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?
C says
Well finally received my refund from HSBC today, £3500 for overdraft fees, £4810 for credit card interest and charges and £500 compensation and all defaults removed. I cant thank you and this site enough xx
Sara (Debt Camel) says
well done!
Dave says
Received an offer from Shop Direct today, refunding all interest and charges, but strongly disagreeing that they did anything wrong.
Cheque to follow within 14 days – interestingly no option to appeal etc, or even refuse the cheque.
Still… I’m happy!
Steph says
Hi Dave,
What sort of timescales was this?
Did you settle direct or via FOS?
I have a shop direct (littlewoods) complaint in at the moment and they’re being more difficult than they were with my shop direct (Very) complaint – where the refunded everything.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have they told you how much they will be refunding? If they haven’t you should not agree until you have seen the figure and are happy with it. It is VERY poor that they have not explained that you have the option to refuse this and take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman.
Dave says
Sent my complaint around 3 months ago, never received any acknowledgement until 8 weeks when I got a letter asking for more time.
Today received a letter saying their investigation was ongoing, but they STRONGLY DISAGREE that they loaned to me irresponsibly (£6900 limit in the end!) but as a goodwill gesture they will refund all interest and charges.
They DID disclose the amount the cheque would be fore.
They did also state it was their final response, but I didn’t have to complete an acceptance or anything.
I’d previously used one of my payday loan refunds to pay the account off, when this cheque arrives I’ll be debt free – £15k I’ve had back for the sake of a few emails.
Thank you, Sara… genuinely, thank you!
Heather says
I got a reply letter to my Aqua credit card irresponsible lending complaint. They increased my limit in September 2015 but as I did not contact them to say I didn’t want the credit limit increase, will that affect my complaint to the FOS? “Our affordability check is based on the figure you entered in the income section of the application form” I think if they had properly checked my credit file when offering the increase, they would have seen the other high limits on credit cards and other payday loans I had at the time.
What advice about what I should write back to them?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“as I did not contact them to say I didn’t want the credit limit increase ” that is the same for everyone making these complaints. As you can see from the comments, some people are winning the complaints despite this.
Were you only paying the minimum when they increased your limit? Were you already using a lot of your previous limit? did they increase it by a lot? These are some of the points you can make in addition to pointing out they should have checked your credit record. If you often paid a lot more than the minimum, you were only using 50% of your credit limit and they only put your limit up from £700 to £850 then that is a very weak case. If you only ever paid the minimum, your card was always close to the max and they upped the limit from £700 to £1500 that is a very strong case because that pattern should have made them look at your credit record.
Heather says
Yes I was making minimum payments (or just above the min payment) certainly not paying the balance off each month. The limit of £500 was quickly reached after I got the card, and the limit was increased to £1000. The limit was increased in Nov 2015 & the balance on the card in Oct 2015 was £499 according to the credit file information, in fact the balance exceeded £500 in 14 of the previous 17 months before the credit limit was increased. Should I write back to them with that information to see what they reply or just take the case to FOS?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes – going over your credit limit is a sign that your finances may have been in trouble, as was only making minimum payments. In this sort of situation they should have looked at your credit record for more information about your situation – if they had done that they would probably have decided that you couldn’t afford a higher credit limit.
Heather says
Should I write back to them with that information or go to the FOS as their letter states ” We believe we’ve now resolved your concerns”
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s up to you (I am assuming their letter said you could go to the FOS). If you want to reply to them add on the end that you will be sending your case to the FOS if you don’t get a satisfactory reply within a week, so there is a time limit on it.
We haven’t seen enough of these cases to know if they are likely to think about what you write or just brush it off.
Jon says
Hi, I have raised a complaint a few weeks ago with Aqua Card. I paid minimum payments and was on my credit limit and even entered a debt management program. A few months after they increased my credit limit. My debt problems got worse, I made several arrangements with them plus made lots of cash withdrawals and guess what, they increased the credit limit again. I can’t wait for a response!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Increasing your credit limit after they knew you have problems – that sounds like a good complaint. Let us know how it goes!
Pat says
Since January 2011 businesses haven’t been allowed to offer credit limit increases where the account is subject to a repayment plan, is in arrears or where the business has been told by a debt advice agency that a client is in serious discussions with them.
UK Cards Association 2011 has guidelines on this. If the Business reject the complaint, take it to FOS and quote these guidelines.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Thanks – it’s possible though that the increase was offered after the repayment plan ended … not strictly against those guidelines but the previous problems should have promp[ted the lender to investigate further if they did want to offer an increase.
Vicky says
Hi sara, I have two current account with halifax both have been in the overdraft since 2012 I’ve used both planned overdraft & unplanned overdraft .I have also been using payday loans, catalogues having to pay them back and the overdraft fees aswell I’ve got into debt borrowing and borrowing from pay day loans well anyway I made a complaint to the ombudsman saying I think the overdraft fees are unfair as the bank should see I’ve gotten into financial hardship & the adjucitor said he can’t see no wrong doing from the bank should I say I want the ombudsman to take a look or will it be pointless
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You probably won’t get far with a complaint about the level of the overdraft fees. But if your bank has increased your overdraft limit, that would be a better complaint.
lynne lowes says
Hi Sara. Can you tell me if a credit card company, or their debt recovery business, are obliged to send regular statements? From 2013 they agreed to my paying a set amount monthly. I received a statement on 21st February 2014 for the period 20/3/2013 to 21/02/2014 but then nothing until August 2017 when out of the blue a pile of statements arrived. Have they broken any T&C’s?
Thank you for your help
Lynne
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No they aren’t. There are obligations for fixed sum loans, but not for “running accounts” such as credit cards. Is interest still being added to this account?
lynne says
Hi Sara. No I am not being charged interest but I have asked for my credit agreement as I want to stop paying the agreed amounts.
Thank you very much for your help. This is a wonderful site.
Lynne
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Has the debt been sold or is it still owned by the original creditor? When was the account opened?
lynne says
Hi Sara. My debt with Lloyds TSB went to Wescot and then Cabot but they only deal with data so I have written to Wescot.
My debt with Santander remains with them.
Do you mean the date that the credit card account opened? That was about 10 years ago or more. I made the arrangement to pay off at £30 per month with both companies in Oct/Nov 2012.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, well for agreements that old there is a chance the CCA agreement can’t be found. Do you have a plan B for what you will do if they are found?
lynne says
Hi Sara. No I don’t have a plan B. I thought that if the CCA was found I wouldn’t be able to claim. Is there something else I could do? Also if they do find the CCA do I just stop paying or should I tell them of my intention?
Thank you
Kind regards
Lynne
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“I thought that if the CCA was found I wouldn’t be able to claim.” I’m not clear what you mean by “claim”. Can I try to clarify things…
If the creditor can’t find the CCA agreement, the debt is unenforceable in court and you can simply stop paying. There is a small chance the agreement will later be found cut that’s unlikely and if it happens you just start paying again.
If the creditor can find the CCA agreement you need to carry on paying the debt or you are likely to be taken to court for a CCJ.
These comments are on an article about asking for a refund for unaffordable lending – a CCA agreement is irrelevant to affordability complaints.
lynne says
Thank you for the clarification Sara.
Kind regards
Lynne
Natalie Hoffman says
Just want to say thank you for all your advice. I have started to sort my debts out beginning with going on Noddle. Then I contacted payday lenders (wageday advance, quick Quid, cash genie) and have had a refund of £1089 from WDA, QQ are playing hardball and refuse wrong doing so going to FO about them, CG have offered full refund and all interest I have incurred since going to debt collector (awaiting total figure) and I also contacted Halifax who have refunded me £300 in bank charges. I’m now about to try Littlewoods for a refund with your helpful advice, I’m on a roll so far and it feels great. Thank you!
