The repayments on many loans and car finance are too high to be manageable so people get deeper into debt trying to repay them.
This article describes how to complain, with templates. Many people have used them and got refunds – see the comments below.
If you win your complaint you will get the interest refunded or – if you still owe a balance – removed so you only have to repay what you borrowed. these complaints do not hurt your credit record.
The complaints here do not apply to mortgages.
You can also use this approach for logbook loans and car finance. But if you are still paying car finance, you may have a better option than an affordability complaint, so read HP/PCP car finance problems first. And then read Car finance affordability – what you get if you win a complaint.
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
Refunds from unaffordable loans – what is unaffordable?
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 applies to most forms of loans except mortgages, including large, long term loans, logbook loans and car finance.
It isn’t just for “bad credit” loans – you can win a complaint about an unaffordable loan from a high street bank. But as bad credit loans have very high interest rates, they are more often unaffordable.
For payday loans, it’s hard to get a refund if you only had one or two payday loans. That is because those loans are usually small so the lender doesn’t have to make good checks for the first few loans.
But the good news is that for larger and longer-term credit, the lender should have made better checks at the start!
Making a complaint and asking for a refund
Email addresses for lenders
It’s easiest if all communications are by email – free, instant and you have a copy with a date stamp to show the ombudsman.
For banks, see this list here: email complaint addresses for banks.
Here are the email addresses to use for some larger non-bank lenders. There are a lot of other lenders including Credit Unions. If your lender is not listed you can still complain, look at the lender’s website to find how.
Abound (used to be Fintern) complaints@getabound.com
Admiral loansquality@admiralgroup.co.uk
Anico complaints@anicofinancialservices.com
Avant Credit emailcomplaints@avantcredit.co.uk
Bamboo Loans complaints@bambooloans.com
Better Borrow enquiries@chetwood.co
Everyday Loans – a Scheme is being proposed for loans before 31 March 2021- see Everyday Loan Scheme for details. For loans after that date, a normal complaint can be made to complaints@everyday-loans.co.uk using the template in this article
Fair Finance complaints@fairfinance.org.uk
Finio Loans (rebrand of Likely Loans) complaints@oakbrookfinance.com
Fluro (used to be Lending Works) cx@fluro.co.uk
Future Finance servicing@futurefinance.com
JN Bank complaints@jnbank.co.uk
Koyo loans info@koyoloans.com
Lendable complaint@lendable.co.uk
Lifestyle Loans info@lifestyleloans.co.uk
LiveLend support@livelend.co
Loans by Mal (Monthly Advance Loans) Complaints@loansbymal.co.uk
Loans 2 Go ps@loans2go.co.uk – also read Loans2Go – how to complain
MBNA mbnaonlinecomplaints@mbna.co.uk
Moneyline headoffice@moneyline-uk.com
Moolr admin@moolr.co.uk
Novuna (used to be called Hitachi) ComplaintsTeam@NovunaPersonalFinance.co.uk
Plend complaints@plend.co.uk
Progressive Money complaints@progressivemoney.co.uk
Quick Loans customerscare@quickloans.co.uk
Reevo complaints@reevomoney.com
Salary Finance (Neyber) complaints@salaryfinance.com (for loans, not “pay advance”)
Savvy info@savvy.co.uk
Shawbrook Customercare.team@shawbrook.co.uk
Snap Finance customer@snapfinance.co.uk
TM Advances info@tmadvances.co.uk
Updraft complaints@updraft.com
Vanquis customer.relations@vanquisbank.co.uk
Zopa complaints@zopa.com
118 118 Money complaints@118118money.com
Here are some car finance lenders and logbook lenders, some of them also give normal unsecured loans. There are many more car finance lenders!
Advantage complaints@advantage-finance.co.uk
Black Horse onlinecomplaints@lloydsbank.co.uk
Blue Motor complaints@bluemotorfinance.co.uk
CA Auto Finance customer-relations@ca-autobank.com
CarCashPoint complaints@carcashpoint.com
CarFinance247 customercare@carfinance247.co.uk
Close Brothers cbl.complianceenquiries@closebrothers.com
First Response johnf@frfl.co.uk
LoanOnYourCar customerservice@loanonyourcar.com
Mobile Money complaints@mobilemoney.co.uk
Moneybarn complaints@moneybarn.com
MoneyWay complaints@securetrustbank.co.uk
MotoNovo Finance customercare@motonovofinance.com
Motor Kitty customercare@motorkitty.co.uk
Oodle customer.relations@oodlefinance.com
Oplo/1st Stop complaints@myoplo.co.uk
Paragon bank.complaints@paragonbank.co.uk
Ramsdens (logbook loans) customerservices@ramsdensforcash.co.uk
Specialist Motor Finance complaints@smfmotor.com
Startline Motor Finance complaintresolution@startlinemotorfinance.com
Vauxhall GBCAR-CSC-Complaints@vauxhallfinance.com
Vehicle Credit customerservices@vehicle-group.com
VW customerresolutions@vwfs.co.uk
Zuto customercare@zuto.com
If your loan has been sold to a debt collector, you send your complaint to the original lender not the debt collector.
