to check if what Vanquis have said is correct and that’s all they are obliged to do
Sara (Debt Camel) says
they shouldn’t be continuing to change interest.
how large is the remaining balance after the refund?
Olivia says
Hi Sara,
The remaining balance is £1400 and the interest refund was relatively small, only £300 or so, but I find the ability to pay the balances interest free more important as this really helps me pay off these debts. I’ve actually since referred this one to the ombudsman, who came back and said they didn’t need to do anything further because Vanquis had upheld my complaint and the actions they were taking were in line with what they’d recommend and listed these as 1) refunding interest with 8% etc 2) removing adverse info. I said I wasn’t happy because they were continuing to charge interest (even though I had mentioned this in the initial complaint to FCA) and they replied to say Vanquis had confirmed they were stopping interest. I sent statements evidencing they had not. The FCA then went back to them and said they’d been told to action the interest element within 4 weeks, which they have not so I’ve now gone back to FCA again. At this point I feel like they just want to make it hard for you and the small interest refund is just a commercial decision to get rid of you and they hope you won’t actually follow it all up!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so I assume you mean the oimbudsman – FOS – instead of the FCA.
vanquis certainly arent being easy. If this isn’t sorted in another month, come back?
Olivia Duncan says
Hi Sara
Yes I mean the FOS, sorry!
I emailed the contact I had there from my original complaint and they said they had contacted Vanquis and they had a big backlog to work through so would take longer to resolve the issue. They said they would chase up again and contact me directly when they had an update. That was 24th April and I’ve just had another statement through charging me interest. Is there anything I can do, in the meantime I’m still making large minimum payments due to the interest which I can’t really afford.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so if the original decison was to refund ALL interest, then this is usually a sign that no further interest should be charged.
If the decision is to refund all interest over a balance of £1200 (say), then if your resulting balance is lower than that, it would be ok to carry on charging interest.
As a matter of practicality, how unaffordable is this? Do you have other debts as well?
Olivia Duncan says
It was all interest they refunded. They already agreed they should have stopped interest and the adjudicator confirmed this, it’s just that they haven’t actioned it. It’s not massively unaffordable in that I physically can’t pay it but I have other debts that I am paying off (some have been through affordability and are interest free, others are on interest free introductory periods and I’ve frozen the cards and some I’m paying interest on) so it’s not helpful when I could be putting the extra money towards them
Olivia says
Hi Sara
It’s been 5 weeks since my last contact from FOS and 12 weeks since Vanquis told them they had agreed to stop interest, and 20 weeks since they originally upheld my complaint. I feel it’s unacceptable for them to be continuing to charge me interest when they’ve told the FOS they wouldn’t. I’ve emailed the FOS again but is there any other route I can take? Can I raise another complaint and should I ask for compensation for the inconvenience? How do they just get away with not doing what they’ve told the FOS they are doing? Feels like lying to me!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes you can start another complaint. Be very clear that you are complaining about Vanquis’s failure to correctly implement what they had agreed to do.
Olivia says
Hi Sara
I sent another email to the contact at FOS and also raised a new complaint. A few days later (and I don’t know if coincidence or not) Vanquis emailed me to say they were clearing the whole debt and closing my account, so I owe nothing. Super happy with that as I still owed them over £1,000 even after the additional refund! Thanks for your help
Mary says
Hi, thanks so much for your articles and advice! I sent off an affordability complaint to Virgin Credit because they had given me a £15,700 balance transfer limit when I was already about 30k in debt and only making minimum payments and also had a default and missed payments on my credit file. I was late paying one month and so lot the ‘interest free’ offer that the card came with so then ended up with massive interest charges on top. Virgin said they rejected my complaint so I sent to the Financial Ombudsman and got the auto response that they would only reply within 7 days IF they thought they could help me. I have just received a response today that ‘We have logged all the information you’ve sent us and will be in touch again just as soon as we have a case handler ready to look into your complaint.’
I’d love to know any info around how long this might have taken for other people, also whether it’s a good sign (in terms of them agreeing with my complaint) that they’re going to look into it. Thank you!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They look into every complaint (unless you are complaining about a non UK lender or about Sainsburys not delivering to you on time…. Things that aren’t meant to go to the Financial Ombudsman.)
Mary says
Oh… because it said:
‘If we can help, you can expect to hear back from us within 7 working days. Due to the volume of enquiries we receive, we are only able to reply to those customers we can help.’
I presumed that it meant I had got through the net somehow, but appreciate now that they probably just don’t reply to those who are complaining about non-UK lenders etc.
M says
Hi Mary I have sent several complaints to the FO over the last couple of years, it is a bit random in how quickly a case handler gets in touch – some of mine were picked up by an investigator within 2 weeks, others 2 months. In terms of ‘good signs’ I’m afraid none of us has a crystal ball, some of mine were upheld at investigator stage, others were rejected and I had to escalate to an Ombudsman so that lengthens the process considerably, but sit tight, stay determined and don’t delay in replying to any questions or sending any further info required. All my complaints were upheld in the end, it takes patience and ensuring you have submitted every piece of evidence you can get your hands on, credit reports, bank statements etc. Hope you get the result you are looking for, good luck!
Mary says
Thanks so much! Can I ask what sort of results you achieved? Were your interest payments refunded?
M says
Yes Mary in each and every case the interest was refunded. One refund resulted in £1200 overpayment so I had that plus 8% simple interest. I also asked for compensation on each complaint for the distress and inconvenience they caused me, that amounted to £800 in total from various lenders. The remaining balances will never have interest applied to them again and I have arrangements to clear the balances at an affordable monthly amount – it’s always handy to have an up-to-date Monthly Income & Expenditure Summary to hand in case the creditors want a review to see if the monthly amounts can be increased, but I’m on track to be debt free in a reasonable time.
The Ombudsman didn’t always agree that the negative marks on my credit file should be removed however, so I still have defaults, I was a bit miffed about that to start with as I’d won the complaints, but in all honesty I am grateful now. My credit report is trashed for the next 4 years until the defaults drop off so I can’t borrow any more (and neither do I want to with the stress and anxiety it causes) but it’s made me really take responsibility for money, I have learnt so much about budgeting, I’ve cut out all the things I really don’t need and even have a small amount of disposable income to put away for a rainy day. I really couldn’t have done it without Sara and this site, plus all the contributions that people post on here. Wishing you success, let us know how you get on.
Mary says
Thank you so much for that response, so glad it all worked out for you and really appreciate you taking the time to respond. I will update on here if/when I get any news! My main issues are:
1. A Barclaycard that I’ve had for 27 years, started on a £1k limit and was extended over several years without me asking until it got to £16k despite me only ever paying the minimum and missing payments.
2. The Virgin card that was given to me with a £15.7k limit so I could transfer that balance ‘0%’ with the goal to pay it off, but then when I was a few days late with a payment I lost that interest rate and had to start paying £250-300 interest a month which soon spiralled and I’ve not managed to pay that balance down at all. When they gave me that card I already had around £30k of card debt and had only ever paid minimum payments and missed payments and had a default on my records.
JJ says
Sara
Should a DSAR be sent to the Ombudsman to support a claim against irresponsible lending if you don’t have any supporting paperwork.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
what sort of paperwork don’t you have? how long ago was the problem lending?
JJ says
A few statements from 2020 and details of
My debts from my DMP – some
Copies of signed CCA
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Why can’t you just supply bank statements and a list of the debts from your DMP provider? And a current credit report?
This DSAR is from the firm you are complaining about? Or from your bank and DMP firm?
JJ says
Hi Sara,
I have a tesco credit card that i used for the 0% transfer offer, the original balance given to me was £5400 which was utilized fully, but in July 2023 they increased this limit to £7400 on their own (I do not remember asking for an increase), during this time i would have been between £20k-25k in debt which a gambling problem and income of just £1000 a month, taken up by most of my other card payments. I obviously used the £2000 increase and transferred it to my bank account to gamble further. I Have revently been refunding a £7500 natwest overdraft as well as £2000 in loan fees from Natwest from two complaints i put in, do you think it is worth putting a complaint in about tesco? within the last few months i have missed some payments which has destroyed my credit, not can i really afford the almost £200 monthly minimum payment. If I were to put in a complaint, what sort of outcome should i ask for? not sure if i could get an outcome on the entire balance of just the increase.
Thankyou so much!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
when was the original 0% transfer offer? did you make more than minimum payments to this?
How much are your remaining debts and have managed to stop gambling?
JJ says
The card started off at £1400 and in June 2020 it was increased to £3400 and i initiated a £3166 money transfer, then in November 2021 it was increased to £5400 and by the looks of it i paid the balance of around £2000 and initated a money transfer of £5084 (likely to take advantage of a new 0% offer given to me?) since this only the minimum payments of £80 were paid, this was increased to around £150+ as the 0% offer ended thus incurring interest. I no longer gamble and my current debts sit at around -£24000 across mutliple credit cards, the balance on the tesco one being the highest. I am owed some money and will hopefully be below £10k debt in the next few months, but obviously any help i can get with this from the ombudsman would be amazing. I was never on above £2000 in this period, and was put in furlough during covid and since then have been on between 0 and £1000 a month.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“i paid the balance of around £2000”
do you know how you managed to do that?
apart from this, did you usually only make minimum payments to the tesco card?
So in June 20 and Nov 21 if tesco had looked they would have seen that your other debts had been increasing?
JJ says
It was paid for from my overdraft which was at -£2500 and after the payment it was at -£5000 (a £1000 payment and two £750 payments), the balance transfer was then sent to the same bank account, taking me out of the overdraft.. I assume at the time i was paying off a previous 0% offer, to then receive the new 12-24 month offer for the entire £5000.
I have had a look through the statements and i only ever paid £80 which i assume was the minimum payment, the only time this changed is when i sent the card £2500 from my overdraft, to then send £5000 back to the same bank account.