Lisa says
Hi Sara
Do you think this applies if you were on 4 plans for 4 years, and repeatedly asked to come off them once there was some kind of balance to use for gambling. About 90% of the transactions on the card were gambling related. The card was also paid off twice at a reduced final amount and was continued to be maxed again (2,500 limit) to gambling.
In 2012 the company were aware of some health and financial difficulties, but continued to allow this until the personal finally decided themselves to close the card down.
Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds well worth a complaint.
Lisa says
That’s what I thought – Thanks Sara
medical files and all sorts were sent to vanquis but they still refused the complaint saying the lending was responsible :-/
They are today sending a summary timeline showing each time a plan was inforce, the type of plan and date, along with the date they resinstated the card. It has also been requested that it shows the twice the card was cleared in full and then quickly reused back to its maximum!
Watch this space… :)
Any ideas please on if the timeframes are similar to the PDL complaints?
Dave says
Well, today my cheque from Shop Direct arrived for £4k.
Straight in the bank, when cleared I’ll be debt free. It’s a nice feeling.
Lisa says
Amazing :)
Dan says
Great news!
Fiona says
This is amazing news! my complaint has been ongoing for a while, they even gave ne £50 compensation because it was taking so long! I will be chasing this up today.
Nigel says
So I am now looking at complaining to Lloyds Bank. I had an overdraft £1500 and Credit Card £5000. Both were unaffordable at the time. Think is when I asked for help they forced me to take out a refunding loan that I have paid since April 2011 at a rate of £93 a month until I paid it off in January with a Payday loan refund. My real complaint is linked to the original overdraft and credit card, but is about the refunding loan . I am looking for a refund on the interest on that. What do you think about this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can you show the £93 a month was unaffordable? And that Lloyds should have known this from your bank statements?
Nigel says
Yes I think I definitely can. Buy doing this it forced me to take other payday loans
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then that is the basis of your complaint. They knew exactly what your finances were, they should have seen you could not afford their expensive refinancing and offered you should have offered you an interest feeze and a repayment plan.
Matt S says
Well this morning it feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. At 2nd time of asking my adjudicator has upheld my irresponsible lending complaint regarding my overdraft with Nationwide. Originally approved for £1200 overdraft on 25th April 2014 and by end of May 2014 had increased this 5 times up to £4000 with pretty much all of it going on gambling. Adjudicator has stated that on the 2nd increase on 19th May they should have looked into it and not allowed me to increase it any further, as was obvious that it was being spent on gambling. There’s also a dispute over information on credit report, they claim there was no adverse information on my Experian report while I’ve provided a copy of my report which shows notices of being in DMP at that time. He has said Nationwide have been very vague with their responses when questioned on this.
The outcome is he suggests a refund of all interest and charges since 19th May 2014 plus 8% (and considering I’ve been paying monthly between £50 and £140 a month in interest and charges over this period it will add up to a fair amount). He has said Nationwide will likely escalate this to a senior team for consideration so its unlikely i’ll have a confirmed outcome by his deadline of 10th November, but hopefully they do accept his findings. I will just be happy to finally have the overdraft cleared and be living in a positive balance for the first time in 3 and a half years.
Tom c says
Hi how long did this complaint take from start to finish?
Matt S says
Complained originally to Nationwide in March, they rejected the complaint in April so went to Ombudsman. Adjudicator issued original findings in July rejecting my complaint but I queried a couple of his points and he looked more into it. Revised decision came through today. So 7 months in total so far, not sure how much longer it’ll take for Nationwide to agree / disagree.
Lisa says
That’s the complaint about Vanquis off to the FOS.I’ve sent a copy to Vanquis and am hoping that they see sense.
Initially all I wanted was for Vanquis to remove the negative reporting from my credit file. As they have rejected my complaint, I have asked for all interest and charges back to Nov 2011 which is when they first initiated a payment plan. I don’t know the total of this figure as yet, but have written to Vanquis and asked them to confirm.
I have no idea where this will go, but given I close the card down 11 months ago, its gotta be worth a try as Im sure they have had hundreds if not thousands due to poor practices.
I’ll keep you all informed.
Does anyone on this thread have any idea of FOS timelines for credit card or catalogue investigations? Keen to understand if its as lengthy as Pay Day loans or if they are operating to a lesser time as the volume of complaints is lower.
Thanks in advance!
Lisa says
I had an email this morning confirming that the FOS has received the case, so that’s quicker than the PDL wait (1 working day from submission)
I have also had my statement from Vanquis today, and in excess of £3500 in interest and charges so will see where it goes.
Everything has been sent over and they advise they will likely provide a view in 4 weeks.
Maria says
Hi Sara
I was wondering if it would be worth putting in a complaint to try and reduce some of the huge interest I’m paying. A few years ago my son was working as an apprentice at a car garage. As soon as he turned 18 he was approached by a Snap-On sales rep at work who offered him tools and other items on a pay weekly basis. This rapidly escalated until my son set up a monthly payment which was fine for a while. The guy used to bring things in and offer them to my naive son who accepted the ‘special offer’ items. When my sons apprenticeship came to an end he needed to find permanent employment elsewhere. During his time at the garage he managed to get nearly £5000 worth of goods (only ever on an apprenticeships wage). When he left the company, the sales rep turned up at our house and I agreed to set up a standing order in my name. I was given a figure to pay it off in one lump sum of around £2400 or pay monthly and the figure (because of interest) was around £4500. I’ve been paying it monthly since then (over a year now) and my son contributes with his part time wage.
I feel this was irresponsible lending as my son had no credit record at the time, regularly missed payments and the balance was increased regularly without considering his employment status (as an apprentice) and his extremely low income.
Do you think I have a case for this?
Thank you for any guidance.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think it is worth your son complaining about that.
Mandy says
That’s great – well done. I also got £50 compensation my complaint has been in since March and no final response yet.
Can I ask how did it take for a response? I sent my complaint in March this year – really fed up with how long this is taking.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I missed this comment – send your complaint to the Ombudsman immediately. A lender is supposed to give you a Final Response within 8 weeks, it’s ok to wait a bit longer but not months!
Vicky says
Hi I opened a next account a while back and used all of my credit limit they then increased my credit limit, when I started using payday loans and my credit score was low they did suspend my account, I then opened a new one with a diffrent email address but still all my normal details same address etc as my first account, this account has now been suspended too but do you think I could put a complaint in as they have let me open two next accounts all in the same name, addresses etc…
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes, that sounds as though they should never have let you open a second account.
AliceE-H says
Your complaint would be based on the fact they could have seen that your second lot of credit was unaffordable and (assuming these issues were not years apart) there are (at least) 2 reasons why they should have known.
Your credit report would have been awful. Payday loans, missed payments .? and possibly defaults .
They could see you were struggling with your first account.
A responsible lender would not be fooled by different email addresses!
dan says
Hi Anyone,
I made a complaint against Welcome Finance – knowing it was a massive longshot, they have replied stating that my complaints would of been in 2010 and in 2011 a scheme of arrangement was entered and after lots of waffle about what that means, they have said essentially I can have no recourse against them, even if my claim was valid – all sounds correct so assume this is dead in the water and not worth raising with the FOS, just thought I’d double check before I bin the correspondence though…..?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s very hard to win affordability complaints over 6 years old if it’s for just one loan. Did you have PPI on this loan? That could be worth pursuing.
