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 1 loan
The regulator says for a loan to be affordable:
you have to be able to 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
Ljc says
Hello Sara
Can I have some advice please – from 2008 I had multiple pay day loans , credit cards , bank loans etc and on some of the credit cards I was able to have cheques paid to me eg mbna had a balence on the card of say £2000 and they’d write to me with blank cheques and I’d fill out and get £3500 credited to my bank as I was robbing Peter to pay Paul etc – I was bouncing payments , only making min payments etc and wondered if I could go to these credit cards/loans and say they should of never of lent me/given me these loans/cards upped my limits etc – if I can put in a complaint what template should I use and say etc ?
Thanks for your help
Sara (Debt Camel) says
For payday loans where you used the same lender several times, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/
For bank loans, use the template on this page.
For credit cards and overdrafts where your credit limit was increased, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-catalogue-credit-card/
Ljc says
Thank you Sara
Can I put in a complaint to welcome finance about affordability / irresponsible lending for a secured loan I was given in 2007 and still owe money on (PRA have got the debt now)
Lou7 says
Hi
I have had a decision from the adjudicator about 118 money and they have two weeks to agree or disagree. As anyone had them sort things out at this stage or do 118 money make things difficult and disagree? Any information would be appreciated
Bob says
Hi Lou7,
Just seeing how you got on please with this as I am in a similar position waiting for a decision. Thanks.
Mark says
Hi
I had a reply from 118 at the eight week stage saying they need more time to make a decision.because of the extra time they need is it more likely or unlikely I will get a refund or not.
Scott says
Hi Mark,
As the 8 weeks have passed, I would submit to FOS to get in the queue.
If they come back with an offer that is decent, you can withdraw your complaint with FOS.
118 have probably not even looked at your complaint yet.
Scott
Ljc says
Hi Sara
Can I put in a complaint to welcome finance about affordability / irresponsible lending for a secured loan I was given in 2007 and still owe money on (PRA have got the debt now)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you go to your local Citizens Advice or talk to National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 about this, as the rules about secured loans are different and have also changed over the years.
Ljc says
Ok thank you
Turtle says
So I got an Email back today from the ICO. I complained a few months ago to them after Likely Loans refused to send me a copy of my credit report which they used to grant the 1 £2k loan I had with them. Response below, not great. Thoughts?
“The information on your credit reference file covers a period of six years so you should be able to see your credit history on your credit reference file at the time the lending decision was made. This should not be any different to the information available to Oakbrook Finance when they checked your credit file.
You can obtain your statutory credit report free of charge from one or more of the credit reference agencies. Full details of how to do this are provided in the ICO guide “Credit Explained” available via the ICO website”
Aimee b says
Hi Sara, I understand if you don’t have the time to come back to me. I got into the payday loan spiral a few of years ago and it got worse and worse, to the point where I tried to take out a large 118118 loan – looking back I was surprised when I was approved as I was getting rejected on extending loans by this point etc. It’s taken me years but I have managed to clear all debts apart from this one.
£3000 loan sent to me 05/01/16
My repayments so far:
01/02/16-31/05/16: £1483.20
11/07/16-£579 stepchange – not sure how much of this went to 118
08/12/17-31/10/18 £77.17 direct on 118 website
I then had a letter to say my debt had been sent to Lantern so my repayments so far to Lantern have been:
03/12/18-02/10/19 £900
I still have the monthly payment of £50 set up. (Originally £150 but decreased it a couple of months ago)
Current amount with Lantern left to pay: £4060
So all together I have paid back £2460.37 & the amount through stepchange that I am unsure of.
I guess my query is do I just keep paying lantern back until clear balance? Looking back I don’t understand how 118 would have given me that large amount given the amount of defaults and late payments on my credit report at that time but I accept responsibility that I got myself into the mess. Am I in any place to email 118118? Or is it too late because it’s now with lantern? Whatever the case I just want to be able to rebuild my credit and be debt free.