I think my barrowing started around 2019 so i can only assume in both June 20 and Nov 21 i had large debts that were increasing, including a £7k student loan i was paying off costing me around £600 a month. It gets a bit difficult as i did receive a £25k family loan at one point to pay off some of my debts, but within a few months this had disappeared unfortunately.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well you may as well make the affordability complaint – nothing to lose. But the large loan from your family that cleared a lot of debt may have made it difficult for Tesco to see the true position.
Natalie says
Hi Sara, I have a complaint in with FOS re Cap1 increasing my limit x2, 1st being after I was made redundant & using my OD to live, 2nd being when I had just started a new job so was on my probation & still using my OD to live + just taking out bank loan. I was told 2 days ago that my investigator had left & I had a new one-she called me to run through the complaint & asked for the foll:
-something to evidence the credits you received under the following narrative relate to payments from your mum: (money borrowed whilst unemployed)
-NatWest s’ments from May18-Aug18 and May19-Aug19 or proof the acc wasn’t in use during; (This was a joint acc open in 2014, I never used it so closed in 2020-when I called NatWest y’day they were difficult when I asked for s’ments)
-info about your expenditure in 2018 after you moved, such as any contribution to household bills; (I moved back in with family)
-info about your expenditure from May19-Aug19 – I’ve noticed payment of £1,670 to **** Letting, in Aug19. Was this your monthly rent,if yes, was this shared. (This was a deposit for a rental prop which I used my bank loan to pay for)
FYI limits were incr Aug18 & Aug19.
The investigator admitted that she is not satisfied cap1 have produced enough evidence to show they carried out the correct checks but also she needs to be able to prove if they HAD done so, what they’d have found. Are you able to advise on how I should proceed please?
Thanks!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
-something to evidence the credits you received under the following narrative relate to payments from your mum: (money borrowed whilst unemployed)
These are credits showing on your bank statement? What to they actually say about who they are from?
-NatWest s’ments from May18-Aug18 and May19-Aug19 or proof the acc wasn’t in use during; (This was a joint acc open in 2014, I never used it so closed in 2020-when I called NatWest y’day they were difficult when I asked for s’ments)
You never used it all? How does the investigator know about it? Were there any transfers to of rom the account on your other statements?
-info about your expenditure in 2018 after you moved, such as any contribution to household bills (I moved back in with family)
do you have bank statements from this period?
-info about your expenditure from May19-Aug19 – I’ve noticed payment of £1,670 to **** Letting, in Aug19. Was this your monthly rent,if yes, was this shared. (This was a deposit for a rental prop which I used my bank loan to pay for)
So you can explain about the deposit and that you had to borrow the money for this.
Natalie says
Hi Sara,
Yes there are credits from my mum who also used nationwide (who I bank with) at the time therefore it’s just an acc numb. (However they also queried payments from my ex partner who used nationwide which only showed his acc numb but she hasn’t asked for proof of these)
-NatWest acco was maybe used for 1 month when first opened in 2014 but never again- there are no transfers to or from this account on my statements. I didn’t realise it was still open until I check my credit report and it still had a financial connection to my ex due to this acc being opened – hence why I closed it. It shows on my credit report which is why it came to light (£0 balance which shows on my credit file but only shows upto 24 months)
-Info about expenditure when moving back with family- yes they have all my bank statements from June 18-aug 18 & jan 19-aug19.
-Yes I can prove the deposit was for rental property-have emails/contract. They can also see the bank loan was transferred into my account in June 19 & I agreed to the rental/sent deposit in aug19 – I wouldn’t have been able to afford this my bank loan therefore I used this money to pay for it.
I’m a bit baffled as was so close to getting an answer as the previous investigator had advised he had everything he needed to make a decision, but now he’s left & a new ones taken over I seem to have gone back almost to square one.
Hope this all makes sense .
Thx
Sara (Debt Camel) says
could your mum produce anything (an old bank statement? A notice about closing the account?) that has the account number on it?
the unused account – you can point out there were no transfers to or from the account after 2014 – say you have asked for bank statements from NatWest but NW aren’t sure if they can be produced.
Rebecca says
Hi
I wonder if you can help in November 2015 I opened Very account, it had a credit limit of £1,000. The credit limit was then increased five times in the following two years, reaching a maximum limit of £3,600 in November 2017. I had various other accounts and I then started to go into arrears due to the high credit limits I had been given. After sustained arrears, Shop Direct then sold the outstanding debt to a third party – TTI Finance in May 2019. I have recently found out that I can appeal against irresponsible lending. I used your template to appeal to Very who rejected it immediately. I then wrote to the FO and they have initially rejected this saying
I think that looking at what both you and Shop Direct have told me, that the three year time limit would have started at the latest by May 2018.
“This means that you had three years from May 2018 to raise your complaint or six years from your last credit limit increase in November 2017, whichever gives you longer. As you didn’t raise it until December 2023, it was after both of these timescales and has therefore been brought too late”
My question is can I still appeal against the FO decision and if so how do I go about this?
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Were you asked questions about when you blamed SD for your financial problems?
Rebecca says
Not really.
I just said to them that I first became aware that I may have a case against them when I received a refund out of the blue from Debt Managers from an old Lloyds Loan. I started to look into this but then unfortunately I lost three close family members in the space of 3 weeks after losing my brother less than a year ago which resulted in my having a breakdown and having it have several weeks off work to recover. It wasn’t therefore until December 2023 that I was well enough to continue to look into this.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
when I received a refund out of the blue from Debt Managers from an old Lloyds Loan.
how long ago was this?
Rebecca says
This was in August 2023
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then I suggest you go back and and argue that you had only blamed yourself for overspending on the Very account that led to the default and the account being sold. And that this only changed in August 2023 when you received a refund out of the blue for an old Lloyds loan. That caused you to look into the possibility that lenders may have made mistakes, which resulted in you reralising that Very had increased your limit unamanabgeably high and cannot have made adequate checks that it would be affordable for you. Say you then had some health problems but made a complaint in December 2023, well within the 3 years of the time you found out you had a cause to complain.
Steve says
Hi, I entered into an IVA back in June 23, can I make an irresponsible lending claim against my credit card lenders and very, very were alway upping my limit even though I only paid the minimum payment.
I got into the Iva because my credit card payments went from £100 a month to
£300-£350 a month what seemed like over night.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How large are the total debts in your IVA? How large are the IVA payments and are they manageable at the moment?
Steve says
Hi Sarah,
thanks for the reply, according to the Iva total debt was around 40-45k with the loans and credit cards all together. I’m paying £155 a month at the moment, at the time of getting the Iva I was up to date with all my payments but was having to borrow money to cover some of the card payments.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you win an affordability complaint for a debt in an IVA, it will just reduce the balance in the the IVA. This won’t affect your IVA payments at all – unless you manage to get to the point where you will have paid all the debts (after reductions) in full plus the IVA fees.
As your debts are very large compared to your payments, I doubt there is any chance of you getting close to that. So there is no point in bothering with affordability complaints.
Jasmine says
I had an aqua credit card in 2020, They accepted me for a credit card with a limit of £250, I used a different last name with all my other correct details. I had previously applied with my own last name but was rejected, probably due to missed payments and 2 CCJs that were on my credit file at the time.
Over the next year I was given several credit limit increases up to £2000, which was unaffordable as I was off work sick at the time.
Could I put in an irresponsible lending complaint even though I used the wrong details to apply? Surely they should have done Identity checks?
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think using the wrong name look very close to fraud to me.
Jasmine says
Okay thank you, I know it was silly, I was a desperate and struggling mum in lockdown. No excuse I know, I’ll try come up with an arrangement to repay
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how large are your current debts?
Nats says
Hi, am I right in thinking we can claim back any tax withheld by companies that have paid out refunds due to lending irresponsibly?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes if you are A non taxpayer. If you are A basic rate taxpayer you can Claim back up to £200 a year from HMRC. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-payday-refund-get-back-tax/ for how to do this
curtis says
HI Sara, do you know the reason why WAve pulled out of the credit card market? are the yexpecting a lot of complaints?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No information. They may just have failed to get enough business for it to be worth carrying on with.
Kez says
Hi
You have mentioned numerous times that its best not to pay off the credit card balances via other loans etc. however I am in a very sticky situation where by I need to get a remortgage asap as we are on a variable rate now which is killing us but the 60k credit card debts are going to be a problem. Therefore I was going to borrow money to pay the cards off from family in order to get the remortgage. Then our payments will be under control and I could then put affordability complaints in. If I could prove I borrowed from family to pay the debt would this harm my affordability claims. We have been having debt problems with cards for over 15 years or so but never knew about affordability claims before. Our debts have been circling around our different cards for years, using balance and money transfers where possible and also paying huge interest amounts over years.
Kez says
I feel I have plenty of evidence, lots of old card and bank statements, self employed incomes which have never been enough to cover the amount of credit they gave us across the board. Like others I have buried my head in the sand with it tbh as i always blamed myself for getting in this position, but after reading some of the stories on here I am not alone, in reality its because of numerous reasons beyond our control. I just wish I knew about these affordability claims years ago as I may not be in the mess im in now. Our saving grace is we have lots of equity in our property which I am very grateful for as we intend on selling asap, well in the next 12 to 18 months but need to do some work to be able to get it ready to sell, so in the meanwhile we need to reduce our mortgage payments by remortgaging in order to move forward. Any advice would be appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Remortgaging now – if you have a lot of other debt that is only likely to possible with getting a new fix from your current lender – who is it? And can you wait 2 years to sell? because no many lenders offer 1 year fixes, so taking a fix now and selling within the fix may be expensive in terms of early repayment charges.
There is no reason not to start the affordability complaints now. Clearing debts with more borrowing or a gift does not affect the affordability argument.
You would need to talk to a broker about whether you would be able to remortgage after such a large loan from family – they would probably have to sign paperwork to say this was a gift not a loan.
But if you want to move soon – see your other comment – it isn’t clear that remortgaging this property is a good move at all.