Dave G says
I have today put a complaint in against Very as when I opened up account. The credit limit was £1200 and 14 increases later is now £6500 . The biggest increase was from £2100 to £4000 in October 2012. I have also said to them they should have realised that over the last 3 years I have only paid the minimum payment and every month paid with 4-5 different cards as paying £260 from my wages was difficult so Touchwood I have asked for all interest and charges to be reimbursed and for the missed payment (on my credit file) last year to be wiped as I was only 8 days late , I hope I have a chance as every month I pay £260 a further £100 interest and this month £200 bnpl interest has also gone on account so wiping off what I have paid
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you stopped using the Very account? I’m not saying you have to do this for your complaint, but for your finances you do :( Even bnpl…
Heather says
I didn’t have any success with getting interest or charges refunded on the two Capital One/Luma cards but they did give me some compensation as my online account access was restricted. I am still annoyed that they allowed me to open the 2nd card despite being over my limit on the 1st card. The only 2 negatives appearing on my credit file is due to me having serious arrears on these 2 cards. I think I might be fighting a losing battle but if you have any advice about what to do to help my situation please add a message
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send the case to the Financial Ombudsman to look at. It’s easy to do https://help.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/help and then you will have someone else look at what is fair – because Capital One aren’t exactly impartial in this, are they!
Heather says
I complained to the FOS and an investigator replied “After deducting your essential expenditure from the income you received from July 2013 until June 2014, there looks like there was enough left over for you to meet the monthly repayments on your credit cards. This means that I think your credit cards were affordable. So, I don’t think Capital One was wrong to lend to you. And I can’t ask it to refund the interest and charges, which it applied in line with the terms and conditions of your accounts. ”
My income dropped in 2016 so I haven’t been able to afford the payments now – I only went to Capital One recently to see if they can help, they have frozen the interest and charges and I am in a repayment plan with the two cards now.
If they refunded the interest and charges for the past 2 years, that would be helpful but I doubt they will.
The limit always £1500 for both cards but they allowed me to open a 2nd account a few months after I opened 1st card – which was at the £1500 limit when the 2nd account was opened. One account was opened in January 2014, the second in June 2014, I don’t know if I responded to an email or letter saying I could open the second card. I did have a Halifax credit card that I was just paying the minimum payment on (the account was on hold/no new card issued). I have had problems with mortgages/credit card in the past 10 years.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ok, this is pretty much like giving you a large credit increase on the first account. The reasons to challenge would be:
– any late / missed problems on your first account
– problems that occurred in the year before the second account was opened. Check your credit record to see what late payments or new defaults were added during this time or if you had any mortgage arrears.
Older problems are less important and problems that happened after the account was opened aren’t relevant. What the Ombudsman will look at is whether CapOne made an irresponsible decision to lend in 2014.
Heather says
I will see if the investigator will consider passing it to an ombudsman as the investigator said she wouldn’t ask Capital One to refund interest & charges (see my message above this one).
Karen says
Hi
I was thinking of requesting Very (shop direct) refund interest on my account. I opened the account in 2013. I declared that my income of 20,000 a year. Over the past 4 years Very have increased my credit limit several time (about 20 times) to £6000 I was never asked to confirm wa increase or decline it was just increased by amounts from £300-£1000 each time. I requested the last increase from £6000 to £7000, as i was curious to see if i would be approved – i was approved even though i was in 8000 debt My debt with Very is £5500 presently. Recently the financial Ombudsman ruled that interest on payday loans issued from March 2015 should be refunded as if correct credit checks had of been completed the FO believed that they would not have approved the loans. I will be able to pay Very £1500 to avoid buy now pay later purchases doubling in interest- however, without the payday interest refund i would not be able to pay and would be unable to make the minimum payment if amount and interest would be added to my minimum payment.
I don’t know if I should complain and if i do should i inform Very of the FO decision in relation to Payday loans refunds. I am slightly scared to complain and they freeze my account – as i am in a trap of paying last years purchases to buy thing needed like shoes, Christmas etc.
All in all I am about £10,000 debt between credit cards and Very.
Any advise would be greatly received
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This seems a bit confusing.
Picking up some things you have said:
“Recently the financial Ombudsman ruled that interest on payday loans issued from March 2015 should be refunded as if correct credit checks had of been completed the FO believed that they would not have approved the loans. ” Are you referring to an Ombudsman decision on a payday lender complaint you have made? Because that is NOT a general statement the Ombudsman would have made about payday loans in general and you should not mention it in any complaint to Very as it will not help your case at all.
“I will be able to pay Very £1500 to avoid buy now pay later purchases doubling in interest” then I suggest that you do this. It is uncertain whether you will get a refund from Very and it is important you avoid a stack load more of interest being added to your account.
“I am slightly scared to complain and they freeze my account – as I am in a trap of paying last years purchases to buy thing needed like shoes, Christmas etc.” I am afraid you have to stop borrowing. You cannot complain about affordability and then expect to borrow more. If you have 10k of credit card and catalogue debt, I suggest that you should talk to StepChange if you think that the repayments are unaffordable and ask them to set up a debt management plan. When that is done you can then think about any complaints to the Very and the cards.
Karen says
Thank-you for your advice.
Sorry for the confusing I had to edit the 1st post as it was too long The FO stated ‘i think if you had of completed more in depth checks you would’ve seen Miss ____ was unable to meet the loan repayments in a sustainable manner. So at this i don’t think lending to her was appropriate. This was on payday loans from 2 different providers.
I know I need to stop borrowing the majority of the debt i am paying is interest approximately £300-£400 interest a month which means i have no money left to pay the debt. When i do pay credit cards- I am using them again. Its a horrible situation. I suppose fear is preventing me from moving forwards and taking action.
Thank you again
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, good you won the payday loan case, but as I said quoting this will NOT help you to win a case against Very.
“Its a horrible situation. I suppose fear is preventing me from moving forwards and taking action.” That is such a common feeling – and it leaves you trapped, unable to move forward as you say. Please do phone StepChange https://www.stepchange.org/ and see what they say. making the call doesn’t commit you to anything, but many people feel such a huge sense of relief when they do take advice and set up a DMP (if that’s what StepChange recommend).
Someone who had set up a DMP told me “I know I still owe the money, but it’s like I have put my debts in a box. they are there, they are being dealt with, but I don’t have to spend all my time thinking about them any more.”
David gobey says
Hello,sara
Just a query really,I have been looking at my finances lately as I have got a claim against Very for irresponsible lending and came across another one maybe to try, the story is on the 6th June 2012 I had a £12000 loan from Clydesdale Bank, then being a idiot those days I also had a credit card from Nationwide, it was opened up on the 13th June and has a start limit of £3200 I wonder if they did a proper credit check, my bank statement at that time was I had a overdraft and apart from payday time and a week or so was deep in my overdraft 3 weeks out of four, also 6 months later on the phone I asked the adviser about using my card in America and whilst talking increased my limit to £4500,my query is could I go to Nationwide and claim irresponsible lending ???
Your information on my chances would be great
Dave G
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is possible that the Clydesdale loan wouldn’t have shown on your credit card statement when you applied to Nationwide. I can’t guess what the chance is of this complaint succeeding.
Nigel says
How are the FOS dealing with Banking issues over 6 years? Lloyds??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You would have to make out a case why you were unable to apply earlier. Simply not knowing you could is only being accepted as an argument for payday loans as far as I am aware. There is also the practical aspect of complaints over 6 years that it’s a lot harder for either you or the lender to produce evidence… only payday loans has the unarguable “you gave me a new loan/rollover every month for two years” type evidence.