Thank you so much for reading this
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can still complain to 118 even though your debt has been sold to Lantern. Just use the template in the article above.
If you win the case, 118 will sort out with Lantern how much has been paid. It sounds as though you haven’t quite repaid £3000 borrowed, but are getting close. SO there may still be a few hundred left. But that would be a big improvement on £4000!
sam says
Hi Sara
Can you get refunds on loans when you’ve only had 2?
I was in a bad situation with payday lenders for years and took 2 bigger loans out with 118118, one is 2016 and the other 2018.
(£1000 & £2000 interest being £2500).
Emailed them about 6 weeks ago so waiting for a reply.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes, you can get a refund on only one loan if it is large!
sam says
the first one was £1000 and paid back £1400 in 2016
the second was £2000 and I am paying back £3500 in total – this one I still owe £700 I believe.
See what they say I suppose!
sam says
Hi Sara
Can I obviously ask for the larger one to be refunded or would they make the offer for the smaller one?
do I get a choice?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ask for them both to be refunded. If they offer a refund on the smaller one, then you would probably want to send the larger one to the Ombudsman. If they offer a refund on the larger one, you may decide that is a good enough offer and just accept?
But set off asking for both. and if they reject both, take the complaint about both to the ombudsman.
118 can be very slow. don’t let yourself be messed around, if they haven’t replied at the end of 8 weeks, send the case to the ombudsman.
Tony says
Hi guys. Likely loans have upheld complaint on a top up loan saying they could have done more checks but declined the initial loan saying they conducted reasonable checks. it’s a bit contradictory to uphold top up but not initial so I shall bank the 589 they are refunding for the top up and send the initial complaint for loan 1 to the ombudsman. A good result so far hope ombudsman agrees with me and repays loan 1 as this interest is 1500. Good luck with any with them. They only took 5 weeks to come back with final response so fair play to them for that.
HBurnett says
Just had reply from Ombudsman Re: Myjar, I have been awarded a refund of £4538.01.
The initial response from Myjar was for a refund of £650, just shows keep going as initial responses
are not correct.
Paul Wakeman says
After some advice please. In Feb 2017, my Partner and I took out a Hire Purchase Agreement with First Response Finance as our car at the time had had so many problems it was cheaper to scrap it rather than pay for repairs. Having 4 kids in the household we were desperate to be accepted for some sort of finance to get a loan to enable us to get a second hand car. We were given £3,699 Credit (we had already put down a deposit of £600 which was borrowed from my Partners Parents) to enable us to buy a car for £4,299 and the interest to be paid back on the £3,699 was/is £2,726.28 and we entered in to a 4 year agreement where we are paying £133.86 per month. At the time of being accepted for the loan, both of us had Provident accounts totalling £11,000 in arrears, Credit Cards, Payday loans and Guarantor Loans. I also had some judgment debts registered against me on my Credit file. We are currently in the process of repairing our credit files and getting out of the payday loan trap etc and have been successful with a few. My question is: Is it worth submitting a joint complaint or should we do separate ones based on our individual circumstances at the time? Many Thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Joint complaint.
Have you complained about the Guarantor loan? That may be easier to win!
Paul Wakeman says
I have complained about the Guarantor Loan (Amigo) and they refused to uphold so that has been passed recently from an Investigator to an Adjudicator. The Guarantor Loan is in my name only and has 2 payments left (£268.34 tomorrow and £172.30 on 21 November). Both my Partner and I have numerous complaints with the FOS at the moment due to a year from hell last year which resulted in us taking numerous payday loans/credit cards/catalogues and with regards to the Car loan, our Credit Files show a couple of missed payments (even though our account was brought back up to date within a week of missing them). I am trying to get our files in a more healthy position and figured as the missed payments show on both our credit files, a joint complaint would be easier rather than 2 separate ones.
