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 and HP/PCP car finance. You can also use this approach for logbook loans. 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
This is what you need to do:
- Get a copy of your personal information from the lender and a copy of your credit record.
- Put in a detailed complaint.
- Consider lender’s response.
- Send the complaint to the Finanical Ombudsman.
Send your complaint by email – here are the addresses
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:
Avant Credit emailcomplaints@avantcredit.co.uk
Bamboo Loans complaints@bambooloans.com
CarCashPoint complaints@carcashpoint.com
Everyday Loans complaints@everyday-loans.co.uk
Likely Loans loans@likelyloans.com
Loans 2 Go (and their logbookloans.co.uk brand) ps@loans2go.co.uk
Mobile Money complaints@mobilemoney.co.uk
Moneybarn complaints@moneybarn.com
Moolr admin@moolr.co.uk
Motor Kitty customercare@motorkitty.co.uk
MyJar (including Myjar Plus) generalcomplaints@myjar.com
On Stride support@onstride.co.uk
Progressive Money complaints@progressivemoney.co.uk
Quick Loans customerscare@quickloans.co.uk
Ramsdens (logbook loans) customerservices@ramsdensforcash.co.uk
Satsuma onlinecustomercare@satsuma-loans.co.uk
Savvy info@savvy.co.uk
Vanquis customer.relations@vanquisbank.co.uk
Varooma complaints@varooma.com
1st Stop customerservices@1ststop.co.uk
118 118 Money complaints@118118money.com
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 a few very 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
Stage 1 – 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 Credit Karma. 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. The clock is then going and the lender has 8 weeks to respond to you. 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 infomration 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.
[add extra information if you want from the stage 2 email – you don’t have to do this]
[delete if you have repaid the loan] I would also like an affordable repayment plan to be put in place if I still owe a balance after this refund.
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. I understand you are not allowed to charge me for sending this information.
SARs are often sent out by post, make sure the lender has your new address if you have moved!
NB The template says you are asking for an affordable payment arrangement at the end of your complaint. If you want, you can ask for an affordable payment arrangement immediately unless you have a logbook loan, where you have to keep up the payments or you may lose your car.
While you are waiting for the lender’s reply, assemble some other information that may help your case:
- copies of your bank statements from 3 months before the first loan.
- your free Credit Karma credit report (used to be called Noddle).
Also read Payday 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.
Stage 2 (OPTIONAL) – add more details
This step is optional because your complaint has already started. Many lenders don’t seem to think about what you write, they just do some internal check on your borrowing before sending you a response. So you may decide it’s not worth spending time to send them more detailed information which they will ignore…
But here is what to do if you want to write more. It helps you to understand how good your case is and this is the sort of infomration it is useful to send to the Ombudsman.
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.
Change the template below so it reflects what happened to you. Where I have given some options, you can delete them all and put in another one if that is more accurate.
No-one will include all these points!
It is better to write a short complaint summarising your problems than send pages telling the lender stuff they already know eg the lender doesn’t need a list of your loans.
You can see from my bank statements and credit record that I was unable to afford the loan repayments. [Delete if not relevant] [For example, I had to borrow from X payday lender and I defaulted on my Y debt.]
When I completed the loan application, I understated some of my expenses. This was because: [put what actually happened! this could be something like] I wasn’t very aware of the amounts I was spending and completed the application hastily. OR I wanted to hide the fact I was spending a lot of money on gambling/cigarettes/alcohol. OR I was desperate and wanted to make my expenses sound low so you would give me the loan.
The FCA says that you should not accept an application where you ought reasonably to know the figures are not truthful, you can’t rely solely on the information on an application, and that you should not accept information which is inconsistent with what you know.
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.
For example [delete or add to these as appropriate]:
- You should have noticed that some figures were too low, for example: x,y,z
- I didn’t include amounts such as [delete/add as appropriate]: car insurance, TV license, opticians and dental costs, presents]
- My bank statement would have shown that I was spending more than the application said. Either you saw my bank statement and ignored this or you never asked for my bank statement to verify this.
- During a telephone call, your agent talked me into agreeing that some figures should be lower in order to get my application accepted.
- Your application didn’t ask me for details of my other credit commitments and I didn’t realise I had to include them.
- 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 should have seen that the figures I put in for other credit commitments were inconsistent with my credit record.
When I applied for a second loan/a top-up [delete/add as appropriate]:
- you ignored the evidence on the credit check that my position had got more difficult OR you didn’t do a new credit check. If you had done this you would have seen the new credit I had taken out and the new problems showing on my credit record.