Start the complaint using this template
Email the lender to begin your complaint. Put AFFORDABILITY COMPLAINT as the subject of your email.
Template for you to adapt:
Can you please confirm the date(s) this loan started, the amount, the interest rate and the monthly repayments. [don’t include this if you already know the information]
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. [the refunds for car finance can be a lot more complicated than this, see but this is all you need to put in your complaint]
I also want the CCJ that I have for this debt set aside. [delete this sentence if you don’t have a CCJ!]
I attach copies of my bank statements and credit report from the time I applied for this loan/these loans. [delete if you don’t yet have them yet, but they help your case if you do. Even if they show gambling, that supports your argument the loan was unaffordable.]
I didn’t know that the lender was supposed to check that I could repay the loan without having to borrow more. I only found out in [2022] when I saw a newspaper article in the Sun/an advert on Facebook for refunds/a friend said they had made a complaint/whatever. So I am complaining within 3 years of having found out that I have cause to complain. [only put this paragraph if if some of your loans are more than 6 years old. It explains why you haven’t complained before. It’s only an example so don’t copy it, change it so it really covers what happened to you!]
Add extra information if you want – see below for some ideas – you don’t have to do this.
If you want an affordable payment arrangement now, add a sentence to the complaint saying this. A payment arrangement is often a good idea as these complaints can take a long while to sort out so a payment arrangement gets your finances into a safe place while this gets sorted:
- a payment arrangement shows on your credit record, but if you win the complaint all negative marks will be deleted
- talk to a debt adviser such as National Debtline if you want to know more about payments arrangements
- but a payment arrangement for car finance or a logbook loan puts your car at risk, so you probably have to keep paying the normal monthly payments for that sort of debt.
Other details you can add if you want
The template above is fine, you don’t have to add a lot more details. I am not even sure some lenders read what you write!
It is better to write a short complaint summarising your problems than send pages telling the lender stuff they already know. For example, the lender doesn’t need a list of your loans.
But if you want, you can include extra points in the initial complaint above. Or send the lender another email afterwards to add to your case.
Here are some points that may apply to your case:
- my bank statements and credit record (attached) show that I was unable to afford the loan repayments.
- this was a large loan, you knew I had poor credit and may have been in a difficult position so you should have tried to verify my income and expenses. If you had done this, you would have rejected my application.
- during a telephone call, your agent talked me into agreeing that some figures should be lower in order to get my application accepted.
- if the lender was your bank – you should have seen from my bank account that I was in financial difficulty – mention if you were using your overdraft a lot or also had a credit card from the bank that you were only making minimum payments to.
And some examples of points about top-ups:
- a credit check would have shown that my finances had got worse since the first loan
- you didn’t ask if my income or expenses had changed, and they had.
- you didn’t ask for bank statements so you could check if the new repayments were affordable.
- I had said the first loan was to consolidate debt, but you should have seen that this hadn’t happened.
- you increased my interest rate, showing you realised I was in a more difficult position but you did not check whether I could actually afford the new repayments.
Also read Lender says I lied. That looks at the various reasons why your application may not have been accurate. People have won complaints where they lied because they were desperate but there are other reasons too, so think what may have applied to you.
While you are waiting for a reply
While you are waiting for the lender’s reply, try to get copies of your bank statements from 3 months before a loan to three months afterwards. You can get statements from closed bank accounts, normally going back 6 years.
Also get a copy of your current credit report now and download it. You can get one from TransUnion. Do this as soon as possible as sometimes the details change, so you want a full one saved to show the Ombudsman later if necessary.
Do not wait until the Ombudsman asks you for credit records or bank statements – you want them ready to hand. They will really help your case as they prove your financial situation when you took the loan out.
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.
The lender replies – go to the Ombudsman if a poor offer
Don’t be put off by a rejection! Or if the lender saying it was your fault because your loan application wasn’t accurate.
Sometimes a lender will send a long, complicated reply designed to make you look as though you should give up.
Lenders are obliged to do checks. For one small payday loan, these checks could have been brief. But for a large loan, the lender should have made sure they knew enough to be confident you could afford it, even if was your first loan from them. If they didn’t, send your case to the Ombudsman.
I suggest you rely on your gut feel – if you know repaying the loan caused you a lot of problems then it is worth sending the case to be looked at by the Ombudsman.
If you aren’t sure, ask what other people think in the Comments below this article. You only have 6 months to send the complaint to FOS, so it’s best to do this as soon as possible.
It isn’t usually worth trying to negotiate with these lenders, you are just wasting your time. Though Bamboo and Loans2Go anr two exceptions who will often improve an offer.
Send to Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS)
It’s easy! I suggest you use the “do it online” option to send a complaint to the Ombudsman. It asks you for all the details they need.
The main part of your complaint can be a version of what you sent the lender in your complaint. Add any more details you want, including pointing out if you think there are errors in the lender’s reply. Also attach:
- the reply from the lender
- Trans Union statutory credit record
- bank statements starting 3 months before first loan.