Dan says
So after my amigo complaint being upheld, a week later 118 have also upheld my complaint. They admitted that they could have done a lot more to assess my financial situation and they apologised for this.
I only had one loan of 1700 and they agreed to remove interest of 1698.78. This means my balance went down from 2075.81 to 376.03.
What was amazing was that they had deducted this before sending the email whereas amigo made me wait 5 days. I sent bank statements with the initial complaint for both amigo and 118 and i cannot stress how important it is to do this.
Thank you again sara
Sara (Debt Camel) says
2 good results!
118 Money has been doing this for quite a while now. The concept of refunds is still pretty new to Amigo!
Taylor says
Hi Dan – can I ask did 118 uphold your complaint once you sent to the FOS or was this within the 8 week complaint period? I currently have one approaching the 8 week mark, I appreciate it’s probably going to take a couple of years just like every other complaint I’ve made :)
Dan says
They upheld it themselves. I sent them my bank statements with the complaint and it was littered with PDL, maxed credit cards overdrafts and an amigo loan.
They did send their final response 3 days after 8 week deadline – i phoned up customer services to chase them which seemed to work.
Hope yours gets upheld too.
Taylor says
Hi Dan, oh this is promising! I never sent my statements though, they hadn’t asked for them. I got my SARs back and each time they lent to me it said 95% credit limit etc. They’ve given me 4 loans and a credit card. I currently have a loan with them so I’m hoping they wipe the interest as I’ve seen them do with other people.
Rob says
Just a quiestion for Sara or anyone else who can help?
I have put a complaint in with several companies, a few of which I have paid off, a few of which I have outstanding balances with, I got an email the other day stating my account would be put on hold during the investigation and no payment would be taken from both MyJar & Likely Loans… will they report this negatively? I haven’t asked for payments to stop as I don’t want this to go against me! This seems unfair. Can anyone advise?
Tony says
Hi Rob I had a refund from likely loans agreed last week for a top up loan. They were quick with their replies thinking was 6 weeks. I’m still going after 1st loan interest sent to FOS. I know on 1st loan they asked for a pay slip but that wasn’t on the top up they asked for nothing. I hope the ombudsman agrees they should have asked for bank statements as well to prove the lian was affordable. Good luck
Cal says
Hi Sara or anybody else,
Has anyone had a successful claim against black horse re irresponsible lending? Thanks in advance
Scott says
I started my claims 20 months ago, with the help of this website. Only 1 I felt necessary to send to FOS was 118 money which I did in April 2018. Today I got my response and the adjudicator has upheld my complaint against 118 and recommended they refund all interest and charges on all loans and top ups I had between 2015-2018. Excellent result, they now have 2 weeks to either agree or disagree, I’m just wondering, had anybody ever had adjudicator agree, and then ombudsman disagree? Thanks, and thank you to the creators of this amazing help thread!!!
Sean says
Hello.
I complained to Avant 7 weeks ago and have had no response as yet apart from the initial email and an email at 4 weeks to say they are still looking into it. Should I send another email to chase it up or wait until the full 8 weeks before I contact them?
Thanks
Silly Borrower says
Every case is different. Complaint letter sent on the 05/09, Reply received on the 04/11 (upheld). Interest returned 3 days later.
Adrian says
Hi Sara,
Thanks a lot for this article. It’s very clear and helpful.
I’m paying a loan to On Stride. They are charging almost 100% of interest! I borrowed £1000 and I’ll end up paying £1900 when I’m done. I have 4 payments left, but I’m on overdraft (I was on overdraft when I borrowed the money, but I needed to pay my rent). I have emailed them using your template. It’s been 6 weeks now since I sent it, no response, and they continue to charge me. You mentioned they have 8 weeks to reply. What if they don’t reply after 8 weeks? Have you ever dealt with this lender in particular? Have anyone here in the comments section dealt with them?
Thank you so much in advance!