- 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.
Stage 3 – consider lender’s response
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.
Normally you can tell straight away if a response is acceptable or not good enough. If you aren’t sure, ask what other people think in the Comments below this article.
Don’t be put off by a rejection. Or if the lender saying it was your fault because your loan application wasn’t accurate.
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.
It isn’t usually worth trying to negotiate with these lenders, you are just wasting your time.
Stage 4 – send to Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS)
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 Stage two. 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
- Credit Karma 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 reject the adjudicator’s decision, it will then be looked at by an Ombudsman.
“Is this really going to work?”
Here are some recent comments from people who have had refunds for this sort of loan. They show how some people get a good result directly and others have to go to the Ombudsman. Don’t assume a rejection by the lender means you can’t win!
Andy: A flat out refusal from 118118 Money. One loan (£1,000) plus one top up (£2,500). Stating they had done nothing wrong, all payments made on time and paid top up loan off early. Saying I had a good income, verified by a bank statement and they had phone call recordings that I had made it clear the repayments were affordable.
Sent to FOS as I was in loads of debt at the time, loads of repeat pay day loans etc. Didn’t hold out much hope but thought I may get a positive decision on the top up loan. Adjudicator held in my favour on both loans. 118118 accepted decision and offered circa £800. I had my loan statements and the total interest (plus 8% interest) was nearer £1,300. Adjudicator queried this for me with 118118. They agreed with my calculations. Adjudicator gave them 28 days to pay. It was in my bank the very same day.
Dan: I had a complaint upheld by the adjudicator at the Ombudsman against Avant Credit: Refund of all interest and 8%, £75 compensation, removal of loan from my credit file. Avant Credit agreed with the adjudicator.
Louise: Have had my response from Everyday Loans and complaint upheld. All interest been removed and I only have to pay back what they lent. Excellent outcome. Lent 5000 and have paid 3k so just 2k left to go. On my DMPthe balance was showing at 6.5k still left. Took them 5 weeks to uphold my complaint a lot of emails going back and forth.
Soph: Had 2 loans from Avant Credit. Rejected within 2 days, sent to FOS Jan, upheld in March, Avant agreed with FOS and refund in the bank within 7 days.
Robert: I was successful in getting all interest wiped from my topped up loan with 118 118, didn’t go to the FOS or anything.
“What about a bank loan?”
The affordability test is the same – could you repay the loan without getting deeper into debt elsewhere. But there are two problems with normal bank loans:
- their interest rates are lower so it’s harder to show that the smaller repayments are unaffordable; and
- if your credit record was OK or even good, the bank wouldn’t have been alerted to the fact you may have difficulty.
So it can be hard to win a case involving a typical bank loan, especially if your credit record was OK. But if you want to try, use the template letters here.
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.
Getting a payday loan refund if you owe money
What to put in an affordability complaint
Examples of gambling & payday loan refunds
Nicki says
I have just had a rejection from Avant which I am about to escalate to the . Avant rejected my complaint on the grounds that I had applied to consolidate my debts (so they expected me to clear the payday loans) & that all my accounts were up to date for the preceding 12 months. This was only because I kept borrowing from payday lenders! Although I initially managed to keep up the payments to Avant, it was a struggle & I started borrowing from payday lenders again (I also had a DMP running with Stepchange which had been in place before I took out the Avant loan). Surely they should have taken all this into account when they made their decision to lend to me? My credit rating must have been dreadful. A few months later I borrowed again from MyJar & I also complained to them (at the same time as Avant) & they have upheld the complaint & removed all the interest. The situation with them was no different. Do I stand a chance via the FOS? Also, can I stop paying Avant while the complaint is ongoing because I am really struggling at the moment (again)! (I should add that I have had repayment plans with both Avant & MyJar for the last year).
Catherine says
Did you send your bank statements and credit report in when you made your complaint?
In my opinion a lender should be confident that the borrower is going to pay off other debts when applying for a consolidation loan and work on a probability scale that if a borrower was not to clear other debts would the loan still be affordable,if it would only be affordable if other debts are clear then they should be performing more checks on borrowing and repayment history to see if repeated borrowing is long term.If it is then they shouldn’t lend as it shows signs of reliance on borrowing from one to pay another.
I have a complaint in with avant,they have had it 4 weeks,I sent in my report and bank statement from the month prior showing payday loan repayments to over 10 different lenders,a large overdraft and multiple credit application searches.My loan was for £2000 in 2016,all paid now,had one missed payment and a deferred payment to end of loan term,I think I said it was to consolidate debt(payday loans)I did clear a few but then borrowed again,but it was never affordable as I had lived in overdraft for 3 years prior and balance was never in the black.
