The repayments on many loans from bad credit lenders are too high to be manageable so people get deeper into debt trying to repay them.
If you have an unaffordable loan, you can complain and ask for interest to be removed from your balance. If the loan has been settled, you can ask for a refund of the interest you paid.
This article describes how to complain, with templates. It is a variation on the standard approach for payday loan refunds – this works better where the loans are very large, longer-term and you only had 1 or 2 loans, possibly with top ups.
NB the complaints here are for “normal” unsecured loans. You can also use this approach for logbook loans.
There is a separate page for HP/PCP car finance affordability complaints. If you have a guarantor loan, read Refunds from guarantor loans as it’s very different, and the guarantor may be able to complain as well.
Contents
Like payday loan refunds – but you can get a refund for just one loan
A lender should have checked when you applied that a loan is affordable for you. The regulator says “affordable” means:
you can make the repayments without hardship or having to borrow elsewhere.
This is the same test as for payday loan refunds. It applies to most forms of credit, including large, long term loans and logbook loans.
The payday loan refund template letter has got tens of thousands of people refunds. That letter emphasises the problems that repeat borrowing caused. Because payday loans are usually small, it’s hard to get a refund if you only had one or two payday loans.
That sounds like bad news for these complaints about large loans, where you normally only have one loan plus possibly a top up or two…
But the good news is that because these loans are larger and longer-term, the lender should have made better checks before giving you the first loan!
So the letter here is for large loans.
Making a complaint and asking for a refund
Email addresses for lenders
It’s easiest if all communications are by email – free, instant and you have a copy with a date stamp to show the ombudsman. So here are the email addresses to use for the main bad credit, large loan lenders. There are a lot of small lenders including Credit Unions – if your lender is not listed you can still complain, look at the lender’s website to find how.
Anico complaints@anicofinancialservices.com
Avant Credit emailcomplaints@avantcredit.co.uk
Bamboo Loans complaints@bambooloans.com
Everyday Loans complaints@everyday-loans.co.uk
Lifestyle Loans info@lifestyleloans.co.uk put COMPLAINT as the subject
Likely Loans loans@likelyloans.com
LiveLend sean@chetwood.co
Loans 2 Go ps@loans2go.co.uk – also read Loans2Go’s interest rate – “outrageous” – how to complain
Moolr admin@moolr.co.uk
MyJar (in administration but you can still send in complaints) generalcomplaints@myjar.com
Progressive Money complaints@progressivemoney.co.uk
Quick Loans customerscare@quickloans.co.uk
Satsuma onlinecustomercare@satsuma-loans.co.uk
Savvy info@savvy.co.uk
Vanquis customer.relations@vanquisbank.co.uk
1st Stop customerservices@1ststop.co.uk
118 118 Money complaints@118118money.com
Here are some logbook lenders and bad credit card finance lenders:
Advanatge complaints@advantage-finance.co.uk
CarCashPoint complaints@carcashpoint.com
CarFinance247 customercare@carfinance247.co.uk
First Response johnf@frfl.co.uk
LoanOnYourCar customerservice@loanonyourcar.com
Loans 2 Go ps@loans2go.co.uk
Mobile Money complaints@mobilemoney.co.uk
Moneybarn complaints@moneybarn.com
MoneyWay complaints@securetrustbank.co.uk
Motor Kitty customercare@motorkitty.co.uk
Ramsdens (logbook loans) customerservices@ramsdensforcash.co.uk
Varooma complaints@varooma.com
If your loan has been sold to a debt collector, you send your complaint to the original lender.
I have included a couple of payday lenders there – Myjar and Satsuma – because they often give very large loans. If you borrowed a lot from those lenders, use the main payday loan refund letter. But if you just had one or two big loans, use the letters on this page.
For guarantor loans, there is a different approach – see guarantor loan complaints by the borrower and guarantor loan complaints by the guarantor for details.
Start the complaint – ask for personal information & get your credit record.
Get a copy of your current credit report saved immediately. You can get one from TransUnion. Do this first thing as lenders may later change the information on there, so you want a full one saved to show the Ombudsman later if necessary.
Then email the lender and begin your complaint. Put AFFORDABILITY COMPLAINT as the subject of your email.
You probably already know when you took out the loan and any top-ups. But it’s good to ask the lender to send you a copy of all the personal information they have about you. This will give you a lot of information that can be useful later if you have to send the complaint to the ombudsman, so ask for it right at the beginning.
Sample email:
I am asking you to refund the interest and any charges I paid, plus statutory interest, and to delete any negative information from my credit record.
I attach copies of my bank statements and credit report from the time I applied for this loan/these loans. [delete if you don’t yet have them, but they will help your case if you do.]
Add extra information if you want – see below for some ideas – you don’t have to do this.
I am also making a Subject Access Request (SAR) for all the personal information you hold about me including, but not limited to, my applications, all credit and other affordability checks, a statement of account for my borrowing, and a record of all phone calls.
SARs are often sent out by post, make sure the lender has your new address if you have moved!
If you want an affordable payment arrangement now, add a sentence to the complaint saying this:
- this is often a good idea as these complaints can take a long while to sort out so a payment arrangement gets your finances into a safe place while this gets sorted
- a payment arrangement shows on your credit record, but if you win the complaint all negative marks will be deleted
- talk to a debt adviser such as National Debtline if you want to know more about payments arrangements
- a payment arrangement for a logbook loan will put your car at risk, so you may have to keep paying this.
While you are waiting for the lender’s reply, try to get copies of your bank statements from 3 months before a loan to three months afterwards.
Also read Lender says I lied. That looks at the various reasons why your application may not have been accurate. People have won complaints where they lied because they were desperate but there are other reasons too, so think what (if any) may have applied to you.
Other details you can add if you want
The template above is fine, you don’t have to add a lot more details. I am not even sure some lenders read what you write.
It is better to write a short complaint summarising your problems than send pages telling the lender stuff they already know. For example the lender doesn’t need a list of your loans.
But if you want you can include extra points in the initial complaint above. Or send the lender another email afterwards to add to your case.
When you have the SAR back from the lender, you can look for things that the lender knew but chose to ignore or didn’t ask about. See How Subject Access Request information can help an affordability complaint which has details about what to look for.
Here are some points that may apply to your case:
- my bank statements and credit record (attached) show that I was unable to afford the loan repayments.
- This was a large loan, you knew I had poor credit and may have been in a difficult position so you should have tried to verify details. If you had done this, you would have rejected my application.
- My bank statement would have shown that I was spending more than the application said. You should have noticed that some figures were too low or missing, for example from my application : x,y,z, car costs, TV licence, opticians and dental costs, presents, clothes, school uniforms.
- During a telephone call, your agent talked me into agreeing that some figures should be lower in order to get my application accepted.