Best,
Adrian
Scott says
Hi Adrian,
I did not deal with on stride, however I did deal with a multitude of lenders. With regards to the 8 week response window just 1 of the many lenders did not respond, until the 10th week when they had asked for more information. That was uncle buck. I simply advised them that I had already escalated my case to the FOS and their next email was an offer of settlement, which wasn’t the amount of interest I had paid in total however I did accept it as not all of my. Loans with them were unaffordable completely. In my opinion. Many other lenders responded with offers within 8 weeks, the only 1 I sent to FOS was 118 money, that was March 2018, I got a response from adjudicator last week and am currently waiting for the firm to respond to the decision to uphold my complaint. So long story short, you could be in for a short ride, or the long haul 😁 good luck!
Adrian says
Hi Scott!
Thank you very much for sharing your experience! That really gives me hope!
I’ll keep waiting then, and see what happens. I’ll post any update on my situation here so people who borrowed money from them can refer to it.
Thanks a lot again!
Adrian
Tha
Sara (Debt Camel) says
On Stride went into administration on Friday. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/quickquid-casheuronet-administration/ for how your complaint will be handled and what your options are now for the outstanding loan.
Adrian says
Hi Sara,
Thanks for your reply.
Do you advise me to stop paying them?
Thank you!
Best,
Adrian
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Legally you still owe the debt. That article sets out your options. If this is the only loans you had from, iot may be that you won’t be assessed as being due any redress.
david says
Hi all,
I think I already know the answer to this question but I made a complaint about irresponsible lending to loans2go in 2018 and received a very brief response saying that they didn’t feel they did. I didn’t escalate to FOS at the time as I didn’t know the information I know now, largely due to the brilliant work of this site and its users but also because since then I’ve created, escalated and won a guarantor loan from the same period and went through a lot of work and investigation with it.
should I attempt to escalate this to FOS based on a lack of knowledge at the time or will they point blank refuse as its over (well) 6 months?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Unless their reply to you was seriously factually inaccurate OR they forget to say you had the right to go to FOS, this is too late.
David says
They didn’t go into any detail about why they rejected it. Their response literally just says we feel we performed satisfactory checks. No evidence to suggest why or detail about what info I submitted etc.
It did have FOS info on it however.
Thanks Sara.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
then I am sorry, it’s too late to go to FOS.
david says
Does this apply if on my original complaint I only complained that it was unaffordable due to my financial circumstances, while I didn’t mention that I thought the interest rate they charged was too high?
what i’m saying is if I made a new complaint now saying the interest rate was too high, would that be classed as a new complaint?
thanks as always for your input.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
that’s worth a try! Expect L2G to reject it and see what FOS say…
Sara (Debt Camel) says
read https://debtcamel.co.uk/worst-loan-in-britain/ which has a link to a FOS decision talking about L2G’s interest rate.
Christine says
Sara,
I have made an irresponsible lending complaint to loans2go they have come back to me asking me to send bank statements. I have these but not sure they would make sense of them as I was using two accounts and transferring money between the two so that I could control PAYDAY loan payments. I am in the process of responding to their request by suggesting I supplied these and other documentation at the time of the loan and will supply these to the ombudsman should they be required to. Is that the correct way to proceed with this.
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
if you want a better chance of an offer off L2G I suggest you send them statements for both accounts.
Dan says
How long are loans2go taking to acknowledge complaints? Ive heard nothing in 4 days and usually these companies acknowledge the next day at latest.
Christine says
I had to send them another email to get them to acknowledge my first email, they stated they hadn’t received my first email. After I sent the second email they responded straight away.
Charlotte says
They acknowledged(and refused) mine within a week,they even refused the complaint/claim before they sent me the SAR and I could explain why I thought it was unaffordable.
My complaint has been with the FOS since March,apparently theirs only 7 people on “the team” that deals with these complaints and that’s why it’s so slow.
Paul Wakeman says
Has anyone ever had any dealings with First Response Finance? If so, What were like in the way of responding (timescales etc). Thanks.