Nigel says
Thanks for that. I did ask my very helpful adjudicator and received this as a reply (below). So not completely lost. Its going to be a hard one but lets see where it ends up.
Our service can still set up a complaint against a business even if they say in their final response that they’re not going to look into the complaint further, if it’s over 6 years.
However, if the business doesn’t give us their consent to consider your complaint when we request their file. We will first consider the reasons for their objection before we decide whether we think we can consider the complaint or not.
If we say we can consider the complaint we will then look into the merits of the complaint, and decide if the business has done anything wrong. Unlike payday lending we will be able to give you an answer as to whether we can consider your complaint a lot sooner, that’s if the business doesn’t provide consent.
Philip says
Hi Sara,
I would like to say a big thank you, I put a complaint following your template and received the following outcome:
As a result of the above, had you repaid agreement # in full, a refund of interest would have been due to you. However, as the account is still active and you have not yet repaid the capital, I can confirm that I have now removed the interest of £2516.74 from the account balance. This means that your balance on agreement # has reduced from £4297.61 to £1780.87 and therefore, once you have repaid the remaining balance of £1780.87 you would have only repaid the loan amount of £2911.82 with no interest. Agreement # will also be removed from your credit file within 60 days.
Cassandra says
Hi, I’m so glad I found this site but I have a question.
Is there a way to find out when a catalogue increased spending limits? I know it has happened with me multiple times but I can’t remember when and how often. I’m sure my chances would be better if I could explain what my financial situation was at the time.
Thanks for all the wonderful information here!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Not easily unless you kept all your statements. if you ask for copies they are likely to try to charge you a fortune. I suggest you just say “several times over the last few years” or something like that.
Paul says
I found out all my increase by using my free Noodle credit report or my littlewoods account
Bella says
We’re can I find the email address to complain of irresponsible lending for a very acount please? Also fashion world & next ,has any body had any luck claiming interest & charges from these? Do I need all dates acount were opened ect.. to make complaints ?
Also do I claim ppi on a separate complaint for these?
Mrs curious says
Hi, just saw your comment… I have complained to all companies through resolver.co.uk. you can make separate complaints to the same company and best of all is, it sits like a file, where all your complaints are in shown and shows how many days it’s been since you first opened the case with them. Any responses from them goes straight to your email. Just a good way to keep track of all complaints, should have multiple. Hope this helps :)
Cassandra says
Sorry, I Have another question.
A relative has offered to pay off the balance of my catalogues and then I can pay them back much more slowly and with no interest.
I’d love to take advantage of this wonderful offer, however, will it effect my ability to claim for irresponsible lending / unfair charges and fees if I no longer have credit with them?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Kind offer!
In theory it should have no impact on your complaint. In practice firms seem a bit keener to reduce a balance rather than write out a cheque, but this has to be balanced against the facts that you may not get a refund anyway (these reclaims aren’t guaranteed to work) and if it has to go to the Ombudsman (which many do) then having had a relative clear the balance won’t harm the complaint.
I suggest you grab it and stop the horrible interest charges.
Jo says
Hi, I have a a very account for many years stated at £1000 they increased and increased it it’s now at £7500.
I did work but retired about 2 years ago, I am 67. I use to pay the take 3 payment to try avoid interest but this got to point it was too much so I paid minimum payment from them sometimes slightly over if I could just to try and clear it balance at time was approx £4-5000 anyway I used a credit card to clear the balance as it had a better interest rate not I’ve stupidly got balance upto £3000 again. I’ve only missed a payment once tho and that was by a day or so, I do have a lot of other debt tho but I do manage to pay it all on time even if it means paying credit with credit at times, would they refuse my complaint because it looks like I don’t stuggle as never missed a payment because that certainly isn’t the case I was just too worried about damaging my credit file so I would do what it took to pay on time. It’s left me in a spiral of mess tho I owe quite a lot now to verious creditors.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It must be very hard to manage the repayments on a pension. The heart of your argument is that they knew your age and should not have been increasing your credit limit when you were coming up to retirement.
I think this may be a difficult complaint to win because you haven’t actually used the larger credit limit. It’s worth a try though – expect Very to refuse it and send it to the Financial Ombudsman who will have a better look at whether what has happened has been fair.
But in the meanwhile, you have to stop using credit to pay credit. If you don’t, at some point all your credit limits will be maxed out and you will be looking at bankruptcy or some other form of insolvency.
I think you should talk to StepChange https://www.stepchange.org/ immediately about a debt management plan to stop your debts continuing to get larger because of the interest being added. Yes this will affect your credit rating, but you don’t have any sensible alternative. Every few months you delay, your position is getting worse.
Jo says
Thankyou for your advise at one point when the limit was around 4000 it was at limit then they increased it and I used it a little more but I didn’t take it all way to the 7500.
Debbie says
Hi,
I have put in a complaint to Capital One regarding a credit card. They increased the credit limit despite my poor credit record and me being in a DMP. I am still paying this through my DMP, despite this there is still a credit limit that I can use on the account, though I haven’t used it since 2013.
I submitted my complaint using the online queries form. I have had an email back from them saying that they will ring me to discuss this matter. I would like any correspondence to be in writing so there is an accurate copy of it, rather than by phone. What would be the best way to handle this?
Thanks as usual
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you are complaining they increased your credit limit when you were in a DMP and you haven’t used any of the larger credit limit?
Debbie says
No sorry, I didn’t explain it very well. I used the maximum limit and have been paying this off through my DMP since 2013, my complaint is that they increased the limit, it started off at 250 then was gradually increased. As the amount owed has decreased they have never decreased the amount I’m allowed to borrow, which just seems a bit odd to me. Knowing I’m in a dmp and struggling they would still be happy to lend me more. But the basis of my complaint is the increase in my limit
Sandra Milne says
I have just been told that my Littlewoods complaint is waiting to be signed off by Senior
Management. Does that sound like it will have a positive outcome?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This is a bit like old Roman soothsayers trying to predict the future from a goat’s entrails. If I was running a complaints department, I would want to set some broad guidelines and I would only want a decision to have to be signed off by “senior management” if it was either large or it didn’t fit within the guidelines – so that isn’t necessarily good or bad news. But who knows what Littewoods do?
Lucia says
Hi All, anyone had experienace with AMex or MBNA and affordability complaints? Myself and my partner bought our flat in 2006. We had no deposit so took out a 100% mortgage and also a £25k loan which would run alongside to pay off debts. Shortly after (2 months or so), to pay for central heating installation and various other household stuff, we each took out £4k credit cards – these high limits were immediate. We of course couldn’t afford them! Ended up in debt, defaulting and going in to a DMP. We’ve since more or less sorted ourselves out and are now debt free.
Would we be able to make affordability complaints to MBNA and AMEX? The charges and defaults we paid before these cards were frozen would be insane!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t think you have any chance of a successful claim for that long ago, sorry.
Louise says
Hi Sara, looking back I realise how badly I have handled my money and how ridiculous it all was. I never knew at the time that I could just say ‘Look I cant afford this but I will offer you x amount’. I thought I had to pay everything and would find a way which meant I was always paying interest on interest. I had a secured and very high rate loan with Blemain Finance. I don’t suppose we can complain against secured loans?