Your complaint will first be looked at by an adjudicator. If either you or the lender rejects the adjudicator’s decision, it will then be looked at by an Ombudsman.
Are you missing information that may help your case?
You don’t have to tell a lender you are sending the case to the Ombudsman, but it’s polite.
This is also a good point to ask the lender for a Subject Access Request (SAR) if you are missing information that may come in useful at the Ombudsman. This could be your loan applications, all credit and other affordability checks and assessments, and a statement of account for the loans, and – if you think this may be relevant – a record of all phone calls.
Your lender will have details of how to ask for this information on their website – it’s often included in their Privacy Policy, with a link at the bottom of web pages. SARs are often sent out by post, make sure the lender has your new address if you have moved.
Also if you don’t have the bank statements from the time of the loan application, get them now. You can get these going back at least 6 years even from closed accounts. And you can often go back a lot further with an account that you are still using.
“Is there a time limit?”
You can’t complain about a loan that started before April 2007 – that is when the law changed to allow these complaints. Older complaints can be harder to win as there may be less evidence about your financial situation when you took the loan. But with an older complaint, if the lender rejects it, you can send it to the ombudsman for a decision.
Lenders will often reject a complaint if the loan started more than 6 years ago.
The Ombudsman has a 6 year rule too – but it also has another rule that applies to older complaints.
The Ombudsman can look at any complaint made about something that happened less than 6 years ago or where you complained within 3 years of finding out you have a “cause to complain”. So if you have only just heard that a lender should have checked the affordability, you can take your complaint to the Ombudsman when the lender rejects it saying that it happened more than 6 years ago.
The ombudsman also has a 6 month rule. You have to send a complaint to the Ombudsman within 6 months of getting a rejection or a poor offer from a lender. So don’t delay!
Need some help?
If you need help to complain, go to your local Citizens Advice, they will help for free.
Don’t use a claims management company. They are expensive and often incompetent. And if you still owe money, then you may just get the interest removed so you owe less… which is great, but you don’t want to have to pay a claims company in cash when you never had a cash refund to pay it from.
Can you get an overdraft refund?
Refunds from cards and catalogues
Gambling & affordability complaints
AE says
Hi Sara,
I sent in an affordability complaint to Zopa for my partner on a £6,000 loan he took out Nov 2019 which he has struggled with. I believe this was very unaffordable for him at the time and shouldn’t have been approved due to him having several maxed out credit cards and loans besides bad credit.
Zopa has replied with this below, I wanted to ask your opinion if this is a good resolve or should I be sending off to FOS?
“According to the contract your total amount payable would have been £9,209.31. You will not be making any payments towards the interest nor any payment greater than the funds you have been provided with.
Zopa will no longer report the loan agreement to the Credit Reference Agencies, and we will remove the loan from your Credit File, this includes any previous negative impact.
Looking into the payments received so far, as of 12 October 2023 you have paid Zopa £3,946.72. Therefore, your remaining balance owing to Zopa is £2,053.28 to make up the £6,000.00, Zopa credited you with.
As you have not repaid funds greater than what you have been given, there is no refund of monies to provide. I’d also like to take this opportunity to explain that we do not charge late payment fees and as such, no such fee has been levied against your loan.
You can create a plan to your affordability with our Repayments Team, which will be reviewed periodically and should any plan you agree become unaffordable, this can be reviewed sooner upon your request.”
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Unless you think Zopa’s numbers are wrong and he has paid them more than 3946 so far, this is fine – it is a “full refund” by removing the interest from the loan. Good result.
If he is making any other affordability complaints, or may in future, he should download and then keep a copy of his current credit record that shows this Zopa loan now, before it is deleted. Then he has it available to show the Ombudsman in any other cases
AE says
No, he says the numbers are correct!
Thank you! I am making further affordability claims and I have a reply from Tesco (which I have a question on), I will post to you in the credit cards section now.
Matt says
Hi I am in a very similar position I took out a loan at almost the same time and my finances were almost in the same position 10k overdraft 15 k owing on my credit card and two personal loans totaling 20k Zooa approved a further loan of 9k.
I have raised a complaint that it was not affordable. Zopa has responded by asking for 6 months of bank statements did you also have to provide statements not sure how to respond. Can you please advise if you were asked to provide bank statements or any other documents.
AE says
Hi Matt,
No I didn’t have to provide any bank statements to Zopa – they were very quick also to uphold the complaint (I believe within a week we got a reply).
Matt says
Thank youu
Martyn says
Hi Sara
What do I do if the card company newday says they can’t find my account or details.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how old is this account?
Martyn says
Hi I closed it in 2021 it’s on my credit report
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you have any emails relating to it?
Have you shown them the credit report?
Matt says
Has anyone got any experience with 118118 Money? I’ve had an adjudicator rule in my favour on a number of loans, and given 118 until the 24tb October to accept or refuse the findings. Just wondering in anyone’s experience, did they accept the decision from adjudicator and if so, how long did they take to reply and settle the case? Thank you!
Dan says
Had they replied to the adjudicator decision by today? On my complaint they had until 26th October to respond and nothing as of yet.