Danielle says
So I had 3 cases in with the FOS, 1) casheuronet with qq, onstride and p2p which the adjudicator found in my favour but was just double checking the onstride loans which obviously I am no longer getting 2) likelyloans 3) avantcredit. Likelyloans and advant haven’t been picked up yet but been with the fos for some time and I have outstanding loans with them including onstride in which I have been in a payment plan paying around 50% of my monthly payment. Obviously I have cancelled the onstride one but so frustrating that I’ve been paying into something on a belief I would get my money back anyway. So I am thinking about stopping payments to avant and likely until they have either been rejected or accepted. As I dont want to be in another situation that I’ve been paying in and they go into administration. They have already previously been defaulted and I can restart the payment plan at any time after a decision has been made, but is this ok? What affect could this have? If I received the full refund it would clear the debts anyway and I dont like the thought of stopping paying them but I just cant be in this situation again
Lew says
Anyone notice how avant credit have not been lending for nearly 3 months now? I keep checking their website.
9 months in waiting to be assigned, is anyone else having theirs taking this long?
Danielle says
Mines been in since January too. I’ve spoken to the FOS but they’ve just said its in the queue
A. says
Has anyone had a complaint against likely loans picked up at fos recently? I submitted mines 12 weeks ago and haven’t heard anything yet, also sumbitted complaint about cmc 8 weeks ago to them and not heard anything…
Danielle says
My likelyloans one has been with the fos since April and they’ve said its still in the queue
JA says
I also sent mine in april and they say its still in a queue but the 4 other complaints I sent at the same time and also one in june have been dealt with. Little frustrating as this is one of my big ones I’d like to of got dealt with first.
Clare Jane says
Hi A,
I’ve just had my Likely Loans case,” not-upheld,” by the FOS. It was for a loan of £2,000. Originally submitted in Spring.
For all those reading and awaiting Likely Loans updates do not be disheartened, each case is obviously individual!
I was really disappointed…the FOS said I was managing debts and Likely Loans had carried out all the correct checks….I very politely disagreed with them and it’s off to the Ombudsmen.
Not expecting a win here…more about highlighting flaws in these proportionate checks!!
Best of luck!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Good luck!
Clare Jane says
Thanks Sara…God loves a trier!!
Sarah Harrison says
Hi Sarah i complained about Amegio loans to the financial Ombudsman and they have contacted me today to say ameigo has made an offer to settle my account and remove any negative information from my credit file. This is their email Amigo’s offer
Amigo will write to confirm the full detail of its offer including any amounts due – however, it has told us that it will follow our general approach. This includes:Amigo refunding all of the interest and charges (if any) that you’ve paid on all the loans you’ve had with them;
If you’re still repaying your loan, Amigo will be reducing the amount you owe on your loan by the refund amount and no future interest will be applied to it. If the total you’ve paid in interest and charges is more than the amount you still owe, you’ll get the amount leftover once your loan is cleared;If your loan has been repaid, your refund will include interest at the simple rate of 8% per year (less any tax properly due), from the date you repaid the loan until the date of settlement;*
Amigo removing any negative information that has been recorded on your credit file concerning the loan;
C says
Are Avant credit in trouble? They have upheld my complaint but not given me a final redress figure and I can’t get a figure from them over the phone?
Lew says
I think so yes they haven’t been lending for a while now. Mines been in the que for 9 month and I’m very sorry it does not take 9 month to review a complaint. The fos have stopped me from getting a chance at a refund they’ll soon email me when they say theirs nothing more that can be done
C says
Mine didn’t go to the FOS. Avant said they’d refund all interest plus statutory interest but haven’t given me an actual figure which I think is bizarre. They are ignoring my emails and won’t give me any answers when I call
Gemma says
Hi Sara, is Avant Credit UK covered by the FSCS? Thanks
Lew says
I’m really worried their about to go under.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No, no lenders are.