Then I paid off the balance with my Vanquis account (ouch!). It started off at £500 and went up every 6 months until it got to £4k. It got too much as I couldn’t even cover the interest and I’ve now agreed a repayment plan with them. I was paying more than the minimum at the time as I would put my bill money on the card and then pay the bills from the card to try and keep the interest down. However my balance history was always touching the limit. Do you think I have a complaint?
Then in with all that I had payday loans which I have already started the ball rolling. I don’t even know how much interest I have paid on the credit card. I daren’t look !!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Whether you can complain about secured loans can be complicated as they have been regulated in different ways. I suggest you go to your local Citizens Advice if you want someone to help you look at this in detail.
Vanquis – did you have their ROP product? There is a different – and new – kind of complaint about that, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/vanquis-rop-refund/. It is also worth complaining if they increased your credit limit very high.
Louise says
Thanks Sara. Do you think Vanquis could be difficult re my repayment plan if I make a complaint against them? I didn’t have the ROP, but as I am struggling to even make the reduced payments it would be great if they could write some of it off due to unaffordability. At the rate I am paying it will take 8 years to pay and thats with frozen interest.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No I don’t think they will be difficult. And if you are paying them more than you can afford, reduce it!
alice says
Louise – in my experience Blemain Finance sell secured loans without much investigation about affordability as they have a way of getting their money if it goes wrong. But i’m not sure where that leaves you in respect of affordability complaints. However, Blemain sold a lot of useless PPI on long term secured loans. I had a Blemain case with 20 year loan – 3 years PPI at huge cost. It was not made clear to the client that the PPI was not for the life of the loan. I have yet to hear how the PPI complaint went.
Blemain are a bit “sub prime” . You could see if you had the PPI and if it was mis-sold for any reason. Or if you get a payback from Blemain you could consider full and final offers. These are better when you have paid reduced payments for a while.
If I were you I would take free debt advice on all of it The adviser you see (should) also ensure a proper financial statement is drawn up to see what your situation is and what you can afford to pay to Vanquis.
Jon says
Does anyone know how long Aqua take to respond to a complaint? It’s been 5 weeks and counting.
Thanks
Scott says
Hi Jon,
Aqua were quick in responding to myself but that was at the end if last year. I guess responses will be slower now as more complaints are received.
They were very slow at responding to the adjudicator and my complaint has just been finalised after 11 months.
Good luck and don’t be disheartened by the wait, hopefully the FOS will find in your favor.
Scott
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Don’t expect anything before the end of the 8 weeks. If it’s rejected, that doesn’t mean you have a bad case so don’t be put off! If you aren’t sure whether to go to the Ombudsman pop back here and summarise your case and see what people think?
Jon says
Thanks both. I really think I have a good case with Aqua so I’ll be going straight to FOS if I get no where with them directly.
Steph says
Hi Jon,
My complaint has been ongoing with aqua since April this year. No response wishin 8 weeks so sent directly to the FOS, it’s been going backwards and forwards with them since. They’re slow to respond, even to the investigator at the FOS. The last I’d heard was that the FOS now had all the required information and would be in touch with their findings within “the next week or so”… that was 10 days ago so hopefully have a response soon.
Good luck with yours!
Steph says
Hi Scott,
did you end up getting your payout from Aqua? How long did they take? Did you do anything to nudge them along?
On Monday I received the Final Decision from the FOS, upholding my complaint and asking for interest and charges to be refunded following the credit limit increase in July 2013. I’ve just called aqua to discuss this, they’re claiming there is no correspondence from the FOS and they’ve just raised a complaint and told me they have up to 40 days to respond … think they’re getting confused and dealing with this as a new complaint – which obviously it is not!
Any guidance on what happened with your complaint would be helpful.
Thanks
Steph
Steph says
Hi Scott,
Hope you don’t mind me asking… what was the outcome of your complaint with Aqua?
Thanks
Steph
Scott says
Hi Steph,
Refund from 2nd limit increase.
Scott
Steph says
Good news Scott!
How long did you have to wait for FOS outcome? Did it go to ombudsman stage?
Congrats!
Scott says
Hi Steph,
My complaint took almost a year to be dealt with. Aqua really drag their heels when dealing with the FOS.
They eventually disagreed with the Adjudicator and it went to an Ombudsman who agreed with Adjudicator.
Now waiting the 28 days for settlement, not holding much hope for Aqua dealing in this time so I have already completed the Court papers ready to submit when the time is up.
Scott
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I really don’t expect you will need to go to court. Have you read my article on this: https://debtcamel.co.uk/enforce-financial-ombudsman-decision/. Definitely, try the other approaches listed there first.
Alison says
Hi, How far back can you put in a claim against interest on credit cards? In 2006 I entered a DMP which I have just completed this year. Most of my debt was a result of credit cards increasing my balance and me foolishly spending. At the end I could not keep up with the minimum payments on these cards which is why I chose the DMP. Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry, there is little chance of a claim over 6 years ago and no chance at all before 2007.
Jack says
Hello,
Can you apply for irresponsible lending against open accounts that I am struggling to pay?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, but it will help if you look at a debt management plan to get yourself in a more stable situation. This won’t harm your complaints, in fact by showing the repayments aren’t affordable it supports what you are saying. I suggest you phone StepChange https://www.stepchange.org/Howwecanhelpyou/DMPDebtmanagementplan.aspx and talk through your options with them – this doesn’t commit you to anything but it will give you the facts that will help.
Becky says
Hi anyone had any luck claiming against aqua for irresponsible and unaffordable lending ? My credit limit was increased from £500 to £5300 within 2 years with me making only the min payment,withdrawing cash on it and having various other maxed out credit cards and loans… This they would have seen if they had checked my credit file ( I’m under the impression they are meant to do this before offering you more credit ) I was in a spiral of borrowing more just to keep up with the min payments of it all…never missed a payment though and this seems to be the problem…capital one wouldn’t uphold my complaint as they say I wasn’t struggling as i never missed a payment..any info or opinions would be great… Haven’t contacted aqua yet but am expecting them to say the same..
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think that sounds like a good complaint. That is a huge increase, making minimum payments and taking cash out whould have warned them to look more closely eg at your credit record. There are quite a few complaint with the Ombudsman at the moment – Aqua seem to turn all complaints down, so just send yours to the Ombudsman when they do.
Did you send the Cap One complaint to the ombudsman? If not, you should think about this. You have 6 months after a decision by a lender, so it’s not too late.
Becky says
Hi thanks so much for replying so quickly, capital one complaint is in an envelope ready to send to the ombudsman as only recieved there final response this morning…have included statements from capital one credit card that was at 98% utilization along with copy of bank statement showing all outgoings???these will show the ombudsman what commitment I had going out!capital one have rejected my complaint on the grounds that I hadn’t missed a payment so couldn’t have been struggling financially along with the fact that they do check affordability,credit score and anything else they need to before offering a credit increase !!! Clearly they haven’t done this or they’ve done it and ignored what they saw because I think it would have been very obvious to anyone who was looking that I was struggling !!!, I think the aqua one is more easy to prove but have no doubt they will not put there hands up easily !!!any feedback on these 2 companies would be very welcome..
Sara (Debt Camel) says
also see these recent comment on Aqua by someone who has won his case https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-catalogue-credit-card/comment-page-5/#comment-247478
Linda says
Can I ask please. do the same rules apply for Bank loans re: irresponsible and unaffordable lending? I was given a pre-approved bank loan of £6000 offered to me when I logged on to my bank one evening (I found the pre-approved offer in my personal offers section) and the loan was in my bank the same evening. I was seriously in debt at the time with multiple payday loan companies and had a rotten credit file although I was working. Im on a DMP now and have been for a while paying off my debts (the loan is on this although I had made some payments but eventually defaulted) I just wondered if you could give me a bit of advice although I realise this forum focuses on credit cards. Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, the same rules apply to bank loans. Adapt the payday loan refund letter in https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/ to make it clear this is just one loan and not a payday loan, so remove the bits about repeat lending. But add a paragraph to say that your credit record would have shown [detail the problems] and your bank statements would have shown that their loan was unaffordable for you so you should never have been offered this “pre approved” loan.