Also it can be hard to win complaints about old credit cards – not impossible if you have the evidence, but you still have to get past the Ombudsman decisions on whether to go back more than 6 years. These old complaints can be slow and a bit of a lottery – not a reason not to try, but you should not bank on getting large refunds from them in your plans. You may get larger refunds, but they may be more modest than you hope.
Who is your current mortgage lender? And do you actually want to move?
Kez says
No sara we don’t want to actually move but feel we have no choice.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry at the point I asked that you hadnt said you were with TMB. What I was going to say isn’t relevant now.
I think you need to talk to a broker about your options.
RJC says
Kez, I’m a mortgage broker. You could look at refinancing to a tracker/variable based product that comes with no exit penalty. Or you could look at a second charge debt consolidation loan which also doesn’t have an exit penalty. Both methods to be explored but would allow you to leave at your leisure without penalty.
Kez says
Hi RJC
Thank you for this. Our mortgage term ends next july and its with TMB who no longer trade. We have been mortgage prisoners since 2008 with TMB. They recently offered to give me a better rate but only until end of mortgage term, which was alkmaar 2 years away at that time, plus penalties for early repayment. So we decided to take our chances as we knew we would be selling in next 2 year’s. But then the rates rose. Our gamble didn’t pay off. So can’t do a second charge. We prob will need to remortgage with a new company if we don’t sell before end of mortgage term
Kez says
Hi RJC
can I ask. My parents own a property outright. I was wondering if we do have to remortgage and can’t pass the affordability tests then could my parents use their property value and income as a guarantor for me, helping me pass the affordability tests?
Not sure if this is possible?
RJC says
Hi Kez, yes there are a small number of firms who would accept your parents property equity as a guarantor scheme. Or your parents could take out equity release to gift money to you. Clearly this is all high level speaking. Are you 100% decided on whether to sell up or stay?
Jamie says
Hi. I was wondering if you could help me.
I put a complaint in against Vanquis Credit Card. Had no response after the cut of time.
The case has now been passed on by the Financial Ombudsman.
How long does it normally take to hear some something back?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
are you saying that you have passed the case to the financial ombudsman? or the financial Ombudsman has now assigned an investigator? Or the financial ombudsman has ask Vanquis to reply to your complaint?
Jamie says
They had past the 13 weeks stage
I’ve passed the case to the ombudsman
Lisa says
Dear Sara,
I’ve complained about my Argos lending now, it’s older than 6 years but so was my Lloyds account complaint that was upheld.
The ombudsman has just sent me an email saying the following:
“To get a clear picture of your financial circumstances when the credit was increased, I’ll need confirmation of how much you were paying towards your priority bills such as rent/mortgage, utilities (gas water and electricity), council tax, food costs, fuel, etc – please provide proof of how this was paid”
I’m pretty sure I didn’t have this with the Lloyds account. I cannot answer these questions, it was too long ago. I would just be guessing.
What can I put in response? I’m always checking I’m writing the right thing.
Many thanks as always
Lisa
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How long ago was this Argos lending?
Was lloyds your bank at the time?
Lisa says
I feel like it was 2015/2016
I may have not explained it clearly. Apologies. I had a Lloyds credit card & that’s what I did an affordability claim on a few months back. It was upheld. I took the credit card out around the same time as this Argos card, but I don’t remember the ombudsman asking me for that much info.
Aside from that I do have a Lloyds current account & have been with them since 2012 I believe.
I just don’t know how to respond to the ombudsman in the best way to explain that I can’t remember all my outgoings from that time. Can I just say I can’t remember?
Hope that makes sense?
Lisa
Sara (Debt Camel) says
then you could ask lloyds for copies of your bank statements from that time? Tell the adjudicator you are trying to get this.
Lisa says
Thank you Sara, I think I do have those statements anyway, I kept them from that previous claim. Do you mean that if I send them it will answer the questions of my outgoings? As in, he’ll be able to see himself what my outgoings were through the statements?
Sorry if I sound a bit stupid.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes, sending your bank statements is often the simplest option. Or if FOS have already seen them, tell the adjudicator FOS have them on file
Do the bank statements show things like your priority bills such as rent/mortgage, utilities (gas water and electricity), council tax, food costs, fuel, etc?
Lisa says
Oh yes I might do that. They should have it on file. It will show rent, but gas/electric I have a key & card. So always paid by cash. Council tax & fuel will no doubt show up. Plus my wages went in there.
So is it ok to say ‘please see my statements for outgoings as I can’t remember exact costs. It was too long ago’
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, but add you had a key card energy meter so that was paid in cash
Louise says
Hi there
I have a few complaints that have been sent to the FOS and now just waiting to see the outcome, which I know can take months.
I’m really keen to try and start paying my debt off, but have been unsure if I can make overpayments whilst I am in the process of complaining and hopefully expecting a refund of sorts?
Wan I able to make over payments to try and clear my debt whilst the complaint is with the financial ombudsman, and would that impact the overall decision?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
has your situation improved, so you can now afford to pay more?
Louise says
No situation is the same in terms of income, but trying to take control of my finances and start using the snowball method
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you can make all the minimum payments – how much extra a month do you think you can overpay? What will be the first debt that you target?
Louise says
My husband has taken on more of the household bills and mortgage in order for me to try and start clearing my debt. I have two online shopping accounts that I would like to try and clear, but I have complaints in with both of them (one of them is with the FOS) and the other is still with the company. I would then start to work on my credit cards. I do not have a lot of disposable income but trying to make cuts where I can etc, perhaps try and overpay by £100 a month or so for now
Cheryl says
Hi Sara
I have just received an email from Lending Stream stating that due to a periodic check they are refunding a loan I had with them in 2017. I had 9 loa s in total with them between June 2016 and March 2017. The loan they are refunding is the 3rd from last I had from them. They are saying they have found they didn’t carry out the correct checks. Am I in a position to try and get all the other loans looked at too? Surely if this one loan in the middle of the 10 months wasn’t checked then how can I be sure the others were? I did email them a couple of years ago with an affordability claim which they rejected but have now had this out of the blue email from them. Any advice? Thank you Cheryl
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Were all these loans nearly continuous or were there major breaks of more than a couple of months where you had paid off one loan and not taken another one?
Tracy says
Hi Sara, I wonder if I could have your view on an outcome offer. I have now submitted multiple complaints to MBNA Bank of Scotland, Halifax and Zopa. As I understand these are all part of the Lloyds group. Certainly the complaints manager who responded about credit cards with MBNA BOS and Halifax is the same person. They didn’t uphold any of them. I sent off to FOS.
Zopa did uphold and by return took all interest off of the outstanding balance and removed the loan completely from my credit report.
Halifax didn’t uphold but when the FOS made contact they responded saying they didn’t do proportionate checks and will refund all charges and interest since account opened in 2021. However in their response they say that any adverse information on my credit report will remain until the balance is completely cleared? The investigator said that’s fair and urged me to accept now, otherwise he will investigate and he may say that it was affordable and not uphold it? To be honest it felt like a threat. I asked if a CC company admitted it was unaffordable then how can leaving a default and multiple and ongoing missed payments being recorded be fair? He also said legally it’s a regulatory requirement that adverse information remains until the balance is cleared, I’ve told him I don’t understand as Zopa for example deleted the loan completely off my credit report. I’m so confused. Been told by investigator I need to make a decision to accept or not by today Thanks Sara
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Halifax didn’t uphold but when the FOS made contact they responded saying they didn’t do proportionate checks and will refund all charges and interest since account opened in 2021. However in their response they say that any adverse information on my credit report will remain until the balance is completely cleared?
FOS often agrees that that is fair.
Some lenders remove adverse information immediately, some delete the entire debt from credit reporting – both of these are more common for loans and less common for credit cards. There is no set pattern.
Mark says
Hi all,
Long time lurker and finally decided to try affordability complaints with 5 credit cards, two of which both have two cards same lender.
Both NEwday and Capital One have today replied with Newday asking for bank statements for three months leading up to application and two months before and after each credit limit.
Capital One are simply saying three consecutive bank statements within 3 months either side of when they opened the second card under their bank, or they won’t entertain and will reject the claim.
Two questions; is there any disadvantage in my claim to share this information, and secondly – I get paid into one account, then transfer all my bills money, mortgage etc to a second account to ensure they all get paid when direct debits land – should I send both accounts?
Thanks so much for your help, time, and amazing website resources.
Is this a must, and they are allowed to do this? Surely my spending (on other items) in addition to their limit increases is what got me maxing them all out?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You don’t have to supply this information. But it is routine to be asked for it at the Ombudsman.
You will probably need a lot of statements across 5 cards, so it makes sense to ask for them all now.
Up to you if you want to supply the statements to the lenders or accept these complaints will have to go to FOS and supply them there.
Nina says
Hi
I made a complaint against JD Williams as in 2012 they allowede to open 4 different accounts with their catalogues despite my poor financial situation. They have responded today and have upheld claims for 3 credit limit increases but without the 8% interest and informed me they couldn’t conduct a full irresponsible lending investigation from application due to the time passed and no longer holding the documents. Would this be worth sending to the Ombudsman for consideration? I don’t have a credit report from the time of opening but have all bank statements.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
what refund are they offering?
Nina says
‘I can see our checks failed and It’s evident the credit provided was not in your best interest, and I’m happy to refund the interest and administration charges from the dates listed below.
Account number – Cxxxxxx– Date of Uphold 30.12.20213
Total refund for unfair interest and charges £56.99 Total 8% interest for credit balances £0.00
Total Tax on 8% interest (20%)-£0.00
Total£56.99
Account number – Nxxxxxx– Date of Uphold 25.01.2014
Total refund for unfair interest and charges £74.71 Total 8% interest for credit balances £0.00
Total Tax on 8% interest (20%)-£0.00
Total £74.71
Account number – Nxxxxxx– Date of Uphold 07.12.2013
Total refund for unfair interest and charges £34.06
Total 8% interest for credit balances
£0.00Total Tax on 8% interest (20%)-£0.00
Total£34.06
Account number – Qxxxxxx– Date of Uphold 06.03.2014
After my calculation, there is no redress due for this account. Please see below.