Lindsay says
Hi Sara
I’ve had my complaint with 118118 partially upheld and they are removing all the interest from my current loan. This is decent as it means I will only pay off the balance of the loan without any interest. They are also removing this loan from my file.
However they did not uphold the complaint for my original two loans.
Am I able to accept the interest reduction and still refer my case to the Ombudsman for the first two loans or does it not work like that?
Scott says
Hi Lindsay,
Unless the company say to you that you can refer the other 2 loans to the FOS then it’s a no I’m afraid.
How much was each of your loans and how were your finances at the time of taking out each loan?
It may be that you get a better result at the FOS.
Scott
Taylor says
118 has reached their 8 week mark and now sent me an email saying they will reach their outcome within a further 21 days – anyone else has this, is this a good sign or a bad one? Suggestions please :)
Scott says
Hi Taylor,
118 have probably not even looked at your complaint as they are busy.
Submit it to FOS now and get in the queue, if 118 get back to you in 21 days with a fair offer then you can withdraw your complaint from the FOS.
Scott
Bill says
I called the fos regarding complaints 118 and likely loans, luckily I actually spoke an experienced personal on the switchboard, when asked the question why have my complaints not been looked at after 12 months? He informed me in depth saying the organization is struggling as the adjicators have been pulled of the cases to train up new staff to deal with complicated cases such as mine! Although it doesn’t help me nor give confidence with the FOS
Adrian says
Hi All,
I’ve had a reply from Likely and they have upheld my complaint, however, they have not included statutory interest. And they state this is a final response.
I would like to ask that because they’ve stated this is a final response, should I accept and then complain to the FOS or dismiss in full and go to FOS. And are they duty bound to include statutory interest?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you have a current loan with them? If yes, have you paid more so far then the amount you borrowed?
Adrian says
Hi Sara,
I still have one outstanding loan that’s now with a debt collector. They have cancelled the interest but I still owe £900+.
Thanks
Matthew Vidler says
Hi
What about logbook loans? I have one for varooma but wonder if they even do credit checks?
Asked for a settlement figure today after 15 payments and it’s higher than the amount loaned!
At the time it was the only credit available to me and if they had done a credit check and affordability check, no way they would have lent me a tenner!
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Asked for a settlement figure today after 15 payments and it’s higher than the amount loaned!
Have you missed any payments? that sounds wrong if you haven’t!
Yes, affordability complaints apply to logbook loans.
Sarah H says
Hi Sarah ameigo loans have made an offer to me via the Ombudsman. They are saying the will stop any further interest and charges (if any) that you’ve paid on all the loans you’ve had with them;
If you’re still repaying your loan, Amigo will be reducing the amount you owe on your loan by the refund amount and no future interest will be applied to it. If the total you’ve paid in interest and charges is more than the amount you still owe, you’ll get the amount leftover once your loan is cleared;
The Ombudsman has asked me to contact ameigo to find out what figures they are going to offer if they would still be an outstanding balance after all interest is refunded. Amegio won’t give me any figures until i accept but advised me there would be an outstanding balance after. I have tried to work out my balance and worked out i have actually paid back more than I borrowed. Do you have any advice on where to go next as im unsure weather to accept without knowing the figures. Thanks Sarah H
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They are saying the will stop any further interest and charges (if any) that you’ve paid on all the loans you’ve had with them;
Are they only refunding the current loan? How many loans did you have before from them? Could you copy out EXACTLY what have Amigo said?
Amigo won’t give me any figures until I accept but advised me there would be an outstanding balance after.
That is unreasonable. Tell Amigo you would like to see what their offer is, with a breakdown showing for each loan:
– the amount borrowed
– the total of your monthly payments
– the settlement amount (if any, eg from the next top up loan)
– the interest they calculate you have paid on that loan
and also details of the 8% calculation (if any)
And tell your adjudicator at FOS that until Amigo give you some detailed figures, you don’t know whether to accept as they say their will be a balance remaining and you don’t think there should be.