Fingers crossed the FOS supports your complaint and mine if I have to go that far.
Nicki says
Catherine
Yes I sent in bank statements for 3 months prior to the loan (which show all of the multiple payday lenders) & a copy of my credit report.
I will definitely be sending to the FOS, as the MyJar decision as well as a large WONGA repayment (although I know it won’t be nearly as much as it should be) make me pretty confident that Avant shouldn’t have given me this loan.
Good luck with yours, it sounds very similar to my situation. Avant took about 5 weeks to give me their response.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
THE DMP shows you could probably not afford the Avant loan even if you did pay off the payday day loans. This is worth sending to FOS.
Also ask Stepchange if you can include the Avant and Myjar debts in your DMP.
Nicki says
Thanks Sara, I will speak to Stepchange. If Avant eventually give me a refund, will it go to Stepchange (to reduce my other balances) or to me?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
A refund will first be used to clear the balance you owe to Avant, the rest is paid to you.
Lisa says
I have put in complaints to quite a few lenders.
Wonga and QQ upheld my complaints mostly without me having to supply anything but I didn’t get to the point of being paid out 😰
Now have active complaints with 118, myjar, amigo, and me lender.
Mr lender complaint is now with FOS and I have just been given a reference number and asked to supply my bank statements which I have done.
Myjar is asking me to supply them with bank statements. PROBLEM -the information on wages and bills I gave to the loan companies is correct. However, I had a serious gambling problem. It wasn’t that I couldn’t afford the loan it’s that I was getting payday loan after payday loan from lots of different companies to then gamble. You can see all the loans coming in and the. All the gambling transactions on my statements. I am worried that my claims will be rejected due to this. If they had asked for my bank statements when I applied for my loans they would have never given them to me. Question is should I send my bank statements to myjar or wait for it to go to FOS?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes send the statement to Myjar. This was presumably a large loan? Gambling supports your complaint that if they had properly checked your situation they wouldn’t have given you the loan. There is more chance of them upholding a 1 loan case if you send statements.
Also send statements to Amigo if you haven’t already done this. Amigo want statements for the 3 months before each loan and top up application. Don’t wait to be asked, as that would be at the end of the 8 weeks, send them now to try to speed up the process.
Lisa says
Thanks for the advice I will get them sent. Will keep you updated on progress.
Elle says
Hi all
Please can anyone advise if we are able to contact companies ourselves. I am so fed up with the adjudicator she is taking days to respond to me and adding valuable time onto this. Sunny offered me loans 15-43 after adjudicator ruled they should pay 5-43. I counter offered sunny 7-43 but all done through my adjudicator and it’s taking too long I am fed up now. I could have called sunny and negotiated this within ten minutes on the phone and have an agreement by now. My patience is wearing thin with the adjudicator now.
Scott says
Hi Elle,
Yes you can, just phone FOS and tell them you want to close your complaint and that you will deal with it yourself.
Scott
Sara (Debt Camel) says
NO that is not a sensible thing to try. If the FOS complaint is closed, Sunny could just say no to any refund and you would have to go to court.
Elle says
Thanks I wouldn’t close it with FOS but I wondered if I can also contact sunny myself. I have sent the adjudicator an email saying I am unhappy with the communication with her. If she is that slow with me then I can assume she is also that slow with responding to sunny.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“I can assume she is also that slow with responding to sunny.”
No you really can’t assume that. You only asked her to do this a few days ago.
I also doubt Sunny will play ball. This is a long shot. Don’t pin your hopes on it working.
Lee Walker says
So, I’ve been contacted by Avant to let me know my complaint was upheld, they’re going to cover all interest and charges along with statutory interest too, they’ll also remove negative marks on the credit score too – no figures were given but they’ve said I’ll hear back about redress in 1-2 weeks. The Loan is about half paid off and I think what I get back should cover the principal and then some…..
I wonder if anyone has been in this position with Avant – My thoughts are to stop paying the loan, although no figures have been confirmed I know I’ve paid enough interest to cover what’s owed and they’ve agreed they owe this, they also say negative remarks will be removed so it’s not possible to default right? I’ve moved the next payment date to the deadline they gave and we’ll see what they say in roughly 2 weeks.
any one got any suggestions/experience to share, I would be appreciate it. Also if you have any questions please let me know.