Matt says
Hi Dan,
Quick update. They accepted adjudicator decision on 20th October. All agreed with the findings now, but so far no further contact from 118118. Was advised that they have 28 days to make payment, but so far have not responded or offered payment, I just keep receiving the reply that the complaints are aware of the action they need to take and will be in touch.
Catherine says
Hi Sara,
I am helping my 20 year old daughter with an affordibiity claim for car finance. She is working on a part time, temp contract but given a loan which accounts for over a quarter of her salary (over a half when insurance is taken into account). They didn’t ask for bank statements and she was already missing payments to other creditors before the loan was given.
Because she is only 4 months into a 4 year loan, should she request to voluntarily give the car back (I know you’re supposed to have paid back 50% to do this). And should she ask for a reduced monthly payment.
Thank you!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So she doesn’t need the car?
Catherine says
Yes she does need a car to get to work but maybe a much cheaper one we could buy for a few hundred pounds. She paid £1500 deposit for her current car so I don’t know if she’d stand a chance of getting any of that money back.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can VT a car at any point – if it is before you have paid 50%, then the rest becomes a debt that you owe that you need to repay. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/vt-end-car-finance-early/ for more details. She can ask for a reduced payment to do this. IIt will harm her credit score but if the current payment is unaffordable it minises the amount she has to pay and her credit score is already poor.
From what you have said, this sounds like a good affordability complaint. Enclose 3 months of bank statements from before the application and 3 months after when you complain. Who is the finance lender?
As she is only a few months into the loan, I suggest she changes the standard template above for a return of her deposit and for the balance after the VT to be written off and not to affect her credit score. There is no interest to be refunded. And any “fair usage charge” refund (see https://debtcamel.co.uk/car-finance-win-affordability-complaint/) would be very small.
I also think she should probably talk to a debt adviser about her whole situation. She could phone National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 – they can advise on the VT and on her other debts as well.
Catherine says
The finance lender is CA Auto Finance.
Thanks so much for your advice, Sara.
Catherine says
Hi Sara,
Just a quick follow up question – if my daughter decided not to VT the car, but carry on with the affordability claim, could she ask the car finance company to cancel the loan, or are the only options to VT (nogotiating a lower payment) or to carry on.
Thank you!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I’m sorry I am not quite clear what you are asking.
Has she made an affordability complaint? Making an affordability complaint is best seen as seperate from the decision about what to immediatley do with the car. Because winning the affordability complaint is almost certainly going to result in the car having to be handed back if hasn’t already been VTd or repossessed.
There are no options here for someone so early on in a car finance term to be able to keep the car if the current monthly payments are unaffordable. And it is HIGHLY unlikely that the car finance company would agree to accept lower payments.
Is it possible to carry on paying the finance while the affordability complaint goes through? If it isn’t, then she either has to VT it now (simple, less stress) or the car finance lender will probably look to repossess the car even if an affordability complaint is in progress.
Catherine says
Sorry to be so confusing. She hasn’t made the affordability complaint yet but is drafting it now. We were just unclear about what to ask for in the affordability complaint letter if we didn’t want to VT it – should we ask them to terminate the contract so she can give the car back, or is that seen as VT? Ideally she’d like the contract to be terminated immediately with no further payments to be made, and to have her £1500 deposit back so she can go and buy a much cheaper car outright. Yes, she can carry on paying for the finance while the complaint goes through as her dad and I will help out.
Thanks very much.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What is the advantage to her in not VTing the car at the moment?
VTing the car limits her ultimate liability to half the total credit value if she loses this complaint.
She should not assume that it will be won even though I have said this sounds like a good affordability complaint. There may be some other important fact that hasn’t been mentioned. And there is always the possibility of not winning even a very strong case. This should not put her off complaining, but she cannot assume she will win.
She should also not assume that the complaint will be won quickly. If this goes to the Financial Ombudsman – and a lot of cases do have to – it may be many months.
If she VTs the car, I have suggested “she changes the standard template above for a return of her deposit and for the balance after the VT to be written off and not to affect her credit score. ” She has made so few monthly payments that trying to get a bit back from them is pointless.
But if she doesn’t VT the car and you are making the payments, then I suggest she leaves the template as it is and hopes to get a bit of money back on the monthly payments through a “fair usage” charge being set by the ombudsman. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/car-finance-win-affordability-complaint/ for more about this.
Catherine says
Thanks so much, Sara.
The reason we thought it might be best not to VT the car is that she will have no car but will still have several thousand £’s to pay back. She needs a car for work but we can’t afford to buy her a new car if she gives it back.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well this is up to you if you can afford to carry on paying for the extra months. You cannot assume that this will be sorted out speedily.
Joshua says
Hi Sarah,
I have several cases that I’m thinking of complaining about. I won’t go into great detail but I managed to secure 8 loans within a couple of months, varying from £300 – £6000. Lenders could clearly see from bank statements, that in some cases I had loans go in the day before but still approved. I am now on a DMP to help clear these. As some of them are still fairly fresh and I didn’t pay much back before entering a DMP, is it still worth challenging these companies?
Many Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
did the lenders check your bank records before offering you a loan?