- I didn’t include payday loans as credit commitments on my application as I thought that was for long term credit, but you could see I had several from my credit record.
- you made deductions straight from salary/had my child benefit paid to you which has caused me difficulty when I have needed to ask for a payment arrangement.
And points about top-ups:
- a credit check would have shown that my finances had got worse since the first loan
- you didn’t ask if my income or expenses had changed, and they had.
- you didn’t ask for bank statements so you could check if the new repayments were affordable.
- I had said the first loan was to consolidate debt, but you should have seen that this hadn’t happened.
- you increased my interest rate, showing you realised I was in a more difficult position but you did not check whether I could actually afford the new repayments.
The lender replies – go to the Ombudsman if a poor offer
You should get a response from the lender within 8 weeks. If you don’t, phone them up and ask when you will get it – a couple of days is worth waiting for but many responses are rejections, so don’t wait weeks for one, go to the Ombudsman straight away.
Don’t be put off by a rejection! Or if the lender saying it was your fault because your loan application wasn’t accurate. Sometimes a lender will send a long, complicated reply designed to make you look as though you should give up.
Lenders are obliged to do checks. For one small payday loan, these checks could have been brief. But for your large loan, the lender should have made sure they knew enough to be confident you could afford it, even if was your first loan from them. If they didn’t, send your case to the Ombudsman.
I suggest you rely on your gut feel – if you know repaying the loan caused you a lot of problems then it is worth sending the case to be looked at by the Ombudsman.
If you aren’t sure, ask what other people think in the Comments below this article. You only have 6 months to send the complaint to FOS, so it’s best to do this as oon as possible.
It isn’t usually worth trying to negotiate with these lenders, you are just wasting your time – one exception is Bamboo.
Send to Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS)
It’s easy! I suggest you use the “do it online” option to send a complaint to the Ombudsman. It asks you for all the details they need.
The main part of your complaint can be a version of what you sent the lender in your complait. Add any more details you want, including pointing out if you think there are errors in the lender’s reply. Also attach:
- the reply from the lender
- Trans Union statutory credit record
- bank statements starting 3 months before first loan.
Your complaint will first be looked at by an adjudicator. If either you or the lender rejects the adjudicator’s decision, it will then be looked at by an Ombudsman.
“What about a bank loan?”
The affordability test is the same – could you repay the loan without getting deeper into debt elsewhere. But the interest rates are lower than “bad credit lenders” so it’s harder to show that the smaller repayments are unaffordable – unless the loan was very large.
So it can be harder to win a case involving a typical bank loan, especially if your credit record was OK. But if you know the loan was unaffordable then give it a go and use the template letter here.
These affordability complaints do not apply to secured loans or mortgages. If you have a priblem with one of these, talk to your local Citizens Advice.
Need some help?
If you need help to complain, go to your local Citizens Advice, they will help for free.
Don’t use a claims management company. They are expensive and often incompetent. And if you still owe money, then you may just get the interest removed so you owe less… which is great, but you don’t want to have to pay a claims company in cash when you never had a cash refund to pay it from.
Can you get a refund from Provident?
Is a card or catalogue limit too high?
Examples of gambling & payday loan refunds
Annie says
When you e mail Likely Loans regarding Irresponsible Lending.Do they acknowledge your e mail or just give you an answer when ready.
Ross says
If I remember, correctly, it’s an online contact form via your online account. It may have changed now though, so best to check?
Annie says
How long from start to finish with them and FOS for an answer CMcK.Thanks Ross I sent my complaint via e mail and by letter to Likely Loans head office by recorded delivery.Il wait and see
George says
I was wondering does 118 118 normally agree with adjudicator decision?and how long do they take to pay out
Thanks for a great site
Musarat says
118118 refunded my interest I had paid and when I said I wanted the remaining loan wiped off they agreed too after I threatened to take to financial ombudsman. So push along with it and good luck
George says
Thanks for your reply
They have agreed with my adjuactor to pay out the whole 3 loans I had ,how long did they take you to pay out if you don’t mind me asking
Musarat says
It took 2 weeks after they agreed to pay out
KP says
Hi Sara,
Hope this is in the thread. I put an affordability complaint against the company who I financed my car with. I received the SAR yesterday and have noticed 3 things that stick out like a sore thumb.
1 – it says I have no dependents – but the back statements they have show payments going out for the children.
2- it states during the review process of the application that the max repayments cant be greater than X amount, but the actual repayments are greater than this value.
3 – required income stated for finance is X amount, but actual income was less than this.
So with the above factors, I feel it will strengthen my claim against them.
Do you think it will help as ive spoken to them and raised these points and the gent agreed with me and was looking into it.
Do you think the above points will have any bearing on the decision?
Thankyou
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Those sound good points to have spotted!
Who is the lender?
KP says
Hi Sara,
Apologies for the delay. The lender is Marsh finance. The case handler has been pretty good thus far, calling me every week to give me updates, it was on Friday I mentioned these points to him and he did clarify that it was what he was looking more into.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, sorry no idea what sort of decisions they take. If they reject it tel them it goes to the Ombudsman in a week unless they reconsider. If they make what doesn’t sound a great offer, come back here before accepting it?
KP says
Thanks Sara, personally I think they will reject it. Although they could surprise me and make an offer. Will let you know what the outcome is.
KP says
Hi Sara,
I have just received a call from the lender regarding the points I raised as mentioned above. They are saying this was done by the broker and not them.
So it looks like they are trying to get out of it.
What I would like to know, shouldn’t they have double checked everything before financing? Otherwise a broker could just send everyone through?
So to me, it looks like 1 – affordability and 2 proportionate checks.
Would love to hear your thoughts.
Thankyou
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The lender is the one who made the decision to lend, not the broker. It is the lender who was responsible for making sure that adequate checks were made that the loan was affordable for you.
The lender may in practice allow the broker to make the decision, but in that case the broker is acting as the lender’s “agent” and the lender is still responsible for the lending decision.
Your complaint is that the loan was unaffordable – your bank statements and credit record should show that. And that the lender failed to make proportionate checks whcih would have shown the loan was unaffordable.
KP says
Hi Sara,
Many thanks for your reply.
I have just emailed Marsh, stating it what you had wrote in my own words.
I have also asked for some clarity on how they got the figure of my monthly income.
I will update when I hear anything more from them.
Thankyou for all the help and assistance and the the great work you do here for everyone.
KP says
So Marsh have sent an email with a letter about the 8weeks. They also phoned and explained that they are almost at the decision. They did say that they agree that proportionate checks were not adequate, but were still looking at the affordability side of it.
So, I did say, that why they have been in contact weekly, I would wait for a week or 2 before going to the FOS.
So hoping I hear this coming week from them.