Nick says
Lee – you are lucky – my Avant complaint was not upheld (even though a MyJar one with almost identical circumstances but loan taken a few months later was upheld). I am now about to take the Avant complaint to the FOS. I was wondering what your circumstances were & why they have agreed to uphold your complaint?
I too have stopped paying Avant but they are being difficult about this. They are insisting I go via a Debt Management company (won’t let me send payments to them via electronic banking) but they have given me 30 days to sort this out/contact a Debt Management co. So my thoughts are that if you stop paying them, they have to allow you that 30 day timescale so you should have (hopefully) had your refund from them. I haven’t (personally) found them a very easy company to deal with though!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Nick,
Avant can’t refuse to deal with you unless you go via a debt management company.
You could quote this FCA rule to them:
CONC 7.12.2R A firm must not:
…
(3) refuse to deal with a customer who is developing a repayment plan, a third party who is assisting a customer to develop a repayment plan or a third party who is developing a debt management plan for the customer’s debts, unless there is an objectively justifiable reason for doing so
However they can insist on you providing them with an income & expenditure statement and something showing that you are offering fair payments to all your debts. It would not be fair to carry on paying your other debts the full amount and expect Avant to accept less.
If you have a lot of debts, going through a DMP firm is often just simpler!
Ross says
Hi Lee,
I would recommend that you keep on paying until Avant give you the figures and they close your account. Whatever you pay over, you will get back anyway. Well done on your victory. It’s good to see so many Avant success stories on here. Mine wasn’t upheld and the adjudicator at the FOS never upheld it either. Just waiting for an Ombudsman decision now. Seems it will be a while though!
sam says
Hello all
just letting everyone know about the complaint about my loan from H & T Pawnbrokers.
I took a £500 loan last year and paid back £950.
They have agreed today to refund me my interest & 8% , which is excellent news.
taken about 5/6 weeks which isn’t too bad for a response, just going to wait for the money now. (not sure how long this takes if anyone knows?)
thanks sara for this site once again
Martin says
Not that I am particularly stressed about timings and the process, but one thing did annoy me lately. I have sent the complaint by post to New Day on the 09/11, they have signed for on the 13 and yesterday (26) I have received a letter dated 19th with confirmation of complaint receipt.
Which date will be valid for a referral to ombudsman?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The 13th.
John G says
Hi Sara
I have a very important question which I need your help with please which I think will help others in the future.
118118 agreed they irresponsibly lent and removed the interest and deleted the loan off my account which they did. They have since sold the debt to a third party who have now added the agreement back onto my credit report?! Is this allowed?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
There aren’t hard written rules but this doesn’t sound fair to me. Tell the debt purchaser why the debt was originally deleted from your credit record and ask them to do the same. If they refuse, send them a formal complaint and then on to the Ombudsman if that is rejected.
Rob says
Does anyone know why Everyday Loans would be searching my credit file? I put a complaint in about 5 weeks ago and haven’t heard anything back (not even an acknowledgement of my complaint!) and now I’ve just got an email from clearscore saying a hard search will be added to my report from Everyday Loans. Any ideas??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Contact Everyday Loans and tell them this and ask for the hard search to be removed. EL should only be making an administrative search that is not visible to other lenders.
Em says
Hi All,
Is anyone else having to wait ridiculous amount of time for their queries to be looked into? I submitted complaints against Avant and 118 in December last year. Avant was picked up by an adjudicator and then escalated to an ombudsman and closed within a matter of weeks. 118 has now been with the FOS for a year and hasn’t even been picked up by an adjudicator? I know I was signing up to a long process but this is now begining to get out of control. 118 have sold my debt (even though I had a payment plan, which ended and then I went back to paying the full amount for a month then it was just sold!) I have the debt collectors chasing me daily, 118 are not contacting them to tell them to back off despite the fact the FOS have asked them too. This is all just getting a bit too much.
Clare Jane says
Hi Em,
Totally appreciate and sympathise your frustration. I have two claims from December 2018 with FOS which were allocated then dropped and sent in another direction, presumably the high cost team.
From what I understand the FOS is training large numbers of staff to try to handle the complaint, which are increasing daily in size. An adjudicator on another case of mine mentioned this to me via email recently.
I check in with the team for an a monthly update. I know it’s very frustrating but, hang in there…patience can be well worth it.
I sincerely hope you have good news soon.
Rachel says
I have recently done a complaint with 118, after the initial 8 weeks they asked for another 21days for my final response. It has now been another 4 weeks and they are not replying to my emails where do I go from here?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send it to the Ombudsman now. Sorry you have wasted this time.