Josh says
Hey,
Yes, I had to connect via my banking app for 6 out 8 of them.
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
When a loan goes into a DMP it normally has all the interest for the loan term included in the balance. So winning an affordability complaint can really reduce what is owed in the DMP and it will finish sooner.
I suggest you make a time line of all these loans – in date order, showing the lender and amount. Then in a complaint you can say to lender C athat they could seen via open Banking that you had bborrowed £500 from lender A and £1200 from Lender B 2 weeks before – this should have alerted lender C to that fact that you had big financail problems and they should not have given you this loan.
Louise says
Has anyone had any luck with AA loans (Bank of Ireland provide loan)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes, same as any other mid cost lender. Your complaint goes to the Bank of Ireland (foscomplaints@boi.com, put Affordability Complaint about AA loan as the email subject) not the AA.
It isn’t really a question of “luck”, more what your situation was at the time you took the loan out. If you know the repayments caused problems from very early on, send this to the Ombudsman if Bank of Ireland reject it.
Louise says
Thank you for taking the time to reply.
Poor choice of words on my part, certainly nothing lucky about having to complain about a loan that you feel wasn’t measured appropriately.
I was struggling to find an email address to complain too as well so thank you for very much for providing one.
Nik says
Hi,
I am looking to put in an affordability claim in against novuna who i still have a loan with and in place for a while. Can they ‘cancel’ the loan if i make this claim and demand i pay it back in full?
Thanks!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No. Nice simple answer!
Can you afford to keep paying this while the complaint goes through?
Nik says
Hi,
Yes I can and plan to, just didn’t want an unexpected bill!
Thanks
:)
John says
I’ve had a complaint against Ratesetter with the adjudicator for a 7k loan for a month or so and they’ve not upheld my complaint as they don’t believe Ratesetter had reason to believe the loan was unaffordable.
The adjudicator did say however that another loan I had (a £19,000 loan with the Post Office which was taken out 8 months prior at £340 per month for 6 years) didn’t appear on my credit file.
Do you think I have cause to complain to post office about their negligence in failing to report it?
Prior to receiving the Ratesetter loan I would’ve had about £156 a month left after regular outgoings (which would’ve been needed for food etc) and the monthly repayments on the Ratesetter loan were £164.49 so obviously unaffordable.
I also struggled with a severe gambling addiction during that time (it lasted about 15 years but is now under control) and had Ratesetter checked my statements they would/should have noticed this.
Do you think I have cause to complain to post office about failure to report it?
I did complain to post office separately already about the affordability of their loan which they disagreed with.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The problem is that there are 3 credit reference agencies and the Post Office may not have reported to the one of the ones that Ratesetter checked. You can’t complain to the Post Office about this.
Have you sent the Post Office complaint to the Ombudsman?
Have you made payments arrangements for these unaffordable loans?
A M says
Hi, I’ve made an affordability complaint about lendable to the ombudsman and today got a response saying that they don’t uphold it.
When I took out the 10k loan I had taken another 2 x 10k loans only 3 months prior. (Did use one to pay off the other but still) I had credit card debts totalling more than my annual income but the adjudicator has deemed that , as I hadn’t missed any payments or had any late payments at the time then they see no reason why Lendable’s shouldn’t have given me the loan (I defaulted within 6 months of this on everything)
Is it worth taking it higher or not? I only asked for a reimbursement of the interest balance not even a loan write off
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That seems like a large increase in your borrowing. What were you earning at the time? Did you also have card debts or an overdraft?
Josh says
Hi Sara,
I got the exact same from the adjudicator. They didn’t seem bothered about the level of debt and increase in debt. They were very focused on the fact that if your credit report is clean with no CCJ, Defaults, DMP, Missed payments then the lending is okay as long as you have any money left over after paying the debts and rent. I was in the red after commuting costs and food, and even showed them my budget but it didn’t make a difference. Praying the ombudsman decided different but I know that’s very, very unlikely.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So a lot of this depends on how much you were borrowing and what other debts the lender saw on your credit record.
M says
I had the same with Lendable, it was one of the hardest battles on my road to becoming debt-free. Lendable didn’t uphold my affordability complaint, so sent it to FOS. Investigator at FOS didn’t uphold my complaint either as I had no adverse information on my credit report, despite being in a mountain of debt at the time the loan was approved. I argued that just because someone doesn’t have bad marks on their credit history doesn’t mean they can afford further borrowing. With the help of my credit report and evidence of earnings I had the proof I was way over the equivalent in debt of one year’s annual income at the time the loan was approved. Still not successful I asked the Investigator at FOS to further extend the deadline to gather more evidence to support my case and I put in a SAR request with Lendable. That swung everything in my favour as I had proof they didn’t carry out reasonable and proportionate checks, in fact they didn’t carry out any, some of the information contained in the SAR was inaccurate and they had relied on “industry-standard income verification tools” as they put it.
It took many months to get my result but don’t let that deter you, fight it all they way. I was prepared to escalate further to Ombudsman level if I had to. The result for me was £10k of interest wiped, a hard win, but so worth it in the end.