Leoni says
Sara! Thanks to one of your templetes and today I received a refund of £2332.59 from likely loans! Over the moon!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
great!
James says
Did you go to the financial ombudsman? Did they agree with adjudicator or wait for a final decision? How long did they take to pay the refund?
Leoni Rudge says
Hi James
No ombudsman involved, direct to the lender. They confirmed refund on the Friday, money in my bank on the Monday :-)
James Aylwin says
Thank you.
Leoni says
Hi all!
I’ve had a recent experience with likely loans and saw a few people asking about it, so here’s how it has gone for me!
Emailed my affordability complaint on 31st May
7th June – they request more personal details about me saying they could not see a file for me 🤦
I replied with what they requested.
I then heard nothing until this morning, where all of my documents were sent as a DSAR response at 11.15am in two separate emails, then 11.28 I receive a final response!
”
We shall remediate this by refunding all the interest which you have paid towards this loan. You borrowed an amount of £3,500.00 and you made repayments totalling £5,271.75. You are therefore due an interest refund of £1,771.75. With an additional 8% interest amount of £560.79, this brings your total refund to £2,332.54. For your convenience, please see the breakdown below:
Payments made: £5,271.75 – Loan amount £3,500.00 = Refund of £1,771.75
8% simple interest per year: £700.99 – Tax at 20% of £140.20 = Interest of £560.79″
Happy days! Now just to wait to revieve it, I hope it comes through!
Annie says
Well done Leoni.Mines just away last week by email and written letter by recorded delivery which has been signed for.My loans started with 500 pounds then top ups which is refinancing finance.Interest in interest.Never once have they asked for proof of income.My Clearscore shows negative score with defaults.waiting to see what happens with everything crossed
Leoni Rudge says
Fingers crossed for you! Keep us updated – hope you get some back!
Annie says
Was that it all through in just over a month then If you sent on 31st May.My letter went to Likely Loan head office and I’m sure it was Oakbrooke Finance the e mail address was.Who did you send yours to Leoni
Leoni Rudge says
yep all done and dusted within a month.
Refund confirmed Friday and in my bank yesterday.
I emailed complaints@oakbrookfinance.com x
Annie says
Just had e mail from complaints team asking me to email original one I sent as they can’t seem to find it.Hopefully they act on it now.
Annie says
I got e mail at 6.30 this morning from Likely Loans giving me a reference number and asking for my previous address my address and email address I used.They then said they would be looking in to it.Did you get this
Graham says
Hi all,
Seems Likely Loans don’t have any consistency. I submitted a claim to them by email on 28th March this year, using the template on here, from Sara. I heard nothing from them, not even the info I’d requested, until yesterday.
I got an email saying they had received my complaint and in 8 weeks time, I’d be eligible to contact F.O.S. This was over 12 weeks after I’d first written to them.
I’d already followed Sara’s advice and written to F.O.S a few weeks ago. Will wait and see what happens but not overly confident Likely Loans will respond in my favour
Elaine Burns says
I have checked my bank statements for Likely Loans and can’t believe I took a loan out then 5 top ups its only when u see it in front of you that you can see how bad things were. Sent an affordability claim in and it’s only been 2 weeks so hopefully they will agree
CSS1978 says
Hi All,
I’ve finally put in a complaint with AvantCredit for being mis-sold a loan back in 2015 with interest the loan was around £10000, I fell in to difficulties, contacted them they agreed a short terms reduction in the monthly payments which I didn’t miss and before that agreement was up they sold the loan off to TM legal services and ever since while I’ve been making monthly payments, I’ve had nothing but a constant harassing and bullying emails from them despite be going in to great detail about how I found my self in that situation, they don’t care, since opening the complaint with AvantCredit, I’ve stopped payments as I believe if my claim is upheld for mis-selling me the loan then I’ve paid around £1000 to this TM legal services which they owe me, yesterday I emailed both companies as this shoddy debit collection company is threating me to take me to court, I keep you all posted on how my claim goes, I opened my complaint with Avant on 19th May using the template off here, thanks Sara for the tmeplae
CSS1978 says
So Avant came back the day after me chasing them up on my complaint, and they’ve rejected it based on they acted responsibly, I’ve now opened a complete with the ombudsman, hopefully I might get some where with it via this route.
Dani says
Hi
I was in a similar position where Avant quickly rejected my appeal. I escalated to FOS who found in my favour and within a week of their decision I had around £2k in my bank from Avant and confirmation the account will be removed from my credit files. Hopefully you get the same outcome.
Good luck :)
Dani
A says
Hi Dani
This gives me hope. I’ve just had an adjudicator find in my favour with my claim against Avant. I hope, as in your case, that Avant honour this rather than playing the long game.
Julie says
Has anyone had any joy with loans 2 go I r entry took a loan out with them because I was desperate but the repayments are 376 over 24 months on a 3000 loan which I can’t afford they asked for my wage slip but no bank statements I am sure when I did the quote it was a lot less repayments then what they sent me after I accepted.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes, L2G often makes lowish goodwill offers to reduce a debt by a few hundred, but a lot of complaints upheld in full at the Ombudsman. 3000 is a VERY large loan and they should have verified you expenses as well as your income.
DAVID KIDD says
Hi I put a complaint against 118 and safety net on 26th may and they have both came back this week to say they are still looking into it and will give a final decision before ths 8 weeks are up.
Is this a positive,negative or doesnt matter sign?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
it doesn’t mean anything about your case – it’s not good or bad.
Lee says
Hi Sara.
I have received a hard copy of my TransUnion credit report as sending all my compliants via my personal mobile /email but using my work laptop to create my compliant letters to send home to my phone.
I cannot save an online version of my credit report as my phone and work laptop block the TransUnion credit site but managed to print the form off to request via post.
The hard copy of my report is like a booklet must be around 50 pages with over 1000 previous payday loans etc and credit card debts etc history in.
My question is my Nationwide compliant needs to now go to the FOS. Should I send the compliant in the post with my credit report to the FOS. Or send via the online portal and just post my credit report to them.
Should I ask FOS to scan my credit report and provide link reference so when other compliants get sent to them through the portal they can refer to this? Should I fill in another TransUnion form to get a second copy of my credit report in hard copy for me to keep incase?.
Bit unsure what to do and feel this is delaying me proceeding with a number of compliants I still need to do.
Thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
could you use a friend’s phone to download a copy of the report? A bit of hassle now, but it will save you the postage and mean you still have a copy yourself.
If not, I would send your complaint to FOS using their online form, wait until FIOS have sent you a reference number for your complaint and then post the report with a covering letter giving your details (names, address etc) and the FOS reference number and also say that you are likely to be making other FOS complaints so you want the report to be available for them.