Total refund for unfair interest and charges £0.00
Total 8% interest for credit balances
£0.00Total Tax on 8% interest (20%)-£0.00
Total £0.00
With regards to the 8%, may I confirm that, when we reconstruct the account, if it was in credit at any point, the 8% would then be payable on the credit balances, it is not automatically applied to all redress due.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how long were those accounts open for? Unless it was a very short period, the interest & charges look very low. Unless you mainly used the accounts for BNPL 0% offers which you cleared in the time?
Nina says
They were open from 2012 until 2018. I only made minimum payments until I received an inheritance which enabled me to pay off the accounts.
They have provided no breakdown etc. Should I request this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you should ask JD Williams for a breakdown. Those refund amounts look very very low.
Nina says
Thank you. I will go back to them for clarification.
Also they have said they are sending a cheque for this amount. Should I not cash this cheque once received incase I send my case to FOS?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
let’s see what the clarification says
Nina says
I emailed them for a breakdown over a week ago and have heard nothing back. However the cheques for the above amounts have arrived in the post. Not sure what to do with them now.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you send this to the Ombudsman now. And sit on those cheques for a while
Nina says
Thank you for the advice. I will get onto this today 😊
Nat says
Hi Sara,
I have a complaint in with FOS re capital one credit card.
FOS have said they have contacted my bank to obtain details about some payments on my statements that I have provided them with- are they allowed to do this ? I haven’t given them consent to do so?
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
what sort of details do FOS want?
Nat says
They’re asking about some payments going into my account which I have tried to reconcile but am unable to find details of as so long ago.
They have statements etc but I just find it a little bit intrusive that they may be able to access my current account details without my permission? Not sure if this is normal procedure or not. Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well it’s surprising. I haven’t heard anyone else mention this. But do you care if it helps?
Nat says
Well I guess not I suppose, it just shocked me that they would possibly be able to access my bank account information without authorisation. Thanks again
Nat says
Hello I am currently in over £4000 debt with my aqua credit card they have given me several increases even tho I haven’t
Ever paid over the minimum payment. Can I still make a complaint even tho I still owe them money? I am in a payment holiday atm stop the 17th and I am unsure whhat to do next?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes you can complaint even though there is a balance.
But what is your current situation? If you can’t go back to making normal payments you need to ask them for a payment arrangement, paying less than normal and asking for interest and charges to be stopped. This is in addition to making an affordability complaint. Affordability complaints complaints can take many many months – they wont solve your problem in a couple of weeks.
Nat says
I am currently on a 0 hour contract being roped up bt universal credits and have been using the credit to literally live off so I am hoping I also add a payment arrangement. Would you suggest putting this in one email or two separate ? Thank you for getting back to me.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
two separate emails. Tell them you cannot go back to making normal repayments and offer an affordable amount and ask them to freeze interest.
do you have other debts as well?
Nat says
Yes yes I have a Zopa and natwest credit card and two personal loads as well.
I am just asking everything up from when I took out the credit card.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you talk to StepChange about a debt management plan, see https://www.stepchange.org/how-we-help/debt-management-plan.aspx. You cant go on borrowing to pay for essentials.
If you win any affordability complaints eg against cards and loans then your DMP will speed up a lot. A combination of a DMP and affordability complaints can work well
Katie says
Hi Sara,
I’ve commented before because I’ve been following this since January and I can’t thank you enough for raising awareness about this.
I put an affordability complaint in with Capital One, they have issued their final response and said they don’t uphold and as the account was opened in 2017 I am over the 6 years. I have used the above template and said I only found out in 2023 when I found this forum. (I meant 2024 but didn’t check the date).
I’ve sent this to the ombudsman last week and have already had an investigator come to me with the following questions
–
What caused you to become aware that there was a problem with the lending you were given and that you’d suffered negatively because of it?
What caused you to realise someone else may have been responsible (at least in part) for the problems you were experiencing and that this other party was Capital One?
Why did you only raise a complaint in 2023? Were there any exceptional circumstances which meant you weren’t able to complain sooner?
I was just wondering about some guidance as to how to answer these. I know I found out only through here and I’ve been on a DMP since 2019. I have been on daily medication for anxiety and depression for 9 years and this does contribute to why I put my head in the sand for so long and didn’t do any digging.
Any advice you can give would be amazing
Thank you so much!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Typical answers could be something like – but you need to make sure these are right for YOUR situation:
What caused you to become aware that there was a problem with the lending you were given and that you’d suffered negatively because of it?
I knew I was in a financial difficulty for a while before I started a DMP in 2019. But I think I saw that as a problem with my borrowing too much, rather than it being a problem with a lenders for lending too much. I thought it was my problem to try to sort out with the DMP. StepChange (or whoever your DMP firm was) never told me that I may have any case for unaffordable lending.
What caused you to realise someone else may have been responsible (at least in part) for the problems you were experiencing and that this other party was Capital One?
Say when and were you heard about these complaints – was it from posts on social media? a newspaper article? adverts from a claim company?
Why did you only raise a complaint in 2023?
because that was the first time I heard that a lender should have made affordability checks. Before then although I knew I was in a mess I did not realise the lender had doen something wrong so I had no reason to complain.
Were there any exceptional circumstances which meant you weren’t able to complain sooner?
No. (these are thing like being in hospital or prison for a prolonged period)
Katie says
Thank you so much!
I’ve got 4 complaints with the FOS currently but 3 out of the 5 have come back and said they have agreed with irresponsible lending which is amazing and I have you to thank for that.
I have had to send Next off to the FOS because they have said that even though they shouldn’t have increased the limit and refunded interest from an increase they couldn’t remove the default. Is that common? I’ve sent it to FOS because the default is important to me.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
do you still owe a balance to Next?
Katie says
Yes there’s about £200 left, although it’s with the FOS because they have also said they won’t look at when the account opened in 2017, they’ve only looked from 2018 and these were all the increases and decreases I had.
I did make sure to keep reiterating I only found out I could complain in December 2023.
February 2017 – Application limit £300
May 2017 – limit increased to £2,000
July 2017 – limit reduced to £600
September 2017 – limit increased to £3,750
February 2018 – limit reduced to £3,000
April 2018 – limit reduced to £1,500
June 2018 – limit reduced to £750
December 2018 – limit increased to £3,750
April 2020 – limit reduced to £300
They have only upheld from the December 2018 increase where I am arguing it should cover the increases in 2017. So if that is upheld by FOS and they find it was irresponsible then hopefully there would be nothing left to pay.
I have had a complaint upheld by Tesco bank and they have refunded interest and where this is a balance of £200 left they have said once this is clear they will remove the default which I’m fine with but Next are saying they won’t remove regardless :(.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is a mad set of limit increases
Melissa says
I have had a number of successfully refunds with banks over affordability complaints. I’m now ina position to be thinking about getting a mortgage. My claims were 1 year ago, is that long enough to then apply to the bank? I was going to approach nationwide as I never had a complaint with them but now they’re taking over virgin (who I have had a complaint with) will that effect it) I’ve had complaints will all the big banks so my mortgage options aren’t great.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The Nationwide/Virgin takeover won’t be sorted for ages, I wouldn’t let that stop you applying for a mortgage to Nationwide.
You have complained to Lloyds/Halifax, NatWest/RBS, Barclays, Santander and HSBC?
The biggest building society lender are Nayionwide, Yorkshire, Coventry, Skipton, Leeds.
But I always suggest people don’t apply directly to a lender but go through a broker.
Mark says
Can affordability complaints affect getting a mortgage?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
See https://debtcamel.co.uk/affordability-complaint-credit-record-faqs/
Louisa says
Hi Sara,
I sent off an affordability complaint to Shop Direct for both my Very and Littlewoods accounts which was rejected. It is now with an investigator but she has asked me to answer the following questions:
When did you become aware your catalogue accounts were causing you financial difficulties?
When did you become aware the difficulties you were experiencing may have been because of Shop Direct’s decision to offer you the catalogue accounts?
What made you aware Shop Direct may have done something wrong?
Are there any exception circumstances that prevented you from complaining about your catalogue accounts before 2023?
A brief overview of the accounts:
I opened my Very account in August 2014. Within 12 months I was given 4 credit limit increases taking my limit to £2400. I only paid minimum payments.
I opened a Littlewoods account in Feb 2016 and received 3 credit limit increases. The most recent Feb 2018. 2 months after the first increase my limit was decreased due to arrears on my Very account but then increased twice again.
In Feb 2018, my very account was over its limit and I was only making minimum payments on both accounts. In 2019 I received persistent debt emails from Very and Littlewoods. I also defaulted on my Very account in January 2019.
I only found out about affordability complaints from your instagram earlier this year which is when I submitted the complaints.
Any advice would be great!
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Typical answers are, but make sure these are exactly right for your case:
When did you become aware your catalogue accounts were causing you financial difficulties?
I knew I wasn’t managing money well a long while ago, as I was getting arrears, and later I got persistent debt emails and then I defaulted in 2019. But I thought that it was my responsibity as I had used the Very and Littlewoods accounts too much and only made minimum payments as that was all I could afford.
When did you become aware the difficulties you were experiencing may have been because of Shop Direct’s decision to offer you the catalogue accounts?
Discovering on Instagram/Facebook (or newspaper articles? or hearing from a friend? or seeing adverts from claims companies on Instagram/Facebook?) that a lender should have made sure that a limit was affordable and the balance could be repaid in a reasonable time. By the time the Litlewoods account was opened, they had increased my Very limit several times and I had never paid more then the minimum. At the time I was just happy to have another account, but it is now clear with hindsight that the Very account was already unaffordable and the Littlewoods account made everything worse.