Olivia says
Hi Sara
I sent an affordability complaint to RBS for a loan of £25k I took out in 2016, the main purpose of which was to consolidate two loans they gave me in early 2016 in the space of about 2/3 months for around £18k, as well as car finance and some credit cards. I was earning about £38k at the time so this was a significant debt. The repayments were 25% of my monthly income. I have complained because I think giving me two huge loans very close to each other (I applied online) when I already had other debt was irresponsible and the large loan was initially declined then granted- but I racked up further debt in place of the consolidated debt. However I only submitted a complaint for the large loan not the first two. They declined it so I will appeal to the FOS but do I need to do anything to get them to consider the first two loans- or is there even any point considering they were consolidated a few months after? What’s the best thing to do?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you should complain about the first two loans now. Which is almost certain to be rejected but then you can send a sinlge complaint covering all 3 loans to FOS.
Claire says
During covid-19 Barclaycard cut my credit limit in half with prior warning, would this warrant a complaint? I then had to rely on using another credit card to get by, and got myself into even more debt. Not sure if it is something I can complaint about given they had lowered the amount I was able to use.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Did they reduce it below your balance at that time?
Claire says
It took me right to my upper limit, they cut it from £7000 to £3800 approximately, which meant the card was then maxed out
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you may find this a hard complaint to win. If you are saying you got into too much debt, well you would have done if they had left your limit the same, wouldn’t you?
It may be that you could win an affordability complainty complaint againt the new card you took out… see https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-catalogue-credit-card/.
(That is the better page for your question as it is about credit cards. I will move this thread there in a few days.)
M says
Hi Sara, have you or anyone any information as to how long the ‘Ombudsman Queue’ is? I’ve a couple of cases that have been referred as the lender doesn’t agree with the investigators decision. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am afraid it seems very individual. 1-3 months is common.
T says
I asked for one of mine to go to the ombudsman and it’s been 4.5months, been told it’s typically 3-4months for similar cases so really hoping I get a decision soon.
Robert says
Hi,
I raised an affordability claim with 118 money due to a rollover loan they offered me through email. They cleared my previous one and provided a much larger one, without viewing bank statements or anything as I was a “valued” customer who had never missed a payment.
They came back to me and said they did not lend irresponsibly but understood I could have incurred some detriment as a result and provided a “gesture of goodwill payment of £1,020 – The loan I claimed in regards to was a loan of £2500, which with interest is sitting at £5400.
They said this is in full and final closure of the complaint and feels like success to me receiving this money back.
Is there any reason to challenge the gesture to try and get them to offer more? Or shall I just take the money and be happy despite the loan coming after my situation had worsened.
They have never asked for any bank statements, either in regards to the loans or the complaints
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are they offering this in cash? Or as a reduction on the balance?
Are there any missed payments on this loan, because they aren’t offering to clean your credit record.
If you go to the Ombudsman and win, all interest would be removed from this second loan – so £2,900. Large rollover loans may well be unaffordable. If your situation was bad at the time of the second loan this is a serious option for you. If they thought you had a poor chance of winning they wouldn’t have made this offer.
But if you think it is a fair offer, then take it!
Are you making other complaints as well?
Robert says
They are offering it as cash, they offered it on Friday with no chance to reply to the email and the money hit my account last night so I don’t know if this means that I can’t do anything about it?
I assumed as much in terms of making the offer if there was no realistic chance of winning – I was thinking of replying and trying to negotiate the offer up but I don’t know if this would either work with them as I don’t know the company practices, or if this means they would rescind the offer – having already received the money now though I’m entirely unsure if I have any options.
There are no missed payments but the payments have always been a bit tough to make for me – I have just always been scared of missing the payments so made it work somehow.
I have not made other complaints as of yet, but since the time of the rollover loan, two more credit cards have been taken and are at the max now, and I feel as though If I applied for the loan in a standard way and not a rollover way then I would have been rejected so not sure why I was given it.
The offer of cash also confused me as it feels like alot, 20% of the balance nearly, and to send it so quick suggests to me it might be go away money and so to try negotiate but I don’t know what I would be asking for.
Thank you so much for your help
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds odd – to offer this in cash, not take it off your balance and pay you without you accepting it as a settlement of your complaint.
It also means you can’t get them to agree to accept lower payments which would be easier for you.
You do not have to accept this offer. It’s unlikely they will increase it, you would be just wasting your time asking. So you can just send this to the Ombudsman now. (Their email should have said this.) I think you should do this unless you think this is a fair offer.
And the cash? Well I expect you have will have spent it soon or it will have been swallowed up in your overdraft. If they didn’t ask you to accept it, they can’t ask for it back!
Robert says
I found it odd too, especially since I currently have an outstanding balance with them or roughly £5,000 of this loan that I did complain about.
This was what they said in regards to the payment coming in –
“ We have arranged a gesture of goodwill payment of £1020.00 to be made to the bank account number ending ****, the payment will be with you within 14 working days.
Please note the offer is being made in full and final settlement of the whole complaint and of all disputes and matters arising from or connected to the complaint.”