Dave says
Still waiting for FOS decision about Varooma. I rejected the adjudicators decision at the end of March and rang today to be told it is still in a queue to be seen by an ombundsman – anyone else in the same boat? Compared to SafetyNet, who coughed up all interest and the 8% within 6 weeks without any fight, this is frustrating!
PAUL says
I complained about likely loans and the FOS upheld my complaint last November (after LL rejected).
Anyway, its so frustrating as there is a balance to pay which I have no problem paying – but LL had sold to Cabot – who had given to Mortimer Clarke to manage. LL don’t want to know now.
7 months later and the default still shows with the higher amount before redress, despite the FOS telling LL to rectify, which they agreed too.
I have had no communication from Cabot or Mortimer since LL replied the end of last year.
I asked my adjudicator at the FOS to try and speed up – but they have said they have written to LL twice now, and as they sold to Cabot they have to wait for Cabot to rectify (which I assume they don’t want to to make more difficult for me) as its technically nothing to do with LL anymore.
Anyone else had this problem / any suggestions apart to sit and wait…
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you spoken to Cabot?
PAUL says
Yes, sorry didn’t mention I spoke to Cabot earlier in the year who told me to deal with Mortimer.
When I spoke to Mortimer, they had a higher figure outstanding than LL had agreed with the FOS, when I queried why it was higher they said speak to Cabot who didn’t know what I was talking about and said the debt is with Mortimer to settle (as Cabot own). So going around in circles. To be honest I thought the FOS would have pulled rank and told them to sort – but despite them writing to LL twice now with no resolution I’m not sure what to do. LL did write back to the FOS after the first letter and said they were getting onto Cabot.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send Cabot a complaint by email. Mortimer is their agent, Cabot is responsible for the fact that your credit record is wrong. Say if it not resolved in a month you will be asking for compensation for this.
JC says
I am thinking of taking my complaint with avant to the FOS. They rejected my complaint, but many other loan providers have found my case to be worthy of a redress refund.
1- How long does it typically take for the FOS to deal with a complaint?
2- Does an affordability complaint affect a mortgage application in any way?
Many thanks!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Timescales are erratic – but does that matter?
Do you still owe a balance? When do you want to apply for a mortgage?
JC says
I was hoping it would all be over before I applied for a mortgage. I’m planning on doing so in august 2022. I just don’t want anything hanging over me if that makes sense.
Even with precious affordability complaints, would they impact my application?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
do you still owe a balance?
Jc says
No I don’t owe a balance. Both loans I took out from avant are paid off.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
In that case it cannot affect a mortgage application. How could the lender even know about it?
(It can only affect a mortgage application if you still owe a balance to the loan and you stop paying while the complaint goes through, so your credit record is harmed. The negative marks are removed if you win the complaint, but if you apply for a mortgage before then, you have little chance of being offered one.)
miles says
Can I do anything about historical secured loans from banks.
I was given several large unaffordable loans in 2004.
Would it be worth a shot?
What are the FOS time limits of 6+3?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The legal basis for the complaints being discussed here was a change in the law in 2007. That was the same date that the Ombudsman became able to look at lending complaints.
Steve says
Hi Sara,
Can I please ask how moneybarn works. I had a car on finance and then returned it after half the term. So I’m a nutshell just paid the interest I presume. I could be wrong. Have I got grounds for a compliant on that? I am not sure. I realised that this was at the same time as my other debts and fell behind on a few occasions.
Steve
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How much did you borrow? how much did you pay to it?
Steve says
The vehicle was worth £5900 I paid I. £6400 then handed the vehicle over to moneybarn as they said they needed to see if it was worth the value of what was left on the loan which would of been £3447. And any difference they would send me an invoice for.
They wrote back and said that the vehicle was worth that value and they would not chase me for anymore payments.
Hope that makes sense
Steve
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds as though you handed the car back rather than voluntarily terminated the contract – is that right or do you not know the difference between these terms?
Steve says
Sorry no not sure. I purchased the car through another finance company (Fowler’s finance – who have gone into liquidation now). I believe they tried multiple lenders and moneybarn were the ones who provided the loan in the end because of my financial background. then I was given the option to end the contract after half the term, but had to give the car up if I did that or continue the contract until the end of term and keep the car. It became a bit too much in the end so I asked them to provide me with the option to give the car to them in return of clearing the balance.
The car initially was never there’s it was owned by another garage/finance company.
I think that is the voluntary terminate contract option. I could be wrong though sorry 😞 please correct me as I am not sure if I have got that wrong 😊
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s hard for me to guess what has happened. I suggest you call National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 and tell them what happened and ask them about making affordability complaints.
Victoria says
I submitted a complaint to the FOS in March 2021 regarding loans taken out with Varooma. I received a decision from the FOS a couple of weeks ago, saying they agree with my complaint and Varooma should repay all interest and charges back to me, plus 8% statutory interest.
Varooma have until tomorrow to respond.
I’m just wondering if anyone else can share their experiences of Varooma…did they respond to the FOS outcome? Did they send through redress figures quickly? Did they pay out the refund?
Graeme says
Hi
I put my complaint into the FOS last September against varooma , had 6 loans in total 5 being top ups ,
My complaint was only picked up my an adjudicator in may and they emailed last week to say they had all the required information . So don’t know how long it takes for them to make an initial assessment ,
Mary says
Hi Sara, Can you advise me?
I recently took out a loan with a company called Lifestyle Loans and have missed 2 payments due to experiencing financial difficulties and I have already received a Default notice and 14 days to respond before enforcement actions is taken! I thought that these were only issued if 3 months or more payments have been missed? I looked at my credit agreement and no timescales for default notices has been listed.
I have had issues with this company from the beginning and have submitted an affordability complaint to them (gave me a loan even after checking my bank account and seeing that I had gambling transactions and spending more money than I had coming in) and they gave me 30 days breathing space while they looked at the complaint from 08.06.21 but then issued with Default notice on 26.06.21.
I am in the process of setting up a DMP now as really in a terrible situation and this debt covers a 1/3 of my balance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am interested to hear this, the whole point of a lender using “open banking” to check a loan application is that they should be able to spot problems such as gambling 🙄
I think the default notice is a red herring here. The 3+ months refers to adding a default to your credit record. A Default Notice is a formal letter sent under the Consumer Credit Act, not related to your credit record.
But the more interesting question is whether you can make an affordability complaint about this loan – and I think you should if you think your bank statements show that the loan was unaffordable.
How much did you borrow? What are the other debts in your DMP?
Are you getting help with your gambling?
Mary says
Hi Sara, thanks for your reply.
I have submitted an affordability complaint against them as the evidence is huge against them as irresponsible lenders as they even asked about my PayPal payments to gambling companies.
Total loan was for £5000 over 48 months.