PS I will move this thread to the guarantor loan page https://debtcamel.co.uk/how-to-complain-guarantor-loan/ in a day or so.
Calvin says
Hi all,
What’s everybody’s current wait time for the FOS to assign an adjudicator? I am now a year on from submitting my everyday loan complaint.
Bob says
My two large high interest loan cases were picked up by an adjudicator at FOS after 16 months.
Sarah says
Hi Calvin
I have an outstanding complaint about EL. I have messaged the FOS a couple of times and said that it’s still waiting to be assigned to an adjudicator.
They also said that the way in which complaints are being dealt with has changed, not sure what that means!!
Mine has been with them for over a year.
I keep checking the ombudsman decisions for EL and there are either very few got through to the ombudsman stage or there aren’t that many people complaining about them. There have only been a handful of complaints resolved so far this year at ombudsman stage.
The good news might be that if the adjudicator rules on our favour, EL might agree and pay out.
Hope this helps!
Sarah
robert says
Hi guys, i just received my complain answer from Likely Loans. What advice do you have for me?
You have submitted an irresponsible lending complaint in relation to your Likely Loans accounts. Our records show that you have obtained two loans: 1300051606 and 1300162690.
In relation to your second loan agreement number 1300162690, your application for £1,000.00 was received on 04/10/2018. On the application you stated that you were employed with an annual income of £28,458.00 and monthly net income of £1,894.36. Your monthly expenditure was declared as £100.00. Your application was approved at an APR of 89.9%, over a 24-month term. Your repayments were therefore set at £75.96 per month. The funds were sent to you on 05/10/2018.
We have reviewed the information provided at the point of application and have found no evidence to suggest that this information was incorrect or that the correct processes were not followed. As such, I am unable to uphold your complaint that this loan was granted irresponsibly or comply with your request to refund any sums to you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“Your monthly expenditure was declared as £100.00”
common sense should have suggested that might not be totally accurate… so Likely Loans should have looked in more detail at this. Send your case to the ombudsman.
Kate says
I had a very similar reply. The figures they quoted were not correct and I have sent this to the FOS. I would ask them for sight of the initial application
Robert says
The point is that the income and the expenditure that they mentioned are true…i remember put theose ones every aplication i had but they wasn’t true. And I’m sure my credit score was very bad. Aswell i had other loan with them but i paid it back in 2 months…
Sara (Debt Camel) says
My point is that a lender should have suspected your application wasn’t accurate and verified your income & expenditure.
Shaun says
Hi, I submitted my complaint to OnStride (two loans) a day before they went into administration. However, I’m still received emails from them about my compliant. Does this mean they will process my compliant or is this an automated service?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you are just getting some automated emails.
Shaun says
Oh well. I sent them what they asked for anyways.
Isaac Okafor says
Any refund of interest for bank overdraft, checked and cant find any on your site
If you have any written up, can I have the link please
Thanks
Kathryn says
I’ve had a response to my singular loan complaint with avant credit from the adjudicator. He upheld my complaint and avant have until 7th November to respond. I will update with progress when any is made as regards this. Loan was 5500. Interest 6300. Refund is interest with 8% etc
Danielle says
Can I please ask when you put your complaint in? I’ve been waiting since January and just called the FOS and was told firstly theres a problem with the business and when I asked her what this problem was she put me on hold then came back and said that they only have a certain number of people able to make decisions on the avantcredit ones which seems a bit strange
Bob says
Avant disagreed with my adjudicator so was passed to the ombudsman, I’ve been waiting 14 months now and still not picked up
Kathryn says
My complaint was put in in November last year.
Kathryn says
7th has come and gone, and nothing from the Adjudicator or Avantcredit in regard to the complaint.
It may end up at the ombudsman as it doesnt look good.