There was no mention of accepting this and like I said received this email on Friday and money hit the account last night. It is not spent yet or in an Overdraft as it went to an older account, but it would be very useful if I did get to keep it.
I’m just concerned that if I send this to the ombudsman they will ask for this money back and I don’t want to push my luck per se, but the swiftness and the oddity of it all feels like go away money.
They also did not ask for bank statements following my complaint, they took my email (the template from here) and made their decision from there – assuming my credit file indicated that what I said was indeed correct.
Again thank you so much for your advice, I’m just stuck and feel as though they have been wrong in what they’ve done, but this money is more than I thought I’d ever get back so unsure whether to just let it lie and try pay off the loan over the next few years.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They are indeed trying to buy you off cheaply. If you accept this, you can’t later change your mind and go to the Ombudsman or make another complaint.
If your situation is OK and you are going to be able able to pay the large balance without difficulty, thenyou may feel this is an OK offer and you are happy to accept.
But if your situation isn’t fine, then going to the Ombudsman sounds best to me. And use the money to pay any urgent bills or debts that you have. Including the next months 118 payment!
Robert says
Is it likely or possible that referring to the ombudsman would mean they would ask for the money back or I would
be required to give this back based on the wording above?
I don’t know anything about the ombudsman so don’t want to go into it if they’re likely to uphold the complaint resolution as they have offered money to me – is this likely?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well they cant make you give back money you have spent… they could I suppose add it onto the balance you owe them but I have never seen a lender try this.
In fact i have never seen a lender do what 118 has done. It is very bizarre to send you cash when you owe them a balance.
Also “goodwill” offers are usually small – here is £50 or £100 to go away. When a lender has made a real offer, the Ombudsman usually starts from the assumption that that is the minimum you should get.
They didn’t say that the offer would be withdrawn if you go to the Ombudsman?
Robert says
No they didn’t say it would be withdrawn- they just said the offer was in full and final settlement of the whole complaint, the key word being offer when in reality they sent me money with no chance to do anything about it.
It has just completely perplexed me as bringing the interest off the loan would decrease it by over £2,500 – whereas it feels like they’ve given me £1,000 to go away and not cause trouble and are hoping that I need it and cannot chance the time to fight them or the risk of them asking for the money back I guess.
The money will be used pretty quickly – I guess I’m just unsure about what kind of success I might find with the ombudsman
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The Ombudsman will consider your case. It won’t be rejected because the lender has made an offer. FOS has seen a lot of poor offers!
Vii says
Just wanted to share my experience – I have 2 loans with Lloyds, and I sent a complaint to them. They rejected it so I sent it further to the FOS, and it was upheld – I got refunded £5658 – this was back in May this year. Very recently my partner won a complaint too – he has loan with Lloyds, and Lloyds rejected the complaint, so he escalated it to the FOS and it was upheld – he is to receive £4330 refund and it will clear the remaining balance + leave some extra. All thanks to the above template!
Herb says
Hi Sara,
in 2021 I had a complaint with New day as I had 3 cards that went to the ombudsman and I received a refund of the interest, Just 2 months later New Day gave me another card. It didn’t have a huge limit (just under 1k) but I’ve been maxed out on it and making minimum payments ever since. It wasn’t done on purpose.
Do I have a good case to complain as I am still suffering finanically and they have me given me card right after just closing 3 others.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how large were the limits on the 3 cards closed?
what is the rest of your financial situation line now? The idea bout winning complaints is that you shouldnt have to borrow like this agin…
Herb says
1 was around 3k and 2 other of 2k.
I should be in a better position but the pandemic was hard and led me borrow again, I haven’t had any missed payments but all these monthly things coming out of my account is really nearly putting me at breaking point.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well they reduced a 7k limit to 1k.
You can try a complaint about i don’t know how likely this is to succeed.
But it sounds as though you have a big problem – I think you should also talk to StepChange about a debt management plan (https://www.stepchange.org/debt-info/debt-management-plan.aspx) for all of your debts, including this newday card. That will get you into a safe position and if the win the complaint it will speed up the DMP.
JEH says
Hi, Lloyds have told me they can’t go back further than 6 years as the system won’t allow them to. The issue is they’ve gone back 6 years, then forward 10 months to a review date, and applied the complaint from then – this was only 10 months before the account was closed and debt sold. The problem had been going on for years – is this right?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
is this for a loan? or an overdraft?
JEH says
It was an overdraft
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What has happened to the account – are you currently paying a debt collector?
They can go back further than 6 years – they are choosing not to.
If you send this to the Ombudsman, the Ombudsman may decide that they can go back further because you have only recently found out that Lloyds should have been reviewing you overdraft each year to check it was affordable, so you have complained within 3 years of finding this out.
The Ombudsman makes rather erratic decisions on this, you may win, you may not.
JEH says
Thanks Sara.
I was paying a debt collector. The debt is now settled and has been since Summer 2022.
Lloyds have upheld the complaint and said I am entitled to a refund. If I go to Ombudsman, might this affect the offer?