What made you aware Shop Direct may have done something wrong?
Finding out about about affordability complaints. Until then Ii thought it was my fault for nor being good with money.
Are there any exception circumstances that prevented you from complaining about your catalogue accounts before 2023?
I don’t think so. I just didn’t know that I could and I complained as soon as I did.
Louisa says
Thank you so much for your help!
Natalie Plimmer says
Hi Sara. I put an affordability complaint in with newday for an aqua credit card which I was still paying off. Ive had no response from them but then today I received a notification to say my credit card had been paid off and my account is closed. My limit was 2400 but it’s now showing that my balance is 3170.71 and im 770.71 in credit. Just wondering if that is normal? Should they should not be sending me the extra £770.71? Thanks Natalie.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It says your balance if 3170.71 owing? That sounds like some error. You need to phone them and ask what has happened and also for a response in writing to your complaint.
Natalie Plimmer says
Yes! It’s very strange! Okay I’ll ring them tomorrow thank you.
Pamela Wilson says
Natalie they have done this to me, I received no final response letter and they have just assumed I have agreed to their findings which I haven’t. Nobody has contacted me and they have closed the account. I’m at a loss as to what to do as I want it to go to the financial ombudsman
Emma Norton says
How long did it take for you to hear back? I’m nearly at 8 weeks now
Paul says
Wondering if you can advise if I have a case:
After a messy divorce in 2019 I racked up a lot of debt and had to take out a secured loan to payback the credit cards. I’m 2022, credit card debts were high again and I managed to borrow money from a family member to pay them off. I had never defaulted, but I was paying minimum amount for years and relying on it for day to day living. Due to being in a sales based role, market conditions have led to fewer sales which has made my salary drop by about 40%. The credit cards, and limits were given when prior to the 40% salary drop.
Today, the debt has mounted again, almost using it as a loan every month to help with day to day living. Minimum payments have always been maintained and none missed.
I’m now at a point where I am struggling to make minimum payments. It’s only in the last two months that the credit card companies have reduced my credit limit.
My question is, are the credit card companies guilty of irresponsible lending, seeing that they never assessed the credit limit even though my salary dropped considerably.
Do I have a case?
Appreciate the help in this difficult time.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So during this time you never talked to them and they didn’t change your credit limit?
What did they say when they reduced your limit in the last two months?
Also who is your mortgage lender and do you have a fix ending soon?
Paul says
Yes never spoke to them, just always made minimum payments.
I had a company going through liquidation, though the company was an amex card which I am currently disputing as they are saying I’m personally liable. So that issue has affected my credit score, it’s only since then they have reduced the credit limits, and reason was due to assessing my account they have reduced.
Why have they not assessed before, credit file would have showed increased secured debt and unsecured debt. I should never been allowed to rack up these cards as they were unaffordable and now the interest payments are so high that I’m in a real worry.
Do you think I have a case?
Nationwide. I’m fixed on a good deal until August 2026.
Worth adding that I was refused credit cards and loans upon application during this period which means I would have been rejected the cards I’ve racked up had I newly applied. Not sure if that makes a difference.
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Overdrafts typically have a term which says they will be reviewed every year.
Credit cards do not.
If the high limits were OK at the time they were set then I think you are likely to struggle to win an affordability claim.
I suggest you need to stop using credit to make debt repayments and talk to StepChange https://www.stepchange.org/how-we-help/debt-management-plan.aspx about a debt management plan to freeze interest on the debts and let you make a single affordable payments. Nationwide signed the Mortgage Charter last year – they will still offer you a new fix even if your credit score is poor, provided you dont have mortgage arrears.
Thomas says
Hi,
I won a complaint recently with 118 and after interest it has left me owing around £700.
I’ve noticed the credit card has been totally removed from my credit file and not just the negative information even though there is a balance.
Should I do anything about this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This seems like a good option for you surely?
Have you made an arrangement to repay the balance?
Nina says
Hi Sara
I made an affordability complaint against new day for 4 credit cards I had at the same time. They have come back today admitting they could see my debt rising but as I hadn’t missed any payments (only making minimum) and they wrote to me about each increase they will not uphold any. Is it worth me sending this to the FOS? I don’t have any evidence they wrote to me and at the time was in alot of debt so using credit cards/pay day loans to pay off debts/everyday living.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How long ago were the accounts opened and the limit increases?
Nina says
There were 5 accounts in total (3 still open with balances)
1st opened December 14 – increases August 15,July 16, Feb 17 and June 17
2nd opened Jan 16 – increases May 16 and Oct 16
3rd opened Oct 17 – increases August 19 and Nov 23 (whilst in paydown plan)
4th opened August 19 – increases Feb 21, Nov 21, April 2022 and August 22
5th opened Feb 22 – increases June 22
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That lot looks well worth sending to the Ombudsman! “Increasing a limit when you were in a paydown plan” !!!
FOS can automatically go back 6 years. And can decide to go back further is you have only found out recently you can claim. If FOS asks you questions about this, post them here.
But even if FOS decides it can only go back 6 years, the following decisions in bold will be looked at and it will take into account all the minimum payments you had been making before 6 years too :
1st opened December 14 – increases August 15,July 16, Feb 17 and June 17
2nd opened Jan 16 – increases May 16 and Oct 16
3rd opened Oct 17 – increases August 19 and Nov 23 (whilst in paydown plan)
4th opened August 19 – increases Feb 21, Nov 21, April 2022 and August 22
5th opened Feb 22 – increases June 22
Jason says
Hi Sara,
Complaint is with the adjudicator. Card took out in Jan 2017 for £1k, increased to £2k June 2017, then to £4k in Oct 2017 then £7k in Feb 2018. I made the complaint end last year so they can look at the £7k increase. However, they asked the usual questions as to why I didn’t complain earlier for the previous increases as over 6 years. I gave the normal responses that you often provide on here. So, originally the FOS agreed that they could look into my older increases but then Barclaycard argued it and FOS has now changed their stance and said they agree with Barclaycard and the reason was because they lowered my limit from £7k to £6,700 in May 2020, the letter said that it was because they checked my credit report and that showed they were monitoring my affordability therefore I should’ve had reason to complain then???? I genuinely did not know in May 2020 that affordability complaints existed? Are we customers meant to know about these things and am I just stupid for not knowing?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
do you have a copy of the letter that you were sent in 2020?
Jason says
I’ve asked the adjudicator and Barclays for a copy of it as my online banking doesn’t allow me to download/open it.
I remember it briefly, I remember it just pretty much saying they had look at my credit record and thought I had been given too much so lowered it and they were ‘sorry’. I’ve told the adjudicator that even if any of these letter stated how to make a complaint, there certainly has never been any mention of ‘affordability complaints’ so I don’t know what kind of complaint I would’ve been able to make. It’s only after coming across this website I ever found out about them. As those types of complaints aren’t widely advertised are they.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
if they just said they looked at your credit record record and think your limit is too high, then that is not saying whether it was unaffordable for you or too risky for Barclays.
Jason says
Thanks Sara, I thought as much. I’ve responded to the adjudicator with my thoughts and I’ll see what he says.
Jason says
Hi Sara,
I queried this with the adjudicator and this was his response:
‘With the letter from May 2020, while it doesn’t specifically state irresponsible lending or raising a complaint about such, our Service’s general stance on the matter is that a letter with content such as this one ought reasonably have made a consumer aware the lender was checking the affordability of the credit limit. And, as they’ve now reduced it, would ought reasonably to have made the aware that the previous limit may not have been affordable (if it was, then why reduce it?). Then, from here, the stance is that a consumer ought reasonably to have been aware they could raise a complaint about this’
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you reply that this was a minor change by Barclaycard that was not a problem for you, so it seems unreasonable to think you would have analysed the letter they sent in such detail. Ask for this to go to an Ombudsman.
sheila says
Hi, I have a few questions. I have submit a number of affordability complaints to the ombudsman after final responses from creditors. They’ve all had case handlers assigned. I am just wondering, now they have case handlers, how long does an investigation usually take? I’ve read 90 days, but I wondered if it’s often sooner? Also, they all have different case handlers – will they be looked at together at all, or dealt with entirely separately? I wondered if multiple complaints around the same times with different lenders might help back one another up and show the enormity of the situation? Thanks so much.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They are all dealt with separately. the case handlers will be able to see your full situation from your bank statements and credit records – have you supplied these?
Pamela Wilson says
Sara I need some advice I made an irresponsible lending complaint against aqua and marbles credit card, which I believe is the same company. Its been over 8 weeks, they have removed some of what I owe from the balance and closed both accounts. I never agreed to anything and have received no final response letter. Nobody from newday is responding to me and I’m unsure what to do here as I didn’t agree to or recieve any correspondence from them?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you phone them up and ask why you have not received a written response to your complaint.
you could go to the Ombudsman now, but it will be simpler if you know what their decision is.
John C says
NewDay seem to use snail mail to send any correspondence and it typically takes around 10 days from a letter sent, to a letter arriving at your home with an explanation. I have been helping a colleague with their complaint and they have been pretty unhelpful, with the complaints team unable to tell them what was in a letter, just that one had been sent. They also had their account closed, and eventually got a refund of nearly £3k, but had to wait that slow 10 days, before the letter arrived. There was no breakdown of how the refund was calculated, but they were happy enough as it cleared most of their balance
EP says
Dear Sara
I am slightly confused about the response I have received from my investigator in relation to my credit card and loan complaints.
The response states that Natwest have refused to consider my complaint as it is outside of 6 years from when I was first issued credit cards and loans and my investigator does not feel a serious gambling addiction as a reason my complaint couldn’t be made sooner.
I initially did make my complaint within 6 years but Natwest claimed to have not received it. When resubmitting my complaint it was now over the 6 years by a couple of weeks.
I am still paying off the loans and credit cards to this very day, will the ombudsman not consider these complaints at all including the current 6 years?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How did you send the first complaint?