I have discussed with stepchange and have been given options to review and been put on breathing space for 60 days. I have been in contact with GamStop and self exclusion has been applied.
DMP would consist of 3 loans (including lifestyle loans) and 4 credit cards.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Not really sure how Breathing Space helps you here, seems rather irrelevant. How much can you pay to the DMP each month? Are you buying or renting? What other options did StepChange suggest?
Are any other of your debts high cost credit it may be worth making an affordability complaint about?
Let me know what Lifestyle say in reply. And send it straight to the Ombudsman if they reject it.
Mary says
Managed to work out a figure with DMP team which is affordability for me to pay each month and have included Lifestyle loans in the plan too. StepChange were a little concerned by the default notice being received so soon and then when they went to register them on the DMP, both registered addresses couldn’t be found on their systems. They are registered with the FCA though but full of red flags with regards to how they handle business already. They have until 16th July to respond then 100% sending to the FOS
The DMP team have given a couple of options including DMP or IVA but DMP is going to be more like the best solution for me due to the ability to reduce the timescales If and when (fingers crossed) I have received refunds or compensation from the number of affordability complaints I have raised! (All 7 accounts registered on the DMP) I was given a credit card with Zopa and a £1000 increase on my Vanquis card within a space of 2 weeks of hitting defaults with my loans and cards.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Unless you have assets to protect (a house with equity? a car?) then you should rule out an IVA.
Also in an IVA, if you win any affordability complaints, all the money goes to your creditors, it doesn’t reduce your IVA payments or mean the IVA ends earlier.
A DMP is much better “holding option” while affordability complaints go through.
Definitely complaint to Zopa & Vanquis then – see https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-catalogue-credit-card/ for a template.
Mary says
Thanks for your help Sara! I will definitely keep you updated RE: Lifestyle Loans, have you heard of them at all?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, new one on me. I have now added them to the list in the article above.
Mel says
Has anyone had any luck with claims against 118 money?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes! Although many good claims are rejected by 118 so the claim has to go to the Ombudsman.
Mel says
Ok thank you, I will allow the 8 weeks then get on to fos if need be.
Richard says
I had a claim accepted from 118 118 money. They wrote off the interest and charges and I only had to pay back what i borrowed. It was directly from them and did not have to get the FOS involved.
Richard says
Good morning.
I complained to Everyday loans regarding an unaffordable loan and they then rejected my claim saying that they did all the proper checks and it was indeed affordable. I then went to the FOS who upheld the claim in my favour. The outcome was that Everyday loans will have to refund myself any interest or charges. The loan was for £2000 over 2 years so i will be looking at getting about £2200 back from them.
They have accepted the outcome an I am now waiting for their offer which can take up to 4 weeks. Just thought I would share a positive result.
Houghtonguy5 says
Hi,
I had a similar experience with Everyday Loans. They rejects my complaints about the two loans I had from them. Took it the FOS who upheld the complaint on my 2nd or “top up” loan. My loan was for £7,000 which I repaid in full. Received my offer on last week which amounted to a staggering £14K including overpayments and interest!
Well worth escalating to the FOS!!!
Richard says
I have just had an offer from Everyday loans. My loan was for £2000 and I paid this off in full. I have been offered £2228.63 from them for overpayments from interest and charges. They offered me this within 2 weeks of them excepting the decision that the FOS made. Hope this can help people going forward who have had claims rejected by them and that it can work going to the FOS.
Tom says
Hi Sara,
A bit circuitous but I had a loan with Moneyway. This was sold to Alpha Credit Solutions 8 (the loan wasn’t in arrears, it was simply that Moneyway sold a portion of their loan book). Target Servicing administers loans/collections etc. on behalf of Alpha so my complaint is in fact against Target Servicing.
I just wondered whether you had any experience of these outfits as, so far, they seem to obfuscate at every turn.
When I originally complained (first to Moneyway, then to Alpha and finally to Target), they rejected it out of hand as it was out of time. It wasn’t out of time – on either the six or three year time limit. I appealed to them but they were intransigent.
It went to the FOS in October and has been picked up in the past week or so. Again, they are objecting on the basis of the timescales. The Investigator has told them that they are wrong but still they won’t accept it. He is therefore saying that he will have to issue a jurisdiction view in the first instance which will then have to go to an Ombudsman if they still won’t accept his findings: they have said that they won’t. This means I’ll likely be more than a year on before they even start engaging with the actual complaint.
I suppose the only thing that I can do is persevere but wondered if you had any advice. It seems to me like an egregious abuse of the system designed to frustrate me at every turn, rather than actually addressing the complaint at hand.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
is this an affordabilty complaint?
why are Target Servicing saying this is out of time? I am just curious as to what they possibly be thinking of!
What happened to your complaint about Moneyway?
And about Alpha Credit?
Tom says
Hi Sara,
Yes it is an affordability complaint.
In short, I complained to Moneyway who forwarded it to Alpha who forwarded it to Target. Target aren’t disputing it is they who should be dealing with it as I think they are the ‘servicing’ part of Alpha (in essence) and when Moneyway sold the loan they sold the liability for any complaint.
As to why they are saying it is out of time – the reason mainly seems to be ‘because it is’!
My complaint was lodged with them in September 2020 and with the FOS in October 2020. The loan was taken in January 2016 so very clearly within the six year time limit.
In terms of the three year time limit, my complaint was submitted to them within twelve months of the intended conclusion of the loan term which is an eminently reasonable timeframe I’d have thought. Further, I only became aware in 2020 that I was able to submit complaints to lenders that had provided unaffordable lending products so I think I fall within the three year time limit, too – not that this has been an issue I have encountered before.
In turning it down on ‘out of time’ grounds, they have only ever spelled out the three and six year time limits but never articulated which they think I have fallen foul of (though given I am well within the six years, it must be the three).
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well that is ridiculous – the 3 year part is never relevant if you are within the 6 years and, as you say, you are anyway within 3 years.
I suggest you
1) tell FOS that you would like additional compensation for the absurd attempt to delay your complaint
2) tell the FCA (their regulator) what you think of this very poor complaint handling.
To do this, email email consumer.queries@fca.org.uk and copy this to julie.eastty@targetgroup.com and lee.sparey@targetgroup.com
Subject: Target Servicing (454569) is trying to stop FOS looking at my valid complaint
Give your name and address, any Target Servicing reference number you have and your FOS reference number
Explain you have sent an affordability complaint about a loan taken in January 2016 to Taregt Servicing. There is no need to explan why you think the loan is unaffordable, that is for FOS to looks at, you are just telling the FCA about TS’s very poor complaint handling.
Say that although the loan was taken within the last six years, so FOS can clearly look at it, TS are saying it is outside the timescale, for reasons they have not explained and said FOS needs to issue a jurisdiction view. This is all delaying the handling of your complaint.