Scott says
Hi All,
Well just when you think you’re at your journeys end, you get advised by Aqua that they have no record of dealing with the FOS.
To top things off they advise that they have sold your account the previous. This is in despite of there being a complaint lodged and payments being made
Absolutely unbelievable.
Scott
Sara (Debt Camel) says
what do you mean “they have no record of dealing with the FOS.” ?
Becky says
Absolutely unbelievable !!! This is where there should be rules put in place to fine them !!! I had all this when reclaiming ppi a few years back,that was lloyds they disagreed with my complaint,then disagreed with the adjudicator ,finally the ombudsman ruled that my case was to be upheld and they still couldn’t pay up within the recommended time !!! If they got fined for this and had to pay extra compensation they may get there finger out…..so wrong,they don’t take into account the stress this causes people..
Scott says
Hi,
Phoned customer services, got put through to card management as I was put on reduced plan with interest frozen.
Advised them that I wouldn’t be paying anymore as I was due a refund after FOS decision, they looked at notes and advised their was nothing showing about FOS involvement. They said I would need to submit complaint to new owner.
You couldn’t make this incompetence up.
Scott
Scott says
I should also say that when the FOS contacted the person that they were dealing with today, they claimed that they didn’t receive the email and postal letter about the decision.
What an appalling way to record and deal with complaints.
Scott
Jon says
Unbelievable. I’m not looking forward to my dealings with them now and I’m only 5 weeks in!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
looking on the bright side, it’s incompetence, not done deliberately :) Stay on top of your case, send it to the ombudsman promptly at 8 weeks, don’t let them have any more time.
Archie says
Hi Sara,
Not sure if I would have any luck with this, in August 2010 i opened an account with Vanquis at that point i had a CCj and was struggling with repaying my other credit card and a few default on my file.
I was given a limit of £750 at the time, i struggled to make 3 payment and then it went into missed missed payment then default. It has since in 2013 been sold off to Lowell who i now make a payment to – My question is would i have any chance for a refund and get the deafault removed from my credit file. Would i contact Vanquis or Lowell for the refund?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You put in your complaint to Vanquis. Unless the CCJ and the defaults were recent when you applied, it may be difficult to win. A refund is unlikely as you won’t have paid much interest and still owe money, but if you win the interest included in the current balance may be removed.
Steph says
New Day t/a Aqua
Received confirmation from the adjudicator looking in to my Aqua complaint this morning, that she is rejecting my complaint for unaffordable credit limit increases. Originally she agreed with me, however, following additional information from Aqua, she has rejected on the basis that I paid off £1,500 from my card at one point (due to a loan from my Dad) and also that I did not let Aqua know that I was suffering from financial difficulty.
Aqua have offered me £240 as a goodwill gesture – which is a refund of late and overlimit fees. I’m not sure whether to accept … or progress to ombudsman level …
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How many credit increases were there? Did you usually only pay the minimum payments?
Where did this loan from your dad fit into the credit increases, was it before them, after them, in the middle?
Steph says
4 credit limit increases in total.
Apart from the £1500 I paid only the minimum payments each month.
The £1500 from my Dad was in the middle. It was the month prior to the 3rd credit limit increase in March 2015. The first increase was July 2013.
Scott says
Hi Steph,
Sorry to hear about your adjudicator’s response.
Out of interest, did you have any over limit fees applied in the 6 months prior to any of your limit increases?
Scott
Steph says
Hi Scott, I’m not 100% sure as I don’t have any of my old statements.
I know I frequently paid late – although aqua have told the adjudicator that I always paid on time…
I’ve rejected and asked for it to go to ombudsman.
We’ll see…
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You could send Aqua a SAR (Subject Access request). If you are sure that you often paid late, the information should be on what you will be sent. And the ombudsman will probably interested to know that Aqua have misled the adjudicator.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then I think you still have a very good reason to complain about the first two increases. and possibly the 4th if it was large. Ask for your case to go to the ombudsman.
If you had any missed payments these should also be highlighted, but you can win a case without them.
Lisa says
HI all,
Just had a call from the FOS. Great news, all cases have now been allocated adjudicators. I have 8 cases in total split across 5 adjudicators. All submitted between 12th Sept and 22nd (with the exception of Wonga who I think are being prioritised)
Hang on in there for those who have been waiting patiently (or otherwise like me) things are starting to move,
Even if they reject, I will be please when I can focus on something else as this does tend to suck you in :)
Kate says
Hi Sara,
please could you advise if, when complaining to Vanquis I ask that they buy the debt back from Lowells? I think I’ve read ombudsman decisions before stating this? Or am I going crazy?!
Thanks,
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, just ask for a refund of interest after the credit increases. They may just reduce your balance with Lowell or buy it back, up to them. TBH I would rather deal with Lowell than Vanquis if I had problems with the repayments.
Maxine says
Hello Sarah,
Last year I realised I had been paying ROP since 2011 , I stopped it and tried to claim it back without success ,I have recently saw this website and decided to try again using your template , they have now rejected it again saying it’s been just over 6 years so I can’t claim. They also say on the letter that if your claiming more than 3 years after you realised there was a problem then they can’t look at it . But because I only realised last year would that mean I am still in that 3 year bracket as I only realised last year , should I point this out to them or should I give up
I must have paid over £40 a month for five years
Sara (Debt Camel) says
When they rejected this last year, did they inform you that you had the right to take the case to the Ombudsman?
Maxine says
Yes but then I didn’t know what I now know through your website so I just left it
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I’m not sure they have noticed your previous complaint at the moment – if you point it out they are likely to say you are outside the 6 month time you have to take a complaint to the ombudsman after a firm has rejected it.
Karen says
I have two Capital One cards for over a year now and I’m only paying the minimum payment on both. So I’m paying only interest I have not had any more credit limit on the card could I claim a refund from them and how do i go about it please
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are you spending on the cards?
Karen says
No I’m not spending on the card I was told I would get an increase but never did I have also got a vanqest and marbles card too only paying the minimum payments on all 4 cards I have not gone over my credit limit but the interest on them are so high
Sara (Debt Camel) says
To win an affordability complaint, you have to be able to show that you can’t afford the minimum payments and that Aqua should have know that eg from your credit record. If your limit is quite low, this may be hard to do.