Rachel says
What if I hear from them in the meantime does this matter? Also them not given me my final response will this go in my favour with the ombudsman?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can withdraw a complaint at FOS if your case has been settled. You won’t win your case at FOA just because the lender didn’t reply in time, FOS will still want to see if the loan was affordable for you and what checkes 118 made.
Ella says
After a year and a bit wait on my Likely Loans complaint, the adjudicator has found in my favour on all loans and has sent it off to LL. Now waiting for their response. I didn’t think I would win this case so was surprised. These types of claims take alot longer than payday claims and the team is a smaller team. There is no guarantee that they will agree but they have until the 9th December.
JA says
Good luck ella – I’m waiting on an adjudicator to pick up my case that was sent in april this year. Hopefully they agree and you get what you’re owed.
JA says
May I ask – What did your adjudicator say behind upholding your complaint?
Ella says
I was medically finished work in 2009 and not been able to work since and this is on my bank statements as I have healthcare that I have to pay for – NHS only pay for so much – so although I had money coming in it had to go out on medical expenses so didn’t leave enough to pay bills etc and we also had three students at the same time so the bank statements showed a lot of transactions taking place to and from our bank. We had ccj’s, defaults on our credit reports so if they had done the proper checks they would have seen these. Credit report from 2011 to 2017.
I do think that with these types of cases you have to speak to the adjudicator to give them an insight into everything – I mean everything – it was a little upsetting but it has been worth it in the end – I just need LL to agree now. The refund – 1496.00 after tax is for two loans over 18 months.
I will say as well, keep ringing them and if you get to 12 months ask to speak to a manager as the FOS agreed with me that they had taken too long to deal with my cases. I was always polite and so were they, but they also told me that LL took four months to respond with information so they are using delaying tactics. If they don’t pick it up by the 9th December it is going straight to ombudsman but that should not be a long wait on this case. It should have been a priority case and wasn’t picked up as such and the FOS apologised for that too.
Ella says
Likely Loans agreed with the adjudicators findings and I should have payment within 3 to 5 days. It wasn’t the amount I thought it would be as the interest is worked different on these loans but it is still nice before Christmas. Good luck to those waiting.
Ella says
Likely Loans have been in touch with me today to confirm the amount they are refunding me and the calculations they made to get there and expect payment to be in my bank within the next ten days. They seem very organised.
Ella says
Payment made direct by LL on 6th December. So 16 months in total start to finish including ombudsman and initial 8 weeks. Good luck to anybody waiting. Thanks Sara.
Lee sharratt says
So. 118 have written off 4K in interest from my £2800 loan. Only owe them £270. What a result. Only 4 more complaints to settle
Taylor says
Hi Lee how long did you wait? Can you share your timeline? :)
Lee sharratt says
Since August. But emailed a director and dealt within a week.
Darren says
What’s the email address?
Chris says
Hi Sara I have a complaint in against Carcashpoint at the FOS and am struggling this month to make the month’s payment. I have rung them to see if I can repay this months’ arrears over a period (total £370) but they have been pretty aggressive asking me to make a 50% deposit today – this I can’t do. I have made 16 months payment on the loan to date – so I am up to date – but it has not been easy as my income has dropped since the loans were taken out. I rang the FOS to let them know the situation. Do you know if repossession of a vehicle takes place after one missed payment? Very worried at the moment so any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you have other debts that you are paying?
Chris says
Yes – I’m in a DMP.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
your logbook loan is a secured debt so paying it is a priority. I suggest you talk to your DMP firm about reducing the DMP payments.
SN says
Just to say thanks to Sara & all at this site. I contacted Loans2Go with whom I have had several loans over the last few years. The did not uphold my complaint but as a gesture, have agreed to write off the rest of my outstanding loan (c. £2500) and remove any adverse information on my credit file. I know I could probably go to FOS and get a bit more but to know I don’t owe that money any more, to be honest, is as important as getting redress and money back.