End by saying you know the FCA will not investigate your complaint, but you thought they ought to know how poorly one of their authorised forms is handling complaints and failing to co-operate with FOS.
Tom says
Excellent. Thank you so much!
Nicola says
Has anyone has any success with Lendable?
Sarah Dargan says
Varoom have just replied to me 6 weeks after directly contacting them. Is this a good outcome please and advise on what to do next
Further to my acknowledgement email, I can confirm I have investigated your complaint fully and will be upholding your complaint for the reasons below;
I appreciate your patience whilst I have looked into this.
will be upholding your complaint but wanted to lay out the reasons below.
I took into account everything you mentioned and I did disagree with the
I am not upholding due to affordability but more so due to your full financial situation.
Your credit score did decline over the course of your relationship with Varooma and whilst your debt ratio did also decrease, I can see a CCJ was registered . we should have done further checks into your full financial situation and for this I do apologise.
To resolve the complaint I propose:
We close down the open loanWe remove all advserse information off your credit fileWe refund you a balance of £3000 this is the overpayment of interest and added 8% for loans 2/3.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so you had 3 loans from them?
It isn’t clear if they are upholding all three, I think it looks like just loans 2 and 3?
Do you know how much you borrowed and how much you paid to each of the first 2 loans?
The last loan, how much did you borrow and how much have you paid to it? What is the current balance?
Sarah Dargan says
My initial loan was taken out in 2016 – for a total of £1300 term was 18months total
repayable was £2665.08
On this loan payments were made by myself as follows
21/01/2017 – £148.06
21/02/2017 – £148.06
03/04/2017 – £154.50
03/05/2017 – £153.17
02/06/2017 – £153.17
Total – £756.96
06/06/2017 – was a early settlement paid in order to reloan of £1440.49
Total including this £ 2,200.45
2nd additional loan was issued on 03/03/2018
Loan amount was £2,200 over a term of 12 months
Replayable amount was £3740.04
On this loan Payments made were as follows
Sara (Debt Camel) says
06/06/2017 – was a early settlement paid in order to reloan of £1440.49
was the settlement 1440? or was that the cash you received from the top up?
Sarah Dargan says
As far as I knownit was just refinanced so they paid the remaining off and added to 2nd loan.
I received 2200 cash from what I can remember/see
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so what was the £1440.49 number?
When you get a top up loan that settled the previous loan, if the loan is 3000 and you receuives £1800, then £1200 was used to settle the previous loan.
Has Varooma sent you you the details fo eacu of your loans? What you borrowed, what you repaid? If you don’t know the numbers its a bit hard for me to see what is happening – I can’t tell from what they wrote if they are upholding all 3 loans or just loans 2 and 3?
Sarah dagan says
varooma also said : the additional interest is from 04/03/18 theres no breakdown I can supply as I use a electronic link, but you over paid by 2886.82 then additional.
Would you like to accept ?
Any money refund will be done within next 7 days
i then asked for a full breakdown and got this reply : Hi
Il have to put this on hold whilst I do this manually for you . we don’t usually give breakdown unless through the FOS as we then deduct tax from you My workload should allow me to get this to you by Monday at the latest
I will ensure no further payments are took on your loan for you
im confused as to what this means
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can you reply that you want to know for each loan, how much you borrowed, what your monthly payments added up to, what any final settlement payment was and what the current balance outstanding is. Also how much the 8% interest they have added is. Say you need this to understand the offer they are making.
Sarah Dargan says
Absolutely il send that across right away. Thank you for your help and support with this matter its most appreciated.
Sarah Dargan says
Final offer has been reviewed and works out to be £3265.78
Loan 2 – £1382.20 interest plus 8% annual from date of payment ( £299.39) = £1681.59
Loan 3 – £1504.62 interest plus 8% annual from date of payment (£174.31) = £1678.93
£1678.93 + £1681.59 = £3360.52
Minus 20% tax on the 8% = amount to be paid to you £3265.78
I am only upholding the complaint for loans one and two when the AOE was applied and the ccj. I do not believe loan 1 was not not affordable.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So its gone up a couple of hundred just because you asked for a breakdown…
They say “I am only upholding the complaint for loans one and two when the AOE was applied and the ccj.” but they have given you numbers for loans 2 and 3, not loan 1.
” I do not believe loan 1 was not not affordable.” presumably the doubt “not” was an error and that is supposed to read “I do not beleive loan one was not affordable”
They got an attachment of earnings on loans 1 and 2? or 2 and 3? Did they get the CCJ or was that a different lender?
do you think loan 1 was also unaffordable?
Sarah Dargan says
I do and I’m also checking the date of the ccj
Lottie says
Hi Sara,
I am after some advice if possible?
FOS have now upheld my complaint against loans 2 go in respect of 3 loans they should not of lent in respect of unaffordabilty. If they agree the redress they would owe, would be in the region of £10-£13k depending on what date they calculate the 8% interest from.
Have you had any experience of Loans 2 go paying out in your experience? – I appreciate every case is different, and there are no guarantees, but wondering if they are likely to pay out or if they tend to refer to back to the final stage of asking the Ombudsman to look at it. 1 of the loans the smallest is goes back to 2011 and the other two which were big ones were 2013 and 2014.
Any intel would be great, I am not getting my hopes up and preparing for another 1 yr of the ombudsman to look at it. We’re 1 yr I’m already with it.
Many thanks
Lottie
Hazel says
Hi
I am in a similar position , FOS are presently investigating my complaint with Loans to go . My complaint went in over a year ago and FOS emailed me 4 weeks ago to say they now have all the information required and have now started their investigation .
Dan says
Hi Sara
I have made complain against 118 money , I had 2 loans with them and thats their answer:
We have now investigated your complaint fully and would like to apologise for the inconvenience this may have caused you.
We understand that you are unhappy that we approved your loan applications; you feel that we were irresponsible in doing so.
118 118 Money do not allow customers to have more than one active loan agreement at a time.
With the above in mind we are satisfied that we acted correctly in approving your loan application for the first agreement and as such we will not be upholding this aspect of your complaint. For the avoidance of doubt, this means you remain fully liable for the loans, interest and repayments.
You will note from the above that we have not upheld your complaint regarding the first agreement; however, we will be upholding your complaint regarding the last agreement.
Do you think I should accept this offer or its better to pass it to ombudsman?
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
what exactly have they offered you?
Dan says
That they will remove £1452.09 from the account which means that the balance will reduce by £1452.09 and this will also mean that once the remaining balance has been paid, i would not have paid any interest on the last loan and also they will be reaching out to the Credit Reference Agency to ask that any negative information regarding the upheld loan applied to your credit file by 118 118 Money are removed .