If you can make the minimum payments to all your debts you are just fed up with the balance going down, the simplest answer I am afraid is to set up a standing order to each card at something a bit more than the current minimum. If the minimum is £27, could you round this up to £30 or even £35? By paying the same amount each month you escape the “minimum payments trap” explained here: https://debtcamel.co.uk/credit-card-minimum-payment/
But if you really can’t do this, then I think you should talk to a debt adviser about your whole situation. I suggest ringing StepChange https://www.stepchange.org/Howwecanhelpyou/DMPDebtmanagementplan.aspx
Becky says
Well I’m ready to send my capital one complaint to the ombudsman,I recieved my SAR from capital one and it shows everything,i was paying only the min payment for 7 years !!! They increased my limit time and time again,I was maxed out,withdrawing cash on it and only paying the min payment from day one til the day I finally paid it off in 2016.. It also shows that I called them in 2012 to say I was in financial difficulty and asked for a lower interest rate,which they refused…one increase in particular Came on 30th July after I’d made cash withdrawals twice in July,twice in June,once in May and twice in April…I was also over the limit !!!! Is this irresponsible and unaffordable ? They say not !!!! I’m hoping the fos rule in my favour..capital one didn’t even investigate my complaint,I called them and said I wanted to make a complaint and they basically said ok but it’s not upheld you didn’t miss a payment and we didn’t act iresponsible or provide unaffordable lending so we will issue a final response so you can take it to the fos !!! Which is what they’ve done ..my question is would you go straight to the fos or would you contact the ceo of capital one and show him the facts no that I have them ?also do you think I’ve got a chance of winning ?ive asked for all interset plus 8% simple interest ??my account balance is £0 I don’t owe them anything so it would be amazing to get the interset paid back to me..
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It does sound like a good case. You can email the CEO if you want, but if you do, set a time limit on it ie it goes to the ombudsman if no settlement agreed in two weeks.
Dan says
Frustrating, Very / Shop Direct failed to respond within the 8 weeks, so raised with FOS, I’ve had a letter from them now but case hasn’t been allocated, juts phoned to hear that Shop Direct have now responded to them but they can’t tell me what was said until allocated….. Shop direct won’t tell me either! Doh!
I’m guessing that means they have rejected my complaint but I do hate all the waiting! ?
Paul says
I have made an affordability complaint to Vanquis requesting a refund for all interest and charges I have paid for a specific time period (within the last 6 years). They have had the complaint for 5 weeks so far and I am yet to receive back a final decision.
I have just come across the thread regarding the ROP refunds and am looking to submit a complaint about this too. However, the issue I have here is that the card and ROP were originally taken out more than 6 years ago.
Should I add the ROP complaint onto my affordability complaint or submit a separate complaint bearing in mind the ROP was taken out over 6 years ago? Alternatively, is it possible to request an ROP refund for the same period as my affordability complaint? If so, should I add the ROP complaint onto my existing complaint, submit a separate complaint or add the complaint at the FOS stage if my affordability complaint is rejected?
Heather says
I got a reply back from Vanquis today to say the irresponsible complaint has not been upheld, they increased the £500 limit in Feb 2015 after a year to £1500 after I had made on average nearly £200 towards the balance on the preceding 3 months (although I missed 2 payments during that first year) and my other non mortgage debt was nearly £12K. I didnt refuse the increase and the increased credit facility was offered in view of the good account management. But as a result, I had to borrow more to make payments to service the debt, including loans from Satsuma, my credit score/report has got worse as a result of Vanquis and other credit cards increasing my limit, and I had to use payday loans to make ends meet.
If you have any advice about what I should write back to Vanquis that will help my reply to Vanquis, I thank you in advance
Mikie says
Had a response today from KandCo/shop direct, basically total rejection, apparently multiple payday loans are not an indicator of financial difficulty, nor is constant minimum payments, so they don’t see any issue with multiple unprompted credit limit increases at the time. Me immediately using the increased limit (often to pay payday loans with selling items purchased from them!) wasn’t an indicator of difficulty either. Oh and I think they have used the wrong account details, the credit limits quoted don’t tie up properly. I’ve put it straight to the Ombudsman.
Eva says
So I spoke to Halifax today regarding my overdraft of £2500 which I now have since 2012. I complained that they let me up it from £100 initially in jan 2012 to £2500 in Jan 13. I was able to increase it 5x in a month and then every 2 – 3 weeks. I also had payday loans since 2009 and from 2011 to 2014 I was paying at least 6 different payday loans off each month + provident + simply be and very. I also went over the agreed overdraft so paid extra charges on top of the ususl ones.Halifax said I agreed to their T&Cs every time I requested increase. I argued that as my bank who knows more about me then some online system they should have seen how bad my money situation was. No I’m in the wrong. They basically refusing any responsibilities. I managed for now to get interest and charges frozen for 12 months and paying £208 to get rid of it (this will not affect my credit file as they promised) but i still feel taking it further?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That does sound like a lot of increases to your credit limit. ANd no doubt you have paid a lot of bank charges on the overdraft.
Letting you pay the balance off without any interest and charges is good, but if you feel you should also get a refund of some of the charges you paid, you need to put in a written complaint to Halifax, asking them to review what they told you today and refund the charges you have paid.
Lee says
Just wondering if I have a case to complain about very. So in 2015 I had quite a lot of payday loans with different companies, but also had a very account at the same time. Haven’t worked out which I had first, the loans or the very account. But I was using the loans to pay off very every month and just paying the minimum amount each month. I can’t remember if they gave me an increase, but I got help from my parents to pay it off. But then I went back up to my limit a few months later. I was basically using the very account to get friends stuff so I could have the money off them to pay other debts. Then I had to eventually go on a DMP when it got too much.
Eva says
I complained to very and simply be. I had very for almost 4 years but only borrowed 275. But I always struggled and had late payments plus admin feed. Simply be were worst. They didn’t care and still upped my limits constantly even after I said I can’t make the minimum payments on time specially when it is every 28 days rather that the same date every month. Very didn’t even bother to respond. Simply be acknowledged my email but will see. Still waiting for Provident to come back.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you had a lot of late payments and had told them you were having trouble making the payments on time that is an important point to make when you send this case to the Ombudsman.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You may be able to see from your credit reports which came first, your payday loans or your Very account.
If the very account came firms, then a complaint is more difficult unless they did increase your credit limit. Again looking at your credit report may give you some feel for what happened.
Daniela says
Hi all,
After a bit of advice again. I have an account with JD Williams which has been passed onto Lowell’s for collection. I have sent a CCA request to Lowell’s on the 8th of August and finally today I’ve received it with a statement of account attached. The copy of the credit agreement is not signed or dated under the signature of costumer section, is this still enforcible? I should say the reason I’ve requested this is because I wanted to complain to JD Williams about the account they have let me open with them while I had 2 defaults already in place. Also can I ask if you can send a CCA request to a credit card company ( eg Tesco, Barclays) Any advice would be appreciated
Sara (Debt Camel) says
When was the account opened?
Daniela says
Not sure on the exact date but I think somewhere around April 2015 as per the SOA they have sent me.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
There is no requirement of a CCA agreement to be signed – indeed most accounts opened online never are. If you want to discuss what you have been sent and whether it contains the prescribed terms, I suggest you phone National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 or post on the Legal Beagles forum: https://legalbeagles.info/forums/forumdisplay.php?21-Consumer-Credit-Act.
It would be unusual for there to be problems with such a recent agreement – issues are much more likely with older agreements. especially pre 2007.
Daniela says
That’s great Sara, thank you! I’ve just had a look and it seems you are correct regarding the signature.
With the credit cards do I need to ask for a SOA or SAR? I’ve got 2 credit card accounts on which I still owe money, the accounts have been closed and defaulted so I can’t get access to online statements. One of the accounts is with Barclays, I’ve recently noticed on my credit report that my balance had reduced from £7000 to just under £ 6000! I have not made any payment on the account and I never received a letter from Barclays regarding the reduction ( I’m not complaining) but I would love to know where that comes from! Many thanks again
James says
Just wondering
What about Bank overdraft and Credit card
I remember going back a few years, I used to get a letter out of the blue saying my credit card limit had been increased stupid amounts without my concent, from £300 to £1500 to £2000 to then £3000 Subsequently this ended up as part of a DRO but that is another matter
Another one with the overdraft, i remember sitting one night with my online banking
I had an overdraft of £300 which i used to always have maxed
One night it went from £300 to £400 at the click of a button, i spent that money
Another click up to £500 spent this
so on and so on
up to £800 before it eventually stopped
I have bipolar disorder and have issues with manic spending without thought of consequene so when i look back on these 2 scenarios
Would these both fall under the iresponsible lending category (yes i iresponsibly spent but that isnt the question)
If so
Could the bank be challenged on the interest and charges which subsequently contribued to my downfall and resulting DRO
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how many years ago was this?