Becs says
I have finally had a settlement offer from Everyday Loans, but I don’t understand what they mean by ‘you have an outstanding balance’ when I paid everything in full? “You took this loan with us in April 2017. The amount borrowed was £8241.66 out of which £6043.49 was used to settle your 1st loanand the remaining £2198.17 was paid directly to you. As this loan has been found to be unaffordable to you at the time it was approved, we would require you to pay back only the amount we paid directly to you with no interest. When the loan was settled in October 2017, you had paid a total of £10709.99. You have therefore paid £8511.82 more than the amount that was paid directly to you. We would now refund this amount plus 8% statutory interest. The total amount to be refunded is set out below, but should you wish to discuss this further with me, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Becs says
Part II: Overpayment made: £8511.82 / Interest @ 8%: £1456.68 (This is subject to 20% HMRC tax deduction) / Total Refund*: £9968.50 / Refund due: £9677.16 (£291.34 deduction as per legislation going to HMRC)
This loan was taken in September 2016. The amount borrowed was £6000.00 which you had full use of. As this loan has been found to be unaffordable to you at the time it was approved, we would require you to pay back the amount you borrowed with no interest. When the loan was settled in April 2017, you had paid a total of £3328.16. This means you have an outstanding balance of £2671.84 for the amount borrowed to be paid in full. This outstanding balance will be deducted from the total redress due on loan 1108677716. The total redress now due you across these two loans is therefore £7005.32.
Rob says
Hi, can I ask how long it took for everyday loans?? I sent initial complaint 6 weeks ago and they didn’t reply to acknowledge it or anything and then I sent another 2 emails asking if they received my complaint and they replied about 4 days ago saying ‘please send your address and personal details so we can locate your account’ – after 6 weeks!!! Do I just send straight to FOS after 8 weeks?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
In the 8 week period it seems standard for no-one to look at the complaint until the last week… so hopefully you will get a reply in the 8 weeks.
Becs says
Sara – do the amounts stated make sense to you?
Becs says
I sent my original complaint in April 2018. The FOS finally got in touch agreeing with me at the beginning of October 2019. Everyday disagreed and strung it out until 2 weeks ago. They then agreed but said it would take two weeks to complete the calculation. And now I don’t know if what they have calculated is correct or not.
Scott says
Hi Becs,
The figures in EL settlement offer look very good to me, they have calculated in a different way but it is in your favour by about £350.
To break it down easier, you received £6000 and then another £2198.17 – total £8198.17.
You paid £3328.16 towards the 1st loan before topping up, you then paid £10,709.99 – total paid £14,038.15
You paid £5839.99 more than the original principal amount. 8% on that from 10/17 amounts to £1012.47. (Tax on this would be £202.49 leaving £802.98)
If they had calculated things as above then you would have ended up with £5839.99 (extra paid above principal) plus £802.98 ( 8% stat int after tax) = £6649.97
Because they done all their calculations before addressing the balance of the original loan, you have benefited from the extra statutory interest on the higher amount.
Hope this all makes sense.
Scott
Becs says
Thanks Scott – that makes sense to me (numbers are not my strong point)! Very much appreciated!
Taylor says
Success story.
I took out 4 loans with 118 over the course of 2 years. Each for around £3,500. I complained mid August to them also did request a SAR which they did send before the 8 weeks was up. Once it passed the 8 weeks they asked for a further 21 days, they
did wait a further 31 days rather than 21 but they uplheld the latter 2 loans, meaning they refunded interest on both these loans. This wiped the balance of my current loan which they closed immediately and then asked me for my bank details to credit the second one. Payment was in my account within 2 working days once I agreed.
They’ve also agreed to remove these loans from credit file resulting in a very good credit score now.
I could have taken the whole 4 to FOS but given I missed out on Wonga and just got my QQ payment before they went bust – I went ahead and agreed :)
Very happy as I’m almost debt free now and the debt I do have left I’m comfortably paying off each month as they are high street bank loans and almost finished!
Thanks for all your help Sarah – you are a legend!
Jen says
Hi Sara, I had a few loans with Peachey and made an irresponsible lending complaint with them. They upheld my final loan, at the time I was struggling and the debt got sold to motormile finance (now known as lantern uk) they applied a CCJ to my credit file for this debt. Now that the complaint has been upheld and the result was a refund and to remove all negative information associated with that loan I have been attempting to get the CCJ removed from my credit file. I first contacted peachy and the courts who both advised that it would be lantern to remove this, I contacted them and raised a dispute regarding this with them, they came back today and advised they have sent my account back to peachy and raise the request with them instead. I find it hard to believe that peachy will be able to do anything. I’m at a bit of a loss as to where to go with this now. I just want it to be removed but dont feel it’s my place to have to pay £250 to the courts to apply for it to be set aside. Please help!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Tell Peachy that either they have to sort it or they have to give you the £250 so you can apply for the set aside.
Catherine says
Success story with Bamboo-
I complained to the business at the end of October and received a final response on a Monday about 6 weeks in not upholding.The response was in great detail but I did not accept their response.