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ok and is that number correct for the second loan? How large was the loan? How much have you paid so far?
And what about the first loan? How large was that? Do you agree the first loan was affordable?
Hazel says
Hi Sara
FOS has upheld my complaint from Loans to go , these were two loans dating back from 2011 and 2013 , they have asked Loans to go to refund all the interest and charges to date , what exactly does this mean . They have given them up to 27th July to respond
Sara (Debt Camel) says
When a loan has been decided to be unaffordable, you still have to repay what you borrowed, but the lender has to refund any interest and charges they added. Plus 8% statutory interest – I assume your FOS adjudicator said that too?
Hazel says
Hi Sarah
I paid off both loans so don’t owe anything , FOS have asked them to refund all the interest and charges paid to date and 8 percent simple interest should be added as surplus
Sara (Debt Camel) says
good, that is the standard award. If you know the details of how much you paid to the loans I can work out roughly what you should get?
But we are assuming at the moment that L2G accepts the FOS decision.
Hazel says
I had two loans with them both of them, the first loan I’m sure was around £1300 and I paid back £6410.82 .After I paid this off I took out another loan and it was around the same amount, I paid back £7184.00. I can’t believe I paid back this amount of interest .
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If those numbers are right, you should get back over 16k…
James says
Likely loans have agreed with the FOS. How long do they take to process the refunds.
Richard says
They normally have 28 days to respond to yourself with a settlement offer. If they don’t then go back to the FOS and they will then chase.
james says
They have replied and accepted. I am just trying to figure out how long until i receive the refund. Some people say there refunds were settled on tuesday and paid by friday. I am just trying to get a rough idea slash ballpark timeline so I can plan. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Nina says
Hi James. I accepted my redress on the 29th June and I received an email the next day that likely loans will pay out in 28 days. Still waiting
Annie says
likely Loans e mailed today They didn’t uphold my complaint.Sebt me file from Equifax they used.Shoeing defaults and score of payments missed at red number 8s etc.Said they checked my monthly average spend They’ve never asked for anything from me.Getting passed to manager to check over on Monday.Dont see it changing any.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So send to FOS in a week if they don’t change their mind?
Annie says
E mail again this morning.Reviewing it .Have sent for more data but not said what.They will be back in touch when it arrives and it’s been reviewed again.I have asked them for copy of whatever they have sent for .Haven’t said whatvitvis
Jess says
Hi Sara
I got a 118118 money loan then a month later they give me a credit card. I already had paydays loans around 4/5 different credit cards. I want to be an affordability claim for both. You have already told
Me the wording but I. Can’t find my comment? Could you please advise me again.
Also I got a loans2go in jan is there different wording for this. And also Drafty aswell.
Thanks!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
your previous comment was here https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-catalogue-credit-card/comment-page-23/#comment-427219
For Loans2Go see this separate page https://debtcamel.co.uk/worst-loan-in-britain/
For Drafty use the standard payday loan template here https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/
It sounds as though you owe a lot of money on outstanding loans? I strongly suggest you cancel the DD and/or CPA to the lenders and talk to StepChange about a debt management plan. These complaints can take a long while to sort out, you need to get yourself into a safe financial place while they go through.
HJ says
Hi Sara,
how long do you usually have to wait for an unaffordability complaint? I took a £2000 loan out with Savvy 08/05/21 and have only made 2 payments so far, but they asked for no proof of income nor expenses and had multiple gambling transactions at the time in addition to 3 other loans, 6 maxed out credit cards and 2 maxed out store cards.
This is still irresponsible lending right? Would i stand a chance if i sent a complaint in already?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes, what matters is if they made the right decision in early May – you don’t have to wait for a year or more.
So should Savvy should have realised the loan was unaffordable. How large were your total debts when you applied compared to your income?
HJ says
Thanks Sara I will submit, is the best bet to ask them to remove interest and just pay them back the amount I borrowed?
Roughly (including car finance) c22k on a 30k salary before tax
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes, with just the one loan.
It sounds as though you have a lot of debt. Can I suggest you talk to StepChange about a debt management plan? See https://www.stepchange.org/how-we-help/debt-management-plan.aspx
HJ says
The car finance makes up c14k of that and have cleared c2k
off since then. Also Due refunds from SNC, Very & Drafty in coming weeks so will be in a good place again come October but thanks for the advice!
Yan says
Hello Sara
I was wondering if I would be able get a credit card balance cleared from Halifax which I took out a year ago (June 2020) from Halifax. They gave me a limit of £1,100 and have been struggling to pay it off because of my reduce hours at work . Would they be able to clear my balance and close my credit card account. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They could do this – a lender can do anything they want in this situation if they decide you should never have been given the credit in the first place.
But it is VERY unlikely they will do this. in 99 cases out of 100 the Ombudsman only says interest has to be removed from an account, you still have to repay what you borrowed.
Can you say more about your financial situation in June 2020? And about your situation now – do you have arrears on any bills or other problem debts?
Andrew says
Hi Sarah, I’m currently in the process of using resolver to complain about irresponsible lending in the past.
I have had a reply from likely loans who said they believe there was nothing wrong at their end when agreeing too loan. Am I right in thinking next step is FOS? I have bank statements for all of time I was borrowing money from different providers and want to know how far back from when loan was taken out should I send as evidence to FOS? Is it 2,3,4,5 or 6 months worth before the loan acceptance?
I was gambling massively at the time of all of the borrowing and can clearly be seen in bank statements. I was loosing my pay then borrowing money to gamble more and then on the next pay day I was having to pay back loan sometimes in full then to just take out loan again sometimes with same company sometimes use different.
Most loan amounts was in region of £300-2000 and these where solely due to my gambling addiction. I earn a decent wage which they was aware of and my out goings where minimal at the time of loans, surely they would of known this and flags be raised when see constant borrowing and look at credit history/bank statements.
Hope you can answer some of these, thanks Andrew.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Am I right in thinking next step is FOS?
yes if you think the LL loan was unaffordable and LL would have realised this if they had looked properly at it
I have bank statements for all of time I was borrowing money from different providers and want to know how far back from when loan was taken out should I send as evidence to FOS? Is it 2,3,4,5 or 6 months worth before the loan acceptance?
For one loan, normally 3 months before and three months fter is enough.
but if you may be sending a lot of other complaints to FOS, then you may as well send now the bank statements for all of them. Then next time you can tell FOS to use the statements supplied with your other case.
Most loan amounts was in region of £300-2000
So how much you borrowed from one lender matters. If you just had one loan of 2000 then def send it to FOS – for a large loan they should have looked closely.
If you just had two loans of 300 then you may not win a FOS case.
But if in doubt send them to FOS, it is their job to make this decision.
Andrew says
Thanks very much for reply Sara that’s helped me for the next step!