EP says
Unfortunately I sent the first complaint by their online complaints system. From my end it was submitted perfectly fine but Natwest claimed to have not received it. The second time I took the advice from this website and submitted it by email. Although not responding to my complaint, shortly after Natwest emailed me about concerns about my overdraft and credit card usage which they hadn’t ever done before. I mentioned this to my investigator but the response was this communication from Natwest does not constitute evidence. I also that my serious gambling addiction impaired my decision making.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I have just looked back at your previous comments.
So to double check that I have understood:
– you submitted a complaint by message within the last 6 year period
– you sent this to FOS after 8 weeks
– FOS came back and said Natwest had no record so you would have to resubmit
– that was then 2 weeks too late.
What was the date you sent the first complaint to FOS? Was this within the 6 year period?
EP says
I first submitted my complaint to the FOS early November 2023 this was still within the 6 years. The FOS made me go back to Natwest and resubmit my complaint a second time which was then out of the 6 year period by a couple of weeks. Natwest this time responded really quickly, apologising that my first complaint hadn’t been received and offering me a small goodwill payment for the delay.
I feel FOS decision making has been quite weak so far in my case, one of the main impacts of a severe gambling addiction is poor decision making and for them to respond I should have been aware from the start when reading the terms and conditions of my credit cards / loans re repayments is quite unfair.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What date did FOS come back to you and say NatWest had no record of your original complaint?
EP says
01.12.2023, when I first escalated my complaint to the FOS on 08.11.2023 I explained that I had not had response from Natwest and it had been 8 weeks.
I cannot not understand if they are suggesting I didn’t make my complaint with Natwest when I stated I did, I could have still made my complaint on the date I escalated it to the FOS and been within the 6 years.
What possible reason would I have to escalate to FOS without first sending my complaint to Natwest and giving them 8 weeks to respond as I was aware of the complaints protocol.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well exactly.
I suggest you go back to the adjudicator and point out that you you first made a complaint to FOS within the 6 year period, but Natwest decied having received your first complaint by message within the app.
You were not told this by FOS for 3 weeks, by which time it was out of the 6 year period.
It is clear from this that you were trying to raise a complaint within the 6 year period and FOS should treat this as having been made at that time.
Additionally you feel that a serious gambling problem is a mental health problem that prevents someone from being able to think clearly about their finances and their options, so even if you are outside the 6 year limit, you feel FOS should agree to accept your compplaint as you have only recently become aware of affordability complaints and before that you thought your financial problems were your own fault because of the gambling and you did not think NatWest were to blame, so you had no cause to complain.
E says
Hi Sara
Please could you kindly clarify something for me. Yesterday I submitted an affordability complaint for a credit card (paying off via step change since 2018). The 6 year default drops off in May this year. I understood that I could send a complaint 6 years from default but apparently it’s 6 years from opening the account which I’m now feeling very despondent about. Will the FOS still consider looking at it? It was opened in late 2016.
Thank you for your time…
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The Ombudsman can decide to go back further than 6 years.
Do you have any other debts in your DMP that you feel were unaffordable? Don’t delay in sending in any complaints.
E says
Yes – I do. There are 3 others but all opened over 6 years ago unfortunately.
Could I ask you for your thoughts about another matter concerning Lowell who I feel are being very difficult. I asked for CCA’s for my accounts and they wrote back and wrongly informed me I had a CCJ so did not need to send the CCA and debts were enforceable. (You advised me to check all 3 CRA’s which I did and no CCJ exists). Should I issue a complaint and, if so, is there a template I could use?
I have also been waiting over 3 months for one of the CCA’s from Lowell with no updates or response to my chasing it up. Thank you again for you time..
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so have Lowell corrected themselves and now say there wasn’t a CCJ?
E says
Yes I informed them they were wrong and they did write back first week of January and apologised for their error. No further update re CCA though. It’s been suggested that they tried to mislead me and I should complain.? I wondered if there was a letter template.. Thank you, again
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No there isn’t a template. If you want to complain, just write out what happened to you. But as they corrected it pretty quickly when challenged, you may find it hard to get much compensation.
Jacky says
Morning Sara
I currently have two affordability complaints with the Financial Ombudsman for two cards with MBNA., they agree with me that I have a justifiable complaint and have given MBNA until the end of the month to comment. I am in a DMP and both accounts are closed and have been purchased by PRA. Today I get offers from PRA to settle the accounts at a huge discount, is there any coincidence here ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How long ago was the account opened?
How long ago was it sold to PRA?
What discount is being offered?
Jacky says
one in August 2008 and the other September 2009
Discount 30%
An investigator from FOS agrees MBNA should consider my claims.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
well a 30% discount isn’t that large. It could well be just a routine settlement offer.
Do you have the money to pay this settlement?
Jacky says
Exactly not a huge discount. and they cannot provide a CCA.
I have money in a pension pot but I wont be touching that unless the F.O.S. rule in their favour, if that is the case I would probably offer 5% .
I am currently paying them £5.00 a month per card on a DMP.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If they cannot produce the CCAs for either card there is no need to pay them anything.
How large is the balance? Do you have any idea how large the refund might be?
Jacky says
I have no idea what the refund would be.
Currently owe £ 5840 and £ 5300.
I have been paying the DMP since 2019 and whilst I appreciate that I don’t have to pay them anything, I would like the debts cleared from my record.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
are these debts marked as defaulted?
Jacky says
Yes they are marked as defaulted.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
well they will drop off your record 6 years after the default date. And it won’t be sooner if you settle them.
I suggest you wait and see the outcome of the FOS complaint.
Matthew says
Hi there ,
Just need some advice please . I’ve had multiple credit cards / loans / car finance over the years and some now .
I’ve been getting refunds from the majority of the lenders which have agreed they shouldn’t have lent me in the first place . I’ve even had the car finance refund .
I never got a final response from newday as I held two cards with them . So I went to the ombudsman with it and they have agreed that newday did act fairly , which I find it strange as I’m always maxed on it and min payments every month .
I had the same adjucador that agreed with me on a previous case but this case says no . They were all around the same time and I got multiple increases on both cards you reckon I should take it further. ? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you are arguing that you should never have been given the second card?
Why did the adjudicator say this wasn’t a problem?
Matthew says
I was arguing that I feel I shouldn’t have been given the second card and increases on both cards
Sara (Debt Camel) says
good, What did the adjudicator say?
Matthew says
She said that she felt newday made the correct decision in offing me the cards and increases on them as I managed to handle them well and pay on time etc.
Which I’m confused about as I’ve always paid on time and managed the debts but they have said for other company’s at the time I should t have been given the cards etc and been given refunds
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you should go back to the adjudicator and say that newday should have considered your very high (and rising?) other debts levels and that only making the minimum payments is not a sustainable way to clear credit card debt. Ask for this to go to an Ombudsman if the adjudicator doesn’t change their mind.
Anna Morris says
I complained to Tesco Bank about a credit card, they didn’t uphold my complaint, they’ve defaulted me so I sent to FO
I explained to Tesco that I was manic bipolar when I applied for card, no rent as I lived at home and was employed and was honest about year income I should get but I’d got SSP on and off at that time, didn’t realise no full pay and I’m worried that will be counted as fraudulent?, not long after the application I actually lost my job
They raised my limit when I was on SSP in new job (depression crash) to an amount I couldn’t afford to repay in a ‘reasonable timeframe’ and said that my SSP didn’t matter as my yearly income on their CRA check was the same but I lost that job after the increase
I only made minimum payments on card and a family member had to phone up, they said account was on hold for 30 days, I didn’t know to phone back I only spoke to say I gave permission
I didnt know I had a low existing debt of £683 when I made application and had a default from 5 years ago, and 3 months before opening account I had a payday loan that my family had settled, unsecured debt was £1089 at limit increase they said that due to my housing and living that I could afford to pay but at that point I had 5 credit cards on the go.
do I have a case with the FO Tesco said no? my bipolar disorder does affect decisions. 2 other creditors removed all negative markers
Sara (Debt Camel) says
did you send tesco evidence of your bipolar?
Anna Morris says
Yes I sent a DMHEF, a psychiatrist report where he detailed lots of things, a letter from GP confirming it and how it’s affected me and spending and needing to put an LPA in place and also a list of my medications and a new prescription for PRN sleeping tablets and benzos for the anxiety/depression rn x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
and do you have a balance at the moment?
Anna Morris says
I have about £540 I think to pay to Tesco, they’ve said set up a payment plan but I’m not working and can’t even afford my priority bills rn, I’m due to speak to the customer care team about a medical write off but they said they’ll ask for bank statements and benefits awards but I’m on the waiting list for pip and it’s about 13 weeks from application – I don’t see either why they should be privy to that when I have a huge amount of evidence? No one else has asked for it, I wanted to go to FO as I still believe it was irresponsible with the debt levels and especially increasing my limit without me applying, like it genuinely did put me in financial hardship and I was already over the limit on the card
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So I know this is a big hassle, but I think its worth doing everything possible at the moment o improve your situation, not making a decision about which will be best and which has the best chance.
So yes, I would send this affordability complaint to the Ombudsman.
But I would also send Tesco a request for a write off – as a separate matter from the affordability complaint. Attach you most recent 3 months bank statements. Say you cannot afford priority debts at the moment and say if you are in arrears on any bills. Say they have already been sent a DMHEF. Say you have applied for PIP and offer to send them a copy of your application.
Anna Morris says
Hi again,
I’ve forwarded to FO now and waiting for a response. Still need one from Barclays as they said they’d write it off as a gesture of goodwill but haven’t seen a letter confirming this and it’s been over a month but I’ve not sent an irresponsible lending complaint too as I realised I could!