I went back and addressed every part of their response and why I still thought they should uphold and asked for it to be reviewed by the compliance team instead of the complaints team.Less then 36 hours later and they have now agreed they should of done more and wiped over £5000 interest.This means I have only £400 to pay to clear original loan amount,I had nearly 17 months left of the loan term with payments of over £300 a month to make.
So I am very happy.Just because the business says it’s a final response does not mean that’s that.
I strongly urge anyone that doesn’t get the response they want push for a further investigation by the executive team in compliance by providing a response to their response before going to FOS.It worked for me.
Good luck everyone
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well pushed! That is the second time Bamboo have been persuaded to change their mind.
Jo says
Hi
My complaint with Avant has been upheld, I was sent an email on the 22nd November saying they would email me the breakdown, as of yet I have still not received this. Any idea of timescale this normally takes.
Thanks
Jo
H says
I am still waiting for avant to contact me too.
I emailed after a week and they said it cant take up to 30 days.
I have since emailed to ask for the contact details of who is dealing with the redress and apparently the redress team do not have any contact details.
They like to take their time!
Jo says
I also emailed them and said they can’t give me a time frame. Hopefully not to long
H says
Jo and lee
Dont suppose you guys have heard from avant yet?? The 1/2 week time frame given to others is up today?
Lee Walker says
Hi Jo,
Roughly the same stage as you, got the upheld email on the 22th November, ask how long for redress and the agent replied saying 1 to 2 weeks the following Monday 25th. I’m still waiting as of today, I chased by email yesterday as it just happens that my next payment falls on the 2 week deadline. I’m reluctant to pay as I’ve already calculated that the interest paid is over the principal left to pay….way over. Hope this helps.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Cancel that payment! Every payment you make now means any calculation has to be redone to take account of it.
Lee Walker says
Hi Sara, I’ve done this now and let them know. That’s an extra £150 this Christmas thanks…..
Jo says
Hi
Still not heard anything, I f not heard by this afternoon will send them another email
Lee Walker says
Hi Jo,
Just heard from them 10 minutes ago.
having chased them yesterday, and to tell them I’m not paying my next bill.
So my £1500 remaining principal has been wiped, I have a payment to my bank within 30 days coming for the rest, it’s about £300.
Hope this helps
Lee
H says
I have just heard from them too. Merry christmas to us.
Hopefully a wee payment in before christmas
Jo says
Hi lee just checked emails and I will receive money in 30 days, this website is brilliant
Mary Lou from didgerydoo says
Starting to think I’m just the most unlucky person in the world now
1 year and 6 months in for a avant credit from ombudsman still waiting to be assigned. Is this some sort of joke now? Everyone else seems to be having success
Scott says
Hi Mary Lou,
A year and 6 months is a long time to wait, I would chase the FOS on this.
On a positive note the wait may be in your favour. The FOS seem to be upholding more of these complaints these days compared to over a year ago.
My own Likely Loans and Amigo complaints weren’t upheld way back then although every other complaint I had was.
Hope the wait goes in your favour but I would chase them.
Scott
John Stockwell says
Dear sara I have finally after 16 months wait had a decision on my 118118 complaint two loans and a top up .my question is the second loan for £ 1000 was paid over 24 months in the 13th month I took a top up of £750 this took the loan to just over £2700 owing I have paid back £1450 will I get anything back or just have the balance wiped .the second loan was August 2016and top up sept 17 .I am in a dmp and was hoping to be debt free .They 118 have agreed with the adjudicator .the loan went to lowell financial and I am just confused.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What was the adjudicator’s decision?
John Stockwell says
The adjudicator decision was to refund all loans interest and take the principal loan amount and use this to pay off remaining interest
Scott says
Hi John,
How much was loan 1 and how much did you pay on that one?
Is the £1450 figure the total amount that you have paid towards the £1000 2nd loan and £750 top up?
Scott
John Stockwell says
Sorry my grammar wasn’t correct.Adjudicator said the usual take the principal sums away from the total .refund interest plus statutory 8% deduct remaining balance .The reason im confused as to how this is calculated as first 1k loan £484 interest second 1k loan £956 interest .third (top up)loan £1450 interest.Its the paying off of second loans interest and adding that in to the third one thats confusing me.All I can see is I borrowed £1750 have paid back £2400 but still have £1450 left to pay .Would lowell had added interest interest or would they not be allowed to.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you had 1 loan and two top ups. Were these top ups set up as new loans that were settling the old ones? Assuming they were, can you give the following figures:
loan 1 – what did you borrow? what is the total of monthly repayments you made to this?