Hey ho
Taylor says
So couple of days ago 118 did an ‘Administration Review’ soft check on my credit file. I’m guessing this is them only just looking into my complaint. What I don’t understand is why they are checking my situation now rather than when they let me take out 4 loans in the past? They already provided my SARs weeks and weeks ago! Hmmm.
A. says
I have the same administration review on my credit report from 118 on the 21st October. Still waiting for my reply – the 8 weeks was up on the 13th October. I’ve already put mine in the queue for fos x
Taylor says
Did you get an email stating a further 21 days? I have sent mine to the FOS also but I was trying to gauge if this was good news or bad news :)
A. says
Yeh I got that email on the 10th of October… still waiting.
Zoe says
I heard back from 118118 today after I logged a complaint with them on 31st August. I’d called up a couple of times to chase up once the 8 weeks was up. My complaint was about 4 loans I’d had with them & they have offered redress of the interest on two of these loans. I have accepted & they tell me I’ll get the money within the next 5 working days. Thanks Sara for your advice.
A. says
Finally got a reply from 118 rejecting my complaint saying they carried out appropriate checks and also carried out a welcome call. All nonsense – I was pre approved on clearscore that was why I applied and I have never spoken to their company on the phone at all. I had 4 maxed out credit cards, overdrafts and a high cost loan with likely that was rolled over. Already been sent to ombudsman.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Did you send 118 Money the template complaint letter above which asks for a copy of all your personal infomration? If you did, were you sent a copy of the checks they carried out and a recording of the Welcome telephone call?
A says
No I didnt as I submitted my complaint through resolver. I have emailed them asking for a copy of the recording of the phone call and when it was meant to have taken place.
Caroline says
Hi Sarah can you give me some advice please. I made a claim against Advent credit which they agreed to and upheld. The problem is they sold the debt to a debt collector who I paid in full last year. Advent are now saying they have contacted the debt collector and changed the balance amount due and I must get a refund from the debt collector. Do you believe that is the case? Many thanks Caroline
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you ask the debt collector. But if they don’t agree with what AC have said and offer you the refund right away, tell AC that you will be sending your complaint to FOS as they haven’t implemented the offer that you accepted.
Caroline says
Thank you, I have sent the debt collectors the email chain and I will see what they come back with.
Martin says
Sara, I would like to thank you very, very much for…not only the hope, but also practical instructions on how to start getting rid of the debt.
I have studied your blog thoroughly, sent only one email to Avant Credit and received a massive redress nine weeks later from the first lender.
Now, I will more confidently approach the rest of the parasites that were draining the life out of me for more than a decade…
Thank you, thank you……
Robert Thompson says
Anyone got concerns on avant credit? Been in over 14 months now with no response. Lender not lending anymore. Can see what’s going to happen we’ve all waited nearly 2 years to have it looked at and they’ll go bust a week before it does.
2 years to look at a complaint. I would absolutely love to use that excuse at work
Martin says
See my post above. 9 weeks from the original email of complaint to the redress. I didn’t even call them with any follow up, as I was thinking it’s all lost due to the fact they do not lend anymore….
Linds says
Hello,
Has anyone had any luck with Varooma and UK Credit? Both complaints have been rejected by the companies, I have sent them to the FOS, fingers crossed 🤞
Linds
KR says
I submitted complaint to varooma and they ignored all my emails so after 8 weeks I submitted to ombudsman with evidence I tried to complain. Ombudsman are now requesting info from Varooma. Find it strange I email to request a SAR to a different email and got a full response but they have ignored their official complaints email.
Linds says
Thanks for your reply, I will keep my fingers crossed. They did reply after 8 weeks but did not uphold it. Keep my fingers crossed for FOS.
JA says
Any one had any cases picked up at the FOS about likely loans? Mines been there since april with no joy – I’ve had a load of payday loans sent after my likely loans one that have been dealt with already. Seems like they pick and choose easier cases?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think there is a different team dealing with payday loans.