I can attach all my medical evidence, my only worry re bank statements is that I have 2 banks at the moment as my card details keep getting compromised and I send my partner money for priority bills (what I can afford of it anyway) because I’m very paranoid about funds being taken (6 cards since December!) and I also worry about managing money. I take cash out to buy any food etc, and I’m worried they’ll think I’m spending on non essentials – is this something they’ll flag up? I’m happy to send but I’m also worried it’ll compromise my accounts even more :(
Have taken a photo of my pip application however! Thanks again x
Mr Jones says
Hi Sara,
Thanks to all your help the Ombudsman upheld my complaint and refunded a total of £4,190.76.
This then cleared my balance with MBNA and left £2,283.58 plus 8% interest.
The gross interest was £1,081.64
Tax £216.33
Net Interest paid £865.31
I elsewhere on the site that if this is the equivalent of interest on savings, so it should come into the “£1000 a year of savings interest is tax-free” with my gross interest being just over that would I be able to use the R40 form to reclaim some of the £200 back?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Nice result.
Yes that’s right. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-payday-refund-get-back-tax/
Mr Jones says
Awesome thank you.
That’s not the only result I’ve had Barclaycard upheld my complaint and removed £1,400. I wasn’t satisfied with the outcome so took it to the Ombudsman who upheld and had a further refund of £4,356.87. Leaving me with a balance of £3,717.
I have outstanding claims with Tesco and Aqua so will come back and update when I have those answers. Your website has literally changed my life though so thank you
Alex says
Hi Sara
Firstly, I wish I’d found this site earlier than today, the detail and advice is so good.
I’ve recently reached the end of my DRO (couple of weeks ago) and am excited to now be debt free and starting afresh. I’ve been looking through the details about what to do at the end of a DRO, and then stumbled across ‘affordability complaints’ and this useful page. I’d have never thought that I could even complain about this sort of thing, and wish I’d looked into this a lot earlier.
As my DRO period has now ended successfully, are affordability complaints something I could pursue? Particularly for the accounts that increased my credit limit when it was clear I was in trouble, and the ones who allowed me to take on more debt whilst I was in that situation.
Thanks so much
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The good news is that after a DRO has completed, youi can make affordability complaints with no danger of the DRO being impacted.
The less good news is that if you complain about a debt that was listed in the DRO, if your complaint is upheld the creditor is entitled to offset the refund that should be due against the debt that was written off in the DRO. So unles the refund is larger than the balance owed, you won’t actualy get anything.
Darren says
How long are the FOS taking to look at cases for everyone? I had an email on 01/03/23 saying a case handler would be in touch and 13 months later I still haven’t heard a peep!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
who is the lender? That is a very long time to be waiting.
Paul says
Hi,
Back in 2008, I was earning just £14,000 and NatWest gave me a loan for £6,500. I paid £250 per month over 3 years. This loan was given to consolidate an overdraft, credit card and existing loan I already had with them.
My outgoings would have been rent, travel, phone bill and study fees.
Does this sound unaffordable to you? It was the start of spiralling debt, and I think it was irresponsible, but am not sure of the best way to complain. I have a copy of the loan agreement and proof of income at the time
Sara (Debt Camel) says
is Natwest still your bank? Do you have your bank statements?
What happened later – it can be easier to go after the lenders later in the debt spiral; if you have more evidenece about them.
Paul says
Thanks. Yes, still my bank. I then mounted up more debt with other credit cards – in fact, I took out a credit card with another lender the following year because I was so desperate for extra cash and maxed this straight out too, followed by another one the year after with another lender, which I also maxed out pretty much immediately. All of this extra debt was taken out during the term of the loan (36 months). I have proof of these cards and their old statements, start dates etc.
My history with the bank is just as bad – constantly living in / exceeding my overdraft with them for years on end after this point.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
when was your overdraft problem resolved?
sean says
Hello,
I had a credit card unaffordability complaint upheld in january 2024. I had a ccj of that debt which was sold to lowell and for the resolution they said they with apply to remove the ccj with the court and then wipe the outstanding balance. It has been 2 months and there has been no movement. Credit card is saying they are waiting for lowell and lowell are saying they are waiting for credit card. The complaint was made in november 2023 and upheld in january 2024, I’ve been waiting 2 months for this to be sorted i’m starting to think nothing will come of this. Do you have any advice on how to move forward?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Lowell have to apply to the court to get the CCJ set aside. Send Lowell a complaint and ask exactly what information they are waiting for from the lender.
Fraser says
Hi Sara,
I took out a Barclaycard in 2014. At the time I was making around £20,000 and didn’t have rent or mortgage commitments because I was living at home. The limit was £7600 which I was surprised by. It was my first credit card. November 2015 the limit increased £9100. November 2017 it was £11,600 and peaked at £14,600 in November 2018.
By 2020 I was making minimum payments and had taken out other cards to service the debt. They then reduced the limit to £12,250 where it’s been since then.
For the past 10 years, my finances have continually got worse. My credit score has decreased from excellent to fair but I’ve never missed a payment
I can’t afford to move into a place of my own because of the interest and minimum payments I have every month.
Do you think this is grounds for making a complaint of irresponsible selling/limit increases? I’ve paid more than the current £11,800 balance many times over in interest over the years. All Barclaycard have done is send me a couple of persistent debt notices.
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How large are your other debts?
Fraser says
Currently, £18,000. So £30,000 including Barclaycard.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you can make an affordability complaint. And probably against some of the other cards that gave you an account when you were already deep in debt with Barclays.
But I think you also now need to look now at a debt management plan for all the debts. You can’t rely on winning many of these complaints, and if you do it may be slow. A DMP gets you into a safe financial space where interest is stopped and you just make one affordable monthly pay,ent that actually reduces the debts. I suggest you talk To StepChange https://www.stepchange.org/how-we-help/debt-management-plan.aspx
Fraser says
Thank you!
HS says
Just wanted to say thank you for the template letter, Sara, and to share another success story with New Day. I haven’t had the letter yet but looking at the credit to my account it seems they agreed with me that they shouldn’t have offered an increased credit limit after I had only been making minimum payments on the initial balance transfer. I thought they might say tough, you opted in, but it looks like they have refunded all interest and charges to take my account back down to my original balance amount, which is now almost cleared as a result! So thank you :)
HS says
Just coming back to this, I’ve had the letter from New Day (quite defensively written but outcome is as above).
However they’ve confirmed the income I gave them on the application was £3600 pa (doing WFH online stuff around childcare) and now that I’ve looked I actually had total balances on existing cards exceeding that earning already when Fluid gave me the £2.5k card. Is it worth me going back, or to FOS, to say no actually, you should not have offered me a card at all? They state that I met their affordability criteria at the time. I think I might have asked for balance transfer at the time of application so perhaps they could argue that it was only to facilitate moving an existing balance? I don’t want to lose the remedy that they’ve already applied, can they withdraw that if I do push on to FOS about the whole card, not just the limit increase issue which they’ve agreed with me about?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well it’s up to you . If you are happy with the result, accept it. It doesn’t sound as though it was a “goodwill” offer so it shouldn’t be at risk if you go to the Ombudsman. Whether the Ombudsman will agree with you that The card shouldn’t have been given in the first place, I can’t guess
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What was the original limit? What was it later increased to?
Did you have any other New Day cards?
How much are they refunding you?
HS says
They initially gave me a limit of £2500. In their complaint response letter they state I met their lending criteria, income given as £3600 and unsecured debt at £16000 at that point! I don’t think it actually was that high as I’d just paid off a load using redundancy money but those seem to be the figures they used to give me the card in the first place.
The have agreed to refund all interest and charges after they raised my limit to £4000, which amounted to about £1600. The reason they agreed seems to be that they should never have offered me an increase when I’d only been making minimum payments on the original balance that I’d transferred to them, so it wasn’t affordable lending to offer me more credit at that point.
But the more I think about the more it seems they should never have given me a card at all. But equally I have had a decent outcome so far so don’t want to push my luck! There is a balance of £1100 left on the card but now I’m back in full time work that is feasible to clear soon enough.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Two questions:
– Has anyone had a recent letter (spring 2024) from Barclaycard about a refund that has arrived out of the blue, not in response to a complaint?
– Has anyone with a case at FOS about “jurisdiction ” – complaining about limit increases or accounts opened over 6 years ago, had an odd message from an investigator/adjudicator about this?
EP says
With my case I challenged the initial response about jurisdiction and said I wanted it to go to the ombudsman for reconsideration. A couple of hours later I got a response saying they now agreed that my complaint should be considered outside of 6 years. I found that a bit odd.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
oh! How long ago was that?
EP says
March 21st , so a week and a half ago.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
thanks
Emma says
Desperate for advice! In June 2023 Vanquis bank defaulted my account (I was in communication trying to resolve this with them but over the course of a weekend in July 2023 they sold my account to Cabot). I called them to question this but they said they didn’t have to inform me prior to selling and there was nothing they could do. They recorded this as a “formal” complaint. Cabot have had my account on hold and been really helpful, default amount is £1098.88. Now 2 defaults on my file, Vanquis and Cabot.
I found your website and in Feb 2024 I emailed with a formal affordability complaint detailing irresponsible lending (history of missed payments, default, etc.). Vanquis emailed back 3/3/23 and refused to uphold my complaint as they had already discussed this with me in July 2023. I emailed back and said my complaint has nothing to do with that, my complaint is a formal affordability complaint.
Received another email today saying that my affordability complaint doesn’t change the outcome of the findings 3/3/23 and “my complaint isn’t one they can uphold”.
I’m so anxious and frustrated. Vanquis are awful they are not listening to anything I am saying. Please advise on what to do next? If I could get this default removed it would help me massively. Stuck in a really awful living situation but need defaults removed to be able to leave and get a place of my own. The default needs to be removed with Vanquis in order for Cabot to remove the default.
Thank you in advance.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So in 2023 you did not mention that they had set the credit limit too high? You were just discussing whether the default and/or sale was fair?
(As an aside, you may have 2 defaults on your credit record, but only one of them is counted for credit scoring.)