James says
My Dro was in 2014
I turned 18 in 2008
So my assumption would be roughly 2009/2010 Possibly 2011 at the latest, in the process of trying to get my credit report to fully check
On a sepeare note thank you for all of the info regarding PayDay Loans hace just submitted requests for loan historys and getting the ball rolling on that, I was up to my neck when i was young eventually got it sorted, but now looking at a bit of “payback”
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s probably not worth trying to complain about these because it is more than 6 years ago. It is only for payday loans that you have a chance with older loans.
Heather says
I had my complaint upheld against Aqua today by the adjudicator – they increased my limit from £500 to £1000. Hopefully they will get in touch with the adjudicator again before Christmas, will keep you posted on the result.
This complaint was upheld but yet the complaint with Capital One/Luma was not (first Cap 1 account opened in Jan 2015 with £1500 limit which was reached/over the limit when I opened the 2nd account a few months later with Cap 1/Luma with another £1500 limit). I really dont know how the adjudicator came to the decision not to uphold that complaint as the Aqua card account was opened in the same month as the first Capital One account. One adjudicator seemed to analyse my credit report (the one who upheld the case) whereas the adjudicator who rejected the complaint said they didn’t see anything negative on my credit report??! The Capital One case has gone to the Ombudsman, so hopefully it will be looked into in more detail
Becky says
Well thought I’d keep you up to date,my complaint for irresponsible lending and unaffordable lending was turned down by capital one at the first tel call.they made there descision while I was on the phone and sent out there final response that day. I now know that I only ever paid min payment except once when my hubby transferred it onto his c.c.. I was drawing out cash month after month,they still increased my limit.i had gone over my limit but never missed a min payment,I had other maxed out c.c and a large bank loan which were on my credit record.its now with the fos who say they will have an answer by next week..can you please let me have your thought Sara ?
And p.s it shows in my SAR that I called them in 2013 to ask about reducing the interest rate as I was finding things difficult..they told me they don’t reduce interest rates
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“it shows in my SAR that I called them in 2013 to ask about reducing the interest rate as I was finding things difficult..they told me they don’t reduce interest rates” – I hope you have told the Ombudsman about this? Capital One should have taken this into account before any credit limit increases after that phone call.
Fingers crossed you get a good decision from your adjudicator, if not I think it’s worth asking for this to go to an Ombudsman.
Paul says
So I have raised my complaint with Littlewoods today. Since 2012 they have raised my credit limit every 4 to 6 months until by Jan 2016 it was £9,600!! Before they raised my limit for this first time I had already defaulted on a personal loan of £9k and a credit card for £2k ( was in a bad place, my Mum died and the brake up of a long time relationship resulted in me losing my house). Since 2012 I had multiple Payday loans (which I defaulted on) and credit cards (also defaulted on). The £8k I still owe on this account and monthly payments of over £250 a month are crippling me so after reading this I have decided to do something about it. At one point I was using my Littlewoods account like a bad loan, buying high price goods (ipads etc) then selling them to get cash to make my payments. It has taken me the best part of 5 years to sort myself out and start to face my financial issues and also realise it isn’t all my fault, these people shouldn’t have kept loaning me money at such high interest rates. Thanks for all the info on this site and I will let you know how I get on
Dan says
Good luck and sorry to hear your story, sounds tough, well done for facing into your finances, never easy
Best wishes
Paul says
My question is, should I still continue to pay the minimum payments to Littlewoods, which I really cant afford it, hence my complaint. Or should I wait until they come back about my complaint?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No. If you can only afford them by borrowing more (perhaps getting deeper into your overdraft, or putting the electricity bill on your credit card) then you need to stop. If this is your only problem debt, you can offer them a repayment amount you can afford and ask them to freeze interest. But if you have a lot of problem debts it’s usually easier to talk to StepChange about setting up a Debt Management Plan.
Becky says
Well I’ don’t know what to say !!, heard from the adjudicator today who said she is not upholding my complaint against capital one,apparently paying the min payment for 7 years,withdrawing cash constantly,telling them your in financial difficulty,going over the limit and be maxed out don’t mean it’s unaffordable !!!, I can’t actually believe it !!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ask for the case to go to an Ombudsman
Becky says
Thanks Sara !! She’s given until the 4th jan to give her any more info…I’ve managed to get bank statements today that show I already had various credit cards and loans before opening the capital one account,my husband paid all bills and mortgage ( I’m not on mortgage ) but all I was left with was less that £50 a month,some months only £29 for the month…adjudicator said because I kept up min payment they can’t prove I was in financial difficulty !!, the payments I was making was just loan and credit card payments plus catolouges…no living expenses at all…that’s what my £29- £50 was for !!!
Becky says
How much of your available salary should be left after your bills ? Only reason I ask is the adjudicator said to me that although I only earned £400 a month and already had a long time loan payment of £176 a month she said It would have been affordable..I also had other commitments amounting to approx £130 just in revolving credit….without any living expenses !!!! I’m still to prove these other credit agreements with her by showing her bank statements..it’s so stressful that’s the only reason I’m trying to get some advice
Paul says
Go to the Ombudsman, I had an adjudicator saying the same sort of thing to me about my payday loan a few months ago, ignored her and said I wanted it to go to the Ombudsman which she advised against. Told her I still wanted it to go, 3 weeks later, Ombudsman found in my favour, full refund of all interest and 8% on top. I would always push for your case to go to the Ombudsman no mater what the adjudicator says
Heather says
I got the final decision on my Capital One case from the Ombudsman – she agreed with the investigator’s decision that Capital One did nothing wrong when they allowed me to open 2nd card with £1500 limit in June 2014 (first account opened Jan 2014 also with £1500 limit – which was at the limit when 2nd account opened).
To date, I have had 2 other complaints upheld by the FOS – all the information I gave them was the same as I gave with the Capital One complaint so I am confused why this case was not upheld. Also the way the Cap One complaint was handled differed from the other cases, no introduction phone call or email from the investigator, like in the other complaints, she just sent letters.
As it is the final decision, I will have to go to court but I don’t know if that is worth doing as I don’t have the money to pay a solicitor if I lose the case. Please reply and advise on what is the best course of action.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you want to consider taking them to court, you would need professional legal advice. This is not the sort of case that someone is likely to win if they are representing themselves. I can’t advise on that. You may decide that winning two of the three complaints isn’t a bad record, as a year ago you probably wouldn’t have expected to get any money at all.
Stu says
Hi
I made a complaint against Shop Direct at the beginning of Oct 17. I had a littlewoods,very and isme account with them up until 2015. They continued to increase my credit limit to in excess of £8000 across the accounts without ever considering if it was affordable for me. The accounts were defaulted due to me not being able to afford my repayments and I borrowed payday loans excessively to meet these payments. Shop Direct are taking for ever to produce a final response should I just contact the FOS? I have been given excuses such as awaiting Management sign off and awaiting FCA advise.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is way over the allowed 8 weeks – yes I suggest you send the complaint to the Ombudsman.