Simon says
I had this same issue with Lloyd’s, they told me that they don’t keep info, including bank statements longer than 6 years. I then went onto online banking, although my account was closed I still had an active unused savings account and requested through online chat my statements from 2009. These were posted to me within a couple of weeks. I then supplied these to the Ombudsman when Lloyd’s also told them that they can not go back over 6 years.
John says
Hi can anyone offer advice or experiences. The adjudicator agreed with me that blue motor finance acted irresponsibly. They then agreed with this but queried how the settlement was addressed so fos reworked it and they have to refund what I paid over the cash price. They have another week to agree to this. My question is can they go back on originally agreeing it was irresponsible? Also if they agree at the adjudicator level? How long would I have to wait for the refund ? Does anyone have any similar experiences ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
My question is can they go back on originally agreeing it was irresponsible?
that may depend on whether they agree with how the settlement has been worked.
Scott says
Hi, I was wondering if there is a timescale a lender has to settle after a final Ombudsman decision which went in my favour. I was awarded a decision a month ago and so far haven’t had any real correspondence regarding my account. Just wondered if there was a set timescale they had to adhere to?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s 28 days. But who is the lender and had your account been sold to a debt collector?
Scott says
Hi, the lender was Tandem and no it hadn’t been sold to a debt collection. They have only ever replied to 1 email which confirmed they did have notice of final decision and sent bank details.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then it should be straightforward.
Scott says
Thanks Sara, at least I know there’s a timescale and yes I was hoping it would be fairly straight forward, but will see in next few days. Many thanks S
GS says
So here’s my success story….I had a loan with Bamboo at a very high interest rate. I used the affordability complaint template and sent to bamboo. They came back immediately with an offer to refund 3 months interest which I rejected straight away. They then offered to refund 35% of the interest charged. I was confident I would be able to get them to agree to more so I asked for a compromise to which they rejected. I then sent my complaint to the ombudsman and have today received an offer for all interested to be written off totalling £7621. I’m over the moon and couldn’t have achieved this without using the complaint templates! Thank you!!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well done for persevering!
Fred says
I have a complaint in with Zopa currently.
In my complaint I have asked them to leave my accounts as is whilst it’s being investigated (I’d continue to make payments etc) I have never missed a payment/late payments etc.
Though I have logged into today and they have defaulted my loan and say my whole CC blance is overdue.
I’ve dropped them an email as a little stressed.
Hopefully it’s just part of their investigation. has anyone else had this happen?
Jono says
Hi Sara,
Big fan of this site btw. Just have an issue with regards to Financial ombudsman,
Basically I complained against money barn and life got in the way so I missed the 6 month window to take it to FO, I did however try and they opened a complaint but turned it down because it fell outside the 6 months,
So I re complained and got generated another final response, I submitted this within the 6 months but the FO are saying they have already investigated even though they didn’t? Here is the last part of the email.
Whilst I appreciate that this is not the answer you were hoping for, I hope it does explain why we can’t look at your complaint in relation to unaffordable or irresponsible lending.
Should you have any complaint points that have not been considered which you would like us to look into, please let me know within the next seven days.
Is there another avenue I can go down to keep the complaint alive as I’m worried what will happen if it’s not looked at and upheld.
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
no, sorry. You only have 6 months to take a complaint to FOS. And you can’t get round this by making the same complaint again.
What is your current financial situation? Do you still owe Moneybarn money?
Jono Hutchinson says
Even though they never actually looked at the complaint?
Yes I’ve been in arrears for 2 years and they have never checked up on me once, allowed me to take a large loan out with no credit checks and ignored all my emails for over a year.
M says
Jono, I feel your pain, I was in a similar situation with FOS.
It’s interesting you say ‘life got in the way’ – I’m not asking you to tell all on here, but you could explain it to FOS. I’m not saying it will change their decision, but it’s worth a try. I always communicate by email, but on that occasion I did rise above my anxiety to telephone FOS. I spoke to a very sympathetic lady who got back in touch with the Investigator to explain my circumstances. Tell them what has happened to you.
A few weeks later I got the result I wanted, a refund of all interest since the loan was taken out, deducted from the remaining balance and interest frozen until cleared. It was life changing for me.
I really don’t want to give you false hope that you will be successful, but it’s worth a try. What do you have to lose? At least you will know in your heart that you have tried every possible avenue which will help you deal with the situation as it is and make a decision moving forward that is right for your circumstances.
Very best of luck.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t make the rules.
Is the car essential for you? What other debts do you have?
Mia says
Hi Sara,
I had a complaint upheld against 118 Money. Original loan amount £2,000 + £1,258.36 interest, £3,258.36 in total.
When the complaint was upheld the balance was £2,443.77 and as such 118 removed the interest of £1,258.36* from the account which means that the balance has reduced from £2,443.77 to £1,185.41.
The ombudsman said that they should work out an affordable repayment plan with me if there is a remaining balance however, 118 are saying that I need to contact the collections department and enter a payment arrangement with them that will show on my credit file as it’s a fixed sum agreement, surely this defeats the object of an affordability complaint being upheld and them accepting the ombudsman’s decision.
Should I go back to the ombudsman with this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes, tell your adjudicator.