Emma says
Hi Sara,
Yes, that is correct. I just contacted them over the phone upset about the default and sale of the account as I was in the process of trying to resolve it. I never registered a “formal complaint”, so I’m not sure why a final response was given. It was over the phone and did not mention the credit limit, affordability etc.
In our email correspondence I have mentioned this numerous times but they are just completely disregarding it. Saying that my complaint isn’t upheld. And they said I only had 6 months to go to the FOS from July 2023 when I contacted them over the phone regarding the sale of the debt. But this isn’t even what I am trying to complain about now. I very clearly subject line and state in the emails “formal affordability complaint” but they are a nightmare.
Really struggling and lost. No idea what to do from here they just don’t seem to care. Cabot have my account on hold for another 30 days. They are being really helpful.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send the complaint to the Ombudsman. Send the the rejection this time and also Vanquis’s decision last year, pointing out that that complaint has nothing to do with your new one.
Emma says
Thank you, Sara. I’ll do that today. Fingers crossed I can get somewhere.
Your website and advice helped me massively with a TSB overdraft affordability complaint, I ended up getting my £2,500 overdraft that I’ve been struggling with since 2018 cleared and removed with £585 credit. I’m so grateful.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
heavily using your overdraft each month is a reason why Vanquis shouldn’t have increased your credit limit
Emma says
I know! I explained this numerous times in the email to Vanquis. Followed your outline and everything for the Vanquis complaint. They are completely uninterested and just keep brushing me off saying they aren’t upholding and won’t investigate any further. I hope that I can get somewhere with the Ombudsman, as given lots of rather serious extenuating circumstances Vanquis did not handle my account (including the sale) or complaints correctly. I’ll keep my fingers crossed. Thank you again.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This new complaint is about affordability. Which is a test when the account was opened and when Vanquis increased your credit limit.
You need to focus on that. Not the problems last year. If the ombudsman feels the problems last your are the main reeason for the complaint, you may have it rejected as the 6 months to take that to the ombudsman has passed.
Emma says
Thank you, Sara. I submitted my complaint to the FOS today. I heavily emphasised the affordability and that the account should’ve never been opened in the first place due to adverse credit history (payday loans, missed payments, constantly living in overdraft) and that if sufficient affordability and credit history checks were completed, Vanquis would’ve seen this.
I will keep my fingers crossed for a positive resolution. Grateful that Cabot are keeping the account on hold.
Emma says
Hi Sara, I wanted to provide another update. Vanquis have provided another update “final response” and not upheld the affordability complaint for a credit account opened in September 2022 – despite a default in July 2021, 23 total missed payments in 2021, 12 missed payments in 2022 and 3 missed payments in 2023. I have referred this to the FOS and currently waiting for this to be assigned to a case handler. The case is still on hold with Cabot (who the debt was sold to last September 2023) and I have forwarded them the email from FOS in the hope that they will keep this on hold. Feeling very upset and anxious about the whole situation.
Anna Morris says
Hi Sarah, couldn’t find my original comment so posting one here; hope this is ok and sorry if not
Just had a response off FO saying that Tesco have lent responsibly and have done proportionate checks, for some reason they have my income reported as £2400 odd a month and I had been managing debt well (I had 5 credit cards all maxed out and only making minimum repayments at the time), I’ve never earned that much or claimed to, I was on SSP when they raised the limit and had a ‘low existing debt of £1089’ but again – SSP and paying off debts, and also I’ve been £900 deep into a £1000 overdraft since I’ve had it, they have said my disposable income was £449 a month but I was on SSP which is less than that I believe; I don’t see how credit checks were proportionate when I had about 5 cards, a £1000 overdraft and wasn’t earning as much as I should. They said my payday loan that had been paid off shouldn’t be considered and neither should the default as it was for £2 (I didn’t know about this) – I’ve asked for an Ombudsman to look at it but so confused and upset now, is there any advice? Thanks x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so this was for a credit card I assume. what limit were you given at the start?
did Tesco ever increase it?
who was your overdraft with? are you in it all or almost all days of the month? how long has this been going on for?
Anna Morris says
Hi there sorry,
Yes a credit card of £250 initially and then £600 when they raised my limit in March 2023, my overdraft is with Barclays and I’ve been in it every day of the month except for a few instances where I’ve had £1400 pay and then with outgoings it very quickly falls back to -500 and further
I’ve had it in this way since about 2017 I think, never been able to get out of it but very lucky that I don’t get charged fees
Sara (Debt Camel) says
is this a student overdraft?
Anna Morris says
Hi again, yes it is
Sara (Debt Camel) says
well 3£250 is a very low limit. But if you had only been making minimum payments to that and other cards were maxed out and an overdraft showing, that suggests they should not have increased the limit to £600.
Anna Morris says
I said to the investigator that I accept £250 application being approved even if I don’t agree, but the limit increase is totally irresponsibly, I wasn’t earning £2400 like Tesco have reported and was moving out so didn’t have as much disposable income as they said, I never applied for the limit increase they just gave it, I also had many emails saying that I had gone over my limit and was being charged fees for that, so I’m really confused as to how they’ve decided it was responsible, is there any further I can do you think? I’ve sent all this to be forwarded to an Ombudsman but have no clue what to expect or if there’s anything more I can do
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you should emphasise the fact that you had only been making minimum payments to that and to your other cards as well, , so you were not clearing your existing debts in a sustainable way.
Anna Morris says
Hi Sara,
Sorry to bother again. Have just got off the phone with Tesco finance assist team about a medical write off due to having bipolar disorder and being unable to work etc and this card being taken out during mania, they have said they need DMHEF and doctors reports confirming and I have all those, my doctor didn’t write down how it affects my money managing as she said it’s very obvious, every other creditor has seen the diagnosis and accepted it and understood, however teaco said they want a detailed letter off the doctor saying how it affects me and money and day to day (I have to pay £30 for this) and also a letter with the prognosis… I explained this isn’t something that goes away and they insisted they need a prognosis. My doctor doesn’t even know what they’re talking about as he said it’s self explanatory, and is unsure what they actually need! Is this normal request? I’ve not had this issue with any other creditor at all!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The DMHEF – is the second page filled in?
Anna Morris says
Sorry Sara, won’t let me reply to the last reply you gave!
It’s not filled in, the doctor said that the diagnosis would be enough and she’s not had to fill that bit out before, she was also worried as I’m very private that having delicate info personal to me that I won’t list because of triggers for others would be upsetting which it is, but apparently they don’t want a generalised account of how this affects most people and must be specific to me? No other creditor so far has asked for anything more than the confirmed diagnosis so am confused, I do have another letter that I laid for saying that I took these cards out during mania and please take that into consideration with a list of my medications. But this isn’t enough the advisor said
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well this is the problem. Can you ask her to complete that – she should not charge for completing a DMHEF. The diagnosis on it’s own often isnt enough.
Anna Morris says
Still having issues replying sorry
I’ll ask her again, will it have to be tailored to me? I’m a relatively new patient with this doctor but the diagnosis is on all my records, is just personally rather not have in depth things on there because I’d rather people who aren’t medical professionals not know
They also want a prognosis, she still isn’t sure what they mean. I’ve looked it up and as expected says not curable and lifetime illness, if anything apparently were expected to live far below the national average which was a fun read lol, her response before was well it’s not something I can measure like a physical illness and I don’t want to say you’ll be 67 because that’s not exactly helpful or always accurate
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes the DMHEF has to say the effect of the condition on you . This could be standard stuff that applies to everyone with that diagnosis, but for some conditions it may be very variable
Th3 prognosis for you could simply say there is no cure at the moment so it is expected to be a lifelong condition
Anna Morris says
Managed to speak to doctor who’s thinking about what she thinks would be appropriate to write on there, she did say it’s a pretty universal thing for bipolar .
I did get a reply off the FO investigator who didn’t uphold my complaint, Tesco had received info from credit reference agencies apparently that I was on £2400 odd a month (but really on SSP in a hourly wage role that I didn’t fulfil full time hours with but even then would be £1400 max!), and that it would be unreasonable to say Tesco are at fault for this.
Now I’m absolutely stumped as to what to do, if this is the case then surely it’s neither of our fault and should be rectified somehow?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
From Tesco’s point of view, they don’t employ doctors and their customer services people don’t know what is “normal” for bi-polar. Your doctor isn’t being asked to do anything difficult – she knows its it obvious that you will have problems managing money, and be prone to impulsive spending and using credit without being able to assess whether you will be be able to repay it. She just has to point these out. If you have had any gambling issues, she should point out that bi-polar means you can’t properly assess risk.
If tesco had looked at your credit record, what would they have seen – a lot of recent borrowing? Other cards where you were only making the minimum?
Anna Morris says
Sorry issue replying to last comment again,
Okay thank you, I understand now, I will ring again Monday and explain more in-depth as she’s relatively new and hasn’t done many of these.
They would have seen since their card was applied for and given to me I had applied for 3 more credit cards and they were all at their limit with only minimum payments on them all, and going over the limit a few times with an interest charge added. Also my student overdraft being in a negative balance up to nearly the limit. I’ve pointed this out to investigator FO and she said she can see why I’d be disappointed but with the wage reported to them by the CRA (the £2300 or so) they would have seen it as affordable and it’s ‘unreasonable to place blame on Tesco for this’
, I really don’t know where this wage has come from? It’s about 27,000 a year before tax and 34000 a year after tax. I’ve never had that and deffo never said anywhere that I do!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Go back and say that if you were earning that much, why would your debts be rising so fast? that should have been a warning flag for Tesco look deeper and try to verify your income and or expenses. Ask for this to go to an Ombudsman if the investigator doesnt change her mind.
Anna Morris says
Ok thank you, have just emailed this is and also asked for evidence of how much I was earning if it was that much, I’ve said I have statements from everyone showing I was making minimum repayments and even alerts on email thay I had gone over my limit and was going to be charged extra, and have said it clearly wasn’t sustainable. Thank you for the advice