Loan 2 – how large was the loan, how much did you get paid in cash and how much was used to settle loan 1? what is the total of monthly repayments you made to this?
loan 3 – – how large was the loan, how much did you get paid in cash and how much was used to settle loan 2? what is the total of monthly repayments you have made to this so far to 118? And how much have you paid to Lowell?
For all these numbers, ignore any statements saying how much was interest and what the current balance is. You just follow the money trail. What was the amount of the loan excluding interest, what did you receive & what did you pay
Ljc says
Sara this has just come up in my local Newspaper https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/18089038.amigo-loans-boss-hamish-paton-resigns-just-five-months/
Sara (Debt Camel) says
gosh. Thanks!
Lee Walker says
Brilliant news…..
I’m now gunning for 118 money – 3 loans over 3 years in the same time-frame as Avant.
Bamboo – fully paid and early but I thought I’d give it ago.
and Likely loans – 2 loans back to back after a poor payment history with the first.
They’ve all got back and investigating my complaints but, these are way behind the Avant one I think I’ve got a good case with all of these and I’ll post updates when I hear from them.
Jen says
The way the redress is calculated is by taking the total amount paid to date, in your case 2,400, minus the amount borrowed (1750) leaving 650 then they will add on the 8% statutory interest. The remainder of the loan will be written off. In the event the amount borrowed is not repaid in full, then you will be asked to repay this and all interest and charges are waived. Hope this clears it up a bit.
D Jacob says
Hi guys,
Anyone had any luck with varooma, autoadvance and loans2go (Logbook + personal loan). I have had logbook loans from them over last 4 years. Whats the likelihood of success? as at the time I took those loans I had around 20+ loans from multiple payday lenders/bank loans/credit cards?
I have paid all those log book loans in full though but have defaulted on rest of the loans. It it worth putting in a affordability claim?
Thanks for any advice.
D Jacob
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is definitely worth a try if you think the loans were unaffordable – you could only make the repayments if you borrowed more money to survive on. Some people have won, it sounds as though you had a lot of borrowing so you may have a strong case. expect the lenders to say No and just send it to the ombudsman.
Also make claims against payday lenders!
SN says
Loans2Go were good with me to a point. They rejected my complaint but they did wipe the remaining balance and remove info from my credit file. I think I could have got more redress from FOS but my main aim was to reduce my outgoings and that is £200 a month I dont have to find leading up to Christmas! Got a Credit Karma notification this morning and the loan is now settled.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I didn’t focus on you having a L2G personal loan as well as a logbook loan. I have a special page dedicated to this uniquely appalling loan – https://debtcamel.co.uk/worst-loan-in-britain/
D Jacob says
Thanks for the reply. Will definitely put the complaint through then. I have only put in complaint against a few in last 4weeks and already 1 of them (safety net credIt) have written off the balance over £1.5k and paid me around £200, settled it and wiped the negative credit impact. Rest all have acknowledged the complaint and said will reply within 8 weeks so fingers crossed.
Charlotte says
So finally after 10 months of waiting I rang up the financial ombudsman to see how my complaint was going and it’s finally been picked up by an adjudicator!
Does anyone have any experience of how long it should be until I get a decision from them now?
I was under the impression that the adjudicator contacts you once they’ve picked it up which they haven’t yet!
Any information would be great
Thanks
Charl
Dan says
Hello sara and all
Very interesting result with loans2go. I complained about taking a 250 pound loan when i was in huge debt – complained about affordability and sent them 3 months bank statements.
After 6 weeks they rejected it – i replied saying i wasnt happy because of my payday loan debts. They responded by stating they couldnt uphold because ‘the bank statements you attached have no evidence of padyday loan problems.
I pointed out that the attached statements in fact had 2600 pounds of payday loans coming in and 4500 of PDL payments going out in those 3 months.
I told them it appeared they hadnt even looked at the statements. They responded saying they have now reviewed my evidence and agreed to refund interest and 8%.
No need for FOS!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
thanks for the update!
Mark says
Finally have a reply from 118 but they have not upheld my complaint..Borrowed £2000 at a time when I had multiple other payday loans which combined were more than my monthly salary.Also on my statements will show lots of gambling transactions which I have worries about but I will send off to the FOS
Stacy says
Hi could someone help me please
1st loan £2000
Paid 2 x £123,63
Top up 1 £5500
Recieved £3,611,85
Paid 5 x £268,34
Top up 2 £6750
Recieved £1,645,29
Paid 5 x £288,73
Top up 3 £8500
Recieved £1,289,57
Paid 20 x £335,96
Still owe £9,027
Thank you,I’m going in circles workingvit out