Wendy says
Hi my adjudicator found all 3 of my loans for 118118 money was irrosponsible leaning and she gave them till last Tuesday to reply to her ,which they haven’t so she’s sent them another email ,I just wonder what 118118 are like if adjudicator have found in your favour
Thanks great site
Adam says
Hello. I have a series of loans with Mobile Money going back to 2009. Can I still put a claim in for these or is it now out of date?
HoughtonGuy says
Hi,
I put in a claim for several loans from Mobile Money and ended up getting a settlement which included one loan which was over 6 years old. Well worth putting in the claim, it will be up to the FOS to consider whether the claim is valid and/or which loans it will consider.
Lottie says
Hi Sara,
FOS have upheld 3 loans I had with Loans to go, from 2011-2013. Depending on if Loans 2 go agree, and do not ask the Ombudsman to look at it, they need to pay back all interest, fees and additional charges, plus 8% stat interest.
Loan 1 – 1257.12 borrowed in 2011- last payment made in 2013 – the interest was £2333.32 – there were also lots of charges and fees , but I am not sure of the breakdown on those.
Loan 2 – July 2013 – completed August 2013 loan amount £1200 repaid one month later, but with interest and charges of £789.00.
Loan 3 – August 2013, loan amount £4000 – repaid £8790.00 final payment made august 2015. Not sure how much in additional charges yet, but I know it was a lot.
If they pay out, do you know roughly how much I would expect to get back please?
I appreciate its not going to be exact, and I know there is possibly quite a bit in charges and fees that were extra on top of the interest.
Have you heard if they are accepting FOS upheld complaints, or are they likely to do down the ombudsman route.
Many thanks
Lottie
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Loan 1 – well you say you paid 2333 interest – there isn’t any other number for me to go on…
Loan 2 – ditto, you say 789
Loan 3 – that looks like you paid 8790-4000=4790 in interest and charges.
Plus very roughly £4000 in 8% added interest.
If any of these were “top up loans” and you were basing the numbers for loans 1 and 2 on what the paperwork at the start of the loan said, your numbers for loans 1 and 2 could be a long way off.
Lottie says
Hi Sara,
Thank you –
Loan 1 – 2011 amount paid £3509.32 – loan amount was £1257.12( that was including the re- loan amount.
Loan 2 – amount paid £2726.26 – amount borrowed £1200.00. They did reduce the loan by £1432.00 in interest waiver as it was paid in full within 3 weeks of taking the loan in 2013.
Thank you for information on loan 3.
Have you had any experience of loans 2 go paying out, without asking the Ombudsman at all.
Many thanks for all your help.
Lottie
Daniel says
Hi ,
Does anyone know the email for alpha credit solutions ( used to be money way ) to make a affordability complaint to ?
Ali says
Hi, my partner has claimed against moneyway on resolver, its still called money way on there.
Daniel says
Thank you , will try that
Daniel says
Did he have much luck with them ?
PM says
I’ve had my complaint with Bamboo referred to an Ombudsman after they disagreed with the adjudicator. It’s been there for a month, and the adjudicator said there is no timeline on when it’ll be looked at. Does anyone have any experience with this? How long did you wait? Were you asked for more information?
Yo says
Hi
Does anyone know how long 118 118 and safety net credit take after getting your case passed on ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
passed on to who?
Yo says
Their complaints department, they said they will look into the case. What is the average time frame for them to come back with an offer.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They have to reply within 8 weeks.
Come back if they make you an offer and you aren’t sure how good it is… you can’t change your mind after accepting it.
Paul says
I logged a complaint with Bamboo last week about a loan in November 2020. I borrowed £2500 and made 2 of the monthly repayments. I then borrowed again from Likely Loans in March 2021 to repay the Bamboo loan and to have extra for an unexpected purchase. I have been a repeat borrower for many years between different lenders and have borrowed to repay and top up very frequently.
Bamboo have responded today stating that they followed the criteria and done all the correct checks but offered £150 in full and final settlement.
The explanation they gave includes figures but they are different to mine. The total interest I paid to Bamboo was just over £502 in 15 weeks for a £2500 loan.
Is it sensible to decline the offer and ask for the full interest amount to be refunded as I believe if I had been refused the loan I would have had to look at other ways to to repay the existing debt which would have meant less interest being paid?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ask for the full interest amount to be refunded as I believe if I had been refused the loan I would have had to look at other ways to to repay the existing debt which would have meant less interest being paid?
no you can’t win a complaint by saying that.
You need to make out a case that the loan repayments were unaffordable for you.
But you can go back and say their numbers are wrong, you paid £502 in interest and any charges for the loan, give your calculations saying that and ask for that to be refunded or you will be sending the complaint to the finacial ombudsman.
Have you also made a complaint against Likely Loans?
George says
Hi what are peoples experience with 118118 they still haven’t replied to my adjudicator they had till last wk but still nothing,is this what they normally do?
Thanks
KH says
I have an outstanding complaint with FOS that was submitted last July, it was finally picked up in May but then for some reason that adjudicator couldn’t deal with it and it’s gone back into a queue to be picked up again (it’s car finance not sure if that’s why). I’ve called and just been told it’s in a queue again and to call back in a month – is there anyone I can escalate to or is a year a standard amount of time?
Yui says
Hi , I put a claim through around 8 days ago for safety net credit and they said it would take 8 weeks for a deadline response. I went though my statements and borrowed around £8160 over a 2 year period. Does anyone know what their interest rate is so I know what to accept when they send me an offer.
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
you can’t work it out from their quoted interest rate as it depends entirely on how long you borrowed each amount for. Instead you need to go cak through the statements and add up how much you have paid them, If you don’t owe a current balance, then what you paid them mius what you borrowed = the amount you paid in interest and charges.
MK says
Hello,
Is it too late to claim a refund from WAGEDAY ADVANCE? They sent me an email may 2020 for £329 redress claim, but I missed it for some reason.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes.
Paul says
Hi Sara,
i have just received a letter in response to my affordability complaint upholding the claim. However it is not near what they should have reimburse it. As this is their final response to the complaint and i am unsatisfied do I have the right to refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Should i accept the offer and complain to the FO or reject the offer and complaint to the FO. The amount is over 4000£ and i felt that they could have reimbursed me another 40000.
Sincerely thanks for your advise and just knowing what i do know i will never take out a pay day loan.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can you say exactly what they have offered you?
Wendy says
Hi sara
I was wondering if there’s an email address for 118118 as they have agreed with my adjuctor last week and they were going to send me a settlement email but they still haven’t
Thanks for a great site
Sara (Debt Camel) says
complaints@118118money.com
if that doesnt get a resonse, try siwan.jones@118118money.com
Wendy says
Thank you Sara